I finished something!

*Gasp* Can it be? A stitching blog that actually has some finished stitching? Yes! Hurrah for me. Started a year and a half ago i finally finished this piece right in time for my nephew Harry's 1st Birthday. Obviously it didn't make the framers in time but finishing the stitching was my goal.

The inlaws arrived from Canada on Thursday. My house was so clean and tidy for their arrival. At the moment, I am enjoying having the extra hands to entertain the toddler and hold the baby.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

From this 1 year old

To this big 3 year old!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my beautiful big grown up boy!

Soccer mum

Im trying to find some time to stitch on my nephews birth sampler. I started this over a year ago. He turns 1 on the 26th January and i really want it to be his 1st birthday present. It was supposed to be his birth present! I am so nearly finished, look!

Tomorrow Caleb starts Football lessons. Signing him up for this was my first experience of the dog eat dog world of motherhood lol You had to go to the sports centre when it re-opened on the 28th December and queue to sign your kid up. There were 20 places. I arrived at 10am only to find the damn sports centre didn't open 'til 1pm and i had plans that afternoon. So, my mum went for me! She arrived at 1.05pm to find 6 mothers in the queue already. Caleb got a place and has 12 weeks of classes ahead and then we shall queue again to try and get a place on the next block (if he enjoys it). Crazy eh? He's excited, he has boundless energy and is obsessed with "fast running" at the moment. "Fast running" with a ball is his dream come true so this will suit him perfectly!

As we enter the world of Statutory Maternity Pay i am trying to be more organised with food buying. I am actually planning meals. I might publish to my blog each week, not for interesting reading but simply for my own motivation and to keep track of what we've had. This week i planned for us and for Caleb:

Monday- Chicken Casserole and rice / chicken nuggets and rice
Tuesday - Fish cakes, potatoes and vegetables / fish fingers, potatoes and vegetables
Wednesday - my mum shall provide
Thursday - Tomato and Cheese Pasta Bake
Friday - Beef Casserole and rice

I am not planning the weekends!

Tomorrow is also Caleb's 3rd Birthday party; a joint party with his friend Eve. We have a sports centre booked for a bouncy castle and soft play party. 20 kids. That should be great for the tinnitus!

Ear issues

So, for my 5 year blogiversary winner, I didnt do any fancy number generating thing. I asked my husband to pick a number and that number happened to be Michele's comment! Congratulations lady! Michele is one of my first blogging friends and she's just had a birthday so i was happy about that.

Ive been at the hospital this week regarding my ear. I got Labyrinthitis at 36 weeks pregnant (*) which left me with tinnitus and partial hearing loss in my right ear. I was hoping it would gradually get better and the tinnitus fade away. Wrong. 3.5 months later and its as bad as it was on day 1. Yesterday I seen the consultant at the hospital about it and they confirmed my fears; my hearing probably wont fully return and I have to learn to live with the tinnitus. Constant ringing in your head is torture. In conclusion, i have to get fitted for a hearing aid and i'm booked to have an mri scan to see what's happening inside. I am dreading the mri scan. I feel claustrophobic just pulling a jumper over my head (especially when it gets stuck aaah) so the thought of an mri makes me nervous. Oh and there's the results too..... All in all, i was/am quite gutted about it. The doctor wasn't particularly pleasant and i came away (in tears) with more questions than answers. As he was shoving a tube up my nose to take a picture (i think) he informs me that normally they do the tube shoving under local anaesthetic. What?? Cheers for that!

(*) and by 'got' i literally just woke up one morning with a ringing in my ear and loss of hearing, How strange to go to bed fine and wake up to that. 

Feeding baby

Things i love like about breastfeeding

1. Im doing the best for my baby, especially with the history of UTIs and Psoriasis in the family
2. Its so darn convenient, i dont have to plan ahead with bottles or worry about sterilising
3. I don't get up in the night at all, i pretty much roll baby from one boob to the other when he wakes for a feed. He doesn't really wake up either.
4. Its so easy to comfort him
5. The majority of the time, its nice to be the one he wants
6. Its good for my health
7. The success you feel when you hit the point when  its going well and they're not feeding every half an hour anymore
8. Mummy/baby bonding. Sometimes when he's feeding he looks up at me with those big eyes and my heart could just melt.
9. The weight falls off quicker
10. Its rewarding



Things i hate  dislike about breastfeeding

1. The baby is always my responsibility, i cant pass him over to my hubby for a night.
2. You never know how much they're getting (not so bad now, but the first 8 weeks is hard)
3. There are never long gaps between feeds
4. Always having to think about what clothes im going to wear..."how can i get my boob out of this dress"
5. Getting my boobs out in public
6. Watching other peoples embarrassment at getting my boobs out in public
7. Always assuming they're crying because they're hungry.
8. Others always assuming they're crying because they're hungry "are you sure you're satisfying him" aaaah
9. For something that's so natural, its not always easy. The constant feeding of the first 2 months is so hard!
10. Leaking.
11. You're pretty much tied to the baby all the time.


