Week 9. First midwife appointment.

So today was a big day. My first midwifes appointment. This time, unlike all the others, I was on my own. John was looking after James as he is ill at the moment. So, most of the hours appointment was filling forms relating to my, Johns and our families health. Followed by a list of No Nos, which seem to have got longer since the last time. Bang goes the crafty McFluffy or Mr. Whippy. Bang goes the McDonald's milkshake. Since when was they on the list? I don't think I can last 9 months without a creme egg McFluffy. Another big whoops happen over the weekend. We went to a farm park, which had a petting bit. No petting the sheep or goats or cows or chickens. Whoops. No digging in the garden without gloves because of cat poo same with washing mucking potatoes!
Another surprised was a blood test, didn't expect that. Maybe that's a good thing because I'm not a big fan of them.
Apart from feeling sick after I've eaten everything (touch wood) seems to be going well. I won't truly relax until I have a scan picture in my hand.

First Steps

Penny took her first steps yesterday. Just 2 steps from my knees to the sofa. I don't even think she realised that she had done it. Of course, John missed it by seconds and she refused to do it again. Maybe she will be like James who took his first steps at around 10 months then did nothing until 13 months. We were beginning to think we have dreamt it. The on weekend Ros came down and he got up and walked to her, we were stunned.

Week 7

At the beginning of this week the worry had stepped in and I began to think I was no longer pregnant. The lack of symptoms were concerning me and I also have a bit of spotting. However, since then there has been an onslaught of tiredness and nausea and despite feeling like a zombie most of the day I can't help feel relieved that everything seems ok. With James I have hardly any morning sickness, I was just tired. Penny, I could eat or drink anything as it just turned my stomach. With this one it seems to be a bit of both. I eat loads and tend to feel sick in the morning and at night. The tiredness is the worst, I have just started working most of the week and I get in from work and just want to sleep. However, John wants to work, James wants to play and Penny want cuddles.

James' birthday bash.

Last week James turned 3. 3 seems very grown up. He birthday party was a success. There were 3 other children invited in the afternoon. They all seemed to have a good time. As it was in our house I tried to organise little activities for them to do rather than running round crazy. We had a sweetie hunt to begin with, followed by party hat decorating which Jessica loved. After a digger themed tea complete with train jelly they had pass the parcel. All the grown up got on well, in fact they didn't want to leave so the children had a good play as well.

His sit on ride tract8 and trailer went down well. As did Auntie Katies Hexbug set (Missy Slug). He got heaps of dinosaur stuff which is great because he is dinosaur mad. He is a very lucky and a much loved boy.

5 Weeks in and the blubing has started.

Oh dear.
It happened with the other 2 children but I had completely forgotten about it. Yesterday I was watching DIY SOS and the tears started and before I knew it I was reaching for the tissues blubing all the way through. My hormones are crazy at the best of times but while pregnancy they go in sensitive hyper mode. Even listen to someone win a competition on the radio sets me off. It isn't just sob story which make me extreme but the slightest thing can wind me up and set my off. I pity John for the next 9 months, but hopefully he will forgive me, I did for the other 2.

Unexpected News

Yesterday, I had a bit of a shock. I'm pregnant again. The baby is definitely wanted and John alwayed fancied 3 children. I think I'm still in shock as it is a lot sooner than I hoped. Penny is only 10 months, not too sure how to manage the logistics of having 3 under 4s in the house. However, as with most things I'm sure we will work it all out and muddle along.

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow our gorgeous little boy turns 3. He is having a little party at home in the afternoon with 4 friends and family. The theme is JCB there are diggers everywhere.
Today I've been busy making yellow and orange fairy cakes and a very impressive birthday cake. Really looking forward to it.

Having a Clear Out. Free Ebay Listing.

While James is at nursery today I'm busy sorting though his old baby stuff to list on Ebay. Today Ebay are having a free listing day. For all items listed day and scheduled to end on Sunday (5days) Ebay have wavered their fee. Which means that I can start my items at higher price than the normal 99p.
I very rarely sell things on ebay I much prefer a car boot or table top sale, but as our house is starting to buckle under the weight of clutter it is time of a clear out. Not just James' things but mine too. Hopefully the little bit of money raised will go to a new window in his playhouse.

It has arrived.

