An emotional week on countdown to baby. Happiness, excitement, fear, guilt, anxiety...
A lot of tissues and runny mascara.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Thursday, 27 February 2014
Family Photo Friday #9 - 28/02/14
Last link up of the month - hopefully there'll be no issues with Linky Tools this week!
Share a family photo from your week just gone. It needn't be a Family Photo Friday specific post, I don't mind you recycling! You can join in weekly, monthly or just whenever you can. It can be a formal portrait or a snap from your phone, something you posed for or something you caught when no one was looking. It could be from a day out, a gathering, an activity at home, it doesn't matter so long as it gives a snap shot of what your family looked like during the week that's just been.
Give us a brief explanation of your photo.
I'd love it if you could grab the badge to add at the bottom of your post and Tweet about it using #familyphotofriday - my Twitter handle is @oneformybaby12.
Pop over to visit at least two other bloggers and see what they've been doing - maybe you can watch their family grow and change too!
Leave a comment if you can.
Happy photo-taking and memory-making!
This is my last picture of us as a Family of Three - next week's Linky will be hosted by the fabulously wonderful Mummy Rawles as I will definitely have a baby by then! Char is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to my camera so I'm really thrilled she's taking the reins for the week.
Let's recap the rules!
I promise to visit as many of you as I can and I'll pick my favourite photo to share next Friday.
Sunday, 23 February 2014
"The Hall" - Crochet Baby Blanket
Anyone who follows me on Instagram or Twitter will know that I learned to crochet last year. Along the way I've made blankets for friends, snoods, scarves, hats, snowflakes, but it was all leading up to this. A blanket for my own baby.
The trouble was that blankets take an awfully long time, and despite trying to do some every evening, it was seeming like the baby would be here before the blanket was ready... Well, I'm pleased to announce that at 38 + 1, the blanket is finished and packed for hospital, and the baby is still firmly inside.
The blanket is shell stitch in 3 rotating colours. I used the same yarn I used to make "The Alexander" blanket, Cotton Soft by King Cole. The colours are oyster, jade and wine.
I make my blankets big, and this is far larger than a normal sized baby blanket. I have used around 2 balls in each colour for this one although that's approximate as all of the colours I had from making other things and I supplemented with new balls! The easiest tutorial I could find online for Shell stitch was on My Rose Valley's blog. I then had to wing the final row to give a straight edge, filling the "troughs" with a tr, htr, dc, htr and tr before joining as normal at the top of the next peak. I then finished with a treble crochet edge in oyster. I used a 4mm needle for this project.
The shell stitch is a looser stitch, or certainly is for me, so I really advise leaving far longer tails that you can weave in further into the blanket, or leaving the tails unwoven until the edging is on and then weaving into the edge. It feels far more secure that way.
So maternity leave officially starts tomorrow, the blanket is made, the tiny clothes are washed. In the meanwhile, I'm afraid the end of pregnancy has hit my like a high speed train and sleeping is hard, walking is hard and this baby has dance moves to rival those of the figure skaters in Sochi. Just thankfully not the blades on the skates to match.
We are ready Baby H. Not long to go and we cannot wait!
The trouble was that blankets take an awfully long time, and despite trying to do some every evening, it was seeming like the baby would be here before the blanket was ready... Well, I'm pleased to announce that at 38 + 1, the blanket is finished and packed for hospital, and the baby is still firmly inside.
The blanket is shell stitch in 3 rotating colours. I used the same yarn I used to make "The Alexander" blanket, Cotton Soft by King Cole. The colours are oyster, jade and wine.
I make my blankets big, and this is far larger than a normal sized baby blanket. I have used around 2 balls in each colour for this one although that's approximate as all of the colours I had from making other things and I supplemented with new balls! The easiest tutorial I could find online for Shell stitch was on My Rose Valley's blog. I then had to wing the final row to give a straight edge, filling the "troughs" with a tr, htr, dc, htr and tr before joining as normal at the top of the next peak. I then finished with a treble crochet edge in oyster. I used a 4mm needle for this project.
