Saturday 19 December 2009

The Countdown has begun

I did tell myself to attempt to blog at least a couple of times a week just to keep track of things around here but at the moment I seem to be lucky if I can blog twice a month!! Oh well nevermind.

Things are kind of all go here just now (pretty much like everyone else at this time of year!). The wee man is coming on leaps and bounds he can now get himself onto his hands and knees and rock but hasn't quite figured out how to do anything other than scoot backwards LOL. The wee soul is trying so hard and he keeps getting frustrated with himself that he can't quite figure out what to do to actually move forward. But his other new skill is this one

Obviously he can't get himself onto his feet but if you stand him up he will hold on for a good minute or so, then unceremoniously lands on his behind!

Slowly we're getting ready for christmas, nearly all of the presents are bought, just one complete present to buy that I just can't think of what to get!! Now I need to wrap everything, planning on doing that tonight accompanied by a small glass of wine (or 2). I've been on my 2 christmas nights out and Pete has finished work for the festive period.

The title is referring to my countdown til I return to work :( Everyone one else can't wait til they stop work for the holidays but all it means for me is that my return to work is coming closer. Only 3 weeks to go now, it's gone past so quickly it's hard to believe I've been off work since April!! And it's not the happiest place to return to at the moment what with the whole single status thing going on and so many people (including me) being faced with a fairly big cut in pay. But hey ho got 3 weeks to enjoy no stress and being with my little dude before reality hits me on 11 January. LOL

Sunday 6 December 2009

Zzzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiippppppppppppp!!!!!!!!

That's what has happened to the last 6 months, they have just zipped right by me in a whirl of smile, giggles, wee and poo!!!

This was my wee man at barely 2 hours old


And this is him at exactly 6 months old, sitting up.

He's got 2 teeth, he babbles away at times but most of the time he's a fairly chilled out little dude.

Thursday 19 November 2009

I *heart* schuh

I love going into Schuh and I've just spent a very happy 30 minutes or so drooling over their website at lovely things like this ...

Which are not a tad unsimilar to a pair of very gorgeous boots I used to own.

I was supposed to be looking for 'sensible' boots having slipped on slimy, muddy paths twice in the last 3 days but got sidetracked by pretty boots instead. There are lots of pretty, pretty boots *sigh*

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Gnashers

We have teeth!!! Not A tooth, no not just one single tooth, we have 2 teeth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The first one came through nearly 2 weeks ago on 6 Nov and we only had one night where the wee man woke up crying for about 45 mins and then the second one appeared on yesterday morning, at exactly 25 weeks old! No crying during the night but he was really unsettled and grumpy on Monday afternoon - no wonder! Can't complain though, my wee star is still sleeping through :)

Sunday 15 November 2009

Iwantthatone!!!


It's a new contraption thingy-ma-jig that when you put on the headset, concentrate you can raise the ball in the tube!!!! A definite must for all would be Jedi masters.

Where has the time gone recently? It's now the middle of november, I'm a whole year older than the last time I blogged anything and the wee man is almost 6 months old! And it's only been 2 weeks since I blogged!!?!?

Must get myself more organised and blog more frequently. So much is going on and changing that if I don't then I'm going to forget way too much.

Wednesday 28 October 2009

And I'm back!

Finally normal(ish) service is resumed :) I only had a cold for a week but I feel like I've lost at least a month, it's taken me so long to get caught up with things .... and there a still a few things to be taken care of this week, like 2 circle journals still sitting upstairs undone. I did intend to start them on Sunday but got slightly distracted by a small quilt which needed some attention! Oops, that is nearly finished though, just got the binding to do and then back to playing with paper and not material. Honest, guv!

Talking about lovely material I bought these two lots of Amy Butler fabric at the end of September and only just got round to giving them a press yesterday



I'm not 100% about the brown/pink material in the first pic, love the brown/orange ones just not sure if the other 2 really fit. But I am totally LOVING the christmas ones - just need to have a good think about what to make with it now. Even saw some really nice christmas decorations in B&Q yesterday that would go with these fabrics, loving green and white baubles and things. Very pretty, not too girly, not too sparkly, just lovely. Got an excuse to decorate the house a bit more this year too!!

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Cough, splutter, cough

I'm feeling yucky :(

Normal service will hopefully be resumed shortly.

Friday 2 October 2009

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Chillaxing



Yesterday was a crazy mad day. Baby stuff shopping in Glasgow with my 6 month pregnant sister, getting lost on the way home trying to find Hobbycraft, visiting the grandparents and then quickly home, auntie in to babysit for a short time while I left to go to an evening meeting for work. Home at 10pm and baby still awake.

