Mad Mama's Musings.

Trying to kick the habit...

2010-03-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I love chocolate! The thing is, dark chocolate (the only kind I eat as a vegan) is rather good for you.... in small amounts! I, however eat FAR too much of the flippin' stuff. I have a really unhealthy attitude towards food; an 'all-or-nothing' approach to being healthy, and it is Not Good. I've tried going 'cold turkey' with the chocolate. I hasted about eight days, and believe me that was HARD! Lol. So anyway, I'm taking stock of my health and trying to develop a healthier approach to eating. I've heard of the 80/20 rule and I think it's a great idea and very sensible. I'm never going to be a health freak who can stay away from all foods that aren't good for you. I so wish I could be, but I have no other vices, chocolate is my one weakness! So; eat healthily 80% of the time and the other 20% will not matter so much. It has to be better than the way I've been eating lately; as though every day is Christmas!! (or Easter, lol.) Here's the fruit basket to remind/tempt me every time I go in the kitchen :)
The only thing is, when Romy and Tansy went to their Grandparents' house last night whilst Colin and I were at our watercolour course they made one of these... EACH!!!!! Oh the temptation of the Mafia-style horse's head cakes!!!
Colin bought me a really funky cow-print 'old-ladies' shopping trolley from The Range the other day. However, I can't fit much shopping in it as this is what tends to happen wherever we go... Hee hee hee!!! It's just the perfect size for Tansy to sit on and watch the world go by (backwards.)

Colin and I have decided not to carry on next term with our watercolour class. A couple of reasons really; foremost is the price - at just over 60 squid a term each it's a dear do!! We just can't afford it. But also I'm thinking having a tutor is fine to show you techniques, but it's stifling my creativity! Lol. Quite often I've been happily splodging on my paint nice and brightly (which seems to be my style) and she'll come over and say it's too bright. Then I end up hating my painting! Not good for the soul. Here are the last two paintings I did. Both of them she said were too bright. She does lovely pale watercolours and I'm sure they're tons better than mine, but I'm just starting out and I like bright pics! I got an 'F' for my GCSE Art at school, so it kinda takes a lot for me to get out the brush and have a go.... A very wonky doorway. You see I'd never choose to draw this, but that's another thing about the class, you usually get a set piece to do every week.
And this one was adapted from a stone circle by day. I tried to turn it into a sunset picture. The tutor took one look and said "Don't worry, we'll do some work on tone next week." LMAO!!!

Anyway, we're going to make a concerted effort to take it in turns to do something with Tans once a week for a couple of hours so that the other parent can sit with Roo at the table and do some painting. Roo was desperate to join the class, but it was over-16's only.

I forgot this....

2010-03-16T14:29:00.001-07:00

Oh how I adore them. xxx

Wild wanderings.

2010-03-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

I had a funny 'experience' the other day. I went round to my new friend Janette's house who lives out in the wilderness (compared to me) as we'd decided to go for a nice evening walk. Romy stayed to play with A and Colin took Tans off to the nearest Tesco for some bits and bobs.

Off we set with our water bottles and a spring in our step. Through a field of sheep, over a stile (eep!) and up mud tracks. We joked that it was getting dark awfully quickly and erm, there were no streetlights. Never mind, I said confidently, I have my mobile on me *checks pockets* OMG, where's my phone???!!! Is it in the field of sheep? We can't go back and see if I dropped it as there is now just a thin sliver of red in the sky and the rest is black.

It's about now that I started wishing I'd bothered to go to Girl Scouts and learnn survival techniques; such as how to make a working radio from a squashed coke can, a dog poo and various pieces of carrion. (That was all we had to hand.) Between us we had a grand total of 60p, so refreshments and S.O.S call at the pub we passed were out of the question. "Never fear" says Janette. "Our friend Susan lives five minutes up this road" Great! Off we trudge up the mud path, me slipping on unseen mud in my stupid wellies, underused calf muscles complaining with each step, both of us huffing and puffing like a pair of old women (but me moreso!) Half an hour later we rejoyced to find a light on at Susan's house. She lives in the middle of nowhere and her poor husband must have wondered who the heck these two windswept wild-looking women were knocking on the door in the pitch black.

Making grateful use of his phone I rang my mum and asked her to ring Colin to tell him to knock on Janette's door and ask S to pick us up erm... whre are we again? Anyway, turned out I'd left my phone in the car (doh!!) and we got back safe and sound. Romy had been a bit worried, but we were all ok. When I go this week for our walk I shall make sure I have my phone. Oh and a torch! We had such a good laugh though. Alternately giggling like schoolgirls and cackling like witches throughout. Definitely an adventure :o)

Tansy is looking forward to her ballet lesson tomorrow, even moreso than usual as my wonderful mum made her this gorgeous bag for all her kit. Thanks mum. You're a star :) Inspired by something I saw on my friend's blog a few weeks ago I thought I'd give Tansy a treat. I made a tray up for her with lots of things fom the kitchen for her to mix and play with. Of course you're never too old for a bit of messy play, so Romy had to get stuck in too :)

Anyway, they got a bit carried away and the vacuum cleaner had to make a little outing afterwards! Rofl.

All good fun :o)

Creeps out from under stone

2010-03-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

Bless me people for I have sinned. It's been ten months since my last confession (blog post.) Lol :) I've been hassled by various people (my mum, Nikki, Janette to name but a few) to drag myself out of blog retirement, so here I am! Ta da!!!

So what's been happening over the past year..? Hmm... Too much to summarise in a paragraph, so we'll draw a line under all that and I'll just mention one or two things off the top of my head.

On the home ed front, we were rather helpfully 'referred' to the Local Authority by a SureStart children's centre that I USED to take Tansy to to play. Won't be going there again, the nosey buggers :( We had a (lovely) woman come to the door to introduce herself and request that I send a philosophy of education or just a letter outlining what we get up to. A couple of hours and three pages of A4 later I had it done and I was rather pleased with it. Sent it off and predictably heard nothing until I rang to chase it up. The lady gushed over the phone about how fantastic it was and how she'd just been about to email me to say as much (yeah right! That was a few days ago, still no email.) So anyway, I suppose it's a bit of a weight off my shoulders as I was living on borrowed time with the whole anonymity thing. Wouldn't have minded anyway if I knew the 'Diversity Officer" (yes, that was her title!) was so nice.

We've had a bit of a slow Winter with not much being done particularly. The beginnings of Spring have done us the world of good in lifting spirits and generally getting us out and about flying with fairies and swimming with mermaids ;) At the time of typing our week looks roughly like this: Monday: Spend afternoon with my Mum and neice. Kumon. Tuesday: Free day!! Wednesday: Meet Nikki and Emily at the library. I teach the girls GCSE Psychology and then Nikki does other subjects with them. Tansy's Ballet lesson. Romy's majorette's lesson. Colin and I then go to our watercolour class while the girls stay with grandparents for a couple of hours. Thursday: Our lovely new friend Janette takes us to the Grimsby home ed group which is fantastic as there are lots of girls there Romy's age. Kumon. Friday: Free day!! Walk with friends. Saturday: Various bits and pieces that need catching up on. Sunday: Romy goes to drama club and then basketball (where Colin has started coaching.) PHEW!!! Gives me a headache just thinking about the logistics, especially of Wednesdays!

Romy is doing remarkably well at Kumon. She's amazed us and her teacher by whizzing through many more levels in her first year than she should have. She's loving drama too and this week we got to fight back the tears and feel our hearts swell with pride watching her at the Speech and Drama Festival. She received a merit and a distinction and then took part in an improvisation that had them rolling in the aisles. That's my girl! Don't know how she does it. I'd be a nervous wreck, lol.

The girls are getting on like a house on fire 80% of the time and fight like two cats with machetes the other 20%. Nothing unusual there then ;o) Tansy looks just soooo adorable in her new ballet attire and is also supposed to be taking part in a show soon. She's a baby!!! *Sob* Fast approaching three and looking forward to her Dora the Explorer birthday cake :o)

We've had an explosion of guinea pigs after a mix up from the flippin' pet shop. Alice turned out to be Jasper and here we are a few months later with five baby piggies!

Newborn. Just a few minutes old :)

Aren't they cuuuuute!!??

Right, I'm in a picture mood now. I've been feeling rather arty and crafty myself this last year. I've done TONS of crocheting and did a couple of craft stalls.

A couple of watercolours I've done at my beginners class.
Some of my crochet creations... These were the birds I made for people for Xmas/Yule :) I didn't want to let them fly off to their new homes!
Here's my Edward Cullen. I made it for a Twilight-mad friend's birthday. Did it off the top of my head :)
A little worm in an apple house.
Look at this lush, lovely, almost-edible yarn!! Making a blanket with it.
A wolf for Colin.

A bag for my crocheting-in-progress :) And a cover for a jar to keep all my hooky hooks in :)
A scarf and mitens set for Tans.
Coffee cups and my cat that took hours!!
My craft stall :)
A Hoctopus...
You could almost eat it :)
Bat and aliens.
A blanket for a friend's daughter. Took me about a squillion hours and then some. Was worth it though.
Apple, alive apple, apple with wormy friend!
Skeleton bride and groom.
Cat and pumpkin.
Mario mushrooms. Love these :)
A weird thing!
Mummy and baby spiders.

A lemming!!!
Sackboy :)
Ghost.
Cthulu and car boobie dice :)
Skelly.
Egg friends.
A cactus for Colin's desk at work. No watering needed.
Bunting in my hallway :)
Booooooooooooooooobs :)
The grim reaper!

That's all for now folks! Back again soon. I promise. xxx

Sunny days :o)

2009-05-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

We've certainly been taking advantage of the unseasonally sunny days of April...

Fun at a friend's house...

And some lovely afternoons in the garden, paddling, sand-pitting, eating and learning...

Finally: A weird mutant dandelion we found in the garden (there are plenty!) with SEVEN heads!!!!!! Odd, but beautiful. Bit like my kids ;o)

Visiting friends.

2009-04-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today we travelled a couple of hours to visit friends. A lovely afternoon of smiles, playing and chatting. Wish we lived closer so that we could see them more regularly. Fantastic people. Here's Tans with her little pal Seri...

Happy Easter :o)

2009-04-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Happy days... Planting seeds in the garden...
Wanting tattoos like Mummy :o)

Sporting stickers on faces....

Posing with a multitude of vegan Easter eggs!

Yummy!!!

And having tattoo coloured in. Lovely!

Happy Easter everyone. xxx

My beautiful two-year-old. x

2009-04-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

So my beautiful baby girl turned two on Thursday and is no longer a baby. She's now a toddler with the full-blown tantrums to prove it ;o) I can't quite believe that two whole years have passed by since the night she was born at two minutes past eight in this very room where I'm sitting now. Right behind me the birth pool was up and I was utterly drained and exhausted, yet thoroughly elated lifting my new baby out of the water. As I looked into her eyes for the first time my first thought was that I had never seen anything quite so beautiful in my whole life. Tansy's eyes were like huge brown pools of knowledge and wisdom. She was an old soul (like Romy) and I was truly honoured to have her come and join our family. She made me complete. Our surprise baby, arriving after five-years of trying. She was waiting for just the right moment to come to us and she chose it perfectly.

I wondered how I could ever love another child as much as I love my Romy. She was (and still is) the whole world to me. The sun and the moon and the stars. My everything. I worried about how I would be able to halve that love. I needn't have fretted. My heart just doubled in size the very second I looked into those huge, perfect eyes. Romy's birth had been traumatic and we had been separated for a while and she was dressed before she was given to me, so I didn't have that beautiful ecsatic moment of lifting her from me and holding her to my chest. I still bonded with her immediately and felt the huge rush of love, but Tansy's birth was such an honour. To be the (rightful) one to touch my baby first and to not have her interfered with was just so healing after Romy's birth. I am truly thankful to my amazing (not really the word) midwife Debs for leaving me to have a 100% natural birthing experience. It was incredibly agonising, but unbelievably wonderful.

Tansy has certainly been a shock to our system! We had been so used to our wonderfully placid and compliant Romy (and, dare I say, slightly smug and self-congratulatory, lol) that Tansy has been a bit of a challenge to say the least. Head-strong and willful are just two of the adjectives I would use to describe her character, others being; free-spirited, independent, funny, beautiful, disobedient, loving, kind, hilarious, adventurous, sweet and confident. There are moments when I could happily tear my hair out, but then the next second she has melted my heart with just a look or a funny word and all is forgotten. I love her so very very much. We all do. People comment on her physical beauty wherever we go and my heart swells with pride. But we know that there is so very much more to her than that. She is even more beautiful on the inside!

I love to watch my girls together. Their love for each other is so strong. Romy is protective and loving towards her little sister, and Tansy looks up to Romy with such an impressed and awe-struck look in her eyes. She often just says "Wow!" when Romy does something or has drawn a picture or made something. They are both so wonderful and I get to be their Mummy! How incredibly lucky am I? I must have done something good in a previous life to be living such a blessed existance now. I am not rich. I live in a pigsty. I am unhappy with certain things in my life, but I get to spend every day with the two most wonderful girls ever created and that makes me the luckiest person alive.

Happy Birthday Tansy. Never forget how much Mummy, Daddy and Roo Roo love you. xxx

Ho-hum. I just cried when I read that back!

Anyway, we've had a lovely birthday week. Here are some (loads of) pics...

The girls at Sundown Adventureland. It was freezing, sleeting and Tansy was petrified of 50% of it, lol.

See what I mean? How scary is that???

How to keep your husband in check :)

World War 2 evacuee day at Rushmoor Country Park. Fantastic day! Romy and some other home educated children dressed up as evacuees and learnt all about life at the time. A wonderful time was had by Tansy too, as we got to stroke lots of animals...

An albino peacock!

The kids lined up with the 'Billeting Officer.'

Writing a post-card home.

Trying on a gas mask.

Digging for victory.

Tansy trying to push her friend out of a ride!

Girls with their gas masks.

Tansy on the climbing wall!

Roo with friends.

In The anderson shelter.

A donkey ride :)

With Mummy. Not too sure of the horse.

Playing with friends.

An assortment of fowl!
Lovely lambs. So cute and friendly!
My little red riding hood :)
Crappy squashed cakes (made by me for Tansy's birthday.) Tasted lovely though.
Who looks this good first thing in the morning??? Not fair!!! Lol.
Look what Nana made from an old pair of dungarees!!

