It's official- I have one of my own now!!

It's finally happened, Beth has turned 13- aarrgghh!! I am officially mother of a teenager. I feel like it should be a momentous occasion, given her behaviour on some days in the past 2 or 3 years, it's surprising she made it! 13 years ago I gave birth to a bouncing 9 lb 13 oz beautiful baby girl and now she has bigger feet than me, can very nearly eyeball me and weighs half of the amount I do.
What is really scary is how alike we were at this age. My friend Lorna (met at age 11) keeps reminding me when I moan about what Beth is up to, that I did the same things when I was 13! In the early hours of this morning(2.45am to be precise) I had to go and tell Beth and her two friends that the level of noise was unacceptable, they didn't hear me or notice me to start with, they were giggling too much! Apparently they stopped talking sometime between 4 and 4.30am! What they didn't appreciate was how much noise carries especially when they are directly above you! It did remind me of a time when I had a teenage sleepover with Lorna and maybe Rachel too. I had a resurgence of energy about 4am and started doing some impressions including Sarah Ferguson and laughing so much I couldn't breathe. I seem to remember Lorna trying to shut me up with a pillow- so I can't complain about Beth really!

Anyway Beth's friends had gone by lunchtime and we had a fairly quiet day until Lorna and Beccy and their children arrived for Birthday cake at 4pm! We went to Pizza Hut for Beth's Birthday Tea(we can't print out any special deals for elsewhere at the moment 'cos our printer is being very silly and annoying!) which was fine, even though Beth wanted to go to Pizza Express! Until we told her she had to share a pizza with Isaac... She became a teenager in front of our eyes- 'it's not fair, I never get to choose' etc etc She then asked Isaac what he wanted which turned out to be a Hawaiian pizza the same as her, which was all wrong apparently. So she sulked... It turned out all right in the end, especially as she got to share a adult sharers portion of Profiteroles with her Dad!

We came back home and watched a film called 'Meet Dave', quite amusing! At 9.18 pm Beth turned to me and said 'that's it, now I'm a teenager' and grinned at me! At least we didn't have any arguments or strops about belt loops today!!! Don't ask, more random teenage facts another time. By the way, why is it I haven't managed to finish any of the 3 books about teenagers that I bought ages ago??? I'm feeling ill-equipped for the task ahead...

Oh and for anyone who heard me moaning on and on about Beth demanding an I-Pod Nano for her Birthday (does she not know how little the diocese give us to live on??), we didn't buy one, well couldn't anyway. Luckily for her, she has managed to accrue enough Birthday money from everyone else to buy one and even though it goes against my principles, we've decided that she can spend her B.M. on one, pray that she doesn't lose, drop or break it in the first month!
Must go and catch up on lost sleep...

Still alive and kicking...

I have realised how utterly rubbish I am at doing this whole blogging thing. I am currently facing some large 'time-management' issues and do not want to go to bed after midnight again tonight... However I am still alive and kicking (just) and really really busy, but hopefully will find time to catch you all up soon!! This week so far looks like this:
Mon - providing childcare for nearly 3 year old all day/relationship course in evening.
Tues - Coffee with a SPICE friend am / Bible Study with Thirst group pm / Cake Decorating Course eve
Weds - Art Group am / Cooking for Youth Cluster
Thurs - Lead Lent course at SPICE am/ Ridley Communion eve
Fri - Thirst Cafe Church am / Food shopping pm
Phew! add into that at some point cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking, helping kids with homework, ferrying them around to clubs, exercise (said in hushed tones) oh and I'm supposed to be re-starting Psychology A-Level (they've changed to a new syllabus!)I couldn't fit work in! Anyway the midnight hour approaches - more soon!