Crispy Craftiness

When I collected Eve from nursery last night I was given a silver package with some edible treats that she had made for us - little chocolate rice crispy cakes. In the photo she looks like she was having a great time.

I must admit, there is always a part of me that wishes that I could be the one doing these activities with her. But, then again not having to tidy up the mess afterwards is pretty good.

Eve's been having a really good week. At the start of it she slept from 7pm to 5am which was a wonder of the world for us. Last night she woke up at 11pm and I thought 'oh oh' this might not be a great night, and then the next thing I knew, I heard her singing and chatting away, looked at the clock and it was 5.45am - what a result.

Eve's been having naps at random times depending on when she's woken up this week - so it doesn't seem like naps are making that much difference. But perhaps finishing the antibiotics have.

She's a good little trooper though, Sam noticed this morning that one side of her face is swollen. We think she might have one of her molars coming through. 

It's great that the kids have fun creating foody treats at nursery, though I have asked the staff not to give Eve coco pops and food like this as part of her meals. I know that it's good for the children to try as many different types of food as possible, but sometimes when I see the sheet of what she has eaten in a day I worry.

However, when Eve's at home we always try and give her as many vegetables as possible. She absolutely adores green beans!

Weekend Joy

Wearing the Rituals dressing gown that Grandad Col and Jeggsy gave her for Christmas 2013. 

It finally fits which is most exciting. Eve likes wearing it in the morning when she's playing in the lounge. (She has yet to grow into her pyjama's though! Always tricky, smaller size are way too tight, but next size up is still a bit too big).

Well, it's been another lovely weekend. Eve is still on her 'I must get up for the day around 4am', so I managed to get lots of house work done and felt most productive. She's been on antibiotics for another ear infection this past week, so I think that has been bothering her a bit in her sleep, but otherwise she's actually been sleeping pretty well.

Not having teething pain is so good, we really see the difference. She eats so well, drinks less milk at her bedtime milk session and less milk during the middle of the night too. It's such a relief, though it only seems to last a few weeks until the next tooth starts trying to come through. She now has 8 teeth - all at the front of her mouth.

Talking of mouths, I had a bit of a scare this weekend. Eve was playing in the lounge and I was on my laptop in the kitchen (it's open plan so that we can see through to the other room). I heard her coughing in a strange way that I'd not heard before, so I rushed in, to find her with a red wooden part of her train-set stuffed inside her mouth. Thankfully it had a hold through the middle, but it was quite wedged behind her teeth and I had to pull it out. She didn't make a fuss at all though and just carried on playing after I reiterated to her not to put things in her mouth. I must admit, I didn't think she would try and put those pieces in her mouth as they are quite big. She knows things that she's not allowed or shouldn't do, we just have to keep reminding her. 

 Arnos Vale Park

On Saturday afternoon dear Cridds n Jess came over to see us, which was such a welcome visit. It's so nice to see friends, who cheer us up after a stressful week of work/home/attemptingbalance. Thankfully the weather was good, so we walked through the woods to the park so that Eve could go on the swings. She had a great time in her new coat, which I bought in a charity shop before she was born.

It's so lovely seeing her wear things that I bought so long ago - now the dreams become reality.

Eve seemed a bit wary, like she was checking out Cridds and Jess for a bit at first, but by the end of the afternoon they were firm friends and were doing high-fives.

Hello, I'm ready for nursery!

Eve walks a few more steps each day, and we can see her confidence growing. Yesterday she walked towards the tv to watch 'Dora the Explorer' on Nick Jr, stood there a moment and then plonked down on her bum.

Vic Firth Kidsticks

One evening last week when we arrived home from work a parcel from Amazon was waiting for us; addressed to Eve. I racked by brain and thought it was weird as we hadn't ordered anything. There wasn't a note inside so we didn't know who they were from, but the coolest present was inside.

Vic Firth Kidsticks are specially weighted drumsticks for children. As soon as we opened the box we gave them to her straight away and she started hitting them together and banging them on her high-chair. Sam has had a digital drum kit for many years and is often in his studio playing the drums. I learnt drums when I was at school, though I'm afraid I didn't get much further than paradiddles - it turned out that I wasn't very co-ordinated. However, my slight claim to fame is that I have one of Pantera's very gnarled up drumsticks on a shelf at home, from a gig I went to in the 90's.

