New stitchy start for 2011

My new start for 2011 is a baby sampler for my sister. Her baby (boy) is due one week today! Very exciting. It will be great for Caleb to have a boy cousin so near and so close in age.

Ive decided to stitch the same piece i stitched for Caleb. Remember it? I am still very proud of it, click here. Anyone else ever stitched the same big piece twice? Im finding it ok as it was 2 years ago since i stitched it for Caleb. Here's my progress so far. My sis knows it wont be ready for babies arrival haha but she's moving house on Friday (crazy right?!) and i've told her to save a space on the nursery wall :-)

Mum and Dad have Caleb for a wee while on a Monday morning. Its amazing how productive i can now be with a spare few childfree hours!! Ive checked email, read some blogs, been for a run, showered, made a chicken casserole and blogged.

Please remember our friend Cam today in your prayers. He is undergoing major brain surgery to remove a tumour he has had for years which is now just too big. Cam is the dad of one of Matthews close friends in Canada and Matthew has known him all his life. Surgery is at 12.45pm GMT, 7.45am in Canada. We will be on our knees.

So proud of my sampler

I finished it! Wooohoooo! Proudly presenting Caleb's sampler (a design by The Historical Sampler Company) and the first big ish piece finished by me! I had nothing stitched by me in my home...until now! I think Caleb approves!
We have had the nicest weather i can remember here in Scotland. Its been hot hot hot! The last week has been amazing and we have been making the most of it as we know it wont last

Catching up

Gosh its been a while since ive posted or read blogs. Will catch up! Regarding my previous post, the room is tidier you'll be pleased to know. Not super tidy, the weather has been too nice and when the weathers nice in Scotland you gotta make the most of it in case it doesnt happen again for a while LOL, but its tidier nevertheless.

So ive been busy out and about with Caleb and of course the inlaws were back for their final 10days here before returning to Canada yesterday. They were sad to leave.

Caleb is doing great. He has grown so much and those tiny baby days seem like ages ago now. He sleeps like an angel and all night which is amazing! Here we are

Ive been stitching too. Some more progress on his birth sampler which is nearly finished

And a new start, LHN's Always and Forever. Now i said i wouldnt start anything new until Caleb's sampler was finished but i couldnt resist (you know how it is) and its going to be a gift for someone so theres a date i need it done by. I love the colours of the chart but to buy one skein of the silk would be £5...err im on maternity leave i cant afford that, so i got a variegated DMC instead for 67p and i love the colour (DMC 4230)

Now my visitors have gone life can get back to normal and i'll get round to reading all my favourite blogs again :-)

Progress

Im trying to think what has happened since i last blogged! We had 2 healthy weekends, thanks for your comments! Today Caleb has woken up with a cold though. He's all bunged up and coughing. You can tell im a first time mum -even his coughing stresses me out LOL i have to keep checking he's not choking! Apart from that, we're doing great. Hes a happy and content wee boy (very smiley) and i can now actually leave him playing while i get things done. Its good to get into some sort of routine and a good nights sleep is great!

The inlaws have been and gone. They are actually down in England at the moment and return in a few weeks for another week here before they fly back to Canada. They were a good help and loved meeting their grandson. Still nice to get the house back to myself though!

I got some stitching done. Im being very disciplined these days and only stitching on this piece at the moment. I want it finished and framed for Caleb's room soon and if i do, it'll be the first piece stitched by me in my house-no joke!

Caleb is now 11 weeks old. How time flies! Here he is enjoying hanging out with his Canadian Grandparents

A healthier week

It's Friday night, should i tempt fate and say so far, so good....no sick mum, no sick baby....will we have a weekend without having to call NHS24 and see the emergency doctor? Watch this space!

Cant thank people enough for the comments on my previous post. Ive read the comments through a few times during the week. I found them so supportive and encouraging and reassuring. You are a great bunch of folk and i appreciate everyone who leaves a comment here.

I feel like i never get the chance to stitch anymore. As soon as Caleb is asleep i get the chores done, sort myself out and normally just as i pull some stitching out he's awake and ready for action! However, looking back at the last few posts i have made progress on Caleb's sampler so i must be getting some time! For those that asked, this is by The Historical Sampler Company.

We've had a much better week this week. He's generally going to sleep at midnight, waking at 4.30/5am for a feed/change and then back to sleep for another few hours. This i can totally handle. Getting sleep makes the world of difference! Of course having the inlaws over from Canada has been a good rest for me too!

