Beautiful.......

These past few weeks have been 

Beautiful

Exhausting

Overwhelming

Joyful

Tearful

Happy

They have been all about the boy.

My boy, my gift from God, my 'little squash'. 

He really is squashy and lovely, a fairly contended little fella. Giving us just enough sleep to stay smiling, we are all in love with our newest member.

Many blog posts have been written in the wee small hours, which will never quite make it out of my brain through my fingertips onto here, but some will i'm sure, reformed and in a more coherent form.

That's all for now, but I'm hoping to be back again soon x

New arrival

There has been blogging silence for a week or two.......

I have been busy with my snuggly little newborn.

Here he is, arrived healthy and well two weeks ago.

( 9lb 9oz of him ! )

Big red ball

The big red ball comes with promises galore,

Sit on it, bounce on it, put it on the floor.

In answer to most post natal queries,

Sitting on 'The ball' seems to be top of the list of theories.

Theories of baby positioning, deep down in the pelvis,

Sit on it, bounce on it, move your hips like Elvis.

For the most part, 'The Ball' sits lonely and unused,

Hundreds of women sat on the sofa, slouching feeling confused.

Confused as to weather 'The Ball' is all it's claimed to be,

And if it really makes a difference if you sit on it while watching TV.

So I salute 'The Ball' sitting ladies, mine has been neglected,

To the sofa I have defected.....

Fun times......

The past week I have had a little more energy, so have been able to play with Little Tyke a bit more and generally be out of bed ( albeit lying on the sofa ) and pottering around the house.

It's been great, as these are our last few weeks with just me, her and him. So have enjoyed a few moments of just reflecting and enjoying this stage we've had as a three, while at the same time, anticipating the arrival of our boy who will make us a four.

A few snapshots of the nice things we've done......

This my friends is a picnic, apparently the one on the left, squashed into the ground is Daddy having a sleep......NEVER SLEEP in the presence of my daughter, she may squash you into the ground and say 'SLEEPING'

Apparently this is a boat, she suddenly insisted that she needed a spoon........I think it was doubling as a paddle...... a 2 year old's imagination is an amazing place :)

Tonight Husbando broke down on the way home from work, thankfully a lovely friend popped over in that slot of 'awake from nap time ,but Daddy's not home yet ' time, which is usually my worst time of day, she also cooked us some tea ( yes I do have amazing friends ). However LT didn't want the curry, so I decided on a tea which she would enjoy and would eat....... this is what it was.....humous and cucumber, then topped with some breadsticks which she proceeded to dip in a yoghurt. There was also a small orange which was split into segments and then kind of 'mixed' in with the rest of the food.

 Gross ? most definitely. Nutritious ? - fairly. Kept her happy for twenty minutes ? Check. A peaceful teatime ? oh yes indeed !

We had a fun teatime, and afterwards listened to Stevie Wonder LOUD, while LT bounced on our bed.

And lastly, my Mum came to visit last week. Normally when she is here I tend to have a long bath, some extra sleep and then lie on the sofa while she cooks or amuses LT, but last week we made it out for a little bite of lunch. Such a special time, with Mum and Daughter. There is something special about being out with my Mum, and my girl with her Mum, it just feels complete. 

I am blessed to have my Mum alive and well. 

........awaiting sausage sandwiches and paninis ......... yum.

NHS and Smarties

The NHS came up trumps again today, we live close to a health centre, which is like a 'one stop shop' for clinics of all shapes and sizes. I feel like it is my second home at the moment, in the past few months I have been there to see......... the GP, Practise Nurse, Health visitor, Psychologist, Opthamalmic person, Phelbotomist and Dentist, all under one roof. Although it has got to the point where the taxi driver has almost stopped asking me where I want to go, as usually it's there. It is one thing I think the NHS has got right recently. ( Yes Mr Cameron do you hear me ? don't be ruining it completely please, PLEASE )

When Little Tyke was a baby the place had a fault with the heating, so it was always HOT, too hot, in winter and summer. As you can imagine, waiting with a baby in a hot stuffy place with lots of people, kids and germs all flying around in an array of illness and impatience, it wasn't a place for a sleep deprived mummy to enjoy ! It's amazing what turning down the heating a few notches can do. It is now a far more pleasant experience, that mixed with knowing which of the 5 reception desks your meant to be at, all makes life easier. Life should always be as easy as possible I think.

