Friday, 30 September 2011

Knitted Cutes


I am always in awe of people who have the aptitude for knitting, and infinitely grateful to any of them who put that skill at my disposal.

Having another winter baby, I was determined to come up with a solution to the revolting sweaty snow suits that are available for babies while also finding a way to keep the new little cherub warm and snugly.

I’m lucky that my friend Natalie knows her way around the knitting world and suggested this pattern

  
Which looks so good I was actually wondering if she could do an adult sized one for me!!

I picked up the finished suit on Monday and I’m SO in love with the finished article. Having raided the button pot and spent last night sewing on the buttons it is now ready to go.


Typical then that we’re in the middle of a mini heat wave isn’t it?

Keith commented that he thinks she will look like Sack Boy from Little Big Planet which I choose to see as a good thing.

Friday, 23 September 2011

Alfie does the Dancing

I just wanted to share this video with all of you who don't believe that my son has suddenly become the frickin Energizer Bunny.



Send help in the form of booze and tranquilizer darts.

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Our Days are Numbered


It is so good to have the levels of testosterone back up to normal at FTC.

I did enjoy the break, but a week was long enough and the dog is a poor substitute for a welcome home snog. Plus the neighbours managed to block the drain yesterday and who would have dealt with that?

Something really weird has happened to me as a result of The Tails being away and instead of looking at the calendar wondering how many minutes there are left until the birth, I am now totally focused on enjoying these last few weeks as a family of three.

Last weekend we took full advantage of a “75p weekend” at the local cinema and took Alfie to see his first film. I was a little concerned that he might either get bored or distressed so I chose a film that neither Keith nor I wanted to see on the basis that we wouldn’t care if we missed it.

Clearly I had no need to worry, because if the film was lacking, the popcorn was not and Alfie managed to lay claim to the whole carton and growl at anyone else who dared put a hand near it. Growl, and slap our hands away.


He also screamed at several points in the film which was OK because the whole cinema was full of young children, but also presented an unique parenting challenge to Keith and I who were totally unable to deal with him for laughing.

Whoever in Madrid taught him how to scream like a teenage girl I have three words for you:

I.HATE.YOU.

My ears hate you.

In fact, everyone in central Bedfordshire now hates you.

There is part of me that wants to do a full on belly laugh at him when he runs around SCREECHING with a grin nailed to his face, but that part is getting drowned out by the pain in my ears, and the overwhelming urge to slap Keith round the face when he encourages Alfie by joining in.

Let’s hope he finds it as funny when Alfie fails to realise that homes and libraries have different rules.

Despite the utter chaos, I really had missed the random interjections in my otherwise normal day.

Last night I was in the shower when Keith burst through the door with a look on his face that gave me a good insight into a younger Keith on Christmas morning.

“I totally forgot to tell you!!”

“oookay” I say subtly putting his razor back on the shower tidy and straining to hear over the noise of the water.

“when we got to Madrid airport we had to go up the escalators and round to get to the baggage reclaim ... ”

“right”

“and when we got there ...... THERE WAS A HANDLE GOING ROUND THE CAROUSEL!!!!!”

After a brief pause there was only one response to that statement:

“NO. F’ING. WAY!!!!!!”

And suddenly both the interruption and the expression made perfect sense.

And I laughed.

In fact I laughed so hard I actually had to cut my shower short so I could carry on laughing without having to deal with water in my face at the same time.

If you need to know why such an innocent comment was so funny, look here

My belly hurt by the time I clambered into bed.

Which reminds me, for anyone looking at the update thinking c’maaaahn with the pregnancy news I do have something to share:

Braxton Hicks. Truly the highlight of my day.

Remember please that I didn’t have them last time, so this is all new turf to me (along with pelvic pain but that’s not quite so jolly) and it took me a while to work out what was going on. The only way I can describe how they feel to me is like an old fashioned lift stopping too fast or going over a humpback bridge – except that w’OH!! feeling in your throat lasts for minutes at a time.

I love it!!

I was expecting them to be uncomfortable or to focus on my back or belly and feel like achy muscles, I was totally unprepared to feel like I’m tipping off the top of a rollercoaster for half the day.

In some ways karmic justice since my entire department is leaving me behind to go to Alton Towers in a few weeks.

But then who needs Alton Towers when you have Braxton Hicks and hormones? WHEEEEEE!!!!

Thursday, 15 September 2011

No, I've got something in my eye dammit!!

My friend sent me a link to a post this morning that I just really wanted to share.

You'll either get why I've posted it or you won't.

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Brief interlude for me and the Princess ... *shudder*


This might seem like a mundane post, but to me this is a glorious moment of calm at FTC.

I have managed to pack the kids off to the other side of Europe for a WHOLE WEEK which means I have free run of the house to indulge my pregnancy whims.

Seems I have quite a few that up to now had been drowned out by the chatter of toddler, husband and other demands on my time.

Mostly I have been spoiling myself with the kind of birth preparation I did buckets of with Alfie but have totally neglected this time. I have had early nights, pampered my skin, watched birth videos and hynobirthed my ass off.

I have even had a chance to catch up with all the incredible people I follow on Twitter and they have introduced me to a site that actually made me pump my fists.

I don’t admit that lightly.

Keith and I are both more than a little scared at the thought of having a daughter who is swamped in pink and personally I am also rabidly adverse to my daughter being defined by the kinds of gender definition that seems to start almost from the moment of birth

But look at this site, seriously lookit, Princess Free Zone!!!
This is where I dance a little jig at knowing that there are other people who share my horror at the anti-feminist attitude of large corporations to little girls.

If you think I’m over exaggerating here, I’m not. If you want me to scare you with the numerous t shirts and toys that tell your daughter she’s too pretty to think from before she even knows what thinking means, just ask, I’ll happily flood your mailbox until your spam filter runs away shrieking!

PS is bad that half of me wants to tell the boys to stay in Madrid another week???