A Weekend of Pampering

Last weekend marked the occasion of my big sister's hen weekend. It was an intimate family gathering, and we all had a wonderful time.

 As the chief bridesmaid, or maid of honour as she prefers to call me (I think that makes me sound old!), it was my job to organise it. My sister is fairly quiet, so the usual wild hen night would've been highly inappropriate. I was under strict instructions not to go too crazy. So we settled on a spa weekend. It was just myself, my two sisters, our mum and her two sisters. It was really great to just have some downtime together. 

The hotel was stunning. Very spacious rooms and lovely modern facilities. The spa itself was very basic, just a small pool, a Jacuzzi, a steam room and a sauna, but it was ample for a weekend. And with the treatments included in our package, we had plenty to be doing. We had a scrumptious three course dinner on Saturday evening, followed by a few drinks and lots of laughs back at our room. 

After not nearly enough sleep, we woke to a delicious full English breakfast. I think I ate my own body weight in sausages! Then my sister and two aunts tried their hardest to convince me to join them in the gym. We all know that was never going to happen! I don't even own a gym kit, so I certainly hadn't packed one in my case! Anyway, the Jacuzzi was far too inviting to waste time in the gym. My little sister and I spent the whole morning bubbling away. Mum chose to spend her morning dozing in the relaxation room, with an endless supply of tea. 

At lunch time we dined in our spa robes. That was an odd experience, mingled in the dining room with none spa guests all fully dressed, whilst we wore just our swimwear covered by a dressing gown! Of course we weren't the only underdressed people in the room, and I suppose when you stay in a spa hotel you expect to see it, but that didn't make it feel any more normal. After a slow and relaxed afternoon we finally got dressed and went home.

 We had such a wonderful time that we've decided to make it an annual event. Not the hen party of course, there's only so many weddings six women can muster up. But the weekend away together was heavenly. I could definitely get used to being pampered. 

House to Home - Finally

Just a short entry today. Things have been a bit busy here recently. 

This time last year, Mr P and I decided it was time to move house. We lived in a three bed Victorian terraced house and our family had rapidly outgrown it. We had four children, all sharing one bedroom, and our fifth in the box room. We needed somewhere bigger! So we bought this place, our forever home. 

We'd been saving for a long time and we spent every penny we had in order to move. The house we bought was a new build, so we had a lovely blank canvas to work with. Unfortunately we didn't have the funds to do anything with it! So for the past ten months we've been surrounded by magnolia. And nice and fresh as it was to start with, it soon started to look grubby. Cream walls plus three little people are not the best combination! 

We've gradually found our feet again since we moved in and have recently started to decorate. I cannot tell you how good it feels to finally be adding some colour to the place! We're attacking it bit by bit, one room at a time. At the moment we're half way through the lounge/dining room. We have tried our hand at wallpapering for the first time ever and we've done a pretty good job if I do say so myself. Ok, so I mainly stood and watched while my husband did all the work, but I did a great job of making tea! 

I can't wait to go shopping now for all the little bits and bobs. Lamps, pictures, the finishing touches. After being our new house for nearly a year, it's finally starting to feel more like our home. Hopefully by the end of the year, every room in the house will have a little bit of our personality stamped on it. My daughter has already requested a rainbow in her room. I'm looking forward to seeing that one become reality.

So this is why I've been a bit quiet lately. I've barely found time to sit and have a coffee, never mind think about writing! Hopefully you won't be waiting too long for my next entry.

Being Married to a Bodybuilder

Yes, that's right. I'm the wife of a bodybuilder. An amateur bodybuilder, but a bodybuilder none the less. I want to give you all a bit of an insight into what that involves.

Firstly, a little info on the man himself. He hit the big 40 last year and up until 4 years ago was a self confessed fatty. He is a father of five, two daughters from his first marriage plus my three. When our daughter was born in 2009 he decided he'd had enough of being a fatty and joined the gym (well rejoined, he'd done the whole gym thing before but was set back due to a shoulder injury). He's a very goal orientated person and with a lot of hard work reached his get in shape target. By the time our youngest son was born 15 months later, he was unrecognisable. Having reached his initial goal, he set himself a new target, to get on stage in a bodybuilding competition. Again, he worked hard, and he did his first competition just after our son's first birthday. By then he'd got the bug, so to speak. His lifestyle had changed and he had no intention of changing back.

So what does the lifestyle entail? Anyone I mention it to automatically assumes that he spends hours on end in the gym, thus effecting our family life. The truth is, he's in the gym before the rest of us are even out of bed in a morning. He goes four mornings a week, having weekends and Wednesday's off (at the moment, sometimes this changes to five mornings depending on his training schedule). What I'm trying to point out is that his gym commitments have no negative effect on our family whatsoever. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that on his Wednesday mornings spent in the house, he actually gets in my way! He messes up my school morning routine just by being here. I can guarantee that we are running late every Wednesday. I can forgive him for that though, he does bring me a cup of tea in bed.

Then there's his cardio sessions. When he's 'off season' this is just a fast paced walk with the dog before he goes to the gym in the morning. So bonus, the dog gets his walk and the husband gets his exercise way before any other sign of life in the house. When he's in prep for a competition, he uses his spin bike in the garage. He does a session in the morning, again before he goes to the gym, and a shorter session in the evening, after the children are in bed usually when I'm watching the soaps. The only negative effect this has on me is when I come to do the washing and I have his three outfits per day to get through! 

