We're naughty!

Jamie sat on the couch this morning, pointed at me and told me very seriously, that me and Daddy are naughty while he and Oliver are not! He said we were bad for taking the boxes back to the store! Oliver talked to me in a sad little voice, saying he wanted to watch George and Fifi and now he couldn't and that was bad!

The reason Chuck and I are in the doghouse? We got rid of cable yesterday! We took the 'boxes' back to the store. We have wanted to do this for a while, first of all cable can cost quite a lot and you often can't find anything to watch anyway, so we are hoping to save some money plus free ourselves from slumping in front of the TV every evening! So now we have just a few channels to watch and the boys are sad to lose Sprout, and the cartoon channel, they were just getting into watching Ben 10.

It's going to be hard for me too, a lot of my favorite programs have 'gone' although there are many of them available on http://www.hulu.com/ which is great. We joined Netflix last night too, so we'll have some good movies to watch on a Saturday night after the boys have gone to bed. Our next cost cutting deal will center on the phones, we may get rid of the land line completely, and it's fine by me, as long as I can keep the internet I am happy! I can live without TV and the phone, but not my connection to the entire world!!

So today the boys came home from school, they watched Curious George and Word World on PBS and now the cartoons are done. I have switched off the TV and they will have to go back to their games. The twins are great at creating long, action packed scenarios so I know their current disappointment about the TV won't last for long, although I am probably going to miss having a handy babysitter when it's vital for me to get something else done! It's a new era in the Wadge household, I am going back to reading in the evenings, maybe I will start knitting scarves now so I have a good supply for sale by the time the winter comes, and I can always mosaic the night away. We will survive and probably surprise ourselves in how little we miss watching that box in the corner!

Being a mum!

I don't normally watch TV during the day, but earlier this week happened to switch on Oprah and caught a show all about mums and the things they do not admit to or tell their friends. It was an eye opening episode!

I got married late in life, at age 45 and had children even later, at 51. I thought I was prepared for being a parent, that I had the maturity and patience to deal with children. I worked in a job I absolutely loved and planned to return to work after the boys were born, but I was totally unprepared for how much my life was about to change! First of all we had twins! I knew it was a possibility, we had IVF treatment after all, so I wasn't too surprised. Chuck and I brought the boys home and coped on our own, got the twins into a routine and settled down into our new life with children. Then I got laid off, three days before I was due back to work. It was a huge disappointment!

So Chuck went back to work and I settled into my new life as a stay at home mum. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and this is where that Oprah show comes in. Few mums I know will admit that being a parent is tough. None will tell you they sit their children in front of the TV to get a few hours of peace and quiet. That they don't bath their children every night, or even once a week! That teeth don't always get brushed for two minutes, or indeed every day! It was an incredibly refreshing and honest show. Being a mum is not always the most rewarding job in the world. It's hard, lonely, frustrating and boring! I love my boys, I couldn't imagine my life without them, but this is not all it's cracked up to be. That's why I so loved Oprah's show. It was honest and genuine and about time that us mums told it the way it was!

And I am going to 'fess up..........

I have done - and still do - use the TV to babysit my children!

I do not remember to clean their teeth every day!

They do not have 5 servings of veggies and/or fruit daily.

Candy is great for bribes.

They don't always get clean clothes or socks for school.

I sometimes tell them it's later than it actually is, so I can put them to bed earlier!

I don't give them a bath every day.

Wipes are great for cleaning faces, feet and sticking down unruly hair!

I do not get to shower every day!

I am not alone, there are millions of mums out there who are doing the same as I am. We struggle through the day dealing with tantrums and fights and whining. We don't get too much adult conversation and rarely get out of our t-shirts and sweat pants. We clean house, cook meals and do grocery shopping. There's always laundry lying in wait for us and messes to clean up. We make appointments for when the children are in school or on play dates, we spend our days rushing from pillar to post and back again.

At the end of the day, we all love our children dearly, we have all given up so much to have them and raise them! I wouldn't be without my boys, but it's so nice to know that I am not alone in my 'failings'. That I am not a bad mum, I am just someone doing the very best that I can! We should all be proud of ourselves!

How much is this going to cost?

We have bought our airline tickets for our trip to the UK and while we thought we got a great deal on them, the price was reduced by $150 per ticket about 3 weeks after we had booked. We couldn't do anything about it, so I have to let it go, although it's pretty annoying!

We are flying into Heathrow, and while that's nowhere near my sister's house - which is where we will base ourselves - we decided a non-stop flight would be easier with the twins. So we get on the plane in Denver, and get off in London. Seems like it will be easy! It's an overnight flight, so I am really hoping the boys will sleep for most of the way, I can only keep my fingers crossed.

Car hire is going to take a BIG bite out of our budget, the exchange rate is not favorable to the dollar right now, it's about $2 to the pound, so car hire for 3 weeks will cost almost $1000! It's pretty expensive, and don't get me started on the price of gas! I think that's around $6 per gallon!

We have to budget for hotel accommodation while we are traveling around. I am lucky in that I have lots of friends and family who have volunteered to put us up for the night which is amazing, especially considering we will have 4 year old twin boys with us, who have never experienced jet lag! It could be interesting and I hope we don't wear out our welcome too soon.

We are going to tour Cornwall, which is in the south west of the UK and is a really beautiful part of the country. Having lived near to the sea before I moved permanently to America, I miss walking on the beach, so I plan to visit every little cove and fishing village I can find. We will also make a trip to Scarborough and London, and while the boys may not be too interested in the museums, I think they will enjoy a boat trip down the river Thames and a ride on the London Eye.

How much is this going to cost? A small fortune!

But in my mind it's well worth it. I miss the UK, my family and friends so much. I want everyone to meet my boys and I can't wait to eat 'proper' fish and chips from the 'chippy'. The boys will have a great time on my sister's farm, they will get to meet their counsins and their children and will ride the horses and tractors and probably chase the sheep all over the place! The cost in monetary terms is high, but in emotional terms, priceless!