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