Today it was the Opthalmic clinic for LT we were gracing with our presence. I have been dreading it for a while if I'm honest, I just don't have the energy for such things. But today wasn't too bad, while we waited for quite a looooong time, LT did insist on basically dusting the floors with her body, but in an attempt to keep us both happy I just let her get on with it, thankfully the floors were fairly clean (?!). She also asked me in a loud voice 'why has that man got a plaster on his head ?.'...which was a little unfortunate as he did look a little embarrassed. There was a tricky moment when a 5 year old boy attempted to 'share' her peppa pig toys which she was more than a little put out about. To be fair, he was fairly hyperactive and had very little concept of why he might scare her. 

The Dr at the clinic was very lovely and actually smiled which is more than can be said for the last opthalmic person we saw - why work with kids if you don't even smile at them ! So the Dr fella got 10/10 and the lady we saw before him  ( not actually sure what her title is ) were wonderful with LT, and with a promise of smarties when we were done, she co operated in a way which made me feel like a proud smug parent. ( you have to revel in these rare occasions to make up for the times when they are throwing things at other kids and refusing to do as you ask them while out in public ! )

All in all, the morning I had been dreading for a few weeks now, wasn't too bad. 

Big up the Health Centre I say. 

( only downside was having to fish something out of dirty clothes pile in a bid to leave the house in more than just my bra and bulging maternity jeans ) 

Ten on Tuesday

I started composing this 'ten' three weeks ago, and am determined that today is the day it will make it into the land of blog....


1.  I have become very sensitive to what I watch recently, I cannot bear tension, murder, pain of any type, anything which involves children suffering or anything too real life which makes me cry. So my viewing interests have narrowed somewhat, this has meant I have developed quite a fondness for nature programmes 'Africa' on BBC is brilliant, and slightly more concerningly a love of 'room 101', I haven't missed one this series.......it's quite good you know ! Listening to Paloma faith argue with Deborah Meedam about the ugliness of UGG boots was quite entertaining don't you know :)

2. I read this interesting article via a blog about a lady who has decided not to spend any money on her child this year....interesting. Though provoking, but also made me wonder what she usually bought him ?! Check it out here mumofone, or for the full article here

3. I have had two short trips to the shops in the last few weeks, shops I can see from my sitting room window, but still have to get a taxi to get to !  One such trip was to next, I realised LT has no clothes for springtime, so decided to pick her up a few bits while I had my head in gear and wasn't totally dazed by the newborn haze. I have found if I buy a few things at the same time, at the start of a season, and think what she needs, rather than a few bits here, and a few bits there, I spend less, and she looks better ! 
It was however a little odd to buy spring attire a few days before it snowed. A friend was exclaiming to me how ridiculous it is that all the shops have spring stock but it's still January and who on earth would buy that kind of thing now.......?.....ahem.......*raises hand like an embarrassed school girl*....meeeeeeee.....!

Thankfully next has lots of chairs I could sit on, and I took various drinks for our little pit stops around the shop....no one wants a collapsing pregnant lady in their shop, so we went for the 'slow and steady' approach to our brief shopping trip.

4. I have started reading the book ' A year of biblical womanhood' by Rachel Held Evans. I read her blog and have been wanting to buy it for a while. It's an interesting and amusing look into what the bible says and doesn't say about Women, how we should dress, how we should mother, how we should or shouldn't speak in church, or be a wife. It's a refreshing read. Has bits of theology in it, and lots of humour as the author guides us through her attempts at putting into practise - quite literally at times, what the Bible says women should 'do/be'. Many of these issues I have spent the past ten or so years pondering, so lots of it isn't really 'new' to me, but it has definitely stirred my thoughts once more, and set me thinking about my life as a Christian woman and how I invest my time and conduct myself. My friend over at 'In the Land of the Living ' is also reading it, she shares some of her thoughts on it beautifully.

