I have been tagged by Kylie from Not Even A Bag of Sugar and invited to share with you 7 Things About Me, so here goes …

1 – Before being a primary school teacher I worked for the British Consulate in Germany

When I was growing up my father worked for the Government as a civil servant supporting British Armed Forces abroad.  For the last years of my childhood, all of my teenage years and young adulthood we lived in different towns across Germany.  I always went to British schools but often mixed with German friends and neighbours.  I loved Germany and the best years of my life, before meeting David, were spent there.  I loved it so much that when my parents finally returned to the UK I decided that I would not be leaving with them.  I got myself a job in the British Consulate in Dusseldorf, working in the passport section.  I was part of a great team, working in German and in English. I loved my time there and it enabled me to make new friends while also keeping my old friendships with the soldiers on the barracks where we had lived.  I finally left Germany when I was 24 years old.  I came back to UK to go to University and train to be a teacher.  I have never looked back but I do remember fondly my days working as a Passports and Visa Clerk.  I learned a lot about international law and my German came on so much from having to use it everyday at work and also in the running of the little flat that I rented all on my own.  I loved living on my own.  And for a time I was very alone as all my friends were sent off to fight a war in Bosnia.  I used to walk home from the tram each night through town, I would eat in cafes and restaurants alone with a book, it was a peaceful existence and when my friends were home from their tours of duty we had a ball!  Germans sure know how to party and we made the most of their hospitality.  I made one of my best friends during that time, Debbie Shillinglaw, who I am still in contact with now, though not nearly enough. And made another good friend, Cheryl, who sadly I have lost touch with now.  Good times!

2 – I can’t stop eating fajitas!

Before doing IVF David and I ate a lot of pasta in sauce.  We did not eat nearly as much veg as we should so when we started our treatment and I knew that we needed to eat more healthily I discovered that fajitas were a great way of eating lots of vegetables.  We have fajitas at least once a week now and when we were going through our cycles probably more.  In them we have onions, garlic, chillies, peppers, mushrooms as the main ingredients but often I will throw in tomatoes, spinach, celery.  Also with the mushrooms we do not just have one sort but a variety.  I love mushrooms!  Fajitas are one of life’s guilty pleasures!

3 – I once wanted to be a hairdresser

I am not sure what age I was when I had this plan, but I know that I planned it out in detail.  I had no desire to cut people’s hair I wanted to be a salon manager, a salon owner.  I do have vague memories of writing to people to ask if this would be possible.  I remember planning out a budget and what the salon would offer, what it would like etc … I can only have been 9! I know that I planned it all out in a little exercise book whilst staying in England with my Nan and Granddad.  Funny what we think we will be when we are young! This was one of my many plans and dreams, but that is a whole other story!

4 – I got teased at school for being hairy

I am very lucky never to have been bullied at school, not as a pupil at least! Again another story for another time.  I was never bullied but I did get teased and I think that the whole thing could have been avoided with the help of my mother.  I was teased at school for having hairy legs and during one very low period for having under arm hair.  I have always loved swimming for as long as I can remember and at the start of secondary school we swam Y7 and Y8 together.  The Y8 boys used to tease me as when I swam you could see that I had long hairs growing under my arms.  It was horrible, awful and has stayed with me for the rest of my life.  I had a real complex about being hairy into my late teens when I realised actually that it just did not matter.  The Y8 boys were pretty nasty and I hated it.  I began to hate swimming the one sport that I really enjoyed and was actually rather good at.  I also used to always wear really long skirts to school at the start of secondary as my legs were so hairy.  It was a shame really as I was quite a skinny little thing and I used to hide under baggy clothes until one day I asked my Mum if she would help me to shave my legs.  Then I started to wear short skirts to school, cycling shorts (eek!) for PE and I generally became much more body confident.  It is sad that I had had to go through all the nastiness first to get there.  I guess it was character building but it did not feel like that at the time.  I hope that my daughter will not have the same problems, in fact I will make sure she does not.

5 – Though I love swimming I cannot dive and I don’t know why

I really do love swimming – in the pool, the sea and lakes.  I love to swim.  I love the water.  But for some reason I will not dive head first into water.  I used to, I have clear memories of diving in at the start of a gala race but these are quickly shadowed by the memories of me starting races in the pool, too scared to dive.  Because of this fear I was always at a disadvantage in races but I often still won.  Think how much better I would have been with a racing dive start?!  I am not scared of being under water.  I love swimming along the bottom of the pool or the sea.  I am faster under water.  The fear is of my head hitting water and I have no idea where it came from.  It is an irrational fear that will not go away.  But I will keep trying especially now with children of my own as I do not want them to be scared of water.  I do not want them to be afraid of anything.

