Remembering my first pregnancy and struggling with SPD

Approx. 8 months pregnant

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, we are starting to think about having another baby. This has got me thinking about pregnancy and taken me on a little trip down memory lane to what my first pregnancy was like. Before I got pregnant I have to admit that I was a bit judgemental about women who had difficult pregnancies and thought seriously how hard can it be? One of my best friends had such a smooth pregnancy and I naively thought that every pregnancy was the same and that it was a lovely happy healthy time where women bloom.

Then I got pregnant, and oh how wrong I was and how I regretted being so judgemental in the past!

It was difficult from the off as I had really terrible morning sickness (more like all day, every day sickness) and just crippling exhaustion that made me feel like the living dead. I was useless at work (not great when you have just been promoted) and had so much time off sick. I also had to stop driving after a while as this zombie-ness really made me feel unsafe on the roads, and after a few too-near misses I eventually stopped driving (and I love driving so I just wasn’t myself at all). This led to me feeling very depressed and in the end I was signed off work until my maternity leave began. I was already planning to leave at the very earliest point you can take maternity leave, but I finished a few weeks before that in the end as I was seriously struggling to cope.

As I started to feel a little less exhausted and sick, the slight nagging pain in my pelvis that I had ignored started to get steadily worse. I was diagnosed with SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction), which is due to the pregnancy hormone Relaxin. This is supposed to help your bones and ligaments make room for the baby, but unfortunately in some of us, this hormone causes our pelvis to relax too much, causing a lot of pain as the join at the front of your pelvis (the symphysis pubis) pulls too far apart. I saw a physio who told me to keep my knees together at all times during my pregnancy, and she even suggested I tie my knees together overnight so they didn’t come apart while I slept. Climbing stairs was a nightmare and soon just walking was agony, even at snail speed so I ended up on crutches. I wasn’t even allowed to go swimming as my pelvis was too unstable.

Monkey trying to get out the wrong way! Two days before birth

The other issue we had is that apparently I have a bicornuate uterus, which basically means I have a sort of heart shaped uterus and makes a breech birth much more likely. We didn’t know this at the time and did all sorts to try and turn Monkey (including the doctors trying to forcibly turn him, which we couldn’t possibly know would never work as he was stuck in one side of my uterus). So all plans of a nice water birth went out the window and we had a caesarean, which is how they saw that I have a bicornuate uterus.

Of course I know that in many ways we were very lucky, Monkey had no problems at all, and there was no scary risk factors in terms of either his life or mine and of course I would rather feel some discomfort than have any more serious problems. But from start to finish, it wasn’t great. I can truly say I never got the pregnancy glow that people talk about and I’m not looking forward to going through it again. Hopefully the nausea and exhaustion won’t be as bad next time. I won’t be working silly hours in a stressful job so I definitely have an advantage there. Plus that kind of thing can vary a lot from pregnancy to pregnancy so fingers crossed I won’t feel so bad second time round. Because of my strange uterus I have a 50/50 chance of another breech baby, which would definitely mean another caesarean, so we will just have to wait and see with that one and I guess what will be will be.

On crutches at a wedding – look at the size of me – approx 8 months pregnant.

But the SPD, by all accounts is likely to reappear. I have heard that not everyone gets it again, but in most cases if you have had it once you are apparently likely to get it again, with the symptoms appearing sooner and progressing faster, so I have that to look forward to! I still get the odd twinge every month before my period so I have to prepare myself for the worst I think (then I may get pleasantly surprised, who knows?), but I am doing everything I can to try and prepare for it though. I was a bit overweight before I even got pregnant last time, which can’t have helped, so I have been steadily trying to get healthy before we start trying again. I am quite a bit lighter than I was last time so hopefully that will help by putting less pressure on my pelvis.

My exercises, stuck on the wardrobe to make sure I do them!

I also know the exercises I need to do to strengthen the muscles supporting my pelvis (the transverse abdominus and pelvic floor) and my new year’s resolution is to start doing these exercises every day so that I am in the best shape possible before I even get pregnant to at least try and limit the damage! I will also know what it is next time, so unlike last time where I ignored it for a while, and then tried to push through the pain and carry on as normal (apparently completely the wrong thing to do!) I will listen to my body and take it easy when I need to. Even though I will hate to do it!