5. Willow has started saying .... 'I'm bored mummy'...'lets do something else now' 

So then we do things like this

and this

GIVE ME STRENGTH !

6. *****NEWS FLASH****** We.......have........ got.........a..........tumble. dryer.......oh yes we have. 
It is both an evil overindulgence and a beautiful machine. I have a love hate relationship with it, as for me, along with our dishwasher it signifies so much which is wrong with our western culture and how the divide between my household and most other households in the world is growing. And yet, my friends, I can sit on a chair and receive into my newly purchased washing basket ( see point 10 ) dry clean clothes, with just a bit of folding, they look ironed and everything. 

No hanging required. 

It's a modern day miracle.


7. I love snow and love being outside, so the past ten days have felt a little annoying that I've had to sit like an oversized tired buddah in the house while Husbando and Little tyke have sledged, built snowmen and the like. Maybe next year......... 


8. Like most parents, when you approach the end stages of pregnancy, the issue of finalising a name comes about..........we kind of decided, then we weren't sure, then I changed my mind, then Husbando suddenly decided that there was only one name we had discussed that he liked. So in a bid for some fresh inspiration incase there is a name lurking somewhere we haven't thought of, I have been looking at some interesting websites about baby names. I found it fascinating to see the 'regional top ten' rather than the national top 100 names, they vary so much....

for example........ 

In some parts of London 'Barbara' is in the top ten for a girl, but not even in the top 100 anywhere else in the UK

'Mason' is top 10 in some parts of the north west but much further down nationwide, some places don't even have Harry or Joshua in their regional top ten, but nationally they are top 5........

I'm not sure if this is even interesting, but in my head it was, for a few minutes anyway ?!


9. Last week I was moaning to husbando about the recent acquisition of two new stretch marks across my once flat and unmarked tummy......bless him, how is a man meant to respond to such a thing ?  His reply was ......

'well love, I think you've done really well only to get two new ones ! ' 

Bless. God loves a try-er !

Although the other evening he didn't do quite so well, when I exclaimed in a ball of emotion, how I am always in bed exhausted and we rarely get to go out together or have much fun cos i'm just sitting around or sleeping. 
I said.....

' it will be ok wont' it love ? We're not going to look at each other in three years time and get divorced because it's all gone wrong are we ?'

his reply was simply, with a big tired sigh...........

' oh no, that would mean I'd have to start all over again, far too much hard work ' !!

He's a tactful guy :)

But we laughed, and laughter is good medicine.


10.  I feel like I have spent more money recently than I ever have.......on stuff like a shoe rack, two new washing baskets, a laundry bin, new pegs and storage boxes.......I think I may have become a little obsessed with our 'household systems' running smoothly. Usually we are very much kind of 'make do with what we have'  kind of people, for example we have used a random £2 plastic bin as a nappy bin for two years, and LT has had a very odd shaped and insufficiently small basket I found somewhere as a dirty clothes basket. We have one proper washing basket, so invariably are left with piles of washing kind of strewn on the stairs in no vessel at all. Husbando pinched the shoe rack to create a computer stand with a few months ago, so our hallway is just a pile of shoes. However, with the imminent arrival of another human into our house, I felt it was time we joined convention and got relevant receptacles for the smooth running of family Deane. Boring and dull, but essential I think..........?!

( we will have finally arrived into some kind of domestic nirvana when we purchase a bread bin......no we don't have one, yes we do need one, but neither of us ever seem to want to spend limited funds on such an item ......one day, my friends, one day )

A week in one picture.....

It's been a snowy ten days

Snowmen

Sledging

Staying in the warm