And the winner of the stripy football duvet cover is......

Anna Hammond! After fourteen dry nights Anna quite rightly earned her reward and I am so proud of her. She has really hated not being dry and it has caused her so much upset and embarrassment. We have encouraged her and stayed positive, as well as being realistic and I now feel she has turned a corner. This is such an important milestone in a young persons life and such a confidence builder. She kicked on and made it fifteen in a row last night - so fingers crossed she had finally cracked it. It has been a positive week or so for her as she continues to enjoy football club and grows in confidence with each week. She is emerging as a determined and dogged defender and her premier league dive to try and gain a free kick is up there with Suarez and the best!

The girls just love their grandma!

She's stubborn, opinionated, frustrating, high maintenance and extremely difficult at times, but despite all the flaws the girls and I love their Grandma dearly and today I decided to spontaneously celebrate this within the blog. I nag my children and grandma nags me! In fact ,the girls are so lucky to have many family members from the diversity of my background that just adore them. Aunts and Uncles of sorts that all think they are smashing and spoil them rotten! Family is a word that is often associated with genetics and in my case I am rich with family, just thankfully these poor people are not genetically connected to me, which is a positive for everybody! There is something in learned behaviour here though to maybe take a look at, because I am definitely as stubborn as Grandma and I wonder where I got it from. I was just thinking today that it is so amazing how my foster family have taken to the girls and embraced them as their own. Joan adores the girls, as do Peter and Doris and this simply makes me smile. My children may be short on genetical connections from my side, but they are rich in people who love them and think they are scrumptious! Having a great day and these were my thoughts over coffee this morning.....

She did it!

Anna did it! She conquered her fears and went to football club and tried something new. She was slightly reserved, but once she started really went for it. I stayed and watched her and was very proud of her for having a go in circumstances that could have easily gone the other way, as most of the boys who were there were bigger and already knew each other. I was of course, over enthusiastic parent on the side line cheering her on. What remains to be seen is if we can get her to go next week by I have to say I am more optimistic of success than I have been in recent weeks. Strangely, the normally dependable and reliable Lucy, despite her growing years and maturity is now very worried about being on her own at swimming club on Monday evenings. Despite her protests, I know she will do it. With Amy and I having a constant balancing act to juggle with work and family life, we both realise that we ask so much of our girls and a bit more independence than most kids and I am extremely proud of them for the new experiences they usually take head on (most of the time!) I just want Anna to choose some of her own that she loves rather than this battle. Not to worry, slight progress made and we will see what next week brings...

What shall we do with a nervous Wiggle?

This is indeed the question on her parents lips of late. Anna is still struggling with coming out of her comfort zone and take part in new things or social situations and at the moment we are all out of ideas. At times, despite her gregarious nature she is still very insular and withdrawn from exploring new experiences. This was perfectly demonstrated today having booked her a ticket to her first ever football match and she really panicked when it came to her actually going. This morning we went through the tears, changing her mind and suddenly feeling sick. I know I must support her and guide her through this but I was so sad and disappointed that we could not share this time together, that I got cross and angry. Taking one of your children to the footy just feels like a real 'dad' thing to do. Amy  felt I should have just pushed her and gone with it and she was right as always. I was just so reluctant, as I had planned it in my head as a perfect day and had such high expectations and simply did not want it to go badly. I can be so prescript in how I want time with the girls to be and set myself up for a fall before we have even spent time together. With work and being away this time can be rare and I just want it to go well. This is not about me though, it is about building Anna's confidence. Oh well back to the drawing board....

Memories of 2013....

We took the girls out last night for a New Years Eve meal and whilst we consumed the lovely Chinese food (Lucy making a very loud and audible comment about the shocking speed of service!) we discussed what were our most memorable moments of the year. Lucy tabled our holiday to Cornwall, her birthday and meeting babies Ella and Evelyn. Anna whole heartedly agreed with our lovely holiday as well. My thoughts on this are slightly different - who can forget Lucy's comedy German accent song 'Coo-ee, my Coo-ee!' or Anna's RNB classic 'Ma Lady, Ma Lady'. My favourite of all was the conversation the girls had in the car when they created the 'Bum cheek leisure Wool'. You had to be there, but this was inspirational and hilarious original comedy.  2013 has at times, not been the best of years for me personally and Amy and the girls have kept me going and laughing. Happy New Year to all three of my girls and may 2014 bring us all much happiness, love and much more giggling!