Leave the cleaning for another day!

I have just finished a 5 week baby massage course with Baby E.  We have really enjoyed it and it has been nice to do something just the two of us (don't worry Little L has been with her Daddy doing fun things).  At the end of each session the instructor has read a poem.  This one stuck with me and I'm sure resonates with lots of new mums ..... so step away from the sink and leave the hoovering for another day!

Babies Don’t Keep

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

xx

Three months old

Where did the time go??  Baby E is three months old well nearly 14 weeks.  She is doing well.  But I can't say it has been an easy three months.  She has screamed a lot since she was born really and I had mentioned this to the various midwives, doctors and health visitors that I encountered but was usually looked at and told in a patronising way "all babies are different" or "she is only young" blah blah blah.  Having had a screamer first time around I knew Baby E's screaming was different.  Little L had colic and she screamed at the same time virtually every day and got some relief from the various colic treatments ranging from massage and special bottles to infacol.  And when we hit that magic three month mark she improved a great deal.  

Though Baby E has been different, no pattern to the screaming but she has always seemed to be suffering with chronic stomach ache.  Anyway they ran a test and she is lactose intolerant.  She has been on special lactose free milk for a couple of weeks and has improved in that she doesn't scream as much and is starting to put weight on.   

When she isn't suffering with her tummy she is an absolute delight, very smiley and chatty.  She adores Little L and her face lights up when her sister stops what she is doing to talk to her.  She loves looking at her arm with amazement and the fire as well.  Anyway I must go Baby E is currently exercising her lungs!?

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!

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

Granny Stripe Pram Blanket

Today I should be in Harrogate at the Knitting and Stitching Show but alas after lost of thinking about it the last couple of days I decided with just over three weeks till due date it wasn't the best of ideas.  It is so busy there and with a pram as well, last year I spent most of the day waiting for people to let me through spaces so I thought I'd give it a miss this year.  Hopefully next year I will be able to go.  So after shopping and library crafts with Little L this morning I finally got round to finishing off this little blanket when she had her sleep.  

I worked in granny stripes and used a 5mm hook and James C Brett Aran with wool in cream and red (to match the new pram and they are unisex colours too).  I made the border up and probably should have done less stitches down the sides because the pattern is a bit bunched up.  I did block it but no amount of stretching could smooth those scallops.  

I stitched the ends in  at the end and yes there were lots of them.  I could have worked over them as I went which I did a few but half were the wrong colour to work in as you go so they had to be sewn in at the end.  The blanket is big enough for in the pram folded in half or for the car seat, or neither if I have a sicky baby!  

New pram liners

I have been on a roll lately getting things done off the "Things to do before baby arrives" list and one such job was to make covers/liners for the new pram seats.  They are red and whilst the new baby will be in a carry cot or a footmuff for all of winter Little L certainly won't be in a footmuff.  In fact I do well to make her tolerate a blanket over her legs.  So I thought to avoid endless washing of the red padded seat liner I would make simple covers that can be washed and dried easily.

So months ago I bought a cheap red fleece blanket from Ikea (these blankets work out cheaper than buying fleece by the metre and the quality is fine too).  I washed it and it sat and lingered on my to do list for a couple of months at least until yesterday.  

When Little L had her sleep after lunch I got the sewing machine out, cleared the table and started cutting.  I simply cut the shape of the liner and then an extra section to form a flap on the back.  Hemmed it all (by the way I hate sewing with fleece even though I do have a walking foot for my machine my results are never great) and then set to marking out the holes (like large buttonholes) that would need stitching and cutting to allow for the seat harness to pass through.  This is quite fiddly and if you look closely some aren't straight but they will be fine. 

 I added a bit a ribbon to tie securely at the bottom and done.   

Plus I have half a blanket left which will be enough for a baby or toddler blanket.

Baby's first Cardigan and Hat

I confess I finished both of these months ago and they have sat in the cupboard waiting for the ends to be sewn in and the buttons attached.  What can I say I get easily distracted.  So as the time is ticking by pretty quickly I decided I better finish them off so that baby will have something to wear.

I knitted the Zoom cardigan again because it is such an easy pattern to follow.  I used James C Brett Aran with wool which is lovely and soft.  Perfect for a winter baby. Added some cute ladybird buttons and ta-dah one newborn cardigan.

The hat pattern was Chunky Organic Cotton baby Beanie but I modified it to account for using Aran and hopefully it will fit a newborn.

Not knitting anything else until the baby arrives because I don't want to knit more unisex colours.  I probably won't have time to knit anything when the baby arrives but I can at least buy the wool and get other people to knit them??

