Pamper Party

Yesterday Tosha and I helped to throw Lisa a Baby Shower. I had done some undercover work before hand as I was able to contact her Mum (thanks Paul!) and also include her in the making of the baby taggy blanket (formerly known as Project Snaggie). Lisa's Mum was able to send me some spotty red ribbon which I will sew onto the back of the blanket. The other girls at the party all helped to pin the other tags into place, and now all I have to do it sew it all on together with the backing fleece.

Taggie in the making

Tosha and new haircut
Lisa - glowing!
Conchita guessing the size of Lisa's bump!!
At last some pampering
That looks like wasabi?

The nappy game (yuk)

Looks like a snicker to me.

Mmmm?

Liz using her forensic science knowledge to determine the contents of the nappy.

Suzanne just wondering if it's edible.

It was a lovely relaxing day (yes I had a facial and a back massage - and boy did I need that massage). Food was plenty, many goodies were purchased from Tom's Cakes. We had lovely sushi, sausages, spanish quiche and a chocolate fondue!

Interlude

Phoebe had her hair cut (finally!)

Emily is enjoying her new found skill of looking at things at different angles.
She Devil!
Sea Devil!

Spare time!

For the first time in about 2 weeks I got some spare time to blog, only because Brownies was cancelled tonight. Mind you I was busy because of Brownies as I had 3 aprons to finish sewing! Never mind eh. Well I've not been up to much, mainly the day to day routine of general housework and looking after Emily has taken up most of the time. But I managed a girly night out on Saturday with both Lisa and Tosha. We glammed it up and headed to the very nice Hotel Felix's Graffiti Restaurant. Tosha ordered a very nice bottle of white wine, and we all proceeded to eat some of the finest food I've had in a long time. I started off with the Cornish Spider Crab Spring Rolls, Green Apple Jelly, Apple Espuma, Coriander, Coconut and Spring Onions. Which was so scrummy I can still remember what it tastes like. Following with Lightly Oak Smoked Wild Sea Bass, Braised Fennel, Sun Blush Tomato and Walnut Gnocchi, Chive and Crème Fraîche Sauce - salivating yet?

Racing Pants and Heedley!

No this blog has nothing to do with any cartoons, rather our newly purchased baby racing pants and Heedley the Rooster!Chicken in a bucket anyone?

Funky Baby

I'd just like say a big thank you to MattH who gave me this wonderful link to his sisters website Crib Designs. This is a wonderfully funky site - with some seriously cool toys

As well as some funky clothing (check out these racing pants)

All I can say it that my pay rise has now been spent on some funky new stuff for Emily!

Can't wait to dress Emily up in some funky threads :)

Sushi and other fish

We've had a busy week - on friday I met some work colleages for sushi and beer

This is Emily with Inoyo

Next we played in the garden in the sunshine

Big Sister came home from school

Breakfast - now you either love marmite or you don't.

MMMMM come to me my pretty,

mmmm!>#?!?!?

Yak!

Bathtimes are always a hoot

Mr Mousey Lives for Another Day

I promised a while back to try to get some photos of Mr Mousey that lives in the rabbits hutch. I never took any as sadly one day I found a dead mouse lying in the middle of the garden, I thought this was Mr Mousey and promptly buried him, only to find out a week later that Becky (who was looking after the cats and rabbit for me) found very much to her surprise a very live and very jumpy mouse in Peter's hutch.

When we got home from our short break I then found a complete mouse skeleton lying on top of Peters outdoor hutch. Gosh, I thought, someone has devoured Mr Mousey this time - so I deposited the skeleton in the green recycling bin. Thinking well that was it finished yet again this morning I find another fresh carcass lying on my lawn - yikes I though surely Mr Mousey's odds of being found alive are now steeply stacked against him.

So I decided to have a look inside the hutch, and what could I see the tiniest little snout peering out of the gap in the birds box. I ran inside to grab the camera to photo this happy occasion, but sadly all i could get was this one photo before the little fellow flew out and off into the garden.

Not the best photo in the world but I had to zoom in to try to point out to you his furry brown backside just peeping out in the middle of the picture.

Fab Knitting Websites

I've rekindled my passion for knitting because of this website LaughingHens - Lorna just look for those doggy coats!

These guys also rawk The Knitting Co

Green stuff

Thought I'd just do a quick blog - I found some news on the BBC website relating to a new device home owners may be able to get installed for free that monitors the amount of energy they are using. I think it's a pretty good device and will be checking up to see if I can get a free device.

