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. 

Restless mummy day

I'm on antibiotics at the moment from an insect bite that got infected (cellulitus??) and whenever I take a tablet I feel a bit woozy, tired and generally 'meh' :( Ive felt a bit 'off' for a few days and hope I'll feel back to normal soon.

As always, I feel like I should be tidying and sorting EVERYTHING. I'll do that tomorrow when Alice goes out for the day with her Nan Nan.

So today I did some housework (washing pots) as usual and a load of washing set off, hung out, brought it, folded - then, added to the 'put away pile' which is a mini mountain at the moment (on my list of things to do tomorrow).

Alice has been chilling out in her Jumperoo today - I had to put the Wii fit board and an Argos catalogue under her so she could actually jump bless her.

Jumperoo fun times - she especially like to spin the clear ball with the sun inside it, and she's discovered the parrot - she loves birds!! Just like mummy - anything bird / owl related I love. 

She doesn't stay in it for too long yet but she definitely likes it! It will be better when she's a bit bigger (even though I don't want my baby to get any bigger!)

I ended up going for a little walk to time it so I would meet my mum from work and walk back up with her. That didn't go to plan really. The heavens opened (as I predicted - took the washing in before I set off! woohoo - Emily - 1 Rain - 0) I came prepared and with military timing I whipped my waterproof mac on in a flash from the basket of the pram and popped Alice's rain cover on (which she has just started to kick all the time)- in record time! I work well under pressure - Ive just decided. Well it was like a flash flood, heavy heavy rain. It was either turn back and go back into the house (to be restless again - till Stu got home). Or just get wet. I got wet, very wet. Arh well - the fresh air did us good im sure.

Info

• Age: 22 weeks 6 days
• Weight: haven't weighed (need to do)
• Length: haven't measured
• Nappy size: 3
• Clothes size: 3-6 months

Things Im noticing about Alice: 

• She really wants to sit up all the time, shes leaning forward to grab things.
• She's started to have an afternoon nap at about 2pm everyday for about an hour. 
• I was feeding her from the bottle this afternoon at about 2pm and she started to shake - like fit type shakes and I got worried. I sat her up a little and then back down to feed and she seemed ok. Then did it again. Then fell to sleep. I looked it up on the internet and a lot of people had the same experiences with their babies. I few of them said it was like when we are falling asleep and try and keep ourselves awake by jolting ourselves etc. Hmm. will have to take not if it happens again. 

Milk drunk babba <3

I love photo's...maybe a little too mu

OK, so - I am a little snap happy at the best of times, but since baby Alice popped into our lives I gone a bit crazy with the photo's. I have so many photos that I really don't know what to do with them or how to document / store them. I get overwhelmed with tasks like that. I want it to be done properly and accurate in chronological order. I sometimes think I have a little OCD (My other half says I definitely have OCD! ha ha)

I say its just because I'm a 'lets do it now kinda person' and he's a 'I'll do it tomorrow' person.
We were (well I was) having a laugh last night about it. I was winding him up, saying his middle name should be 'I'll do it tomorrow'. I hear it so often now, I mimic the answer! ha ha. Bless :)

Today, Mum & Dad kindly drove me and Alice to go pick up our family photo we had done at Venture Photography (Sheffield). I'd bought Stuart a voucher for a photo shoot for his 30th last year so me and him could have a photo together (as I hate having my photo taken, so hardly have any of us as a couple around the house). When we found out we were expecting our little Alice we decided to wait till she was here and have a family photo instead. About two months ago we had an hour (or so) with a photographer at the Sheffield studio and then invited back for a viewing (which I was really excited about). We were given very strong coffee and taken to a darkened room for a projected slide show of all the edited photos. To be honest there wasn't as many to choose from as I thought there would be and some of the effects I thought looked a bit rubbish. I couldn't believe how much they charge for their photos - the cheapest being about £200!! (a-hem - NO!) we came away with the 10x8 print in a basic black frame that came free with the voucher.

Here is the photo we chose...what do you think? (its a photo of a photo that's in a glass frame - taken on my Iphone quickly this afternoon - so not the best copy I know)

We had another photo taken which was a fraction of the price for a package of photos and cardboard frames that could be given out to friends and family. This was done by Tempest photography at our local children's centre. Alice was a bit tired and needed her bottle (as we were waiting about an hour because they were running late) - but we got this image from the second photo that was taken! Clever (photographic girl).