These are my opinions. I don't want any Breastfeeding militants contacting me about my selfish thoughts!

p.s. My giveaway is still open. See yesterdays post.

5 years of blogging

Well, as it turns out, today is my 5 year blogiversary! In previous years i've offered a prize for one lucky comment-er. I was not going to do that this year. My 2 blog winners from last year, Barbara and Cole, are still waiting on a prize. If you read my previous post, please remember i am useless when pregnant! That is my excuse ladies. However, 5 years seems a significant anniversary to recognise doesn't it? 4 or 6 not so much but 5? Ive got to have a wee giveaway! I dont know what it will be, pretty sure it wont be anything stitched by me because i do not have the time but something stitchy/craft related anyway! So, leave a comment if you want to be entered and perhaps you will receive something before i hit 10 years of blogging.

2011 round up

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Became landlords.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year? My new years resolutions last year can be seen here and i kept them until i got pregnant (february) and then everything went to pot. I will make more for this year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Oh my goodness where do i start? My sister had Harry (jan), Bev had Lola (april), Becky had Ella (may), Becky F had Fyn (july), I had Aaron (october), Amanda had Hannah (nov)and Sheryl had Judah (dec).

4. Did anyone close to you die? No

5. What countries did you visit? Just England. We went to the Lake District in May and i went to Hayes in August.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A flat stomach and my fitness back

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory? 12th October - the day Aaron was born. Also, My 30th birthday on the 1st March and my fab party on the 12th March. It meant so much to me to have a roomful of people who had made an effort to come and party with me! I had school friends there  from London that i hadn't seen in over 10years. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Growing and giving birth to another beautiful boy!

9. What was your biggest failure? Being useless during pregnancy. I felt like i failed my boy when i was forced to work full-time and had to put him in nursery 4days a week.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? A few minor illnesses. I got Labyrinthitis in September which has left me with permanent tinnitus and partial hearing loss. 

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our beautiful new home!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? As usual, my husband's. He's great; kind, patient, rarely angered, calm and so tolerant. He did EVERYTHING involved in renting out our flat and in buying our house. Im useless when pregnant. 

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? Whoever's decision it was not to let me work part-time and giving me the option of full-time or redundancy.

14. Where did most of your money go? On our new house

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Getting pregnant, my nephew being born, my son being born, the royal wedding, my 30th and seeing old friends

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2011? Adele's 21.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

happier or sadder? Happier

Thinner of fatter? Fatter :-(

Richer or poorer? Poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Exercising

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Working. Those 6 months were hard going. 

20. How did you spend Christmas? Christmas morning opening pressies just the 4 of us. Down to my mum and dads at 1pm to open more pressies with my sister and her husband and my nephew and then a yummy dinner. 

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with? My husband

22. Did you fall in love in 2011? Oh yes, with my new baby Aaron

23. How many one night stands in this last year? None

24. What was your favourite TV programme(s)? Im a celebrity get me out of here (!), The Good Wife, Desperate Housewives,

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Hate might be too strong but i strongly dislike some people i had to work with. 

26. What was the best book(s) you read? I read a lot of mindless chick lit this year, it was good but no best stands out!

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Adele

28. What did you want and get? A new house!

29. What did you want and not get? To sell our flat, but at least we have a tenant

30. What were your favourite films of this year? ......im having to think about this for too long so obviously nothing stands out.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 30 and i went to Edinburgh zoo with my husband and son. Then had a party on the 12th.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not having to work fulltime for 6 months.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Maternity. Baggy. Ugly.

34. What kept you sane? Days off work

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Mark Wright? lol

36. What political issue stirred you the most? The daft tory/lib dem coalition government. The SNP landslide. I dont want an independent Scotland.

37. Who did you miss? The 2 Sarahs; my best friends. We live too far apart. 

38. Who was the best new person (people) you met? Aaron and Harry

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. A cliche but life is indeed short and precious. In 2011 my ex-boss got mouth cancer, a friend of mine in her early 20's discovered she had leukaemia, 2 friends had miscarriages, and my best friend lost her brother right before Christmas. It makes you think and value life.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?

"Seven days of saturday is all that I need" Bon Jovi