Here's to a healthy weekend in our household....cross your fingers for us :-)

Sickness

What a week. When i blogged last week about having the best day yet it turned out it was only the best sleepy day yet because my poor baby was getting sick. The calm before the storm. By saturday evening he was so upset, wouldnt feed and had a rash all round his mouth and bum. Which then started to spread. Oh and he wouldnt sleep. It was so distressing to see him like that. So we called NHS24 and they sent a doctor out at 1am who said it was a virus and there was nothing we could give him, we just had to wait it out. What a terrible weekend it was. I felt bad for Matthew who, after working all week, was looking forward to hanging out with his son at the weekend. Its hard seeing your baby ill and not being able to do anything.

The annoying thing is that he probably picked the virus up at the first bloomin mum and baby thing we ventured out to. Isnt that typical? I heard that one mum had turned up at the group with her kid just to get a rash looked at by the health visitor (not the purpose of the group i must point out). Now, seriously, if your kid has a nasty rash, would you really be so selfish as to take her to a group where you knew there would be lots of little babies? Go to the doctors surgery! Get your health visitor to visit! Phone NHS24! I know getting sick etc etc is par for the course but he just seems too young at the moment! Thankfully he is better, the rash went fairly quickly, but he still has a cold. Poor wee thing. Here he is anyway, at nearly 8weeks old and over 10lb2oz in weight. He sure is a tall boy

Some progress made on his birth sampler as well
Here's hoping this weekend is more enjoyable for all 3 of us :-)

Best day/Bad night

Today has been the best day ever and we've not even left the house yet!! By ever i mean since Caleb was born. He's been an angel...he's slept slept great, waking up for a feed and change and back to sleep again. He's even been content just playing on his mat when he has been awake. It makes a really nice change! I got so much done - i was able to sort out all his clothes, tidy and clean and even stitch for a whole hour! An hour!! That hasnt happened in a loooong time. I enjoyed the me time so much......................We're going to my mum and dads soon for a Chinese takeway as DH is out with work tonight.

I wrote that yesterday (Friday) but didnt get time to finish it. I spoke too soon. The best day ever turned into a bad night which is, quite frankly, typical. He didnt sleep til 2am and woke up 4am and then was really fussy the rest of the morning. He's asleep now. My days are his nights aaaahh

So, i will take this opportunity now to show some stitchy pictures. I havent shown a picture of Caleb's birth sampler since this post in November. Here's how it looks at the moment

There's not too much more to do, so this might actually be my first ever big (ish) finish to be framed. I have no big framed pieces in my home at all!! I have loads of big unfinished pieces in a box though LOL...speaking of which here's the latest Feather Fairy update (all the stitching was done prior to baby's arrival). I was working on this as part of the Stitch a Mirabilia Blog and will get back to the SAL at some point in time

So glad it's the weekend! DH being home makes a big difference...the extra pair of hands is a relief :-) Enjoy your weekend!

Cirque is back

The last time i worked on CdC seems to have been back in February!!! Oh my, how time flies! This is how it looked back then but i had the urge to pick it up again recently and here's how it now looksIts good to see some progress on a piece that will probably take me years! I already have a space on the living room wall earmarked for this so hopefully not too many years LOL Ive also worked a bit on Baby's sampleras im getting bigger and more tired i have more time to stitch. I finish work in 2 weeks now and i really can't wait! As of today i am 34weeks pregnant. I cant wait until the day now, im impatient!

I had a busy weekend. On Saturday i spent the day with my Gran which was nice. We just stayed in, ate, drank tea and did our crafts. Yesterday, my American friend Lori had an early thanksgiving lunch and it was so good!! DH was in Liverpoool at the weekend and sped home to get there in time LOL you'd think he was never fed proper food ;-) Lori is due her second baby in 3weeks! It'll be nice to have babies the same age and in the same class at school one day!

I have a day off today so i had a lie in this morning and plan on having a lazy day. I do need to do some cleaning though, but not just yet...

Baby Sampler

Thanks for the comments about my job on my last post. Whilst it is totally unfair, i have a peace about it all now...in other words...ive stopped caring about work, the end is nigh there! If i go back, there will have to be a higher salary for me too. If not, i will look for a part-time job elsewhere. Im glad to reach this point as it was messing with my mind too much last week.

I still have a cold but it's not half as bad anymore. I had to take a few sick days and got lots of stitching time in whilst watching my Lost season 3 boxset. I have chosen this piece to stitch for babyT's room
and this is what i have done so far

Im enjoying working on this! Its from The Historical Sampler Company, ive never bought anything from them before but certainly will in the future!

DH and i have just been out walking and then we went out for a lovely lunch. Now i plan to spend the rest of the day/evening relaxing and working on this sampler! Hopefully more progress pics soon!