Just look at this beautiful birthday crown that my gorgeous friend Denise made esecially for Tansy. She wouldn't take it off all day. She absolutely loved it. Thanks Denise!!!
"Again again!!" We lost count of the times she blew out the canles, lol.
Beautiful birthday girl :)
A 'fairy' jumping from a Roman candle on the cake.
Cuteness personified!!!
Here's the cake my Mum made. Good job one of us is a Domestic Goddess ;o) Thank you Mum for making the day special. (You always do!)
Down at the Humber bridge. Roo with her newly-cut hair!
Tansy in a cave.
Some nice photos Colin took...

We had a lovely day :o)

Happy Days :o)

2009-03-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it will soon be Tansy's birthday, so I thought I had better update the blog before then. We've had quite a few little days out, so have some lovely pics :o)

Yesterday I had a lovely Mother's Day. I got breakfast in bed, some cross-stitch kits and some beautiful hand-made cards from Romy. This is her current obsession; she's made lots!!! She's very good at making them though and I've treated her to a few supplies, although they can be horrendously expensive! I went to see my own Mum yesterday too. How I love her. She is just the perfect Mum. She's always there when I need her for advice or just want a chat. She's never been judgemental or anything less than totally accepting of my sometimes "weird" (alternative) lifestyle. She always sticks up for me if people question my choices to home educate and bring my girls up as vegans. She means the absolute world to me. Oh and she's just the most fantastic Nana ever! I love you Mum. xxx

Here's a random pic of Tansy Dancing with Roo. She was dancing to a High School Musical song. She is almost as obsessed as Roo, lol.

Roo with a scrummy cake she made.

The beginnings of my new tattoo. I go to have it coloured on Friday. Can't wait!

Two of Tans looking mean 'n' moody. "Don't mess wiv me, right?!" Lol.

Modelling a beautiful dress I bought her from a charity shop for summer.

And a little romper I couldn't resist. It's only 12-18 month, but she's such a little dot, it's still big on her. Such a different story with Roo who was really tall for her age.
Just a beautiful picture.

This was at a chocolate factory we went to visit. She looks like she's saying "Right, I've got my chocolate... Let's go!"

A play on the beach :o)

Tansy had bad sickness and diarrhoea for about five days. She lost a lot of weight, but she's been eating for England since and has put it all back on - and more! Here she is on the one day that she was really tired and poorly. The rest of the time she was out and about with us. She didn't let it bother her. She's hardcore!! :o) Doesn't she look sooooo sweet?

"Oh, so I can't have one then?" :o(

Having fun at a play area, despite being poorly.

My beautiful big girl :o)
More fun on the beach. Bit chilly though!

Look - wormy things!

We went on a home ed trip to see behind the scenes at a multi-plex cinema. It was really interesting to see the reels of films and the machinery.
In the foyet of the cinema, just before another vomiting incident!

Strong girl!
A trip to Bransby Home of Rest for Horses...

Dancing at a friend's 30th birthday.

"Can't we have them ALL Mummy?" He he, dark choc Lindt bunnies. Yum!

Playing in the woods...

"I'm watching you."

Those eyes!
More from the woods :o)

With Daddy :o)

Tansy climbing a climbing wall. Wow, can that baby climb!

March 20th...

2009-03-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Is the day we remember somebody very special. xxx

Such an inspiring blog post!!

2009-02-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

I found this linked to on my friend Denise's blog. I have just read it and feel so at peace. After a 'bad' day of home edding, when everything seemed to go wrong and I felt like pulling my hair out wondering if Romy ever really 'learns' anything, this post has made me realise that even the most ordinary days are full of wonder and learning. Even when you think you're doing nothing, you're doing so very much.

I love being with my girls. Even on a 'bad' day when they scream at each other, Romy doesn't want to do anything, and Tansy trashes the place. Lol.

Go and read... http://mamauktalesfromwales.blogspot.com/2009/02/ordinary-days.html

Bits and bobs.

2009-02-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

I had been keeping track of what I wanted to put down on the blog, but surprise surprise... it's lost, somewhere under the mound of papers and other rubbish! It's been a while since I've updated (again!) but I have been rahter busy. I've been doing a couple of cross-stitches for a very very dear friend which has taken up all of my spare time over the last few weeks. A lot of love is being stitched into those :o)

A quick update about each kiddywink then, and then some photos (some illustrative of recent activities. Others purely indulgent, lol.)

Romy has been getting up to all sorts. She has started going to basketball (partly spurred on by her current obsession with all things High School Musical!) She's really enjoying it and it's good exercise. She went to watch a Sheffield Sharks game with Colin (who has also started playing) the other week. She is wrestling with a big decision at the moment; whether or not to give up taekwondo. She has been doing it for almost four years now, which is a huge chunk of her life! She didn't get to go for her black belt in November which really upset her, but the trouble is, her heart really isn't in it any more. This makes it hard for her to try her best and put the massive amount of work in that she needs to do to get her black belt this time around. The poor love is finding it hard to decide what to do.

Romy is really growing up fast. She'll be ten in a couple of months and it shows. Her walls are covered in HSM posters and her tastes in clothes etc are changing. She seems to have grown a foot over the last couple of months too!

We are trying to concentrate on handwriting and spelling at the moment, but are leaving plenty of time for crafts and other subjects she really enjoys. She's started making greetings cards and they're really good.

Tansy is growing upp fast too! I can't believe she's nearly two already :o( She is just the most fantastic, funny, beautiful, intelligent toddler. How could she be anything other than all this with such a brilliant example as Romy; her wonderful big sister. They are amazing together. Romy is so nurturing, caring and patient and Tansy looks up to her and copies everything big sis' does (including banging on about bloody HSM!! :o)

Tans did a wee on her potty the other day! I missed it as I was upstairs though. Boo :o(

The other week I was getting Tans dressed and Roo was in the bathroom. This was the conversation shouted between the two rooms:
Roo: "Tansy"
Tans: "Yep"
Roo: "I love you"
Tans: "Love you"
Me: *SOB*!!!!!! Lol.

I've just had to buy some new glasses as Tans snapped the arm off my old ones! Little monkey. Who could be cross with this little cherub though???

Here's Roo with some shampoo we made. We used a recipe we found on-line, but it turned out horrible! We're trying to make our own stuff so that we can avoid SLS and Parabens.

My girls playing trains :o)

New purple hair!

A pic of Colin and I off my mobile phone taken a few months ago.

I love this pic. Again off my mobile. Taken in Sainsbury's when Mamma Mia first came out on DVD. They wouldn't leave the shop!! Lol.

Baby in a box!

Cheeky monkey :o)

Sleeping on Daddy.

Wearing my wellies!

Here are some bath melts and massage bars Roo and I made from cocoa butter and essential oils. They turned out much better than the shampoo :o)

SNOW!!

Tans got too cold, so watched Roo from the window :o)

Cold noses and socks-for-mittens ;o)

Roo ice-skating with a friend.

Hello!

Mimi time :o)))))))

Just a cutie!

Ditto!

Fun with packaging.

Valentine's Day. We bought lots of little pressies for each other (mainly chocolate-based, it has to be said!)

Toby with a treat basket.

And Frostie.

Roo got a set of dried triops eggs (like sea monkeys) for Xmas. We hatched them and two have grown massive (and we got a sea monkey (brine shrimp) in there too!) so we've ended up buying them a little tank, as they were in a little platic dish thing!

Click to enlarge. Two triops with a brine shrimp in the middle. We've ordered more eggs as it's fun to watch them grow :o)

Easter comes early with the discovery of dark choc bunnies at Tesco!

Hee hee!

Then we bought Rats on a whim! I know, I'm mad!! Here are Chad, Nibbles, Alfie and Peppa. *Note* They don't live in here! They werre being cleaned out.

Nibbles on Roo's shoulder (after the choc bunny episode!) They are Dumbo Rats and look so cute with those ears!

Update coming soon...

2009-02-10T04:01:00.000-08:00

But in the meantime, go and get a piece of land from Greenpeace in the middle of the proposed new runway at Heathrow :o)

Sorry - I'm rubbish!! :o(

2009-01-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

OMG. I haven't properly updated since JULY!!!!! Please excuse and let me make it up to you with a massive picture-fest :o) Here goes...

In July we went on a home ed camp. The girls had a fabulous time, as you can see...

In August our dear, dear freinds Amanda and Dave came up from London to stay for a few days. It was lovely to see them and we had some good sunny times :o)

Here are some pics from the Home Ed Olympics we had in a park in Lincoln. It was forecast as dull and turned out to be probably the hottest day of the year!! We were woefully unprepared (hence Tansy's makeshift sun hat, lol.)

Here are some photos from the Fairyfest we went to with our good friend Denise and her children. Once again, it was an absolute scorcher and we were dressed for cold weather!

Tans crying because she wanted the vegan chocolate brownies before the fruit, lol.

August saw my brother's wedding. A wonderful day!

Tans had an awful black-eye from falling over at Colin's nan's the day before and hitting into a wooden chair :o(

I love this picture of me and Tans :o)

A day out at Bridlington...

And the same day at Flamborough...

Romy fell in the water!!

Flamingo Land!!

The Deep in Hull.

Scarborough...

A day trip to The Lake District...

Castlerigg Stone Circle...

On the ferry on Windermere.
The end of a chilly, but sunny day at the Lakes.
My Tattoos done this summer...
This is a cover-up. I had the outline done first. It took 1 1/2 hours. Then the filling in took about four hours! Ouch!! The symbols all mean something to me.
I had comet tails added to my foot stars. Good God that hurt so much!!!
This is the only time one of my kids has ever fallen asleep like this! Lol. Bless her.
Halloween!
Trick or treat loot.
Don't ask! ROFL.

More Halloween costumes.

Colin got his black belt. Yay!!!

Christmas....

Look what I got in my stocking!!

Eating cashew nuts and watching In the Night Garden, lol.

Home ed Xmas party...
With her little friend :o)
Helping Daddy to clean the piggies out.
Hitching a ride on Roo's cloak.
Making salt dough.

Me and my bro' with the girls.
Tans with her gorgeous cousin.

Xmas morning... Early!
Pressies!!!

Go Wildcats!
Xmas dinner at Nana's.
She loved drinking the water from this water pistol cracker gift, lol.
Blowing out the candle.
It's been a long day!

Flying Daddy's remote controlled dragon-fly at the park on Boxing-day.

What a lovely Xmas gift!!

Tans on her cousins drums.
My gorgeous girls!

Singing High School Musical songs on New Year's Eve :o)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I shall make it my resolution to update this blog every week or so from now on... Watch this space :o)

My baby...

2008-10-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

...Is no longer a baby! HAPPY 18 MONTHS TANSY!!
I will be adding a mammoth post within the next couple of days and from thereon in I will be combining the two girls' blogs and posting regularly (here.) So watch this space! x

OMG sorry! Looong overdue post :o(

2008-06-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the huuuge long wait for an update folks. Life has been a bit hectic recently and time flies by :o(

Anyway, as is becoming rather an annoying habit of mine, I'll just post loads of piccies with a very brief update. The main news being that Tansy's blocked tear duct finally opened up, so now her eye is gunk-free and just as beautiful as the other one ;o) We have a new addition to the family too. My sister had a baby girl; Olivia. There are some pics below.

In chronological order then... All partied out after Romy's ninth birthday party.

On the 'bouncy bouncy' lol. She 'asks' to go on it every day by jumping up and down!

On a hired bike on holiday.

Brandishing a potato masher in the caravan!

Having a 'bath' in the bottom of the shower :o)

My amazing girls.

Having stolen someone's ball on the crazy golf course.

I don't think she's quite got the idea of this crazy golf lark!

Hitching a ride with big sis'.

A quiet moment captured by Daddy.

Legging it around the caravan!

Romy looks happy to say she's been 'caught'!

Tans looking very nervous of a giant pink elephant. Good job big sis' is there to protect her :o)

Watch me touching the fire!! I have no concept of danger you fools!!! ;o)

Watching Romy and Colin at a taekwondo demo recently.

Cuddling up with Roo in the mei tai sling.

With Daddy in White Scar Cave on my birthday.

Enjoying an ice-cream in the vegan cafe at Hillside Animal Sanctuary.

I'll just finish these last few crumbs ;o)

Eating a chocolate lolly with Mummy (who, it has to be said, helped considerably with the task!)

Dancing around a pole at Normanby park children's day.

"How do I work this thing Romy?"

Just looking joyful!

With two friends :o)

How can one small piece of chocolate do this???

In the boot, helping Daddy to clean the car out.

Giving one of her 'mean and moody' looks!

Showing off all her gnashers :o)

My stunning girls. I love them soooooooo much!!!!!

Oh, what a cutie!!!!!

Being ever so gentle with new cousin Olivia.

Giving her a kiss. How sweeet!

I'm so proud of how gentle she was with her :o)

Pass her over sis'!!

No Tans, it's not Olivia's bed. It's the cat's!!

"Bet the new baby can't do this!"

Don't ask why Romy was doing her home ed work at the ironing board!!

A little pixie!!!

A scorching hot day at the local Gala.

Beautiful eyes!!!!

Trying Romy's hair band on :o)

Pretty in pink!

Showing off the clear eyes again. What an angel!

First time strawberry picking. Please excuse my more than ample clevage!!

Another first - PIGTAILS!!! How unutterably cute :o))))

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING!

2008-04-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie as I have sooo much to do before we go away for a couple of days tomorrow, but I couldn't let this day pass without saying just how unbelievably much I love my baby girl. She and Romy are my everything. My absolute world. I am honoured and blessed to have them as my daughters and not a day goes by when I don't thank my lucky stars that they chose me as their Mummy. I promise to always do my very best to love, cherish and protect you both. xxxx

Tansy's birthday week (part one!)

