An Afternoon at Arthur's

 Arthur and Eve playing old school garage styles

Our friend's, Dan, Ocky and Arthur have recently moved house so we planned to visit them after lunch, on Saturday afternoon. I explained this to Eve as we walked to the shops that morning. I also told Eve that Ocky has a baby in her tummy. Eve was very excited at the prospect of going to see them. 

Getting ready for our walk

Eve and I had a lovely walk to the shops at the end of our road. She had a go on a little bike in one charity shop but was upset that we had to leave it there. It took me a few minutes to coerce her out of the shop, but she was pretty good and went to put the bike back and left with me, holding hands.

She was very good in the next shop and waited patiently to pay for a soft, wobbly Macca Pacca toy. But when we left the shops she became very upset and didn't want to go to the park; she just wanted to go and see Arthur. 

Wells Road is busy with lots of cars, so I carried her away from it, flailing around and crying. We approached a grandad with 3 dogs on the pavement. He was a nice old chap and chatted to Eve so that she stopped crying. She was interested in his dogs, and showed him her new toy, Macca Pacca, which he said he recognised from In The Night Garden. I love the area where we live; it's nice being able to walk around the block and interact with people. And I think it's good for Eve to have social interactions with strangers.

Enjoying herself on a bike in the charity shop (this is her say 'cheese' face)

Eve was tired after our walk and wouldn't eat much lunch. She fell asleep on the drive on the way over to Arthur's but only had about fifteen minutes sleep. Regardless of being tired she threw herself into playtime when we arrived at their house. She adored Arthur's rocking horse and his car collection. In particular Eve loved stroking their cat who was sleeping on a bed. Eve spent Sunday evening telling us that she wants a cat. It is something that we are considering for the distant future (we are cat lovers anyway), as long as our landlord will let us.

Eve on Arthur's rocking horse

It was really good chilling at Dan and Ocky's for a couple of hours. It was great to catch up with them and play with the kids. Arthur and Eve are always so chilled out with each other.

Navi, Jilly and Lamorna came over for a walk in the woods on Sunday afternoon. Eve talked about them excitedly before they arrived and told us that she was shy with Navi. I told her that it's ok to be shy with someone when you like them so much :-)

Eve had a good sleep at the end of the walk so that Sam and I could both do our own thing at home. He got some music stuff done this weekend and I pottered about in the garden. The lighter mornings and evenings make so much difference, it's great feeling productive on the weekend. Plus, Eve ate the lasagne that I'd made, for dinner last night. I actually made it for lunch on Saturday but she flat out refused it. It was a bonus that she finally wanted to eat it, hurrah.

Eve wearing her slippers to nursery last week - she wore them all day long, 

and was adamant that she would not wear shoes!

Oshe Design

Princes Wharf II Bristol - Oshe Design

As I was walking over Pero's Bridge in Bristol yesterday morning, I was handed a flyer from a tall, smiley chap. It's so nice to have little interactions like this on my way to work. It kick starts you with a warm positive feeling - thank you Oshe Design, AKA Stu Watkins!

I really like the design of the flyer. The front has some Oshe Design images with the words:

'Warmest Greetings from Oshe - Where Simplicity Lives.' 

Henry David Thoreau is quoted on the back: 'As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.' This really struck a chord with me.

If you have a look on the website or Facebook page you will see that Oshe Design create beautiful prints of not only Bristol landmarks, but also Cornwall, Wiltshire and various other places in the South West, and even Greece.

Ashton Court, Bristol - Oshe Design

Princes Wharf I Bristol - Oshe Design

To have a look at more great prints: http://oshedesign.com/ or www.facebook.com/oshe.design/

Yesterday Eve had a great morning with Daddy. They spent ages in the park playing in the huge sandpit and going down the slide. It was so sunny that Daddy even pulled out Eve's bucket and spade from the cupboard. Hurrah, spring is here!

Hand, Foot and Mouth

My sister, Claire, took Jago to the doctors yesterday as he had developed a rash over the past few days and also had a swollen testicle. You can never be too sure with rashes, so it's better to be safe than sorry and get it checked out.

The doctor said that Jago has hand, foot and mouth. He would have been contagious the week beforehand, so I am hoping that Eve has not caught it from him. It looks very nasty and painful. Claire said that Jago was in a lot of pain yesterday, but that the only thing the doctor recommends is giving calpol throughout the day. Kids can still attend nursery, you don't have to keep them at home. Have a look at the link below to see symptoms:

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Hand-foot-and-mouth-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Last night Claire put x3 drops of lavender oil in Jago's bath. She says that it's made a big difference to his skin overnight and he's a lot happier today.

