We're home

We've actually been home for nine days now but last week was a blur of unpacking, washing, ironing, getting ready for school, shoe shopping and school days! I'm back to feeling pretty much like we never had a holiday LOL.

We had a fabulous time away, the weather was amazing (32 - 40 degrees) and we swam in the sea, in a river, in swimming pools, we saw relatives that I'd never met (and some that I had), travelled the whole length of Greece and back, shopped, ate and relaxed.

Here's some pics from the trip:

Me and Connor (yes a rare pic of me!)

DH and Lia

Kavala - our house is one of those on that big hill!

Connor and DH in the sea

Lia

So now we're back home and settled down into a routine. We're on the run up to Christmas now which means it's a countdown till I'm back at work in January! Time has flown by and I know it'll be even quicker towards the end of the year.

Lia is now officially in year 1 at school and yesterday lost her first tooth! She's most excited about not being the smallest in the school and is really happy to be back. Connor is now a blonde! His baby hair is pretty much gone other than a quiff and his new hair is very blonde indeed. He's rolling over properly now and can roll back too. As of last week he's been eating solids and loving it - no building up slowly, he's right in there demanding lots of food.

As for me, I'm just organising a big party for next year. I hit 40 (OMG!!!) in April and I always use a 'zero' birthday as an excuse for a party plus we're having Connor christened on the morning of the party so it'll be a joint birthday / christening. A little unorthodox but hey, that's me LOL. I have ambitious plans for the party so will no doubt spend the next seven months going a bit bonkers getting it all organised and being waaaaay too excited for my own good.

11 Weeks

So here we are at 11 weeks!

Connor is doing really well - smiling lots and lots and we had our first laugh on Sunday (just for Daddy on Father's Day). He sleeps around 8pm now which is good and is still having a 10pm feed then waking at 4am and then again around 7.30am. A pretty good routine I'd say.

The good news is that he doesn't seem to be affected by the heat at all - he must have more Greek blood than English as I'm wilting rather. We've booked to go to Greece for three weeks in August so this is cold compared to how it will be there - the only good news with that is that they have a lot more aircon that we do here.

Development wise Connor's mastered two thirds of the male life skills - sleeping, burping, farting and lying around flapping his willy in the wind. All he needs to do now is find his bits for a good scratch and wrestle the remote control from his father and he's done...

He's also got pretending to be a super hero down pat too...

As for his sister, she's doing okay too - her reading is coming on so well as is her basic maths. We've introduced a reward system for her to encourage her to keep her room tidy - every night it's clean before she gets in bed she gets 10p and if she does that all week plus being generally a good girl then she'll earn £1 pocket money a week so she can save up and buy something.

The idea is that 1) we don't have battles re room cleaning any more, 2) she learns how to add up money and 3) she learns she has to earn money to buy things she wants. This all starts properly come Monday as I'm going to blitz her bedroom this weekend so we have a blank canvas starting point.

I think that's about all the news from here - DH and I are pootling along adjusting to less sleep and a new routine. I'm trying to work out how I can fit in some exercise during the week (other than walking lots and pushing the pram). The problem is that DH isn't home at regular times - it can be anything between 6.20pm and 10.00pm - so I can't guarantee getting out on the same night every week which limits options a bit. I'm hoping to get started with swimming though as I can do that two or three times a week whenever it works for us.

Stitching wise I'm working away on my Big Round Zipper - you never know I might even manage a progress picture some time soon

In the absence of anything interesting to write

Here's some photos!

Lia dressed up for Pirate day at school:

Connor and Daddy bonding!

Connor practising to be a Rock God

Six weeks

So here we are at six weeks already! I've been signed off officially by my Consultant so that's great news.

Connor is growing well and he now sleeps in his cot all night - he's such a noisy sleeper that we get a much better nights sleep with him just that bit further away! He has his 10pm feed from Daddy and generally wakes me between 3 and 4 am so I'm hoping it won't be too long before he's sleeping through - he just needs to get a bit bigger so he can have a bit more milk in his tummy.

He's also happier spending time in his swinging chair - not long though, five or ten mins at a time, but it makes all the difference to be able to put him down and know he won't squawk straight away. In the last couple of days he's found his fist to suck too.

Lia's still loving him, she's being great and helpful and doing well at school so I really can't ask for anything more.

