Easter 2013

We had a really lovely Easter weekend. On Good Friday hubby was off work (yay) so we went down to the marina and had a nice stroll around the forest followed by a play on the beach. I did a scavenger hunt type game for Caleb, basically he had a list of 'things' he had to find whilst we were out. He managed to get everything! Saturday we spent pottering around at home. Sunday we were at church, celebrating the reason for Easter and then had the family round for a yummy steak pie dinner. On Monday i was out in the frosty garden in my dressing gown at 7.30am hiding Easter eggs for the boys. In the afternoon my parents and i took the boys to Lamont farm to see the Owl display. Caleb got to hold the tiniest owl, it was so cute!

It was a good week for running. I managed a 5k on wednesday, 5k on thursday, 9k on Friday and 12K on Saturday. Wish hubby was off more often!

Snow much fun!

It's the end of March, it's supposed to be spring time and we have more snow than we've had all winter and we are loving it! When there's nowhere you need to be, snow is great! We have had a lot of fun the last few days!

Jubilee

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Loved the celebrations! I really enjoyed that concert in front of the Palace (on the tv, we weren't there). How amazing were the scenes that were projected onto the front of the palace (especially when Madness were playing on the roof)? Loved how they lit it up red, white and blue after the fireworks. Fab!

And to the anti-monarchy folk out there....boo hisss! All that talk that people shouldn't be born into the role and we should elect a head of state instead of having a royal family. No no no. I dont like you your opinions as much as i don't like the Scottish Nationalists. I love the Royal family. Not in an obsessed nutty kinda way. Just in a, they make me proud to be BRITISH, kind of way. I love all the pomp and circumstance and the history....i have a BA Honours in History, how can i not be interested in the Royals both past and present. And lets face it, they must bring in a huge revenue in tourism (queue all the bitter Scots *but its only for London* blah blah blah)

My friend Janet threw a Jubilee party. Red, white and blue food, balloons, decorations and guests :-) Look at this Jubilee Pavlova!

Janet's Jubilee Pavlova

We even managed a family picture before we left. Shame Aaron isnt looking!

Mother's Day pictures

My boys on Mother's Day!

My Gran with Aaron on Mother's Day weekend

Mother's Day was a perfect blue sky sunny day. I got  some flowers (and a voucher when he realised the flowers weren't gonna cut it), breakfast in bed and time to go for a nice 20minute run. Yay! We had lunch out with the family. Nice day.

It was lovely to celebrate Mother's Day with Gran, who wasn't doing very well a few months ago. I love this picture!

Proud Mum

I couldn't be prouder of my oldest boy. He has been amazing since Aaron's birth. You hear all these stories about jealous siblings, hating the baby or hating mum/dad but so far (!) Caleb has been the best big brother. He loves to show him toys, read him books and keeps asking if he can look after Aaron and mummy and daddy go away! Ha! Im very proud of him. Caleb wasnt the easiest baby, Aaron is a dream in comparison, but boy, he's been a great toddler. I just wanted to write a wee post to say how proud i am of him!! Love my boys very much x x x

My new nephew

Meet Harry. My new nephew. What a little cutie! Born on Wednesday 26th weighing 7lb5. My sister had a rough time delivering him, too rough i wont even write about it. It would be a good contraceptive to hear it though, so mail me privately and i'll tell LOL

Happy 2nd Birthday!

My boy is 2 today. I cant really believe how fast the time has gone. Wow, they sure change quick in the space of 2 years! I remember his birth day like it was yesterday!

He's the best. He gives us a lot of laughs, a lot of joy and im very thankful for him. Im constantly amazed (and amused) by him. Happy Birthday kiddo, i love you very much!

I stitch

See, i do still stitch! Thats a Passione Ricamo freebie ive been working on. Shes put on hold at the moment whilst i work on a Christmas exchange for Rowyn.

Life continues to fly by. Unfortunately in the last week my Gran was in hospital (slight stroke) and my uncle in still in hospital after a tumour was found in his stomach. We are still waiting to hear the results of that but we're not anticipating good news. Funny how bad things seem to come all at once. As well as this, we have a merger looming at work so who knows what the fall out from that will be. Job cuts i'm sure. The governments spending cuts are going to have a drastic affect on voluntary sector organisations. March 2011 is going to be a bad time.

On a more positive note i did win the JCS 2010 Christmas ornie magazine from Maggie O. Yeah! I never buy it here because it costs so much more. I cant bring myself to pay £8 for a magazine, especially now i only work part-time LOL Last year Clare in Canada really kindly sent me a copy as a gift. This year i won one!! Woohoo!