I am worried about what all this will mean for Monkey, as he is such an active child and loves going for walks or running about, and I love doing those things with him. My best Christmas present is a nice pair of winter boots to keep my feet warm as we spend so much time outdoors! How is that going to work if I end up on crutches again? How will I keep him safe if I can’t run after him should he make a dash near a road? He is pretty good but you can never be too careful. If I have to stop driving again because I don’t feel safe how will we get to baby groups and go on play-dates?

Both sets of grandparents have already offered their assistance and I know will help out as much as they can. Hubby has also said that he will work from home more if he needs to so that he can help out. But I know that no matter how much help I get, I will struggle with the fact that I am not able to be the mummy I want to be, even if only for a few short months.

But needs must, and it was worth all of the hardships last time to have such a gorgeous little man at the end of it, and I’m sure it will be worth it to have another gorgeous little baba in my arms one day. Fingers crossed that all goes as well as can be hoped for!

Starting to think about baby number 2…. yipes!

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My brothers and I

Yep, we think it is time to think about maybe trying for a second baby. We’ve always known that we would like more than one child, but have had lots of discussions over the years about exactly how many kids we would like, and how close we would like them to be in age. Hubby has always been clear that he would like 3 children (we were both middle children in families with 3 children) whereas I am a bit more unsure of whether 2 or 3 is the right number. I’ve always thought 3 children just made things a bit more complicated, holidays, car size etc… but loved being one of 3 kids too so just really unsure whether to go with heart or head.

Hubby and his brothers

Age wise, we initially thought 2 years apart was about the right age gap… but after a difficult first pregnancy we realised we would need Monkey to be a little older, perhaps 2 1/2 – 3 when a sibling is born, just as he needs to be a bit more self sufficient. If my next pregnancy is anything like my first, I am unlikely to be able to do anywhere near as much with him as I do now. How difficult I find the next pregnancy will also potentially decide whether we stop at 2 children or have any more, as it depends how much I am willing to put my body through.

So what made my first pregnancy so hard? Well I have been writing about it but I think it deserves a post all to itself so there will be more of that to follow!!

Learning to be a mummy

The other thing to think about is how hard will it be with two? Monkey is at such a lovely age now, he is a lot more independent and very much a toddler rather than a baby. We are still waiting for words but he is a lot more communicative so hopefully it won’t be too long now. So the thought of going back to baby days scares me I have to admit. I am hoping that it is a little easier second time round, as you have done it once. There should be less of the rabbit in the headlights look that you get the first time, right? There will also be Monkey there for the baby to be entertained by and me to have fun with which I am hoping will make it less lonely than the first time round?

Sleepless nights

But going back to sleepless nights, breast feeding (and the lovely changes to your body that come with it) or maybe formula feeding, possibly sleep training again, then weaning….. It was hard enough the first time round, particularly the first 3 months I found, but maybe that’s just because Monkey had colic?

Am I ready to do it all again? Well, I have realised that I am as ready as I will ever be and that’s the key thing. I am certainly more ready than I was with Monkey as at least I know what to expect next time and have some experience. But I survived it before, and came out with a gorgeous, happy healthy little boy, a marriage intact and a happy smile on my face so I am sure I can do it again as I so want Monkey to have a sibling.

It’s funny to think about our family changing, our happy little unit of 3 will hopefully become a 4. How will the next baby’s personality evolve our family dynamic. It’s quite exciting to think about actually. Hubby was looking at some pre-monkey photos today and said he can’t remember the days when it was just us two. Will we feel like that about the days before baby 2 in a few years? Only time will tell I guess!

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Our little family

This is of course assuming that we will be able to get pregnant easily again, when there is no telling really. It happened much faster than we thought it would last time so this time we need to be prepared for that, but also prepared for it to take some time as you never know and we don’t want to stress about it… so I guess watch this space! We will have to wait and see what 2014 brings.

How did you find the change going from one child to two? Was it harder or easier than you thought?

A very lovely Family Christmas, and a very happy Monkey :)

Posted by Caroline Elliott

What a lovely week we have had! I hope all of you have had a very lovely Christmas too? Monkey has been a very lucky boy and got to spend a lot of time with lots of his favourite people, and got lots of lovely toys! He’s obviously a bit young yet to really understand what was going on or why we were all together giving each other presents, but he loved it nonetheless!