Eve, after we first handed the sticks to her

My sister, Claire is an incredible drummer. She plays a variety of percussion instruments. She has played the drums and steel pan professionally over the years. Eve has some good teachers nearby which is great.

Along with the drumsticks came a little cardboard slip that held them together, on it gave details of a free online drum lesson, which I thought was a great idea for older children.

http://www.vicfirth.com/product/buynow/product.php?button=KIDS

Everett "Vic" Firth is an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company that makes percussion sticks and mallets.

Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company bills itself as the world's largest manufacturer of drum sticks and mallets. In 2010, the company merged with  Avedis Zildjian.

Thanks to Facebook we found out that it was our lovely pal Teeny that sent the drumsticks to Eve - Thanks Teeny, you little legend! We have so many lovely friends and we appreciate them so much.

I know that Eve is going to get a lot of use out of these drum sticks, they are definitely a big hit :-)

The nursery girls kindly emailed me a photo of Eve decorating a pancake for Shrove Tuesday yesterday. Sam and I were most amused by this photo. Looks like she enjoyed herself.

Eve showed me her pancake in the evening, 

moments after this photo was taken I had demolished it. Mmmmmm!

Ups and Downs and Shrove Tuesday

Here's a lovely photo of Eve with her cousin's Scarlett (5 years old)
and Huxley (3 years old) which was taken at the end of October last year

As the way of being a Mumma works, after Saturday being such a lovely, relaxing day, that night poor Eve woke up a few times with sore teeth. The following day she grumbled and grumbled, after a couple of doses of medicine and teething gel I finally put her in her cot at a random time of 11.30am which is usually her lunch time.

She hadn't really eaten anything that morning due to the pain, after drinks of water and declining her favourite little biscuits I knew the only thing left was to put her to bed crying. I had already tried it a couple of times that morning and before I even got to her bedroom door she started howling. 

Thankfully she fell asleep almost instantly. I quickly hoovered downstairs and washed the floor (the best time to do it is when Eve is out of the way) and then quickly threw myself back into bed too - I felt so exhausted after the events of that night and morning.

Daddy left us sleeping so we didn't wake up until after 2pm, which was strange - but great. I felt like a new woman. We ate a late lunch of yummy falafels and decided that as it doesn't get dark now until about 6pm that we'd go for a walk through the woods together. Something we haven't done for quite a few weeks. 

Breathing in the fresh, cool air in the woods works wonders for the soul. It really gave us a well needed boost, so we walked home feeling more rested and happier. We stopped at the park on the way home. Daddy pushed Eve on a swing and I went on a big kids swing at the same time - you're never too old!

On Sunday night after already waking at 2am, Eve woke at 5am coughing. She had a drink and just as I was about to put her back to bed she coughed and threw up all over me. Thankfully it missed the cot, but after getting her changed she was totally awake, so downstairs to baby telly we went. I tried to get a bit of kip on the sofa whilst she played, but it was fairly impossible as she decided that for the first time she would bang the living daylights out of her toy piano. She's such a good girl though and I don't mind these things as I am so grateful to have her in my life. I finally fell asleep on the sofa, and what felt like moments later I felt little hands tapping me as she was trying to tell me that I needed to change her nappy.

After the eventful morning, I was preparing to get out of the door for nursery and work. I went back into the lounge to put Eve's coat, hat and shoes on, only to find her fast asleep on the lounge floor.

Shrove Tuesday - Daddy Day!

Eve woke up at 5am again this morning. Thankfully as Dad is on half term he took her downstairs to play so that I could go back to bed for a couple more hours. I came downstairs at 7.30am to find them both fast asleep. Dad was on the sofa and Eve was asleep on the floor again, looking very cosy.

It's a beautiful day here today, walking to work with a bit more sleep than usual under my belt was fantastic. After their morning nap Sam took Eve up to wander about in Knowle. I was so pleased to hear that they stopped off to eat pancakes today. I was fretting that Eve was going to miss out on pancake fun at nursery this morning, so this worked out perfectly.