Now for the food. He only eats 'clean' food. So nothing processed, lots of lean meat, mountains of veg. He eats six times a day, and all the food he needs for work, I make for him the day before. Obviously, this is a fair amount more work than making a sandwich for his pack up each day, but it really doesn't take that much effort to steam a bit of veg and cook a couple of chicken breasts. I am at home all day anyway, so I just cook it whilst I'm busy doing other housework. I could make him do it himself, but I'd rather have the time with him in the evening, so it makes sense for me to do it. He allows himself one cheat meal per week, usually saved for a Saturday evening when we sit down as a family and enjoy a take away. In the week I generally eat my evening meal with the children. I much prefer the likes of spag bol, stew and dumplings or bangers and mash to the chicken and veg my husband eats. In the grand scheme of things, how important is it to eat the same foods at the same time? Even if I did wait until he got home to eat with him, there's no way my children would eat their tea as late as 6pm. I do sometimes wish we could just grab a burger when we're out and about instead of having to take a lunchbox everywhere we go, but that's just something I've learnt to live with. I make a joke of having to time our family outings around his mealtimes rather than the children's.

Now we come to the result of all this hard work and dedication. The way he looks. He now has a body most 20 year old lads would kill for. There's no denying he looks good! When he first started out on his journey, I have to admit I was worried that I might not like his new image. I'd never been into the muscular look, and I loved my cuddly hubby. But I clearly had nothing to worry about! He looks amazing, most of my friends will agree. Actually, I bet most people in general would agree! 

So there you have it, life with a bodybuilder. Still waiting to 'catch the bug' myself! Nearly 27 and never set foot in a gym, unless you count hoovering around the equipment when I cleaned at the local leisure centre! 

Snow... Not so bleughhhh?

Well, I have succumbed to the whining! My little darlings have had me playing outside in the snow!! 

Yesterday it was decided that the snow on the drive was better than the snow on the back garden (mainly due to the fact that there was no way of telling if the dog had taken a poo on the garden before the snow had fallen!) So I was forced to take them out yesterday afternoon to build a snowman. (see previous blog entry for my general consensus on snow!) My little sister now lives too far away to just pop round to play in the snow, she'd have to get a bus and they weren't running!

After much deliberation (and failure to get any snow to actually stick together!) we came to the conclusion that the snow was just too fluffy to build anything with. So we set about making footprints with our wellies and I hate to admit that I was actually having fun! That is until my eldest hit me full on in the face with a handful of snow. I screamed a little bit, and pretty much acted like a mardy girl, but I got over it and we carried on our snow play. 

My eldest decided he wanted to go for a walk, so off we went for a plod round the block. He came across a patch of untouched snow and decided it would be the perfect place for a snow angel. Down he got and started flapping his arms to make the wings and my other 2 thought it looked great fun. Now my daughter is about as brave as me at being cold and wet so I was a bit dubious when she got down on the floor to do one. Then in true drama queen style, the second her bum touched the snow she flounced up and screamed 'it's coooooooooooold' and burst out crying! I'm still not entirely sure what she was expecting of it?! Luckily it's a very small block, so before long we were home again. My daughter decided she'd had enough for one day and, much to my boys' disgust, we headed back inside. 

This morning all I heard was 'mum, what time can we play in the snow?' and 'mummy, I need to build a snowman', so I relented again. Yes, I've been out in the snow, 2 days in a row! The little ones had a mini snowball fight, then we build the eagerly awaited snowman! Now, he's no masterpiece, but considering I can barely bring myself to touch snow, I think he's quite lovely. And I can't wait for my husband to get home later and see it sat there on the front lawn. He'll never believe that I actually took the children out there myself! 

Having said all that, I'm fed up now. It's cold and wet, and I'm sick of looking at it. So if it could kindly melt away by the morning, that'd be much appreciated! I won't hold my breath though! 

An Introduction

Right, where do I start? 

I'm a 26 year old stay at home mummy to 3 little monsters (who will no doubt become the main feature of this blog!) I met my husband when I was just 19 in the grottiest pub in town. He was 33, recently separated from his wife with 2 young daughters. Imagine my dad's face when I introduced him to my new 'boyfriend'! I don't think my parents thought it was the smartest move I'd ever made. 

Well, things moved pretty quickly. I moved into his flat after a couple of months, we got engaged after 9 months and were all set to marry by the time we'd been together for 18 months (between me turning 21 and him turning 35, 'so the age gap looked slightly less'! His logic, not mine!) 

I fell pregnant with my first child 14 weeks before the wedding (another awkward conversation with my very traditional parents!) and gave birth to a son in January 2008. 6 months later, on our 1st wedding anniversary, we found out we were expecting our second child! Our daughter came along in March 2009 after a very stressful pregnancy. Then, true to form, 6 months later we discovered that we were to have a third child! Our second son was born in June 2010. Phew! 

Ok, that's the family, now for more about myself. I'm a fairly confident outgoing girly girl (I still feel young enough to carry the title of girl!) My favourite pastime is shopping, although I have neither the time nor the money to shop as often as I'd like. I'm a very sociable person, I love getting together with friends regularly. I enjoy music. I have a very eclectic taste, ranging from The Beautiful South to Westlife to Rihanna to Kings of Leon. Totally random! I spend far too long trying to keep the house tidy (impossible when you have 3 little people to contend with, plus 2 extras at the weekend!) I love to read. I have lost countless evenings inside a book that I've picked up to read just one chapter of. What else can I say about myself? That's pretty much me, in a nutshell. 

So there you go. A little introduction to the person behind this blog. Enjoy.