Its nearly here...

The spring that is! Crocuses, snowdrops and even early daffodils are
starting to make their bright and cheery appearance in the cold
February ground. (the photo was taken 3 weeks ago or so and is the
first spring flowers I saw) I do so love the springtime; the young and
fresh green life that will soon be surrounding us, the SUNSHINE-
goodness knows we're in need of it- the chance to get out in the
garden and start off some plants....

We visited our local garden centre today for both a couple of new
plants and as a gentle family day out - fountains, fish, windmills,
garden ornaments &swing seats are good to entertain the little ones
and the plants keep me happy! I only bought a few plants (grape
hyacinth, thyme, sage and English lavender) to keep me going but we
also bought some fat balls for putting out along with the bird table
and feeder we already have to attract more birds to our garden. We
have two friendly robins who are regular visitors already & the
children get very excited when we have avian guests in the garden.

I have managed to get out to do some gardening 3 times so far over the
past week and am most pleased with myself! Compost has been removed
from the composter and spread about; plants have been potted up,
planted out and pruned; the patio has been tidied & swept and the
plantless pots emptied and stacked... I love the way the improving
weather motivates me to this!

In other news; I made Logan a pair of cords last night and am in the
process of crocheting a cardi for Lyra; this productivity and busyness
is so gratifying! I really hope that next week is a positive one; our
washing machine should be fixed tomorrow and I have physiotherapy on
Thursday morning, possibly the last before my return to work... The
tooth that has been plagueing Logan all week is half broken through
and Lyra is back at preschool tomorrow... I already did the majority
of my spring cleaning but expect I Will find more to do, it's
impossible to rest from tidying with two small mess makers!

I hope you have a good week too :o)

small treats, big pleasures

Hello! I thought I would take a few minutes to catch up while Lyra is upstairs playing nicely with her auntie Genni and Logan is chilling out & starting to doze on my lap...
I've taken advantage of Genni's presence and visited town this morning. After an initial drama of Lyra jumping in puddles and soaking her clothes on the one occasion I didn't bring a change for her & trawling charity shops for dry trousers we had a rather successful trip... I bought some "Hot Choc Shot" (that we have been waiting for for months!) and some fab chocolates for just 50p a pack from Whittards, plus coasters to match our favourite mugs also on offer...
In lush I indulged in a "heads, shoulders, knees and toes" box - full of a variety of lovely goodies - and a "comforter" bubble bar that is my absolute favourite. I also found a lovely chenille jumper and two fab t-shirts for Lyra, plastic scooby doo characters (a favourite with
Lyra), a "1" candle for 25p for a certain young man's rapidly approaching birthday and two chunky cars for Logan (probably a birthday pressie) from charity shops so feel quite satisfied with my spends! Lush and whittards are my favourite shops for little treats. The things I've bought will provide weeks and weeks worth of little treats and small indulgent pleasures, just what you need on a rainy February day when you have had little sleep!

As its been a couple of weeks an update is probably in order; Last weekend David was away in Sussex (4 1/2 hours away!) for the SFX weekender; in armour of course. We went to stay with my family for two days and the night in between and all of us really enjoyed ourselves,
though we missed him terribly he missed us more as we three were together... In the 7 years since David and I have lived together that was our longest seperation and it was very odd! On the Sunday our washing machine broke!! We are still awaiting a part & I hope that we should gave it fixed in a couple of days, we've done 3 loads of laundry at the launderette but are still bogged down! Then last week we had a major breakthrough with Lyra and the ongoing saga of crying-at-preschool; she didn't! It was the first time since October (when I had 2 tear-free sessions before half term holidays & they returned in full force afterwards) and inevitably this week is half-term!! It was a good week though as we visited lovely friends, finally met one friend's beautiful new baby and had a visit from lyra's godmother with lyra's birthday present.
Logan's 4th tooth (left incisor) came through on Monday, beating his 2nd (right) front tooth that is still en route. Genni arrived yesterday, we've missed her loads now she lives in London; it's been 2 months!!! Logan celebrated by projectile vomiting all over her, she's so amazing though that she dealt with it very well!! Having lost a whole stone in a month I'm having a few days off of dieting and we are having a Chinese takeaway tonight & if Logan is well enough I will hi to the cinema with David as a belated valentines day. I really hope I don't suffer for it weight wise!! I would LOVE to lose at least 12lb in the next 6 weeks before Easter... I'm giving up bread for lent; You never know I may do it! TTFN x

My 3-year-old....

