It's The Final Countdown!

Today, my little boy is 11 months old.
This time next month, I'll have a ONE year old.  Yikes.

It's a funny thing to ponder really.  On one hand, it feels like a million years since I was waddling around chatting to my bump, but on the other I can't quite believe how quickly the tiny little baby we brought home from hospital has turned into the proper little person I spend most of the day chatting to now.

Eleven months ago, his talents were pretty much limited to lying on his back, blowing bubbles, shouting for food & snoozing.
Nowadays, he hardly sits still. Crawling, climbing, couch surfing, babbling & chattering, trying so hard to find his feet and his first words.
His personality shines through a little more everyday. 
He's so mischevious, so cheeky, but so loving too, he gives great cuddles & big sloppy kisses. He loves meeting people and other babies (particuarly the laydees, he's a huge flirt) and he's a generous little monkey - usually expressed by smooshing his rusk into mummy's face, but the sentiment is good, right?
He's curious and inquisitive - definitely wired a little differently (prefering to climb up his walker than push from behind, and to build towers on the sleeping dog rather than the floor) but that's all part of what makes him brilliant. 
I love watching him develop - every day brings something new - something different to make him giggle, another corner he's managed to get into (and sometimes get himself stuck), something he's never tried before for lunch bringing a smile to his face... it's impossible to get bored.

And as much as I always swore I'd never be one of those 'gushy mummies', It's impossible not to beam with pride and be super proud of the little person he's becoming.

Who knows what skills he'll have added to his bambino CV by the time he's one - I can't wait to find out, but I'm going to try & really savour this last month of him being a 'proper' baby.  And at the same time, try to brace myself for what comes next.  Wish me luck!

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The Gallery: Colour

Week three of The Gallery already? Is it just me, or is each week evaporating faster than the last lately?

Anyway, this week's title, is 'Colour'.
I thought about showing you a photo of my favourite colour (purple), or maybe my most favourite dress (blue), my eyes? (green, in case you were wondering), the little dude's eyes? (biggest blues you ever did see, gets 'em from his daddy)... but in the end, I thought why not show you ALL the colours? Or quite a lot of them at least.

So, voila:

Prettyful, no?!
This is a scene from a game The Little Dude & I have invented, whereby we line up all his stacking cups & fill them up with smaller toys of the same colour.

Mummy over enthusiastically names all the colours, Little Dude plops the GREEN marracca in the green cup, mummy gets all over excited and convinces herself she's raising a child genius.
(Yes, yes, I know, it's highly likely to be more luck than judgement when he gets it right, I'm not completely deluded ...honest.)

Anyway, it's an easy way to keep the little man amused. He loves it. And it holds his attention a lot longer than just sorting the shapes into the sorter.

And it's certainly colourful.
Don't forget to visit Tara's blog for the links to lots more pretty pictures too - there have been some amazing photos to look at the last couple of weeks, I'm sure this week will be the same.

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Mother's Day: I like!

So yesterday, was my first official Mother's Day :)
(I just missed out last year - though I did get a card & bunch of flowers from the bump, which was super sweet.)
I must say, I approve!

I got to sleep in until half past eight, at which point I was woken with fresh coffee & nutella croissants. Well done Little Dude's Daddy, very well done.
Next up, got a free pass to shower & pretty-fy self in peace with no distractions, while the daddy got the little man breakfast-ed & dressed.
Post shower, there was more coffee waiting, plus a beautifully dressed little baby boy clutching a (slightly chewed) card & a 'best mummy' bear. I admit, I teared up a tiny bit.
Then there were flowers.  And chocolate.  Hat trick!  (And a little tear.)
We went out for a walk along the seafront in the sunshine, came home via the park, then I was ordered to chill out on the sofa, where I was brought a cuppa & the biggest cupcake I ever did see.
In the evening, I had a bubble bath (complete with a glass of Baileys - booze in bath! That's glamour right there!) while The Mr cooked scrummy dinner, served with too much wine. (I forget what a complete light weight I am these days. Three glasses nearly finished me off!).

A perfect, dreamy day.
I ♥ my boys & I love Mother's Day - roll on next year!

Hope all my mummy friends out there in blogland had a super day too xx

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The good, the bad & the just plain weird of cBeebies...

