Michael's Three Year Update.

On the 5th of April, Michael turned three!

Apologies for the quality of this video. It was done on a really rubbish programme that made me make everything tiny. His fourth birthday video will be awesome, I swear!

Michael is: Loud, passionate, strong, stubborn, hilarious, witty, intelligent, kind, empathetic, happy

Michael likes: Elsa, Paw Patrol, choosing his own name each day (usually either Mikey, Mooster or Smellsa), pretending to do magic, Peppa Pig, singing, dancing, making people laugh, playing dress-up, complimenting people, saying 'I love you', family, sausages.

Michael dislikes: Anger, bedtime, broccoli, saying goodbye

When he was two, Michael: made us laugh again and again. Began potty training [and seems to have basically finished now he's been three for a few weeks]. Stopped being anxious in the mornings. Speaks like a big boy. Knows his own mind. Enjoys art. Made best friends with Tilly the puppy. Learned to sing.

April Showers.

April is strange in this house.

Our home is decorated with two lots of balloons, treated to two birthday cakes, it watches as two children excitedly tear open gifts. And yet both of our fathers died in April, so every balloon and cake and gift is tinged with a little bit of sadness because they never met these hilarious little monsters who are growing up and up and up before our very eyes.

Now that we are students, April has also become known as panic month. The month of GO GO GO before our May exams and deadlines and then, somewhere around mid May, it all just stops.

It is a Saturday morning and I'm laying in bed, because Saturday is my lay-in day. My head is full of a thousand things. Some trivial and mundane, some gnawing at me. I am snuggled in my duvet but there's a gorgeous April breeze creeping in through my open window. I am warm, cocooned in doughnuts, but the air is fresh and cooling. Today, the April breeze is my friend. My saviour. The children's birthdays in a month of grief. The light at the end of the exam tunnel. Whispering "it will all work out in the end" to every worry, every niggle, every concern.

April is a funny old month.

But this year, I think we can handle it.

Image source

A Pledge.

You guys, things are so crazy right now.

I'm working on my dissertation proposal at the moment, but the next month is just BOOM, BOOM, BOOM and it's making me feel kind of anxious. Between now and the 20th of May I will have completed three written assignments, two presentations, ran a focus group, compiled and analysed data for a project and sat three exams. That's just University. Never mind my work schedule and my personal life! It's times like these that I sit, paralysed, wondering what the hell I have done by piling so much on to myself. 

As with last year, the blog has no choice but to be my last priority, and that makes me sad. I am getting into vlogging more so maybe I can take my camera with me whenever possible, but that still leaves me with hours of editing to do - so we will see.

Things to watch out for from Busy Little Fee in the next month:

• Some friends of mine will be popping on to this blog to say hello.
• Michael's birthday vlogs.
• Paige's birthday vlogs.
• A cute little outfit or two.
• A brand new hair colour.
• An exciting total blog and brand makeover!
• I am working behind the scenes, pushing myself a bit more into networking and advertising.

So while life isn't going to be the most exciting around these parts for a little bit, I hope you guys can bear with me for the next six or so weeks - and then we'll have sunshine, fun and hopefully lots of cool stuff to share with eachother! Busy Little Fee is going to get bigger and better this summer - I'm super excited you'll be along for the ride!

Sharing Assembly.

Well, since I blogged about Paige's sharing assembly last year, I figured I'd go for it again!

Guys, I was so impressed with how well she did. She had a couple of speaking parts and she was clearer than so many other children - and opted not to look at her notes for one of them. They performed a dance routine to Thriller, which I did capture on video but I won't share on here because it features other peoples' children. Honestly, I don't think I'm biased here - girl got skillz. She's got amazing rhythm and it was so awesome seeing her commit to a role. I bring up the notion of dance or drama classes/clubs every so often but she just isn't interested unfortunately. Perhaps as she gets older she'll be more interested in the idea.

It lasted probably an hour before we had to rush off, but we did manage to get a picture! We were pleasantly surprised to see her Mum's boyfriend there with her, and we took a picture of the three of them together, then they returned the favour. It's really nice to see him beginning to make an effort and I hope it continues because Paige really deserves the best of the best.

She read a sample of some homework they'd done, and we heard about all of the things they've learned; letter-writing, science [learning about whether or not something is soluble], and a whole host of other things. As always, the best part is never what she learned: it's seeing on her face how proud she is of herself.

Well done, Paigeypops! We love you!

Stuff and things.