Christmas Day was at our house, it’s our second year hosting Christmas and we’ve got the Christmas Dinner routine down now I think! Before our first shot last year we had lots of practice roasts to make sure we had the timings right, and this year just had one or two alterations/improvements and it all went pretty much perfectly (except that we forgot to buy any bread for Christmas Day teatime, and didn’t have any metal skewers to keep the stuffing in the turkey… luckily a couple of dough hooks worked just as well!! :)) We are perhaps a bit OTT with planning, and have our Christmas Day Plan stuck on the cupboard door, but it works for us and keeps the stress on the day down to an absolute minimum.

Lots of fun was had by all and it was a lovely day with my side of the family

Boxing day was at Hubby’s brother’s house with all of their side of the family and was another lovely day. Much more relaxed as no roast to cook and less presents to be opened, but Monkey still had lots and he loves all of his relatives so he had loads of fun again there.

Not much else to say really, we are enjoying a quiet few days with hubby off work and Monkey playing with all of his new toys! New Year’s Eve will be a quiet affair in our house with a take-away curry and a movie I think, need a rest after the busy week we have had 🙂

Happy New Year’s to you all and all the best for 2014!

Battling boredom and keeping busy

Posted by Caroline Elliott

As I have written before, being a stay at home mum is the right decision for me at the moment, because I am lucky enough that we can afford it, and because I like being the one to teach Monkey and to watch him grow. Even though I am confident that it is the right decision for me, it isn’t always easy and some days are definitely more difficult than others. Boredom is one of weirdly hard things about it. We live by a routine as it is the best way for Monkey to be happy and healthy and therefore the best thing for me. But as with any routine, this can lead to monotony. Particularly as Monkey gets older and needs my constant attention a lot less.

Playtime with friends

With the grandparents

I’ve known for a while that one of the key things to do as a stay at home mum is to get out of the house every day. To get some adult company where possible, to help Monkey burn off some energy, to get a change of scene, you get the idea. This helps with boredom somewhat as it keeps us busy. We go with friends and other kiddies to parks when the weather is good, and indoor soft play places/cafes with play areas etc, when the weather is not so good. We visit relatives and have relatives round. We go to the shops, shopping centres, garden centres (he particularly likes fish and pet areas) or sometimes just for a walk round the block.

This does help a lot but doesn’t really solve anything, and on days where we have nothing planned and the weather isn’t great for getting out…. I can get quite moody and irritable. I just don’t always know what to do with him to burn off some energy and keep him going. We could obviously always go to a garden centre or shopping centre, but I am also not a huge fan of wandering aimlessly with no purpose so if I don’t need (or can’t afford) to buy anything then I don’t like going. So that is when I come up with all sorts of playtime ideas, but even those don’t keep him occupied for that long.

Yummy Red Velvet Cake

Having fun with crochet

Even when we do keep busy together, it’s not usually very mentally stimulating. I can absolutely understand why some mums want to go back to work, because they need something else for themselves. I understand that completely and because of this I do question my decision at times, though for me all of the reasons I chose to stay at home, outweigh this one thing. But I do also recognise that I need some mental stimulation. This is why I crochet and do other crafty bits. It’s why I bake and cook to challenge myself (when I am not on a diet at least haha). I think a lot about home improvements and do all the household budgets, manage hubby’s business account. I also read a lot and I do most of the housework too but that doesn’t stimulate my mind! haha

If we didn’t know we wanted baby number 2 within the next year or so, I think I would be looking to go back to work now, but as it is there isn’t any point trying to find a job at the moment so I will just have to keep busy and find new ways of battling boredom until number 2 comes along, and then we will just wait and see how I feel after that. I think about studying something or even doing some work from home part time, but again I am not sure that I am ready to commit to anything like that when I know we hope to have another baby at some point, as I am sure I will have much less opportunity to get bored with 2 little ones in the house! At least until number 2 is a bit older.

Any other stay at home mums get bored sometimes? How do you keep yourself going?

A wonderful day at the aquarium… followed by a less than wonderful week

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Last week was hubby’s birthday so he took the whole week off! We had been looking forward to it for ages. We had lots of nice, simple things planned to spend time with family, and for hubby to spend some time with Monkey, and me of course :). We thought about going away somewhere but with it being half term everywhere was quite expensive, and this time of year can be difficult to predict with the weather, so we decided to just take day trips from home.

The first day we had planned was to go to the Sea Life centre in Hunstanton, which is the nearest one to us, just over an hour away. My parents (Nanny and Grandpops) were really excited to come too. Our plans very nearly got scuppered by the ‘Big Storm’ on the sunday but thankfully by Monday morning it was nowhere near us or the journey so we headed off. It was certainly a wet and windy day but it was also such a lovely day!