So today was a day for chillaxing (I hate that word btw, but it is quite funny). The wee man took some time out to chillax with his homies; Winnie the Pooh, Shaun the Sheep and Doofus the Coo (who is actually a hippo - long story).

Monday 28 September 2009

Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'







We can roll onto our tummy ourselves! Yeehaw!!!!!!!

Saturday 26 September 2009

Rock n Roll


on a Saturday night!!!!! This was my kitchen 15 minutes ago at 9.45pm - notice the dishwasher is on, the washing machine is on, the ironing has just been completed and the sink is full of baby bottles waiting to be washed. Living the rock and roll dream I am. LOL

I'm now sitting down having a cuppa and love these lovelies.


I've gone all domestic goddess this week *in my dreams* and not only have I made cupcakes, I also made this beauty. It tasted pretty damn fine too :)


And I'm loving this magazine, normally I buy food magazines and usually only like 1 maybe 2 receipes but rarely get round to making them. I've made at least 4 out of this magazine so far and intend to try another 2 different ones this week. So it's been a really, really good buy.


We've reached another milestone today, our little smiler is 4 months old today :) It's strange, we were talking about it earlier and in one respect we can't remember life without him and it feels like he's always been here. On the other hand it's like the last 4 months have flown past in the blink of an eye. I want it all to slow down so I can saviour every bit of it.

Monday 21 September 2009

Econo Gastrono Dream


In a vain attempt to be an organised supermum *tounge firmly planted in cheek* for the last two weeks we have been tryng the 'economy gastronomy' principal of planning evening meals for an entire weeks, creating a shopping list and sticking to it. I've never really been one for planning my meals, always thinking 'what if I decide that by Thursday I don't want what I've planned for dinner?' but I'm giving it a go and it's been really good. We've stuck to it, I don't have to start thinking about what to make at 8pm every night (that's when I get an opportunity to prepare out meal, after wee man is in bed and just before Pedro gets home about 9pm). I'm actually enjoying cooking and eating again! And our supermarket shopping bill has reduced too which is a pleasant bonus.

The dreamy part refer to my recent attempts at dreamfeeding the wee man. He WAS sleeping through 8-7 from about 8 weeks until almost 3 weeks ago when he caught the cold. Ever since then he has been waking up anywhere from 1am to 5am. So at the weekend I decided to try giving him a dream feed. He never did take a lot of his bedtime feed, maybe 3-4oz, instead of the 7 he will take during the day but recently at bedtime he has only been taking 0.5/1oz and then waking up during the night hungry. The last 2 nights I've given him a feed at 10.30pm, he barely stirs, pop the bottle in, 7oz gone and back into his cot within 30mins. He's slept through til 7.30am both mornings. Yeehaw!!! Could be a fluke and I'm getting too overexcited about it but let's hope it continues :)

Sunday 20 September 2009

Finito'd

Wow it's been 10 days since I last blogged anything!! Bad blogger :( Boo hiss!!!!

Anyhoo in the last 10 days I have finally finished Euan's funky quilt


It's far from perfect but that's what makes it perfect, if you know what I mean. Who is really going to look THAT closely? The binding was a bit of a nightmare and took ages but it's done and it's been christened and is now being washed!

The wee man has come on in leaps and bound in the last week. He has discovered he can roll onto his left hand side so now instead of sleeping in his cot like this

We have been finding him in the morning like this


He has also discovered his voice this week and has been making a whole range of noises, most of which are hilarious and are accompanied with a special face!




Life is good and I'm not needed for jury service tomorrow, maybe the day after but not tomorrow!

Thursday 10 September 2009

Busy, busy, busy

How did it get to Thursday night? Last thing I remember it was Monday morning. Monday was a bit of wash out :( We had some lovely visitors but the wee man decided that he would go into meltdown mode about 5 mins after they arrived. This then set off our visiting baby and anarchy ensued! So what should have been a lovely visit catching up with a friend was cut very short and wee man howled for 2 hours!! Ah the joys of having an unpredicable baby!!!!

Tuesday me and wee man went a visiting this time and he slept - for hours. And hours! His sleeping pattern hasn't been the same since he had the cold last week and we're kind of all over the place at the moment. Shame too, he was sleeping through :)

I have already had time to do much to the wee man's quilt either but the back is done


Just need to quilt each block and then do the binding. That'll be fun, never bound a quilt before.

When going through my fabric I did come across this


I completely forgot I had started this small quilt. Still to decide what to do with the back but it's not very big so once I've done the wee man's I'm going to finish this one. I love the big fabric, it's kind of like join the dots but has lovely little houses on it.


