God its been a long time.....

....sorry about that. Izzy doesn't nap much and what with driving to playgroup, domestic chores, playdates and just general feeding, cleaning up, playing, sleeping etc I don't seem to have 5 spare minutes. When I do I have sat down for a cup of tea!

I have managed a bit of crafting - at long last! I made Izzy a Christmas stocking from a pretty tea towel I saved. Alex got a sock monkey (from the Guardian Xmas supplement) - meet George.

Izzy also got a cot quilt/playmat for Christmas after 7 months of trying to get it all together. It was made from thrifted fabric bought for less than £1 at various charity shops. I have been getting Sew Hip magazine since its launch and I'm very inspired to make so much more this year.
Next up a doll for her birthday from Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderfuls pattern - a Kit, Chloe or Louise (I haven't yet decided which!)

Little Baby Sister is here at last!

Apologies for the lack of posts for 3 months! First a PC meltdown then I spent the month of May in hospital as a scan revealed I had polyhydramnios and the baby was at risk. Further scans revealed she might need bowel surgery at birth so it was all a bit traumatic but baby Isabelle was born fit and healthy at 8lbs on 22 May by c section. Shewas in th SCBU for a while just in case but we came home together a week later. She is doing well and 6 weeks old tomorrow. Older brother Alex coped v well with being separated from me despite being in the middle of potty training and getting chicken pox on top of everything. I on the other hand missed him like mad and sobbed hysterically everytime he came to visit me on the ward. We have never been apart for more than a few hours before! It was all pretty horrendous but having spent the month with plenty of seriously premature babies I know we are the lucky ones.

Will postagain when I have more time ie when Isabelle naps for longer! Anyway I leave you with a cute photo and fond regards!

Boys will be boys

Alex and a friend making the most of the mud and puddles to make a proper building site. My boy just loves his diggers!

Something Crafty - at last!

At long last my crafting mojo has returned. It deserted me the moment I got pregnant and nauseous and has been a long time returning. I am making a fabric picture to frame and hang in Little Baby Sister's room and as I have a thing for little cottages and cottage gardens that's what I'm making. I am of course inspired by the wonderful Amanda and her son Ezra as well. I have never done anything like this before so it's all experimental but it's also great fun getting stuck into a new project I can do by hand. (My Mum and I share the sewing machine and she has it at the moment.) Will show a pic when it is finished - I promise. Actually now I am finishing work for the year maybe I will have more time to start some new craft projects before the baby arrives...... here's hoping! (On that note: Amazon UK have told me I have to wait another 3 weeks until Amanda's book arrives - argh!)

Down on the Farm

We are very lucky in that Chris's sister and her family live on a small farm just under an hour away from us. She has lots of animals and rears her own pigs and chickens as well as growing her own veg. They also have horses, dogs, cats, doves, fish and a rabbit. Alex just loves it there as there is plenty of land to run around on, his older cousins to play with and lots of animals to visit. They live in a farmhouse perched on a hill in Suffolk with sweeping views from all sides. I love visiting there because it's really my dream to live somewhere like that and this way I get to do it for an afternoon here and there. We also some great chats about homegrown food and raising children and cooking. She is a fabulous cook - we had her hand reared pork at the weekend with home grown veg and home baked bread and butter pudding. The meat was delicious and all the better for having been humanely reared and despatched as all meat really should be.

I am so glad Alex has a chance to grow up near to his cousins and our extended family and to be able to experience a farm based lifestyle at first hand. I want him to learn where our food comes from and how important it is. I want him to learn about animal welfare and to be engaged with animals rather than scared of them (he's not but I know a lot of kids that are). I want him to learn responsibility through caring for animals and the land around us. I think these basic and natural lessons engage the child and teach them a lot about life and the world around them but in a way that interests them and that has meaning for them. Especially at this young age when I really feel that practical learning is far more important than classroom learning (but that's just my opinion!).

I am troubled whenever I read about the problems with today's society where everything seems to be about furnishing the economy and not about the people or our community. I worry terribly about our unhappy and old-before-their-time children (especially the way everything is about a shallow culture of looks and possessions). I have my doubts about the school system and the effect of peer pressure on my kids. It was bad enough it my day but I think it is far worse now. The more I think about it all the more I want to run away to the hills and bring my kids up on a self sufficient smallholding miles away from anywhere. I don't want them to grow up in the electronic age I want them to be wild and free and outside. I want them to be muddy and rosy cheeked and adventurous and at the same time independent, responsible, kind and educated. I believe it is possible to raise your kids that way and I know that the blogs I enjoy reading the most have a similar ethos. I just hope that financial pressures don't mean that we can never achieve this kind of lifestyle for our kids. All it would take right now to start would be a bigger garden and for me to continue working part time if possible - if not give up all together. Some say I have an overly romantic or nostalgic idea of life but I think we should aspire to live a certain way and not just settle for the norm just because it suits everyone else.

Snow Day

At last we had a day of snow on Easter Sunday. I have been looking forward to going out with Alex to play in the snow all winter and at the beginning of Spring we finally got some snow. Just a few centimetres and it was gone by the evening but it was enough to play snowball, make a snowman and play some games. My favourite thing about snow is the hush that descends - it is so quiet and peaceful and everything including the ugly building site next door is covered in that pretty blanket of white for a while. The light was grey and overcast so it wasn't exactly the sparking snow day of my dreams but it was enough to feel like we had a proper winter.

Not quite spring yet

Not quite spring yet, but almost there. Still cold and wet and possible snow to come but at least the flowers are here.

Soon it will be Easter and the great village Easter Egg Hunt. Alex has been making Easter cards and easter egg baskets and pre-school.

Pregnancy Update:I am 30 weeks pregnant and enormous already. Little Baby Sister is doing well and moving lots. Alex has been very sweet and kissing the bump on a regular basis as well as shouting "hello" loudly at it! I feel fine - apart from a few of the usual aches and pains - but I am being driven to distraction by the health service at the moment. I have been trying to obtain my blood test results from almost 8 weeks ago to check that I don't need any iron supplements. Can my midwife find them - no. I asked her to hunt them down and post them to me and instead she sends me forms to request new tests. I go to my GP and ask for them but she tells me I didnt have the full blood count done. Which is rubbish as I know I did as I discussed it with them when they were taking the 6 vials of blood. And then when I ask her to follow it up she rushes off to take a private phone call and doesn't bother to finish the conversation with me! I finally manage to speak to the phlebotomist who tells me if something was wrong the hospital would have contacted me. Which is also rubbish as they never contact me about anything at all. Between the hospital, the midwife and the GP none of them appear to have a clue what's going on and who is doing what. I finally managed to speak to another phlebotomist who did track down my results and has printed them off for me to collect. But I have to make another GP appointment to discuss them - again. Sigh. Also I have to spend a couple of hours at the hospital this week doing a GTT test even though I don't have Gestational diabetes because I had such a big baby last time. Which I have explained is genetic as my m-i-l had big babies but it seems they aren't paying much attention to me (just like last time!). It really doesn't give me much confidence in the whole system at all.

And I had such a traumatic labour and delivery with Alex (you really really don't want to know the details) that ended in an emergency c section and emergency blood transfusion that I think we will be booking in for a planned c section this time. At least I might be able to gain a tiny bit of control over the whole process. But of course my consultant despite having read my horror story is still trying to get me to do a Vbac.

So 8 or 9 weeks to go........tick tock.