2008-03-31T05:28:00.000-07:00

My great friend Amanda always has a birthday week as opposed to just the one day. So this year we're taking a leaf out of her book and doing the same. Tansy's actual birthday is on Wednesday but yesterday we had the most fabulous and frankly, HUGE party for her at our local martial arts centre. I must say it was THE best party I've ever given. Partly due to the decision I made to RELAX and enjoy myself and not STRESS!!! Lol. I'm terrible usually for spending the whole party worrying that it's all going badly and then before I know it it's gone. This time I had the brilliant taekwondo teacher to take care of doing the pinata etc so I could just mingle and be a social butterfly. Tansy came round with me kissing everybody and generally being gorgeous :o)

We invited loads of friends and family and there was a bouncy castle and plenty of room for the kids to run around. Romy and Tansy had a fab time and the vegan food that I slaved over for HOURS (my poor feet, standing in that kitchen!) went down a real treat. There was hardly anything left in the end :o) Tansy got so many lovely presents. I certainly won't need to buy her any summer clothes! I did suggest to a couple of people that they could get Tansy some t-shirts because in the summer I can just imagine her toddling around in her funky cloth nappies and a t-shirt. How cute!

Here follows some piccies of the Main Event...

My absolute favourite present. What a fabulous t-shirt from Nikki and Emily. Thanks guys :o)
Tansy looking stunning (as ever!) with her little friend Reanna and her Mummy Nikki.

Two shots of the AMAZING birthday cake my Mum made. She's sooo talented. If you click to enlarge the pic you'll even see the little place-name cards!

Tansy and I mingling ;o)

Just for the March posse here's most of the spread. Colin cut about a third of it out lol.

Mummy and Tans having a quiet moment.

Romy with her friend. I presented her with the doggy to say thank you for being such a wonderful sister to Tans. The wooden tag around its neck reads: To Romy, Thank you for being the best big sister in the world, love from Tansy. x

I also presented my Mum with a huge bouquet of flowers as a thank you for making the cake, for always being there for me, and for being there at Tansy's birth. (And generally being an all-round superstar!)

Tansy got to have first whack at the pinata (helped along by big sis') Romy chose to wear this outfit at the party because it is what she was wearing at Tansy's birth *sob* Bless her!

Romy's go now! Whack it!!!

Even Tansy got a lolly from the pinata. A couple of sucks and it was thrown on the floor - not before she'd made a complete mess of her dress though. She's doing her "funny face" on this pic. If you say "do a funny face" this is what she does, rofl.

By the end of the party she was totally shattered and just flaked out in Colin's arms. Bless!!!

At home and getting ready for bed. Cuddling the dancing and singing Shaun the Sheep that I bought her. She loves it.

A lovely time was had by all I believe. I'll always remember it as being really special.

Just a couple of random pics from the last few days...

Tans saying hello to Toby. We have to stop her from kissing him. Yuck! ;o)

My two babies. xxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANSY. MUMMY LOVES YOU MORE THAN WORDS CAN EVER SAY. YOU'RE SUCH A SPECIAL LITTLE GIRL AND YOU AND YOUR SISTER MAKE ME THE HAPPIEST AND LUCKIEST MUMMY WHO EVER LIVED. XXX

Clever Tan Tan :o)

2008-03-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

My goodness. I really need to update this blog more often. It's just taken me aaaages to upload all the photos!

Anyway, the main news is Tansy's amazing grasp of baby signs. I am sooo proud of her. She must do about fifty of them now. As well as the ones I wrote about last time, off the top of my head, she now does:
Romy
Daddy
Tiger
Butterfly
Bee
Flower
Spider
Fish
Nappy
Drink
Food
Milky (booby)
Sleep
Book
Duck
Pig
Elephant (made up by her)
Brushing teeth (ditto)

She can also say 'tickle tickle tickle' and shouts 'DaDa' at the top of her voice. If she sees a teddy/dolly/anything cute she hugs herself and says 'Aaaaaah.' It's just sooooo cute!!!!!!!! Something highly UNCUTE that she does though is wobbling my belly when I lift my top up to feed her. ROFL. What a delightful child ;o)

I can't believe it's her birthday in nine days time (insert crying smiley!!) This time last year I was looking forward to tomorrow as it was my due date. Little did I realise I'd have to wait another eight days after that. Lol. We're getting ready for a BIG party at the martial arts centre we go to. It should be a fab 'do' with a bouncy castle, a pinata full of sweets and looooads of vegan food. Despite my irrational fear of all things 'In The Night Garden' Tansy seems to have taken a shine to it, so she has some scary Night Garden presents, lol.

Anyway... as usual here follows a picture fest of gargantuan proportions!

Very serious and studious Tans ;o)
Trying to get into the piggies' cage, rofl.

Colin's FABULOUS new tattoo. It says Romy Tansy in Elven (from Lord of the Rings.) I'm sooooo proud of him :o)))

A piccy of me and Tans taken on my mobile. Found that my new phone can do funky things like put borders on pics...

...And do close-ups and add silly little cliparts.

Aaaah, Roo holding Tans for a few mins while we put the shopping away. She had fallen asleep in the car on the way back from the supermarket.

Tansy with a lentil on her nose!

Just looking incredibly cute!

Ditto :o)

The pinata full of sweets for her party.

I'm not really pulling all the wipes out of the packet. Honest Mum...

Well, I may as well use them then. Excuse me while I blow ;o)

Another indulgent one. Not very interesting, but exceedingly cute.

Giant foot alert!

How did my kids get this cute? I know I'm biased and probably delusional, lol.

Tansy's favourite sign is 'chocolate'. I wonder why?

Perhaps she gets it from the other women of the house, rofl.

Not so keen on sherbert 'flying saucers' though. LOL!!!!!

Yesterday morning we woke up to a blanket of snow. I was the only pooper who stayed inside :o)

Reading her favourite book with Daddy. She looks at it for hours and has a flip when we put it down. It used to be Romy's favourite too. It's got loads of photos in of everything you can think of. She likes to look through it and do the signs for all the animals and things. She also points to things when you ask her "Where's the banana, etc" Hours of fun :o)

We went to Asda tonight and this vegan egg leapt into the trolley. It was down to 99p. Lol.

We have loads of exciting things coming up. Tansy's party on Sunday for a start :o) Then the day after her actual birthday (the Weds) we are going up to Lancs to visit our friends. Their baby was born the day after Tans and we met on an online parenting forum. We've never met in real life so we're really excited and "eeeek!" about going. We're visiting a theme park and staying in a Travelodge overnight. Then Romy and Colin have their Black/red belt graduation and in May there's Romy's birthday (and mine, but we'll gloss over that, lol) and a holiday at Colin's Mum's caravan.

I shall stop waffling now and will update after Sunday with some lovely pics of Tansy's party.

Mummy's Day and happy 11 months!!!

2008-03-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

My baby is eleven months old today , on Mother's Day!! I can't believe that in four weeks time Tans will be a whole year old :-0 Romy and I have just been designing the invitations for her Big Birthday Bash.

She's been a bit under the weather today, poor mite :o( One of her ears is bright red and her temperature is slightly elevated. I guess it's another tooth coming through, bless her. Even when she's poorly, she can still charm the birds from the trees and has had us all in fits of giggles as usual.

We went over to my Mum's today to take her some cards and gifts for Mother's Day. The girls got her a card each (Tansy's thanked her for looking after Romy and being there at her birth) and a lovely plant pot with a Nana poem and a black cat on it. Romy brought me a very strange, yet delightful breakfast in bed this morning, but kind of ruined my lay-in by repeatedly coming upstairs and asking if I wanted my breakfast yet, rofl ;o) To say I only have two children I have somehow ended up with five cards!! Roo made one at Brownies, one at home and bought me two. Colin got me a lovely one thanking me for being a wonderful mother to the girls :'-) So, with my brekkie in bed I got a tray full of cards and pressies. How spoilt was I?

I have to say though that the best present I could ever wish for is something I have already been blessed with; my two amazing, gorgeous girls. I am absolutely honoured to be their Mummy. It is a job I cherish and adore. They have made me complete. Without my daughters I would be nothing.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day Colin and I started going out... 17 YEARS AGO!!!!!!!!!! Eep :-O Lol

We're famous!

2008-02-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

Just looked at the York Storks website and it has been updated to include Romy's birth story :o))) You can have a look here!

Bountiful baby signs!

2008-02-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

My baby girl is a genius ;o) At ten months old she can do the following baby signs:
Dog
frog
telephone
Mummy
more
chocolate
milky
All gone
rabbit
horse
There are loads more but I can't remember right now :o( She is also putting two signs together (usually: more+chocolate, rofl.) Bless her. She's so delighted to be able to tell us what she wants and even more thrilled that we understand her!

She's almost walking now too. My baby is turning into a toddler before my eyes at lightning speed. Oh, and she also does tiger impressions (roaring) and says "yuck" and "wassat?" lol.

Here follows some up-to-date pics of my little cutie...

In her favourite position!
Extreme close-up!!

Not sure about this vegan yoghurt,

Oh, actually it's quite yummy :o)

On Daddy's knee with big sis'.

Being attacked by a monkey.

Camping out in the dining room.

Gloriously nakeee!

What a bod! ;o)

On your marks...

Pyjama'd beauties.

Cuteness personified :o)

Sisters... sisters... Seriously though, OMG - what a beautiful photo. My girls are just stunning, are they not???

And guess who this is..? It's Romy, aged almost two. Isn't she the spitting image of Tans?

We are mobile!!!

2008-01-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

My Little baby is becoming a little girl :o) She is now crawling after being stripped naked the other day and allowed to move around sans nappy. She did wee on floor. Like you do ;o) She's becoming much more loving too. She now pats you and says "ahhhh" when giving you a cuddle, which is lovely. I was beginning to have minor doubts about her sociopathic tendencies, as all she seemed to to was bite, scratch, pinch, hit and pull hair, lol. She can do lots of baby signs now, such as "All Gone" and is constantly pointing at things to ask what they are. Not to mention pointing at my boobs all the time when she wants milk, rofl. Interesting when you're in the middle of the swimming pool!! She's waving like anything now too. As usual here follows a picture fest of cuteness :o)
Going mad with the hummus.

On the bottle ;o)

Cuddling Frosty.

Enjoying a mango.

How cute is she???

With Big Sis' feeding Frosty and Scrappy. Scrappy died the next day :o(

Of course, being a vegan, she couldn't resist having a little taste :o)

The face of a snotty angel!

Tired out after arriving on holiday.

With Roo at the lodge. They love each other so much.

Cuteness personified.

Another snotty pic!!

The monkey that Romy bought her from the gift shop on holiday.

All that being carried around the woods in a sling is sooooo exhausting!!!

Time out whilst Roo and I went to a belly dancing class.

Probably The Most Gorgeous Girls In The World :o)))))

I wish the pool was as warm as this photo suggests! The camera steamed up because we'd just come in from the cold!

Down the slide!

Not sure about the temperature in here!!!

Bathing beauty.

Rock climbing with Daddy ;o)

Those eyes will serve her well in life I'm sure. She'll get whatever she desires.

Tansy and Mummy sitting in the Winter sunshine :o)

Tansy's first Christmas!!!

2007-12-30T16:14:00.000-08:00

Not a very good first Christmas for Tansy as Mummy had the Flu :o( Sort of ruined it for both of them really. Bah-humbug! Anyway, Tans was more than happy really with all the pressies she got and the little bit of choccy she was allowed to have :o)

Before Christmas our friends came round and I got this lovely picture of Tans with her little boyfriend Oscar. He doesn't look too pleased about things, bless him...

Ooh, Tans is becoming a right little vampire!!! Biting everything and, unfortunately, everyONE in sight. Luckily it's usually me who falls prey to her vicious attacks, but poor Romy got a prolonged and sustained little nip on the cheek the other day. It left a really impressive mark which lasted for a good couple of days. Poor love. She's such a great big sis' though that she took it on the chin (or should I say cheek, rofl) and there were no hard feelings. What a girl!
Anyway... Onwards to Xmas!! As I said, I felt like death warmed up so was a bit out of it. We went to my Mum's as usual. Everyone was there apart from one of my brothers. We took all the girl's presents. Roo was very happy as this year she got to open twice as many, as Tans couldn't quite manage, lol!! Most of the actual contents of the pressies seemed rather irrelevant if you take a look at the following few pics. As long as they were chewable, they were fine!!

Lovely building blocks...

Fairy finger puppets...

Even a vest from Roo ;o)

Poor Roo even had HER presents bitten, rofl!!

Now here was something she really COULD have a little nibble of.. Booja Booja vegan truffles. Nicked from Mummy - bah! Lol.

Romy giving a helpful hand...

Wow! I love that bunny rabbit puppet Nana... Thanks!!!

Isn't she just TOO gorgeous???

Hang on... Let me have a go on those bongos!

We bought her this lovely ladybird Wheelie Bug. We call it the Tweetle Beetle though (from Fox in Socks, lol.) I wanted to get her the bee one but they were out of stock, next on the list was the cow one, but that was out of stock too, so she got the ladybird. Romy is brilliant at whizzing her around on it!

Happy first Christmas my little cutie. Ooh, I could eat you all up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back at home Romy tried out her new face paints on the surprisingly compliant model below...Bless!!!

Well, now that's all over for another year, but unfortunately my house is now full of toys with no homes. Gah!! 2008 is the year of altruism I feel. Charity shops will be turning us away because they have no more room... I can see it now!

To get away from the clutter today we went for a lovely walk to Normanby Park. I took some fab photos, which I'll be putting on Romy's blog tomorrow (well, later today!) Here's one of Tans enjoying her walk though...

Festive fun!

2007-12-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we went to the taekwondo Christmas party. It was great fun!! Loads of pics here. There are tons more as we went a bit snap-happy, lol. Just the ones with Tans on here. I'll upload some more to Romy's home ed blog tomorrow after she's done her drama performance :o)

Click to enlarge:

Three gorgeous grrrls on the bouncy castle... Before anyone else arrived!

Wish we had these mats at home!

With Daddy.

Wanting to get back on the bouncy castle, lol.

Beautiful child...

Big sis' takes time-out from running about like mad.

Extreme close-up ;o)

Soon be walking...

Those eyes!!!!

Kidnapped baby, lol.

Finding my mojo.

2007-12-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

Something weird is happening to me... I think I'm finding (rediscovering?) my mojo. I feel fantastic at the moment and it's brilliant! I keep singing. And grinning. A health problem that has dogged me for over three years seems to have finally been put into much needed perspective with the help of a small paragraph in Derren Brown's 'Tricks of the Mind' that I'm reading at the moment. How weird is that? I kind of knew the answer was to be found in Neuro Linguistic Programming and I was right!