The shell stitch is a looser stitch, or certainly is for me, so I really advise leaving far longer tails that you can weave in further into the blanket, or leaving the tails unwoven until the edging is on and then weaving into the edge. It feels far more secure that way.
So maternity leave officially starts tomorrow, the blanket is made, the tiny clothes are washed. In the meanwhile, I'm afraid the end of pregnancy has hit my like a high speed train and sleeping is hard, walking is hard and this baby has dance moves to rival those of the figure skaters in Sochi. Just thankfully not the blades on the skates to match.
We are ready Baby H. Not long to go and we cannot wait!
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Good Clean (FREE) Fun
Geocaching.
Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.
Heard of it? A student told me about it - vaguely - last year, and I mused on it and parked it.
We've had friends stay for half term who are new cache-ers. The rain didn't show on Thursday, so we signed up too and went caching! You have to be signed up, else you're a muggle, but it costs nothing and it's curiously addictive. And what's more, it gets you outside, exploring new places. For free! Hurrah!
I wont say where, but with the help of the app on our phones (the most basic version of which is free), GPS and some stealth, we found two... It wont be long until our kids can really help us too, rather than just join us on the adventure.
There are rules for geocaching: It's quite secretive and has to be undertaken somewhat covertly. You don't go telling the non-cachers (muggles) too much. You can make and register your own caches to hide, and you can take items from caches so long as you replace that with something of equal or higher value. You record your find, and log it.
I waddled about and looked at things I'd seen before from a completely different perspective. I found a cache and it was exhilarating. And I finally saw my first snowdrops of 2014.
Good, clean, free fun.
Friday, 21 February 2014
Cake
My plans to bake this week did not come to fruition. So instead, I found this. It's totally me (except the bit about being a boy. I am not a boy.)
What a great piece of cake inspired prose.
Chocolate Cake - Michael Rosen
I love chocolate cake.
And when I was a boy
I loved it even more.
Sometimes we used to have it for tea
and Mum used to say,
'If there's any left over
you can have it to take to school
tomorrow to have at playtime.'
And the next day I would take it to school
wrapped up in tin foil
open it up at playtime
and sit in the corner of the playground
eating it,
you know how the icing on top
is all shiny and it cracks as you
bite into it,
and there's that other kind of icing in
the middle
and it sticks to your hands and you
can lick your fingers
and lick your lips
oh it's lovely.
yeah.
Anyway,
once we had this chocolate cake for tea
and later I went to bed
but while I was in bed
I found myself waking up
licking my lips
and smiling.
I woke up proper.
'The chocolate cake.'
It was the first thing
I thought of.
I could almost see it
so I thought,
what if I go downstairs
and have a little nibble, yeah?
It was all dark
everyone was in bed
so it must have been really late
but I got out of bed,
crept out of the door
there's always a creaky floorboard, isn't there?
Past Mum and Dad's room,
careful not to tread on bits of broken toys
or bits of Lego
you know what it's like treading on Lego
with your bare feet,
yowwww
shhhhhhh
downstairs
into the kitchen
open the cupboard
and there it is
all shining.
So I take it out of the cupboard
put it on the table
and I see that
there's a few crumbs lying about on the plate,
so I lick my finger and run my finger all over the crumbs
scooping them up
and put them into my mouth.
oooooooommmmmmmmm
nice.
Then
I look again
and on one side where it's been cut,
it's all crumbly.
So I take a knife
I think I'll just tidy that up a bit,
cut off the crumbly bits
scoop them all up
and into the mouth
oooooommm mmmm
nice.
Look at the cake again.
That looks a bit funny now,
one side doesn't match the other
I'll just even it up a bit, eh?
Take the knife
and slice.
This time the knife makes a little cracky noise
as it goes through that hard icing on top.
A whole slice this time,
into the mouth.
Oh the icing on top
and the icing in the middle
ohhhhhh oooo mmmmmm.