We've also booked our summer holiday to Greece. Almost three weeks! We fly to Athens and stay in a hotel for three nights then fly to Kavala where we have a house to stay for two weeks then it's back to Athens for three more nights and home in time for Lia to go back to school. Before we've always staying at my inlaws but there's just not enough room for us any more hence the hotel. DH is a feeling a bit weird about the hotel thing - it'll be the first time he's been home and not stayed at home - but a friend of ours works in a hotel chain and has got us a great deal on a fantastic hotel so hopefully that'll make up for it.

While we're there FIL will be 70 and DH will have his name day so there'll be lots of celebrations. Also SIL has just had a baby girl so there'll be plenty of baby showing off. That is absolutely the last baby of our generation in both families barring accidents! We've got a ratio of four girls to three boys so it's pretty even and the age range is 5 days to 5 years so they're all pretty close.

I'm really looking forward to this holiday - we've pushed the boat out a bit spending wise but it's likely to be the last time we manage such a great holiday for a LONG time as once I'm back to work and Connor is in nursery there won't be much spare cash or spare holiday time...

I miss stitching...

I didn't realise how much until today but I'm really having withdrawal issues! I've not had caffeine for three and a half weeks now and am coping just fine with that but not picking up a needle in that time? Really bugging me!

Obviously there's nothing I can do about it for now - having a new baby does not really leave time to do anything for myself but I'm hoping it won't be too long before I get the chance to stitch a little. I was definitely stitching by the time Lia was three months as I had some obligation stitching that I did so I can pin point the exact time I did it.

Still, we're working really well here. Connor is a hungry boy and feeds A LOT during the day but in return for that he sleeps well at night. He goes down around 7pm and then DH does a bottle feed around 10pm meaning that I get a good chunk of sleep as I'm in bed for 8.30pm and Connor wakes me around 1am, if not later. Depending on the timing of his night feed I'm then woken any time between 4 and 6am for another feed. Weekdays we're all up around 6.30am to get ready for work / school but weekends he'll often have another sleep after the morning feed.

All in all I'm averaging around 7 hrs sleep a night which is more than enough to remain human. The downside is that I have no evening time to do any stitching and as he only cat naps during the day I don't get any done then either.

But it's not forever right? And he's certainly more than cute enough to make up for the stitching deficit.

Snow!!!!

Firstly, a Happy New Year to you all. I apologise it's a late greeting but hey, better late than never right?

The Family V had a great festive season - Lia was spoiled rotten by Santa but is just a bit too small to understand she needed to make the most of her last christmas as an only child LOL. It shows what a terrible Mum I am that when asked what her favourite present was she will tell you 'sweeties!' Sure, not the bike or the Barbie or anything that cost more than £1, just all the sweets and chocolate she doesn't normally get...

We spent Christmas with my family (my sister and BIL were fantastic hosts as always) and it was nice to be spoiled a bit. Being six months pregnant meant nobody expected me to do anything so I got extra brownie points when I did help out. It was also nice to catch up with the other kids in the family, Lia has three cousins, all younger, and she loves them to bits. The oldest one is now two and a half and a right little chatterbox - her and Lia together really are hard on the ears! My bro's little boy is now 13 months old and running around, he's a real delight and it'll be great when I give him a boy cousin to play with as the others are all girls. The youngest is only a few weeks old but that just meant I got in some baby cuddles too.

We spent New Years at home but with friends round - Lia had her first friend on a sleep over so sleep for me was short. We got to bed around 1.30am and, despite being awake until nearly 11pm, the girls were awake at 6.30am! I was the only one of the three parents left in the house that wasn't hung over (the other dad sensibly headed home around 1am to get a decent kip in his empty house) so I got to be the responsible adult whilst DH and the other Mum suffered.

As for me, I'm fine. Only around 12 weeks to go now, I can't believe how time is flying! To answer Kathy's question yes we do know the sex and it's a boy this time. Lia is so excited and keeps telling me how she was right all along and I was wrong (she was so adamant that she wanted a baby brother that I spent the first 20 weeks trying to convince her it could be a sister just to avoid disappointment).