Also, I'm continuing to lose weight. Slowly but surely it's coming off. Yay! I feel so much better about myself. I don't care how long it takes. I feel good at the moment :o)

Happy Eight Months Tans :o)

2007-12-01T15:54:00.000-08:00

Tans is getting such a big girl now. She's changing by the week... No, by the day! She holds things in front of her face now to play peep-po and follows simple instructions like "brush Daddy's hair" when she's playing with a washing-up brush, rofl! She also dances now. Can't think what else... she's really come on in leaps and bounds this past week or so. She's loving the baby signing classes and is starting to do a couple herself. Telephone is a favourite for some reason!

We went to Meadowhall last week and we stopped to watch the giant singing teddies on display ;o)
This was Tansy's reaction... Not really that fussed, lol. Maybe next year!
She is eating more solids now but is still very much a booby girl. Yay!!! I would say she's still 95% breast-fed. Here's a pic of her having enjoyed some tomato paste covered sunflower bread... Didn't know where to begin with the cleaning up-ness, lol.
But my fave pic of all. My little teddy bear fast asleep but still drinking. The most natural and glorious thing in the world!!!

Clever girl!

2007-11-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

Tansy is changing and doing new things every day. It's a joy to watch. She is much more vocal now and is saying Mama lots. She understands loads of what is said to her and can follow simple instructions. We've started going to a baby signing class on a Saturday morning and it's fabulous! Tans is really intently watching as I do the signs to her and is already trying to copy some of them. We did baby signs with Romy too and it was amazing. Quite unnerving to know what your baby would like to communicate before they can actually speak!

Physically as well as mentally she is coming on in leaps and bounds. She can stand for a few seconds before falling over and is almost cruising round the furniture.

She is such a happy soul. And she has a wicked sense of humour. She's always doing things to make us laugh and is always in fits of giggles herself. She adores Romy, who only has to make a face or something to illicit peals of laughter. It's fab!

Here's Tans in Romy's old Tigger pyjamas. Don't they look Christmassy? :o)

And looking gorgeous (as ever!) during a rare moment on the floor (she's a Mummy's knee kinda gal!)

Oh, and here's a South Park picture that Romy made of Tansy dressed as a pussycat at the Halloween party. ROFL. Ace, isn't it???

My little Halloween pussycat.

2007-10-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

We went to a Halloween party at Taekwondo last night. Much fun was had by all. Colin went as a Ringwraith from LOTR, Roo and I were witchypoos and Tansy was incredibly cute as our little black witches cat :o) We dyed a sleepsuit black, I crocheted a little tail and drew a little nose and whiskers on her face. The ears were from Claire's Accessories. How cute is she???
Before we left. In full costume but no make-up.
Looking sweet and pussy-cat -like :o)

With Mummy witch by the light of the vending machine, rofl!

Having lost the ears and rubbed off the whiskers Tans enjoyed the bouncy castle!

New tattoo!!!!

2007-10-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today I had Romy's baby footprint tattoo'd above Tansy's handprint. She was five days old when it was taken. She's a massive size four now, rofl. Tansy's hand has grown a lot since her print was taken too. I'm so chuffed with them.

Face to face with a pig... and a trip to the park :o)

2007-10-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Just look at this cute picture of Tans face-to-face with Frosty earlier, lol. She was absolutely fascinated by him. Yesterday Tans had her first proper go at the park. We went with our Friend Nikki and her baby Reanna who has recently had an operation on her dislocated hip. She still had a fab time on all the play equipment despite her pot though!

Here's Roo and Tans on a tyre swing.

Everyone (bar me) on a slide :o)

On a rocking dog thing!

And isn't this sooo cute? Tansy's first go on a swing. Doesn't she look absolutely tiny??? She had such a brilliant time :o)))

Romy was given a couple of lovely halloween costumes the other day by a friend at tkd. Here's Tans looking incredibly yummy in a Devil hood. She's such an angel really!!

First cinema trip!!

2007-10-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

It's national free films for schools week (or somesuch) and as home edders we're entitled to free tickets too. This morning Romy, Tansy and I went to watch Bridge To Terabithia (sobbed like a baby - fantastic film!!!)

Anyway, we looked so odd amongst all the school kids; me, Nikki, Roo, Emily and a Tans. One teacher even shouted "We're not running girls!" to our girls!!!!!! She apologised when she realised they weren't part of her class, lol. Was certainly an eye-opener for Roo when she saw all the kids being ordered around by the teachers!

I wasn't worried about how Tans would be - she's v v v laid back and boobie can always quieten her anyway :o) However I wasn't prepared for how fabulous she'd be! She actually intently watched most of the film!! She was glued to the massive screen, lol. Then she fell asleep without a murmur for about half-an-hour before watching the rest of the film.

Found this...

2007-10-15T16:07:00.001-07:00

...And thought it was v funny!!

I was out walking with my 4-year-old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth.I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that."Why?" my daughter asked.Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty and probably has germs" I replied.At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked,"Mummy, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart."I was thinking quickly. "All mums know this stuff. It's on the Mummy Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mummy."We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information."OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So. if you don't pass the test, you have to be the daddy.""Exactly" I replied back with a big smile on my face.

ROFL :o)

Gone kissin' mad!!

2007-10-15T03:16:00.000-07:00

Tee hee, Tans has caught the kissing bug ;o) She started in earnest yesterday when she realised that if she kissed us when asked she would get a clap and a cheer!! She's now kissing us all the time. It's ace :o))))) It's her new 'thang'. LOL

She's also started making lots of consonant/vowel combination noises like mama, baba, dada which is the next step towards talking. All very exciting!

We went to see our friends last week who have a new baby and he was soooooo tiny compared to Tans! I couln't believe Tans was ever that ickle. Time flies :o(((

I have started letting Tans have small tastes of solids now but we're still in no rush. She loves nagging on my bananas which makes them all yucky and mushy, rofl. She also has a penchant for these and these. The former make a right royal orange mess, which is nice :-o
Bananarama!

Random cutenesses...

2007-10-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Eating an Organix carrot crisp thing (closely watched by Tilly for any droppages!)...

Do you like my new hat...?

Who put this in the ironing basket...?

Don't you think I look like Mummy when she was a baby?

OMG - How gorgeous!!!!!!!

2007-10-05T03:28:00.000-07:00

Remember this beautiful wedding photo my brother took? Well with his permission I sent it to www.enhance-me.com and for £13.99 she did this to it...... Amazing eh???

And you get a black and white one...

And a sepia too!

She loved the pic so much that she's asked me if she can use it in her before and after gallery :o)

Happy half birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-02T03:52:00.000-07:00

It's six months ago today since Tansy was born in this very room I am typing in now. Guess how my gorgeous little halfling is 'celebrating'? By having caught my cold, that's how Bless her. She's asleep in my arms now but since we got up this morning she's just been laying quietly in my arms looking up at me with her snotty nose and runny eye She never complains, even when she's poorly. She is known around these parts as 'The Baby Who Never Cries.' Lol.

I am so proud of her and her big sis'. They are the lights of my life And, what the hell, I'm proud of myself too! I have grown this perfect six-month-old child from being an egg the size of this full stop. She now weighs just under 16lbs and has had no other nourishment other than that which has come from my body. Am a veritable earth mother!

Oh, and even though I feel guilty about having given her my cold I can reassure myself with the fact that I am now 'feeding' her the anti-bodies I have just made myself in my milk. This will help her to fight her cold much quicker!!

Wedding pics at last!!

2007-09-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Only three weeks after the event! Here, finally, are a few pics from my sister's wedding:
Tansy with her beloved grandad.

With Daddy :o)

Looky gorgeous as usual!!

With Aunty Emma.

My stunning sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Asleep on Daddy at the reception. Bless!

With Romy and their two cousins.
And just the two of them What a stunning pair of sisters :-O

Tonight we called in at the seaside on the way home from my Mum's house. I put the girls in one of those photo booths that 'draws' a Van Gogh style picture. There were four snaps to choose from and I just HAD to have this one!!!!!!!!!!!

*if you want to enquire about photos for your wedding or a family portrait, visit http://www.paulsimpsonphotography.com/ * My lovely Bro's website ;o)

My little socialite!

2007-08-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

What a busy weekend we've had. Not often I can say that! Tansy has been a dirty little stopout and I have the pics to prove it, lol.

On Friday night I went out with my sister , Mum, sister-in-laws, etc to see a play called Stags and Hens as part of my sister's hen weekend. The play was great but when I rang Colin afterwards I could hear Tansy in the background and she was hysterical :o(((((( I've never heard her in that state before. He came and picked me up and she was fine as soon as she saw Mummy :o) 99% of me thought "Aaw, bless." And the other 1% thought "Blimey, I can't even go out for a couple of hours." I never go out. It's the first time I've left her. Normally she's with me pretty much 24/7.

Anyway, she was fine after a cuddle and a bit of mummy milk. However, the next evening my sis' had an Ann Summers party so I had no choice but to take Tansy with me, rofl. She had a fab time and even dressed up as an air hostess, lol.

Saturday saw us going to a 1st birthday party which was great. Here's a pic of the girls (I love calling them that!) on the bouncy castle.
And a beautiful photo that Romy had no idea I was taking of her eating her tea and having a quiet moment. I love it. She looks like a princess.

Then we had to rush home and get sorted ready to go to a wedding 'do'. Here's me looking foxy, pmsl!!We thought that kids weren't invited so we left them with my Mum (mobile 'phone at the ready so that we could shoot back if Tansy needed me. My Mum only lives down the road from the place we went.) However, when we got there there were loads of children so Colin went to pick ours up :o) Romy had a fab time dancing until she stubbed her toe really badly on a door-frame and it bled. By then it was almost midnight and she was really tired so we had more tears than were strictly necessary!. Here's a pic of her dancing that my sis' took on her mobile. She wasn't tripping on acid. I promise!!! I even got up with her and had a boogie. Eep! Steady on ;o) Tansy had a dance too and had the biggest grin on her face. It was fab. She slept for most of the evening though - party pooper!!

Had a much quieter day today though. Phew! I'm not used to all this excitement ;o) Gearing up towards sis's wedding on Sat. Romy will be a bridesmaid which she's REALLY looking forward to.

Some random pics from the park the other day...

Tansy having her first lay on the grass!
Enjoying the evening sunshine.
Riding a duck!

On the slide. Look at the state of Romy's knees!!!

My Tattoo!!!!!!

2007-08-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

I love my new tattoo! It's Tansy's actual life-sized handprint from when she was eight-weeks-old :o)

I had it done yesterday and it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as I thought it would!! Obviously it looks very red and sore at the mo'. Also it's a lot darker than it will be when it settles down. It should look more like a proper print in a few weeks. I've made an appt to have Romy's footprint done above it (as a baby, not her giant size fours now!!! Lol.) The first appt I could get was the 24th Oct. I booked yesterday's appt in June! He's very popular.

When I get an idea what I'd like doing I'm going to have something to cover up Romy's name on the other arm. I'm not happy with it as it's all spread. It was done at a crappy place :o(

Gnashers!!

2007-08-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

We have a tooth at last!!!!! :o))) Possibly two actually. Will have to wait a couple of days to tell properly. Noticed it yesterday. Long time coming I can tell you. Thank goodness it seems to have put an end to all the dribbling - for now!

BML...

2007-08-10T04:20:00.000-07:00

Stands for... Breast Milk Lolly :o) Here's Tans eating one I made earlier!! I got the idea from someone on the baby forum I post on and she loves them, lol.

Poor Tans has a blocked tear duct (spookily in the same eye as Romy had!) Normally it's not too bad but because she's been a bit under the weather recently this is what she's looked like after she's been asleep Her little eye is stuck together with green goo, Bless her. Hopefully it'll clear up spontaneously like Romy's did ~(at about nine months.)
Tans is getting so clever! If I say to her "Do you want some milky?" she puts her mouth towards my boob ready ;o))) Also she looks for the dog when I say "Where's that silly doggy?" Lol. She'll be talking before I know it!

How impossibly cuuuuuute??!!

2007-08-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

Tansy Pops with her Grandad at the weekend.

My gorgeous freaky baby ;o)

2007-08-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

Just take a look at Tansy. This photo was taken today; the day she is exactly four months old. She's sitting up on her own!!!!! What a clever girl :o)))))))))

I have been ill all week. I was light-headed, dizzy, and had pressure in my head. Turned out I was badly dehydrated :-O I have not been drinking enough whilst breast-feeding and ended up very poorly. Two days of drinking gallons of water seemed to sort things out only for me to catch Romy's sickness bug. I am still feeling queasy. It has been really hard trying to look after two children (a poorly one and a baby!) whilst feeling like cr*p myself. Huge thanks to Colin and my Mum for their help though.

Here are a couple of pics of Tansy doing what she likes to do best, lol...

Just look at that gorgeous baby in the mirror!!!!!!

And finally a clever thing my brother did with the pics he took of Tansy...

Will be updating Romy's blog at the weekend as she will be getting her next belt at tkd and has a few other bits of news.

Three months today...

2007-07-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Since my perfect little baby girl arrived in my life :o))))))
And what a little stunner she is. With these photo's done by my brother the other day you can certainly see that she takes after her big sister in the looks department ;o)

And a round-up of my recent mobile phone pics...
In the 'bumble bee' vest that my friend bought her.
Just a cute expression on her face!
"I'm sure I shouldn't be able to do this at not-yet-three-months Mummy. But it's fun. Wheeee!"
Looking over the front seat at me in the car :o)
And you can't see it very clearly but her first little hair grip!!!

A flimsy excuse for shamelessly showing more cute pics :o)

2007-06-21T01:11:00.000-07:00

Just look at this funky little set that I crocheted for Tansy. Once again I didn't use a pattern and I'm reeeeally chuffed with myself. I thought it might look a bit daft but I actually think it's rather cute. I'm sure Tansy will beg to differ when she looks back on these photos in a few years time, lol ;o)
Look at the beautiful smiles and giggles we're getting daily now!!

Scrummmmmmmyyyyyyyy!!!!!

Yesterday we went on a home ed trip which I'll be talking about over at Romy's blog. Here's Tansy wearing a Maasai head-dress ;o)

Someone gave us this adorable snow suit when Tansy was born. We thought we'd never be able to use it but the weather has been rather inclement recently so she's worn it for a couple of evening walks. How adorably cute is she????

Look at me standing up!!!

Bye for now :o)

Teething...

2007-06-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

...already!!!