But now
I can't stop myself
Knife -
1 just take any old slice at it
and I've got this great big chunk
and I'm cramming it in
what a greedy pig
but it's so nice,
and there's another
and another and I'm squealing and I'm smacking my lips
and I'm stuffing myself with it
and
before I know
I've eaten the lot.
The whole lot.
I look at the plate.
It's all gone.
Oh no
they're bound to notice, aren't they,
a whole chocolate cake doesn't just disappear
does it?
What shall I do?
I know. I'll wash the plate up,
and the knife
and put them away and maybe no one
will notice, eh?
So I do that
and creep creep creep
back to bed
into bed
doze off
licking my lips
with a lovely feeling in my belly.
Mmmmrnmmmmm.
In the morning I get up,
downstairs,
have breakfast,
Mum's saying,
'Have you got your dinner money?'
and I say,
'Yes.'
'And don't forget to take some chocolate cake with you.'
I stopped breathing.
'What's the matter,' she says,
'you normally jump at chocolate cake?'
I'm still not breathing,
and she's looking at me very closely now.
She's looking at me just below my mouth.
'What's that?' she says.
'What's what?' I say.
'What's that there?'
'Where?'
'There,' she says, pointing at my chin.
'I don't know,' I say.
'It looks like chocolate,' she says.
'It's not chocolate is it?'
No answer.
'Is it?'
'I don't know.'
She goes to the cupboard
looks in, up, top, middle, bottom,
turns back to me.
'It's gone.
It's gone.
You haven't eaten it, have you?'
'I don't know.'
'You don't know. You don't know if you've eaten a whole
chocolate cake or not?
When? When did you eat it?'
So I told her,
and she said
well what could she say?
'That's the last time I give you any cake to take
to school.
Now go. Get out
no wait
not before you've washed your dirty sticky face.'
I went upstairs
looked in the mirror
and there it was,
just below my mouth,
a chocolate smudge.
The give-away.
Maybe she'll forget about it by next week.
And when I was a boy
I loved it even more.
Sometimes we used to have it for tea
and Mum used to say,
'If there's any left over
you can have it to take to school
tomorrow to have at playtime.'
And the next day I would take it to school
wrapped up in tin foil
open it up at playtime
and sit in the corner of the playground
eating it,
you know how the icing on top
is all shiny and it cracks as you
bite into it,
and there's that other kind of icing in
the middle
and it sticks to your hands and you
can lick your fingers
and lick your lips
oh it's lovely.
yeah.
Anyway,
once we had this chocolate cake for tea
and later I went to bed
but while I was in bed
I found myself waking up
licking my lips
and smiling.
I woke up proper.
'The chocolate cake.'
It was the first thing
I thought of.
I could almost see it
so I thought,
what if I go downstairs
and have a little nibble, yeah?
It was all dark
everyone was in bed
so it must have been really late
but I got out of bed,
crept out of the door
there's always a creaky floorboard, isn't there?
Past Mum and Dad's room,
careful not to tread on bits of broken toys
or bits of Lego
you know what it's like treading on Lego
with your bare feet,
yowwww
shhhhhhh
downstairs
into the kitchen
open the cupboard
and there it is
all shining.
So I take it out of the cupboard
put it on the table
and I see that
there's a few crumbs lying about on the plate,
so I lick my finger and run my finger all over the crumbs
scooping them up
and put them into my mouth.
oooooooommmmmmmmm
nice.
Then
I look again
and on one side where it's been cut,
it's all crumbly.
So I take a knife
I think I'll just tidy that up a bit,
cut off the crumbly bits
scoop them all up
and into the mouth
oooooommm mmmm
nice.
Look at the cake again.
That looks a bit funny now,
one side doesn't match the other
I'll just even it up a bit, eh?
Take the knife
and slice.
This time the knife makes a little cracky noise
as it goes through that hard icing on top.
A whole slice this time,
into the mouth.
Oh the icing on top
and the icing in the middle
ohhhhhh oooo mmmmmm.
But now
I can't stop myself
Knife -
1 just take any old slice at it
and I've got this great big chunk
and I'm cramming it in
what a greedy pig
but it's so nice,
and there's another
and another and I'm squealing and I'm smacking my lips
and I'm stuffing myself with it
and
before I know
I've eaten the lot.