My learn something new every day has also taken a back seat over the last few days. But so far this week I have learned that no matter what age you are, you can still cause chaos. Take for example my granda, who will be 91 this coming Saturday. He decided to open the emergency door in his care home, all because the glass said 'Break here to open'. So he did! LOL Nearly 91 and rebelling, you've gotta love it.

I've also relearned how to thread the spool on my sewing machine, without consulting the instruction manual! (because I misplaced it).

Yesterday I learned/was reminded that the pain of losing someone doesn't ever really go away. After 14 years you just find different ways of dealing with it. My mum would have been 63 yesterday.

And today, well today I have learned that I definitely stress far too much about the littlest things. And it's never as bad as I think it will be.

Sunday 6 September 2009

Slow down!!!!

Wee man is not quite 15 weeks old but he is growing so fast! Slow down boy!!!!! I've spent half of today sorting out his clothes and putting away the ones which no longer fit. There was a lot - they filled his moses basket, which he outgrew weeks ago :( I did have a little tear in my eye looking at the tiny sleepsuits he worn while we were in hospital and they were slightly too big, now they just look so small.

But he really is quite clever .........


His quilt is coming along great, I've given it a blue border. Hunted out my wadding and now I just need to decide what to do for the backing. Got a few ideas but need to make sure I've got enough fabric.


I've learned 2 things today. Firstly, turn the TV off during the day, wee man is spending far too much time staring at it and he is so much more responsive to us and interested in his toys when it's off. Secondly, people don't always act how you expect them to, not matter how well you think you know someone.

Friday 4 September 2009

Half awake

or half asleep? Whatever way you think about it that is how I'm feeling. After sleeping through since he was about 6 weeks the wee man has woken up the last 3 nights and it's beginning to take it's toll on me. Was getting quite used to sleeping an entire night. But he can't help it, nasty little sniffles have turned into a horrible cough that is like a bark :(

Having said that I have managed to finish my book

it was a really good book and had a little twist at the end that, I suppose was a bit predictable, but I didn't see it coming so it surprised me!

Wee man's quilt is coming along nicely



Decided that it definitely needs a blue border so hoping to get that done tonight, the fabric is cut it just needs to be pinned and sewn on. Then I need to quilt it, decide what I'm going to do on the back and then bind it!

What I learned from yesterday is that I can unload the dishwasher in approximately 1 minute. Multi-tasking at it's best, unloaded the dishwasher and put the dishes away while waiting for the wee man's bottle to heat up in the microwave!

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Lurgy

The dreaded lurgy has reached our house :( The husband has it and managed to pass it on to the wee man! So we've had an unhappy baby with a snuffly nose and a cough all day.

But that aside I've still managed to get quite alot done today, or since last night any way. I've started my quilt top and I'm pretty pleased with what it looks like so far. Slightly changed from the one it's based on as the patterns seemed a bit too fussy right next to one another so that is why I'm using the blue sashing between the blocks. Haven't decided whether or not I will put a border round it yet but there is plenty time.




The Learn Something New prompt today was to think about what you can learn from your home/about yourself, etc. My lesson from today is that I feel better if I can get outside at least once a day, even if I only hang the washing out.

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Where does the time go?

It's been almost a week since I blogged anything! How did that happen?

It's September today, autumn apparently. Well that's what the weather man said on the morning news. Been a busy day so far and it's only mid afternoon. Went into work for a meeting this morning and it felt good. Still only mid way through my maternity leave but you are allowed to do a certain amount of 'keeping in touch' days without it affecting your maternity pay so .... ch ching!! (hardly)

Today is also the start of Shimelle's 'Learn Something New Every Day'. Need to have a think about what I've learned so far. At the moment it's don't blog when you baby wakes up from his nap - he no like it :(

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Kindness, Stinkiness and Celebrations

Yesterday a very lovely thing happened. I was through visiting my sister at her quilting shop and had was sitting on a chair next to the open door after feeding the wee man, when a woman walking along the street stopped and said 'What a beautiful baby!'. She then went on her way!! What a lovely random thing to happen.



He may have been a beautiful baby yesterday but this morning he was a very, very stinky baby! Huge stinky, leaky nappy - I don't know if the sleepsuit will ever be the same again LOL!!!

And as for celebrations, well the wee man is 3 months old today :) and it's also my dad's 66th birthday. And he still hasn't retired!!! But he is recovering from some minor treatment for not-quite-but-almost skin cancer so we're going to visit him later on.

Tuesday 25 August 2009

Makin' stuff

Hopefully I'm going to turn this pile of fabric ........


into something similar to this ...........


This quilt was a lovely gift from Lynz and we love it and use it every day. We use it so much that I really need another one to use when this one is in the wash - baby has a tendency to spew - lots!!