Lavender calms the skin, is anti-bacterial and rejuvenating so it was just what the dear little chap needed.

We are very lucky in Bristol as we have Amphora Aromatics who make and distribute high quality aromatherapy sundries. The people that work at Amphora are really friendly and knowledgeable, and I love going in there on my lunch breaks. 

You can buy their products online. Lavender essential oil is one of their best sellers:

http://www.amphora-retail.com/product_info.php/lavender-essential-oil-p-21

NB: This is a generic bath pic :-)

As I have been struggling with bath time this past week, Sam offered to do a swop last night; he would bath Eve and I would cook the dinner. It took Eve a while to go upstairs with Daddy whilst we explained to her that he would be bathing her instead. He tried his best, but after he finally got her clothes off, she got very upset and wanted to put them back on again. I went upstairs to take over and she had pulled her pants back on in a most amusing manner. Eve told Daddy to go downstairs, which I think upset him a bit. 

I haven't physically got into the bath with Eve for about a week, so I asked her if she would like to share a bath with me and she said yes. I hike across Bristol each night from work so it's always nice to have a bath with her after a hot mission. 

Eve got into the bath fairly easily but wouldn't sit down at all. She's a funny old thing. It seems that having Daddy bath her showed her that she wanted her usual bath time with me. She let me wash her better than all the days of the past week and even let me brush her hair. I must say, it was nice to feel wanted as usually Eve wants her Daddy to do everything. These kids, eh. They keep us on our toes!

Naughty Treats With Granny T

Eve, about to devour her pudding

I had the day off work on Friday for a dental appointment. Yep that's right, old age approaches, and with it brings dental work of a more serious nature; the crown. I feel pretty good that I've made it to almost 40 with only a few fillings and nothing worse. Sam and I are both determined in our outlook when it comes to Eve's teeth; we try our hardest and most of the time Eve is very good, though sometimes if she has sore teeth or is just grumpy then it's a total no go zone.

When I arrived home from the dentist my mum had arrived from Cornwall. She is a total wonder, and had brought up lots of foodie treats, as well as pre-prepared roasted vegetables for our evening meal. This meant we had more time to spend together and less time prepping food, which was great.

Granny T is going to stay at our house for a couple of nights at the end of April, as I'll be working in Italy and Sam will be at working late too; so she'll pick Eve up from nursery. She came with me to collect Eve on Friday from nursery. I'm a total control freak, so I felt more comfortable being able to introduce my mum to Eve's key worker, Amber, and show her the collection routine.

Before Eve went to bed we had a lovely time looking through photo albums together.

Eve has been better at getting dressed in the mornings lately. This is due to 'Daddy the dressing robot' who comes to help. Unfortunately, I seem to be rather rubbish at doing robot noises and have never been good at robotic movements, so Dad is in his element with this. He's also got into a great routine doing Eve's hair once she is dressed; it's very rare that she lets me touch her hair.

Late on Saturday morning we braved the stormy outdoors and went over to Bedminster to have lunch at Zazu's Kitchen with my sister, Claire, her partner Jody and my nephew, Jago. I was a bit stressed out that morning so it was great to arrive at the restaurant and have a few glasses of much needed prosecco!

Daddy, Mummy and Eve

Zazu's Kitchen in Bedminster has recently been refurbished so they have lots of good offers on, check their website for more information.

http://www.zazuskitchen.co.uk/

We've all been busy people lately, so it was really good to catch up with the family.

Jago enjoying his peas

Jago is such a great eater, I am always envious to see the food that he eats. Claire works really hard each day cooking healthy meals at home for him, which is reflected in what he eats. The boy adores peas! We ordered fish fingers and chips for Eve, needless to say she basically ate all the chips and nothing else. Ah well, sigh. Eve asked for pudding with great gusto, the restaurant didn't have yogurt so we ordered her a chocolate brownie with ice cream as a treat. She absolutely loved it, but dear Jago wouldn't touch it.

At the end of the meal, Jody (and Sam) took the kids back to his house just around the corner so that Eve and Jago could play together. I was really pleased that Eve behaved so well in the restaurant during the meal, though she wouldn't sit in the high chair and sat on our laps the whole time. 