So as you know, The Little Dude has been a poorly bunny since Friday. (He does appear to be lots better this morning - but I don't want to jinx it, staying home & taking it easy today just to be a million percent sure!) Anyway, the last 5 days have been spent mostly curled up on the sofa, with him on my lap in various states of half-awake, watching cBeebies.
We don't usually watch an awful lot of TV - just In The Night Garden (because Dylan loves it) & Mister Maker (because, well, you know why...) so three days of watching it more or less all day, has been something of an education. Here are my thoughts.
The Good:

I Can Cook. Real kids, making reasonably real food. Good stuff. And although I could live without Katie’s ‘re-cap songs’ (cringe!), I could see myself recreating her recipes with LD in years to come. (Unlike Big Cook Little Cook, we’ll get to them in a minute.)

Charlie & Lola. We actually really very love this. The animation is quite kitsch & old school – and I like that it doesn’t dumb down the English language for little people. Thumbs up.

Timmy Time. It may just be because I love Wallace & Grommit, or I might have been brainwashed by maybe the catchiest theme tune ever, but I like it.

Chuggington. Not one of my favourites (let’s face it – it’s just Thomas Tank for the next generation, right?), but the little man seems to love it- I think because it’s really bright & colourful. And again, I challenge you not to get the theme song stuck in your head.

The Bad:

Show Me Show Me. Does. My. Head. In. The girl presenter, looks like she’s dying inside (I’m a classically trained actress don’t you know – how did it come to this??!), her male friend could only ever have been a kid’s presenter (really, could he be more enthusiastic about everything?!), and I’m sure it’s a huge thrill for the parents of the children who get to go ‘Show Me Show Me …Penelope!’, but personally, I just find it annoying. And Penelope is a rubbish cartoon anyway. The LD generally zones out when it comes on, so I’m guessing he’s not a fan either.

Big Cook Little Cook. What fresh hell is this? The best café in town? Really? When you have to wait God knows how long for little cook to whizz away & get half the ingredients to make whatever delicacy Big Cook’s book reckons you’ll love? And really, they may differ in size, but they are equally enormously annoying. And unlike Katie – their ‘recipes’ really are rubbish in the main. Last time I checked, ketchup wasn’t an ‘ingredient’. Richard Herring sums them up better than I ever could. (Go have a read, hilarious!)

The Just Plain Weird:

Waybuloo. The jury’s out on this one. It seems to catch the little man’s attention, and I guess the characters are cute in a weird big-eyed kind of way, but what’s with the pigeon English? Is this the best example for ‘cheebies’ that are learning to talk? I’m not so sure.

Dirt Girl World. I thought I’d caught LD’s fever first time I saw this one. It’s just odd. I’m all for teaching children about growing veggies, and taking care of the planet & such – but I’d prefer the little man to join The Green Balloon club than watch this weirdness.
So yes, a mixed bag, to say the least! I’ll be glad when we can get back to filling most of the day with music & playing & going to the park & stuff – I fear too much more cBeebies may melt my tiny little brain!

What do you think?
Do your little ones have any favourites that make your head hurt? 

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It's official...

...I am now a full time mummy.

Actually, it's been official since last month when I took a deep breath & told my boss I wasn't coming back after my maternity leave, but I haven't had the chance to blog about it until now.

I haven't been this particular combo of super excited & completely terrified since I found out I was pregnant in the first place. On one hand, it's incredibly liberating. It's such a relief to not have to worry about finding great childcare / missing out on important stuff / re-learning my job - and I *love* knowing that I can spend the next couple of years just enjoying watching the little dude grow up.
But on the other side of the coin, I have no job. (Well, not a paying one anyway!)
It's the first time since I was 15 that I haven't had a job.
Eeek.

Don't get me wrong, the plan is not to be a 'lady of leisure' (ha! does that apply to any mummy??), I am actually hoping to be classing myself as a WAHM, or even a Mumpreneur very soon (balls in the air... plans forming!), as we do need for me to be bringing in *some* de niro.
It's a bit of a leap of faith, but it feels right. And very exciting.

So, if anyone hears of great opportunities to work from a home, point me in the right direction if you please!
Every little helps! :D

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Snow Bored Now

I was excited when the snow started. 

