32 weeks 2 days: Sleepy cuddles

I think that sleepy cuddles with Alice is one of my ALL time favourite things in the whole world. Ive been getting lots this week because our little lady is not very well. We all still have a few toilet problems (nice and polite way of saying that! ha ha niiiiiice). Nothing could of EVER prepared my for the horrendous sights i have seen this week - she's been through a few outfits I have to say. Yakk Yak Yakky!!! Most of the time she's had to go straight in the bath after her nappy change put it that way. Dis-custing!!!

She seems ok in herself this week - still a happy baby and loving her Jumperoo especially. But I will be very very pleased when she's back to normal and im not scared to leave the house in case we have an explosion whilst on the move.

Yesterday I went out for dinner with my girlie's while Alice was with her Nan Nan for day, when I got back I took her up to chill out in bed. I think she missed me <3

31 weeks 6 days: First tooth popping through!

Now, with Alice having her fingers / hand / first in her mouth constantly at the moment we knew it wouldn't be long till a little toothy made an appearance.

None of us are very well at the moment - me, Alice or Stu. Our little bundle of joy has just done the most horrendous poo poo explosion which now means a baby grow is for the bin and i bathed her straight away while daddy (who's off work today poorly too) cleaned up the aftermath. Ergh.

Daddy and I went to a family party on Saturday and thought we were very very hungover from having a little too much fun. Alice slept over at my mum and dads so we thought we'd make the most of it and we went a little over the tops. Oops. Ar well, hindsight is a beautiful thing. But now we know it wasnt just a hangover - we're poorly - but it most certainly did NOT help matters.

My brother (who lives with mum and dad) heard Alice crying a bit in the morning and went and got her and sat up in bed watching footy :)

Alice and uncle Gav chillin in bed watching TV

Alice sat on Grandma & Grandads bed for her sleepover

Another great landmark this week for our little girl - she's said her first word! Daddy!
Lots of 'da da da da la la la' sounds in our house at the moment - from her and us!
Her daddy made this today:

Hopefully we'll all feel better soon. 

Meal Planning and Organisation

I'm starting to become increasingly hard on myself on the fact that I'm getting a bit lazy (and used to being off work) This is not good, and not constructive at all.

• I do make sure the pots are washed and put away and all the kitchen sides are clean (anti-bacterial freak since Alice came)
• Alice eats the food I prepared and froze (which i need to go shopping to make another batch up - need to decide on what to get her now shes 7 months. Any ideas/tips?)
• I do a load of washing nearly every day to keep on top of things (id do more but I cant dry it, the weather is dreadful and we don't have a tumble)

I am a little obsessed with the app Instagram (if you want to follow me, my user name is 'prettyquirky') and a photo of a line up of pre prepared meals popped up on my screen and it got me thinking. So, I've come to bed (while the boy watches a foreign karate film i have no interest in, lol) to do some research - as we need to to the 'big shop' this week and I need some inspiration on what to cook us and ultimately to be more healthy (I NEED to lose weight - i feel very unhappy at the moment about how I look) and we also need to be more thrifty with our money - after we seemed to literally run out of money 3 weeks into the month and had to borrow money. I hate borrowing money - It never sits well with me (but I am very very thankful that we have people that can help)

Do any of you (8. lol) readers plan your meals for the week? 

I find it some what tricky as me and my partner like very different things - even though when i just cook something and put in front of my other half, he always eats it. 

Alice's apatite is definitely on the rise also - so i need to get her a more balance diet. But I'm not sure what to buy. 

25 weeks 1 day: Over protective Dad

I took Alice to the doctors yesterday morning after she worried her dad when she was asleep. She was breathing differently, I think she was just having a dream and fidgeting about - but it freaked Stu out and he wanted me to get her checked over.

As I suspected (and laughed at Stu about) she is completely fine, the doctor listened to her chest and checked her over. Said what a happy little baby she was. 

On the bright side we had a nice walk in the glorious sunshine (even tho I got a blister from my stupid shoes because I was rushing about like a mad woman!) and Alice was fussed by lots of ladies in the doctors waiting area.

We got a new sofa this week (new to us...was given to us by a neighbour - people can be so kind).
Now we can sit comfortably as a family and snuggle up - its so so comfy. Alice likes it too:

We walked into town on Monday. Me, Mum, Alice and Kerry - thought we'd make the most of the sunshine. Alice sat in this highchair while we had our lunch. This is the first time Ive put her in one while we've been out and about. It doesn't look very comfy though does it. 

My dad came round in his special camouflage suit to say hello - its his dog walking clobber. 

Mummy thoughts: Hobbies

So, being new to this whole being a mummy thing - I've not really being doing many 'me' things. Ive been concentrating on being the best mum that I can be (been trying anyway). Other parts of my life have taken a back burner. But now that I'm feeling relatively 'normal' again I think its about time I got back into the swing of things. 

Blogging - Ive started quite a few blogs and pages etc in the past bit always lose interest because I feel like I'm not really writing about anything. Just rambling on (nothings changed!! ha ha). But this time I'm using it as a little diary for when Alice gets older. So we can have a copy of it somehow - is there anywhere you can get blogs printed in for instance a bound book? That would be A-mazing!!

