327.

It isn't called 'terrible two's' for no reason.
It's like Lileeva is playing with my nerves daily, pushing my limits further and further with her cheeky little smile and is waiting when am I going to give up.
The tantrums are getting worse and worse and the food misery is unbearable. I'm seriously dreading lunch- and dinner times, because she wouldn't eat cooked, 'normal' food, but demands biscuits, sweets and fruits.
I even stopped giving her treat like snacks throughout the day, between meals, only fruits and/or yoghurt. If she eats majority of her dinner, then she gets a cup of tea or hot chocolate and a slice of cake or biscuits before bed.
I hope this method starts to work very soon, because the lack of nutrients she takes in worries me a little.

326.

I've met possibly one of the worst health visitors, ever.
It was Lileeva's 27 month check-up, and I thought it will involve us talking about my concerns as well as they give me a guide how to sort them, like at all the previous health checks.
I mentioned this lady that I'm a little worried about Lileeva's lack of speech, and how fussy she is when it comes to food. (She's practically vegan, by choice.) I asked numerous times whether or not these are issues, considering that she's been raised in a bilingual family, and her height and weight is absolutely fine, so are her activity levels. The health visitor kept repeating, if I wanted to, she could refer us to a speech therapist and/or to a dietitian, but wouldn't give a straight forward answer.
Fucking useless.
I'm still thinking about the speech therapy thing, but due to my studies I decided a dietitian would just be a waste of time.

I've also noticed (Again.) how polite and nice Lileeva can be, comparing to other children at her age. She likes to share, and not the sort of kid that pushes others out of the way etc. With that said, I am teaching her to stand up for herself when someone takes something off of her, and it doesn't mean she can't be a real nightmare. Mostly with me though, not with other kids haha!

325.

I'm still alive!
It's not so easy to keep up with a blog (Or anything for that matter.) when you have a toddler.
Not even sure where to start...
Christmas, New Year and our mid-January trip to Budapest, plus the Rome-Budapest trip back in September... These will take place in a separate, photo filled entry. (When I can be bothered going through all my photos.)
Lileeva still isn't potty trained, but is definitely getting the idea of it. She keeps saying 'Wee-wee', pulls her pants down and sits down on the potty. In her nappies, and usually after she's done a wee, but hey, slowly but surely.
She understands everything, but still only replies in English. Lileeva isn't much of a talker comparing to other kids at her age, but she copies us and learns new words daily. She says 'Please!' and 'Cheers!' and uses other words purposely too.

As of me; I've been having bit of a mid-life crisis thing going on. Not only turning 27 recently and seeing more and more of my close friends becoming successful in their jobs and/or studies, but not getting pregnant again made me realise this is the time to sort my life out, no more tiptoeing around the subject. Long story short; I've recently enrolled to a college course. When I finish it, will enrol for a couple of others, and by the time Lileeva is school age, I will hopefully have all the qualifications I need to get a full time job. A job, I actually love and can practice for years.
That's it, a very brief update on our lives as of now.

(Note to self: When there is time, also sort out all the previous -and wrong- tags.)

324.

So the day has come. And past by quite quick actually.
Lileeva is 2 years old!
Lee got the day off work (Wednesday the 13th.) and I organised her a little get-together on her actual birthday.
Decorated the living room the night before, baked a massive Peppa Pig cake (Again.) and prepared lots of snacks, both for kids and for adults, as well as put toys out, and popping the secret weapon of bubble maker out at some point. We had a strictly music - no television afternoon with family and friends.

All her little mates could make it, some later than others - without good reason (Which I personally find quite rude.) but hey. Cousin Alfie, Loki, Virag, Giulia and even our upstairs neighbour Aoife turned up.
I had the annoying misfortune of deleting 30% of my most recent photos of my phone by accident, the ones of her birthday too. Bummer.
Still, here are a couple by others.

323.

Alright, so I know I've been missing in action, but I just felt the necessity to pop in and say, once again, without any bitterness or sarcasm, just like a stone cold fact; Hey boy, this is my everyday life.
Long story short, I haven't had 'baby free' time for a long while. I mean months. Time for myself. To update my blog(s), to have a long soaked bath, to do my nails, to organise and tidy bits around the flat, to look into very adult and important stuff like home swapping, nurseries, college, tax and so on.
Plus the issues of lately Lee not taking his part in parenting seriously again.
Hence why I asked him to take Lileeva out tomorrow for the day.
Now, he wanted to have a few, chilled out drinks tonight with me, which, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't too keen on, because I try to cutbl down on alcohol intake again. Either way, I agreed, and have had a few, after putting Lileeva to bed.
The time approached around 10 pm and Lee said he was going to bed, then and there, without doubt. I askes him why is that, considering he can stay up late(r) any other occasions. His reply was simple and straightforward: Because he'll have Lileeva all day, among lots of other, screaming, shouting, happy kids, and he didn't want to be tired.
Simple as that.
He -or anyone not having a child for that fact, who thinks a stay-at-home-mum's life is easy- never should wonder why we are, mums, are exhausted every day around 07pm, why is bath time a relief for us, why do we want to just sit and mong above a nice cup of tea or hot chocolate for an hour, and pass out at the end of each day, 11pm the latest.
That's our lives, that's what we chose, that's what we're committed to, that's what we're like and that's what we love.
And I'm grateful Lee is finally having a taste from it too, amongst his other, work related commitments.
(Side note: We have had another shaky time behind us, which I probably would've written about in details, if I wasn't rather focusing on keeping us together. It has passed though, luckily, and I can say, I'm 100% grateful again for the family I've got. They're truly the best!)