Being a native Scot now living about as South as you can go, I miss it. I have fond memories of 'proper' winters with LOADS of soft fluffy snow to make angels in & have snowball fights with, and the simple pleasure of rolling a giant snowball to see just how big you could get it before it was too hard to roll anymore.  Fun stuff.  So yes, when the first few flurries hit, I was like a little girl all over again.  I wrapped the little dude up in his big chinky snow suit, took him out in the back garden, snapped the obligatory 'first snow' shot, all good fun.

Then a couple of days passed. No sign of a thaw. The soft fluffy snow drifts soon became rock hard ledges of doom. Where there were pavements, there are now 3 inch slabs of solid ice, which are no fun for feet, much less stroller wheels.  So now, it's rubbish.  The litle man & I haven't been able to get out & about since TUESDAY. Play dates have been cancelled, plans of fun stuff have been all messed up and we are officially getting a little bit stir crazy.  Well, I am.  The little man is more than happy with hours of trying to climb up, over, around and under anything and everything.  And Night Garden of course. There's always Night Garden.  I, on the other hand, feel a bit like I'm losing my tiny mind. 

I should use the time to play catch up with all those little bits and pieces I keep meaning to get round to, but of course I don't. Instead I play with my little monster, I make us lunch, I read stories.  And when he finally gives in to the occassional nap, rather than becoming a one-woman flurry of productivity, i drink tea & tweet about how annoying it is not being able to get anything done. Yes, I'm my own worst enemy, I know.

I really need to relocate my neurotic compulsion for writing lists & making the most of every useable minute of the day.  If you see it, give me a shout.

Tomorrow, I'll get some Things Done.  Really, I will.

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Children's Birthday Parties are *hard!*

And it wasn't even my little monster's birthday!

Today we've been to a friend's little boy's 3rd birthday party - the LD's fourth proper party, first of the fancy dress variety, and also the first one that Mummy has done solo as Daddy was at work.

It was lovely, and my chum had put in SO much effort - there were tables for colouring, sticking & play doh-ing, (all a bit advanced for the LD, but the older kids were having a ball!), plus music, loads of toys and books, and some great baby-friendly party food.  The little dude (dressed as an alien from toy story - he has been chosen - the claw is his master, oh yes!), had lots of fun, being admired and cooed over by all the grown ups, chasing balloons, commando-crawling under chairs & tables, munching tasty noms - and he was good as gold, didn't cry once!

The mummy on the other hand, spent the whole 2 hours getting increasingly frazzled - making small talk with other mummys (who all have older children, and all want to have the 'oh, when {insert their child's name here} was that age...' conversation, which is nice the first couple of times, but the novelty soon wears off whn you're distractd by trying to make sure your own little monster isn't getting into something he shouldn't be!), running interference between balloons and newly aquired teeth for fear of LD being left with a crippling fear of loud bangs, untangling him from chair legs and other people's legs, and trying to teach him it's not polite to grab mini sausage rolls off other people's plates.  Phew. 

Plus, solo party-going means no Daddy to take a turn at baby-entertaining while mummy scoffs a plate of party food & some pop- so not only was I exhausted when we left, I was starving too!

Other than that though, it really was a lovely party.  I love watching the LD learn to interact with other little people - he & the birthday boy's little sister are good chums, so they enjoyed a bit of quality time too :)

Shattered now though - and the LD is crashed out next to me too. Dread to think how tired we'll be when it's his turn for a birthday. Less than 5 months till we find out. Eek!

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Accomplishment & Memes & Zombies...

Busy, but lovely weekend here in the little dude household.
It was The Daddy's weekend off, which is always good, because we get to indulge in some 'family time', and I get a lie in on Sunday morning (and coffee brought to me IN BED!! how i love that man of mine :D)

Also, if you're wondering what that fuzzy glow I'm rocking is all about, no, I haven't been at the ready brek, that, my friends, is the smug glow of accomplishment :) The little dude's room is officially finished! The light fitting is fixed, the new shade is up, and the black out blind is fitted. I've also gone through all his clothes, pulled out everything that's now too small, and organised everything else by size. Tidied up *all* the lingering clutter, AND put all the photos I've taken from birth - the end of August into albums. Phew.

And now, I'm even making time to blog! Check me out!! Although I am cheating a little and opting for a meme in place of actual content. It's a start.

I’ve been given allsorts of lovely awards & memes to do lately, but haven’t had the chance to sit down & actually do them yet. I will though, honest.