I noticed a few days ago that Tansy was dribbling (which she'd never done before) and she's rubbing her tongue over her bottom gums all the time. Romy was 14 weeks when her first two teeth came through. Looks like, as with everything else Tansy is following suit. She's also nearly sitting up on her own and is as strong as an ox. Romy sat up at 4 months. Superbabies!

I bought Tansy a beautiful amber teething necklace which supposedly has analgesic properties. Don't know how much truth there is in it but it's worth a try and looks exceeeeeeedingly cute anyway!

Then this breastfeeding necklace caught my eye (you know I really should stay away from eBay!) It's for Tansy to fiddle with while she's feeding. It came this morniing so I put it on straight away. She's a bit to young to play with is properly yet but she's certainly enchanted by it. Looks like it'll be a big hit!!Of course while I'm here I can't resist putting a few pics up ;o)

Big sis' carrying Tansy in my new mei tai sling :o)

My baby sleeping peacefullyin above sling:

The bib my Mum made for her. You'll get it if you've seen Dirty Dancing ;o)
Me and my girl (she looks a bit worried to be in such close proximity to me, lol.)
And finally my fave pic of the girls taken on my phone a few weeks ago.

Happy 2 month birthday...

2007-06-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

...to you, the most gorgeous of babies!!
Mummy loves you sooooooo much!!!

Reflections on the first six weeks.

2007-05-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe almost seven weeks have passed already since my little Tansy Pops was born. I've been meaning to update this blog for ages. First I was going to do reflections on the first week, then the first fortnight, then the first month, rofl!! I find it hard to get five minutes to go to the loo these days ;o) Anyway, I managed to update Romy's blog about her birthday, so I thought I'd better do the same here. First of all here are some photographs :o)

Tansy on holiday.
Having a cuddle with big sis'.
Looking peaceful in Uncle Stephen's arms on Romy's birthday.
My two cuties!
Wearing her 'I'm the little sister' romper this evening. She just gets cuter as she gets older.

I feel so proud of her. Everyone says how beautiful she is which makes me feel all fuzzy inside ;o) Everyone wants to take her home with them. It's a good job I'm breastfeeding so they can't, lol. Talking of breastfeeding, it's going really well. We had some real trouble for the first two weeks but we're flying now! She had such a teeny weeny mouth when she was born and I have such , erm shall we say 'ample' bosoms, lol, that she found it hard to latch on properly. This resulted in me getting reeeeeeeeeeally sore :o((( I mean it was AGONY. Twice Tansy puked up a load of blood after a feed. It was horrible. Of course we didn't give up though and now everything's fine. This is despite the stupid Health Visitor asking me every time she sees me if I'm 'still managing to feed her'. Grrr...

She deserves a paragraph all of her own that woman. What a shock she was after my wonderful Independent Midwives (who need your help by the way. ) She treated me like an absolute moron, going through everything as though I'd never seen a baby before, let alone had one. She gave me an NSPCC leaflet detailing how to hold your baby properly and telling you not to shake it when you're angry. PLEASE!!! I won't tell you what I wanted to do to her when she started rattling on about contraception when Tansy was two weeks old and my bits still felt like they'd been run over by a bus ;o) "You know it's a myth that breastfeeding is an effective contraception." Aaaaarrggh, bog off woman!!

In complete contrast my MW's have been absolutely fantastic. I cannot praise them highly enough. I had a few problems in the first couple of weeks but Debs was brilliant. She calmly dealt with everything by leaving my body to it and trusting that nature would take its course and it did. I'm particularly referring to day four when I had retained membranes. I'm sure any other MW would have had me in hospital having a D&C but they came out on their own having been left alone. Neither I nor Tansy have been prodded and poked (this was true throughout my pregnancy and the birth too.) I can't tell you how much this has meant to me. I was thinking about Romy's birth the other day. She was taken away and messed around with and by the time I got her she was dressed :o( Later on when I finally got her to myself I experienced a rush of feircely protective love for her and I didn't want to let her out of my sight for a looooong time after that. This time however, I got to bring Tansy up out of the water myself. No-one touched her or took her away or interfereed with her in any way. The next day I suddenly realised I hadn't felt that rush of love and I worried momentarily. Then I realised that I'd loved her all along. I didn't need to feel overly protective of her because she was mine right from the start. I could let my Mum take her to show the neighbours without fretting at all about her. It was wonderful. I feel such deep love for both my girls. I never thought I'd be able to love another human being as much as I love Romy. I was wrong. I'm a Mama :o)

Enough of the slushy stuff ;o) Here's some light relief: The first week of waking up in the night passed in a blur. At one point I remember being half awake when Tansy was fretting and wanting to be fed. in my delerious state I thought to myself "It's ok, I fed her on the internet." WHAT THE....???? Then about a week later another funny thing happened; the phone went and Tansy was crying so I automatically reached for the remote control to turn the noise down, rofl!!! That's because if the TV is on and the phone goes I always mute it. Think I must be going mad :o)))

I crocheted Tansy these little trousers the other day. I was quite proud of myself as I didn't use a pattern and I'm certainly no expert. They're similar to wool soakers/longies to go over a cloth nappy. I've been using them over a terry and they work fabulously even though they're acrylic not wool (vegan, lol.) I have enough to make some shorties and some pants too and, of course I went and bought more yarn yesterday to make loads more. I'll post more pics when I get time to make them. That's all for now folks. I promise not to leave it too long before updating again!

Some piccies!

2007-04-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write some stuff about the first month within the next week but as I'm still typing one-handed I'll have to make do with some pics for a while.
With Romy and my sister Jenny.
Roo and Tansy Pops lounging in the birth pool.
Wearing the pixie hat my friend knitted for her.
With big sis' again.
How gorgeous???!!!
Sleeping in Nana's arms :o)
Sucking Mummy's finger.
First time in the car seat.
With aunty Emma.
And My brother Stephen.
Poor Stephen will soon have two nieces climbing all over him ;o)
How cute am I??
Ditto.
Look how I'm growing!

Your Birth Story.

2007-04-10T04:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Tansy.
I wrote this yesterday with you at the breast and I'm typing it up today with one hand, holding you asleep in the other. I just can't bear to put you down. I'm absolutely besotted with you. Every time I look at you I fall in love all over again. I can't believe you're really mine. Anyway, here is your birth story. It's very long but I wanted to put down everything I remembered still.

Mummy had been having contractions for weeks and was beginning to think you would never arrive! I was quite fed up because you were a week overdue by April Fool's Day.

I woke up that day at 7.15am with strong contractions that felt different from the ones I'd been having. I was convinced that things were finally happening! When Daddy woke I said to him "I know it's April Fool's Day but I think I'm in labour." I rang Nana to tell her and she asked if I was having her on! I'd given her so many false alarms you see. We were all very excited but unfortunately the contractions faded away once again and I had to text Nana to tell her as I was too scared to ring her again with the bad news ;o)

Even though everything had stopped I knew it wouldn't be long now and in the back of my mind I'd had the 2nd April as your birthday. In the end I was right!

I went to bed that night with the contractions coming again. There was blood when I went to the toilet, so your big sister Romy and I were really excited. We knew it wouldn't be long now until we met you at last!

I texted Nana again and she rang me back. Romy went to sleep and we chatted for an hour or so. I was having contractions every 15 minutes or so and Nana was itching to come round (she was going to look after Romy and be there to see you being born.) I said she should get some sleep and I'd ring her back if I needed her. I put the phone down and got into bed. Then the contractions started coming every five minutes! I lay and timed a few and suddenly remembered how painful labour was going to be!!! There was no going back now though. I woke Daddy up and suggested we get the birth pool set up. I knew it would take about three hours to fill up and naively I thought this labour would be quite quick.

I rang Nana back and asked if she wanted to come over after all. She was just dropping off to sleep as it was 1 o'clock! Your Aunty Jeanette kindly picked Nana up and brought her here. In the meantime Daddy inflated the pool and started to fill it. We put the computer on to time the contractions on a special website. I also posted a message on a pregnancy forum I'd been a member of to tell the ladies that things had finally begun. They were very pleased and excited as I was one of the last Mummies to give birth and had been moaning for a long time about waiting for you ;o) Daddy kept them updated all day until you were born.

I rang the midwife, Debs, at 2.30am to tell her I was in labour (bet she was pleased!) I said I'd be fine for a few hours. The other midwife, Chris, was due to come at 10am for my 41 week check anyway.

When Nana arrived Daddy went back to bed for an hour until the next tank of hot water was ready. Nana sat with me for a while but was very tired, so at around 4am she went to sleep in Romy's bedroom. I tried to doze on the settee and Romy woke up and came downstairs. She was really excited but managed to get some sleep on the settee as Daddy finished filling the pool and played on the computer. I went up to try and sleep on the bed at around 6am but the contractions were too painful :o(

Debs rang at around 7am, heard that I was in bed and assumed that things had slowed down!! When Chris arrived at 10am Romy and Nana had already made you a delicious 'Birth'day cake and were in the process of icing biscuits for visitors.
Chris examined me and found that I was 3-4 cm dilated and that you were definately head-down (we were a bit worried you might be breech.) I was in lots of pain and was shaking but Chris said there was a long way to go yet and that you would possibly be born in the early hours of the next morning - definitely not what I wanted to hear!

After the midwife went, we were in limbo for a few hours. Nana and Romy went to the shop and played, Romy went in the birth pool for a while and then I got in with my swimming costume on. I tried listening to music but it just annoyed me. After a while we all went upstairs to try and have a sleep.

By now the contractions were agonising and I was trying to get Daddy to rub my back during each one, but it didn't really help. I drifted in and out of sleep between each contraction - dreading each one. After a while I could stand it no longer so I got up, put my swimming costume back on and got in the pool once more. It was bliss for a while until the first contraction came! They were still just as painful but it was easier to relax in between. They were coming every four minutes now and I was beginning to swear, it was hurting so much! Daddy rang debs and asked her to come with some gas and air. She asked if it was still ok to bring Emma, her student. Mummy had invited her to the birth because she had never been to a home birth before. It took a long time for them to get here and in the mean time I was in more and more pain, Nana rang my friend Theresa to ask if she wanted to come round. I had wondered at the last minute whether to have her there or not as I thought I might feel embarassed. However, when she arrived two minutes later, out of breath, having run the whole way I was so glad to see her. She knelt down near the pool, held my hand and didn't let go until you were born.

( Theresa and her son holding you the day after you were born.)

By now I was ranting about all the "airy fairy" birth stories I'd been reading where the woman said things like "It wasn't pain, it was a sensation." I was shouting "Where's that bloody midwife with that entonox?" ;o)

Nana and Romy were on midwife watch duty and kept looking out of the window in-between playing in Romy's room and checking on me.

Debs finally arrived with Emma and set up all her stuff, including the infant resuscitation equipment. I was lucid enough to introduce everyone but was beginning to get the urge to push. Looks like she got here just in time!

Romy was doing ever so well. She kept coming to see me, bringing me cold water to drink and a cold flannel for my face. I was a bit worried that I was scaring her as by now I was shouting my head off with each contraction. I really couldn't help it. I still hadn't had any pain relief so I was feeling the full force of everything. Romy was fine though and kept going up to her room with Nana for some time out.

I couldn't help pushing now and I was dreading each contraction. I kept yelling that I didn't want to do this anymore and then apologising for shouting in between. I briefly thought about the poor neighbour as our walls are paper thin (Nana found out the next day that she had gone out because she didn't feel right listening in on such a private event.)

After a few more pushes on my side I changed position so that I was on my knees, leaning on the edge of the pool. I wouldn't have had been able to do that on dry land. Debs said that you were still in your membranes as the bag was bulging out. You were also back to front which was making it doubly hard for me to push you out. Instead of the smallest part of your head coming out first (the crown) it was your whole forehead and face. It's no wonder I felt like I was being torn apart. This bit definitely hurt more than with Romy. She had been the wrong way round too but had turned during the birth. Anyway, it took me two hours to push you out in the end. All the time I was holding on to Daddy and Theresa's hands and squeezing like mad!!

At last your head was out. I thought it would never happen as it kept slipping back. With one more push you were out. Romy and Nana had been shouted downstairs just in the nick of time. I reached down into the water and felt this slimy fish-like thing. It was you in the bag of water. I brought you you to the surface in a daze and Debs broke the membranes. You stared up at me with the biggest, most beautiful eyes I had ever seen and my first thought was "Oh my god, she's beautiful! Much more beautiful that I could ever have hoped for" I know my face was a picture as I looked up in shock at the sea of crying faces in front of me. Everyone was so emotional. You were so calm. You jusy kept looking at me with those huge eyes.

Debs straight away realised that your cord was really short. So it was best if I got out of the pool so that we weren't pulling on it. She carried you out while I stumbled out somehow (by now I was high on adrenaline and functioning on reserves from somewhere deep inside). Everyone made me a walk-way to the settee with towels and waterproof sheeting.

We got sat down and Romy came and kissed me. I was so overwhelmed that I was now Mummy to not one, but two perfect girls. I was so proud of Romy. Your sister is amazing Tansy. My nightie was changed for a dry one and you had a towel put around you and a hat put on your head. Your cord was still pulsing so we left it for 25 minutes until it stopped. Everyone was crying and laughing and grinning like idiots. We were all amazed at the miracle that had just ocurred!
You kept staring up at me and we all said how beautiful you were. We all marvelled at how much lovely hair you had too. I looked up to see Nana crying and I knew she was proud of me and was glad she had been able to be here to see you being born.

Romy and Daddy cut your cord when it had turned white and you were weighed; 8lbs 4oz. Two ounces more that your sister, but then again you had had four extra days baking!

Romy took off her dress and had a bit of a skin-to-skin cuddle like she had written in her birth-plan. Meanwhile a bowl was fetched for the placenta. Debs said it would take a while to come out but I gave a tiny push and out it shot! She only just managed to catch it in the bowl and everyone laughed. By now I was not a pretty sight. I looked like I'd been sitting on the floor in an abbatoir. I couldn't wait to get cleaned up but I was very weak and shaky so I sat down a while longer. I was on a high!!

Romy and Nana got you dressed into some nice warm clothes and Theresa had a cuddle before she went home. Daddy was texting and ringing everyone to tell them the wonderful news, while Debs examined the placenta and wrote up her notes. The rest of us marvelled at you and how perfect you were.

