Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Prepping for Christmas

Having a great time making Christmas cards with Mummy on a rainy Saturday morning.

On Friday afternoon I was worrying about Eve and her teeth whilst I was at work, so I phoned nursery to see how she was. They said she had only eaten half a yogurt for lunch. I asked them to give her some medicine. I'm so glad that I phoned them as I don't like to think of Eve in pain. 

The medicine must have helped. I rushed from work to collect Eve on Friday evening as I couldn't wait to see her, after such a difficult week. She came straight over to me and looked very happy; the happiest I had seen her in the past 7 days. I had a nice chat with the nursery staff whilst I got Eve into her pram. Daniel, who is one of Eve's friends came over to her to say goodbye. They have been potty training together and are good potty pals. Apparently they high five each other and say hurrah when the other does a successful wee! Funny things. 

College Green, Bristol. I love walking through here between nursery and work each day.

Daniel's mum was there and we both laughed and smiled at how happy our kids were together. Daniel then came over to Eve and gave her a kiss on the lips. It was a beautiful moment and the nursery staff and us mum's oooh'ed and aaah'ed about it together. 

On the way out of nursery, Daniel's mum invited Eve to his birthday party in December. It turns out that Daniel and Eve were born on the same day with about half an hour's difference. It was nice to be able to laugh about the fact that we were both going through child birth at the same time - hindsight is such a great thing isn't it. It took me a long time to get over the trauma of that experience, but of course as a mum I look back on it with mixed emotions. Our minds are so clever at helping us to remember the positive parts and not the negative as we progress into the future.

Unfortunately this is not the 'Alfie' that I remember from the original 1980's books.

On Thursday evening I passed the bath time baton over to Sam, as I just couldn't handle another bath battle with Eve. I felt sad to be missing out on her bed time routine but also felt very lucky that Sam was there to be able to give me a bit of a break. Friday evening bath time was such a change in comparison. Eve was happy and let me wash her, brush her hair and do her teeth with ease. Granny T gave Eve a little box of 'Alfie' books for her birthday last year. We've just started reading them in Eve's room before bed. 

'Alfie gets in first' by Shirley Hughes, one of my favourites. 
Eve knows that Annie Rose is Alfie's sister and listens intently as I read the books to her.

I was a huge 'Alfie' fan as a child, and Eve is exactly the same. Looking at the illustrations in those books gives me a big hit of nostalgia. Of course, the only problem with the 'Alfie' books is that Eve loves them so much it's tricky getting her to go to sleep, as she wants to read more. She has gone to bed clutching an 'Alfie' book almost every night recently. Luckily my mum bought the book collection from a second hand shop so the illustrations are the original ones. It seems that they've slightly changed the images in the modern books compared with the 1980's versions. Both images above differ from the ones that we have in the books at home. 


The weather has been atrocious lately; really blustery, rainy days and even stormier nights. On Saturday morning, as we couldn't go to the park, I set Eve up in the kitchen to make Christmas cards for friends and family. I cut a couple of shapes from some bath sponges. Eve loved holding the sponges and pushing the paint down on to the cards. She loved throwing the glitter about even more and was a happy mess by the end of our art session.

I guess this post ruins the surprise of these Christmas cards for our friends and family,
but hey ho the internet sucks me in and made me want to share this with you.

Sam in Arnos Vale Cemetery

After our painting session and whilst Eve had her morning nap, Sam and I pushed her in the pram through the woods by our house. We had a drink and shared a piece of cake in the lovely Atrium cafe at the entrance to the cemetery to celebrate our 15th anniversary. Eve had slept all night and had had a lovely morning making the Christmas cards, so we were both feeling super relaxed, after the past weeks stress of her teething.


An arts and crafts cafe has opened near our house last week, so we enjoyed visiting it on Saturday afternoon with Eve. She liked playing with the games and puzzles, and loved sharing some chocolate brownie with Mummy and Daddy.


After we had put Eve to bed that evening we headed to Assilah, a Moroccan restaurant at the end of our road. We had been looking forward to checking it out for a long time. The decor is lovely and it has a nice warm, cosy atmosphere. The food was pretty good but unfortunately after waiting 1.5 hours for it to arrive we had kind of lost the mojo. It was good to spend that time chatting though. We didn't mind that much as we were heading into town for our friends, 'Big in the Gambia' event, fundraising for a hospital in the Gambia, so we left quick sharp after our anniversary meal.

My lovely husband, Sam

We had a great time at the 'Big in the Gambia' event. It was fun seeing friends that we've literally not been out with for a good few years.

Our friend Jess Farmer on the right hand side of this photo has made an incredible effort fundraising for this great cause. He is a real inspiration - thank you Jess!

The Gambian Baby Fund is working towards improving the quality of life of newborn babies and mothers within the Gambia. They will be heading to The Gambia at the end of 2015 to begin work on a brand new maternity wing to be added on to the Royal Victoria teaching hospital in the capital of Banjul. 

Hospitals in Britain are amazing and I feel so grateful that I could give birth in a caring, supportive environment, with medical and specialist care should I have needed it. Please dig deep and donate to help mothers and babies in the Gambia, who really need our help.

If you would like to donate to 'Big in the Gambia' for the Gambian Baby Fund please click the link: 









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