6 – I won a talent competition in 1987 at Haven Holidays

When I was 9 years old we went on a family holiday to Cornwall.  It was great!  Nan, Grandad, Aunts, Uncles and cousins.  It was a really cheesy family holiday filled with fun.  Each night in the club there was some form of entertainment.  There was a band I remember loving called Ice Trax?  The songs that remind me of this holiday are Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance with Somebody and Spagna Call Me, oh and We Are the Ovaltiney Little Boys and Girls???  Anyway, each week they had a children’s talent show and they had some very well rehearsed acts in it.  My sister and I thought we might enter together singing Neil Sedaka’s Breaking Up is Hard to Do.  We rehearsed a routine and everything!  But for some reason we decided against.  A decision I was happy with til just before the competition started.  I wanted to be on that stage!  I started scribbing down a poem on a piece of paper and then rushed up to the front to ask to be  a late entrant.  I was allowed, I was entered, I read aloud the poem I had written not 5 minutes before and I won!

I do not have a copy of that poem and I cannot remember a single word but I do remember feeling very proud of myself.  The following night, because I had one this contest, I got to play Little Red Riding Hood in a play that was put on.  My cousin, who won The Young Tarzan competition was in it too.  I am certain he was a tree and did the sound effects, but I may have remembered that wrong!  That was a great holiday! 

7 – I used to pretend that my middle name was Patrick

Yes indeed!  Jennie Patrick Nairn.  This was to do with a game we used to play when I lived in Cyprus as a child.  Something to do with the letters in your name being called and then you could move forward.  You were trying to be the first to reach the caller?  I am sure it was something like that.  Anyway I always seemed to lose because of the lack of variety of letters in my name and so I gave myself a middle name.  Bizarrely and for reasons I know not of I chose the very feminine name of Patrick!  Oh to be young again!

So there are 7 things about me.  Now I need to choose some people that I would like to know more about, people who have not been tagged with this already.  Could be quite tricky!

I choose

Some one else who has a new blog

http://thisisme-sarahmumof3.blogspot.com/

One of my favourite and most inspirational reads

http://www.sleepisfortheweak.org.uk/

A blog with values I admire

http://www.herewearetogether.com/

Thank you again, Kylie.  And thank you for writing such a wonderful blog that is definitely my most read and the one which I can really relate to.  Thank you for such brilliant writing and a sometimes challenging read.

http://notevena.blogspot.com/

Love was a topic for The Gallery blog hop before I knew it existed but so inspired am I by The Gallery I am working my way through previous topics and old photos to create entries of my own.

Thank you Sticky Fingers for the inspiration.

Here are my illustrations for LOVE!

Love is trust

Love is laughter

Love is challenge

Love is facing the world together

Love is strong

Love is sharing

Love is hard

Love is adventure

Love is pride

Love is fulfilling

Love is enjoying each other

Love is growing together

Love is commitment

Love is ambition

Love is support

Love is passion

Love is friendship

Love is all encompassing

Love is freedom

Love is independence

Love is as old as time

Love lasts

Love changes

Love demands

Love develops

Love endeavours and endures

Love engages

Love is enormous

Love is minute

Love is touching

Love is watching

Love is embracing

Love is climbing mountains, chasing rainbows and realising dreams

Love is life

Life is love

Love is love

The Gallery was started by Sticky Fingers and is a popular blog hop that I love taking part in!  If you do not know what it is I have included some details below.

Every Friday I give a prompt, an idea, a notion and you go out and take a photograph using that prompt. Or just use a photo you already have.
The prompt could be one word, an object, an idea, a phrase, anything, and you have to post a picture which you feel represents that prompt.
Post it on your blog and write about it.
That’s it.

It’s not about taking technically brilliant photos – although if you do, I’d love to see them too. It’s about having a passion for pictures; any photos, all photos whether you took it with your all singing all dancing SLR or snapped it on your camera phone.