Grandad came to pick Nana up and after checking me over (no tear!) the midwives left and soon it was just the four of us. Daddy sat with you and Romy on the bed while I shakily had a bath. Then I relaxed on the bed with my two girls. Feeding one and chatting to the other whilst I drank smoothie and ate toast. Daddy (bless him) went down and emptied the pool and tidied up.

I was so tired and weak but I was on top of the world. I had managed to birth my full-moon-born-in-the-caul-baby back to front with no pain relief, surround by those I love the most......PERFECT!!

She's here!!!!!

2007-04-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

Tansy Grace Smithson was (finally) born at 8.02pm yesterday (2nd April) She weighed 8lbs 4oz and was born at home in the birth pool with NO PAIN RELIEF!!!! Ouch! She was born in the caul which is really lucky. More details to follow. I'm a bit sore at the moment and should have my feet up. Some photos...

Her hair is much darker and thicker than this photo suggests.

Week 41.

2007-04-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day it is. And what a crappy day I'm having :o( Just had a massive ding dong with Colin and am feeling really emotional. Woke up at 7.15 with period pains. They were just like when I went into labour with Romy. I tried not to get excited but after an hour or so I thought "this is it!" I even rang my mum and told her I was definitely in labour this time. *siggghhh* You can guess the rest :o(((((((

What is wrong with me????? I'm fed up. Off to eat a vegan Easter egg :o(

40+6.

2007-03-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd better update before anyone thought I was in labour :o(

Had a busy day today with lots of visitors, so have only just got a minute to update. Still no Lumpy. Had a bit of a cry this morning cos' I was so fed up but have been spoilt by people ever since to try and make me feel better :o) Mum bought me a lovely plant, sis' brought me magazines and chocolate and Colin brought me some gorgeous vegan truffles! Yummy.

Romy has just updated her guinea pig blog.

40+5.

2007-03-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

HEY!!! GUESS WHAT!!!!!!! She's still not here ;op ROFL.

Still, Romy is having fun making imprints in my feet which are like plasticine at the moment. If you press your finger into them it leaves a dent. Bleurgh!!!!! There has to be some upside to all this waiting eh? ;o)

I sound philosophical but I had a bit of a cry yesterday again. I'm just so uncomfortable. I can't believe Lumpy is later than Roo was. I just assumed she'd be earlier. I don't know why.

40+4.

2007-03-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

Lumpy: there's fashionably late and then there's just plain tardy. You're verging on the latter. It'll be April soon! Please have some consideration for Mummy's hands and feet; they're swollen up like balloons :o(

Colin was supposed to start his paternity leave on Monday but he's worked almost a full week now. Luckily he can just push his days forward (for a while anyway.)

Loads more contractions last night and I felt a bit weepy, but it all went away again when I got into bed. Watch this space...

40+3.

2007-03-28T03:30:00.000-07:00

Bet you're all getting fed up of reading these 'no baby' posts eh? ;o)

Not much to report other than tonight at 11.30 was when I went into labour with Romy at 40+3. That'd be spooky if the same thing happened, lol.

Put some clary sage oil in the burner last night, drank 2 mugs of raspberry leaf tea *bleurgh* and had a warm bath but still nothing.

My midwife Chris has just rung to arrange to come on Monday. PLEASE don't let me still be pregnant by then!!! She tried to make me feel better by saying "Hopefully it'll be a post-natal." Yeah, right ;op

We had a really bad scare last night with Toby the guinea pig. He had a fit (he's not the one who used to have fits) but it went on for ages. We called the emergency vet who was no help at all. Anyway, he came out of it and promptly went into another one! This one lasted for half-an-hour!!!!!! Romy was sobbing and after about ten minutes I had to say to her that he might not make it. I couldn't lie to her and say he'd be fine because I thought surely his little body couldn't cope with it all. His eyes were flicking from side to side and his head was swaying around. Poor thing. Anyway, he came ut of it and we had to go to bed so we put him in a pet carrier for the night. He's a right as rain this morning. Weird!

40+2.

2007-03-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

Well the water came back on at about 1pm but Lumpy didn't arrive!

I had such a day yesterday. I had so many people ringing me and knocking at the door. I felt really frazzled by evening :o( First there was the water fiasco and all the phonecalls and visitors that entailed. Then my friend came round with her kids to play as all the schools were shut because of the water. Her two-year-old proceded to trash the place and run through all the bedrooms. Then my brother rang to ask if we could look after a baby wood pigeon till the RSPCA could pick it up. His neighbour had chopped down a tree with a nest in it and all the babies had fluttered down into his garden. Grrr... some people are so stupid. As if you chop a tree down in March!! So he brought that round (he had to go to work.) After the RSPCA lady had been and my friend had gone the midwife and her student came. Add to that the three or four people who rang to ask if I'd had the baby yet (don't they think I'll tell them!?) I was mentally exhausted by the end of the day!

Debs (midwife) said what I had suspected, that Lumpy has turned back to back (not good for labour.) I knew my bump had changed shape and become much flatter. I was hoping it meant she had engaged. No such luck :o( She said that could be why I'd had so many false alarms. She's just not in the right position. Back to hands and knees for me then!

I forgot to take my watch off in bed last night so I now look like I have elephantitis of the left hand. It's twice the size of the right :o( Can't wait to get rid of all this excess water when Lumpy arrives.

Last night I braved a waddle around Asda. Romy was desperate for some new clothes as nothing she has fits anymore. I was really chuffed as I only spent £24 but got the following: three vest-tops, two pairs of leggings, a pair of trousers and a lovely shirt-dress to go over jeans or leggings. The great thing is that they all mix and match. While I was waiting for Colin to get bread (at the other end of the shop) an Asda woman asked me if I was alright. I replied that I was and then she asked if I was due any time soon. I said "yesterday" and she looked panicked and ran off, rofl. Did she think my waters were going to break there and then? Think she's been watching too many soaps :o)

Anyway, better get back to the Victorian project seeing as Lumpy seems to be comfy where she is *sigh*

40+1.

2007-03-26T03:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your comment Emma. Yes I was four days overdue with Romy so I'm hoping I won't go much further than that this time. I guess my babies just like to be fully baked ;o)

I've actually had a bit of a u-turn. I definitely do NOT want Lumpy to be born today (so you can be sure she will!) We have had a burst water main at the end of our road and it means we have no water. Almost the whole town and surrounding villages are affected :o( It would mean no birth pool!!!!!!!!!! And as you know I'll scream if I don't get my birth pool. We're lucky really as the people nearby have had their homes flooded with two feet of water. My wonderful neighbour brought us some water from the supermarket and my Brother did the same so at least we have drinking water. All the schools are closed too. Looks like it'll be a big job to mend it. Just hope it's done today but I'm doubtful. Ho hum...

I'm fully expecting to go into labour within the next hour, rofl.

Week 40.

2007-03-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hrmph... Not fair... I wanna baby :o(((

Just come back from my Mum's house where I was having some humdinger contractions every five mins. Had three on the way home too and thought I was going to wee myself, lol. The pressure is unbearable. Got home and had a quick tidy up and they've stopped. Waaaaaaaahhhh!!! I even put this contraction timer website on as they seemed like they must be the real thing this time.

I really don't understand why my body is doing this. I'm sure when she really arrives I won't believe it till the last minute and there'll be panic. I could've filled the birth pool fifty times over, so how will I know when to do it for real?

Midwife is coming tomorrow for ante-natal check. I was convinced she wouldn't need to. Seems like Lumpy has other ideas. Little monkey.

Thanks to everyone who's been leaving comments. I've tried to reply on a few occasions but for some reason this new Google/Blogger thing won't let me log in to comment on my own flippin' blog! Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your words of support :o)

Thanks to my Mum too who bought us a lovely set for Lumpy with a hat/vest/bootees/blanket and bib in that say "A Star Is Born" on them. Roo wants to dress Lumpy in them when she's born. Come on Lumpy, could we all BE more excited??? Take the hint girly ;o)

Until tomorrow....

39+6

2007-03-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

Still here, sitting on my ball ;o)

Feeling a bit more philosophical today. She'll come when she's ready...

Just had a lovely chat to my sis' on the phone for over an hour! Colin and Roo have been out to town. Roo has been stuck indoors all week because she's been poorly and I can't go out really. Going to get Colin to take her to the park later I think. She needs fresh air and a bit of time away from the air of expectation around here.

No contractions during the night, although I couldn't get to sleep for ages. Kept feeling as though something might happen (wishful thinking!) A few Braxton Hicks' today but nothing exciting. Off for something to eat :o)

39+5.

2007-03-23T05:04:00.000-07:00

Yes. I know. This is getting boring!

Last night Romy and I started watching Pride and Prejudice in bed on the portable DVD player. Roo fell asleep so I carried on watching it. It finished around 2.30am and I just couldn't sleep. Lumpy was jumping around for the whole time I was watching it and then I just lay there feeling like something was going to happen. Anyway, I must've drifted off at about 3 but then woke up at half past with a really strong contraction. These carried on every five mins until about twenty past four. Colin stirred in his sleep so I told him and then they stopped. Grrrrrr!!!!!! These contractions were much more gripey and period painy, so I was almost convinced this was it :o( Hopefully it can't be long now... can it???

Yesterday the bouncy chair my Mum bought me from eBay arrived. Roo and I put it together and it made me all emotional. Romy was sitting next to it, singing to the empty chair and I felt like crying. She's going to be the best big sister in the world!! Come on Lumpy, Romy's desperate to meet you!! Oh, and she's feeling better today too :o)

39+4

2007-03-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

Still here!

This is so frustrating. Stop, start, stop, start :o( I feel really guilty messing people around. Last night when Colin got home from work it all kicked off again. Contractions coming every five mins on the dot. He took Romy out to taekwondo while I relaxed on the settee doing crossword puzzles (and writing down my contractions, lol.) When they got back I was on the phone to my friend Amanda from London who rang me. I haven't spoken to her for a loooong time. I showed colin my list of times and he decided to miss his lesson. HOWEVER, yep, you've guessed it... by the time I got off the phone the contractions had slowed down and eventually stopped :o( Gah! Of course Colin rang in to tell them why he wasn't coming so they'll all think I'll have birthed by now.

Feel sorry for my poor Mum as she's on tenterhooks waiting to come round (to be with Roo) and one minute she thinks it's imminent and the next I'm telling her it's all stopped. She'll deserve a medal by the end of all this ;o)

Maybe Lumpy knew not to come because Roo is not very well at the moment. She has a cold now and is a bit shaky and dizzy. She's on the settee with a quilt watching a Steps video ;o) She's not eating much, poor love.

My feet are disgustingly swollen now, as are my fingers. Boo hoo. I'm hoping after all this false labour that the real thing will be quick. Mind you not too quick. I'll scream if I don't get to use my pool ;o)

No sign of anything happening now. Could be another week I suppose...

39+3

2007-03-21T03:20:00.000-07:00

I don't believe this!!!!!!

Yesterday evening I had loads more contractions but fully expected them to disappear when I went to bed again. HOWEVER, I ended up having them all through the night too. I slept through most of them, only vaguely aware of the pain, but some woke me up and by this morning they were getting quite painful. Colin asked if he should go to work and I said yes. I dozed back off in-between more contractions and when I got up I rang my Mum to put her on Amber Alert (lol.) BUT THEN as soon as I get up they've stopped!!! Boo hoo :o((((

I'm living in Limbo Land!

39+2

2007-03-20T04:30:00.000-07:00

Today I have lit one of my special birth candles to remember someone very special.

I thought it was all kicking off last night. When Colin and Romy went out to their taekwondo lesson I sat on the living room floor (won't tell you how long it took me to get back up again!) and massaged my belly with clary sage oil. I told Lumpy I was ready for her to be born and did some reiki on her through the bump. I then settled down with a mug of raspberry tea and about an hour later the contractions were coming thick and fast. I decided to write them down and they were every five mins but sometimes every ten. When I went to bed they STOPPED!!! Ooooh, buggerations :o(

I feel like I've been in labour every evening for over a week!

Oh and OOUUCCHH!!! I'm in agony with my SPD :o((((( My Mum just rang me and it took me ages to hobble across the room to the phone. Getting out of bed for my many bathroom trips in the night is horrible too.

Romy is a bit poorly today. She had a sore throat yesterday and a realy hacking cough during the night. She seems a bit better today but is having a day off her work. She's been doing a really extensive Victorians project (her idea.) At the moment she's watching a video on the settee with a quilt on :o)

39+1

2007-03-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

Here I am updating already. Don't get excited, Lumpy isn't coming! I forgot to put this funny pic up yesterday:

It's my own personal shelf ;o) I can even put my dinner on there!

I also forgot to say that my gorgeous girl brought me breakfast and presents in bed yesterday :o) I got a lovely card from her and Lumpy, some bathbombs and two gorgeous photo frames that she'd made at Brownies. I'm going to put a pic of Roo in one and Lumpy in the other.

Midwife rang this morning and asked if it was ok if she came round in an hour!!!!! :-O Of course I breezily say "Yes, that's fine. No problem." Then Aaarggh, tidy up and vacuum like a mad thing. After all that she was 1/2 hour late! Mind you, it gave me time to sit down for a while so that my BP wasn't through the roof, lol. She brought a lovely student with her who was introduced to the guinea pigs and Romy's rubber collection and doll's house, rofl. Midwife did ask me a very strange question though; she asked if there was anything stopping the baby coming (psychological.) Erm... she's not even due yet! I told her that apart from the house being untidy (which it always will be) she's welcome to come whenever she likes!

Here's hoping we'll be filling the birth pool soon :o)

Week 39.

2007-03-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

AAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!! I just spent an hour doing a post on Romy's home ed blog, tried to publish it and the bloody thing disappeared!!! *Sob* I'm not doing it all again so I'll just put the bare bones here:

Went to taekwondo Red Nose Day 'Kick-a-thon' event on Friday. It's the first time I've been in weeks. Put up with the Chair From Hell (metal) for a couple of hours with my SPD. Roo and Colin had to do 100 kicks with each leg in fancy dress to raise sponsor money for Comic Relief. Here are some pics:

Colin and I won the quiz (despite thinking we'd done really badly!) And then we became the most unpopular family there when both Romy and Colin won best adult and child fancy dress. Opps!