I've been feeling totally lousy for near on a month now, catching one infection after another since having my tooth removed, and being totally run down - hence the blogio silence. All the spare energy I've been able to muster has gone on the children, work and university work; James and I have been passing these illnesses back and forth so we're just trying to prop eachother up enough to carry on, picking up eachothers slack when it's needed.

The super annoying thing is that I've been desperate to get out and get some pretty outfit pics taken, I've got a bunch of ideas for the blog and I haven't had the energy to do anything about it. I have the odd day of feeling good. I've been trying to go to uni as much as physically possible (four hours of travel time a day is literally painful when you feel like this, so some days I have put my health over my studies I must admit) and in one brief illness interlude I was even able to meet up with Daisy, Tanya, Sharon and Kerry for a pancake breakfast of a Sunday morning. I was too ill to play with Mikey in his first experience of snow, and it looks set to snow again this weekend when I am yet again too poorly to run around and play in it. But hey, I'm alive!

I've got a handful of assignments coming up and its been SO hard to focus on any reading when your head is throbbing and there's a toddler whining in your ear. The work/life balance is so hard when you're a student with children, especially as I am doing a placement, working from home and also taking part in the URB@N project this year, and its only going to get harder. I've been trying to say 'yes' to the kids more, instead of blowing them off because I've got much more boring things to concentrate on. Just this afternoon Michael asked me if we could do some yoga together, so I decided to just go for it and actually it was quite fun (and I was impressed with his skillz!). My chest didn't thank me, but Michael did. I need to keep reminding myself that that's what matters.

16 in '16.

The concept of 16 in '16 is simple; an opportunity to sit down, reflect on the past year and think about what things we did well, what things we'd like to do better in the future and, more importantly, what things we'd like to achieve in the coming twelve months.

Regular readers of BLF will remember that I'm not one for New Years Resolutions as such - I don't like the idea of setting unrealistic goals and filling life with unnecessary pressure - but I do love any opportunity to take stock and motivate myself with some realistic goals. So here they are: 16 things I'd like to achieve in 2016. I don't think they're unrealistic or unreasonable, and I definitely don't think they're too overwhelming. If nothing else, I can't believe that this time in a year I'll be ready to start my final term of University before I graduate! Say whaaaat?!

A three bedroom house
This is kind of an ongoing goal, really. We're living in a two bedroom, second floor flat at the moment. While it's great and we really appreciate having a family home (especially as we were awarded this house after a couple of months of homelessness at the end of my pregnancy), the kids are two and nine and it's really stressful to have them share a bedroom at such different stages of their lives. On top of this, we'd love to have a garden. Not only for the children, but we have three animals living in this flat who we would love to have easy access to the outdoors. In all honesty I think this is the most unattainable of my goals this year, because private rent is far out of our price range and there is a real limit on what is available in public housing in this area. We'll keep trying for swaps, but not many people want to swap a three bedroom house with a garden for a two bedroom flat three floors up.

At least one A
In my first year of University it became a bit of a running joke that I would get straight Bs for everything, and I'd really love to be able to push it just that little bit higher and get an A. Last year I was really disappointed every time I got a B because I'm such a perfectionist, and because I desperately wanted to prove I was good enough to get first class honours. I've had to realign everything in my head though; I'm a Mum, a wife and I have a job as well as University. If I have to spread myself between those things, maybe its okay not to be perfect. But at least one A would be nice.

Write the kids a book
We almost did it this year, but by the time the idea was solid in our minds we were almost out of time. Basically, we want a Christmas book for the children. I will write it, James will illustrate. We have an idea for a very specific Christmas adventure featuring members of this family, and I hope to get it written up when I have more time over the Summer.

Vlog at least twice a month
I've been enjoying putting vlogs together recently, but its not something I'm in a regular habit of doing. I figure twice a month isn't too much pressure. And hey - if I don't do it, who cares? It's meant to be fun, and I don't want to ruin it for myself.

Have draft of dissertation by the end of 2016
Here it is. The big one. I'm in quite a lucky position because I already have my idea in mind for my dissertation; I've even bought new stationery for it and done some very primitive research. I'd like for the next 365 days to be spent doing small amounts of work on it regularly, so that by the end of the year I have a complete draft and I just need to tweak over my last term. Let's be honest, it won't happen that way. But its always nice to have a goal. 

Make plans for 2017 home education
I spoke in the past about the possibility of home educating Mikey, and the more I have looked into it the more I have felt that it is the right decision for our family. I have joined some Facebook groups, made friends with some home educators and looked through various resources and now I am confident that it would be a positive lifestyle for Michael. Now it's time to start collecting my material. I also need to work on my patience. That's a worry of mine.

