Onwards and...downwards?

Isaac is becoming increasingly mobile these days. He's not a particularly speedy mover, but he Wiggles around a fair bit and shuffles about in a backwards manner, too. He even tried to pull himself up on the coffee table the other day! Looks like it's time to think about baby proofing. Yipee!

His favourite thing to do when on the sofa is to lunge forward and investigate what's going on on the floor. Which is invariably nothing, but he does it regardless. Each time he does this my heartbeat quickens as I prepare to leap to his rescue should he overbalance any; can't have him landing on his noggin!  

Don't let him play on the sofa!  you declare.

Now, where's the fun in that?

Teasing with toys that aren't even yours.

Isaac has taken a shine to Rinny's favourite toy. The red-legs-chewed-off-doesn't-squeak-anymore-bounces-lots-ball. She's so good with him. She wouldn't dare try to take it from him. She knows the line exists and that she definitely shouldn't cross it.

(I don't usually let Isaac play with her toys if he happens across one because A) it's unfair to Rinny & B) it's not terribly hygienic, but today I caved for the sake of funny pictures.)

Doesn't stop her sulking though.

Garden, grub & a gift!

This weekend was quiet; a rare occurrence in our house! We had planned that friends were coming to stay and some Couch Surfers too, but as it worked out no one came, Simon's cousin moved out and was only Simon, Isaac, Rinny and I. It was lovely.

I had an unexpected night out with most of my NCT girlfriends to say goodbye to Maria who is moving away. The meal was fabulous (as it always is at Le Bistrot Pierre) and proved to be highly entertaining as the night wore on! Pictures not posted to protect the innocent ;-)

Our little dog, Rinny, was quite poorly last week. She was sick a few times and not herself at all. I took her to the vet on Friday evening & she received an injection to stop her being sick. That seemed to do the trick, along with not eating for a few days and you'll be pleased to know she's now back to her insane, couch hogging, incessant ball chasing, voracious self!

On Sunday Isaac woke up with a ridiculously cute tuft of hair sticking out which stayed there all day.

We were (and still are) shrouded by oppressive dark clouds (where did Summer go?!) so when the sun came out we legged it outside to get some vitamin D!

We wanted to go the route of baby led weaning, but Isaac doesn't get the food in his mouth fast enough to not get fed up with being hungry. Sometimes he just don't wanna eat and on these rare occasions we let him loose on the food. Which he likes. I think the dog likes it more as she always does very well!

I've known since being a child that the box is always more fun than the toy. It seems the same is true for blankets. This IKEA blanket/throw thing is the source of much happy time spent with Little Man. He particularly likes having it thrown over him so he can fight his way out.

He also likes lying under it with his Mama. Sometimes. When he's not too busy Wiggling!

As I said, Simon's cousin moved out this weekend and during the process we gained a very generous gift of a keyboard. On the same day that someone told me I should learn to play the piano no less!! Isaac loves playing on it. He loves the dials and buttons & has actually made some pretty awesome music on it so far!

Here's something else to add to the list of things he's *going* to be - virtuoso!

Next weekend: carnival fun and possibly camping *fingers crossed*

On the radio (uh oh!)

We were on the radio today...quite unbelievable! I say we, I was. Isaac was much of the focus, but he's a baby thus not capable of holding a radio-style conversation.

It was all quite unplanned. I innocently sent a text to the Shaun Keaveny breakfast show on BBC 6 Music yesterday asking them to play my earworm (Can I Play With Madness by Iron Maiden - oh yes). Later in the day someone rang me to see if I wanted to be on the following day for a feature called My Morning Racket. Initially I said no because I've never been good at anything involving people watching me as my school friends know well (freezing up, dry mouth, talking at high speed, turning as red as you like), but she talked me into it. Plus no one was actually watching so it was OK.

Turns out I didn't get to talk to Shaun because, typically, he went on holiday the day before! So I spoke to Andrew Collins instead, who was very nice. I've only just heard myself and I've decided that it's not too bad so...here I am on the radio!



(Simon aren't you proud? I got the audio file embedded in the page all by myself!! Well, strictly speaking, I used this awesome tutorial. Thank you for teaching me html & css though :-D xx)

P.S.: Please forgive my Leatherface ignorance.
P.P.S.: If you can't see the embedded flash player, click here instead.

Morning Mega Bloks

Our latest post-breakfast activity, just before Isaac has his nap, is playing with the Mega Bloks. The game goes like this: I build some sort of structure, hand it to Isaac who pulls it apart in seconds! Then he looks at me in a way that says "build another one Mama, please." How can I refuse? Such fun!

P.S.: Cracking shot of the ScienceFingers™! A double whammy in-fact!!

Rosh turns 4 and other weekend antics

This weekend, Roisin turned 4. We had planned to go camping, but the weather forecast was typically British (dubious as hell) so we reluctantly decided to stay home rather than make their first camping experience a soggy one. Gutted. Instead of sleeping in a tent outside, we put up the beach tent in their room, blew up one of the air mattresses and they slept in their sleeping bags which went down pretty well!

