our holiday in pictures....

Good morning, I hope you've had a good weekend? We came back from holiday on friday so here's a little summary of our week away......

A couple of days before we went Logan decided to start sitting up all by himself for several minutes (until he gets excited or carried away eating his toes!) just over 4 1/2 months, almost exactly the same age Lyra was...
We swam in the cold sea in our wetsuits, at high tide Lyra loved jumping fromthe low wall into the sea...

Lyra spent plenty of time undressing & lining up her teddies....

We spent a lot of the time on the beach... (I made the dress Lyra's wearing here!)

Logan dipped his toes in the sea for the first time... (not too impressed!)

We admired the views...

& built sandcastles perfect for sitting on (& a sand aeroplane!)...

& went to Newquay aquarium...

As there was just a shower in the flat Lyra & Logan bathed on the balcony in the baby bath (notice how close the sea is behind them this was at high tide)

Logan had his first ever ice cream & loved it...

Lyra & I collected lots of sea glass & shells so that we can make a more personal souvenir than we could ever buy....

& this was the view we were greeted by every day from the balcony of the flat we were staying in...

We had a really lovely time, even though Lyra decided to whinge a ridiculous amount. She felt a little poorly & was in a strange place so ended up sleeping in the double bedroom with the rest of us as the first night saw her waking screaming a lot. Such a daddy's girl she made him sleep on the floor next to her half of most nights (pushover? absolutely!)

We spent most of our time on the beach as it was so close we only had to walk down a slope to get there... well you can see from the pictures. There were lots of shells and sea glass which I loved collecting with thoughts of making pretty things from them. We ate fish & chips, Lyra insisted on going to the pub "I need to go to the pub daddy, I want a pint" (hahaha!)

busy busy

Good evening! & it is indeed, nice & cool after a hot day & I'm sat here with a nice glass of wine & two children blissfully sleeping upstairs! We had a really lovely day today. I took Lyra and Logan over to play with Molly, Pippa, Celly, Maya and Dylan at Elaine & Molly's lovely house. The children had a great time running in the garden, playing doctor/ dentist (with a flowerpot ornament as a "light"!), sliding, bouncing on spacehoppers, blowing bubbles and eating peas straight from the pod. I had a lovely time chatting with the lovely mummies too - Lyra is a great conversationalist but regular adult conversation is a must for sanity purposes!! Jo and Pippa and Me, Lyra and Logan stayed for a picnic afterwards. Jo is about 30 weeks pregnant and still cycling! OK just for short distances but still rather impressive!

Yesterday we saw Isa, Tom and Jack for a brief visit with shameless kissing between Lyra and Jack (OK slight mummy encouragement there but the pictures are SO cute!!), Tuesday we spent a lot of time in the park & had a picnic (I got sunburn on my shoulders!) and on Monday we went over to see Stacey, Ollie & baby Thomas so we've been realy busy this week. Tomorrow Daniella will be here ready for holiday cat-sitting....

We're off on holiday in Cornwall on Saturday so I doubt I'll be updating my blog again until we get back, when I hope to write a nice long summary of Logan's first proper holiday! We're going to Portscatho in Cornwall (near Falmouth) and plan to go to The beach, Flambards, the beach.... well we shall see what the weather has in store for us. This week has been gorgeous so I'm really hoping for more of the same, fingers crossed!!

finally have a washing machine...

Our poor new washing machine has done 6 loads of washing today & think there are aout 4 more left to do! thank goodness it's such lovely weather so it can dry without needing to use the dryer!
Potty training day 2 & we're on our 4th pair of knickers & only 1 proper wee in the potty, however Lyra IS wearing knickers & is keen to sit on the potty now so that's a start. She so rebellious that she won't sit & "perform" when i aske her to & ends up holding it until she's bursting!
It's so hot Logan & I just had a shower to cool off as he's been pretty hot & irritable today. teaching myself to crochet granny squares & may make a cool cotton blanket in that style for this sort of weather.....

Logan and mummy time

Lyra went over to spend the day with my mum, dad & sisters today (I had my smear test booked & she would have been upset by that) so for the first time since his birthI have had several hours with just me & my son.... & Oh my goodness he is so good! I gathered some more elderflowers to make more cordial (was out for 1 1/2 hours including doctors), made the cordial, made a small quantity of strawberry jam (just 1 jar!!), cleaned the bathroom, did some laundry,tidied up (a bit, lets not be silly about things like that) & still managed to spend ample time cuddling & kissing him until Lyra arrived home at 2pm. It really goes to show just how much of my time she demands as this would all have been really difficult. I did kind of miss her but I was pretty busy & loved spending time with Logan unmolested!
He's such a smiley happy boy and loves kisses so very much he's a joy to have... He's even been sleeping really well lately, from about 8pm to 3am each night for the past 4 nights - he sleeps for a shorter stretch after that but I'm tempted to try giving him a dream feed at 11pm tonight so he might *possibly* be able to make it through to 6am... with a lot of luck!