Health wise I'm doing great - the diabetes makes pregnancy interesting to say the least but, just as I managed with Lia, I'm doing pretty much text book perfect at the moment so I'm getting great reports every time I see my consultant. It'll be another six weeks or so before we start talking birth options though and I know that it's pretty much an elective caesarian or nothing but until it's actually agreed I'm trying not to think about it too much.

So anyway, on to the snow mentioned in the title of this post. We in the UK have been in the grip of a major cold snap for the last week and where we are we had over 12 inches of the white stuff in approx 12 hours a few days ago. I only remember one or two winters as a kid where I saw as much snow as we have now, we've actually been snowed in for three days!

Lia's school has been closed for the last three days and I have not even considered venturing the 20 miles to work. At six months pregnant and being insulin dependent I don't think I should be risking getting stuck anywhere. I did walk to the hospital yesterday for an appointment - it took just over half an hour to get there and I lost count of the number of times I nearly fell as the pavements are just blocks of ice. Thankfully I got there with no mishaps (DH was with me to make sure I was okay) and the route home was a bit less slippy.

So here's some pics of the snow and Lia and her Daddy building a snowman

An arty shot taken about 11pm after six hours of constant snow fall

The garden first thing in the morning after several more hours of snow

The beginning of a snowman...

Can you tell what it is yet?

Getting there...

Where's Daddy?

Here he is!

Yes I do pose for the camera a lot...

Snow wouldn't melt

The three of us!

Off on our Hols!

We're off for a weeks holiday tomorrow with most of my family - my Mother, Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law, Sister, Brother-in-Law, Niece, Nephew-in-Law (if that's the right label LOL) and Great Niece!

We're taking over three farm cottages at Villavin Farm in Devon. DH, Lia and I had a lovely week there last year so we're going back (and no, my enjoyment was in no way enhanced by the fact there is a quilting shop on the farm too, of course it isn't...)

Hopefully the weather will be kind to us as there are lovely beaches nearby but just spending time together will be fun, it's the first family holiday we've had since I was a kid and Lia is so excited about having her little cousin there to play with as they get on like a house on fire.

What's in a name?

We had a lovely weekend - we were back in the bosom of my family as it was my nephew's Naming Ceremony yesterday.

Here he is in all his smiley glory - not from yesterday I should say, he didn't get named in a 'Menace' shirt and a silly hat, this is from a couple of weeks ago. DH didn't remember his camera yesterday so we didn't get any pics of him in his finery.

He was an absolute angel, very good all day and the party was a real success. My Bro and SIL organised a clown/magician who was great - there were loads of kids under 10 there and she kept them entertained for a good hour. Lia is now obsessed with doing magic and announced last night that she wants to be a magician when she grows up!

Wednesday this week we've got Lia's new teacher visiting for the first meeting, paperwork, etc, etc so I've taken the whole day off so I can enjoy the men's quarter finals at Wimbledon in the afternoon. We're off next Wednesday too as Lia will be going to school for a couple of hours in the morning and we'll be going again in the afternoon to meet more of the teachers, buy uniform, etc. It's all getting very close now - just nine weeks till she starts! Thankfully she's very excited about it now and telling everyone that will listen that she's going to school in September.

Meet Muffin

The newest member of our household...



She's a baby sister for Toast, Crumpet and Sesame and seems to be settling in well.

Our hutch is full now so no more additions to the family for the foreseeable future - when we get round to building them a proper living area outside that may change though!

Cold

We're in the middle of a cold spell here in the UK and the temperature dipped to -8.5 outside last night. Now I know some of my international readers may laugh at the idea of that being cold but we're a country that just isn't used to the thermometers going that low.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining (other than my general complaint that it's not snowing) as I love the cold, I'm definitely designed to live in a cold climate - let's face it, you can always put more layers on, when it's too hot there's only so much you can take off...

However there was a problem last night as only half the radiators in the house were hot. We didn't realise this till after we'd put Lia to bed because we'd pretty much stayed in the kitchen up to that point and the rads were working in there. However when we went into the lounge we could practically see our breath it was so cold!

DH did a minimal amount of investigation, ie touched the radiators and said 'they're cold', and claimed to be baffled. His response was to turn the heating on to constant to see if they warmed up over night! Given the heating had been on for the previous three hours and they were stone cold I figured it unlikely they'd miraculously cure themselves.

