Friday 23 November 2012

Snugglers for the baby

As well as Christmas making there has been baby making - that is making things for the baby :) 

I used the snuggler pattern found here. They came up really easily and then I embroidered motifs I found in one of my expanding collection of craft books - Scandinavian Needlecraft . I love this book especially for inspiration at this time of year.


I also whipped up a ric rac trimmed blanket using a polka dot tablecloth I found in a charity shop. Oh and the toiletry bags aren't for the baby but just fit into collage I was making on picmonkey :)

Grey Lace Bag


This project combines two of my favourite things - lace and the colour grey as also demonstrated by the scarf I made recently found here.  I had the grey fabric in my stash - it's been one of my goals this year to use up from the stash first and so far I've done pretty well. The lace is from a net curtain I found in a charity shop and then chopped up. I love the effect and hope to make one for myself as this one is for a gift.

Christmas making - car caddies, doll sleeping bags and i-spy bags


Well with the up n' coming arrival of baby McNee the third, we've had to get a bit more organised for Christmas than normal.
The sewing machine has been pretty busy and I've enjoyed browsing the web for some gift ideas.

So far I've made 3 car caddies - tutorial found here on Homemade by Jill

Two doll sleeping bags. Tutorial found here on  Technology and Tuftus

and three i-spy bags found also on Homemade by Jill



Saturday 17 November 2012

By small and simple things..

Today was full of small things I'm grateful for -

Finding Nathan in the boys bed, as he'd slept there to give us more space because they'd come into our bed.
Hugs.
Warm duvet covers.
Having a lie in til 9:30
Nathan taking Joseph to football
Joseph coming up with a good idea about when it would be a good time to have a packet of crisps (ie not for breakfast but after he'd been a good boy at football)
Nathan sanding away the black marks from the worktop (talk about dust)
Finding a new mat for the utility room for 99p, some coral beads and a piece of lace fabric for a bag for Amy.
Following my instinct and  not buying sealant in Wilkos for £7.99 but finding the same stuff in YTC for £1.99 - oh yes :)
Traditional saturday bacon butties for lunch
Nathan resealing around the belfast sink - he really didn't want to but did and it looks so much better.
Joseph helping me dust throughout the house. He used a sock over his hand with polish on it and was really good at getting in the low nooks and crannies - he even said it was fun :)
Ben seeing that Joseph was rewarded for helping mummy - deciding that he wanted to help to and set about picking up bits from the floor and he did some dusting too.
Joseph wanting me to help him with his lego.
Nathan reoiling the worktop.
Nathan on a mission to find the missing lego pieces (this is currently what he's doing now @ 21:54)
Joseph totally engaged and focused on designing his own lego masterpieces.
Ben playing cars sprawled out on the floor.
Joseph saying ' oh she looks pretty' for every single lady on Strictly Come Dancing including Lisa Riley.
Lisa Riley doing the splits on Strictly - in the words of Craig Revel- Holwood 'A- Ma-Zing'
Ben playing in the bath ' Oh mummy look bubbles.... they're so cute... I pop them'
Feeling the baby move.
The boys getting excited about the new baby.
Ben in general saying 'oh so cute'
Reading the scriptures with the boys and Joseph Paying close attention.
Reading 'Guess how much I love you'
Finding them asleep snuggled up.

A day full of small and simple things which made it a good one.

A rambling reflective post

I think it would be fair to say I've been a tad grouchy recently, perhaps more than a tad and more than grouchy. Hormonal is the word I like to hide behind. Quite often between the hours or 2 and 3 in the afternoon I get emotional and feel like I can't cope this often is the time that Nathan rings home to see how I'm doing. It's kind of embarrassing when every time he asks 'how are you?' the honest truth would be - 'I'm feeling emotional'. I've been very impatient with the children - the sound of tipping (lego, cars, playmobil) makes my skin crawl, the cushions being thrown of the sofa, the throws being messed with, packets and wrappers and orange peel not being put in the bin, cereal on the front room floor, shoes left in the middle of the kitchen floor - all make me mad. I've started to wonder if this is actually because I'm tired and pregnant or if this is just me. We had a great lesson in RS on Sunday about being kind - it struck home. I want to be kind. Kindness touches my heart. When I see a kind act to someone in need or receive kindness myself it moves me. Kindness is of God and comes from the spirit of Christ. I want to be more kind especially to my children and Nathan. So I'm going to try harder to work through those moments of grouchiness and try to be more positive and kind. You know how in Harry Potter the death eaters appear and suck all the happiness out of their victim and the way to get rid of them is for the victim to create their own Patronus. Well that's what I need to do - create more light, be more patient, more kind, focus on the positive and less on the negative. 


