This morning I had decided we were going to go shopping. As I mentioned in my previous post I wanted to go to M&S in one of the other malls. Pen told me last night he had to be up early so I asked if he could drop us at the mall, to which he replied he would. I woke up Pen at 10 a.m and asked him how long I had to get myself and the kids ready before we had to leave. He said he was leaving immediately and I asked him if I could just have 5-10 minutes to get the kids ready. I told him I would be as quick as possible! He said ok, so I rushed around like crazy, got DJ ready first, then myself and then Abigail. I went back in to Pen and he was back asleep. I woke him again and told him we were ready. He told me that his alarm was on snooze and he would be up soon.
I took the children in the play room but Dylan was getting really upset because he knew we were going out – we were all set to go out but we weren't moving and DJ kept saying 'big shops mummy, slide mummy!' - I'd already told DJ where we were going and he LOVES going out so he was getting really upset when we were just hanging around. After 15 minutes I went back into Pen and again and asked him what was happening. He got angry with me and told me I had to work to his schedule and he was not ready to get up yet. I waited a bit longer but by 11.15, even I had had enough! I got the kids, bundled them in the pushchair and got a taxi to the mall.
We arrived at Metropolitan Mall at about quarter to 12 (an hour and a half after I planned to get there) and as soon as we arrived I asked DJ if he wanted to go to the play area. He said 'No mummy, no slide, nuggets, chips!' Damn it! I knew I had forgotten something. In my haste to get out of the house, I had left Dylan's lunch box on the side in the kitchen so as it turned out DJ had his wish and we had McDonald's instead. After lunch, I popped into one really cool shop called 'Archie's Gallery' which is a gift shop. It's really lovely and has some nice things but the only problem is you can't get the pushchair around the aisles. It's only a small shop so I left the pushchair with both children in it and I had a quick look around. Dylan got out and tried to make a run for it so I had to strap him in the pushchair then Abi started crying so I had to take her out and carry her … it was just so hard to shop! Anyway, I picked up a few bits and then we left.
We went straight to the play area and DJ was the only child in there. He had lots of fun on the slide and the ride on cars etc. As soon as I put him in there, I made sure he was happy and then I took Abi and we went upstairs to the Beauty Salon on the 2nd floor. I asked if they did eyebrow waxing, which they said yes so I manoeuvred the pushchair around the salon to the back where they told me to sit. When I saw the chair, I was confused as I always lay down to have my eyebrows waxed. I looked at the woman and said 'waxing yes, no threading'. She replied 'no, threading only!' I figured this was my chance to get my eyebrows done so I sighed and said 'how long will it take?' she told me less than 5 minutes. So, I took a deep breath, sat down and had them threaded. I hate having threading done as I find it so much more painful than waxing, but as she said it only took a matter of minutes and it was done. The bonus – it cost Rs.40 which is about 50 pence!!
I went downstairs and popped into Marks and Spencers – they didn't stock any nursing bras, which was a big disappointment so I went to check on DJ in the play area. He was quite happy but as soon as he saw me, he asked to come out. I called the taxi and asked if he could come and get us. He told me 15 minutes … that was at 1 p.m.
So I had a bit of time to kill – I went into a large shop called Shoppers Stop and had a look around and then we stood in the entrance to the mall and I called again. He said he would ring me back in a few minutes so I waited. While we were standing there there was a small group of Indians nearby. I really didn't like what happened next … the woman and a small child stood in front of me and the children and the man held up a camera to take their picture. Before he took it, they moved out the way to the side so that he ended up taking us. He then took a second photo of us (I am sure of this as it flashed). I called across to them 'If you asked to take a photo, I would have said yes, there's no need to do it without asking!' The man shouted at me 'I was not taking you, I was taking behind you!' So two things – why were the woman and child standing there for a few seconds so it seemed like he was taking them? And secondly, behind me was a McDonald's sign and a watch shop sign … hmmm interesting photo! It really makes me angry because I never say no when people ask to take photos of the children but when they do it slyly, I think it is SO rude!! And then to deny it when it was so obvious what he was doing … not right!!
It had now been about 25 minutes since my first phone call, so I called the taxi guy back again and asked where he was. He said 'coming now, go outside'. So, I took the children and we walked out the mall and down to the main road. The only problem with MGF Mall is the traffic coming into it for parking. It's always chocca so I said I would walk down to the main road so it would be easier to pick us up. We got there and there was no sign of the car! We waited and waited and waited! Lots of autos and other taxis stopped to try and pick us up but as I had arranged a driver, I decided to wait. We were approached by a street beggar, who I told to go away and before anything else happened I saw a whole mob of them literally running towards us!! I pushed the pushchair really fast and walked along the main road past the mall away from the beggars. Thank goodness they got the message and didn't follow me.