So the rest of the evening was spent swaddled in quilts (DH can never complain about my hobby now he's used them in a practical situation) and it wasn't until after I gave in and went to bed that DH decided to experiment with bleeding the radiators (something I had suggested) and lo and behold it worked! Great news as it means we don't have to call out a professional and pay an extortionate fee (especially if they'd just bled the rads and cured the problem, I wouldn't be a happy wife).

So fingers crossed tonight will be much warmer - it's not so easy to stitch when you're bundled up in blankets...

Totally Spoiled

So it's back down to earth with a bump today as I'm back at work and Lia is back at nursery. DH is at home however (the git) and I imagine he'll spend most of the day playing Guitar Hero...

Christmas was a good one, my Sis and BIL are fantastic hosts and we had a lovely few days staying with them. Mum did okay, she even came to the Carol concert with us on Christmas Eve which she'd said she wouldn't attend. It's a lovely one, outside in Canterbury Town Centre, and the Archbishop of Canterbury attends every year. It certainly set up the Christmas mood.

Lia was totally spoiled. I can't believe how many toys she got - admittedly she got a lot of them from us but I didn't figure in just how many she'd get from other people too. On the whole she was really well behaved and her excitement levels weren't too bad. She did go to sleep on Christmas Eve under the covers though as she didn't want Santa to come in and scare her.

We were back home on Saturday (nightmare drive, it usually takes 1hr 45 mins and it took over 4!) so have had a bit of time to relax but I could have done with a bit more. I did intend to sort Lia's room out yesterday and clear out some old toys so there's room for the new ones but that didn't happen so I'll do it next weekend - this means that most of her gifts are still in bags in our bedroom.

She has one more gift to get - a dollshouse - I'd actually think about not bothering with it apart from the fact that several people bought her furniture to go in it LOL. Plus I know she'll love it.

I'm consoling myself with the fact that she won't be so spoilt with toys for her birthday as we're going to decorate her bedroom and change it from a babyish theme of jungle animals to a little girl's room and this will include new carpet, curtains, bed, etc so we'll get people to give contributions to that rather than buy her more toys.

As for me, I too was spoiled, I got my Behind the Gate full kit, a Mamma Mia DVD and some lovely earrings from DH (from Magpie Nest - check out the link if you like silver jewellery). I also got MASH Season 3 DVD, some great fabric, some Lizzie*Kate Flip-its (three of the Christmas ones and one of the general series) and three more of the SamSarah Baubles Charts with linen and buttons.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and that you were all spoiled too.

Happy News

Baby Finlay came into the world at 11.50pm on 13th November weighing in at 7lb 5oz. Mother and baby doing just fine.

Auntie Joy is over the moon and Lia is excited to go see her little cousin. Given we've only just come back home we won't be heading down to Kent again till next weekend so I'll have to contain my excitement for a whole week but at least that gives my Bro and SIL time to settle down a bit.

Mum was going to see her first Grandson this afternoon.

A Sad Time

It's been a long time between posts I know but I have a very good reason for that because my family have been having to deal with the sudden death of my Stepdad.

He had a massive heart attack on the morning of 28th October and, although the paramedics managed to get his heart beating again, he had been gone too long and all brain function had ceased. He passed away peacefully at 6.15pm on Wednesday 29th October aged 75.

It was a total shock as he hadn't been unwell - he survived a major heart attack 11 years ago but had been in good health since with a miriad of pills keeping his heart functioning. In fact he didn't know anything about it as he had got up, dressed, made his bed, folded his pjs, put his hearing aid in and was heading out of the bedroom to get breakfast when his heart just stopped. He wasn't a brave soldier by any means and if he'd felt even slightly unwell he would have woken my mother before doing any of the above.

He had been a part of our family for 16 years - both my brother and I were at University when Mum met him and we were both glad that Mum found a companion because it meant we could feel less guilty about moving on with our lives and leaving her at home alone. Over the years he became a very important part of our family, the person everyone would go to for advice and assistance and he was delighted when Lia was born as she was his first granddaughter after four grandsons (he had two daughters of his own). I always said that although he wasn't my father he was, without question, Lia's grandad and he certainly never differentiated between her and his 'real' grandsons.

