Monday 31 January 2011

Coughs and sneezes...

Argghhhhhhhhhh! Enough already! Can we please stop being ill in this household now? We've all had enough of it :-(

I've not posted recently due to illness - first was the sickness I mentioned before, followed a day or so later by a virus which took 2 weeks to clear up (Pete got it as well). Within days of Pete and I getting over that Ethan had a reaction to his MMR jab, he had a terrible temp and was ill for a few days, not sleeping through the night - we had a couple of awful nights with him (newborn style constantly awake/will only sleep on you type nights). He got over that and less than a week later we all have a cold. Sigh. Needless to say, all this illness has got in the way of my goals, but let me update with how things are going.

I've done my friends paintings, here's a photo:


I'm quite pleased with them - she's a cat lover who doesn't currently have a cat, so I'm hoping this will appease her for a while!

I've read my crochet book, have bought some wool (just cheap stuff to practice with) have had hooks at the ready but have yet to feel up to giving it a go as I'm just to tired/ill in the evenings at the moment.

Clothes: It's the end of January and I've not bought myself one item of clothing! I think that's quite possibly a record for me! Since I last wrote Pete and I have had a real heart to heart r.e. money and we have now organised a family budget and personal budgets for ourselves which means that if I do want/need to buy myself some clothes, I can , it just comes out of my allotted fund. That's actually quite exciting! Since going on mat leave/leaving paid employment, I've felt that I don't have any money of my own to spend on stuff like that which I think has actually caused more problems because I end up wanting to by myself stuff and getting into debt to do so. This new plan will be so much better for us all. What this means in terms of my plan not to buy new clothes is that I won't have to be that strict. I'm not sure as yet whether I'll carry on with it or not. I'm quite happy at the moment and don't need/want anything. Watch this space...

All in all, I'm quite pleased with how things are going so far this year, despite the illness, I think it'll be a lovely year. We've got our summer holiday booked - a week in a house in France with my parents and a 5 day break at Centreparcs with my parents, Phil and Leni. It's good to have things to look forward to.

Little Ethan is such a joy at the moment (especially when well!). He's mastering new words. His list of vocab now stands at:

Hi
Hello there!
Daddy
Mummy (at rare times of desperation)
Alfie
Cuckoo
Knee
Cheese
Tomato
What's this?
Who's this?
Where's Daddy/Alfie
Car
Star
Choo Choo!
Lights
Milk
Bye bye
Tea
All gone!
Ah dooo (his version of thank you!)

He can sign food, milk some actions in songs, and all gone. He likes pointing things out as well, like body parts, people, parts of the house. It's amazing watching him develop!

Here he is doing some double handed drawing:



At the park - it's a bit camp this photo somehow!!


Silliness:

At Bristol Zoo with Godfather Chris:


In terms of baby fashion, I've moved Ethan into his next size up of clothing - this means the clear-out of his wardrobe and draws, which is always a little sad. Saying TTFN to some favourite items of clothing. I know they will get used again one day, whether it's on a sibling (I hope so, but not for a little while!) or on a grandchild (definitely not for a while I hope!). Still, it's weird packing them up into a vacuum bag. The happy part is getting his new clothes out! I love this bit because I forget quite a bit of the stuff I've bought him so it's really exciting to get new items out and create new outfits in my head for him - joy! I look forward to posting a few photos on here of his new outfits soon!

Clothing aside, I've finally got some old photos of my maternal grandparents framed we've put them going up the stairs:


Right, bed is calling! Good night all! x

Sunday 16 January 2011

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiick....


Ick... the week started off so full of promise, but by wednesday I was struck down with a vomiting bug which was then followed by a cold virus type thing. Perhaps they were the same thing... I've no idea. Not had a sick bug for a long time, the last time I was sick was when I was pregnant with Ethan. Yuk. So horrible. I guess it helped towards weight loss.. I lost 3lb in 24 hours. I'm not sure what my weight is today, I think I'll weigh in tomorrow. I weighed Ethan today though- he toppled the scales at 24lb 8oz which seems so huge compared to the 6lb 60z he was born at! (or the 5lb 11oz he was at 5 days old).

I've started reading my crochet book, but what with feeling ill, I've not really been in the creative mood. I'm happy to report I've not bought any clothes though!