This week’s topic, Children, is a great topic for me for The Gallery.  I love children!  My own and the ones that I teach, my nephews, my cousins and the children of friends.  My Goddaughter.  For safety and confidentiality reasons I cannot post pictures of my pupils on here but I hope that these children will make you smile.

I loved being a child and have many happy memories of being young and carefree.  Most of those memories are shared with my sister who is captured here and many with my cousins, Paul and Glen.  I do not have many photos to share but I hope that these few show you a bit of what I was like as a child.  Pictured below are my children whose childhood is my main focus now and ensuring that theirs is as good or much better than mine.

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life’s seasons.  ~Author Unknown

In childhood, we press our nose to the pane, looking out.  In memories of childhood, we press our nose to the pane, looking in.  ~Robert Brault

It is never too late to have a happy childhood.  ~Tom Robbins

THE STAR THROWER – For our little Star x

Our Little Star

A man was walking along the beach when he noticed a young boy apparently picking something off the ground and throwing it out into the sea. As the man got closer to the boy he saw that the objects were starfish. And the boy was surrounded by them. “Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?” he asked the boy as he approached. “If these starfish are on the beach tomorrow morning when the tide goes out they will die” he replied. “But that’s ridiculous!” cried the man. “Look around you. There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. How can you believe that what you’re doing could possibly make a difference? The young boy picked up another starfish, paused thoughtfully, and remarked as he tossed it into the sea “it makes a difference to this one.”

Author Unknown

http://nairnnicujournal.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/hello-world/

The link above will take you to my actual first post – Labour Day – but I have blogged about that recently so instead I want to take a look back at my second post, Blue Monday.

http://nairnnicujournal.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/blue-monday/

This was the day after the twins were born.  David and I had been home to sleep the night but had been up every couple of hours trying to hand express colostrum which we collected in syringes for our precious new babies.

When we arrived on the NICU both babies were bathed in blue light, they were undergoing phototherapy for jaundice.  We had not been expecting this, we did not know what it was, what it meant.  So many questions needed asking and answering.

For David and I it broke the adrenalin rush that had got us through the last few hours and we cried the tears we so badly needed to cry.  We did not understand what was happening or why it was happening to us.  What had we done to deserve our babies being in so much trouble?  Why were they struggling?  Was it our fault?  We did not know what we should be doing for the best, we just wanted someone to tell us what to do.

Standing by an incubator, staring at two babies you yearn to hold but cannot, that you are destined to protect yet cannot is heartbreaking and that raw emotion is still with me now when I think of those horrible first few hours, days and weeks.  You get on because you have to, your priority is the babies that we we now finally have in our arms but I do wonder what lasting damage that time has had for us, as individuals, as a couple, a a family.

I wish that in my first post I had conveyed more of the emotion that we felt at that time and I wish I had posted a photo of how our miracle babies appeared to us that day, bathed in the blue x

Welcome to the world Esther and William.  Youa re our world and we will love you both for always x

To answer this question properly I need to mention a series of people, each of whom played a similar role in my life. The first is Rachel who ran Gillingham Youth Spotlights many years ago, the second is my 4th year junior teacher Mrs Foster, the third is Lynette Burroughs my GCSE Drama and A Level Theatre Studies teacher and the fourth is Kath Langley-Hamel my English tutor at university.  Each of these women were exceptional at their jobs and each of them noticed something in me that they helped to develop.  They each inspired me and led to me enjoying my greatest hobby – acting – and my chosen profession – teaching.  They each fuelled my love of reading and encouraged me to enjoy the magic of stories.  These are the people from my past who have influenced me the most and I thank them with all my heart.