Caleb has a Halloween party at nursery on Friday so i need to sort him out a costume. I'm really not a fan of Halloween at all. I don't mind fun dressing up though so i'll find him a nice costume...find it some time in between working the rest of the week and a couple of nights out as well....ah life!

Scottish/Canadian Thanksgiving

My medals. Im so proud of medals. I ran two 10ks in September in case i haven't mentioned it enough haha

Last weekend was thanksgiving in Canada and to make DH feel part of life back home, we had our own wee thanksgiving meal.....turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and veg. I was very proud of my efforts. I even made little Canadian flag name tags for the 3 of us :-) We thought it would be a nice tradition to start for Caleb, even though he had about 2 mouthfuls of the whole meal aaahhhh toddlers!!!

Another week has flown by and we have a busy weekend ahead. Caleb has been going to nursery 2 mornings a week for just over a month now. We had a difficult few weeks when he was hysterical when we left him but that has passed and he now seems to love it! It is such a relief and so cute to see him run in to join his wee friends and shout "bye mumma!"

Checkout a giveaway at one of my favourite blogs "balancing everything."

Happy Mothers Day!

An update

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes for Caleb. He had a great birthday and a great party. 11 of his little friends turned up with their mummies and daddies. It was chaos! We have some great friends....both new ones and oldies :) On his actual birthday Matthew was off work and we took him to Funworld (a big soft play place that he loves) and had lunch. What a 1st year! A rollercoaster ride.

January has been a busy month what with birthdays and parties and groups starting again and going back to work part-time. Those that are regular readers will know all about my work woes and my horrible, corrupt, manipulative boss. Anyway, changes are ahead (thank goodness) and there may be light at the end of the tunnel in terms of a new job for me! Should know in the next few weeks. It looks like the place i currently work will be shut down and my boss will finally get whats coming to her. Shes got away with a lot in 4 years.

On the stitchy side of life im getting organised. I start so many projects and finish very few. I get bored quickly. After an email from Kathy ive decided to follow her lead and start a rotation. Ive picked 4 projects i'll work on. I'll stitch for 4 days on one and then rotate.

So im gonna work on LHN Fa La La (just cant get this picture to rotate)CCN's The Tea room

Bent Creeks monthly snappers (no wip picture as yet), good old Cirque des Circles which was at this stage last time i updated and finally a 4 day slot for ornaments/gifts. So watch this space to see how it goes!

It's a beautiful day here today. Im hoping to get out for a walk before we go to a birthday party this afternoon (my exercise new years resolution is still being upheld). Enjoy your weekend!

New Year

My new start for 2010. CCN's The Tea Room. I may have a billion other things on the go but you gotta have a new start for the new year, right?!

New Years Resolutions:

-Body Combat class once a week

-At least 20minutes walking or running or exercise bike every day

-Download and stick to Motivated Moms chore planner

-Eat more fruit and veg

-Floss daily

-Take vitamins daily

Christmas photo 2009

We had a great Christmas with Caleb. He was good fun. His main present was a smart trike and he loves getting pushed around in it. My brother-in-law dressed up as Santa which was funny. Caleb didnt really know what to make of him.

Even more excitment that his first Christmas was a white one. Cant remember our last white Christmas. It was lovely!

So the holidays are nearly over and i return to work 2 days a week starting on Tuesday :( Its going to be a turbulent few months at work with the upcoming merger, and my boss is getting vicious, so im not looking forward to it.

Happy Christmas!

Just want to wish everyone that reads my blogs a very Happy Christmas from our home to yours! Looks like we're going to have a white one, which is rare, it's cold and snowy!

Sick week

Thanks to everyone offering to Christmas exchange! Im so tempted to exchange with all of you, but you might be waiting a few years for your gifts so just went with the first few folk to comment. Thank-you all! Clare, if you read this, will you email me cherylthomas3000 at yahoo dot com. I hope to do more exchanges this way throughout next year.

So, what a week. Our thanksgiving meal was amazing. My friend Emily (a Canadian living here) cooked up a feast. The best meal ive had all year i swear! DH (also a Canadian living here) was glad to have a "proper" thanksgiving. Caleb was a bit grumpy though so i had to leave early. Then by the evening he had a high fever and we were starting to panic. Caleb has a bladder reflux (which we found out after his hospital stay back in May) which means that when he pees some goes back up to his Kidneys, putting him at constant risk of infection. He's on long term antibiotics but a fever is the first sign that something is wrong again. So we were worried! Anyway, we got an emergency doctors appointment Monday morning and he put him on a stronger antibiotic and we had to send off pee samples etc etc. We havent had those results back yet. Turns out he had a throat infection as well. He was so miserable all day Monday. Poor baby. Then on Tuesday DH got sick and was throwing up every hour for 12 hours. Today, DH is better and back at work and Caleb is good too. Phew. Here's my little cheeky monkey

This week in short

This week...

