T turned 5

So in my last blog I was counting down to Ts birthday.

The day before I was feeling a bit weird, but just put it down to a bit of pre birthday stress.

I smothered T with kisses and cuddles before bed as is ritual. His last kiss as a 4 year old, his last cuddle as a 4 year old...

Then 10pm I was violently sick...4 times.

I sat in the loo and sobbed.

I was sure I had 'that' sick bug and had infected him as a 5th birthday present. I eventually drifted off to sleep and thankfully woke with the birthday boy at 6 am.

He came in the bedroom to open his presents and I could barely lift my head from my pillow to smile at his excitement. Thankfully Hubby took the day off work to look after me and Eve. I spent all day either sleeping or waiting for the phone call from school saying he'd started being sick.

The call didn't come. I started to feel lots better by 3pm and as no one else had been struck down by then can only think I'd eaten something dodgy.

The entire family piled round for the birthday boys party and he had a lovely time.

We had a bit of a party at a local soft play on the Saturday with a few of his school friends which was just brilliant (apart from T getting picked on by a kid who I may have yelled at a bit)

T also insisted on getting all his hair chopped off so that he could have a Mohawk like Eve. I hate it, he (as is evident in below photo) Loves it! 

Eve thoroughly enjoyed all the cake and has managed to start standing up and cruising these last few days. Which T is loving he finds it hilarious that she grabs his feet. I'm so lucky that they adore each other so much! Long may it last!!

We're making the most of the autumn weather with rides on his new bike and leaf collecting. I love cold sunny Autumn days.

9 months

My baby girl is 9 months.

I love her more than I ever dreamed possible.

She's a right little funny character. Has her little games that she liked to play with you, head tilting and the no game.

She's commando crawling at some speed and trying to pull herself up on things now.

She's clapping and waving and very pleased with herself when she does so.

Most nights she's sleeping 7-6. Which is heavenly, but also a hell of a shock to the system when she decides to wake up for a cuddle!

She's been a bit poorly this last week. Temperature up to 40, full body rash and not much else. But thankfully that seems to be over with now. I hate temperatures they freak me out.

She utterly adores T, we have big canvases in the passage and she reaches out to touch his face when we walk past them and he's at school.

T seems to be settling into school really well. Not as tired as I thought he would be. However I do think that he's a bit bored. They've only started doing 'work' this week and it seems like the majority of the day is still play based.

We've been attending parties galore, I am sick of the sight of soft play, and I always forget to eat beforehand then stare longingly at his party food.

Speaking of parties he turns 5 this month. 5! So hopefully I will get pictures up on the big day.

Looking after me

After having 9 months of feeling sick and struggling to eat when I was pregnant with Eve. I decided to have a few months just enjoying food. I then gave myself a deadline of September and 27th, 9 months after Eve was born, before I decided to start worrying about my weight.

As the day creeps closer I decided to start and phase myself on to slimming world to start and get back I the groove of it.

So I weighed in last Friday at bang on 13 stone. (Only put a stone on through pregnancy and the following 9 months which isn't bad at all!) My weigh days will be Fridays so I can have it as my treat day which worked well for me before.

I've started walking more. Now that I'm back on school runs that guarantees me 2 miles walking a day.

I'm trying to take the dog for a 2 mile walk on an evening as well. So this should mean I walk 22 miles a week! Which is a big step up from my average of 8.

So I'm hoping that I get down to my target of 12 stone by Christmas which is plenty of time. I'm hoping to post weigh in results along with a food diary every Friday!

7 months

Ok admittedly I'm a bit late with this, but the pics were taken at the right time!

So Eve is 7 months old, we have 2 bottom teeth with the top ones not far behind. 

Baby led weaning isn't going too well, we're trying to refocus that and have a meeting with the health visitor on Monday, some days she's awesome, other days she chokes on everything. Her favourite thing to eat is a roast parsnip!

(And milestone cards)

T is falling more in love with her every day, it's utterly heart melting to watch. She adores him so much. Her little face lights up when she sees him.

Also her hair is fairly amusing, 2 crowns that swirl towards each other, resulting in a cute little Mohawk. However it's going to have to get fairly long before it weights itself down, so I'm sure there's lots of silly hair pictures to come! 

I have much more to write about her, however that's technically for the 8 month update, so you'll have to wait 2 weeks! 

Granny square

After managing to teach someone how to do a granny square via Twitter DM I was asked to do a step by step blog post.

I am by no means amazing at crochet but I can do a mean granny square blanket! 

So grab some wool and a crochet needle (size 5 ish is good to start with) and let's go!

First you need a chain. A chain is the base for all crochet work. Did you ever do finger knitting as a kid? That's what a chain is. Make a slip knot and tighten it onto your hook. 

I always find it easier if I hold the end of the wool in my hand. 

Wrap your wool over between the loop you have and the hook, this is what I call 'wool over' 

Use the hook to pull the wool through the loop of the slip knot, as you pull it through the slip knot loop will fall off the hook and a new loop will be created. That's chaining, you've just chained 1, do this 5 more times so you've done 6 chains.