A night on the tiles

I'm still suffering as I'm writing this blog, late on Saturday evening. Last night I managed to get a couple of mates that I've known for 3 years to go out for a drink (yes thats's right I've known them for 3 years and this is the first time we've managed to go for a drink). The night started off well, as we had limited choice of pubs to choose from this week as 3 pubs in town had been shut due to either drug raids or dodgy selling of non-brewery ale. First we visited The New Inn - most atrocious loud music. One drink later we left and headed to the Corner House, now this was nicer we were actually able to hear ourselves talk. After that we decided to hit the only nightclub in town - The Priory - woo hoo! Clubbing! Well it all went steadily downhill after that, the first round was purchased and then someone had the bright idea to have some shots of flavoured vodka - woo hoo party girl here got her drinking head on and was properly tipsy by 11pm. But that didn't stop us all drinking champers, more vodka shots and 3 jug loads of vodka and red bull. That drink makes for one awful hangover after 4 hours kip. All I can say is I danced till 2 am, got a taxi home and still managed to shower before crashing into bed. Oh yeah why am I still suffering at 9pm - that's because for some unknown reason I've sprained my right wrist and typing is rather diff cult and very sore.

I'm off to drink more tea and ponder last nights dancing moves!

The Sun has got her hat on!

Shaken but not stirred

Last night I went to the rifle club and shot this little baby

Martini MKII. Nice light gun, and like me it has a short arse (butt). I found I was able to shoot comfortably and without having to take the butt off my shoulder to reload. Sadly though this was the third gun I tried out last night and after shooting 40 rounds I was pretty tired before I had my mitts on it. Still my targets weren't bad and I look forward to next Tuesday to try her out properly. Dad if you are reading this I'd like one for Christmas! :)

Sniper

Last night I went to the Pistol and Rifle club to have a shot at prone rifle shooting. Thinking that I wouldn't enjoy this as much as the pistol and air rifles I was very much mistaken. I really loved it! I really enjoyed the accuracey at which I hit my targets. Out of 30 rounds only 2 didn't make it onto the black, sadly one hit the ground when I had my trigger happy finger in the wrong place at the wrong time. That gave me a shock and probably a good thing too, I won't be forgetting that lesson. Otherwise I was pretty consistant with my shots.

Offsetting

I've been thinking about the environment a lot this week. Tosha kindly lent me her DVD of An Inconvenient Truth - and wow that had be thinking. So much that the next car I buy will be one of the top ten environmentally friendly cars in that it will have low carbon emissions.

But as it's easter time and so far we have had non stop cakes and chocolate floating around the office I thought it would be fitting to offset my chocolate consumption - try this site http://www.chocolateoffsetting.com/

Freebies and more

Today when I got home I discovered a small package that the postman had somehow manage to fit through our postbox. Ohhh I thought, what could be inside, then I noticed that the delivery label had "Fairy" written on it. Could this be more junk from the washing powder company? Well yes and no. I'd won a prize not a great prize but still, it was a luxury nail care kit, complete with a leather case and very nice presentation box.

Will come in handy at work I'm sure.

Moving on to other things I'm onto my 2nd sewing project - Project Snag. Can't give too much away as another 2 lady friends will be receiving a similar project as a baby pressy. All I can say is that I'm having fun with this one and I hope my first effort will turn out ok.

Weeding and Pampering

The Dude, Phoebe and Emily left this morning for their holiday to Scotland, and I've been left to my own devices and I have to say it's a bit unnerving. I haven't been on my own since I can't remember when! I decided to have a kinda pampering day with a twist. First my exercise regime - well I spent 2 and a half hours cutting down the pampas grass and digging out one of the garden boarders. I even removed some of the wooden boarder that has been bugging the heck out of me for a while. That done it was time for the pampering part. Bath was running, my face had been scrubbed and I finally plucked up the courage to try out my facial peel kit. I bought this kit about 5 months ago and I've been too chicken to try it out - what was I worrying for? It was great, yes it nipped a little when I put on the peel but it only stayed on for 5 minutes before I had to wipe it off with some neutralising lotion soaked pads, a quick wash and hey presto not too bad - no redness thank god. Next I slapped on my night-time face cream, as recommended after the facial peel as it said my skin would be thirsty afterwards. Next I lounged in the bath for as long as possible, well only until the dirt ingrained into my nails and skin from digging had disappeared so that was possibly 15 minutes. I just can't get the hang of sitting in a bath for any length of time, guess I would be useless at a Spa then!