On a different tack, I would like to welcome two new babies to the world! Olivia and James, congratulations on the birth of Morris Lars, he is beautiful. And congratulations to Mary and Albert on the very very recent birth of Thomas Michael, I can't wait to meet him! Two new boys for the world :)

We've had a nice weekend despite illness (Pete has the lurgy too, but thankfully not the vomiting). Saturday we went into Clifton, had a relaxed coffee and lunch whilst Ethan slept and then mooched around some kitchen shops and chose a new tap for our new sink (which Pete plans to fit himself). Very excited about that. A decent granite sink and a very fancy tap. Whoop! Today we went into Cotham to see what Phil and Leni had been up to in their love nest.. sorry, flat. It's looking lovely. Ethan ate his peach cubes sat at their kitchen table looking like a big boy! The parents visited as well and we went for a rainy walk.

Now we're back home snuggled up on the sofa. Ethan is flaked out in bed, Pete is resting on my knees and I'm tapping away on here!

I'll post some photos now :)

Here's my little bathroom monkey!


And here he is being a monkey!


In Clifton with Daddy shouting hello into a barbers shop:


In Uncle Phil & Auntie Leni's flat:



Tuesday 11 January 2011

Quick update

Have I bought any clothes today? Nope! Good me.

Did I eat cake? Yup, but it was in place of breakfast (I know, I know...) as I needed to get out to our toddler group. Didn't do too bad for the rest of the day, had a skinny mocha instead of the delicious full fat version (and it still tasted good, just not as beautiful as full fat). Did heaps of walking though as it took ages for Ethan to drop off in the buggy and also fitted in half an hour of yoga this evening.

Crochet? Started reading my book and seeing where I can pick up wool locally.

Doing pretty good!

Monday 10 January 2011

New year, new challenges..


Hello Blog, it's me - have you missed me?

I can't believe I've not posted since August. I think I've composed a few entries in my head but never got round to writing them down. I can't promise I'll be better this year, but I'll try. I've a few things I want to make a regular record of though, so hopefully that will spur me on.

So, we're already 10 days into another year! I've not made resolutions, but there are three challenges I've set myself.

1) Loose the Christmas pounds. In November and December I ate more and exercised less, as is common. As a result I've put on a few pounds. I'm reluctant to give numbers as I know I'm not massive and I don't want to encourage a barrage of "you don't need to loose weight" comments. I appreciate that people think that, that's great, but I'll tell you now, it doesn't make a jot of difference to me! I'm afraid it's all down to what I'm comfortable with. I was 8st 4lb and I've gone up to 8st 11 (eeek). I would like to get down to 8st ideally. I'm not going on any regime to loose the weight, just going to cut out the cakes and make sure I walk everyday (which isn't difficult seeing as Ethan will only nap in the buggy so I always have to walk him to sleep!).

2) Do not buy any more clothes for 6 months. Why? We need to save money and I have loads of clothes! There are a few rules and exceptions for this one. I'm not including things like underwear in this, if my pants fall to pieces, I will buy more! I'm talking more about outfits, dresses, skirts and the like. I have plenty. I know it's been done before, it's not a new idea for the web, but I like the idea of challenging myself to come up with new mix and match outfits from my already well kitted out wardrobe and not adding to it. Here's another exception, I'm allowed to accept new items of clothing if they are presents. And one more, my friend Alice is getting married in April and I am allowing myself a new dress for that. If I'm finding it's going well in 6 months I will probably extend it to the end of the year.

3) Learn to crochet. I've bought the Happy Hooker book, I've been given a few hooks and there is a fab haberdashery in Clevedon so no excuses! I've always fancied giving it a go! I'm going to get myself clued up first and then slowly get started! I hope I get on with it, I've never learnt to knit, never done anything like it! Before I start I've one creative project to finish, some paintings for my friend. Once those are done I'll be focusing on this!

So, challenges out the way, what's going on with Ethan? He's 18 months old now which is amazing. He's a confident walker, loves running about, chasing me, Pete or Alfie! He loves pointing out lights and asking "what's this?". He is a lovely little man who I love more and more each day. You'll be pleased to know he still tests me though, just in different ways. I suppose he's coming up for the terrible twos but he already likes to make his personality known and test the boundaries. If I tell him no, he likes to scream! Hopefully this habit won't last long. I'm afraid I find it quite funny really.... Mostly though he has a lovely kind temperament, he likes sharing and playing together, holding hands, cuddling (sometimes!) and gives kisses (well, he offers his forehead to you!). I think he has the potential to be rather musical. He knows the tunes for twinkle twinkle, wheels on the bus, baa baa black sheep (or is that the same as twinkle?) and a few others off by heart and sings them to himself all the time. So adorable. I was quite impressed recently when he sat at the piano on my lap and played various notes whilst singing twinkle. Multi-tasking in a male!!

I'll post a few pics of him now :)

Will update with my progress soon....