Yesterday my little princess turned three and I can hardly believe it;
where on earth has that three years gone?! She has grown from a
beautiful, stern eyed baby who was too interested in the world to sleep
to a gorgeous, strong willed, clever little girl who can recognise her
name written down, counts to 16, sings the alphabet song, makes up
games where she is going to work or shopping or being a mummy, says "I
love you" to her family frequently and with feeling, loves to help
cook (especially cakes!) though eating isn't her thing, is as dainty
as a little pixie but rough as a tomboy with her daddy. Lyra is
protective of her baby brother then runs away with his toys because
she wants them, has a wicked laugh and a very earthy sense of humour
(it's all "poo" "boobies" "bottoms" etc!), can use a pc, iPhone and ds
with ease, insists she is a big girl but is heartbroken every time
mummy leaves her at preschool (which she soon recovers from) and wants
"some boobie milk" when she feels poorly or sad. She is bossy,
independent and imperious at home and with family but shy and quiet,
watching but hiding from questions at preschool. She loves peppa pig,
tinkerbell, scooby doo and harry potter. She is obsessed with her
dummy even though she didn't have one until a year ago, when she
obtained the one we had 'just in case' for Logan. She drives me crazy
and melts my heart, she is so precious to me I would do anything for
her and her happiness. She wails and stomps like any child her age but
is open to reason and doesn't ask "why" ALL the time at least. Her
speech and vocabulary are amazing, she is so sharp she picks up on
everything and I worry she will be too clever and find it hard to deal
with.

I love her. That, most of all.

10 months old... My big little man!

the past week or so has involved some major developmental steps for my little boy.Please excuse the quality of the pictures; taken on my iphone!

The stair gate/ room divider had to be put up last Tuesday because he decided to start climbing the stairs... He now climbs the stairs all the way to the top, all by himself every night ont he way to the bathroom.....

Incidentally the stairs are not all he climbs. This morning alone he has climbed onto the footstool to get onto the chair to try to see out of the window (and then fallen off!) and onto Lyra's oy bench in her room to get to toys on the windowsill.

He learned to drink from his doidy cup all by himself (slanted, lidless baby cup) with minimal mess and great enthusiasm....

He has learned to post things out through the cat flap! I found a rattle out there yesterday, this is him trying to post a scarf!

And last, but certainly not least, he slept from 7pm to 5am last night. The first time he has effectively slept through the night! he's a happy, chirpy little man, into everything (including but not limited to eating cat food) and ever so cuddly but definitely mummy's boy! He loves playing with cars, trucks, wheeled alligators, brick trucks - anything he can push along expecially if it makes a noise. It's lovely that he can now play properly

As for everyone else; Lyra is now back at preschool and loving it apart from the initial separation from me where she still cries. Next week is he 3rd birthday and I am arranging a little party for her at home. She is very excited about the whole thing and to be honest so am I! I've ordered some coloured sugar paste from eBay to decorate her birthday cake and can't wait to see her face when she opens her presents!

David isprobably going trooping over the first weekend in February in Sussex!! He really wants to go but it's such a long way that he is still undecided. I think we need to properly look at possible troops more locally becasue he really doesn't want to travel such a long way from us and be away from me for the longest time since we've lived together 6 1/2 years ago!

I'm on a diet and have lost 5lb in just 1 1/2 weeks. I am hungry sooo often as I'm trying to avoid snacking!!! I'm happy though, mostly & keeping pretty busy. It's nice to get back into routine after such a long break and I'm very proud of myself for doing sp well. I do at least 30minutes on my wii fit each evening aswell as dieting so have less time for crochet, only real downside!!!!!

TTFN,I'm being climbed on!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....

It has been very, very wintery and festive over the past week, with more snow than I've seen since I was about 5 years old! of course we had to take advantage of it and build snowmen, go sledging and have snowball fights... David had last Wednesday and Thursday off due to the treacherous conditions so it has felt rather like an extension of the Christmas holidays. Love it!

Logan seemed vaguely confused, a bit interested but mainly not too fussed however Lyra was ridiculosly excited about the whole thing! When the snow first began falling heavily she ran from front to back of the house saying "it's snowing!!!" "It's snowing in the back garden too!" and was very hyper! Of course she has got a bit chilly a few times and we've only spent limited time outside but here are a few pictures at least becasue it is such a rare occurrence to have such generous helpings of snow in this part of the world.......

