BARGAIN BREAK

Back in February, the Sun Newspaper had the offer for £9.50 holidays. I'd never done it before but have heard many people who have, so thought I'd collect the tokens and send off for a long weekend break. You don't get to chose the date or destination but they offered us 21st October for 3 days at Haggerston Castle, near Berwick-Upon-Tweed, with Haven Holidays.

At the time, I was unsure when school holidays were so when I found out Luke's school were having an inset day on the 21st October that was even better!

We set off at 10am on Friday and arrived around 3pm, a 5 hour journey with a 4 year old was much easier than we anticipated, especially as we had borrowed a DVD player to keep Luke occupied.

We arrived at a sunny Berwick and although our caravan wasn't ready straight away, we were still able to use the facilities on the park. There was a fantastic arcade, swimming pool, outdoor pursuits area, restaurants and a shop on site. Also, there was a 9 hole golf course, boating lake and pony trekking. The children are kept entertained with many different activities, Luke enjoyed the Letterland treasure hunt, archery and especially loved meeting 'Bradley Bear' for breakfast and watching the evening entertainment shows.

We had a busy but at the same time, relaxing weekend (well I did as Luke was all for daddy again!) The site is also dog friendly so our family pet, Fizz came along too.

I'll definitely be looking out for the vouchers again for another bargain break, it was well worth it!

STILL WOBBLY

Since my last post things have not gotten any better. Luke is still not over enthused about going to school. Every day last week he uttered the dreaded words 'I don't want to go to school' my heart sinks every time I hear them and my only way to deal with it is to divert him with another conversation.

Once he's at school he is fine but then when I pick him up again he is like the devil child and refuses to listen to me and is having meltdowns over the slightest thing. For example, he had a hole in his jeans the other day and totally freaked out shouting and screaming. Also, he is running off ahead of me when we walk home from school and I spend my whole time yelling at him to 'Stop'.

On Thursday night, he woke at 10pm after being in bed for 3 hours and he just cried for an hour. He didn't have a temperature, he was just upset but we didn't know why. The only way we managed to settle him was to put him in our bed.

It's another Monday morning tomorrow and we all know how that feels. I am already dreading what it will bring. I have volunteered to read with the children and tomorrow is my day so hopefully that will cheer him up. The school breaks for half term on Friday and although I am looking forward to having my baby boy at home with me again, I'm also dreading battling with him trying to get him back to school after half term.

The joys of parenthood eh?!.........saying that, I wouldn't change it for the world!

WOBBLY WEEK

Luke had settled into his first week of school very well but this week has been a bit wobbly. He has had a few late nights due to my birthday but he's also been waking up in the night which is unlike him. Tiredness has taken its toll this week and going into school has been more of a challenge. I know he is fine once he's there but Separation Anxiety has always been an issue.

When Luke was around 3 months old, he totally rejected Mark at bedtime, it was a terrible time and very upsetting for us all. However, we took advice from the Health visitor who suggested we stick at it and not to give in and now and it worked!! Now Luke can't wait for his daddy to finish work and adores him. Its just another obstacle in the world of parenting.