I love them both and they both make me smile! Still can't believe we have a little girl. Can't believe how lucky we are. She's just perfect!!

Bit of a lazy weekend

Saturday was the (very sad day for me) start of the football season. Needless to say - my Dad was very very excited as he has a season ticket for our local team that he's supported all his life. He came round to see Alice and to show off his new outfit! haha! COME ON ROTHERHAM!

My Dad 'dressed up' and Alice (Random - my dad drew the design on his top which says MILLERS which is the football team name in my mums lipstick! I for one would not be impressed if that was my lipstick! ha ha, Nutter. Oh - that said lipstick got all over Alice and her baby grow! Oops)

Last night we went to a family BBQ and Alice had lots of cuddles and made some new friends. 

She was still excited after all those cuddles and did'nt want to go to sleep after her bath. So we had cuddles in Mummy and Daddies bed. The little monkey <3

22 weeks: Clifton Park, Cotbed, Swimming, Weaning, BBQ

I really need to get back into blogging and generally being more creative again. It makes me so happy to make things and I get good feedback from people. Its a good feel good factor for me.

MUST DO IT.

Here are a few of my favourite photos from this week...

On Sunday - Me, mum and Alice walked to Clifton Park while the sun was shining. It was very busy, Alice loved watching all the the other children running around having fun - and she made a few friends of her own. 

Alice with Grandpa Di-Tanna

Alice with Gandad Jones

...and Buster Dog of course :) I'm slowly but surely getting used to him being around her now. 

Alice has been sleeping in her cotbed all week - and doing brilliantly. We have the Angel Care monitor which has a sensor pad that goes under the mattress - have to admit - it allows me to sleep better too, knowing that if anything was the matter this alarm would sound. As we cant really keep going in her room to check on her because the floor boards are so bloody creaky that when we go in - most of the time it wakes her up. 

Even though she's in her bed and doing so well - she has a little trick. She spins all the way round in the night. In the photo above she had spun round and full 180 degrees. The little munchkin <3

Alice and Kerry in the sunshine. 

Alice just lazing around on the trampoline

We were invited to a BBQ at Kerrys on Tuesday night (the night I was bitten and now have cellulitis - great stuff! anti-biotics for me)

In her snazzy swimming costume. 

On Wednesday - me and mum took Alice for her first experience of going to the swimming baths. She seemed to like it. She's SO nosey! Looking round at everything. She likes the water.

I also steamed some sweet potato and carrots to start Alice off on solids this week. She seemed to enjoy them - and didnt make as much of a mess as i thought she would! Result!

After a fun packed week - she was tired. This photo was taken as I was undressing her to get in her bath (She has one every night now - as it settles her so well). As I undressed her - she fell straight to sleep. Snoring and everything!!

20 weeks: Logan's 'Blessing' day

Today we went to Logans 'blessing'. Its been such a lovely day and REALLY nice to catch up with family who Ive not seen for too long! Here are some of my favourite photos to remember the day by.

The man of the moment - Logan. Such a lovely little boy!!

The yummy cake 

I made two handmade cards from Me, Stu and Alice - and one from Mum, Dad and Gav. I wanted to them to personal to Logan so he could have them to keep and look back at when he was older. I thought the same about his present and made something that could be put up in his room somewhere:

Logans present from us - thought I'd do something a bit personal to him so he can have this up in his nursery. Think it looks pretty cool if you ask me :)

My cousin with Chris with Logan and Andrea.

From left to right: my cousin Helen, Uncle Tony, Aunty Julie, cousin Chris with Logan,  Andrea (Logans mummy), cousin Tom, his girlfriend Emily and my cousin Helens boyfriend Gary.

My Mum (Janet) with Alice, Dad (Barry), Becca (my brothers girlfriend) and my Brother (Gavin)

...and this is us - Stuart, Alice and me Emily

It was a lovely day and we had a really nice time. Thankyou for inviting us <3

20 weeks: Alice got a bumbo seat

Now Alice can hold her head up really well now - we got her a bumbo seat. She looks so cute in it - and now she can sit and watch mummy doing lots of jobs and watch TV of the sofa. Haha.