On Saturday I made strawberry milkshake which was a huge success

and Isaac scoffed a whole bowl of sweet potato wedges!

At the time I thought he was filthy, but looking back I think he did very well!

After lunch we went to a local farm where you can feed the animals. We've been before, but Isaac hadn't and the girls wanted to go...so we did! Isaac totally freaked out when we got there and didn't like the animals at all. Simon handed him back to me and he calmed down a bit. Poor Daddy. I can understand it though, huge noisy furry beasts that don't smell or sound like Rinny. I remember when Rinny was a puppy and every time she experienced something new she's run back & hide behind my legs. So I guess it's kind of the same thing with Isaac, apart from he's clearly not a dog. He spends the majority of his time with me so looks to me for reassurance. Bless his little lovely socks. Anyhoo...animal fear aside. The girls had a lovely time feeding the animals and looking at chickens, ducks, peacocks, rabbits, guinea pigs, donkeys etc. Although, apparently "that pig poo is disgusting" according to Roisin which amused a lady and her elderly mother standing close by no end!

The sheep were out in the fields this time, but the goats weren't complaining!

There was an old tractor for kids to climb on and play with too.

On the way home Roisin (whilst looking at a map) won the award for quote of the weekend,  which goes as follows:

Roisin: "That's Zombie Island!"

Sarah: "Zombie Island?! What's on Zombie Island?"

Roisin: "Ghosts."

(!)

On Sunday morning Roisin opened her presents and cards (the cake was had after tea)

while Isaac played peekaboo with his sweater

The girls played on their bikes for a while (Rosh's was our birthday present) and *helped* us do some gardening. We were going to go to a pub near the campsite (The Bull's Head in Monyash) for lunch had we gone camping, so we went to a local one instead and had a veggie carvery followed by incredibly naughty puddings - yum! Then we went to Toys R Us for Rosh to spend some of her birthday money from Nanna & Grandad Steven.

It's always so incredibly quiet when they go back to their Mum's house on Sunday evening. I felt a bit deflated this time; I miss them when they go home.

Despite not going camping we all had a lovely weekend. If we don't manage to sleep under canvas before, we're going to the Just So Festival which should blow the girlies minds and be a memorable camp at any rate  :-)

This is [not] the day [anymore]

I turned the page of my diary earlier only to see that today, this very Monday, is the day I should've started back at work. Only, I'm not going back. Today marks the official end of my 52 weeks maternity leave. The time has flown and I can't quite believe it's here already! I've meant to write about it before now, but the timing seems appropriate today.

The instant Isaac was handed to me my Mummy instincts overwhelmed my senses and I knew in my heart that I couldn't possibly, no way ever, nuh uh EVER give him to someone else to look after before he goes to school. Just the thought of it made my soul hurt. Paying someone else to look after my baby? It strikes me as absurd. They won't appreciate his development like I will. And they won't be his Mother. Period.

I reasoned with myself that lots of people send their kids to nursery and they're all fine, but I just can't do it. I figure if I did go back to work I'd be part time anyway so that he wouldn't be at nursery all day (full day = 8am-6pm, half day = 9am-3pm). I know if I worked we'd be eligible for some financial assistance from the government to help cover the cost of childcare, but (having worked it out previously for when we thought Simon's youngest might live with us for a bit) we'd still be only slightly better off financially. It'd be different, I think, if I had family close by who were prepared to and were able have him during the day, but I don't. So that scuppers that one! I've thought about child minders and have looked at several nurseries which were nice, but something inside me feels that the right thing for Isaac is staying home with me. I don't want to get a piece of paper telling me when my son's nappy was changed or when he ate or what. I want to be there and experience all of it myself! As goes the cliché, I'll never get the time back, so why should I lose it in the first place?

I'm a great believer in the family unit and that parents are as much, if not more responsible for their child's education than the state. It therefore makes sense to me that during the early years of his life I teach Isaac about life and human interaction (and other stuff, obviously) to prepare him as best I can for what lies ahead while taking time to develop the existing bond  between us to hopefully give him a secure basis from which to spring into his own independence. I think academic pressure starts too early in this country, way before kids (particularly boys) are ready for it.

So, we've decided that I will be a stay at home Mum until he's of school age. I don't think any of this will be a piece of cake by any means! Just before he goes to school we'll probably do a few mornings or days a week in the toddler group at the school we'd like him to go to so we both get used to not being with each other so much. 

Until then...we're going to take life as it comes and have as much fun as possible!

Which shouldn't be too hard with this cheeky young scamp!

He's going to be a...

As I'm sure all parents do, on numerous occasions we've made a remark (when Isaac has being doing something in particular relating to a job/career) beginning "he's going to be a..."

Here are some of those things that I've managed to capture!

Body popper

Drummer

Conductor

  Food taster

Photographer

 Wine taster?

We've suspicions about construction too, but that one remains elusive in terms of photographic evidence. Of course it's silly to do this and he can be anything he wants, but I wonder, what will he really want to do/be?