His hobby was stamp collecting and really, most of us dismissed it as a boring hobby done by a quiet, kind of boring, man. On his retirement however he volunteered to work in the archives of the Royal Philatelic Society and spent the last 14 years organising and cataloguing them. He received the gift of Fellowship of the RPS, something that is only given out once a year at most (if they don't think anyone is worthy of the honour in a certain year they don't give it) and the Society held a 2 minute silence in his honour when they heard of his death.

A quiet and unassuming man he may have been but he was respected by all who met him. He was also a published writer of over 100 articles for various stamp magazines, even managing to have an article in all four current philatelic magazines in the same month earlier this year.

Obviously I've been spending time back home with my Mum and family - the funeral was Tuesday and went as well as these things can. I read the eulogy - I'd never done anything like that before but I felt that I could and that it would be nicer for one of the family to do it than a stranger.

I'm back at work now and trying to get back to some kind of normality. Poor Lia has been up and down for the last two weeks as she understands something has happened but, at 3, can't really grasp the events in full. She is telling everyone that 'Grandad is with the Andrials' and she knows that she can't see him now but I've told her she can talk to him on her toy phone and she seems okay with that.

I'm now going to focus on Christmas and making it magical for Lia. I love this time of year and adore decorating the house so I'm on a mission to clean and tidy thoroughly before the end of the month so the decorations can go up on 1st December. I'm also going to totally focus on Christmas projects between now and the end of the year so Sleigh Ride will finally get dusted off and worked on as well as a couple of other Christmassy WIPs and I ordered some fabric from Picture This Plus to stitch Heirloom Christmas on so I shall be starting that at some point.

My previous post about November Goals was posted in a hurry because I had it pre-written and needed to post something after my 'Great Weekend' post before I wrote about all of this so some of those goals might be missed. I have continued to stitch though (long evenings at my Mums) - it seems to be reading that has suffered the most as I just haven't been able to concentrate much.

And of course the silver lining in all of this is that my brother's wife is due to give birth any day. I felt so sorry for her as her due date was Tuesday, the day of the funeral, but Junior obviously felt it wasn't the time to come out and say hi so we're still waiting. The new baby (no we don't know what flavour it is) will certainly be a welcome distraction for us all.

Two new family members

I went shopping for a toaster at the weekend and came back with these guys...

In my defense, it's not my fault that the pet shop is right next door to the electrical goods shop. And I did remember to get the toaster as well.

They're two little girls and DH named them Toast (on the left) and Crumpet (on the right) as a reminder to me of my impulsive buy LOL.

Lia's totally in love with them and is very slowly learning how to behave around them, but she gets very excited when they let her stroke them and gets all loud and jumpy which scares them. Still, both Lia and the guinea pigs are settling down slowly so I'm sure it won't be long before they're happy for her to hold them.

Nothing much else is going on here. No news on the job front but I did have an official letter of job offer from the new place so that's all still happily on hold. DH is going home to Greece at the end of September for a week but I don't have enough holiday to join him so it'll be just me and the girls at home.

I'm not exactly being stretched at my current job right now (I'm practically invisible to some people) so that's giving me time to set up a stash inventory blog and organise my photos etc. It's something I've always meant to do but don't want to waste valuable crafting time doing so now I can do bits of it while at work it's great.

I've also got lots of stitching done this month - I've comleted a goldwork kit, finished the Shepherd's Bush Kit 'Red Santa', almost finished Lavender Hearts (I'm just finishing up the Hardanger Heart) and started on the latest part of The Big Zipper. I intend to take some pics this weekend once I've completed Lavender Hearts so I can post some pics with my monthly update.

Family

I don't spend a lot of time around my family, or rather, I don't spend long blocks of time around my family, as I live about 100 miles away from them all. I go home about once a month but only for a day or two so it was nice to have the opportunity to spend a whole week with them all last week.

Not only that I stayed with my Sister for the first time (we used to stay with my parents but since they downsized there's not really room for all three of us) and it was great to have the chance to catch up with her and just chat and relax together.

There were two reasons why I was home, first my elder niece was getting married and second, some Australian cousins were over for a visit. I picked the Aussies up from the Airport at stupid-o'clock last monday morning and after showing off my house and providing lunch I drove them both down to Kent where they were to spend the rest of their week.

I haven't seen the pair of them since my wedding in Athens so it was lovely to be with them and also lovely to see them with Lia as they adored her and, as they were both teachers, were really good at entertaining her and reading with her, etc. She's now going round saying 'no worries mate' all the time.