322.

Last weekend's camping was wicked!

Lee and his workmate Steve went to the campsite after their shift on Friday evening, while us girls joined them on Saturday afternoon. It was possibly the worst timing though, as was it just wouldn't stop raining all day. And I mean storm like proper rain. Needless to say, we got soaked. The camp wasn't even set up properly by the boys either, as they got drunk the night before. Ah well.

So our first night weren't amazing, but I enjoyed myself with a company of an entire bottle of Southern Comfort and Steve's brand new camping table and chair set, which I managed to fall onto and collapse it. Three times. Ho hum.
Lileeva slept surprisingly good in the tent next to me. I unfortunately can't say the same, but I'm slowly getting used to being non-stop sleep deprived anyway.

Sunday we were mainly wandering around in the forest, built our campsite properly and cooked. And drank. That was the official night we all supposed to get hammered, but I couldn't due to Saturday's madness. Lee, however, got smashed very quick and fell through the now fixed garden table, head first, and broke it proper haha!

Monday us three we went for a last walk, while waiting for Steve and Sabrina to wake up, then started to pack things up, pretty much straight away. Left around 02pm ish.
All in all, I enjoyed myself, and I'm pretty sure Lileeva did as well. She loved running off in the woods, picking flowers and berries and, of course, jumping in muddy puddles like Peppa.
And this weekend, we are off to Rome.

321.

I really have no excuse why not posting, apart from being lazy. I usually super drained by the evening and can't seem to be able to pull my thoughts together after putting Lileeva to bed.
During her daily naps I usually either do my training routine or have a kip myself.
Speaking of which, she's been sleeping a lot in the past few weeks, she's probably having another growth spurt.
She is a fussy eater, but eats well. Also a copycat, which comes handy when teaching her things. She's very independent, wanting to do everything by herself. She is stubborn too. Not sure where she gets these from. Cough.
I do still have my down moments when I think I'm a terrible mum, but coming across how some other people raise their kids keeping me reassured of the opposite. Alright, yes, I know parents whom take their children out many times daily... I'm not one of them, and to be fair, I started to see on Lileeva that she slowly starts to get bored of the nearby parks and playgrounds too. However, it still doesn't stop me to provide her a daily 'adventure' though.
But there are these parents that don't even think of taking their kids out to the park, playground or even to their own garden! Buying garden toys is out of question too. What the hell?! We only have a tiny balcony, but made the best out of it with artificial grass, a bench, a tiny paddling pool and toys and the door is always open for her. None of us made to be between the same four walls 24/7.
So to speak, I try not to beat myself up if I have a chillaxing day spent indoors a couple of days a week. Tops.
This Saturday Lee is taking her to see his aunt, next weekend she'll be staying with Lee's mum because we are off out of London for our anniversary. On bank holiday weekend we all be going to the woods for camping with Lee's workmate and his fiance, then afterwards us three are off to Rome and Budapest. We took her to Cornwall last month, and last week we went to Essex for a day to see my friend and her son, and also, I try to get around to my sister-in-law's with her weekly.
Considering all this, I think we are doing parenting well and making our toddler's life as interesting as possible.

320.

Went away for a spontaneous family mini holiday to Cornwall earlier this week.
We stayed at Hayle but visited St. Ives and Land`s End too and traveled through Penzance.
It was amazing to say the least. The weather was beautiful, the sea is breathtaking, the people are the kindest I`ve met lately. After our 5 days of heaven, arriving back to Lilevrpool Street on a Friday afternoon peek time, where if you`re lucky people just look through you, buts most likely kick your pram/suitcase/feet was pure disgust. The combination of that, and the five long, hot and airless hours spent on the train made me almost beak down in tears. I came to realise how much I actually hate London and not sure if I wanted to stay here on the long haul.

The holiday itself was nice, even though you can`t really relax when you have a child. Lileeva was an angel when she decided to be content and well behaved, but was a monster when she got bored and overtired. Which happened quite easily unfortunately. This put Lee on edge, and that put me on edge.
We didn`t argue much, but I did have the amp of having to look after Lileeva the majority of times, after all that`s what I`m doing at home too. I`m still not sure though Lee realises how much being a stay-at-home mum sucks the life out of you on a daily basis.
Anyways, we did have our wonderful moments, and for that, the trip definitely worth it.