So now I need to figure out when I'm going to have the time to this and make christmas cards - well it is exactly 4 months away!!

Thursday 20 August 2009

Noo customers only!!!

Well is what my mobile would be aswell saying!!! It should look like this


but normally it looks like this ............


Arrgghhhh!!!!!! I hate my phone!

On a lighter note I was lucky enough to get a wee sneaky peak at my new neice/nephew yesterday when I went along to my sister's 20 week scan. Apparently she is having a very cute baby, according to the sonographer!

Wednesday 19 August 2009

We're on the move ......... and breaking the rules!!

Well nearly



wee man enjoying a little bit of tummy time - normally he's starts crying after about 2 seconds so this was rare!!

My rebellious side is starting to show it's head again, so I must be getting back to my old self!! I've been thinking about all the 'advice' which is doled out to new mums by the tonne load and to be honest it messed with my head in the first few weeks but now we've found the best way for us so I'm breaking the 'rules' by

a) not breastfeeding - it just didn't work out for us
b) making up bottles in advance - none of this daft make a bottle when you need it, I like to leave the house occassionally!!
c) heating up out bottles in the microwave - common sense prevailed and a hungry baby gets fed quicker!
d) moving wee man into his own cot, in his own room - if I waited til he was 6 months old it would be harder for both of us, now he's in his room not quite aware of the difference and I get to read in bed with the light on!!

And despite breaking the 'rules/advice' I've got a happy, healthy, contented wee boy who now weighs 14lbs and sleeps throught the night = RESULT!! So I must be doing something right! Apparently there was something on GMTV this morning to say that breast isn't best after all, Pedro recorded it for me so I need to watch it to find out more.

Right, now I need to figure out how to grow webbed feet! Will the rain EVER stop?

Monday 17 August 2009

Beginning to feel normal

I had thought that I was on top of everything but the last few weeks have been a bit weird. Been finding things a wee bit difficult but slowly I'm beginning to feel like me again. We've had a few monumentous things happen in the last week,

No.1 - Euan is now sleeping in his cot, in his own room
No.2 - He is sleeping pretty much 12 hours at night (woo hoo!!!!!)
No.3 - We went to the cinema on Saturday night to see Harry Potter - together, just the two of us, childless. It felt really odd but the munchkin was asleep before we left and was still sleeping when we got back, didn't wake once much to his auntie's delight!


This was Euan trying out his cot a few weeks ago - he's soooo tiny! But he loves it, he can stretch out to his hearts' content.


Just signed up for a scrapping class during September - maybe that will give me so inspiration to make something soon.

Thursday 30 July 2009

Different Perspective

I love this song and baring in mind the tone of the rest of her album, I took this song to be about a relationship breakdown and everything that goes along with that.




However, a friend recently told me that someone they knew used this song at their mother's funeral. Sadly their mother had passed away at a very young age and very, very suddenly. Having also lost my mum at a ridiculously young age (48) I can empathise with my friend's friend. I was driving along the road today listening to this song and I was virtually unable to see where I was going. The words really do fit the situation and I definitely have a different perspective about the meaning of this song now.

Tuesday 28 July 2009

A better day

Today has been so much better than yesterday :) I wasn't so tired, wee man wasn't so tired and we didn't have any screaming matches at all today - big reliefs. In fact we were so much happier - see



I've been making cards too! Thought I'd make enough thank you cards but it turns out 50 wasn't enough!!! So had to quickly make another few, just like this



I'm starting to get my creative mojo back and have got a few ideas of things I want to make but one thing I have promised myself is that before I start any big crafty project I need to get this finished



I can't actually remember when I started this cross-stich but I do remember it was when we lived in a different house! (we've been here over 3 yrs!!!) This is what it's supposed to look like - not really got much to do to it have I! I must get this finished before I start anything else big. I must, I must, I must!

Monday 27 July 2009

Too early

I've been up too long today already and it's only 8am!!!

Wee man woke up at 4am - that I'm happy with, he slept since 8pm last night so a good 8 hours. I've just been unable to get back to sleep since then and the little eating machine will be awake very, very soon wanting fed again.

Might manage a quick catnap at some point this morning :o (fat chance me thinks!!!)

Sunday 26 July 2009

Smiling

Today has been a smiley day in our house. Wee man is 2 months today and he's obviously very happy about it ...........



And my favourite bit of today, wee man sitting up, (by holding on to Mum's thumbs) and loving it!



The other thing I achieved today was making cream of mushroom soup - from scratch and it was lurvely. Even impressed myself - incredibly easy to make and really, really tasty.