As for my nieces wedding, it was a fantastic event. I'm sure I've explained before but my sister is 24 years older than me (same dad, different mums) so my niece is only three years younger than me and we've grown up more like sisters. She's mother to my Great-Niece and I was entrusted with babysitting duties for the young lady on the day of the wedding. It was fantastic to see Lia and Luisa getting on so well, now Luisa is a year old she's much more of a playmate to Lia and they seem to love being with each other.

Here's a pic of Lia in her bridesmaid dress, we haven't had a chance to go through our pics yet, this one was forwarded to me by my step-dad...

I'm back at work now and it's a real bummer LOL. I told DH that he needs to make enough money for me to retire and fill my days with fun things rather than boring ones.

I didn't get a lot of crafting done when I was away - some stitching on Happy Haunting and that was about it, but I'm now cracking on with Lavender Hearts to get it finished and framed by 14th September when it needs to be gifted.

I'm aware that a couple of people have nominated me for blog awards, I need to catch up with my blog reading and post responses so will do that asap.

Too Many Pretty Things!

Surfing blogs is officially bad for the wallet!

I haven't had a chance to read lots of blogs lately but life has calmed down a bit so I've been playing catch up and it was a bad mistake. It seems like everywhere I go people have links to pretty things, great shops, fantastic finishes and so on and it's becoming very dangerous for me to click my mouse!

Karen's blog had a link for a wonderful site selling ribbons and I admit that this is the only site where I caved in and bought some (the July Ribbon Kit). In my defense I don't have any ribbon stash and my new-found finishing skills mean that I'm sure to need some. Then I was reading a blog whose author had finished an amazing quilt and I had to click on the link there to see more designs by the same person (Judy Niemeyer) and I'm totally in love with 4th of July and Tropical Sundance.

I'm being good though, the two designs are now on my wish list and maybe Santa will be good to me at the end of the year.

Life is bimbling along here. We took Lia to the cinema for the first time this weekend and it went much better than we hoped. We saw Wall-E (great film and the short, Presto, before it was fantastic) and she sat in her seat for the whole two hours only getting a bit upset when it got too loud for her. We're going to do Kung-Fu Panda next.

We've been doing some work in the garden too as the weather here has finally cheered up a bit. It's such a huge job that we sometimes feel we're not getting anywhere but little by little it's getting cleared up and eventually we'll have a garden that we can just sit back and enjoy. DH has been much more motivated than I expected which is great - Lia and I went to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon and got back to find he'd ripped down half the fence and cleared loads of overgrown ivy.

I will get some pics soon both of the garden and my stitching and quilting.

I've had a small HD this month as I stitched up a Secret Needle Night project from The Silver Needle - Ho Ho Santa. I'm now working on Lavender Hearts and making good progress. I've never done drawn thread before but managed the first row without too much difficulty, I've also done my first ever Lazy Daisies too. I have been a bit of a coward though as I'm leaving the hardanger heart till last, again I've never done it before, so I'll practice on some scrap fabric first.

Quilting wise I've finished up the quilt I needed to do for a birthday gift and I've also finally gotten round to finishing up the cushion tops I did in my curves course. I have another course this friday to learn the Bargello technique so am looking forward to that. I have picked out all of my red, orange, yellow and purple fabrics to take so this one is going to be bright!

In other news it looks like my work situation is going to change soon as I've been warned that my job could be at risk of redundancy. It's not really a shock (a lot of organisational changes have happened in the last couple of years) and we have redundancy insurance so we'll manage for money if we need to. The truth is that DH and I have been talking for a while about me moving on and getting something closer to where we live for when Lia goes to school (I work in the next town over, about 30-40 mins drive from home).

This is just a kick up the bum for us to get moving with things really. I won't know anything for sure till the 20th August so at the moment I'm just looking at the job market, working on my CV and biding my time till I know the facts. I don't want to jump now because I'll lose any redundancy payment I'm due and after seven years in the job it should be a decent sum.

I am sad, it's not how I'd like to move on and I do like the people in the team I'm part of but my job has changed a lot in the last two years and it's not one that I'm really enjoying any more. So all in all, I can look at the positive side of it and not really get stressed or upset, it's most likely that we'll be better off as a family once we get through all the changes.