I had been quite nervous about how it would go, so I let out a sigh of relief at the end. After we got the boys and kids out of the restaurant door, my sister, my mum and I all settled back down to finish our drinks and have a chat. The restaurant staff laughed at how well we had engineered this :-)

Play time at Claire's house

Eve adored playing with Jago's post box

Things sometimes seem too good to be true. We had a week of relaxed bath time with Eve recently. We'd get home at 6pm and she'd be bathed and in bed by 7. Just as I was thinking, this is wonderful; she had diarrhea early each morning in bed for 4 or 5 days. This gave her a really sore bum, so it's been very difficult getting her in the bath this past week. I'm truly hoping that easy bath times are on their way back to us.

Granny T went home on Sunday morning. Sam, me and Eve had a rather chilled out day at home. The weather outside was still awful, but we managed to get a 20 minute walk through the woods during a break in the rain. Eve loves looking upwards, and is constantly trying to reach things, and notices tiny planes high up in the sky. Yesterday when I collected her from nursery she was in the garden jumping up at an outdoor light bulb in a most excited manner :-)

Eve with a bunch of cotton buds?!?

Westside!

Daddy and Eve in the park last week

Apart from a bit of tooth ache this past week, Eve has been having a lovely time at nursery and at home. She has a bit of a chesty cough, but it's no where near as bad at the one she had this time last year, so that is something to be thankful for.

We didn't get up to much this weekend, just pottered about at home and went to the park. Yesterday afternoon Eve fell asleep on me again. I asked her if she wanted a nap in her bed but she said no. I had been hard at work cleaning all morning and was being a lazy mummy, and didn't want to take her out in the pram for a sleep. The next thing I knew we were both waking up on the sofa; she is like a cosy hot water bottle.

Eve wearing new earmuffs that Granny T sent

Playing in the park

Daddy and Eve were being silly wearing toy vegetable baskets on their heads one evening when I arrived home from work. I showed Eve how to go, 'westside,' and she did it perfectly. It was very amusing!

Playtime in the Park

The sun was shining on Wednesday morning, which was great for Eve and Daddy's morning together. The weather has been so wintry lately that we haven't ventured to the park for some time. Eve certainly made up for it on this visit, Dad says she went on every single piece of park equipment, and even went down the big slide - though very slowly.

Eve was so worn out by the mornings events that she fell asleep at the table after lunch. Thankfully when Daddy woke her up she was happy about going to nursery, but promptly fell asleep as soon as she got there, curled up with her 'minnie' and said goodbye to Daddy. I was very impressed with his Dad skills that day, I arrived home to find the kitchen tidy, which is always a massive bonus.

Eve has been a good girl this week, and has been enjoying me reading 'Toot goes to Dinosaurland' and 'Teddy Bedtime' for her bedtime stories. I picked them up from the library the other day. Any story that ends with the character snuggling down in bed works wonders. I also showed Eve how to wind up the bath turtle and dolphin this week. She understands how to twist the mechanism and loves watching them swimming away, but told me, 'it's tricky mummy!'

This morning we had a bit of an ordeal getting changed for nursery. I managed to get Eve into leggings and shoes but she was adamant that she didn't want to change the rest of her clothes. She's too strong for me these days and I find it impossible to get her changed unless she wants to. I was psyching myself up for the embarrassment of taking her to nursery wearing her pyjama top, when Daddy came to help - he was ill in bed upstairs and could hear the commotion. Thankfully Eve let him get her dressed and we just made it to nursery on time. Phew! The weekend approaches and I can't wait to spend quality time with my girl.

From a Mother to Another - Jo Jo Bebe

http://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/pu++famta+1

Hello there Mums n Dads, Grandparents, Carers and other Family Members who might be interested in this,

Jo Jo Maman Bebe have just launched a new campaign to help cloth vulnerable children in the UK, Ireland and Syrian refugees. They are calling for sets of complete outfits for children.

Instructions are clear and they have two lists of items that they will and won't accept, click the link to view.

This is my project for Sunday morning. I'm planning to drop off a few bundles next week. 

If you live in Bristol - just remember that the Jo Jo store has moved - it's now on the Mall, opposite Cote Brasserie in Clifton Village.

