A bit of a catch up...

It's been a busy old week!  Last Friday night I bravely volunteered to have my friend Karen's kids sleepover so that she and her husband could go to a ball.  So there was me (still 37 at this point!), Mark 8, Sam 6, Kirsty 6 and Tom 3.  7pm, all 4 of them high as kites with excitement.  Then I added some sugar and some E numbers into the mix, and KABLOOIE!!!!  Nah, it wasn't as bad as all that.  Tom was in bed only an hour and a half late, Mark was asleep by about 10:15, Sam was asleep by 10:45 and Kirsty not long after 11.  Nobody woke up in the night (apart from Tom, and hey, we're used to that)  and they didn't wake up until 7:30!!!  Could have been a whole heap worse.
Weekend was full of rugby practice, swimming lesson, chores, painting and so on.  Saturday night I had a fabulous pre-birthday night out with Emma and Helen.  We went for a meal and then hit a few bars.  It was really nice, although I was suffering from some melancholia.  It's weird because I don't usually suffer from birthday related sadness, but I really am feeling, well, old.  Pub mirrors are not kind ;-)
On Monday Emma and Helen came over with luscious cake and my birthday present, and I laid on some lunch. These two woman are very important to me.  I have known them both since our first babies were about 6/7 months old, they are a massive part of why I feel like Whitley Bay is home, and I love them loads.   Tuesday was the big day.  I got a fantastic new laptop from my gorgeous husband and my boys, as well as the much anticipated new Terry Pratchett book.  I had a very unglamorous morning trying to work out why my towels leave my washing machine smelling like smelly socks, and then dashed off to meet Karen for lunch.  When I arrived, I was stopped in my tracks by an unexpected table full of woman.  Well, maybe not a table full, but 4 instead of 1was still a surprise. It made me feel very good and so I am once again very grateful to Karen, for organising it.   
That evening bought a lovely night out with my husband, who took me out to our favourite Indian restaurant for a delicious meal.  We had my friend Claire's stepson, Adam, babysitting for us.  Not due to lack of offers from friends all willing to look after the kids, but because I have been on a mission to find a "professional babysitter" .  It went very well, I wasn't worried about the boys, Adam said it was all fine, Tom was asleep anyway, but Adam got Sam into bed, read his story, teeth brushed and he went to sleep with no problems - result!!  Hopefully that means that Steve and I will be able to have some more quality couples time together.  
On Wednesday Tom and I went round to my friend Kelly's house for lunch.  Tom and her son Felix get on well, both loving things that go.  There was a bit of a set to when they were playing with the kitchen and babies in the double buggy.  Tom announced, oven glove on one hand and buggy in the other, .  "I'll be the dad and you be the mum".  Felix replied "No, I'm the dad".  Things were starting to get cross and tearful as neither lad wanted to be the mum.  Kelly and I stepped in and assured them that the nuclear family was passé, and that they could both be the dad.  Happiness all around, until there were arguments about who was going to take the twins out to the shops (to buy bread) and who was going to stay home to make tea!!!  Things were absolutely lovely until it was time to go home when my little boy turned into a monster and had to be dragged screaming and yelling up the street to go and get Sam from school - mortification is the word for it! 
Thursday is usually MY day, when I get to go for a long walk to North Shields and back with my friends Karen and Nicola.  But this week, chores called and I spent about an hour searching town for an icing bag and nozzles for the cupcakes I was doing for school the next day.  Couldn't find any so in the end I arranged to borrow Emma's and came home to do some more painting in Tom's room.  What with baking the cupcakes and a resurgence of carpal tunnel, I only ended up doing about an hour of actual painting. 
Friday morning Tom and I had to wait in for a man coming to fix the tumble driver and another man coming to fix the cooker.  One turned up even before the school run but the other didn't arrive until 11:30, and as we had friends coming for lunch there was no point going out, so the morning was spent playing, cleaning, watching telly, reading and making a man's face out of cardboard for the sole purpose of gluing wool on him for hair (strange ideas my Tom fixates on!).  Katey, Billy and baby Florence arrived just after 12 and we had a lovely lunch.  The boys played and we chatted until about 2, when all hell broke loose and the boys began squabbling "I'm not your friend anymore" "Well I'm not coming to your house anymore" "Well my dad is coming to your house" (this from Tom - still don't quite get it!).  We set off then to go to the school because they were holding a book and cake sale from 2 till 4.  We came home with a load of books and after having bought back 3 of the cupcakes we provided!!!  It was the last day before half term, and you could tell from the kids behaviour (and not just mine!) - very grouchy, irritable and argumentative.  It was one of those afternoons when I am quite happy just to let them vegetate in front of the telly, give them some proper down time.  Saturday I woke up feeling not very well.  Which is just typical because I had plans to go into Newcastle and have my passport application interview and also to try and find some specs that didn't cost 350 quid!  I felt dizzy and faint, light headed.  Steve very kindly offered to drive me into Newcastle so that I could still attend my interview, but boy did I feel rough!  I stammered my way through the questions and as soon as it was done I hurtled to the toilet and threw up.  Met back up with Steve and the boys to head home and made it to the back door before I threw up again.  Spent the rest of the day and night in bed, and woke up this morning feeling a bit better.