Caleb turned 7months - woohoo!

I got my hair cut short - woohoo!

DH had the week off work -woohoo!

The inlaws have been here from Canada and leave in the morning - woohoo! (Which bit am i cheering at? I shall not comment LOL )

We had a great day out yesterday at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and then the Transport museum - woohoo!

Ive got my sisters dog to look after all weekend -boooo!

All my family are away at my cousins wedding in Ireland this weekend and we're not. Gutted! DH couldnt get time off-booooo

But....we're getting Chinese food for dinner courtesy of the inlaws - woohoo!

Made with love by Gran

My mum made this quilt for Caleb. Isnt it lovely? I want to get into quilting, even took some classes a while back, but it just doesnt appeal to me as much as stitching

I love the label on the back.

A quieter week this week. Caleb has really bad skin at the moment after a bad reaction to cream prescribed for his infected cradle cap. His face and head look terrible. Im sad for him but glad it doesnt seem to bother him. We see a dermatologist on Monday. Poor baby. Always something for Mummy to worry about!

In other news, DH's grandpa passed away this week. Although we're sad, it was expected, he lived in a nursing home in Bath with his wife. Its strange because for years it was DH's Granny that we thought would go first, shes so frail, has severe dementia and is really just existing, if you know what i mean. Gramps was always fine, physically and mentally. He just declined really quickly this month and ended up dying first. He was a man with a strong faith and will be in a better place now that's for sure. So DH's folks fly over from Canada on Monday for the funeral on Wednesday which DH will fly down south for too. Then the inlaws are coming up for a weeks visit after that.

First Fathers Day

I love this picture. He's such a great Dad. I think you see your husband in a different way once a child comes along. Happy First Fathers Day to a great Daddy!

"F" aithful.
"A" lways there.
"T" rustworthy.
"H" onoring.
"E" ver-loving.
"R" ighteous.
"S" upportive

Author Unknown

Worst week of my life

I havent blogged in a while. This week has been busy. The week before was the worst week of my life. No exaggeration. Two weeks ago today Caleb was fine but by 6am Sunday morning he woke with a really high temperature. We called NSH24, who sent us to the doctor, who sent us to hospital, where we stayed for 4days. It was terrible. He had a fever, his heart rate was over 200, he stopped feeding (very unusual for him), was put on a drip, and had a lumbar puncture amongst other horrible tests. Awful, awful, awful. Meningitis was suspected but thankfully that wasnt the case. Something showed up on his kidney ultrasound so it looks likely to be some sort of infection. He was on IV antibiotics for a week and now he is on oral antibiotics for 6months :-( We will have follow up appointments at the hospital in the next couple of months. He is totally back to his normal self, mum and dad on the other hand are still traumatised! The hospital was great, we had our own room and we were both able to stay with him. It was a scary time though, the first night in particular when he was really sick. Here he is with the IV thing in his arm, poor baby and here he is looking totally fine a few days later
Praise God for his recovery!

Birthdays

Yesterday i turned 28 and my son hit the 6week mark!
Caleb stayed asleep long enough to let mummy enjoy her birthday lunch at Grannys with the rest of the family! I got a beautiful white gold locket which im going to put a picture of Caleb in, the new Killers CD, money, perfume, an ornament and lots of lovely cards!

5 year anniversary

The bad blogger returns for another sporadic post!

Saturday 6th September was our 5th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going up north to stay at this beautiful guest host in Fortwilliam. Fortwilliam is the town located at the foot of Ben Nevis.

I have to say i have never been to the highlands before and i never really appreciated just how amazing Scotland is!! We were totally in awe of the scenery and didnt want to leave! I took this shot on route there at Glencoe. Imagine living in that house?!On Saturday we travelled further North to Mallaig and to Morar to see the "white sands of Morar" and wow this was the highlight of our trip. Look at this beach! It was incredible. My Canadian DH kept saying "i cant believe this is Scotland."Thats the islands of Rum and Eigg in the distance. And here we are on our anniversary, a bit older and wider (LOL) than we were on our wedding day 5 years ago (more wedding pics can be seen here)