Eve enjoying a pancake

On the way home they stopped off at the park together. It's so lovely to be updated with what Eve is doing during the daytime as I miss her so much. Sam sends me photos on Whats app which is brilliant.

Last night when I got back from work Eve walked about 5 steps into Daddy's arms. The joy we both felt at seeing this was immense. 

Valentines treats

As planned, Eve and I were up and out the door before 9.30am on Saturday morning (if you want to be able to fit a pram on a bus on a Saturday you've got to do it early), in fact it was so early that we actually arrived in Cabot Circus before any of the shops had opened.

Eve slept in the pram, so I had a nice time wandering about the shops, browsing. I didn't buy anything, but it was really good being able to spend some time looking around. By 11am Eve hadn't woken up and I was feeling a bit tired, so I headed to Giraffe and ordered myself some blueberry pancakes. As we were there early, it wasn't busy so we were given a large table. I sorted out her lunch and play paraphernalia before she woke up (good to be able to have everything ready without rushing). 

As the restaurant started filling up for lunchtime Eve woke up. I ordered her some pasta twirls whilst she got stuck into some serious fun with crayons.

Eve didn't mind the pasta but I was slightly disappointed by it, and she didn't eat too much of it. Giraffe is a great restaurant and I always enjoy visiting, but I thought the pasta was quite lacking in imagination. Just because a dish is being made for a child doesn't mean that it has to be completely bland. It was literally just pasta twists mixed into chopped tinned tomatoes with some cheese grated on top. A good tomato sauce needs a little bit more care than that.

Other than that we had a lovely time. There was lots going on at nearby tables. Eve enjoyed watching what some older children were doing. 

After a fairly successful lunch (Eve was  really well behaved, phew!) I put her in the sling and we wandered down to Jones the Boot-makers, with Eve clutching a couple of crayons that she had brought with her (she was delighted by this). 

Clarks Little Poppy First Shoes

The guy that fitted her first pair of shoes was really nice and seemed very knowledgeable and explained about sizing. Eve's feet are a size 3E (3 is the length and E is the width). Apparently she has quite narrow feet with most children of her age having the width of G). As she has such small feet they didn't have many varieties of shoes in stock that would fit her, but thankfully the pair that the chap suggested (which would support her well re the narrow width of her feet) were really cute.

Granny T kindly paid for the shoes which is great as they're quite expensive and I was told that Eve should have her feet measured every 2-3 months going forward. The pair we bought are called Clarks Little Poppy T-Bar First Shoes in colour Berry.

http://www.charlesclinkard.co.uk/girls-c23/shoes-c24/little-poppy-girls-t-bar-first-shoes-p19255/s242345?gclid=CIj6lf6a5sMCFRPMtAodbVgAfw 

The shoes have soft soles which are important for developing feet. 

The weather was good so we stopped at the swings on our way home. Sam was supposed to be going out with some friends but his plans fell through. This turned out quite nicely in the end as we had a fun Valentines evening together, watching tv and drinking White Russians.

The Hungry Caterpillar and Other Nursery Adventures

Last week the girls at nursery told me that the story of 'The Hungry Caterpillar' had been read to the children one morning. As they looked through blown up images of the various foods, the children then had a food tasting session of different things that appear in the book. I thought this was such a great idea. 

Of course, everyone knows and loves this book by Eric Carle, which was first published in 1969. It's such a classic, we thoroughly enjoyed reading it and looking at the cool illustrations when we were small. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the food tasting event but I do have some pictures of other things that Eve has been doing lately at nursery...

Emily who is in charge of the baby room kindly emailed me some photos. They were exploring colourful rice earlier this week, and were also using objects such as pears to make paint marks on the paper.

Eve loves playing with the giant abacus - quite often when we collect her she will be wandering around it.

Us parents were asked to make a 'Family Board' for our little one as part of the Valentine's theme this month. Apparently Eve is very keen on the one I made and loves looking at it and pointing at our pictures when she's at nursery.

