Turn away for a minute....

Yes thats all my threads on the floor. He even "posted" some through into his crib. Bless.

Happy 1st Birthday to my lovely boy!

From this 7lb13oz little boy born at 12.01pm on 18th January 2009

To this one year on!

Happy 1st Birthday to our beautiful smiley gorgeous boy! Love you lots xxxx

10 months

Another week has flown by. My weeks are busy. I go to various mums and tots groups on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, i work on a Wednesday and meet up with friends and their babies to swim most Fridays. I can't believe how quickly this year has gone. Caleb was 10months old on Wednesday. Here is my cheeky boy who's now nearly walking. He is a lot of fun!

Im back at work now one day a week. I hate where i work now. I work for a charity with only 5 people and its awful. There are a lot of lies, backstabbing, corruptness... it's shocking. I work for a boss who rarely shows up. I do the same job (and better in my opinion) as a guy with no experience but who is paid £10,000 more it. Its a corrupt place, full of injustices which could turn you into a bitter person if you didnt rise above it. Thankfully funding is nearing an end and changes are afoot, which will mean reapplying for jobs, but im glad. It's a scandal that the place can run as it is.

This week im off to a wedding down south. Im going on my own as Caleb wasn't invited and DH has work. 2 child-free nights in a beautiful hotel, with a gym, swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna! Bliss! Will be very strange being on my own and i'll miss my boys but i am really looking forward to it as well! I got a beautiful Karen Millen dress off ebay to wear to the wedding.

Ive finished and mailed 2 Christmas ornaments this weekend so i will be able to show pictures of them soon. Have a good week!

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

Crawling

My 7 month old baby is crawling and wow, crawling babies are hard work. He's been dragging himself around for months but as of Saturday 29th he is properly crawling and dont i know it! Ive discovered 1) My house isnt child friendly 2) My floors arent clean 3) My child has a lot of energy 4) You can spend a fortune on fancy toys but the box it came in always ends up being more fun. I spend my time at home constantly repeating; Watch your head (as he bangs it on yet another wall) Watch your fingers (as he opens and closes another door/drawer), No Caleb, Nooo Caleb, Nooooo Caleb . I cannot leave him for a second! All that aside, it is great watching him get around and discover new things. He loves it, you can see the pure joy on his face as he moves from room to room!

I was hoping he wouldn't crawl til after our upcoming holiday. We leave early Saturday to go to the Lake District. 4days with some friends at a cottage in Appleby and then 7 days at a caravan just outside Windermere. I am so looking forward to getting away. It'll be good to have a change of scenery and forget about chores and everyday routines.

In stitching, ive started something new; Bent Creek Snappers. Im stitching all the months on one long piece of linen.

And here's where i left off on Mary (told you i'd get bored soon enough)

6months

Happy 6month Birthday to my gorgeous gorgeous little boy!

Baby got teeth!

As of this week, my baby has teeth! 2 teeth! Look

My baby has also started being able to push himself around the floor. I left him on his playmat, came back into the room and this is where i found him

Time has really flown. He's great fun. My friend has a newborn baby and wow, how different! I can only vaguely remember that stage now.

Anyway, i started Mary Wigham. Progress will be slow because i dont get much time to stitch, just late evenings for half an hour at the most

Im off to camp on Saturday for a week. This is a camp our church runs. We have a boys week, a girls week and a mixed teen week. I help run the girls week. Theres about 60 of us this year. Its hard work but i love it. Ive been every year since i was 10. Im not sleeping there and i'll be travelling back and forward a lot during the day to help out with Caleb but the campsite isnt far from my house.

Another week another finish!

I finished another piece this week. A freebie from Debbie Draper Designs. I actually started this the night i went into hospital to be induced but havent been able to work on it since because i associated it with hospital/labour etc etc but i managed to pull it out again and finish the stitching off.
I thought i would show some of the lovely handmade pressies ive received over the last few months for Caleb. Starting on the left, my mum knitted Mr Humpty, my friend Becky made the "Caleb" in the frame - the letters and the circles are cut out of material and handstitched on (you cant see it in this picture but his date of birth is stitched in some of the circles), my friend Janet made the lovely photo album and my friend Lori made the fab sock monkey! I love handmade gifts!On the baby front, im so looking forward to Caleb starting food. Not long now..he's so ready i think. Im getting organised anyway. At the moment i am loving pureeing all these different fruit and veggies and storing them in the freezer....the novelty of pureeing will wear off though i know LOL but giving my baby good healthy nutritious food prepared by me is driving me at the moment....but see all those ready made baby foods in the supermarket, they do look so easy.... Anyway, last night i pureed some apples yum yumI ordered my linen for the Mary Wigham SAL last week only to get an email back saying it was out of stock and i'll have to wait a couple of weeks. So disappointed!