Manage finances
I also spoke this year about money traps that I just kept falling in to. This year I need to be more responsible with my money; plan ahead, stop with impulse buying. I have started a birthday list in Evernote where I'm planning ahead what I want to get people for their birthdays instead of picking up lots of little presents so they have loads to open. Quality over quantity in all aspects of life.

URB@N - Nail it!
This is quite an exciting development (for me - not for anybody else!) in in terms of my University career. URB@N is an undergraduate research project ran by my University and I have been selected to represent one of the projects. I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say online, but I will be working with a really cool history website to create an online exhibition, as well as working with students to find out how the University can make online research more accessible to them. It's a really cool sounding project and an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone, throw myself into a project and hopefully get something awesome to put on my CV (as well as receive a bursary for the pleasure). I know it sounds crazy to put something else on my plate when it is already so full, but I feel like it's a waste to let an opportunity like this slip by. I won't be in University forever - if not now, then when?

Sit down as a family for dinner once a week
It's a bit crap that I even need to set this as a goal really, isn't it? Back when I was working full-time, I didn't get home until 8pm so I always ate late. We're still in the habit of making something for the kids, getting them off to bed and then making something for ourselves when we're able to relax and enjoy it together. While it's nice for us to have a kid-free (and therefore stress-free) dinner each evening, I understand it's important for the children to be able to sit and eat with us. So at least once a week we will sit together. I won't set a day. because I have quite a few late nights at University until the Summer. But I will definitely do it at least one day a week.

Learn five new recipes
I just feel like our range of dinnertime options is getting a little stagnant. James wants to buy a pressure cooker in the new year and get rid of our slow cooker - it's so heavy and cumbersome to wash, a pressure cooker is quicker to cook things and easier to clean. Along with that I want to learn some quick and easy recipes that the whole family will enjoy. Part of eating later than the children is also cooking two different meals every night. I'd rather offer lots of little things (cold meats, olives, salad, breads, cheeses, pasta salad) so that things are quick and easy to make, we don't get bored of what we're eating and I don't have to re-do everything later. That way, the kids can plate up their own food and take ownership over how much they eat. No more staring at full plates and moaning they don't want to eat it if they plated it up themselves!

Wardrobe overhaul - quality over quantity
See? Quality over quantity in all aspects of life. Instead of buying cheap bits and bobs on eBay which are ill-fitting and fall apart after a few wears, I want to gather quality pieces of clothing that I totally love and which fit like they were made for me. I am so done with the majority of plus size brands (more on that at a later date...) so I want to seek more independent plus-size retailers. Sure, it might cost a little more. But it's important to support small businesses, and you know your clothing was made with passion and not just the drive to milk you for cash.

Fashion blogging
With nice clothing comes the opportunity to blog about it! I want to get out more to take more outfit pictures. I really enjoyed my first fashion post last month and I got a really good response from readers, so I'd like for that to be something I can continue next year. Plus, what better excuse is there to buy more dresses?! Yes please.

Work on my brand
I've got a big overhaul of this blog coming up, including a totally new design and hopefully a new feature or two that I think you guys will love. Once my new design (and therefore new logo) is good to go I want to get myself a set of good quality business cards and work more on getting my name out there. 2015 has been awesome for me in terms of establishing myself on the body positive and plus size scenes, so I just want to build on that more and more wherever I can. This will also include attending more events!

Help other people more
In the last few days I have received some amazing messages from fellow bloggers about the impact my body positivity (particularly on Twitter) has made on their lives. That feeling is just immeasurable. I'd like to team up with more ladies this year, offering more positivity and hopefully helping more people see the brighter side of life. That's what it's all about really, isn't it?

Topcashback
I've set myself a little goal to use Topcashback for every online purchase possible in 2016 and see how much money I can make. I have set the release date for all cashback I earn as 1st December 2016 so it will be a little bit extra in my account over Christmas time. I've been using it a month and have made £30 so it'd be nice if I had £100 or so by Christmas 2016. If you'd like to get in on the action and earn cashback on your online purchases, you can sign up here! (Not sponsored, but I do get cashback for referring somebody - and you will too!)

See more of our family/friends
This is just standard really, isn't it? The majority of my friends live in 'internet land', so I'd like to be able to meet up with more of them on a more regular basis. I've already got a pancake breakfast date set up for next month, which is awesome! Our family members are dotted all over the country too, so it'd be good if we got to make a trip or two to see some of them this year. My family 700 miles away are maybe a bit far, but my in-laws live in Dorset so a trip to the seaside definitely needs to be on the cards this summer.

