Thieving S#@#@#@s!

Last Thursday we had a day out in Liverpool.  Me and Little L left baby E with her Daddy and headed out with my sister and niece.  The occasion was my niece's birthday this week.  We were having a great time. Over lunch we chatted about how nice Liverpool is now for shopping with Liverpool One and a big variety of shops.  Then later we were in a shop all looking at slightly different things.  Me and Little L were looking at rather expensive dresses for a summer wedding (I want to get the girls matching dresses ....so cute), anyway these were out of my price range really and I was just pointing them out to my niece when I looked down and my handbag had gone.   

I had it over the handle of my pram and it wasn't there, such an awful sickening feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone.  I initially ran over to the previous card shop I had been in and the security guards started looking through the CCTV to check whether I had the bag going into and coming out of the shop.  My sister stayed in the shop we were in and their security guard was looking through the store CCTV.  I ran to the bank to cancel my card, we went to the phone shop to try to track my phone.  By this time we realised I would never see my beloved fossil bag again, my purse, my phone with photos of my girls all gone.  My things that I bought with my hard earned money gone.  Then some 30 minutes into the saga one of the security guards got a message that they had found my bag in the original clothes shop we were in.  I went down to the shop with a security guard fully prepared for an empty bag but no my phone and my purse were still there.  My bag had been hung on a hanger with a babies outfit and stashed in the centre of a rack full of ladies clothes.

I will never be that lucky again.  The thief perhaps panicked with all the security guards etc, or maybe intended to return for it later when things had died down.  But one thing is for sure I was being watched and whoever it was lifted that bag so quickly as my hand hardly ever leaves the pram handle.  I can only think it was when I was reaching up to a rail of dresses.

So a happy ending for me this time.  I have since cleared out my purse (I don't need all my bank account cards and other cards in my purse) and I have bought these from Ebay to secure my changing bag onto the pram handle.  

I see other people with prams who have there changing bag or handbag over the handle like me and whilst I thought I was vigilant it only takes these scumbags people seconds to lift your bag so please be aware.  

Edited:  the above purchase from Ebay proved unsuitable so I bought this, a bargain and perfect for the job.

Six weeks old today

How time flies.  These last six weeks have flown by in a complete blur and our beautiful baby E is now six weeks old.  I miss my sleep, my bed and those eight hours of mainly uninterrupted sleep that I had every night before baby E arrived but took for granted.  Though despite longing for sleep, a routine and some order back into our lives I want to press pause because baby E is growing so fast.

I have made progress on Baby E's new pink cardigan but I still have the sleeves to do.

There are lots of projects in my head but they will have to stay put for now as I have no time for anything other than looking after my two perfect girls.
Bye for now x

Three weeks old today

I can't believe that our beautiful baby girl is three weeks old.  And that only recently we were a family of three and now we are four (well five if I include the dog who is currently holidaying with my parents) it seems that baby E has been here forever and to say we are blissfully happy is an understatement.  Yes we are tired and this little one is spending a fair few hours awake during the night but we are so lucky to have two perfect daughters.  Little L continues to behave well, she seems to have adjusted really well and provided she still gets her meals and bedtimes at the right time she is happy.  We have been venturing out to playgroups, swimming, the seaside, the park etc so Little L is kept busy.

This is baby E in the first cardigan I knit for her whilst I was pregnant.

I managed to knit a quick bobble hat in pink of course.

And I am currently knitting this cardigan but it is slow going in a very thin DK I should have gone for aran.

Bye for now

Our new arrival has finally arrived

So Christmas day came and there were still no real signs of the baby arriving any time soon but things moved along pretty quickly during Christmas Day night.  And over a week late we finally welcomed our new baby on boxing day morning.  A beautiful baby girl safe, perfect and tiny.  We are all delighted and Little L is loving being a big sister.  

The best Christmas present in the world has been the safe arrival of our new daughter and the happy reaction of her big sister.

Happy 2013!

Christmas Day

After a very hard slog of working almost solidly through December my other half managed to get home on Christmas Eve in time to help Little L prep for the big visit.  We had to put mince pies and milk out for Father Christmas and a carrot and some water for the reindeer.  We put the socks out on the landing ready to be filled (fingers crossed) and watched the snowman and snow dog (well heavily pregnant mummy watched it) Little L just wanted to play with Daddy.

Christmas Day was very relaxed no travelling or visiting for us this year.  So we opened presents, well Little L opened her presents and any others for Mummy and Daddy.  These are some of my favourites!

 I cooked a lovely lunch that everyone enjoyed and ate.  Followed by a little sleep for Little L and some visitors.  A very relaxed Christmas, no visiting or rushing about and yes we spent christmas day still waiting!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. 

Waiting ..............

So this week me and Little L have nearly managed to get rid of our colds.

We have made a Christmas wreath, made and frozen mince pies, finished last minute gift buying,

wrapped all the presents, caught up with friends, written and posted cards, the cupboards, fridge and freezer are full of food, the house is reasonably clean, Christmas party attended, Christmas decorations up ......... and we now just need baby to make an appearance.
I'm not very good at waiting

Making the most of the heat you have

I bought curtains for our front door in the summer.  Yes I was going to make them myself but I found end of line lined curtains at Argos for £15 so there was no point.  Plus I bought the curtain rail but alas they sat untouched for months.  Once I had finished making the blinds for the kitchen my momentum just carried on and I set to attaching the track to the wall.  I had to attach a wooden batten first otherwise the track would have been really difficult to put up plus the curtains would have been too close to the wall.  That done and appeared to be straight onto the curtains.   Had to take a couple of inches off the length and then hand stitch.  With the leftover fabric I made a tie back which was really easy.  I just traced around another tie back to get the shape and used some D rings from old tie backs.

The curtains do clash with the green walls in the hallway but that was the choice of the old owners.  I did think about decorating the hallway before baby arrives but was told "No Way" by the other half spoilsport!  Hopefully next year some time I will paint the hallway beige/cream and the curtains will then match.

Not sure whether they make much difference heat wise as it's not been that cold yet.  But it does get very cold in the hallway so hopefully they will help a bit.

Another thing off the "To do" list and in a quest to spread the heat was drilling a 2 inch holes between the chimney recess above the fire into the kitchen which my dad kindly did for us.  The idea is that some of the heat that rises above the stove now goes into the kitchen.  It does work but hasn't made a vast difference.

And finally we bought ourselves a stove top fan,  we didn't get the original "Ecofan" as these were upwards of £100 but we got one from Ebay which works exactly the same way and was half the price.  This definitely works, it spreads the heat around the room and helps the washing dry quicker.  I would certainly recommend.

Been another busy week with groups and Little L's nativity play (that girl is a star and sooo cute in her costume). Plus I got the lurgy so we have both been ill all week. It's sad but at the moment my post birth craving/want is a lemsip.