It was a bit of an adventure getting to our house, but at last the playhouse has arrived. We (Dad, John, me and random man) had heave the playhouse first through the back fence, over a dyke which 2 narrow planks had been placed. I'm not the most agile of people and lifting a corner of a playhouse while balancing precariously and wobbling dangously on a plank over a dyke was not an experience I want to repeat. As Dad was crossing over there was an ominous creak and Dad plank cracked in half leaving Dad in the middle of the ditch. Once the crossing had taken place we only had to contend with getting it across a ploughed field to the trailer. Add on the fact it was also blowing a gale, it all made it rather a stuggle. The journey home was competed by Penny being sick all over.
It was much easier our end. John and James had already dismantled the fence the day before. Therefore, with the help of Hugh the neighbour we lifted it it to place.
Impatience as I am, I when out in the afternoon to try the paint samples. Cuprinol Garden Shades Beach Blue seems to go on well only needing 2 coats. Hopefully it will stay dry so we can paint it.

Getting the new (to us) playhouse tomorrow.

Excitement in our household at the moment. Tomorrow is the big move, the playhouse is arriving. We are all having Weetabix for breakfast, as we are hoping to move it as one piece and muscles are going to be needed. James and John have already taking down the fence panel so we can access our garden. Dad is coming with the trailer in the morning. It is turning out to be a bit of a mission to get it here.

I have high hopes for restoring it. I'm thinking beach hut blue with lavender doors and window frames. I have ordered a few paint samples already. I'm not sure if I need to paint a primer on first before the colour and I'm having a job finding out.

We are going to rig up a little pulley system with a bucket on the side of the playhouse. Also I thought a hanging basket, bunting and windcharms and suncatchers. Inside is going to be painted cream with cute curtains and a few shelves. I'm going to see if I can get a few bit of furniture it go in there as well. I also thought of creating a den underneath the house using garden trellis, this will also act as storage for the kids garden toys.

The major problem with be working out where is put it. Our garden is tiny, one side and the back has a raised flower bed, the other is half grass and patio so would be uneven. Hopefully Dad and John will solve that problem.

Grrrr Mucky Toads

For Christmas James got a beautiful wigwam tent, but the thing is huge. So to try and accommodate in his bedroom we first needed a rearrange. Now, I quite like rearranging furniture because this is the first house I've had that has been big enough to move stuff about in. So we moved James' to the other side of the room. Bare in mind that I only painted his room in the last 9 months, the wall going along side of his bed is absolutely filthy, there is a grubby, nearly black line the entire lenght of his bed. It must be from his hands and feet. Grubby thing. So after a grumble and a moan I have touched up the grubby bits in his room, cleaned out all his baby toys to move to Penny's room and hovered, dusted and made it look spick and span. Wonder how long it will last?

New (to us) Playhouse

Very excited at the moment, yesterday we managed to get a seconded hand playhouse off of Ebay. Not sure if it will be any good and it will take soom hard graft and dry days to get it up the scratch but it is all very exciting.

My idea is to paint it a lovely blue with cream door and window frame. A light blue or purple inside with bunting and fairy lights. To also create a den underneath somehow, which will also be somewhere to put toys out the way. 

Digger Themed Party

So James has decided he likes diggers better than tractors, therefore we are going to have a digger themed party.

Here are a few ideas so far.

Black and yellow balloons.
Digger fabric bunting (I've been meaning to make some for his room).
Finger food (served in his dump trucks).
Digger related food??
Pin the bucket on the digger (homemade).
Pass the parcel.
Bucket and spade party bag.
Cardboard box diggers.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Lemon Meringue Cakes

I fancied baking today, so James an I set to and made these delicious Lemon Meringue Cakes. I sure if you google it there might be a better recipe but this was off the top of my head and there are lovely.

Basic sponge.
3 eggs
150g butter
150g self raising flour
150g sugar
Zest 1 lemon
Juice half a lemon.

Meringue topping
1 egg white
Table spoon caster sugar

Lemon curd filling.

Make the sponge. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and flour. When mixed add the lemon zest and juice. It makes about 16 small fairy cakes.

When they are cooked and cool. Carefully with a knife remove a scoop of the sponge from the middle, add a bit of lemon curd, then replace the top.

Mix the egg white and castered sugar until stiff. Dollop some on the top of each cake and fluffy it up into peaks. Sprinkle a little caster sugar or icing over the top. Cook until brown.

Penny at Nine months

Today Penny is nine months old, to be honest I probably wouldn't have realised but the health visitor came to do her 8 month review and mentioned it.
She past her review with flying colours, complete with smiles and a bit of chatter. James was a little concerned at first, telling John that Penny didn't want to see the doctor.

So my little baby is no longer that little. Her 6 month baby grows are beginning to stretch at the seams and she no longer likes me to spoon feed her, causing a tug of war between me, her and normally a spoon full of food.