I'd love to hear your 16 in '16 if you have one - and either way, I hope you have a happy new year and a wonderful 2016.

What my friends would like to achieve in 2016
Obviously our goals won't always be in sync with eachothers (although sometimes they are!) - good luck to each and every one of these gals. Whether their idea of a perfect 2016 matches mine or not, I hope they fulfil all of their wishes for this year.

Charli, Kerry-Ann, Tanya, Katt, Kitty, Becky, Vicky, Cathy, Becky, Lucy, Nikki, KJ, Charlene, Murder of Goths, Daisy

Fun Life Stuff!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Today Jay and I went to give our notice of marriage. Of course, we only brought Jay's driving license and not a birth certificate, so he's had to schedule an appointment to complete his notice next week, but I am all legally ready to get married! The nerves set in a little bit today when I thought about just how much I would have to say in front of people, but hey. It's all good!

We've had a pretty rough couple of days. The car failed its MOT and was going to cost £250 to fix, so after scraping the money together to get the necessary things done they discovered our head gasket had all but gone and threw another £700 on top of the bill. Needless to say, the car wasn't worth fixing. We're looking at cars now, and have been so so lucky as my Mum and Step Dad have let us borrow enough money to buy a better car than we normally buy and break the cycle of spending £500 every summer on a car that has no life left in it. Thanks, guys! We've got our hearts set on a couple of seven-seaters with roofbars so we're good to go for car boot sales in the area. Wish us luck!

Our summers have both been spent looking for work, too. Jay was pretty jammy this week, being offered four interviews - one of which he only popped in to hand in a CV and they ended up taking him into the office there and then (while I waited in the car wondering what the hell was going on for an hour!) and offering him the job on the spot. It's a delivery job so he can't start until we have a car, which is why we were so gutted when it was declared as good as dead, but luckily they're really keen for him to start there as he gelled so well with the staff and they're happy to wait for him! So lucky! And while my search got me nowhere except pretty down with myself, the website I currently work for are starting up a new section and are offering summer jobs which pay more per hour than I'm actually on for my regular job. So I've put my name down for 20 hours a week - so we've both achieved our summer goals of part-time jobs! 

Everything's coming up fee-house.

Just life and stuff

My first exam, which was for American history, actually went really well yesterday. We had to choose two essay questions and I ended up going for one about cultural conflict in the 1920s and one about political paranoia in the Cold War. I was able to write and write on both subjects, there were no points that I had to stop and think "oh God, what do I write now?!" so all in all I'm confident that I've passed and am now up to 40 credits towards my degree! (The first 20 credits being from a module that has no exam, though I'm yet to actually receive my average grade). I got home and we celebrated by having our friend Kathy come over - our Thursday night get-togethers have become somewhat of a tradition! - eating KFC, doing the Time Warp and booking tickets to see Rocky Horror Picture Show in Birmingham next January, as a bit of an impulse buy. I'm really looking forward to it, though Lord knows what we're going to do about childcare.

Today it's just more revision, really. I have a Women's History exam on Tuesday which I'm really looking forward to, and then Blood and Iron (origins of the first world war, essentially) which I'm not so much so need to really brush up. I've been watching Crash Course videos every day so I at least feel like I've got SOMETHING to say, and holla! I feel like I can finally explain the July Crisis.

On Saturday the 16th I'm having a tooth extracted by conscious sedation as it has crumbled away at the teeth on either side have already began to migrate together, making it a bit tricky to come out. And then my final two exams, Holocaust and then Kings and Confessions (all about early modern Europe) are the 18th and 19th. I'm a little worried about the little time available from the 16th to the 19th and how much pain I'll be in/how much I'll feel like studying so I really need to knuckle down and feel confident by Friday the 15th I think.

And then I'll be finished! 120 credits down, 240 to go! I'm not sure when we get our exam results, I'm really hoping not to have to do any re-sits - aside from the obvious, the re-sits are a couple of weeks before the wedding and it's the last thing I need to be worrying about while trying to plan our big day. Three months today, somehow. WHAT? 

This has been a ramble but I've got back in to reading blogs recently and it's been so nice to actually read proper lifestyle, not staged posts to see who can get the most hits and be the best 'brand'. So I thought I'd just throw in a bit of a ramble. I know I'll look back on exam madness and laugh. Or look back in 3rd year and cry into my dissertation, wishing for exams...

My first vlog!

The idea of vlogging always made me a bit nervous, but I thought I'd give it a bash with my trusty helper. It'd be amazing if you could have a peek and maybe even comment to tell her how well she did, she's "soooo embarrassed!"