You've got a few weeks to work on this - the closing date is 5th March, which is the day before Mother's Day.

http://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/pu++famta+1

Olio - Food Sharing Revolution App

http://olioex.com/

As I was walking to work yesterday morning I was offered a blood orange with a flyer about Olio. It's a fantastic idea - allowing people to connect via the app, to enable us to share food with each other.

There are drop box points set up across London already, and Bristol is now on the radar. If you are a shop, cafe or restaurant owner you might want to set yourself up as a drop box point to share surplus food that may be going out of date etc.

So much food is wasted, so this is a great opportunity to be able to pass on unwanted grocery items, to others who might be in need.

Olio's tag is: If you love food, hate waste and want to connect with your community, then this app is for you!

The Olio app is free to download. You can easily take a photo of the item you wish to share, plus any relevant details and then share it with others in your network. It shows a map with the distance, and a note from the giver. One of the notes I saw today said: 'Pick up anytime. I'll leave it in a sealed box hanging from the kitchen window of my ground floor flat.' Oh the joys of the internet!

A Precious Day

Lamorna and Eve enjoying smoothies together at Boca Bar

As 2016 is the 'Year of Change,' I set myself up to take part in a precious metal clay jewellery course on Saturday. I drove down to Stanton Drew, south of Bristol in the morning, and slowly meandered in the car down country lanes as I approached Touchmark Studios.

Chris Pate who runs traditional jewellery courses as well as PMC, met me as I arrived outside her beautiful farmhouse; with dogs barking and a fresh countryside feeling.

http://www.touchmark.co.uk/

This was the first creative endeavour that I have made since pregnancy, so I was slightly nervous. Three other people arrived for the course; one was a seventeen year old girl who is home schooled, another worked for Bristol University biology research department, and the last was an ex NHS nurse who is now a dog walker. We were really all quite different, but it was nice chatting amongst ourselves about what we hoped to achieve during the day.

Chris studied jewellery at Bristol School of Art, where I have done numerous evening courses in ceramics over the years, so it was good talking about the great teachers who had taught us there. PMC is clay impregnated with small particles of metal - such as sterling silver, copper, gold or bronze. You work with it like you do with clay, but once it has gone through the firing process it turns into metal. It's interesting stuff and the possibilities for using it to create things are endless.

Touchmark Studios - our work stations

I really wasn't sure what I wanted to create, but it was interesting learning about different processes and techniques. I had tried working with precious metal clay once, years ago when I worked for a ceramic art cafe in Bristol, so that plus my knowledge of working with normal potters clay helped with my work.

We enjoyed a lovely home cooked lunch together in Chris's kitchen, and then went back to finish our work in the afternoon. The dead line for the kiln was 3.30pm so that the pieces would be fired in time for us to burnish and polish them.

We had a go with the hand torch, which was fun.

I must say I was very pleasantly surprised when my two pendants came out of the kiln. Burnishing and polishing took longer than I thought, and it was interesting to learn how important the finishing stages are. It was really nice to fully focus on something by myself for a whole day. However, dear Eve was not far from my mind; the second pendant that I made has the letter 'E' on it for her. I enjoyed looking at the other ladies work; we had all created very different pieces but each one was beautifully made. It was cool that the day had gone well for us all.

There is a lot to learn when it comes to PMC, so I am slowly working my way into it, but it feels good to find a process that I can work on at home, learning from books and youtube as I go along. It's a bit more accessible than ceramics. As a mum it feels nice to have a challenging project; something that I can ponder on and enjoy - who knows what may come of it?!

I raced home to get back in time to see Eve before bed time. She was sat happily on Daddy's lap on the sofa when I walked in the door. By the sound of it, they had both had a great day. They had met Jilly, Navi and Lamorna at Boca bar for lunch. Our girls had a wonderful time eating chips and drinking smoothies together.

I felt a bit sad to have missed out on seeing our friends but very thankful to have been able to go on such a fantastic day course. Chris is a really good teacher, so knowledgeable, open and friendly. She offers lots of other courses so hopefully I may make it back there again one day.

But for now, I am thinking about how I can work on jewellery projects at home to make me more proactive, creative and engaged.

For more information on precious metal clay have a look at the following links:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_clay

http://www.thepmcstudio.com/

http://www.cooksongold.com/Precious-Metal-Clay/

After being away for the whole of Saturday poor Eve was rather clingy on Sunday and kept crying. She even had a sleep on me on the sofa, which is pretty much unheard of these days. I must admit that I quietly enjoyed sitting on the sofa with her, watching her as she slept.