Well that's my day so far. I've been watching Eastenders and wondering why there is a bunch of psychotic nutters that live there. May is quickly descending into madness over her obsession of the baby, and now Phils girlfriend is beating up his son - or is she? Ian Beale is turning into a right nasty git and as for Stacey shagging that married bloke - why!?!?!

Must watch more...

Thank you for Fridays

It's Friday at last! I'm tired for sure but also happy that it's the beginning of the weekend. The wine is in the fridge cooling and will be ready for drinking as I type.

Had a nice week, getting into work mode slowly but surely. We also had time to visit the baby clinic and have Emily weighed. She's now 18lb, and at this stage her growth rate will slow down as she is expending more energy as she is now very happy to flip over onto her tummy at every opportunity. Her teeth are slowly emerging and are very sharp! Just watch those fingers everyone otherwise she will gnaw them off.

On Wednesday we also visited Tosha and her lovely little un's Digi and Kalilah. I was fed some lovely chocolate cake and full fat cola - I needed a sugar and caffeine hit! Our kids played, ate and played some more - Digi had me in hysterics as he proceeded to strip off his trousers and pants and run around the playpark!

I also used my local Freecycle website this week, I'd been given an old sewing machine that I didn't need (many thanks to the Dude for purchasing a new one for me). I logged onto http://uk.freecycle.org/ and advertised it, and one day later it was taken away. It did need some minor repairs and probably a service but it has gone to a good home and I hope someone gets some use out of it. I urge people to join this site and see what's on offer - you just never know. I've noted many different items for free - baby cot's and clothes, toys, garden sheds, etc etc. It's a wonderful site just to browse through. Now lets see what else I can recycle.

Blogless

I know I haven't blogged for a while. My return to work and new schedule means I'm busier than ever. I've been out for the past 3 nights. Monday night I was at the St Ives Rifle & Pistol club where i spent 2 hours shooting rifles, c02 pistols and air pistols - I have to say a nice man let me try his Beeman Webley - NICE! Tuesday was Tae Kwon Do and Wednesday I went to the cinema to see 300, which was a fantastic film.

Tonight and tomorrow are going to be quiet - Tonight Phoebe is out to a school disco and tomorrow is at a sleepover.

One last thing a very Happy Birthday to Lisa on Saturday, and Pump up the Mamm!

Slings and Things

I've been on a sewing frenzy this weekend. Decided to pop over the Milton Keynes and pick up some quilt batting and finally get my baby sling made.

Here's the product of a couple of hours of hard work:

Looking Good

Emily slept well last night, so it looks like the teething didn't bother her too much. She's now happy chewing on her soft feeding spoons and anything else that comes within her grasp.

Stealth Teeth

They're here at last! Emily has her first 2 teeth!!!!
I was just thinking that they would never appear and that she would be a dribbly baby forever and a day. I can't believe how sweet she has been through out her teething - just one grumble at 1.30am this morning. I got up after hearing her and took her into my bed for a cuddle and a feed. After playing for about 30 minutes she dropped off back to sleep till 6am. I never thought anymore of it, until this evening at bathtime when she was on the floor playing. And hot-diggity-dawg I could see something strange on her gums, and on further inspection (finger in the mouth test) bingo I found them. Not 1 but 2.

Bless my red cheeked cherub - I hope the others come in with as little discomfort as these 2 have caused.

It is the evening of the day

I sit and watch the children play. Smiling faces I can see, but not for me. I sit and watch as tears go by. ("As tears go by" by the Rolling Stones)

Today is my last day of maternity leave, tomorrow I officially start work. Sad as it makes me, it makes me feel sadder that I will be spending 3 to 4 days of the week away from Emily and I will miss those first new changes in her life. I may miss the first morning she wakes up with her first new tooth. I may miss the day she calls one of us Mama or Dada. I may miss her cuddle whilst feeding her in the afternoon. I may miss the first time she feeds herself with a spoon. I will simply miss her.

Going
Going
Gone!
Hold on what's that flash?
Hey it's Mommy, I'm awake!