This one is jumping the queue though, because a. I’ve been tagged twice now, by Kelly and Lorraine (I just realised, if I’d put that the other way round, I’d have been tagged by Lorraine Kelly – hahahahaha!! Yes, it’s the little things that amuse me :D), and b. it’s short and sweet. (and easy.)

So here are the rules…

1. Collect the book that you have most handy.

2. Turn to page 161.

3. Find the 5th complete sentence.

4. Quote the sentence on your blog.

5. Pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

Well, I’m currently reading “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies”, by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith – yes, you read the title right, it’s Elizabeth Bennet at her feistiest, kicking undead zombie butt. It’s fabulous.

I don't get nearly as much time to read as I used to pre-baby (funy that!), but I do try to make a point of reading at least a few pages everyday - just to keep the old grey matter working if nothing else.

Anyway, the sentence I have to share is…

“Regard for my sister’s credit and feelings prevented any public exposure; but my honour demanded a duel with Mr Wickham, who left the place immediately.”

Have I convinced you to give it a whirl?!
If you love the original, and you love zombies, you can’t go wrong. So long as you can keep an open mind and embrace the madness! :D
You can buy it on amazon here.

As for the tagging, oh I hate this bit – I’m always late to the party & end up tagging people who’ve already done it, so I’ll just say anybody who hasn’t done it, and would like to, consider yourself tagged.

Now, back to Mr Darcy…

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Wordless Wednesday: Let's go to the PARK!

Last week, while the sun was still shining (seems like a distant memory now!) the daddy & I took the LD for his first jaunt to the park.
think it's safe to say it won't be the last! (not sure who enjoyed the swings more- the daddy or the little dude!)
And more importantly, there's just something immensely satisfying about being out as a proper little family, you know? Love it. 
*promise* i'll get round to a more substantial post (and all the tags i've had) very soon!! :) ♥

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Like Mother Like Son...

The Little Dude may only be just short of four months old, but nonetheless, it seems I am raising a shameless flirt.

He's starting to pay attention & interact with the other babies at baby club, (rather than just looking at them with the same bemused expression as when he first discovered the dog), and with the boy babies, he's very sociable - quite happy to lay on the play mat for a chill out and a chat and a stretch... all good.

But as soon as he's anywhere near a girl baby, he turns on the charm!
Making all his best noises, flipping over to say hello, stretching out & holding hands, and occasionally grabbing onto the hem of a pretty frock for rolling over leverage. (He's resourceful, gotta give him that!) AND, one little lady in particular was even given the honour of having squeaky giraffe thrown in her general direction - that, my friends, is high praise indeed!

Is it wrong that I'm a tiny bit proud of him? :)

In other news, The daddy & I had the gift of babysitting last night, so we headed out for a couple of hours of karaoke & drinkies - very lovely, and I'm getting much better at being able to enjoy myself & be decent company again, rather than compulsively checking my phone & wondering whether The Noodle is okay every 5 minutes.
I've got it down to maybe every 20 minutes now... okay, 15 max - but baby steps, right? :P

And today was day one of daddy's three day weekend - yay!
We had a stroll into town, litle bit of retail therapy, spot of lunch... thoroughly pleasant day with my two favourite men - can't ask for much more than that.

And I've still got 2 more to go!
I'm a very lucky mummy.

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Quality Mummy & Baby Time

Is it a tiny bit selfish that I really enjoy the days the little dude & i spend at home, just the two of us?

Because I do.

Days when I don't have to share him with anyone.

Days when we don't really 'do' a whole lot - we haven't got clinic, or a group, or a class, or a playdate, or a coffee shop meetup, or shopping for neccessities...

In fact all that is on the to-do list, is staying home & making eachother smile :)

That's what we've been doing today.

We had a lovely nap together this morning after breakfast, we've had 3 readings of 'where's that monkey?' (D's current favourite), dozens of rounds of peek-a-boo (he all of a sudden 'gets' peekaboo - or it makes him laugh at least), we've danced about the living room, sang some songs, had a bath, *and*, we finished our first mother & son craft project, voila! :



what do you think? :)
I reckon we make quite the artistic team! Though it did take 5 attempts for the little dude to realise he wasn't supposed to be just squishing the clay at random.
And we thought it looked a bit blah with just the prints, so we blinged it up with some buttons - and we didn't like the look of the beige chalk that came in the kit, so we substituted mummy's blue eyeshadow - because it's all about the artistic license ;)

I love days like today, I really do.

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