The whole lot.
I look at the plate.
It's all gone.
Oh no
they're bound to notice, aren't they,
a whole chocolate cake doesn't just disappear
does it?
What shall I do?
I know. I'll wash the plate up,
and the knife
and put them away and maybe no one
will notice, eh?
So I do that
and creep creep creep
back to bed
into bed
doze off
licking my lips
with a lovely feeling in my belly.
Mmmmrnmmmmm.
In the morning I get up,
downstairs,
have breakfast,
Mum's saying,
'Have you got your dinner money?'
and I say,
'Yes.'
'And don't forget to take some chocolate cake with you.'
I stopped breathing.
'What's the matter,' she says,
'you normally jump at chocolate cake?'
I'm still not breathing,
and she's looking at me very closely now.
She's looking at me just below my mouth.
'What's that?' she says.
'What's what?' I say.
'What's that there?'
'Where?'
'There,' she says, pointing at my chin.
'I don't know,' I say.
'It looks like chocolate,' she says.
'It's not chocolate is it?'
No answer.
'Is it?'
'I don't know.'
She goes to the cupboard
looks in, up, top, middle, bottom,
turns back to me.
'It's gone.
It's gone.
You haven't eaten it, have you?'
'I don't know.'
'You don't know. You don't know if you've eaten a whole
chocolate cake or not?
When? When did you eat it?'
So I told her,
and she said
well what could she say?
'That's the last time I give you any cake to take
to school.
Now go. Get out
no wait
not before you've washed your dirty sticky face.'
I went upstairs
looked in the mirror
and there it was,
just below my mouth,
a chocolate smudge.
The give-away.
Maybe she'll forget about it by next week.
Family Photo Friday #8 - 21/02/14
Half term has vanished. I forgot it was Friday! Needless to say Family Photo Friday has an edge of better late than never today.
I'm round, I'm fat in the face and I'm waddling, but here we are!
Don't forget that on March 7th, Family Photo Friday will be hosted by lovely Mummy Rawles as I anticipate being a little busy that day... Keep your eye out, I'll make sure there's something to redirect you there...
Let's recap the rules!
I promise to visit as many of you as I can and I'll pick my favourite photo to share next Friday.
Word of The Week
Irrational desire to scrub the ensuite shower from top to bottom with a toothbrush and an insatiable desire to bleach the toilets.
The bathroom cleaner smells INCREDIBLE.
Yep...
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Local Gold Mine
Even though she hates having dirty hands, E is an outdoors kind of girl. She loves being outside and getting fresh air, and places that offer the opportunity to look at animals are a double whammy of joy. We have a great local farm park, but I've always felt it a little expensive for what it was, and have been keeping my eye out for alternatives.
I was over collecting some baby clothes from my friend's parents the other day and we were chatting about Colchester Zoo, as said friends have been posted to Colchester. In the midst of conversation it became clear I had not researched my zoos properly, and it transpires that Hamerton Zoo is only 25 minutes drive from us.
So when the Met Office promised sunshine today, you can guess exactly where we headed. What a great day, despite the chill and it being the muddiest E had ever encountered. And their annual pass is £28.50 so I'm signed up for a year of zoo visits! Truly a local gold mine!
Not only was E stoked about looking at animals, it proved a great opportunity for discussion and vocabulary building... New animal names and some great sentences including...
"Monkeeezinere"
"Monkey go outside"
"Tigersleepnow!"
"Noisy monkeeeey!"
"Monkey eat an apple"
"Baby in the tummy" (referring to the wallabies and me)
Educational and fun. My kind of day out.
I was over collecting some baby clothes from my friend's parents the other day and we were chatting about Colchester Zoo, as said friends have been posted to Colchester. In the midst of conversation it became clear I had not researched my zoos properly, and it transpires that Hamerton Zoo is only 25 minutes drive from us.