Craft - I really need to get back into this. Maybe I should challenge myself to make something once a month. Keep posted. 

Photography - I'm slightly obsessed with documenting everything to do with Alice at the moment. I'm sure it bores other people when I'm uploading photos of her all the time. But, I don't really care. I love it. It makes me happy. he he. I would love more than anything to be able to buy a really good camera, a digital SLR - but that's not going to happen any time soon. My Iphone works wonders really, I'm always snapping away. 

I have always thought that it is important to find things that you are passionate about and enjoy to use your 'free' time wisely and productively. I have always tried to do this - but sometimes get overwhelmed in the process. I get snowed under with ideas and projects that I end up not doing any - I know that makes no sense. But I cant be the only one that feels like this (most of the time!)

Recently Ive been happy when Ive been able to get a load of clothes washed, dried, folded and put away and washed all the pots and cleaned all the house. That's what Ive been happy about recently (really need to get out more I think!!). 

But that's what I associate with being a mum, a good mum. I can proudly say that since having Alice Ive not once let the house get a super mess. Id like to think Ive been able to to keep on top of things. 

24 weeks 2 days: Weaning

So, Alice has started on solids (growing up too fast) we started about two weeks ago. I've been making my own food which so far has been:

• Sweet Potato
• Carrots
• Pear
• Apple

Theres something very satisfying about making your own baby food.

I don't have a blender so I use a on the hob steamer stacker, a fork, a metal sieve and a spoon. Then I freeze the puree in ice cube trays and just get a couple out a day in another sealed tub and pop in the fridge :) Just goes to show that you don't need all the expensive fan-dangled gadgets to give your babba the best thing. Those bags of apples and pears were £1 each and i think i used 3 apples and two pears to fill that ice cube tray - and that will last at least 9-10 days with the amount she has at the moment. 

She's also just started to have the cow & gate follow on milk (3) which is recommended from 6 months 

Mum decided to treat me and Alice to a bit of a girly day out before she goes back to work. We went to our local shopping centre called Meadowhall. We were there all day and Alice was such a good little munchin. She got so many smiles and comments from people walking by, I have to admit though she did look very very cute with a white headband on. 

We went for our dinner (which took sooo long to come, mum wasn't very pleased). Alice was totally mesmerised with the ceiling fan - giggling at it and doing a little Irish jig in her pram.

Today I noticed that the Steriliser wasnt working properly. We currently have the Tommee Tippee electric steam one - which we were given by a relative. I tried to turn it on today and the button lit up for about 30 seconds, clicked and went off again. Uh-Oh. I read a few forums about the product (and have heard theyre a bit unreliable from a friend who has now had two). Looked at the comments about de-scaling them too (which ive never done and because it second hand dont know if its ever been done)

I hopped on the internet and had a look at the baby event offers at Asda and Tesco. There was this offer at Tesco:

Brilliant, so off I went to Tesco with dad when he went to pick my brother up from work. Mum gave me one of her £5 Tesco vouchers (which I could have changed into a £10 voucher at the voucher exchange) RESULT. So I paid £3.49 for this. Tried it tonight and its good. Smaller than the electric one (because it has to fit in the microwave) - it holds 4 bottles nicely. Happy bunny. 

Mum watched Alice while I went on my little supermarket sweep, she was catching up on her fashion and gossip:

After a lovely sunny day, we came back to Daddy, had a cuddle and then me and Alice went up for her  daily bath (which she loves). Then I had to really search her draws for a sleepsuit that actaually fit her - shes at that inbetween stage again where 3-6 month is too small but 6-9 months is too big. It was no easy task but she has the cutest onsie on :) I found this fleecy outfit first, but its too small for her (shes never even worn it! oops)

my little pink ewok <3

Alice is 6 months today

At 9.50pm 6 months ago - our baby was born. That is completely MAD!

I absolutely love this photo! So so cute

Sleepy babba. Little angel

Yet again, she's doing her usual trick of spinning round in her cot. Cheeky little monkey

Things we've noticed this week:

• She has discovered her feet - sticking her legs up in the air and reaching out to them - pulling her socks off
• Screaming at more stuff (especially her ducky toy that speaks to her)
• This is something we've known for a while - but she really liked anything Minnie Mouse related
• She really enjoys her bath time and the feeling of water running on her hands - she tries to grab the water. But she doesn't like been taken out of the bath and dressed for bed. We tried her in the other side of her bath (which is great by the way) and she sat up by herself more. 
• She now sleeps in her red and white polka dot Dalmatian sleeping bag
• Shes had pear and apple puree, and a bit out of a pot of chicken, rice and apple puree - and i think she liked it
• Today she had her first little drink from her beaker - of tap water and dilute orange
• The Jumperoo is really fun for Alice at the moment, she loves spinning the balls round
• I weighed Alice on Friday the 24th August and she was 16lbs 3.

I cant believe shes 6 months old - Its crazy. Its so true when people say you cant imagine your life before her.

I said in my last post that I wanted to be more creative and that i would put the photos up on here. Well, it was my mums 55th birthday on Friday. Mum and Dad went to Paris for the weekend - so this was the card I made her.

Here is a photo of the sketches i did before starting the card.