Rachel King

When I was 9 years old my family moved back from Cyprus to our hometown Gillingham, Kent.  I started back at school with my old class that I had not seen since I was 6 and I joined the local drama group, Gillingham Youth Spotlights at the Parochial Hall (picture above).  My first role was as one of the children in The King and I before being spotted by Rachel as a potential talent and chosen to audition for one of the Von Trapp children in The Sound of Music.  I was successful in that audition and loved playing the role of Louisa in the musical.  Through all of this I idolised Rachel.  I have no idea how old she was at the time, I am guessing between 18 and 23?  She had curly hair, pouty lips and always wore long flowing skirts which in my memory were always brown.  We started every drama session with a meditation and visualisation exercise which was led by Rachel.  Her voice was mesmerising, I loved listening to it.  She could really paint a picture in your mind with her rich, gentle tones.  Rachel was really good to me and she noticed during The King and I that I had a good singing voice so one day when no one else was in the hall she asked me to stand on the stage and sing to her, which I did.  She said, “I knew that you had a good voice under there!”  I have never looked back, she told me to audition for The Sound of Music which I did and won the part of Louisa.  Since then I have played lots of lead roles in pantomimes and muscials and my belief in myself to do this was definitely started by Rachel.  Rachel also influenced my younger sister Julie’s amateur acting career.  When casting The Sound of Music we were struggling to find a Gretl.  I clearly remember one little girl auditioning who when asked to sing Do Reh Me, sang Don’t Blame Me. Very cute but not what Rachel needed.  At the end of one rehearsal evening my Dad was waiting for me at the back of the hall with my 6 year old sister in his arms.  Rachel saw her and just said, “Who’s little sister is that?!”  Our Gretl was born!  I hope that one day I will run a children’s drama group like Rachel and that I too will be able to help some children realise their talents and achieve their dreams.

Rachel now runs http://spotlites.co.uk/

Mrs Foster

Mrs Foster was my fourth year junior teacher at St Barbara’s School in Wulfen, Germany.  She was wonderful!  She, like Rachel, encouraged my love of singing and drama.  She cast me as Mary in the school Nativity, Only A Baby.  A visiting music teacher, Mr Parfitt, led that production but I know that it was Mrs Foster that ensured I play Mary.  In assemblies and music sessions Mrs Foster encouraged us all and ‘fostered’ our talents and enthusiasms.  Mrs Foster also helped me with my creative writing, praising my stories and poems.  I remember one poem that we had to write from a starting line given by Mrs Foster,

What’s in Santa’s sack

Heavy on his bright red back?

Mrs Foster was the teacher that first made me want to be a teacher myself and it was the way she read to us that did it.  For years when reading I Am David, The Silver Sword and Children of the Oregon Trail I would see Mrs Foster’s lips when reading.  I used to love watching her and listening to her read.  These three books are still my three all time favourites and ones that I always share with classes of my own, books I chose to write about at University too.  I owe much to Mrs Foster and feel sad that I do not know where she is in the world anymore and I would love to see her again and thank her for setting me on my way.

Miss Burroughs

Lynette Burroughs taught me drama and theatre studies.  She introduced me to Brecht and Stanislavski and she lead me to love the theatre the way I still do today.  In my theatre studies class there were only 6 of us and we were a close group that worked hard and were lead by Miss Burroughs.  She also cast and directed the school plays and she chose me to play Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors which I loved.  Miss Burroughs was the reason I settled on becomng a teacher.  I wanted to be just like her.  I still do.  When I chose my teaching degree I chose to focus on primary but when I return to teaching I may follow my heart and my dream to teach secondary English and Theatre Studies.  Thank you Miss Burroughs x

Kath Langley-Hamel

Kath was my tutor at St Martin’s College, Ambleside.  She taught English, my subject specialism on my Primary Education degree.  I used to talk to her a lot about my work and my worries.  She always had faith in me and believed that I would be a good teacher.  She told me that it was okay to worry and because I was worried she knew I would do well because of the care and throught that I put into my work and my teaching.  It was Kath who told me, as the end of our course drew near, that I had acheived my dream of getting first class honours in my degree.  A very special moment, getting such brilliant news from someone I looked up to so much. Someone who for me has really made a difference.

These are the people who have influenced me the most, my past, my present and I am sure my future. 

This post is written as part of the Bloggy Moms Blog Dare.

I am once again joining with Mummy from the Heart’s link up sharing my reasons to be cheerful.  I love having this little review each week though I cannot believe that yet another week has passed!  We say in our house that it always seems to be bath time and now equally it always seems to be the time of the week when I am sharing my reasons to be cheerful.  Time flies when you have twinnies on your hands!

And so to this week’s reasons – again I had many to chose from and I know how lucky that I am to be able to say that.  Even through the red mist of sleep deprivation I do know how lucky I am.

Esther and William love baby rice!

This week we started weaning as Esther and William are very nearly 6 months old and William, in particular, seems to be very hungry!  We started on Sunday with their 11 o’clock ish feed.  They did not have very much but they had fun trying to eat it.  William has had baby rice every day since but we have had to stop with Esther as she is having some toilet trouble!! I am going to just use baby rice for another week and then start to experiment with fruit and veg purees for a week or so and then start to follow the Gina Ford weaning book as I like to have a structure to follow.  I am quite excited about it all really and it is definitely a reason to be cheerful.