So when the Met Office promised sunshine today, you can guess exactly where we headed. What a great day, despite the chill and it being the muddiest E had ever encountered. And their annual pass is £28.50 so I'm signed up for a year of zoo visits! Truly a local gold mine!
Not only was E stoked about looking at animals, it proved a great opportunity for discussion and vocabulary building... New animal names and some great sentences including...
"Monkeeezinere"
"Monkey go outside"
"Tigersleepnow!"
"Noisy monkeeeey!"
"Monkey eat an apple"
"Baby in the tummy" (referring to the wallabies and me)
Educational and fun. My kind of day out.
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Family Photo Friday #7 (on a Saturday!) - 14/02/14
Oh my days, what a week!
Share a family photo from your week just gone. It needn't be a Family Photo Friday specific post, I don't mind you recycling! You can join in weekly, monthly or just whenever you can. It can be a formal portrait or a snap from your phone, something you posed for or something you caught when no one was looking. It could be from a day out, a gathering, an activity at home, it doesn't matter so long as it gives a snap shot of what your family looked like during the week that's just been.
Give us a brief explanation of your photo.
I'd love it if you could grab the badge to add at the bottom of your post and Tweet about it using #familyphotofriday - my Twitter handle is @oneformybaby12.
Pop over to visit at least two other bloggers and see what they've been doing - maybe you can watch their family grow and change too!
Leave a comment if you can.
Happy photo-taking and memory-making!
I've been super busy as I finished work on Thursday to start maternity leave, and in my hectic-ness didn't have a chance for a photo or my linky sorted in advance, then we had a day without internet working... Goodness!
Here's E and daddy having a little lie in...
It's been a wet and windy one, hasn't it? I hope everyone's in tact, OK and safe and that the bad weather hasn't left the cameras in hibernation.
I reeeeeeally struggled to choose my favourite picture from last week. In the end, I settled with Mummy Morkus' photo from L's baptism... Now, I know I took this photo but that's not what it's about... These guys have to be the most wonderfully colour coordinated family I've ever met, they matched each other, and they matched the church! Don't get it? Pop over and see what I mean....
Before I forget, on March 7th, Family Photo Friday will be hosted by lovely Mummy Rawles as I anticipate being a little busy that day... Keep your eye out, I'll make sure there's something to redirect you there...
Let's recap the rules!
I promise to visit as many of you as I can and I'll pick my favourite photo to share next Friday.
Friday, 14 February 2014
Word of The Week
I'm not one to blow my own trumpet all that often, however this week's word is...
By 36 weeks pregnant with E I has gained 2 1/2 stone, c. 35lbs.
This week I saw the midwife and nearly fell off the scales when she told me I'd gained... 12lb. TWELVE POUNDS. In total. Since getting pregnant. And I thought I was eating like a horse!
So yes, smug I am.
Cake, anyone?
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Glass
At the age of almost 27, my father has little opportunity to get cross with me these days. But occasionally I still catch him rolling his eyes at me... It's mostly when I get the camera out. He thinks I spend too much time taking photographs of E rather than enjoying just being in the midst of it and enjoying her.
I agree, I spend a lot of my life observing through glass, through the lens of my camera. But I suppose dad doesn't see the day to day stuff we do, where the camera isn't out and we are just enjoying being. When we see dad, I want to photograph it all as we don't see him all that often and E is too little to remember our visits just yet.
I certainly photograph more of our lives than a lot of my friends do of theirs. There's two reasons. 1) I just love taking photographs, the challenge, the exploration, the creativity. 2) I want my children's lives to be as well documented as they can be. I want them to be able to look back, perhaps when I am gone, when they have their own children, you get my drift, and to not have to wonder about stuff, to have answers.
Actually, there's a 3rd reason: I don't want to forget it. It's all happening so quickly, being a mum, being pregnant, and I'm terrified that already I can't remember when stuff happened without looking in her baby book. The thousands of photographs keep it safe when my brain can't and needs a reminder.
Sometimes I find that looking at life through glass helps me see more, not less.
Sorry dad, you won't win this one.
