So our baby girl is now 3. This feels big. Like a lot bigger than 2. I’m not sure whether it was the fact that she very much knew it was her birthday or that 2 days later I confirmed what days she’d be at nursery when she starts in September or the fact that the ‘baby’ seems to be rapidly turning into another toddler, but somehow I feel like she’s actually a mini teenager already! I mean she has the attitude of a teenager sometimes and ‘no’ is her favourite word at the moment.

Unfortunately in the days leading up to her birthday she had a sickness bug, a fairly savage one that of course favoured the nighttime hours (why do they always strike worse at night when it’s dark and you get no warning of flying vomit until its way too late?!). The first night (Wednesday) had me sleeping on her floor after she’d puked most places out, occasionally jumping up with the bowl every time she stirred. The next night I was working and finished late, by the time I got home everyone was in the big bed (this was a rare puke free night!) and I really didn’t want to risk the magic healing of sleep on a toddler, so I slept in Seb’s cot. It was a bit cramped but definitely an upgrade from the floor!

Monday, which was her actual birthday, was the first fully functioning day for our little lady, it was also sunny. So we headed to Greendale farm shop/play area for a fun hour or so. They’ve got a random fire engine there too which proved a big hit for the big one- she currently tells us that she wants to be a fire fighter when she gets bigger.

Unfortunately we then got a bit smug as they were both behaving so beautifully we headed up the road to a bigger farm shop that we used to visit a lot more, and we went for lunch. It was quite simply, a disaster. Polly threw a strop as she didn’t want to eat anything then Seb absorbed her bad mood and refused to stay in the high chair. Safe to say we ate that lunch quicker than we’ve ever eaten any meal in our lives!

We did save the last 5 minutes of our slightly tarnished trip out when we headed for the toy shop there and asked Polly to pick a little birthday present. She picked an umbrella.

I mean it did then rain half an hour later and this weather the last few days has made this the best present ever so I’d say it was a fairly smart choice!

The next day saw an impromptu beach trip when the sun popped his hat on for an hour or so. These trips are the best as the kids love the freedom, particularly when it’s as empty as we found it! However, both children were soaking wet and covered in sand, oh and half naked, when I realised the only thing I had to deal with the aftermath was a muslin cloth. But it’s amazing what wondrous tricks they can perform, plus Seb is still at the age where he can get away with cruising through town half naked in the pushchair.

On Friday we carried on the birthday fun with a trip up to Cardiff to the science museum there where they have toddler days once a month. We arrived to pouring rain and got lost in the pouring rain, even the new umbrella wasn’t enough to help much.

Before retreating to a Wetherspoons for a quick lunch, this gave the rain a chance to stop and us idiots a chance to realise the museum was the next building along! Anyway we dried off and then spent the next couple of hours having an absolute blast.

We also stumbled across a carousel on the way back to the car where Polly and I had a go riding ‘unicorns’!

Seb like I say is very much entering the world of toddler-hood. He’s started throwing a fit when having a nappy changed, feeds half his tea to the cat and this afternoon actually got the greatest showman soundtrack playing all by himself.

Oh and he’s decided that sleep is for the weak. But as he’s incredibly cute I might forgive him one day for the fact that he reduced him and I to the sofa at 3:30 this morning for a 2 hour ‘nap’ with the cat.

We’ve also decided to make a slight change to our work schedule. Henry is within sight of the end of the studying but this has also coincided with the shifts getting busier and longer so I’ve taken on his Saturday shifts to ease the burden on his shoulders so that the end goal can be reached quicker and as a little team instead of him breaking himself. This does mean he’s had to get creative with ways to distract the kids while he can get the books out. Sunday saw him creating a makeshift farm for them so Polly could ‘collect the silage up’. In the hands of two little rascals who then thought it looked more like snow this is the outcome…

At least one of them helped out with tidying up!

On that note I think I’ll wrap it up as I’ve still got to do the washing up and some actual ironing before bed, I might even watch another episode of Chernobyl to try and catch up with my traitor of a husband who watched ahead of me, if Seb will allow it of course and succumb to more than two hours sleep in one go!