Ok, now you need to make this into a circle so leaving the needle where it is, hold your chain in your other hand and put the hook into the first loop you made 

If you're in the right bit you should have 2 loops together on one side of your needle 

And it should look like this if you let it hang. Now wool over in front of the two loops and pull through all 3 loops you have on your hook. It's ok to use your fingers to hold bits still, it's tricky! 

If you've done that right you should have one loop on your hook and you should notice your chain is now a circle. Well done, you've made the centre of your square! Next you need to chain again, so chain 3. We're chaining 3 because we're working with a treble stitch and this puts you at the right height to start your next row of work, it counts as your first stitch. 

Treble stitch 

Ok let's do the first treble.  This is your most used stitch in a blanket. First wool over, 

Then put the hook through the circle 

Then wool over again 

Use the hook to grab the bit of wool you've just put over and pull it through the circle. You should have 3 loops on your hook 

Wool over so you have 4 loops 

Pull the wool that's laying over the hook through the next loop, just one loop then you should have 3 loops 

Wool over again, grab the wool with the hook and pull through the next 2 loops (ooo adventurous!) you should have 2 loops on your hook 

Wool over again grab wool and pull through the last 2 loops so you're left with 1 loop 

If it looks like this, well done you just did a treble crochet! Did you see the pattern? 4 loops became 3, 3 became 2, 2 became 1. So now you need to do another treble. I'll write for now and you can refer back to the pics if you need to.

Find your original circle (you can slide the treble stitches around so push it close to the chain of 3 you did if it helps you find the circle 

So if you've found your circle, wool over, hook through the circle, wool over, pull through the circle, 3 loops on hook. Wool over (4 loops on hook ) pull through first loop (3 loops on hook) wool over pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook) wool over pull through last 2 loops (1 loop on hook) 

Woop this is the first side of a square, now to make a corner, chain 3. Then 3 more trebles: (instructions again) 

Find your circle, wool over, hook through the circle, wool over, pull through the circle, 3 loops on hook. Wool over (4 loops on hook ) pull through first loop (3 loops on hook) wool over pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook) wool over pull through last 2 loops (1 loop on hook) repeat another 2 times so you have 3 columns again 

Another corner, chain 3 then 3 more trebles... Oh ok here's the instructions one more time. 

Find your circle, wool over, hook through the circle, wool over, pull through the circle, 3 loops on hook. Wool over (4 loops on hook ) pull through first loop (3 loops on hook) wool over pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook) wool over pull through last 2 loops (1 loop on hook) 

Repeat twice more so you have 3 together 

Another corner so chain 3 then 3 trebles... Instructions again? Oh ok, last time though. 

Find your circle, wool over, hook through the circle, wool over, pull through the circle, 3 loops on hook. Wool over (4 loops on hook ) pull through first loop (3 loops on hook) wool over pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook) wool over pull through last 2 loops (1 loop on hook) repeat twice more. 

Look a tiny square! Ok this next bit is a bit tricky, chain 3 then you need to join it up, so you need to go into the top stitch of the first column you did 

If you're in the right bit the loop you just went into should have 2 bits on the top of your needle. If you've only picked one up you'll find it stretches when you do the next square. So if you're in there wool over and pull through all the loops you have on your hook. That's called a slip stitch. Now for the last tricky bit, you know the chain that you just attached, you need to go into the last loop of that, look at your hook and go into the hole immediately to the right of where you are 

Wool over, pull through, this puts you in the right position for your next square. 

So if you're still with me and your work looks like this, you're winning! Now for the next square instead of using the circle  you're going to use the holes at each corner. So chain 3 to take you to the right height, then treble 2,  wool over, go through the corner hole 

And go from there. So replace 'circle' for 'corner hole' in the instructions! (I said I wasn't writing them any more and I meant it!) once you've done those, chain 2 to take you across to the next corner hole, 3 trebles in that one, then chain 3 for your corner, then go back into the same corner hole and do 3 more trebles (a group of 3 trebles make a side, a corner needs 2 sides so 2 groups of 3 trebles) 

 

Chain 2 to take you across to the next corner hole, 3 trebles, chain 3 for corner, 3 trebles into the same corner hole 

Chain 2 to take you to next corner hole, 3 trebles, chain 3 for corner, 3 trebles into same corner hole, chain 2 to take you across to last corner hole, 3 trebles, chain 3.... But wait there's already a treble in there! Go into top stitch of first column, wool over, pull through,(slip stitch)  go back into next hole immediately to the right. There's your second square. When you move to the next square you always make one side of a corner, your last trebles will make the second side of that corner. 

Then it's pretty much the same all the way through, chain 3, 2 trebles, chain 2 to take you to next hole, 3 trebles, chain 2 to take you to next corner, 3 trebles, chain 3 to make corner, 3 trebles back in same corner, chain 2 to next hole, 3 trebles in that hole, chain 2 to next corner  hole and so on till you get this 

Don't worry about neatness and tension that will come with practice! If you want to brave adding a new colour I add the new wool as the wool over bit of a slip stitch. 