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Two Kids, One Room
When we were expecting E, preparing her nursery was a simple task: We lived in a three bed house and were blessed with a spare room and a study. The two rooms could be combined, leaving the smallest room for her. We painted it before we knew she was a girl, and the colour was chosen specifically to let us add pink or blue touches.
However, a lot of our friends live too far away from us for a day trip and so, perhaps rather selfishly, I wasn't prepared to give up my spare room/study when we found out number 2 was on the way. So we decided that they would share. Practical? Brave? Who knows, time will tell, but our middle room is plenty big enough for two with space to play, so I set about planning a room that would be girlie enough for E, and can be made more girlie if this one is pink too, or can remain neutral enough if this one is boy-flavoured...
Hours on Pinterest later, dreaming about rainbows, some frantic furniture rearranging, a coat of Dulux "Pewter" and this is what we've ended up with. Baby 2's mark is not yet made, and I've held off hanging some things until we're sure of where the cot will go, and until we have two finger print trees from Baptisms etc, and I STILL haven't finished crocheting the rug, but we (three) are thrilled with the room... In fact, it's probably my favourite room in the house. It's calm, it's colourful, it's happy, it's light, it's everything a room where small people hang out should be.
Handmade items aside, the room is finished and functioning well; E has settled into it perfectly. I'm hoping the weather will get better soon so I can upcycle the bookshelf I bought in 2012 which is still dark brown and unpainted... That's another project and another blog post I imagine.
So all this room needs now is E's little brother or sister to make it complete. Not long now baby, we're all SO excited to meet you!
However, a lot of our friends live too far away from us for a day trip and so, perhaps rather selfishly, I wasn't prepared to give up my spare room/study when we found out number 2 was on the way. So we decided that they would share. Practical? Brave? Who knows, time will tell, but our middle room is plenty big enough for two with space to play, so I set about planning a room that would be girlie enough for E, and can be made more girlie if this one is pink too, or can remain neutral enough if this one is boy-flavoured...
Hours on Pinterest later, dreaming about rainbows, some frantic furniture rearranging, a coat of Dulux "Pewter" and this is what we've ended up with. Baby 2's mark is not yet made, and I've held off hanging some things until we're sure of where the cot will go, and until we have two finger print trees from Baptisms etc, and I STILL haven't finished crocheting the rug, but we (three) are thrilled with the room... In fact, it's probably my favourite room in the house. It's calm, it's colourful, it's happy, it's light, it's everything a room where small people hang out should be.
This room is designed to be set up as a double bedroom, so the plugs are all in the "wrong" place for how we want to use it. Cue retro chrome standard lamp from Argos, perfect for book reading!
The rainbow cusions are "Skarum" from IKEA, the blanket was a gift for E as a newborn from Mamas and Papas. We kept the curtains from the room as it was before, which had a teal theme... Transpires they work really well!
A gift from my auntie, these rainbow door hooks from Great Little Trading Company offered the perfect finishing touch.
Coincidental colour coordinating toys...
Stumbled across this lampshade in B&Q when buying a curtain rail. It's so simple and gives off a lovely soft light, but brings in just enough rainbow! Proof as well I think that you can get some unusual stuff in the most unexpected places!
Another IKEA cushion, that matches fabulously with E's bedding, which was a bargain last year in the sale in Tesco!
I trawled the internet for some free fabric samples in bright colours and added in a few bunting triangles of fabric that I already owned to help break up the wall behind E's bed. Toddler beds are so dinky and low to the floor that the walls can end up looking huge and I think this is the perfect finishing touch... Thank you, pinking shears!
The rug is still hand made work in progress...
I couldn't resist this when I was picking up a few bits in Kiddicare last week... Perfect, and a right old bargain!
Handmade items aside, the room is finished and functioning well; E has settled into it perfectly. I'm hoping the weather will get better soon so I can upcycle the bookshelf I bought in 2012 which is still dark brown and unpainted... That's another project and another blog post I imagine.
So all this room needs now is E's little brother or sister to make it complete. Not long now baby, we're all SO excited to meet you!
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