... whilst having to wait for the Doctor's appintment that is running 40 minutes late. Hand over your camera and ask them to take photographs of the things they like. The result is some slightly blurred pictures and ten minutes peace and quiet at the time. Little Miss C was so pleased with herself that I thought I ought to share some of the best pictures. Some friends from In The Night Garden. Mummy waiting patiently. And a rare in focus one - LMC's friend and constant companion. What pictures has your little one taken? ... read more
Three hours
I'm sure I can't be the only person who gets to the end of the day and wonders what I've actually acheived that day. When you're at home with little ones it can be quite easy to just concentrate on "surviving" and it can be easy to lose track of what has kept you busy all day. Realistically though, stay at home parents usually acheive loads, but they simply don't have the time to step back and take stock of just what they have done. This morning Mr C went out to a first aid course so I thought I'd keep track of just what I got up to in that time - admitedly, ... read more
Mum’s don’t get sick…
That was the really "helpful" message that Mr C gave me as he waved a copy of the above book at me as soon as I mentioned that I thought I might have a sore throat starting at the weekend. The weekend that came just before he headed off overseas for his first trip away with his new job since Master C arrived. Can you guess where this is going yet? Yes, that's right. Cue three days of me feeling rough - to any men reading imagine man flu following 6 weeks of never having more than three hours sleep in one go and you're getting close - and combine with it a 5 week old who still ... read more
Blowing away the cobwebs
Many thanks for all your kind words following my last post. I've had so many tweets, emails and Facebook comments that I'm struggling to respond to them all in a timely fashion. I'm somewhat blown away by the messages that I have had, especially from old school friends who have fond memories of my Dad when he used to regularly come and cheer on our lacrosse team from the sidelines. Another old school friend also reminded me of the time that he came and "helped" on our Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition (if the Duke's reading, which I'm sure he is, he ... read more
The circle of life
The three weeks since Master C was born have been one of the biggest emotional roller-coasters I have ever been on. I don't normally write about the most personal parts of my life on my blog, but this one is too big to gloss over here. Whilst I was in labour in a hospital in Hertfordshire my father was being rushed into a hospital in Yorkshire after suffering a minor stroke. The elation that I felt for the couple of hours after Master C's birth quickly vanished to be replaced by shock and worry. What I have not written about here before is the fact that my dad was diagnosed with lung ... read more
Flying solo…
Tomorrow's the big day. Mr C returns to work after a fortnight's paternity leave and I'm going to be home alone with a toddler and a newborn. Millions of mums (and dads) manage so I figure I should be able to do so too. After all, only one of them can move around under their own steam whilst the other one stays put still. Master C still sleeps for large amounts of the day and if I'm lucky Little Miss C may even have an afternoon nap to give me a bit of peace. Ok , so I may be a bit more tired after the over-night feeds, but I've got tea and even a bar of Dairy Milk in the ... read more
Introducing…
... Master C. Born in the early hours of Saturday morning and allowed home late on Saturday night. So far he seems to enjoy sleeping, eating, filling his nappy and wearing lots of hand knitted goodies. Little Miss C has gone from being slightly bemused to being incredibly excited about "her baby". As she keeps telling anyone who will listen "he's only little". ... read more
Still waiting
The moses basket has sat in our bedroom waiting for someone to sleep in it for nearly three weeks now. The hospital bags are all packed and one of them's even ready in the boot of the car. The baby car seat is all fastened in on the back seat too and the double buggy is assembled ready. My wonderful knitting group have even had time to knit some extra booties. Both sets of booties from Holly and her magical knitting machine. But, we're still here waiting for member number four of the C family to join us. My impatience is really showing - not helped by the fact that we've ... read more
Taking a step back
This week was supposed to be a nice little "holiday" between Mr C leaving one job and starting a new one. We acknowledged that there were likely to be some little jobs left to finish off in our new loft conversion, but the reality is that we've actually been running round like headless chickens all week trying to make decisions, but things and get everything sorted. Today we've made quite an effort to make the day a bit calmer and fun. A spot of baking - mainly prompted by the need to use up some bananas that were going very brown in the fruit bowl - a pub lunch and a wander ... read more
There!
After posting hopefully last week I'm delighted to say that we're there! The last couple of nights have been spent in our new bedroom, sleeping in our bed, not surrounded by boxes and boxes of stuff. OK so the curtains aren't yet up and there were a few problems like our chest of drawers not actually fitting up the stairs, but the fantastic news is that our new room was ready to move into before Baby C arrived - a miracle. If it's possible things seem to have got even more manic since the builders finished as we're now able to do all the jobs that we'd had ... read more