House changes

There have been a few major changes in the Lee Vale house of dreams. When we moved in in February there were 3 of us, Dan, Percy and me, and the house was entirely magnolia. Now we have 2 extra people and 3 rooms less magnolia. Hooray. The first edition to the household was Baby Eric born in May, then we took in our semi-homeless friend Rachel for a bit but now we have our more permanent lodger My littlest sister Sarah.

I found these lovely photos to welcome sarah

Last time we lived together she was 10 and I was 19. This is the story of how she came into the world which I will take 90% of the credit for. When I was 8 I had 1 younger sister Jo, and I was desperate for a puppy. I asked all the time and, although Dad could have been persuaded, Mum could not. Around this time I realised that the amount of children you had was not entirey up to chance. That's when I stopped asking for a puppy and started asking for a baby sister. To my surpise it worked! One Saturday morning me and Jo were watching cartoons and mum and dad called us upstairs and said "we've got a surprise, guess what it is?" Jo said "are we having croissants for breakfast?" Dad then dropped a big hint "the surprise is in mummy's tummy" Then I went mental with "its a baby! it's a baby!" and Jo said "anyway what are we having for breakfast?"

Later on in the pregnancy me and Jo told dad we were praying for a girl and Dad said 'too late we've already prayed that its a boy'. But look who God loves best!

Me and Sarah back in the day

I was a lovely sister for 2 or 3 years: I played with Sarah, I dressed her up, I took her into school for my speaking and listening talk on babies. Then I was a moody teenager for a bit and then I left home and then she was a moody teenager....but now we're good friends and have a lot in common. except that everything I can do Sarah can do better and a lot more naturally, she's one of those really annoying people who's academic, musical, athletic and creative. I was really only good at art and I wasn't even that good at that, I got a 'B' at GCSE and an A at A-level. Whereas Sarah got an A* at GCSE but didn't do it at A-level as 'it won't lead to a job' but still continues to make money out of being an artist. I did however discover recently her one downfall. She can't do magic eye books! I know right, what a loser. That's literally my only comeback to her massive catalog of achievements.

Jokes aside it's been lovely having Sarah in the house...so far.

The other big house change is the death of the shower cupboard, R.I.P, a ridiculous shower that forced you to get naked on the landing. Goodbye wall that turned out to be a supporting wall, hello a toilet with a sink next to it. And a thing that makes it ok that you removed a supporting wall. I was in B&Q looking at paint for the new toilet I thought I'd go for pale blue, that seems safe, but with an impatient toddler and an baby I didn't have a lot of time to pick the exact shade I was imagining so I ended up with electric blue. It's sooo blue. I had to put extra yellow things in to distract from the blue, I like it now though. Every colour is superior to magnolia.

view from the loo

We've also had a major addition to our garden.

Tada!

When the boys were born they were each given £100 from their great grandpa. We could have opened up a savings account but seeing as there's Trump, brexit, global warming etc. £200 in 18 years time seems a bit pointless. So we blew it all on this. And yes I do have the same attitude towards a pension. Dan has one though and when we got married he vowed to share everything with me. It's only fair because most of his power tools are actually mine.