Monkey loved every minute and was so good. He loved the fish and the rays and the Seals. It was really nice to get out and do something different, you know?

It was such a great day, but unfortunately the week went rapidly downhill from there… that night we were shattered so went to bed at about 9, but unfortunately just an hour or so later I was up, and that was it, for the rest of the night I had the worst sickness and diarrhoea of my life. I knew some friends had had a bug recently and I guess I got it! It was so awful, and lasted most of the week :(. Hubby got it too, though thankfully not quite as badly… I got food poisoning years ago when I was travelling in Peru and honestly my tummy has not been the same since. Anyway no further details needed, we were so grateful that Monkey didn’t get ill too!

But needless to say, our plans for the week were very much scuppered! I spent most of the week asleep and Hubby wasn’t right either so we had to call on the grandparents to help keep the Monkey busy and look after us. We are so lucky to have our family close by for emergencies.

We are all much better now thankfully and happy to get back to normal. It wasn’t exactly the week we had planned but Hubby at least managed to have a lot of fun with Monkey and we did manage to get out a bit by the weekend. I am just so pleased we made it to the Sea Life centre on Monday, so the week wasn’t a total washout!

The rough with the smooth… and good samaritans

Posted by Caroline Elliott

We had a pretty miserable day yesterday and Monkey was not happy no matter what we seemed to do. We had so much whining (which I am afraid to say really grates my nerves) and it all built up to a huge battle of wills at lunchtime. He has been getting fussier and fussier with food again over the last few weeks, I won’t go into too much detail here I have written about mealtime battles before and am writing a longer blog about dealing with food issues so it is all in one place, rather than boring you all with endless blogs about the same thing!

But anyway, yesterday lunchtime was a screaming, wailing nightmare with him refusing to eat his falafel, which I know he loves. We ended up taking him out just to get out of the house, hoping for a change of scene to help. Eventually, after realising he really wasn’t going to get anything else, he took a tiny bite out of the tupperware pot I had transferred it to, and then scoffed the lot because oh yes I really like this. Grrrr Why we had to have half an hour of screaming before this I do not know.

He was really fussy all afternoon after his nap too, though we were definitely being stricter with his food intake yesterday, and he scoffed all of his dinner (yay) but then by bathtime and bedtime he was a real misery guts again. By the time he was in bed both hubby and I had had enough.

This morning he woke up much happier and actually coped pretty well as I carted him around various shops. Unfortunately I had a disaster as I lost my purse this morning, it was in my coat pocket and all I can think is that when I was putting Monkey in the car to come home it must have fallen out as when I got home I could not find it anywhere. I was devastated at the thought of having to go through all of the hassle of cancelling cards and getting a new driving licence etc. So after his snack we dashed back to the last place I knew I had it and checked with the shops and with the security guard who patrols the car park, nothing, I was gutted.

We came home again as my parents were coming round, opened the front door and ouila! My purse was staring up at me! Some lovely lovely good samaritan found it, saw my address on my driving licence and brought it back for me! I was amazed and just couldn’t believe it! She had put her name and number on a little piece of paper so after I had calmed down from the stress of it I gave her a call and thanked her profusely.

The funny thing is that it was like a turning point in my day. After yesterday, and with the miserable weather and with the purse drama I had been feeling so low. But pretty soon after we go home my parents arrived and from then on we have had the loveliest day! Monkey was on top form and back to his old self again, having so much fun with his Nanny and Grandpops it really warms my heart. He then ate his lunch with no fuss whatsoever (yay!) and went out for a play with his grandparents as it stopped raining for a little while. This meant that I got a load of jobs done in the house which made me feel better. I think there is really something in the whole, tidy house, tidy mind thing.

Anyway then home for a bit more of a play and then down for his nap. He was lovely all afternoon and we popped over to his other grandparents house for a brief visit to return a collection of things we had at our house (including Granny’s umbrella, which she must have been missing!). He had a lovely lovely play with them and then he came home for tea and he ate so well! He still spat a few things out and was a bit silly (he has recently discovered sticking his tongue out and one of his favourite things today has been blowing raspberries), but on the whole he ate really well and and tried everything.

We had a lovely bathtime and he was so cute reading stories with his daddy both before and after and well I had to write this blog post because honestly I could not feel more different to how I did yesterday. There are always ups and downs in life, and especially I am finding, as a parent, but the stark contrast of today and yesterday really hit me. Be thankful for the good days and just get through the bad days as they won’t all be that hard!