Wild Cat

Just got this link from Lisa's blog and quite liked it, try it for youself

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Offsetting

https://energy.money.uk.msn.com/msn/CarbonOffset/

Whilst browsing this morning I found this handy tool to calculate your carbon footprint. Using our electricy and gas payment we calculated that we use 45% less than the national average (this goes down if I switch to a diesel car as they cause more pollutants!). And it worked out that our carbon footprint is 2.4 tonnes per year.

Another thing - its RND at Phoebes school so here are some piccies of the red head babe and her dodgy finger (no it wasn't me - her friend accidentaly shut her finger in the door at school, luckily it wasn't broken just badly bruised, and it took A&E 4 hours to find that out!).

Yawn I'm tired - I was up till 1 am getting rid of this worm , stupid firewall was off when I update some java files, friggin thing rode straight in. Luckily I had Mr H online to give me some pointers and hand at removing the beast. All looks well now, and I know I'll be in bed real early tonight :)

Busy Bee

This is my morning so far, woke up at 6.30 and listened to Emily cooing in her bed. She then fell asleep and I read some chapters in my book. I then got out of bed at 7.20, made lunch for Phoebe, got myself dressed, put on one load of washing, made a cup of tea, made biscuit filling and finished off making custard creams, wiped the couch free of cat hair, ran a virus check on the PC and cleaned it, said good bye to Phoebe. Changed, dressed and fed Emily. Went into town to do the fruit and veg shopping, picked up a can of red hair spray (for Red Nose day at school tomorrow). Checked PC again for viruses, cleaned registry, deleted files. Unpacked shopping, oh and blogged. And it's only 9.30 - who says I'm not a superwoman?

Bargain Booty

Since I'm in a bargain hunting mood this week - please note that if you have Nectar points - that Nectar are having a sale starting on the 17th March - over the following 4 weeks they are having sales on CD/DVD's, Electricals, Wine and then Music!

Feeding Time

Ahhh finger food going down well!

Fashion Shoot

Ok I found some trojans on my pc that were affecting my internet connectivity - hence the lack of blogs. But we are clean and up and running - so I just had to post some photos of Emilys new clothes that I was able to buy at Tesco (and I got some great bargains too!)

Shopping

Emily received a gift card from Alison, so this meant I had a licence to shop (only for clothes for Emily!)

Drew is feeling arty this morning - the above picture was created using the rasterbator.

Early Mornings and Hangovers

It's now almost 9am and I've been awake for 3 hours and I feel a tad rough.
Last night we had a small dinner party and I surprised myself by being able to cook fillet steak to everyones delight. They all loved it! I was surprised as I'm not a fan of red meat - let alone cooking it. But I bought the steak from a reputable local butcher and I have to say that it was the best thing I've tasted in a while and I was so chuffed that I was able to flambe too! I could be another Nigella in the making - but somehow I don't think I could look as saucy as she does in a kitchen ;)

Anyway it was a successful night, lots of laughs and lots of wine and beer were consumed. One thing that sticks in my mind is what my friend thought of me and my internet obsession. Apparantly I'm like a hamster in a wheel!

Audrey - this is for you

Strange things that I do

I've not been up to much over the past few days. Mainly housework, looking after kids and trying not to ruin any more cakes. Yesterday I did a quick tidy up of Phoebes bedroom and noticed her pedometer. So I decided to try it out today for a laugh. I found out that in the morning when I get up and get Emily and sort out Phoebes lunch I do about 300 steps. Then we went to the Market and that was another 3200 steps. I went for a 2.7 mile run and that was another 5600 steps. At the last count I've done 9603 and I've still got the rest of this evening and a Tae Kwon Do class to attend so my little experiment isn't over yet!

Crazy Lady

Crazy Lady Driver was back again today, this time she really astounded me with her parking. She must be at least 2 foot away from the curb and is seriously asking for her car to be wacked. It happened to us yesterday on our way back from Tesco. We had just parked and I hadn't even opened my door when some plonker drove to close and clipped the wing mirror.

I still hate Mondays

Bleeding sewing machine broke today.
The End
:(

Pervs and other such things

I've come to the conclusion that swimming pools are places where perverts prey on anybody. Not only have I been flashed at by a lesbian in an Aberdeen pool changing rooms, I've also been perved on by some pool stalker.