I hope this was easy enough to understand! Let me know if there's any ways to explain it better, where you get stuck or even better, finished products! 

6 Months

My beautiful girl is 6 months old. 

6 freakin months!

Where did they go? I'm sure I just popped her out.

She is such a happy smiley content little thing, intrigued by everything and everyone and dazzles everyone with her huge blue eyes and big smiles.

She's been rolling for a while, went through a few stages of attempting to crawl but has given up on that for now, same with her sitting up, she can do it, she just prefers to throw herself backwards instead.

She has 2 teeth through on the bottom, her top ones are coming down and won't be long before they start coming through. 

We've started baby led weaning with her, she wasn't interested in purees at all she just wanted to chew proper food. So I did some research and decided to go for it. It is so terrifying and so fascinating. Terrifying watching your tiny baby pull off huge chunks of food and struggle with it in her mouth, fascinating watching her move it round and spit it out (and fling it on the floor) it says not to interfere if they gag, as their gag reflex is near the front of their tongue so they're in no danger of choking. They learn about manageable amounts this way, so she learns that's too much. But I literally have to sit on my hands sometimes to let her sort it out! She loves roast parsnips, that's definitely her favourite, but so far she's had cheese, cucumber, banana, parsnip, pasta, potato, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, Yorkshire pudding, chicken, beef, bread, tuna, sausage... Pretty much everything, she bloody loves it!

Sleep wise she does anywhere between 9 and 12 hours. If she wakes for a feed it tends to be between 3/4am. But she goes down at 6pm usually. Every now and then she throws me with a few 1am feeds to keep me on my toes. But I do love night feeds sometimes, she stares at me intently and gets so excited when I go in to her. 

I love my little squishy more than I thought possible. Can't wait for the next 6 months, hopefully crawling, walking, talking!

Follow">http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/14341209/?claim=r392st7n9jj">Follow my blog with Bloglovin

6 Months

My beautiful girl is 6 months old. 

6 freakin months!

Where did they go? I'm sure I just popped her out.

She is such a happy smiley content little thing, intrigued by everything and everyone and dazzles everyone with her huge blue eyes and big smiles.

She's been rolling for a while, went through a few stages of attempting to crawl but has given up on that for now, same with her sitting up, she can do it, she just prefers to throw herself backwards instead.

She has 2 teeth through on the bottom, her top ones are coming down and won't be long before they start coming through. 

We've started baby led weaning with her, she wasn't interested in purees at all she just wanted to chew proper food. So I did some research and decided to go for it. It is so terrifying and so fascinating. Terrifying watching your tiny baby pull off huge chunks of food and struggle with it in her mouth, fascinating watching her move it round and spit it out (and fling it on the floor) it says not to interfere if they gag, as their gag reflex is near the front of their tongue so they're in no danger of choking. They learn about manageable amounts this way, so she learns that's too much. But I literally have to sit on my hands sometimes to let her sort it out! She loves roast parsnips, that's definitely her favourite, but so far she's had cheese, cucumber, banana, parsnip, pasta, potato, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, Yorkshire pudding, chicken, beef, bread, tuna, sausage... Pretty much everything, she bloody loves it!

Sleep wise she does anywhere between 9 and 12 hours. If she wakes for a feed it tends to be between 3/4am. But she goes down at 6pm usually. Every now and then she throws me with a few 1am feeds to keep me on my toes. But I do love night feeds sometimes, she stares at me intently and gets so excited when I go in to her. 

I love my little squishy more than I thought possible. Can't wait for the next 6 months, hopefully crawling, walking, talking!

Too many hats

How many hats do you wear? Do you get to ever take them off?

I permanently have my mum hat on, sometimes I can take it off for an hour or two when I first go to bed, maybe if the kids are ok I can take it off all night. If the kids wake up however the mum hat is picked back up and jammed firmly in place on my head.

I have many hats, usually on top of my mum hat I wear my wife hat, my wife hat only usually is worn between 4pm and bedtime and on weekend.

Then there's the once a day hat where for an hour I put on my step mum hat, and usually once a week, sometimes more my step grandparent hat. 

Then there's my sister hat, I have 2, 2 very different sister hats, my daughter hat, my granddaughter hat, my auntie hat, hopefully soon I'll have a work hat.

But what happens when all these hats are worn together, when you forget to remove one hat before the next hat gets put on top?

They topple off, come crashing down to the floor and you're left with your mum hat. What if you don't want to wear your mum hat when all your hats come crashing down? You take that hat off and it's just hair. Your hair is limp, greasy and lifeless because you've been wearing so many hats you've not had time to tend to it.

You look in the mirror at the mess and wonder how it got that bad, when did you stop caring about your hair, should you go for a drastic new style and colour? Will it make any difference? Will people see or notice it anyways under all those hats? People get so mad when I take off my hats to look after my hair. 

Clearly this post is neither about hats nor hair.