She is curious about everything at the moment. Nappy changing has become a wiggly pain as she strains to escape. Penny is now crawlling at top speed, we are having to nip about to keep up with her. She now and has been for a few months pulling herself up and standing, grabbing at anything in arms reach. She gave me a panic last week as she managed to pull over a cup of coffee, thank goodness it was cold, but it has left a rather unsightly stain on my cream carpet.

You give her a wave and she waves back. She loves me singing nursery rhymes and songs to the radio. She quick to give you a smile and often giggles randomly. She seems to has grow attached to a soft doll, Molly Dollie. I often find her curled up in bed with it in her arms. Both Penny and James sleep like me, on the side with my chin in the air. My favourite moments are when James purposely acts silly and falls down or spins round to make her laugh. What she is upset he tell her not to worry, when we are in the car he tell her we are nearly there.

Penny isn't sleeping very well at the moment, both John and I are running on empty. She has been ill for the last few days, that an a combination of teething and us being mean parents and taking her dummy away, has left her unsettled.

She is mummmmm and babababa away. Not sure if it can be classified as her first word or just a noise.

I can't believe how quickly she has grown up and how much she has changed. We have so much to look forward to.

Ditching the dummy fail.

A few months ago I wrote a blog about Penny going without her dummy. Three months on and she is still sucking away. We did try and for a few nights and she did go dummy free, though she didn't like it. There have been a number of reasons why we failed.

1) For the last few months both John and I have been ill and it is only now that we both feel we have got the energy back to face up to the task again.

2) Penny is teething and as a result a bit grisly.

3) She also has had a terrible cold.

4) We were worried she would disturb James while settling herself to sleep.

5) Laziness on our part.

I recently read this article from parent dish, nine ways to wean your baby off its dummy. It has made me feel so much better about our attempt. It has also given me the inclination to have another go now she is feeling better.
http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2014/01/02/9-ways-to-wean-your-baby-off-the-dummy/#!slide=aol_1004430

We have began by not having the dummy around during the day. We noticed that if it is downstairs she mades a beeline for it. Now it stays in her bedroom, she doesn't seem to have missed it. Next step is to go cold turkey.

Cake Cake Cake

Cake I made for Hollys birthday. Was very easy to create and one I would definatly do again. I took the idea from cake decorating magazine. This is how I managed it. I should have taken pictures of each step but I completing forgot.

I first made a Victoria sponge and covered it with fondant icing. While the icing was soft I stamped it which the flower stamp. I have to press on quite hard and going round the corners was tricky.
I make a bowl of royal icing, seperated and coloured it yellow, pink and orange.
Using my smallest piping nozzel I piped round a few of the outline of petals (not down the middle). Using a small wet paint brush I brushed the piping into the petal and down the flower. After I finshed the flower I piped around the flower again.

It was very relaxing to do and I'm very pleased with result. I was disappointed in how the fondant icing came out, it have air bubbles in it. I'm not sure how I can get rid of them and every sponge cake I ice seem to have them.

Silent Sunday

Competition Overload

Oh dear. I think I might have a problem. Over the last 6 weeks I've found myself become additive to online competitions. I can't stop myself from entering, rafflecopters, quizzes,  blog comments and big prizes. I just can't stop. The moment my 2 are tucked up for a nap, the tablet comes out and I'm tapping away, willing myself to win just one thing.
Unfortunately,  lady luck does not seem to be on my side. I've had a few mini wins which are enough to keep me wanting more. So far I've won a childrens book, bottle of Aussie shampoo, 2 teddies, and a hairdryer.
Over the next few weeks I'm head back to work, so hopefully the addiction will come to an natural end, either that or I might win a fortune and retire.

Asda Car Seat Unsafe

I have just found out that the car seat I purchased for my son 2 years ago has failed safety tests by consumer advice website Which?

The Asda Nania Trio Plus is suitable from groups 0/1/2. It was in tests for group 2, where the adult seatbelt is used across the childs body that the car seat scored 0. Luckly my son is still using the 5 point harness (group 1), though this didn't score very highly.
As a good will gesture Asda are willing to exchange the car seat for a newer model or offer a refund. Which I think is really good of them. Guess where I'm going on Friday.

I have included a link for the Which? report and Asda's advice if you have a car seat of this type. Apparently it also affect a Kiddicare  Maxi SP car seat as well and people are advised to contact Kiddicare who will offer a exchange or refund.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2013/06/which-advice-replace-nania-trio-plus-car-seat-322953/

http://your.asda.com/news-and-blogs/get-the-facts-which-report-on-our-team-tex-car-seat