New beginnings...online at least

I have deserted Wordpress and am pleased as punch about it! Don't get me wrong, Wordpress is a great site & has been perfect for me, but I've discovered that Blogger is...better!

Having blogged about Little Man and things crafty separately for a while I, decided that I might like to blog about other things too and so decided to remove blog parameters. After almost 2 years of loyalty to wordpress.com, I have jumped ship to blogger.com. Why? Because...A) I can post bigger pictures on Blogger than any of the Wordpress themes that I liked B) it's much less complicated in terms of editing/customising/controlling the layout and making it exactly how my OCD self wants it, very intuitive and C) it links in with my Google account. Yes I know...one of those. One less password to remember...feeding the Google machine yada yada...

Anyhoo...first I combined Crafty Pie Blurb with Mini Pie Blurb and then, after realising the Wordpress export feature isn't compatible with the Blogger import feature, I used this little page to instruct me in ways mutinous. It says it will only work with .xml files 1MB or less, but mine was 1.10MB and it still did it. Hurrah! The whole process took approximately 5 minutes and was rather painless; it transferred comments. tags (labels on Blogger) and everything!

I am now completing the arduous task of deleting the posts from Wordpress. Which I can only do 15 at a time. I suppose I should leave Mini Pie Blurb up for a while with a forwarding note? Or is that self indulgent that anyone will notice? Hmm. *ponders*

The only thing that irks [my OCD self] is that the paragraph spacing on existing, transferred posts is off and pictures aren't centre aligned now that they're on Blogger. BUT. I am NOT about to edit every single post to satisfy my inherent compulsive orderliness! Not tonight anyway...

Grandad's latest visit and some firsts to boot!

My Pa (Grandad) came to visit last week. Despite his grumbling back he did a sterling job of stripping down and repainting an old rocking chair that I was given by a lady on Freegle. The chair was thought to be pine underneath the white paint, but turned out to be beech & beech ply (?) so we weren't able to strip it & varnish it as we'd hoped. We settled instead for a warm beige colour paint, which ties in quite well with Isaac's nursery. I think it looks fab - thank you Dad!

We went into town one day and stopped for an impromptu cup of tea and Isaac's dinner at Derby Quad (the same trip that set me onto Ikea high chairs). Isaac had his first jacket potato and baked beans. Which went down very well! He just kept eating...and eating...and eating! I think it had something to do with being outside & seeing lots of new things which distracted him from what his mouth is doing because he always eats well  in public. He's such a show off: "Look at me! I'm eating!"

Isaac also had his first time in shopping trolley seat, the folding one rather than the plastic-leaning-back one. It was very exciting AND he didn't fall over! Wooh!

Unfortunately I was using my phone camera, hence the car behind is in focus, not my Little Man. Gah.

The weather was (and still is!) warm. I baked cookies and we talked & listened to old soul records. Splendid.

All in all it was a lovely week and Dad even stayed on longer to finish the chair. We love you Grandad! Come back soon!

Bye-bye Bumbo, hello high-chair!

Until now Isaac has been table top in his Bumbo. This has been great because he wasn't the fastest sitter-upper and we needed uprightness for feeding solids. Having had a relatively cramped meal with the girls this weekend (Simon, me, Aoife, Roisin and my Dad all round the table) we decided it was time for a high chair for our Little Man. I'd been lusting after the (nearly £200 - ouch!) Brother Max high chair for some time, but (after a recent trip to Derby Quad for some food with my Pa and actually successfully using a high chair for the first time) I decided to get the same one they use there which happens to be the rather modestly priced (£10.99) Ikea Antilop. Why? Because it does what it needs to, it's super easy to clean and Isaac stays upright in it.

We think he likes it :-)

You say diaper, I say happy nappy

And these are, indeed, the happiest of nappies.

For those of you without children, you may be forgiven for thinking that I've completely lost the plot. Which to a certain extent is true; I can't claim senior moments yet so I'm sticking with hormonal unrest! For those of you with children, I'm hoping you might understand, even if it is only a wee bit?

So. When changing nappies is a regular occurrence, nappy art is a talking point for you and yourself your baby. I was particularly pleased, then, to see the return of the serenely blissed out monkeys that adorn the size 3 Bambo Nature nappies that Isaac wears. We had them on our first pack, but then pandas took over. They weren't anywhere near as good as the monkeys and their activities seemed a little odd, even for pandas.

I've put them into categories (feel free to phone the funny farm anytime...).

Category 1: Monkeys at Work.

Clockwise from bottom left - Learning to Juggle Monkey, Weather Monkey, Hangin' on a Rope Monkey and I'm not sure about this last fellow. He seems to have a telekinetic command over an arrangement of...atoms perhaps? We shall call him God Particle Monkey.

Category 2: Monkeys au natural.

Clockwise from bottom left - Swingin' Through the Trees Monkey, Enlightened Buddhist Monkey, Sitting Down Surfer Monkey and Hooray it's Bananas Monkey.

And finally, my personal favourite:

Monkeys in love <3