Saturday 10 November 2012

From the mouth of babes

Sometimes Ben says things which I know he's picked up from being around me.
When I hear him say 'Ah, that's kind' or 'Excuse me please' I give myself a pat on the back.
On the other hand when he does something he's annoyed about and exclaims' Oh my gosh' I tend to inwardly cringe and have actually burst into tears, nominating oneself for worst mother of the year. (I suppose it's one way to pick up on bad habits I've developed.)


The boys are notoriously bad at waking up on the middle of the night and coming into our bed. Joseph will not come up alone and leave Ben behind, Ben will leave Joseph - sometimes we get the two of them and a box of duplo brought up for good measure (why ????) We as parents are notoriously bad for letting them get away with this bad habit. As the bump is growing the four in a bed situation gradually gets more cramped and more often than not leave the three of them and go into the bottom bunk. When the boys wake up they then come and find me there leaving Nathan in the double all by himself. 
Currently most early morning conversations with Joseph revolve around the subject of Christmas 'Is it Christmas tomorrow?' 'Is it nearly Christmas' 'When is it nearly Christmas?' This morning when he found me in his bed. He went through an explantion behind his bed swapping behaviour.
'When I went to bed it was not comfortable so I came in your bed and it was so comfortable.... then it became uncomfortable and I came in my bed (where I was) and it was soooooooo comfortable....is it nearly Christmas?'

On Saturday morning, Joseph has started to go to a football club at Barlby. He seems to really enjoy it and the coaches do a great job - patience of saints let me tell you :)
I asked Joseph before he went what he should remember about how to behave at football club. His responses -

Don't pull my pants down
Don't put my hands down my pants
Listen to the coaches
Do what they say.

I think that pretty much covers it. The pant pulling down incident happened on the week I took him - of course :)

Monday 5 November 2012

Escape to the country

This weekend, Nathan and I escaped to the country (well from one part to another) for a weekend away.
This was something we had planned to do for our tenth wedding anniversary back in July but a weekend in the Lakes is great at anytime of year.




 To be honest I can't think that it could have looked anymore beautiful than it did. There is just something about being immersed in God's creations that just rejuvenates my spirit like nothing else. As we drove around from Ambleside past Rydal water and Grasmere then back tracked to  Hawkshead,  then to coniston  and finally to Tarn hows the colours of the autumnal trees against the blue of the sky and the white of the snow topped peaks, lyrics to hymns filled my mind.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue skyWhenever I feel the rain on my faceOr the wind as it rushes by

Whenever I touch a velvet roseOr walk by a lilac treeI’m glad that I live in this beautiful worldHeavenly Father created for me

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
and hear the brook, and feel he gentle breeze

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
We walked around Ambleside town, then drove to Coniston for a hot chocolate and cake. Then at Tarn Hows, we ummed and arred about whether it was beyond me to take a walk around the tarn. The opportunity to take photos of the stunning scenery won me over and we went for it. 



For half way round I was fine, the second half I huffed, puffed, strained and plodded very, very slowly as the baby had moved into a resting position on a nerve - not comfortable at all!

Anyway I made it - big pat on the back to me :) and the photos were certainly worth it.

In the evening we watched the new Bond and then had chinese food. A lovely day with my most favourite person to spend a day with.



On Sunday we decided to go to Chorley instead of Kendal which was the closest ward to us. It seemed like it was really where we were meant to be as not only did we get to see Grandma but Lucy was there too - also visiting Chorley on her very last Sunday before she and her family move to Vancouver . A real blessing to see one of my oldest friends totally unexpectedly.

On our way home though ready to pick up our boys, we stopped in to see Grandma Hillary. It was nice to sit and chat without interruption and hear some stories from when she was a girl.

A really wonderful weekend - exactly what we needed time for us to be... well just us.




Two cheeky boys..

...ready for conference :)


Halloween


We took our two mini vikings trick or treating around the village with Superman and a skeleton.
Their pumpkins were filled and they were very happy boys.
At the first house we knocked on, when the door opened, Ben actually walked into their house at another he pulled out a packet of sweets from the offered tub, looked at them and said 'no, not that one'  and got something else instead. When he was lagging a little behind he called out 'wait for me guys'
 Very cute.