Phew! The end of Jury Duty and back to Normality

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I am freeeee! No more Jury Duty and thank goodness for that. I have to say that I wasn’t looking forward to Jury Duty but hoped that it would be better than I feared. But nope, it was awful. I got put on a really horrible and difficult case on day 1 and spent over a week listening to all of the horrible details and then being locked in a room deliberating with the rest of the Jury.

I obviously can’t go into any details, it wasn’t the worst case imaginable as no children were involved, but it was pretty nasty and just awful. So yeah, not enjoyable in the slightest.

The positive outcome of the week though, was that Monkey did so well being looked after by the various grandparents and Daddy. All of our preparation paid off as it just went so smoothly from day 1! We had thought that by the end of the week it may be starting to take it’s toll, especially as he had a cold, but he had a really lovely time with hubby’s parents on Thursday and Friday. Monday was my last day of Jury Duty and even though he was with daddy he did have a slightly grumpy day. Whatever the reason for that though I am just so relieved to getting back to normal!

This morning was tumbletots, and then we met some friends at a local park and made some plans for the rest of the week. He’s now asleep so I have done some baking (just flapjacks) and other bits and am now blogging. Ahhhh so happy to be back to my mundane, normal, happy little life! I am so lucky to be able to spend my days having fun with my Monkey and baking and looking after the house. While part of me did enjoy using my brain for something more demanding, I think the horrible subject matter just pushed me back to my happier normal existence of being a stay at home mum. While I know that any job I had would not be that horrible, the whole experience has really not made me want to change things and go back to work, not yet at least.

The good thing about it though, or things, was that Daddy really enjoyed spending time with Monkey and I think that both sets of grandparents are now more confident about looking after Monkey without me there. I am not saying I am going to ask them to do it all the time or anything, but if they wanted to take him out for a couple of hours now and then, we all know that he would love it and that we he shouldn’t miss me too much 🙂 which is really nice as I really want him to grow up being close to his grandparents. We are lucky to all live so close and I really want to make the most of it. We lived miles away from my grandparents growing up, and while we saw my Mum’s parents pretty regularly, my Dad’s mum lives in Oz so I have only ever met her once. I would really like Monkey to have a really close relationship with his grandparents, and I think we are off to a great start!

Preparing for Jury Duty and getting ready to leave my Monkey :(

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Over the summer I received a summons for Jury Duty. Straight away I was torn between being interested in the whole process and what it would be like, and the fact that it meant leaving Monkey in someone else’s care while I did it. After all, I made the decision to be at home looking after him full time, so the thought of leaving him to do Jury Duty brought back all those worries. The biggest problem in arranging the childcare is that you have no way of knowing how long or what hours you will be needed. It’s a two week period but they aren’t any more specific than that.

They do give you money towards childcare, so we considered nursery or childminders, but we thought that both of those options would be difficult because we’d have to get him ready with sessions beforehand, and because it is so unknown what hours I would actually be there, we thought a more flexible approach would be better. We agreed with the grandparents that my parents would do a couple of days, Hubby’s parents a couple of days and then Hubby wanted to take a few days off to help. Having spoken to other people who have done Jury Duty, some have only had to be there for a few days in all, others for half days some days, so we need them to be quite flexible.

I think it’s fair to say we were all a little nervous about how it would actually go. He has been quite a mummy’s boy and we have struggled with separation anxiety quite a lot. The last time my parents looked after him was on my birthday and he screamed the place down. The last time Hubby’s parents looked after him he seemed to really withdraw into himself and was so clingy with me for ages afterwards. He was quite wary with both sets of grandparents for a while too which was really hard for all of us. I mean, he still liked them, but he seemed a bit scared they were going to take him away or that I was going to leave him.

We deferred the Jury Duty until September so we could fit around my parents holiday, and a good time for Hubby to be able to leave work at the drop of a hat if necessary. This also meant that we had time to work on Monkey’s relationships with his grandparents. I decided that it was worth them playing with him at our house, where he is obviously the most comfortable, and then after lunch them taking him to the play park for some fun, because he loves it there!