William and Esther are becoming aware of one another

This week I have been sitting them opposite each other and they have been smiling at each other in a very flirtatious kind of way.  William cries when Esther is upset and looks very thoughtfully at her whenever he is near.  He is also starting to get jealous I think when he feels that she is getting too much attention!  I love that they are becoming so aware but sensing that there may be problems ahead if one feels they are getting less attention than the other.  I do so hope that as well as brother and sister they are going to become life long friends.

My ever thoughtful family and friends

Firstly Francoise has made me cheerful with her very thoughtful gifts of clothing sent from France.  A dress for Esther with little stars as we call her Little Star and a cardigan for William in the style of one I bought for his Daddy at Christmas.  Thank you Francoise for making me smile x

Had a lovely time and a good, LOUD, laugh with my cousin, Lyndsey, today.  Was great to spend some quality time with her and introduce her to Esther and William finally.  Hope to see a lot more of her as the weather improves and cold and flu season begins to fade x

Michele always makes me smile and keeps me sane, she is always a reason to be cheerful and this week she put up with me at my most tired and grumpy, and she is still coming to play again tomorrow. Thank you x

I also want to say that my Facebook / Bliss Ladies are a reason to be cheerful.  They support me all the time in making decisions about the twins.  They advise, and sympathise and are just there as a support network which I appreciate with all my heart.  This week they have been particularly helpful with diagnosing and treating Esther’s constipation.  And no, as we enter Day 12 she has still not been!

And finally, David.  After a week away I am so glad to have him home, and though I hate that he works so hard I know that he does it for us.  I love him so much and I could not do this without him.  I could not and would not be without him so thank goodness that, mostly(!), he makes me cheerful.

These are my reasons to be cheerful this week, what are yours?

As I want to write posts that are relevant to the parenting community I thought that I would get some inspiration from BloggyMoms.com and participate in their Blog Dare challenge.  We are already a good way through January and so I am going to pick and choose from the January prompts and then join The Blog Dare completely in February.  I am really looking forward to joining the challenge and have been inspired by some of the very powerful posts that I have been reading from other Mummies.  I hope that my writing might inspire someone one day too.

The first prompt that I am going to follow is What is Your Resolution for 2011.  For this I refer you to an old post that I published at the beginning of the year, my January TO DO list which is my compromise on resolutions, setting achieveable targets over a realistic time frame.

So what were those targets and how am I getting on?

Encourage William to take a bottle

This is something that I am definitely working on but with a lot of resistance from William.  He woul much rather go to the breast and is not at all impressed or cooperative when Daddy, or Mummy for that matter, tries to giv him a bottle.  His sister on the other hand will guzzle her milk down in any shape or form but for William, clearly breast is best.  This is making achieving target number 2 something of a struggle!

Make Time for Me

Obviously I have time to blog which is time I cherish when the babies are sleeping, I have also enjoyed a couple of very, long hot showers recently and a couple of short lie ins, but anything more than this just is not possible until William will take a bottle or is weaned!  My plans for a soa day are firmly on hold for a while!

Read a book and not Twilight AGAIN!!

I am reading a lot but mostly dipping in and out of baby books and blogs.  I have Room by Emma Donoghue to read which I am really looking forward to and a whole other pile of must reads sat gathering dust.  A bath with a book sounds like a good idea.  I might try that this weekend!

Spring Clean and Sort Baby Things

I have started to do this.  I washed the kitchen floor last week and seem to be constantly washing and sorting clothes.  David has agreed that we can get a cleaner which will make this target much more achieveable!  We may also get a dishwasher and a tumble dryer which will make more time for other chores.  Seems such an extravagance but is more of a necessity with the twins!

Get dressed everyday and Go outside everyday

I would say that I do this most days, weather permitting.  The current burst of sunshine is making me more keen to get up and go!

Start and Sustain Healthy Plan

This is most definitely underway with strict portion control and cereal bars as substitutes for chocolate.  Have started to lose a little bit of baby weight so I must be doing something right.

Still a way to go with these resolutions but I am doing my best to stick to them as I know that they will lead to a more positive year for us all.

Check out The Blog Dare posts to see other people’s resolutions and whether or not they are sticking to them.