Anyway, onto the pregnancy. As you can see I'm still here! I had asked Lumpy nicely if she would mind being born on Mother's Day, but it would seem she's still too comfy (wish I could say the same for myself!) I've been having HUNDREDS of contractions all week but nothing to show for them :o( A couple of times I've thought "could this be the start of things?" but, alas no. I'm sure she's waiting for me to finish the huuuge blanket I mentioned last week, lol. Only a few more rows left now. Think I'll finish it tonight (hint Lumpy!)

The Midwife came on Tuesday with a lovely student. Nothing exciting to report. Everything fine. My fingers are soooooooooo swollen though. and my feet aren't far behind. This is despite weeing half my body weight during my ten trips to the toilet every night :o((( My SPD is becoming agonising now.

Today we went to Barton to see my Mum and whilst there we went to a natural baby exhibition at the Water's Edge centre. It was a bit disappointing as there were only a couple of stalls, but then again I was thankful in a way as I still parted with an extortionate amount of money for a bottle of natural baby shampoo (without Sodium Laurel Sulphate in.)

Really struggling to keep the house tidy(ish) as things could kick off any moment. Think I might update this blog every day or so now if there's anything to report. Right let's hope this post doesn't disappear or else I'll scream!

Week 38.

2007-03-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

Are we nearly there yet??? :o)

Not much to write about this week. Had the day from HELL yesterday. I had a couple of comments from people that set me off sobbing like a freak :o( Spent nearly all day in tears. My lungs are so squashed up now that I felt like I couldn't breathe when I was crying, so I HAD to force myself to calm down. Jeepers! Woke up this morning with swollen eyes but felt much better. Went to my Mum's house. Listened to Cheesy FM on the way (my ipod!) which improved my mood, as did the lovely Sunday dinner Mum made (wonderful woman!) She gave Romy a little pair of socks she'd bought for her to give to Lumpy. They have "Little Sister" embroidered on them - exceedingly cute :o) I'm so chuffed that my Mum is so excited. Makes me feel all important!

Debs (midwife) came round on Weds for my weekly check. BP was textbook (120/65) Everything else was fine. Colin came home early from work to meet her as he's seen Chris a few times but not Debs.

Nothing much more to say really. Been tidying. I wish I could say it was nesting but it's necessity (anyone who's seen my house will understand!) However, it's never going to be tidy (or even remotely near) so I've got to let it go and mentally tell The Lumpster I'm ready for her to come. She'll have to take us as she finds us, lol. I'm also trying to finish a blanket I'm crocheting for her. It's turned out to be way too big so I'm struggling to finish it on time.

Been getting some weird pains and feeling out of sorts, so - you never know! Feel like an egg on legs now ;o)

Week 37.

2007-03-04T03:54:00.000-08:00

I am sitting here drinking Raspberry Leaf Tea. Bleaurgh!! I wanted to have the tablets instead but am drinking the tea out of financial necessity NOT choice (I hate hot drinks!) Went into the health food shop yesterday and asked for the tablets which turned out to be almost seven quid!! The teabags were £1.50. Not that I think I even need them with the amount of Braxton Hicks contractions I have each day (around 40!) My midwife said to give them a try and if they bring on loads more contractions to not bother continuing. After my first cup last night I had about six contractions in a row - eeek! Will see how it goes for a couple of days.

This week we've had great fun with the birth pool. First of all we inflated it to see what size it was. We didn't have the right tap adaptor so couldn't fill it, much to Romy's dismay ;o)

PUSH!!
Plenty of room :o)

On Weds Colin had the day off because Chris (midwife) came round and wanted to go over emergencies with him. She gave us some guidelines on what to do if Lumpy decided to arrive really quickly before they could reach us. I'm not that worried about that because a) Romy's labour was 23 hours! b) Colin teaches first aid for child carers, and c) I feel quite calm about the birth.

Chris used Romy's doll as a substitute Lumpy to show us some positions to slow down labour etc. It was really funny. Romy showed her a birth plan that she had made concerning what part she would like to play during labour. It included such things as:

-Get in the pool with Mummy at first (she means when the water is clean, rofl.)

-Put a cold flannel on Mummy's head, give her drinks and rub her back.

-Make a 'birth' day cake and a blanket for Lumpy with Nana.

-Choose Lumpy's first outfit and help to dress her.

-Hold Lumpy skin-to-skin as soon as possible.

-Give Lumpy her presents.

Sounds lovely, doesn't it? I just hope it all goes as planned in my head! Chris also went over the three main reasons for transferring to hospital and what would happen: baby in distress before being born; baby not responding after birth; me haemmoraging after the birth. Eek - don't want to think about all that!

Anyway, after Chris had gone we went out and pottered around the shops. We bought a new matress for the moses basket and went to the garden centre so that Roo could go on the trampolines. We managed to get a tap adaptor from there too for only 99p so when we got home we decided to give the birth pool a try :o))) We only filled it half full as that took two tanks of hot water. Anyway, it gave us a good feel of what it will be like in there on the day. Roo and I reached for our cossies and got right in! Blissssss :o) It was especially nice for me as my SPD was horrendous after walking around all day. I'm quite house-bound at the moment. Needless to say Romy really didn't think it was a good idea to put it away again, but unfortunately we had to. I must admit it was a lot less hassle than I thought it would be. Colin bailed out the water with a bucket and then we tipped it up and dried it with kitchen roll - simple! The 97p shower curtains from Tesco worked a treat on the carpet too :o)

Lumpy now gets hiccups at least four times a day. Romy was the same. It's really funny to feel it. One thing that isn't funny though is my swollen fingers. Talk about 'Ten fat sausages.' Eeeeew! In the morning I can hardly bend my fingers they are so swollen and HOT. Romy (who always seems to be cold) is enjoing using my hands as warmers, and I'm enjoying using her hands to cool mine down!

Last night would have been a good time for Lumpy to make her appearance as it was a full moon. I read that more women go into labour during full moons than at any other time. Plus it was an eclipse too which would have been special and memorable. Yesterday was also the 16th anniversay of the day Colin and I started 'going out.' I was only 16-years-old!!! That's exactly half my life. Phew!!! Anyway, Lumpy didn't care about any of that. She's staying put till she's ready. Personally I'm thinking Mother's day would be nice. Now where do I put my order in? ;o)

This week I received these photo frames that I got from eBay. I was planning on putting a photo of Roo holding Lumpy in the big one and Lumpy on her own in the little one. when they came I was chuffed to see that the big one has Lumpy AND Roo embroidered in the corner! Weird!

Ooh, more pictures! Here's Roo with all the little pressies she's collected for Lumpy...
She couldn't resist opening them all to see what everything was. She'd forgotten what most of them had inside, rofl. Cue more wrapping paper!

Week 36.

2007-02-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Four weeks to go... Gulp! Here's a photo of my bump at 36 weeks. I'm quite proud of it really even though people keep commenting how massive it is. If the truth be told, most of it is me ;o)

I had a real scare this week: I was just drifting off to sleep on Monday night on my side with my hand on my stomach when I could suddenly feel Lumpy's heart beating. It wasn't a normal heartrate though, it was tachycardic and really strong (hence me being able to feel it from the outside.) I was so scared. It must've only lasted around ten seconds but it felt like an eternity. I rang my midwife in the morning and she said she'd never heard of anything like it before. Neither had the other midwife who came round on Weds. Everything was fine during the check but I can't stop worrying that there is something wrong with Lumpy now :o(((( Her movements can be really jerky too sometimes so my mind is working overtime. Ho hum... I suppose it's normal to go a bit bonkers when you're pregnant...

On a nicer note, Romy and I dyed some terry nappies and muslin squares yesterday. They're supposed to be bright yellow, blue and red but turned out a bit muted. They still look cool though :o) There's also a spare Little Lambs one that we bought as a sample. If we get on with them I think I'll dye them all, so Lumpy can have a funky bum!

When the midwife came round on weds she dropped off the birth pack. Eek, it's full of scary things! There's a crochet hook thing for breaking waters, a catheter tube, a nasal aspirator thing, some mysterious metal instruments in a pack, cord clamps (although they remove them and use threads after a few mins) and five inco sheets. Most of the stuff she said they never use. They just go from one house to another (which is good to know.) I've put it on the landing with my bags of stuff (which I still need to complete!) I was surprised that my BP was fine considering I had just madly vacuumed and tidied before she turned up. I was expecting the other MW at 3.30pm but Chris rang at 9.15am and said she was ill so could she come instead. "Sure" I replied, "What time?" "Oh, I'll be there in half an hour" she said. Aaaaaargghh!!! Anyway, suffice it to say that I was expecting my BP to be sky high, but it was 120/70.

She's coming back on Weds (I'm having weekly appointments now) and she wants Colin to be there to go over what to do in an emergency (if they can't get there in time.) I ordered the birth pool and it should arrive tomorrow afternoon. On Weds after the Midwife has been we're going to sort the dining room out (move the table out, tidy up, move guinea pigs, etc) and try out the pool! Basically Lumpy is free to arrive any time after then :o)))

Week 35.

2007-02-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

This week has been rather eventful Lumpy-wise. On Tuesday night we had a bit of a false alarm thinking she was going to arrive!! We had friends round for the afternoon and just before they left at 4 I started having period-type pains. Anyway, these went on all night until around 10 o'clock and at one time they were happening every three minutes!! Gulp. We thought we might be in for a Valentine's Day baby ;o) I wasn't worried but I would have been disappointed as I'd have had to go into hospital what with only being 34 weeks. Couple this with the fact that I'm having around 50 Braxton Hicks contractions per day (oh and I think I just had a 'show') and we may not be waiting much longer to meet The Lumpster. I didn't bother ordering the birth pool this week. I saw that it had next day delivery so I thought there was no rush. Might just get round to ordering it this week after all! Then again, knowing me I'll still be here at 42 weeks drumming my fingers.

I'm feeling so huge now. I keep trapping my bump in the fridge door, lol. My body just feels like an appendage to my huge belly. Wherever it goes I follow a mile behind ;o) I just read on the internet that my womb is now 1000 times the size it was originally. How can the human body be capable of such things??? Mind you I shouldn't moan. Just look at what this amazing lady went through. She birthed her triplets at home too!!!

You know all that chocolate I ate on last Sunday's Girl's Night In? Well it sort of resulted in a bizarre sugar rush for Lumpy! She just started jumping around and that was it for about three hours. I think she was having a disco in there!! I won't be doing that again in a hurry :o)

Had a lovely night out on Thursday. I took Theresa to the cinema to see Music and Lyrics for her birthday (well she took me as she drives, but I paid, lol.) The film was fantastic. Brilliant bit of escapism with the lovely Hugh Grant thrown in for good measure ;o) In fact I loved it so much I took Colin and Roo last night to see it again as I had some money-off vouchers. I figured it'd be the last time we went for a while... until I saw a woman with a baby of about a month old in there watching the film, rofl. Yesterday Roo, my Mum and I went to the theatre to see a local ballet school's performance. They did songs and dances from Grease, Footloose, We Will Rock You, Starlight Express, etc. It was fab. Probably shouldn't have gone in my pregnant state though as as soon as the teeny tiny kids came on I couldn't stop myself blubbing! Mind you, my Mum was the same so I must just be soft like her ;o) And while we're on the subject of Grease, those of you who know Romy even a tiny bit will have guessed that watching the film last week has sparked off another mini obsession, pmsl. She's had Colin (aka Danny to her Sandy) up and practicing the words and dance moves to "You're the one that I want" all week. Tee hee.

I received a lovely knitted pixie hat in the post this week from a friend. I'm going to put it in my bag ready to put on Lumpy when she's born. I bought Romy a Roo soft toy this week and have wrapped it up to give to her from Lumpy, seeing as though she bought a Lumpy soft toy for her little sis' :o)

When I first found out I was pregnant I was keen to have a blessingway ceremony but sadly it isn't to be. I've never been someone who has loads of friends but somehow over the last few months I have lost a few due to one thing or another. It would be a bit of a pathetic turnout I'm afraid, so there you go. I know my family will be thinking of me and Theresa is really excited.

I was thinking the other day about how different these two pregnancies have been. Ironically this one has been much easier even though I'm 32 now and was only 24 with Roo. My SPD has been much less severe, I had hardly any morning sickness, didn't feel very tired, and I'm sure that by now with Roo I was swollen up like the Mitchellin (sp?) Man. I've had a bit of swelling in my fingers but nothingin my feet...yet! Last time they were like water balloons and used to 'splat' as I walked. Eeeww! Oh and I had reeeeeally bad heartburn with Roo too. How strange.

Week 34.

2007-02-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Before I begin Romy wants me to write that she updated her guinea pig blog. So there you go ;o)
Have loads to write this week and I can't believe I've left it so late. Roo and I are supposed to be having our weekly Girl's Night In with Grease DVD (borrowed from my sis) and many chocolate-covered things... yum! Will try to be quick.

My Midwife Chris came round on Friday and casually informed me that I was their next expected birth - Eeeek!! She said that when Debs comes round in two weeks time she will bring the birth pack -Double Eeek!!! We went over some of the traumas of Romy's birth which was quite therapeutic really. I feel so confident that this time things will be vastly different. I am thinking of writing Roo's birth story on here so that I can compare the experience with Lumpy's. Chris gave me some ideas for positive things I can do to prepare for the birth, like buying a stash of snacks (last time I wasn't allowed to drink or eat for the whole 23 hours of labour!!!) She also said that it might be a good idea for Romy (with the help of my Mum) to make a 'birth' day cake whilst I'm labouring, as well as coming in and out of the room to check on my progress :o)

I found this fantastic (but disturbing) article linked to on a home-birth forum the other day. It's a spoof hospital consent form for those who believe home births to be dangerous.

We're going to order the birth pool this week. I'm really excited! Chris said to have a 'wet run' (lol) with it when it arrives, so it'll be swimming costumes all round then! Hopefully I'll have a photo of Roo in it for next week ;o) Colin's Dad offered to pay for our nappies so we ordered the birth to potty pack from Little Lamb. They came the next day and Romy and I mooned over them for ages!! I know it's daft but I'm so excited. I chose these ones because they are incredibly cheap (about Â£3 per nappy!) and they do a 30 day money back guarantee. That's from when you start using them, not from when they're bought. Can't lose really, can you?