The first times with each set of grandparents surpassed all of our expectations and he had so much fun. There was a tiny bit of looking for me or being a bit upset when he realised I wasn’t there, but they were able to distract him into having fun. As the weeks have gone on his relationships with them have improved so much. In this way it’s been great as it’s prompted us to make the effort and it’s been so much better for all of us. I have been loving it too as for a couple of hours every week I get to clean the house or do my own thing while he is out with the grandparents! Brilliant! He loves them all so much now too and really knows them that it is wonderful to see.

I mean, obviously he is that couple of months older too which really does make all the difference.

So that was the preparation, but the prospect of doing it was still daunting. An hour here or there is of course massively different to the whole day, for a couple of weeks. Plus I knew I was going to miss him! Being a stay at home mum is hard work sometimes but I do love it and it’s not like I want to change it. I would still rather be at home with him than out at work, but I have to do this, I can’t get out of it so I just have to do everything I can to prepare for it.

I’m obviously nervous of the thing itself too, because it is a huge responsibility, it’s people’s lives after all, and deciding whether they are innocent or guilty. Like wow, my days are going from playtime and baking and postman pat, to crime and law and seriousness. Crazy!

There’s not really anyway I can prepare myself for that as it’s a whole new world really, so all I can do is concentrate on preparing Monkey and the grandparents. Making sure they know his routine and that his little world stays as familiar and happy as possible. I just have to hope that it’s a nice easy case or that I don’t actually get called onto a panel so I don’t have to be away from him too much. Fingers crossed!

Happiness this week is a dustbuster and a crochet bunny

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Well, what a busy week! You’ll be pleased to know that we are all much better, no more tummy bugs, so a much happier household going in to the beginning of the week 🙂 First of all, the baby booties that I made for my friend’s little boy fit his teeny feet perfectly! It’s funny how quickly you forget how small they are in those first few months, although monkey has always been a big boy with big feet!

I mentioned in my last post that hubby and I had bought a big jug for the windowsill but didn’t have anything to put in it – well long term is not sorted but in the short term hubby brought home some gorgeous bright coloured flowers for it – so at least it feels a little like spring inside the house – if not remotely like it outside!

Very lovely and thoughtful of him (although I have to admit my initial gut reaction was one of suspicion and that he was trying to soften some bad news, like having to work away overnight or something silly, but no just a sweet gesture after all :)) and they do look lovely in the kitchen.

My little project for the last week or so has been to make this really cute bunny that I saw in my simply crochet magazine.

I thought he was just so cute and a perfect little toy for the monkey to chew on. It said in the pattern to use alpaca wool, but well that is pretty expensive. I also know that anything that is for monkey needs to be very easily washable, which I don’t believe alpaca is, and I could easily see the gorgeous bunny becoming quite stained very quickly! So I decided to go for it with some of the acrylic wool I already had. I also didn’t have any brown and was far too impatient to wait until I could get some so decided to go for a multi-coloured blue bunny!

It was quite simple really, mainly double crochets (UK terms) and after learning what a htr2tog was last week I managed to figure out what a dc2tog was quickly enough. My big flaw though seems to be counting, I lose count of stitches so blimming easily and really struggle to get it right after that, so tend to have a bit of interpretation of the pattern. This is fine until you are making a pair of something, such as the ears, which have come out as completely different shapes! hehe ah well, I think it adds to his character, what do you think?

I also was a bit ummm unorganised with where I was sowing the legs on, so he’s a bit scew-wiff but again I think he looks cute so decided to go with it. Monkey has chewed on him a few times and shaken him around but so far he doesn’t seem anywhere near as pleased with him as I am! hehe

It’s my birthday coming up in a month or so and it’s one with a zero on the end! A few people have asked what I would like, so have duly created a lovely amazon wishlist, though I really couldn’t think of much I wanted, a few dvds and a portable dustbuster type thing being the highlights. I know that is not very exciting as a birthday present but honestly I spend half my life on my hands and knees wiping up crumbs that if been thrown from the highchair tray or fallen off of the monkey himself, and the other half hovering up where any I have missed have been walked on and spread throughout the house! (Ok slight exaggeration as obviously I manage to squeeze in crochet and blogging too :)) Our hoover is he too and monkey is terrified of the noise so I can only hoover certain parts of the house when he’s asleep, and other parts only at the weekend or sometime daddy is available to otherwise entertain him!

