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
First adventures with Hama Beads
I must have seen Hama Beads mentioned on loads of parenting and craft blogs in the last year or so, but somehow I still hadn't quite worked out what they were - that may well tell you something about how poor my speed reading skills are! I had always assumed that they were something for slightly older children than Little Miss C, but then Merry from Craft Merrily told me about Maxi Hama Beads that are designed for children ages three and up and I realised that it was time to take a closer look. LMC has recently spent hours playing with a box of buttons, arranging them into colours ... 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
Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever
I'm very quickly learning that with a newborn and a toddler in the house having a pile of books available so that all three of us can cuddle up on the sofa together at feeding time is a good thing. It's lucky therefore that Little Miss C and I have a backlog of books to review together at the moment. We've read quite a few Richard Scarry books together, but as soon as I saw a description of Richard Scarry's Best Counting Book Ever I knew that we just had to review it. Little Miss C is really into numbers at the moment and is getting quite good at counting things and we try to encourage ... 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
Little Peter Rabbit
Yep, here I am STILL waiting! All I can say is that this baby must be pretty damn comfortable in there. All this sitting around waiting for things to happen is pretty damn frustrating, but there is one small advantage. I have at least managed to finish one of the sewing projects that I started for Baby C. Before Little Miss C came along I had both a knitting and a cross stitch project on the go for her. OK, so neither were finished before she actually arrived (mainly due to carpel tunnel during the last month of that pregnancy) but eventually I did manage to complete both her blanket ... read more
New books
With baby's arrival a bit delay I've already managed to keep my promise to myself that I made last week and squeezed in a quick trip to the local bookshop and picked up a bit of reading material which is now helping me through the early morning pregnancy insomnia: The Little Village School by Gervase Phinn and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. I've read plenty of Gervase Phinn before, but this is the first of his novels that I've tried. When it comes to Jeanette Winterson I have of course heard of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit but ... 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