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

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 :-)

Cute

That's one of my favourite pics to date! Cutie! Although i wasnt saying that when we were still awake at 4.30am this morning. Typically he has slept all of this morning but i had visitors and couldnt sleep myself aaaahhh He'll be 6weeks old this Sunday, which is also my birthday.

I received this gorgeous gift from Anna yesterday and it made my day! Isnt the card adorable too? Thanks Anna, that was really kind of you. Such a lovely ornie!

Gifts

Thanks to everyone who has been commenting recently. I love reading them and i have lots of new blogs to check out some day soon when time/baby allows! Thanks to those who gave some breastfeeding advice/support - it is much appreciated!

Now i have to show this wonderful handmade hanging ornie that Hazel sent me for Caleb! I couldnt get a clear photo because its already hanging up. I love it! Handmade pressies mean so much. Hazel, you are so kind! Isnt it great?

And i also received this lovely card from Dawn yesterday. Its my birthday on 1st March and Dawn and i share birthdays. Such a lovely card. Thank-you so much Dawn, it was so nice of you to remember me!

Now i cant finish without posting another Caleb photo! You readers might get bored of baby pictures, but hey, its my blog and he's changing so much week by week i like to document it! Hes doing great, put on another 9oz this week which is so encouraging for me when ive been stressing about the breastfeeding

Birth story

We are getting on well and getting a bit more sleep which is good! Caleb is 8lb9oz this week which im so pleased about as im breastfeeding and it was stressing me out about whether he was getting enough - he always seemed hungry and always wanted fed. Its hard going. However, this week we have discovered the joy of dummies (soothers) because so often he just wants to suck!! He just has one for a little while and it totally settles him. Now that he's not always on me im regaining my sanity. I was so ready to quit and go to bottles on Monday but...im determined and i have perseverance and we're definitely getting there!

I havent had a chance to blog about the birth yet but lets just say...it was awful!! I went into hospital on Friday 16th for induction. The induction process started Friday afternoon with prostin. Then another dose again on Saturday morning. After a membrane sweep Saturday lunchtime contractions started at 2pm. I was taken to the labour suite at 4pm to have my waters broken but due to emergencies there was no doctor available to break my waters until midnight! So i had 3minute apart contractions from 2pm - midnight. It was torture. By 4am, after much gas and air and diamorphine , i was only 4cm and had an epidural. Which was AMAZING, relief at last! By 11am Sunday however, i was still only 4cm and the decision was made to Csection because Caleb's heartbeat was dropping everytime the drip was increased. Lets just say...it was just as well....turns out the cord had a true knot which was blocking Caleb's descent and a normal birth would not have been possible without a real emergency situation occuring. Thank God for the way things turned out. He was born at 12.01pm and it was great to hear him cry straight away - an emotional moment we will never forget!

Exhausted

Having a baby is exhausting! Truely exhausting! Noone can prepare you for this! Where do you folk find time to anything?? Hes awake (a lot), he feeds (a lot), he dirties his nappy (a lot) and sleeps (not so much)! He's very cute and getting on well though, 8lb1 now. Gotta go.......baby calls

Baby Arrived!

Our beautiful baby boy, Caleb Philip, was born on Sunday 18th January at 12.01pm weighing 7lb13!

No news yet

As you can see from my baby gaga pregnancy ticker above, baby really should be here by now...and isnt!!! Aaaaahhh. Its frustrating. However, trying to be positive, you're not pregnant that often in life so i should just enjoy it whilst it lasts right?! I think its the not knowing whats coming and when thats hard - im a relatively organised person and i like to be in control - this is just outwith those specifications!! Patience Cheryl patience (did i mention im impatient too? LOL) Unfortunately, i will have to be taken into hospital to be induced if something doesn't happen soon. It goes against everything ive wanted and, to be honest, i dread induction, but so be it. So, that'll happen sometime between Friday and Monday i think. I see my midwife again tomorrow and details will be arranged with the hospital. So if you believe in prayer, as i do, prayers are much appreciated!