Snuggly for carrycot

I did this a few weeks ago but only just got around to posting it.  I bought the carrycot to go in the new pram and well it was pretty plain.  And the design is a bit stupid because it won't go in the washing machine (unless I'm missing something which is possible).  So the lining is a black cotton which won't stand up to baby sick that well I don't think!

So I had a hunt and came up with some fleece and calico

Then I simply measured and cut and sewed the two sides together and ta dah a little snuggly fleece mattress for the carrycot.    

Much more appealing for a newborn plus it will go in the washing machine

Holiday in Wales

Just got back from our week away.  It went so fast but we had a great time.  We had a 8am hospital eye clinic on the Monday morning to check Little L's eye and it was fine so we set off on holiday straight from the hospital.  We managed to call a few places near where we used to live on our way.  Firstly Cheshire Oaks, we had a good look around.  Tried to get Little L some new shoes from the Clarks outlet but there wasn't anything I liked, much too summery.  I will just have to go to normal Clarks otherwise she will soon be wearing wellies or slippers.

We also visited my favourite fabric/wool/craft shop - the Abakhan in Mostyn - if you haven't been it is definitely worth a trip if you are in the area.  They have a wool shop, a craft shop, a discount shop (though this is closed at the moment for work), and a fabric shop.  They are currently renovating the old water wheel and there will be a new cafe in that building.  I picked up a few things for new roman blinds that I am making (when I have some time that is) and I got some red aran wool for a pram blanket for baby.  Plus a few other things.  I don't really have any sewing projects on at the moment (well apart from the blinds) so I didn't get any material though there was some lovely stuff.  A really nice toadstool print very similar to the Cath Kidston latest print but at £12 a metre I couldn't justify 2m to make a apron.

Anyway onto the holiday we couldn't stay at Abakhan all day!!  We had a lovely week, we stayed on a caravan site next to the sea, it had great pool facilities and play parks.  We don't go in for the amusements/club etc but if that's your thing then they had them too.  But we went for walks on the beach every night and played on the park.  We had some days out in nearby towns and on some of our favourite beaches (we used to live quite close to North Wales so know the area well).  The weather was pretty good considering.  We got wet on a couple of afternoons and one night it rained pretty hard but not bad.

This was just next to where we were staying

Little L loved it, she could of and tried to stay on the beach all day and had to be tempted away with food?? and even then there were tears.  It was so nice to enjoy the simple things with her, no need to spend lots of money just days collecting shells and stones, running around and swimming. 

We went on the Great Orme Tram in Llandudno

On the beach 

Looking over Llandudno bay, I couldn't walk up the Great Orme but I did managed to walk down.

Another beach

We were sad to leave partly because it means summer is over but mainly because it will be our last holiday with Little L on her own, next time there will be four of us.  Only 3 months to go until our lives are turned upside down!    

A New Pram

Well a couple of months ago we went on a little spending spree and bought ourselves a new pram like this one!!  Wow ??? maybe not that exciting in itself but look closely ..... whats that..... yes two seats. 

Come December all being well we will be bringing home a new baby!!  So excited.  We haven't found out whether it will be a boy or girl as we want a surprise like last time (I was tempted because neutral knitting is really difficult), the pram is in storage and I have a To Do list as long as my arm of things to get done before baby arrives.

How to be a stay at home mum?

On Sunday we had our great friends S and B and baby J around for the day.  They recently had a baby (the recipient of these by the way Zoom Cardigan and Bootees ) he is utterly adorable and I certainly can't remember Little L ever being that small and wobbly headed.  Anyway we got chatting about the dreaded when are you going back to work???  And B being very honest said February and admitted that she is dreading it and would do anything not to return.

Having had over two years of going to play groups etc with Little L I have heard this many times but when it comes down to it most people do go back to work after their maternity pay dwindles down to the minimum.  And whilst they say they really don't want to go back to work they do and parcel off baby to Grandma or Nursery.  When we decided to have children after many years of thinking about it we knew that one way or another I would be a stay at home mum.  And so far I am but that didn't happen by accident or by some kind miracle, it has involved years of saving, scrimping, thinking ahead and now sacrifices, some might say of, no foreign holidays, no new cars, very few new clothes, no fancy phones, no nights out, freezing in winter, eating on a tight budget and many more things.  To lots of people this might sound pretty depressing/boring but it's worth it to know that Little L gets the best care day in day out i.e. from her Mum (I'm no super mum but mummy is better than Grandma or some randomer at a nursery).  And they do all go to school when they are four so you can go back to work then.

So a question could more people be a "stay at home Mum" if they really wanted to??  Or are some sacrifices in quality of life/luxuries a step too far to take??

At the moment I am trying to sell stuff on Ebay and need to get my ass into gear and sell some hand made wares on the internet.  But for now we are all very happy with our arrangement, skip diving and eating smart price beans ....... only kidding.