Eve has liked trying to fit various toys and objects inside things since Christmastime. The little green stick in the picture below is actually a children's drum stick. It is a favourite of hers to see what it will fit into. Whilst Sam was looking after her this week she was watching him cooking her lunch so he gave her some play dough and she tried to re-create what Daddy was doing.

Eve is a total speed demon these days, racing around the kitchen. She's done a few steps by herself now and can stand upright for a few minutes by herself but we are yet to see her walk. Hopefully the new shoes tomorrow will spur her on!

Sleeping Beauty

Walking across a very foggy Bristol this morning I felt quite dazed after an eventful night, up at all hours with Eve. I think I've come to the conclusion that there is no magic formula, no golden recipe for getting a baby to sleep through the night, as much as we'd all like to think. 

I believe it's completely dependent on how they are feeling and whether they are ill, teething, have a sore stomach or are having bad dreams. Some babies/toddlers sleep more easily than others. There are so many variables conducive to sleep.

As mentioned in my previous post Eve had her best nights sleep in 9 months on Saturday night (she only had 1.5 hour nap that day, so nothing out of the ordinary). 

On Sunday she had a mammoth 3 hour nap, slept awfully on Sunday night, another mammoth 3 hour+ nap at nursery yesterday lunch time and slept really badly again last night. People say that if a baby has good naps they should sleep better during the night time. I'm afraid at the moment I don't see this happening for Eve.

Sam says that he is noticing more and more that she is reluctant to go down for her morning nap when he looks after her, though she rubs her eyes and looks tired. I'm thinking of pushing her morning nap later so that she takes it just after lunch about 12.30/1pm. We've been on one nap a day for about a month anyway, so I'm hoping that maybe having her one nap slightly later will help. Who knows? Let's see!

http://www.sockons.co.uk/products/mocc-ons/

Yesterday when I collected her from nursery she was very excited and waved and crawled over to me. She then pulled herself up on me and just stood there, beaming. It was the longest she has stood unaided and she looked very confident. I got very excited and the girls who work in the nursery all clapped, then Eve took a step or two towards me before going down on her bum. It made me very happy. 

The only footwear that Eve currently wears are Mocc Ons - which were kindly given to her as a present from our friends Duncan and Anne (great present, thanks guys!). The Mocc Ons are perfect for the cold weather and are the only things that stay on. She wears them every time she goes to nursery, as the floor is often messy there, plus she can't pull her socks off and get cold feet. 

Babies are supposed to learn to walk without shoes so that their feet can develop and strengthen naturally. 

When she's at home she roams free, but the poor Mocc Ons are getting pretty dirty from lots of wear at nursery so I've decided to take her to 'Jones Bootmaker' to have her feet measured for her first pair of 'real' shoes this weekend. She seems so close to walking and loves to look over the top of the bath on tip toes as I'm preparing it for her each night, so I'm hoping that this is the right time to buy them.

Clarks Genie Pumps

I've already been to 'Jones' to have a look at their shoes. They don't have much of a variety but there are 2 or 3 nice looking, sturdy shoes - such as Clarks Softly Rose Pumps, Start-Rite Mayflower or Genie Pumps and Clarks Little Linzi Pumps. I think it's worthwhile spending out on shoes that are well fitting and supportive (crikey I sound like my mum!)

http://www.jonesbootmaker.com/childrens/girls/start-rite-first-shoes-buckled-shoe-2011400450

Sunday Brunch With Buddies

The weather was simply glorious this weekend, cold, fresh and very sunny. Eve had her best nights sleep in 9 months on Saturday night, sleeping through from 10pm to 6am (I was one very happy Mummy). Eve had a mammoth 3 hour nap on Sunday morning, which I had to gently wake her up from as we were going to be late for our brunch date at our friends house.

Thankfully we have just had our car fixed by a friendly, helpful chap called Steve at Langdon Motors just around the corner from us. It's so nice living in such a great neighbourhood. 

We drove over to Dan and Ocky's house where they had the table set for brunch. It looked so pretty and the food was very tasty. It was really nice to be invited over for a meal that had been lovingly made for us all. Working full time and constantly being on the go makes me enjoy relaxing times such as this all the more these days. 