At our weekly visit to the lovely mother in laws I was very touched and surprised when they received a delivery of said dustbuster and said that I couldn’t possibly have it as a birthday present as it is much too boring, but that they wanted me to have it, so they bought it as a present! Like I say, very touched, and almost bought a tear to my eye. Feels a bit sad to get so excited over a dustbuster, but honestly, since becoming a stay at home mummy, anything that makes my life easier really makes such a big difference! And I have to say both hubby and I love it, makes post mealtime clean-ups so much quicker, its quiet and monkey doesn’t mind the noise so yay! Fantastic all-round 🙂

Poorly house and crochet baby booties!

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Oh where is spring? Really I am so fed up with all this cold weather, and the germs that come with it! Every time we have a semi nice day it seems to be followed by a week of freezing! Been a bit of a poorly house for the last week or so too, I think I mentioned in my last blog that the monkey had been poorly, and sadly that carried on into the following week, and then I started throwing up too and well not a lot of fun to be had with poorly baby and a poorly mummy! If you work you can take a sick day but it’s not like you can get a sick day when you are a stay at home mum!

So it’s been all hands on deck and luckily my lovely mother in law was very happy to help, which meant daddy could get on at work, and, well, thankfully we are all much better now but we have been looking for some cheering up! We got these lovely Daffodils last weekend and thankfully they have been brightening up the kitchen nicely (and our moods!) although the pollen was so strong!

Through all of the illness I have been managing to carry on a bit of crochet 🙂 mainly carrying on with granny squares for my blanket project. I am doing quite well but have worked out that for a really decent sized blanket I am going need to make well over a hundred… 11 down so far so it may take me some time! Loving how they look already though!

As this project is going to take some time, and because I am massively impatient and like to see things finished, I have decided to alternate a bit and do some other small projects in between the granny squares. My lovely mother in law bought me a “Simply Crochet” magazine with some very cute patterns in, including one for these lovely baby booties which I couldn’t resist as they are so cute and as mentioned, we need some cheering up this week!

Now they say they are for 0-6 months so way too small for Monkey now, but honestly I am not sure they would ever have fit our little one’s feet! A couple of friend’s have had little ones recently though so will see if they fit on their little tootsies. Also I have a friend due at the beginning of April, so I thought that if they go well I may make a little pink pair for part of her baby present 🙂

I started the pattern and all seemed well, although it was getting late when I started them and I seemed completely incapable of counting so I did get a little stressed at points. I mean really, how hard is it to count 9 stitches! hehe but once I got going the sole suddenly appeared, and then I decided it looked a bit like Iggle Piggle’s boat hehe 🙂

Then came a phrase that completely flummoxed me! htr2tog. Um what? I get the htr bit but not the rest, isn’t 2 tog something to do with duvets? Luckily there is a list of abbreviations at the back of the magazine which said “work 2 half trebles together.” Unfortunately this didn’t make things any clearer to me and after looking through the guide bit of the magazine I was none the wiser and once again turned to my trusty friend that is Google. Seriously what did people do in the days before the internet? There I found out what to do. I don’t kid myself that I am able to describe it very effectively, there are plenty of other people who can explain it perfectly, such as here. 🙂

After that it seemed to quite swimmingly and soon enough I had first one, and then another booty! They are very cute but they are seriously small! So we will see if they actually fit on my friend’s baby’s tootsies!

Had a lovely weekend with the hubby and now that the daffodils are withered we have realised that our kitchen windowsill needs some brightening up! We have done a lot since we moved in 10 months ago, including having a new kitchen put in, but we haven’t put anything apart from the occasional bunch of flowers on the windowsill and it does need a bit of brightening up.

So yesterday when we were out buying some buttons for the booties (and some toy stuffing for my next project!) we popped in to our fave little Le Creuset shop. Yes the stuff is expensive but they always have colourful bits and we tend to buy one item at a time to spread the cost and make it fun 🙂 Anyway so to start off our windowsill we bought this lovely Jug! Think we should put something in it, it can be used for flowers of course but they are only temporary so need some ideas for things to go in there if anyone has any??

We obviously need a few more things on there but it’s a start at least! 🙂

Becoming a Stay at Home Mum

Can I really do this?

Family

Remembering my first pregnancy and struggling with SPD

Starting to think about baby number 2…. yipes!

A very lovely Family Christmas, and a very happy Monkey :)

Battling boredom and keeping busy

A wonderful day at the aquarium… followed by a less than wonderful week

The rough with the smooth… and good samaritans

Phew! The end of Jury Duty and back to Normality

Preparing for Jury Duty and getting ready to leave my Monkey :(

Happiness this week is a dustbuster and a crochet bunny

Poorly house and crochet baby booties!