I phoned the taxi again – by now it was 1.40 – 40 minutes since my first call and 25 minutes since I was told he would be here. Another taxi pulled up and I gave my address and he said 'yes, yes 200 rupees'. I asked him if he knew where I wanted to go and he just kept saying yes and pointing to the back seat. I asked him 'Where am I going?' and he replied the same again 'yes, yes' and pointed to the back seat. I told him to forget it! I'm not going to get into a taxi when he has no idea where we were going. Then another taxi pulled up and I got him to bring us home. He drove like a MANIAC! You should have seen Dylan's face especially when we got to our road which is really bumpy and badly damaged after the rains. He just raced over all the bumps and the kids and I were rolling around in the back and bouncing up and down! It was horrible!! Anyway, he got us home safely and quickly so I paid him and we got out.
We came upstairs and it was just after 2. I had actually thought it was 3! I thought it was an hour later than it actually was and I had been racing to get home in time for Raj Kumar when there was no need!
As soon as we got in, I stripped off all three of us, got us all showered and into fresh clothes as we were all incredibly hot and DJ was filthy!! DJ watched some tv and had some juice while I put Abi to sleep then I got DJ tucked into bed for a nap. They were both exhausted.
Raj Kumar arrived and I think he was a bit shocked at the state of the house. With all the running around, it was chaotic! There were dishes everywhere and the play room was a mess and there was my washing hung out everywhere all over the dining room. Luckily, with both children asleep I was able to tidy up my washing, which made a huge difference. Raj Kumar is great though – nothing fazes him – he just got on with his work!
While the children were sleeping, I caught up with my mum on Skype which was lovely. I love Skype – it's so wonderful to be able to see your family while you are talking to them! Abigail slept till 4.30 and DJ woke up just afterwards. While I was on the phone to my mum, I started cooking the dinner. We had roast chicken, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes (as DJ doesn't eat roasts), carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and gravy! Yummy!
Isaac and Alex came over at about 6.15 and Alex sat with the boys while they had their dinner. I took Abigail and went down to the local shop. We were nearly out of water and he had no delivery boy to send a 20 litre bottle upstairs. So, I put Abi in the front of the double pushchair and then went and bought a 20 litre bottle and put it in the back of the pushchair to bring home. When we got back, the boys played while Alex and I had dinner. Then I bathed both kids and put them to bed.
Abigail went to sleep at 8.15 and then I went into DJ's room to settle him. While I was talking to him, Abi woke up and I had to go and feed her. I told Dylan I would be back and we would clean his teeth and have a story once I got Abi back to sleep. I went into Abi's room and started feeding her and then DJ started crying right outside the door. He was crying and calling me, so I laid Abi in her cot and she started screaming and I went to see DJ. He was saying 'teeth mummy, teeth'. I thought if I quickly clean his teeth just with water, he will be happy and I can do it properly after I get Abi to sleep. Dylan, as sharp as a button, said 'No Mummy – toothpaste!' so I had to clean Dylan's teeth properly. All the time we were in the bathroom I could hear Abigail crying so I took DJ back to his room, tucked him in and went back to Abi. I finally got her back to sleep again at about 9 and then went back to DJ who was still awake. I tucked him in a third time and came out of his room.
I came on Skype and started chatting to my dad, which again was really lovely! It's the next best thing to seeing my parents – seeing them on the computer! At about 9.45, DJ came out of his bedroom and said 'please mummy peas' which is really funny because he can't say 'please' he says 'peas' so he was actually saying 'peas mummy peas'. He went into the kitchen and came back with a handful of peas (in the pods). He sat next to me and starting podding them and eating the peas. My dad couldn't believe it – he was asking about DJ eating vegetables and I told him – he eats carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, corn – he's really good like that!
Pen walked in the front door at 10 p.m and DJ went running to greet him. P was surprised that Dylan was still awake as normally DJ is asleep when he gets home. Anyway, a few moments later Abi woke up so I went to see to her and Penri put DJ to bed (before having his roast dinner). I think it must be nice to come home and have dinner waiting for you; it's just a shame it's such hard work to cook with two little ones. I have been much better recently though – making more effort to use my oven to not only cook, but bake! :)
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