On Monday, my friend Sanyi, who now lives in Plymouth was waiting for us in the train station. After packing our luggage we ended up in a pub`s beer garden which was looking right at the sandy beach and had a playground for kids. Perfect.

Tuesday we took the bus to St. Ives. It reminded me of Edinburgh with it`s highly touristy atmosphere, tiny beautiful streets and the sea view. Only the weather was better, obviously. Met with Sanyi later and had a mini BBQ outside our chalet. Was delicious.

On Wednesday we took the Cornwall tour bus from St. Ives. Visited St. Michael`s Mount which is a castle on top of a mountain in the sea, which you can get to by walk if the tide is low or by boat when it`s high. Then we went to Land`s End, the very corner of the UK. Just beautiful. Words can`t really describe.

Thursday was our lazy day, spent on the sandy beach. Lileeva didn`t really enjoy the sea, but Lee got over his fear and went in all the way, swimming. He got quite burnt too, while I scrubbed up a nice little tan myself.

All in all, it felt like we were on some tropical island, anywhere but within the UK`s boarders. It was magical, and we are definitely going back again at some point.

319.

Wow.
Today morning I woke up half an hour later than usual, went for a pee, took my medications, chugged down a bottle of water, made a cup of coffee, sat down and turn my (New and amazing.) laptop on. Sounds pretty ordenary, right?! Wrong, when you are a parent.
This is how the start of each of my days look like: Get waken up by the baby monitor, at least 5-10 minutes before Lee`s alarm would go off, rush to the living room, sort it out (Candles away, toys out, cartoons on.), get Lileeva out from her cot, make her breakfast while putting the kettle on, chugging my meds down with the water, feeding the under-my-foot annoyingly meowing cat and preparing Lee`s lunch. By when I could sit down to enjoy my coffee, Lileeva is usually done with her breakfast (And all over me.) and the cat is done with her usual morning poo so I have to clean the litter. And I still didn`t have my morning pee...
The point is: This was a nice, peaceful morning. One of a kind.

It`s television parenting day ahead us, which I hate, but I have to stay in all day, waiting for a massive delivery I need to sign for and can arrive and time between 8am-6pm. Thank you Argos for being precise with your timing. I was going to get a drawing board for Lileeva for days like this but was out of stock everywhere nearby. Contemplating buying a scooter for her too, I know she`s yet little, but is very much interested in them.
We had a few nice days over the park lately. Not particularly on the super sunny days, more likely on the warm but cloudy ones, when the playground wasn`t crowded. I like to just leave the pram in the middle and let Lileeva run about, be as independent as she wants to be and be able to keep an eye on her.

She is also saying `poo poo` now, after each time she does one. She sometimes even brings the potty out or just points at it, but wouldn`t sit on it, just when she feels like watching her cartoons from the throne. Slowly but surely I suppose. (No, still didn`t look into how to potty train properly.)
On this note, we are giving up the reusable Bambino Mio nappies. They served us well for a year and a half, but potty training (And life in general.) is sure as hell easier with disposable ones. Will save them though, for our future children, if there`ll be any more.

318.

Lileeva says 'Morning!' now.
Wish hungarian was a little easier so she could say a few words on that language too. But blatantly, 'morning' ('moanin') is easier than 'joreggelt' ('yo-rag-guilt') haha! Soon hopefully though...
I put a photo out of my mum and nan next to Lee's parents' picture, just so Lileeva looks at them daily too, and hopefully in September when we're going for a visit she won't only recognise but will too remember them. She keeps pointing at the photo and kissing it, so sure she has some kind of memories of them?!
I found out recently that one of our family friend is pregnant with a girl, so I've given out most of Lileeva's old stuff that I were saving for baby number #2. It just doesn't seem to happen right now (I'm getting fairly regular periods again actually.) and they were taking over lots of space, so this seemed to be the best option.

I've been absent lately again, because there is nothing significant to write about and I don't want to flood this blog with personal issues, but here's bit of an explanation.
Basically once in a year me and Lee seem to have this massive argument mainly due to him not talking to me on a regular basis, letting things pile up in him, and wanting to solve them with splitting or taking a few weeks break. Then he changes his mind, decides to stay and everything is fine for another year. It's like he gets his period once a year and becomes super moody and aggressive instead of opening his mouth and communicate with me on a daily basis.
Also, I'm pretty sure he thinks I became a bore because I don't anymore get off-my-tits-crawling-home-the-morning drunk whenever I've got a chance, unlike him. Having an obsessive personality is hard, but finally I'm managing to put all my energy into positive things, such as health. Whether or not it's boring for some.
That's about it, going into further details isn't even important.
So it was bit downer of a time, hence my lack of activity here.
All is good now though.