We went to my Mum's today and she and Roo disappeared upstairs for a while. When they came down they'd embroidered a bib for Lumpy saying "I'm the little sister." Soooo sweet! My Mum's friend had given Roo a gorgeous skating dress so we were treated to a show on roller boots in my mum's living room, rofl. On the subject of Romy; she got two badges at Brownies on Tuesday. One was a disability awareness badge that the whole group had been working on and the other was a collector's badge that Roo worked all day on about her button collection. She made me laugh about the disability one; she said that Brown Owl had asked who knew anyone with a disability and Romy didn't put her hand up apparently. This is despite us knowing quite a few people who have disabilities. Bless her, it just hadn't occurred to her that they were disabled :o) I was also very proud as Romy was the only Brownie who knew the sign language alphabet. Poor home educated child ;o)))

Oh and exciting news... my friend Theresa has sold her flat and bought the house almost exactly opposite ours!!! Cool.

Only six weeks to go now. I can't think how the Lumpster can get any bigger though. Feel like I may explode any minute!!!

Week 33.

2007-02-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to blog today. Roo and Colin are making bread so I'll do it now. Not that I've much to write this week really. I seem to have spent most of the week in tears :o( These bloody pregnancy hormoses are awful. The slightest thing seems to set me off. I had a bit of a nasty email on Tuesday and that was me off for the rest of the afternoon and evening. My friend Theresa was fabulous, as was my Mum and Colin (and Roo.)

Everything has been getting on top of me really; the state of the house, Tilly (the Dog From Hell) and the pain in my hips/back/etc making it almost impossible for me to walk/get dressed/etc. I know, moan moan moan!

On Wednesday Colin took the day off and took Romy ice-skating. She's only been once before, about three years ago so I was expecting a 'Bambi On Ice' performance. I couldn't have been more wrong (or shocked) when she whizzed off like she'd been skating for months! I was gob-smacked and so impressed :o) We're going to have a look into how much the lessons are there as Romy is nearing the end of her swimming lessons now.

I'm still confused as to which way round Lumpy is laying. My midwife is coming round on Friday so I'll have a chat to her about it then. My Mum bought me a blood pressure monitor last week. They have new ones in at Lloyds chemist for £10 so they're selling the old ones off for £4!!! I've been testing it every other day, lol. Mind you it's nice to know it's normal in-between appointments.

Better go. I'm supposed to be making soup to go with the bread!

Week 32.

2007-01-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

8 weeks to go!

Just some snippets of bits and bobs this week as I don't have much time to type it all out.

Couldn't resist this little hat for Lumpy in Tesco's this week:

Romy was playing with her doll's house dolls and I just had to ask her if she could photograph this little scene for me... the Mummy in a birth pool (vegan ice-cream tub) with the son and a new baby. Daddy, daughter, older baby and pets look on. Bless!!
People have been driving me mad recently touching my bump! Ok, I admit it I do bear more than a passing resemblence to a Buddha, but that's no reason for complete strangers to start rubbing my belly!!! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind it when it's people I know. My friend Theresa for example seems to have a bit of a fetish for my belly, lol. Yesterday though a woman I hardly know in the health food shop started rubbing my belly and in the library an old woman asked me how much longer I had left. When I said "eight weeks" she reached out and rubbed my stomach and said "Ooh, looks like it's going to be a reeeeally big one then." Aaaaarrgghhh!!!!! Of course I just smiled and nodded when in fact I felt like ripping her sodding head off ;o) I'm so hormonal at the moment. I guess she didn't realise she was toying with her life, rofl.

Rant over... Lumpy has had hiccups twice this week. Romy had them all the time in the last few weeks and I was just beginning to wonder why Lumpy wasn't!

Ok, another rant coming. Well, not a rant but a worry really. I'm sure Lumpy is breech at the moment :o( I've been doing everything I can this week to turn her including pratting about on all fours (v uncomfy on my knees) and sitting on the ball as often as poss. I've even tried talking to her and asking nicely ;o) Not sure if it's had any effect whatsoever as I now can't tell where she is. She must be doing star jumps as I can feel 'kicking' at the top and the bottom at the same time! She still has a few weeks before I get really worried though. Get moving Lumpy!

Tilly has been on holiday at my Mum's house for a week which has been bliss! It certainly gave Romy and I a break with some peace and quiet for a change. Thanks Mum :o) Back to the normal mad house now though!

Romy wanted to start packing the stuff we'll need for labour this week, so that's what we've been doing. I decided in the end to pack two bags. One for the home birth and one with extra bits in just in case I have to go into hossy. I figured if I do it now I can shove it somewhere and forget about it so that it doesn't affect me subconsciously. In Tesco's this week we saw shower curtains for 95p so we bought three to use as water (and gunk) proof sheeting for the birth. God knows what the cashier thought we were doing buying three shower curtains, rofl.

On Tuesday I took Romy to Brownies and when I got home Colin had run me a bath and lit lots of tealight candles around the edges. It was lovely :o))) Romy has been such a help too. If I drop something I don't even have to ask, she just rushes to pick it up for me. She also volunteers to tidy up and even did the dishes the other day. Bless her. She's been singing and talking to Lumpy too. She keeps telling her how much she loves her :o)

Week 31.

2007-01-21T04:12:00.000-08:00

Well here's my bump picture that I couldn't put up last week:

I'm very proud of it but I'll leave you ladies who have never given birth a little while to compose yourselves, rofl.

There. Better now?

This week I have mostly been being in pain and very exceptionordinarily tiredish (As Clarice Bean would say!) We've been reading the latest Clarice Bean book and I must admit to thinking they are the best children's books ever written and Lauren Child is a genius.

We had a great time last Sunday taking Tilly for a walk on the beach at Cleethorpes, but boy did I pay for it! It was bliss to get back in the car but then I completely set :o( I know I need to keep going but it's hard.

My midwife was here on Weds. I was measuring 30 weeks this time which is a relief ;o) My BP was up a bit but that was probably due to Tilly driving me nuts and embarrassing me in front of the midwife (long story - she's insane!) Anyway, she told me what I'd be needing for the birth (including tea and coffee - we never have these) so we'd better get our fingers out and start getting sorted! Only nine weeks left :-O

A while ago I joined the Boots Parenting Club and a load of vouchers came the other day. I was amazed by what freebies you get! We went in yesterday and got about £45 worth of stuff for £3.75!! That included a free changing bag worth £24.99 and a free Boots No.7 item worth £16. Oh and a free single use camera for Roo to take pics of her new baby sis :o)

Took Willow back to the vets yesterday. He now has a huge sore about the size of a £5 coin on his back end (which on a guinea pig is enormous.) It just appeared overnight and then was twice the size the next day. Anyway, he had his second injection for mites and we were given an antiseptic wash thing for the sore. It's revolting, but it has to be done, lol. The amazing news is that we haven't witnessed a single seizure since he had the first injection last week, so it must have been the mites... weird!

We've had a busy couple of days; on Friday we went to see Shakespeare For Kids version of A Midsummer Night's Dream which Romy enjoyed immensely. T'was v v funny. Lumpy seemed to enjoy it too as she was jumping around during the performance!

Romy started a new street dance class yesterday which she loved. It's the sort of dancing they do on High School Musical which she has a little thing about at the moment. I've hardly had chance to sit down since Friday morning with one thing and another but it's been nice really. Takes your mind off things. Will probably have a quieter week this week though.

Week 30.

2007-01-14T03:11:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo! Week 30 :o)

Last Sunday we went over to Hull to visit their Mothercare shop with my Mum. I got myself a nightie for giving birth in and some pyjamas for after the birth. We then went across to Babies R Us and my Mum VERY kindly bought us our pushchair!!!! Here it is. Funky eh?

I was soooo grateful to her as we'd never have been able to afford it. It's absolutely lovely and you can take the seat off really easily to face towards you. When we got home Romy found her biggest teddy and had a good old play with it ;o) The handle height changes too to suit Romy right up to 6ft Colin.

I just have to include this letter I found on someone else's blog this week. I know it has more to do with home ed than pregnancy but I'll put it here. This is a real letter from a teacher to a parent. It's no wonder the Mum took her boy out of school and is now home edding!
Talking of home ed, how glad have I been this week that I don't have to get up and drag Roo of to school in this weather!! I've been laying in bed listening to the wind and the rain and thanking God I'm a bit odd :o)

I've updated Romy's Home Ed blog with details of her graduation yesterday.

We took Willow to the vet's yesterday as he keeps having these seizures. I could've killed the sodding vet too. I'd told Roo that the re was nothing wrong with him but we were just getting him checked out and the the bloody vet started going on about putting him to sleep IF he starts to lose weight and get ill. I was like 'Duh' there's nothing wrong with the poor lad and of course if he got ill we would do just that. Romy was mortified thinking that we'd have to have him put to sleep and couldn't help crying so I took her out of the room and had to sit and explain to her that he was fine and she was just saying that because she didn't have a clue what was wrong with him. I think it was an important lesson for her to know that sometimes doctors and vets talk out of their bottoms! They don't want to appear ignorant so they have to say something. Willow also has hay mites (which I had researched and found out could be causing the fits as he goes into one when he scratches himself.) Colin said she gave him an injection for them and he had a fit when she did it, so she started looking up whether mites could cause fits (OMG - I just SAID that!) Just goes to show *sigh*

The other day Romy asked me if she could draw something on my baby belly after watching Lumpy jump around. I've been agonising over whether to put this picture on but in the spirit of The Shape of a Mother I'm going to go for it :o) I'm proud of my natural tattoos (stretch marks, lol.) Here's Romy (Roo) and Baby (Lumpy.)

Oh bugger, it won't let me put any more pics on :o( I'll have to put it on next week.

We're off to Cleethorpes now so that Tilly and Roo can have a run on the beach (mud flats!!)

Week 29.

2007-01-07T04:36:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely New Year's Eve over at my bro's house. SIL Emma made such an effort for us difficult vegans ;o)

This week I've been finding it increasingly difficult to walk due to the SPD. We went to Taekwondo on Tuesday evening and after sitting in the metal chair there for 2 1/2 hours I had completely set. I honestly couldn't walk and was in agony. I couldn't help a few tears springing to my eyes as someone said to me "You look as tired as I feel" when they had just done an hour kick boxing. If only! Lol. Never mind. I can't moan as I am always humbled when I remember how lucky I am to be pregnant in the first place. Eleven more weeks of pain seems a small price to pay I suppose. Still, it would be nice to be one of those jammy women who sail through pregnancy without a hitch. I have decided I'm not going to to Taekwondo any more. Colin will take Roo to her lesson, bring her back and then go back for his own. Of course I'll attend her Brown-Belt graduation on Saturday.

I found this illustration of 29 weeks of pregnancy. I can't believe Lumpy weighs 3lbs already!

My belly certaily doesn't look like that though. I wish!!!

Am really starting to worry about the money situation and having to buy the stuff we still need. I just don't know how we can afford the cloth nappies we need and the birth pool. There are lots more small things we need too but they're the two biggies. I think we need to do a really big eBay listing. The house is a state too and needs decorating and sorting but it seems an insurmountable task at the moment :o( *Realises am moaning yet again*

Week 28.

2006-12-31T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... What an odd Christmas! Where to begin?

On Xmas Eve Romy woke up with a cold and Xmas morning I did the same! Great timing eh? Basically this week has passed in a blur of snotty tissues, coughing and us both being laid up on the settee watching rubbish on tv :o( We're feeling much better now although we're still a bit coughy and bunged up.

Christmas was lovely despite feeling poorly. We went over to stay at my Mum's on Xmas Eve. Romy wanted to go to bed early but of course couldn't sleep! She dropped off briefly but then woke up at 11 and wanted to come downstairs to open her presents. "Er, it's not even tomorrow yet" lol. Anyway, I'm going to put a few pics on the Home Ed blog. Suffice it to say Romy was VERY pleased with her presents. In particular a lovely dolls house from Colin's Dad and a Stephanie from Lazy Town dress made by my Mum. The few bits Colin and I bought her paled into insignificance in comparison, lol. She had lots of lovely books too, so we have loads of reading to do. Yippee! :o)

Lumpy got a couple of pressies too. A boots voucher from Colin's sister and some socks and a horse rattle from my firend Theresa. She must've known it was Christmas because I've never felt her wriggle, jump and kick as much as she did on Xmas Eve and Day!! I think she was trying to get out to join in the fun, rofl.

To add to the general malaise of the festive season Tilly had another fit and guess what? Willow the big guinea pig had one too!!!!! We didn't know what on earth was happening to him and thought he was in the throes of death :o( Roo was panicking and I held him thinking he was going to die in my hands. It happened after Mac attacked him and we've noticed him having others since. All he has to do is turn round to scratch his back or have a bit of hay touch his back and he has another seizure :o( It's not so worrying now we know what it is though. We just leave him to it like we do with Tilly.

Yesterday we braved Meadowhall shopping centre as some vouchers we'd got for Xmas were burning holes in our pockets (after spending a week on the settee!) I thought it'd be heaving but it wasn't bad. Roo had been saving up 1p's 2p's and 5p's since we found out I was pregnant and wanted to buy a Winnie the Pooh "Lumpy" for her namesake. She took the money down to Asda and poured it into the Coinstar machine and had £6 exactly. We didn't hold out much hope of getting a reasonable sized Lumpy without having to put lots more money to, but we were wrong! As Roo and I were looking longinly at a nice big Lumpy for £12 Colin brought us one exactly the same size but with a Santa hat and scarf on down to half price!!! We snapped it up and all we had to do was snip off a couple of tacked on stitches at home to get them off. Here's a pic Roo took earlier of her present to her baby sister. She's hoping it will become her 'special teddy'. I hope so too :o)))

While we're doing pics I thought I'd put these up. First the gorgeous crocheted booties I bought a few weeks ago:
And a pack of three frilly knickers that I just couldn't resist ;o) They look like they would fit Roo at the moment even though they're 0-3 months, but I suppose they'll have to fit over those cloth nappies! There are light pink and cream ones behind the dark pink.
Tonight we're all going to my brother's in Leicester for a New Year's Eve party. I won't be able to eat much. A few bites and I feel like I've had a five-course meal at the moment! Looking at the fetal development thing from last week I can see why.

Only 12 weeks to go till we meet our little hatchling!! I'm in the last trimester now and don't I know it! We were only at Meadowhall for 2 hours yesterday and we also sat down for something to eat, but by the end of it I felt in so much agony I could hardly walk to the car. I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions every five minutes and my back and pelvis were killing me. *Moan, moan*