Yesterday I took Emily, Phoebe and her friend to the Parkside Pool in Cambridge. This was going to be Emily's first time in a swimming pool, and also a great chance to let Phoebe and her and mate have some fun larking about in the water. Everything was going well, Emily was enjoying the warm water and the girls had gone off to try the slides. After half an hour I decided Emily had probably had enough so I told the girls I was off to shower and if they needed me I would be at the poolside cafe. I got changed, found a seat beside the pool and started to feed Emily some lunch, when I noticed that one of the lifeguards was staring at me. I didn't think too much to begin with but after 15 minutes every time I looked up to see if I could see the girls I caught this man looking at me. This went on for another 10 minutes, he'd wander off only to return to the same spot and turn to look at us. This also caught the attention of another lady who also had a very young baby and I mouthed to her "is he staring at me", she replied "yes". Slightly uncomfortable now, I finished feeding Emily and held her in my arms till she fell sleep exhausted, and then I got my chance. I saw the pervy guy leave and I took the chance to get one of the other lifeguards to get the manager. I explained what had happened to the manager and that another lady with her baby had seen the guy as well. The manager was nice about it and said he knew who it was and would have a word with him. I felt relieved but I also wanted to now leave the pool but I couldn't see the girls as they must have been in the bigger pool. So i had to wait, finally one of them appeared and I asked them to get showered and come out. Both appeared happy about that (well they had been in there for 2 and a half hours), when next thing I know Phoebe is in pain. I thought she had stubbed her toe on the side but when she came limping over and sat down at the side she showed me an earring sticking out of the bottom of her big tow. Yikes - I got a shock. I was almost in tears as I could understand that that would really hurt. My poor mite was in pain, luckily she let the lifeguard take a quick look and he quickly removed the earring from her foot. We then all got taken through to the first aid room, where lo and behold I met the manager again! Phoebe was brave and let the lifeguard clean the wound and put a plaster on it, whilst I helped fill out the incident form. At this point I really desperately wanted to leave. Finally the girls got dressed and we were about to go when Phoebe realised she had lost her goggles. *!?*&%$!*!?!?! Once again I had to speak to the lifeguards about her missing goggles, just when I thought everything was over, the lifeguard then presumed that another lady in the pool had nicked Phoebes goggles. So we watched her like hawks only to have the manager (again, he must have been sick of us by now) come over and hand over the goggles that had been left in the first aid room. I made a quick exit with a sleepy baby, 1 tired kid and 1 kid barely able to walk.

This is not quite the end of the story - before we got to my car at the fire station Emily decided to sneeze in Phoebes face and throw up a little over my arm as I carried her.

I think all this calls for a big pressie for Mothers day :)

Drink!

The dude and I often have this occasional discussion of who we would like to be in our drinking club. Let me explain , this is just a fantasy club of people (famous or not it doesn't matter as long as the other person knows who you are talking about), that you would like to have in your said drinking club. Now the dude already has a fair amount of people in his drinking club so I thought that I would start my own club.

My list of VIP's would be -

Madonna (even though I think her adoption of the Malawian boy was OTT, I still like her, she's smart, sassy and doesn't take cr*p)

Posh Spice - well you just have to get to know the girl, and she looks like she could do with a drink to loosen up.

Brad Pitt - goes without saying!

Matthew Fox - sweet eye candy :)

Helen Mirren - for her award winning performance in The Queen

Catherine Tate - am I bovvered?

Tosha - She's a yummy mummy, doesn't take cr*p either and has a wicked sense of humour

Lisa - someone who I trust enough to help me deliver my own baby!

(Tosha and Lisa - I still haven't been out with either of you two on the town - so whenever your ready!)

It's not easy being Green

Over the past couple of years we've been slowly getting greener, and I'm not talking about my skin colour. When the council handed out their blue and green bins I thought that this was brilliant. I love recycling. This year Drew worked out how much money and electricity would be saved if we powered everything off that we normally left on standby - I think his calculation came to £12. But not only does this save us money it also saves carbon emissions - being Carbon Neutral is the latest subject in the news. At the moment we only drive to our supermarket once a week, we shop at the farmers market in town on a regular basis (no car needed), and we recycle every available item that I can think of. I've even been lucky enough to have such good friends who have lent me baby items such as clothes, toys, and a cot. Does anyone else have suggestions on reducing carbon emissions or being greener.

Some suggestions here

Petrol

Big news that people are noticing their cars are failing after buying Tesco petrol. Looks like you will be compensated if they find a fault but it's increadingly looking like they will. Fill your car up now - get the compensation :)