In the meantime i'll post some WIP pictures. Here is my progress this week on my Feather Fairy for the Mirabilia SAL

and here is my progress on my Dear Diary Landscape for the Me, Myself and I RR (bad light in this photo)

First 2009 finish

Here's my first finish of 2009! A wee pillow for my friend Lori's new baby girl.It's a Lizzie Kate design. The fabric is kinda eastery but i thought it looked pretty and birth is all about new life etc etc so i thought why not! Speaking of birth, today is my due date! Unfortunately there is no sign of baby, not even a twinge. Although my pelvis is so unbelievably sore that i could barely get into bed last night and walking is incredibly painful today. I do have SPD though so maybe this is it back with baby getting lower. Or maybe its because i walked/trotted to my car too fast last night to get out of the rain. Whatever the reason, i hardly slept because of it last night and cried getting into bed. Woe is me LOL

Here's hoping this is my last pregnancy bump photo! Taken last week

Just want to thank Anna for the beautiful handmade card that just arrived for Christmas along with some overdyed skein of thread. So kind of you! Thank-you. I already have a project earmarked for the thread!

Oh, ive joined the stitch a mirabilia blog to inspire me to work on my Feather Fairy this year. This will be a weekly SAL.

Reindeer Games

As you can see above, I received my Reindeer Games exchange from Lisa on Friday. Lisa said that its an American folk arts design of a reindeer dated from 1666 and she finished it as a no sew cube. It's lovely! She also included great gifts - a reindeer ornie, a reindeer tea towel, threads and cute christmas buttons. I love everything Lisa, thanks so much! I just hope the exchange i sent arrives okay now!

I also reached another milestone with CDC. Ive finished 2 pages now and started the third! Im right back into this again although i need to put it aside to finish Janice's RR which ive embarassingly had far too long.

In pregnany news, i have one month to go and i've finished work!! Woooo Hooooo! Cant tell you how good it feels. Im going in this week but just for a lunch and i plan to attend the Christmas night out but that's hardly work!! So good to have that stress away. I am 36 weeks pregnant now and here's the most recent bump shot taken last week at my baby shower

We picked up our pram yesterday (i love the pram we got) and DH had the job of putting it together. My job was to oversee.....obviously LOL. What can i say? I was tired!!!

Baby shower

Well its been a busy week since i last posted. We've had 2 thanksgiving meals (even though we're in Scotland) and a baby shower. The baby shower was for me (my 2nd one)! My friend Sherri organised it for me and it was really good fun! There were about 18 of us. I dont know if Sherri reads this blog but she is truely one of those great friends who is so kind and considerate and goes out her way to help people. She has a 7month year old already and has been so kind at passing on loads of things i will need when babyT arrives, from maternity clothes to baby baths! She's been great and i really appreciate it! Anyway...back to the shower... i got loads of lovely presents and we played lots of fun games. The funniest moment had to be trying on these lovely knickers that my friend Claire got me for a jokeI hope i'll never need them for real! LOL

One thing i can't get over is just how kind people are! Ive had so many gifts and presents already, our house is filling up as you can see from this picture of presents (apart from the iron and ironing board)I must thank 2 of my good blog friends for their lovely gifts recently; Lesley sent me a whole box of baby clothes which i really appreciate and Michele sent me the most gorgeous scrapbook - i'll take a picture of it sometime! And these are people ive never met -its so kind!!

So the big news this week will be me finishing work!! For those that regularly read my blog you will know that i have been counting down the days for a long time! This thursday is my last day. Im excited to finish but a little apprehensive as well which i didnt really expect. I dont want what ive worked on over the past while to be messed up and on the other hand i dont want my replacement to come in and do a much better job than me LOL can't win!

On the stitching front, i finished my Reindeer Games exchange for the sbebb and mailed it today. I was really pleased with my finished piece so i look forward to posting a picture once its been received!