A Great Weekend

Despite the weather LOL.

L, a fellow stitching and quilting addict joined us for the weekend (I won't link to her blog because she hasn't updated it in MONTHS - hint hint) and on Saturday we went to Swindon to meet up with another friend for lunch.

We visited a local craft centre on the way which wasn't that fantastic as a lot of the shops have closed down but we did get a few bits and pieces including a fab Charlie and Lola bag for Lia and also a cute toy watch for her as she's obsessed with telling the time at the moment. We also went round the Designer Outlet Centre after lunch and I splashed out on a new pair of shoes (well they were 50% off and very comfy).

Sunday we had planned to go to Legoland if the weather was okay so when we woke up to a wet and windy day we were very disappointed. However, it didn't take long for excitement to take over from common sense and we talked ourselves in to going anyway... We had some vouchers for bogof tickets which is the only way I'd contemplate going as one adult ticket costs £35!!!!

Great fun was had by all, DH and L went on more rides than me because Lia was 4cm too short for some of them - I'm not complaining as I have a tendency to get sick on rides anyway. We did go on the really slow boats as a family though and here's a pic of us in our attractive rain gear - yes DH and Lia were having a bit more fun than me!

Lia then had a go on the mini cars driving area - she was really getting into the whole thing but she was terrible at steering - she had to be rescued about five times as much as any of the other kids.

She took it all very seriously but she was also a lot more interested in what was going on around her than where she was going. Still she had an absolute blast and she got her driving license at the end of it.

We did have a period of around an hour and a half where the sun came out and we dried off and warmed up enough to sit down and have an icecream. Unfortunately I chose to add some jelly tots to Lia's icecream and we had our first experience of her high on E numbers. Around 15 mins or so after she finished it she turned into a total brat who was ignoring us, yelling and crying and then, when we got home she was totally hyperactive. Initially I put it down to her being tired but back home in our normal environment it was like she'd taken drugs, she was hyper, absolutely deaf to our attempts to calm her or tell her off and basically just bouncing off the walls.

She very rarely has sweets of any kind but she will definitely not be having anything like that again.

Here's one final pic of her (thanks for all the pics to L, our official photographer for the weekend). Lia and Neh No

The weekend ended with us glued to the TV watching the Wimbledon Final. I'm a big tennis fan and I love Roger Federer so was disappointed that Rafa won, but what a match! I don't remember ever being so on the edge of my seat for every single point. Fair play to Nadal, he has worked so hard to raise his game over the last three years to get to the point where he can beat Federer on grass and he does play sublime tennis but as John McEnroe said this week Federer is the 'most beautiful tennis player God has created'.

Stitching wise I've been working on my Cirque des Cercles again as it finally got round to shouting at me louder than my other WIPs. No pics as yet but I'll get something before the end of the week. I'm going to keep on with it this week and then devote the next couple of weeks to getting the Victoria Sampler design finished so I can get it framed for my Sis and BIL's anniversary at the beginning of September.

I am going to spend some time quilting this week too - I hope to get some projects finished off so I can start some new ones with less guilt!

A lovely time was had by all...

After the hectic madness of our Greek trip a week in Devon was just the relaxing break we all needed. We stayed at Villavin Farm Cottages and I highly recommend them (even more so if you're a quilter as Jo has a quilt shop just next door to the cottages LOL).

It's not a huge farm - their main business is the cottages and the quilting shop - but they have a couple of Shetland Ponies and 12 sheep that Lia fed twice a day. She also got to help feed the chickens while I was choosing fabrics in the shop.

The farm is in Holsworthy and is close to lots of lovely places to visit - the closest town to it is Bude, a 15 min drive, which has fantastic sandy beaches and we also went to Clovelly, Appledore, Boascastle, Tintagel, Bideford and Torquay. Oh and a fantastic place called The Big Sheep which has bottle feeding lambs, sheep racing, sheep sheering, horse whispering, sheepdog trials and a great indoor play area - it's probably a bit boring for older kids but for Lia's age it was great.

