A first birthday, Easter, Sharing a room and other big adventures

Oh dear, it's almost been a month since I last blogged. We've been rather busy and exciting grown-up things have been happening with my little ones.

Of course the big event was Logan's first birthday. My little monkey had a little party with a couple of friends over the day before and a nice family day of presents and cake and cuddles and playtime on the big day itself. He is getting much better at opening presents now he's had some practise and ripped the wrapping paper off happily. His favourite presents by far were his cars - my little boy is a definite fan of cars! The Brio train set will be a lasting present though and Lyra enjoys playing with it too. The cake went down very well and I was quite happy with how it turned out. I will have to find other excuses for making & decorating cakes after David's birthday on Saturday has passed... Really hoping I get a chance to decorate his cake on friday!

Last weekend was Easter, which is always a big family thing with us. In a change to our usual tradition we went to spend the saturday and sunday at my parents' house with my sisters and Genni's boyfriend Simon. It was a lovely relaxed affair with lots of yummy food and chocolate, an Easter Egg hunt and even a board game on Saturday evening! Lyra and Logan adore my family so it was great fun and I even had a little time to rest myself :0) I really miss my sisters now they have both moved away and am very glad we are so close that we all make an effort to keep in close touch.

I took the weekend off from my diet but have been back to it for the past couple of days so hoping damage limitation will mean my hard work isn't all undone!!! I have now lost over 2 stone and weigh the same as I did at 17/18. I aim to lose another stone by the summer so fingers crossed I can keep up the motivation.....

Another couple of very recent steps forward involve bedtime - Logan spent last night sharing Lyra's bedroom for the first time and Lyra finally agreed to say goodbye to her dummy over the past few days! Sleep wise it went fine, Logan woke twice but Lyra slept through it and he settled back down again. In fact it was the first night in a while that he hasn't come into our bed until morning (6am!). A bit of a nuisance for me to go in there when he wakes as it's more effort but it does mean I have to get up and of course I will continue to be the only one that gets up in the night for him... but then it does mean I wake up so I don't wake in the morning to find he's appeared in bed with us and I have sleep amnesia! Lyra has relinquished her dummy in exchange for a Princess Giselle (Disney's Enchanted) wedding dress in her size. She was shown the dress and given the choice - dummy or dress - & chose the dress as she has lusted after it for weeks and weeks. To be honest she's not had her dummy for a few nights recently so was more receptive but I'm thrilled as I HATE dummies. She only had it from age 2 because we had a couple of "just in case" dummies we were getting ready for Logan's birth and David said she could "look after them for the baby". Yeah right, big mistake; she's been addicted ever since!! Never mind, it's gone now & I'm very happy.

I'm now officially on sick leave from work due to my continuing pelvic problems. These are being investigated further this month so I may even get a proper diagnosis & prognosis so I can make some work-type decisions. I've made 2 pieces for my Etsy shop and will put pictures of another on there to demonstrate a customisable project.... will be useful for Christmas money!

David is making an aluminium E111 blaster piece by piece and is continually upgrading his stormtrooper armour. He's 33 this weekend and I've hardly bought him any presents as he's been a bit awkward about letting me know what he wants until this week. i'm trying to make him something too but that's not progressing well because he's always there when I get a chance to crochet!

OK, I think I will do separate photo update posts because they are always a faff with text. I think I'm going to have to set up my own website soon and possibly have a little shop on there too...... save Etsy fees!

special delivery.....

David has bought himself a present... can you guess what it is from this picture of Lyra trying out the contents of the package that arrived yesterday....

Yes he finally decided that now is the time to invest in a full set of stormtrooper armour.. obviously!!! Unfortunately there is a little work to be done on the ensemble before I can reveal him in all his glory, ready to annihilate any rebel forces that may happen our way. He still needs his blaster and boots before he's fully ready, but he is so excited by the prospect of actually being able to take part in the comic book event (where several stormtroopers will be making special guest appearances) on 19th September in Taunton that it makes up for any expense - well the amount he's spent anyway....

Logan is more interested in bouncing around in circles, rolling onto his tummy and chewing things...

& has been rather distracted by being a bit sick today - well very sick really any time he wriggles it seems to make him sick poor lamb. He's got a bit of a chesty cough so I think that's upset his tummy a little.

What with Logan's sickness and Lyra's tantrums today has been rather trying, with about 1hr 45mins worth of screaming tantrums from Lyra this afternoon while Logan wailed because his dinner wasn't quick enough because I was trying to prepare everyone else's food too while being distracted by Lyra's howls. I was impressed with myself for keeping calm... We have managed to make time for playing with toys and having afternoon tea from a real fine bone china tea set that I bought the other day for just £5 from a charity shop - bargain as it has 6 cups & saucers, sugar bowl & coffee pot with lid & is a nice Royal Standard set. No matching milk jug sadly, only real negative as I really want a coordinating set. & for that price it's not a worry bringing it out for afternoon tea with a 2 1/2 year old, even if I do ask her to be careful. One cup already hs it's handle broken off so I think we'll just have to make sure we always have it on a table rather than on the picnic blanket as yesterday's breakage has shown! I think it's a lovely tradition to start that she'll always remember.

In the same charity shop I also managed to find a wooden elephant that holds a certain significance for me - it is slightly bigger than but identical to one that I already have - inherited from my grandma who passed away 3 1/2 years ago aged 90. She received it and its 4 fellows in graduating sizes (each grandchild has one, I am the middle grandchild so I have the middle sized elephant) as a gift from my grandfather when he was away in India, carved in a little Indian village.... & I have managed to find an identical one in slightly different wood so perhaps from a different tree. OK the tusks are missing (as are those of the one I already have) and it is slightly damaged from time and poor repairwork on a chip but I'm so happy to have it.How lovely, really - & how meant-to-be....