On Friday Lyra, Logan & I met with some mummy friends & their children for a walk around Hestercombe gardens, it was so lovely having a chance to catch up with the other mums & Lyra had a fantastic time playing, running around, exploring and eating wild strawberries (which I threaded onto a stalk like a necklace for her. bless, she loved that!). We were first to arrive and last to leave! They have 3 fantastic little wooden play houses in their play area & I think Lyra would Love David to make one... & Logan of course when he's bigger. I carried Logan all the way & even though Lyra walked loads she was pretty tired by the end and I ended up carrying her on my shoulders too, double-decker mummy.....

We had a lovely weekend, it was really hot and sunny both days. on saturday we went for a walk around a local nature reserve & Lyra & david paddled in the streams after Lyra had finished in the park. Yesterday we went for a walk in Piddle Wood near Corfe & had a picnic by the stream. It was quite an undertaking to get down to the stream as it was pretty steep! There were masses & masses of tiny froglets all over the path up the hill from the stream & Lyra loved them, she was also fascinated by the piles of snail shells left near certain stones by industrious thrushes. Logan would have been interested in it all if he'd been awake!! We're hoping to be motivated enough to go for walks most weekends while the weather is nice as we all love it... it's fathers day next Sunday so david's choice... incidentally I still haven't had my mothers day this year as David was not at all organised & then Logan arrived 2 days before. It's actually a pretty sore point with me & I'm going to make sure I get a mothers day or an extra specially grovelling one next year.

My sister Genni came to spend a bit of the day with us today, which we spent at the park & productively picking elderflowers to make into elderflower cordial (currently steeping in the kitchen but already tasting lush - I licked the spoon!) Genni fell through a window at our Godmother's house the other day & seriously cut her arm - a 30cm piece of glass was sticking through it & she had to have 21 stitches. Lyra went a bit funny after seeing the injury & didn't want to talk to Genni for a little while but that passed (& meant Genni could cuddle Logan in peace). She did recover from this very quickly & on the way back from picking the flowers was laughing hysterically at Genni as she pretended to eat some of the flowers we had collected.
Logan has been very chatty,in fact he has been all week - gurgling away cheerfully while being pretty clingy at the same time, weird combination. He's very contented but really likes to be cuddled lots but will be put down, which Lyra never would be.... He does complain but is happy for a while, I'm happy doing a bit of baby wearing most of the time but sometimes Lyra really needs my attention without him but he's pretty good. & so gorgeous, sweet & scrumptious I don't really mind that he wants so many cuddles!!. He does lovely baby kisses at the moment, which basically consist of him turning towards me when I'm kissing his cheek and opening his mouth over my mouth. occasionally trying to gum me & smiling beautifically & cooing sweetly. Such an adorable thing for him to do! He also loves splashing in the bath & really concentrates on splashing with his arms & legs, looking really intense but happy.

It's been glorious weather today so we took the children to the beach for the first time this year (& obviously Logan's first time ever) with my two sisters & my mum. Logan seemed quite content staring around him with his aunts pulling funny faces at him, though he did need to be fed once before we left to go there, twice ont he beach & as son as we got pack to my mum & dad's.. Felt I had my boobs out all day but then it is hot weather!! Lyra loved it, paddled in the water lots (water was very cold!)& was fascinated by the baby flounder I managed to catch in the net. She ate ALL of her blackberry ice cream & really didn't want to leave but after about 1 1/2 hours we thought it would be best to go back to my parents' house for some shade.

At Grandma & Grandads Lyra had a water fight with Grandad in the garden (she had a hose, he had a water pistol) splashed in the paddling pool & ran around naked while Genni chased after her to get her dressed. A lovely time was had by all generally!

I also have had a couple of parcels to open that arrived for me today, one from the book people (I'm addicted!), 1 with 2 bargain nappy wraps that I bought on ebay & one with some aromatherapy oils that i ordered as part of my attempt to help Lyra sleep better. All in all today has been a good one, really looking forward to the summer!