It was still snowing heavily when we first went out, Logan soon fell asleep all snuggled up in the sling though
Lyra considers sledge to be THE best mode of transport....

David is an angel... in an eiderdown jacket...

I made this snowman almost unaided last Wednesday and he only collapsed last night, I have made another from his remains, how gruesome!! He was about 7 foot tall :o)

Our Christmas in pictures

On Christmas Eve the children snuggled up with Daddy in their new PJs to listen to "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"...



I finished the masses of wrapping we had left to do(!) and piled the presents under the tree... the toy box is underneath the pile!!


Logan woke us at about 5.30 and after playing with him and trying to keep him quiet for over an hour we gave him his stocking (and opened ours) before Lyra came in and joined us at about 7.30 to open hers :)


Everyone got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast (breakfast BEFORE presents of course)


Then the serious business of present opening began in earnest....


Logan wasn't too sure about the opening presents and I think was a little overwhelmed, though he did try to eat the wrapping paper when he did tear a bit off...

OK he does seem rather uninterested in the farm animals I lovingly made for him, however he does play with them (and chews them!) a lot

Lyra, however, was quite a pro at the present opening thing and opened a lot of Logan's too (and ours). This is a little bag I made for her for the kid tough camera that was her main present.

Even Cassie got into the festive spirit and suffered a jingly jangly fluffy festive collar for a little while

And then we generally played, nibbled, cuddled etc etc etc.... as you can see the lounge was rather a state by the time the Opening was complete!

& that was our Christmas day! of course int he run up we had numerous parties, Lyra's first Nativity with preschool, Christmas Eve with my family and so on but that was the day itself, a lovely family time with presents and happy exciteable children. Unfortunately Lyra was poorly and Logan was teething but everyone managed to be in good spirits and we had a lovely day... can't wait until the next one! x

Goodbye 2009... Goodbye to the noughties!

Hello, hello! It's new year's eve night and I can barely believe it, the ups and downs of this year are many and I've certainly fitted a lot in but the year has gone very fast for me... Christmas was lovely, unfortunately the children were both poorly but the presents helped perk Lyra up; I will put up a couple of photo posts to summarise the whole of my busy December but will have to put the pictures on the pc first :o)

So a new decade... At the start of this decade I was in my final year of school so in the midst of a-levels. I went to plymouth uni in September of 2000, meeting the love of my life soon after though it was october 2001 when we started dating as I started the 2nd year of my degree.... In September 2002 we moved in together after a difficult year long-distance, I graduated with a 2:1 honours degree in psychology in 2003 and we moved to Bristol to look for jobs... And in 2004, a couple of months after David proposed (on a gondola in Venice! Who says romance is dead?!) we moved to Taunton... 2005 was the year that we married and bought out first house as soon as we returned from honeymoon. 2006 was one of ends and beginnings; my grandma passed away on mothers day and Lyra was conceived around our anniversary. My pregnancy was difficult and I spend more time throwing up than is fair, the birth was worse though and nearly finished me off.. However Lyra and I both survived her arrival in January 2007 though I found that year very hard I never neglected to notice how beautiful, sweet and clever my little girl was. In 2008 I started a new career when the bank I worked for neglected to have a job for me and made me change contract.. I began work as a healthcare assistant at the local hospital. We decided to try for another baby in the summer and Logan was conceived immediately just like Lyra had been. Logan arrived in march this year and 2009 has been a year of blissful motherhood, despite a few challenges and the anxiety of Lyra starting preschool!!

Every year has brought huge changes to my life and the lives of my little family. I do hope that the next 10 years is a little less testing but I am undeniably happy with my wonderful husband and beautiful children. I am in two minds about returning to work in march, I must admit I wish we could afford for me to stay at home with the children but I do love my job and it carries its own rewards.

As for resolutions? I would like to resolve to be more organised in 2010.. I hope to be able to fit in plenty of crochet and making things for my family and I am so busy that organisation can only help! Perhaps this will be something I can teach myself this year? I want to be more positive and try not to take things so personally too. I do tend to interpret things badly and assume people think the worst of me, which is silly really since it is me who is hard on myself... Finally; I intend to do more exercise and have a generally healthier lifestyle because my pelvis pain has meant that I have done much less than I want to in 2009....

HAPPY NEW YEAR! xxxx