Here's a few pics

Lia having just put back the sword in the stone ;)

Lia breaking the sound barrier to get to the sheep and feed them

The sheep being fed

Lia sitting in a wall in Boscastle

DH up a rock at Clovelly

Lia looking at DH up a rock at Clovelly

Daddy's girl

As well as getting out and about we spent a good amount of time at the cottages as there is a play barn and an outside play area so Lia had plenty to do. DH took his kite and spent several hours perfecting his skills and I had my stitching and Wimbledon on the TV!

I managed a finish while we were away - Bent Creek's The Red Thread. I stitched their original snapper series when it came out (the one that has 'January Snows', 'February Glows' etc) but haven't done anything with it because it's such an odd shape. Now my fininshing skills are better I'm thinking to do the both of them as cushions.

Here's some pics - it's 33 inches long by 4.5 inches high (hence the problem of how to finish it).

The secret that's not a secret...

Okay now I'm sure all those who should have been told personally have been I can post my exciting news.

I'm going to be an Auntie again! This time it's my Bro and his wife who are expecting and the baby is due at the beginning of November.

It's a big shock for the family as the two of them always said no kids but somewhere along the line they changed their mind and decided to let nature make the decision for them. I'm so pleased as it means Lia will have another cousin and also because I think the pair of them will make terrific parents.

Obviously it'll be a big change for them, for a start my brother is the grumpiest person alive when sleep deprived and my SIL keeps the house spotless so the addition of someone who will keep them awake and make a mess everywhere for the next 18-30 years will be interesting but as I told them, the total amazing terrificness of being a parent does make up for that minor inconvenience LOL.

Anyway apologies to those who already knew and have been thinking my secret was something more exciting but that's the news from this end.

I'm off for a long weekend away without DH and Lia tomorrow. It's being called a 'Stitching Retreat' and 'Stitchy-con' by some but it really should be called 'an excuse for 16 mad crafters to ditch family and responsibilities and spend the weekend laughing so hard it hurts to breathe'. We went last year and it was fantastic so here's hoping this year is just as good.

Whatever you're doing this weekend I hope you have as much fun as I do.

Back to Reality

So we're back to the normality of work and nursery. Lia had a bit of an issue adjusting back to nursery after the spoiling she received whilst in Greece but after a week back she's much better. She's also in the process of moving rooms which is unsettling even when you've not been out for three weeks.

I can't believe that she'll be three in a couple of weeks! I'll have to get some birthday pics as it's been a while since I posted any. She's getting very grown up now and is a right little scallywag. LOL.

I'm currently trying desperately to get the Gardener to confirm when he's going to come. He's proving impossible to get hold of on the phone and we've left message after message for him to contact us, the last one saying that if we don't hear from him this week we'll go elsewhere. Not that there's anywhere else to go as we had a hard enough time getting anyone to come and quote for the job. We've decided at that if he doesn't contact us we'll do the work ourselves - it'll take a lot longer but we'll save around half the cost. I'm not sure DH is that confident about doing the work but he's been reading up on what needs to be done and I'm sure we'll be fine.

The main problem is that one of us has to be with Lia which means the other is working alone. We're stupidly busy for the whole of June so the work will have to be done in July - I'm hoping that for at least one weekend my parents will come and babysit so we can both get on with the clearing up and tree stump removal. I guess when it's all done we'll have the satisfaction of knowing we did it all but I'd much rather pay someone else!

Crafting wise I don't think I'm going to manage any of my goals this month. Between being in Greece for the first week of the month, a couple of weekends away and a secret project that has to be done for a couple of weeks time I don't have any spare time to get on with anything.

This weekend is a Bank Holiday here and we have to work hard to get the garden in a fit state for visitors as the following weekend we're having a BBQ to celebrate Lia's third birthday (the first time we'll celebrate it at home). Much weed removal, painting and lawnmowing is required just to get it in some kind of order.

I hope to get some crafting done as well but I'm not in despair as it's only two and a half weeks till I have a whole four days away with friends where I can stitch without interruptions. We're off on our annual trip to Derbyshire where no husbands and no children are allowed. We get to knit, stitch, quilt, whatever takes our fancy and Kate from Sparklies will be holding a dyeing class again too (BTW Sparklies has a fabric naming competition on right now - go have a look!)

I'll admit that I didn't get much stitching done last year (mainly due to laughing way too much) but this year I intend to do little else but sit and stitch.

I'll be sure and get some pics this weekend to make my next post a bit more interesting...