A Day Out

Today I think was Steve's first proper day "off" in months! I don't think we can really count yesterday as it was spent mainly being jumped on by Ben, at the hospital, or asleep....

But today, after spending a LONG time attempting to get dressed and formulating some kind of plan of attack for the day, we got out of the house and drove down to the seafront. It's only a 15-20 minute walk but these days that's enough to see me off.

We had an early lunch in Lime Cafe where we discovered they were holding an early Christmas market type thing, sadly we only had an hour to spare on our carpark ticket so there was no chance of a mooch around! And I also managed to miss the Post Office by 10 minutes *sob* so Katie's present STILL hasn't been posted.

After lunch we parked in the multistorey carpark and headed to the beach for a bit. Ben decided he wanted a bucket and spade which provided an excellent opportunity to break into a £10 note and get some change. The lady in the shop asked how old he was and when I said he'll be three tomorrow she said Oh! Take a windmill on your way out, happy birthday to him! Apparently she was a paediatric nurse for 20 years down at Worthing Hospital, she's retired now, but has a bit of a soft spot for kids still! Ben didn't want a windmill but was happy to choose one for me instead ;0)

We played down on the beach for a while and Ben had a lot of fun digging and building sandcastles with his daddy, and I left them to it to go and do a bit of shopping. It's getting too cold for a short-sleeved cardi that no longer covers the growing bump so I managed to hunt down a long-sleeved one which DOES cover the bump and will do nicely for wearing under my coat. It's not very pretty so I don't think I'll be wearing it on its own tho!!

Ben declared he needed to find mummy, then decided he needed a wee and he HAD to go to Costa to do his wee. Then (apparently) he said he absolutely HAD to eat something in this very cafe. (Mustn't be anything to do with the mini cakes they do there.) So I joined them and we had tea and hot chocolate and cakes, and then it was time to go home to wait for Steve's family to arrive.

The family turned up as I was making Ben's birthday card/banner thing, and eventually I escaped to go to the supermarket to buy all the party food - Oh my goodness, I never appreciated before just how much quicker and easier it was to go grocery shopping without a toddler in tow!!! I was back home within the hour, having managed to get EVERYTHING on my list!

Pizza for tea, and then we decided it was actually too late to go round to Hayley's house to decorate the party room so we'll do that after church tomorrow before the party. Steve's family are coming here in the morning while we're at church to do all the food prep and blow up all the balloons bless them, and then it's party time!

I think Ben understands it's his birthday tomorrow. I think he understands he's going to be 3 years old. He definitely understands there's going to be a birthday party. But then he says things like he wants his birthday back.... and I wonder what exactly he thinks is going on?!

Anyway. By 8.30pm Steve and I were at collapse point. Steve's still not recovered from his 36hour awakeness stint and I've not recovered from Thursday night's insomnia (plus today has been exhausting! Lovely but exhausting) so we sent the family back to their guest house and were in bed by 9pm. Just in time for a massive fireworks display to start up out the back of our house. Ben cuddled up to his daddy holding his hands over his ears while I stood at the window taking pics on my phone to show Ben how pretty the fireworks were, hoping to entice him into having a look but he was having none of it, being shattered like the rest of us. He's been entertained by his grandad all afternoon. Or maybe it's been the other way round, I'm not quite sure!

Birthday tomorrow. And a party. And my last band date for goodness knows how many months.

And I can't sleep. Body is shattered, brain is still whirring away round in circles because it's too tired to actually think of anything useful, but has managed to get itself into a never ending loop of some kind thinking about nothing in particular, just not actually shutting down.

So I have come downstairs to turn the dishwasher on and find the laptop and make sure things are to my satisfaction in the kitchen before going back to bed and hoping to go to sleep!!

G'night all......




Ok I admit.... it was the blip addiction that actually drove me downstairs.... how could I have all these beautiful photographs taken today and NOT get round to doing a blip before going to bed?!!!