Our friends Terry and Si were also there. Terry was down for the weekend from London - she hadn't seen Eve since she was about 4 months old, so it was nice for them to spend some time together. Si is off to live in Australia with his lady George, so a farewell brunch with him was just the perfect thing.

Our lovely hostess Ocky with Eve

Arthur and Eve played in the lounge for a bit after we had eaten. Eve was very taken with Arthur's skateboard and a little yellow hammer that made a funny sound when she shook it. I don't think poor Arthur was very impressed with Eve delving into all his toys, but it amused us adults.

As it was such good weather we took a stroll down to the park just off Bedminster Road. The park is incredible - not only did the wee bairns have fun on the swings, us big kids had a great time trying out the various apparatus. Fantastic park, we'll definitely be returning...

Eve had a wonderful time in the park, she was such a good girl all day, really enjoying herself and getting involved in everything.

I was a tiny bit scared here, Terry was making it go quite high :-)

Sam, Eve and Me. Dan with Arthur, Ocky and Si

From the park we wandered over to The Spotted Cow on North Street in Bedmo, had a quick drink, said our farewells and then wandered back to find our car. Eve was so happy being carried around by us all afternoon in the sling. Sam and I had a wonderful weekend with our girl. We don't get to spend as much time as we used to with friends, so it really made our spirits soar seeing good mates - thank you Dan and Ocky for such a great day!

Good Luck Si and George

We hope you have an incredible adventure on your travels to live in Australia x

Weekend Outings

This was taken in the Star and Dove between Christmas and New Years when we stopped by for a few drinks with friends

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. What with my photo albums in disarray on my laptop and my iphone not syncing properly I'm relying on other people's photos to update this blog for the time being.

We've been busy with nursery, our jobs and the housework as of late, though of course there is always time for music.

Eve enjoys playing in Daddy's studio on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when he looks after her. When I drop her off at nursery, quite often she heads straight for the musical instruments.









A week or so ago we got Eve's first 'report card' from nursery. It said that she is a delight to have in the class, that she's made some good friends and is always the first to get involved with anything messy and arty. Sam and I were both thrilled.

Playing with Daddy's hat

I've always loved the weekends of course, but now it means that I get to spend the entire time with Eve and I just love the moments that we share together. As Sam looks after her for a couple of mornings a week, on the weekend he gets down to his work in the studio whilst Eve and I go off and do something.

On Saturday we got the train together up to Abingdon in Oxfordshire for Jake's first birthday party. Our journey was so smooth in both directions; trains on time, no delays and Eve was either asleep or content and enjoying herself, phew!

Jake Jones' first birthday - photo by Paul Browse Photography

http://www.paulbrowsephotography.com/

My lovely sister-in-law collected us from Didcot train station. Her husband Dave looked after their two kids Scarlett and Huxley at home so that Eve could use Huxley's car seat. I must say that poor Eve looked rather bewildered as we put her into the car seat - a strange car, and in a forward facing car seat for the first time - I think she thought I was sending her off somewhere by herself. By the end of the journey, and a couple of rice cakes later she was smiling and happy.

I had a lovely time seeing old friends at the party - especially meeting their children, most of whom I had seen photos of online but had never met in person. It was great to see Jake's friends and family singing 'Happy Birthday' to him as his mum blew out the candle on the cake. Eve and I missed Daddy terribly throughout the day. She kept asking for him on the train home which was very cute.

Eve just wanted to be close to Dad the following day. She enjoyed having lots of hugs and sitting on his lap watching NBA Basketball for an hour or so. 

She is growing up so fast, last week when I collected her from nursery she took a couple of steps towards me before falling into my arms. She cruises easily round the lounge and kitchen and loves using her walker. She stands unaided next to the kitchen shelves but hasn't quite mustered the courage to walk by herself. 

We've taken down the Mothercare baby 'cage'. It's been so useful for the past 4-5 months but now she can be more free. She's very good and knows some of the dangerous things that she's not allowed to touch, such as the fireplace. She'll go towards things, will then look at us for confirmation that she's still not allowed to touch and will then go on her merry way towards something else. 

I'm very excited as my sister and her family are moving to Bristol at the end of March, so I'm sure we can pass the 'cage' on to them.