I know, I know - It's been ages since I updated my blog but I get in this weird place where I'm a bit tired of my life and the daily grind and can't begin to imagine why anyone else would want to read about it.

My brother is 40 - old bugger. We had a lovely party at mum and dads as it was dad's 65th as well. Good old fashioned BBQ with drinking and merriment. I took it fairly easy as I knew that I had to get up for the kids in the morning. Others did not and my favourite quote of the weekend was definitely "I went to sleep and then I did a big sick in my bed!"

We had a week with mum and dad in Norfolk after the BBQ which was a lovely precious family time.

We have finally decided to borrow the money to put an extension on our house. We only have one small room downstairs other than the kitchen and with both boys very mobile and Dom being huge it feels a bit cramped around here. Dom and his dad are busy scheming about possibilities but we can really only afford to put an average sized room on the side so plans like cellars and pool rooms might have to be for another, richer day.

Just before we went to Norfolk I pulled my knee while running so I have given it two weeks rest. Went to the gym for the first time back today - it was bloddy hard work. How can 2 weeks make such a difference???

I will try to post next week - but not promising anything.
TTFN

O.k. I have lost the lead that links my camera to my computer and Joe has stuck his finger through the lens cover on my camera so every photo now has a greasy mark in the middle of it! This means I have no decent photos to share with you.

No real news either to be honest.

James is standing and generally finding his feet in more ways than one.

Joe is has now given up his afternoon sleep :0( but is having "quiet time" in his bedroom after lunch which seems to be working at the moment.

This weekend we are doing the marathon journey to Norfolk for a mates wedding. We're managing to stay for an extra couple of days so nice catch up time with mum and dad.

I am back on my fitness/weight loss routine -an am really enjoying it. Am hoping to lose half a stone through June and then stabilise in July and lose another half a stone in August. I will be delighted if this happens but I'm doubtful!

We've been away! We went to a friends wedding on Friday which was lovely and we were Kid free so had a brilliant time of just mixing with old friends and chilling. I had my hair dried straight which was a nice change - tried to post a picture but something disturbed it and it had a fatal error or some other computer complaint.

We then went to Cornwall with the kids for 2 nights in a caravan with my sister and brother in law and their two girls which was actually a really lovely time. The kids were all pretty well behaved and it didn't feel like we were under each others feet which it could have so easily done.

I had a birthday (grrrr) and got an ipod so I now feel very grown up being able to listen to my own music. I'd forgotten how much I like driving with proper music on!

Well what a weird weekend.

James is now crawling. Funny - when Joe started crawling we were so excited but with James I just thought "that's gonna make life a bit more tricky". I am a bad mother.

Joe threw his head back on Sat morning while I was tickling him and caught me right on the eyebrow bone. I have a cracking black eye. I have never had a black eye before and have been struck by how people look at you. I sang in church on Sunday and got some very funny looks but no-one mentioned it. Somehow that made it worse because I didn't get to explain how it had happened. I wonder what they were thinking?

Did the end of the month pub quiz last night and came second from last. We came second last month so it was a bit of a let down but there were rather a lot of teams using iphone technology this time which was a bit of a shame. Why would you go to a pub quiz and then cheat? It's beyond me. Anyway I drank far too much red wine with my sister-in-law and have a shocking hangover today. I am currently watching Cbeebies with Joe because I don't have the energy to do anything else!

Food Glorious Food...

We had a lovely meal last night - our last night together. So in true Ruth style but without the quality...

We had prawn cocktail to start - underrated I reckon and with a homemade sauce was flipping lovely.

Main course was a spiced chicken with subtle flavours of cinnamon, lemon and olives. This isn't a great picture but I can promise you it was lovely. Joe ate the leftovers for his dinner today and had two huge helpings - must be all that curry I ate when I was pregnant!

Pud was good old fashioned strawberries and cream. Yum Yum yum!

Good Grief.....

Considering there are only about 3 people who read my Blog I seem to have been given a lot of grief for not updating it!

Mum and dad have been here since Wed. They have been brilliant and done loads and loads of jobs like putting shelves up and sorting the washing line and gardening. My house looks like a new pin! The shelves were flipping hard going though. When they are full of books I will post a pic so you can see what our living room is like. It's all greens and creams and I love it because it's a peaceful room!

Took mum and dad into Exeter on Friday for a mooch. I had to go to Barclays and waited 35 minutes to be seen. Before I went to the bank I consumed a pint of some fruit/ice combo from a coffee shop - this may have been a mistake...

When I was finally called to see the banker I realised I needed a wee - by the time I had sat there talking to him for 10 minutes I realised I couldn't wait so I had to get up and leg it out of the bank leaving a very confused looking banker! I sprinted to Debenhams to use the loo and was almost crying by the time I got there - I have never come so close to wetting myself in my life.

Bizarrely he was still sat waiting for me by the time I got back with a queue of very disgruntled customers behind. I was too embarrassed to tell him where I had been so I just muttered something about my OAP parents being lost in Exeter. It was all very surreal.

Anyway....we are having a lovely time together here. Will post some more photos next week.

So as promised - Joe in his Easter Bonnet. It doesn't look any better on than it did off I'm afraid. "Shocking" was the word my sister-in-law used!!! Anyway although his face in this pic says different Joe loved it and was rather alarmingly very pleased that "I look like a lady".

Dom, on the other hand was rather mortified that it was him dropping the kids off this morning - not helped by the fact that I suddenly panicked that I might have misread the information and may have dreamt the fact that Joe needed an Easter bonnet at all.