A rather interesting week off...

My husband has had a pretty busy run of things after Christmas, works been quite hectic and he's had to help out a lot at home with me being rendered pretty useless. We decided to take a last minute week of annual leave to spend some time as a family before baby Pip arrives. 

We had already planned to visit my sister and brother in law in Northern Island. 

Taking the children is a bit of a nightmare to be honest, especially this time with me on crutches however my sister makes it worth your while with 5 star hospitality when you get there!

Poppy stayed with my parents for the weekend and got spoilt with long walks.

Now my Mum has never been a big dog person however you know she's soft on poppy when she puts these photos on Facebook!

(Note that they've been soppy on Poppy and bought her teddy bear which we didn't put in her bag!) 

Nemo loved the flight over and spent ages watching all the planes from the windows of the airport!

Pebble wasn't as bothered....

Pebble was fine until she had to sit in her own seat instead of mine or Hubby's lap. She threw an almighty tantrum and kept managing to slide down the chair so that the strap was over her chest however tight we had it. Reading books, eating biscuits and all the distractions in the world didn't help. It was a bit of a nightmare as you can't exactly put her in a time out when the planes taking off!

On the Saturday we went to St George's market - home to my favourite stray jewellery  (www.strayjewellery.com) I bought a little sparkly bottle necklace for myself!

And a little mermaid one for my sister (who always loved singing the songs from that film!) 

(I think Mummy enjoyed the trip the most!) 

We went to W5 next which was this awesome interactive museum. We only spent the afternoon there but you could easily be there all day. 

Hilariously we realised whilst having our lunch that Pebble was soaked through. The kids had been having juice at my sisters which they don't usually have. Pebble had so enthusiastically downed loads of juice that she saturated her nappy and clothes. Having not had a leak since I could remember we had no spare clothes. We ended up improvising and putting Pebble in her brothers boxers and jumper! 

On our last day we went for a walk and got ready to go. Unfortunately Nemo ended up soiling himself 3 times with diahhorea before we relented and stuck him in a nappy. Amazingly enough we managed the whole way through the airport and on the flight home with no poo incidents! 

We of course had to get our usual souvenir from the airport :) 

Less fortunately a part of the pram had been snapped off by the luggage people which meant after a really long tiring flight we then had to have a trip to customer service to try and get the piece back (we didn't and unsurprisingly they haven't called us to say they've found it!) 

We went to my parents to pick up Poppy and stayed over night we were all pretty shattered. 

Then in the middle of the night we hear Pebble crying and go in to find that she's projectile vommitted all over herself and the bed. 

We spend the rest of the night holding her whilst she intermittently sleeps then wakes up wretching. It's so horrible when they're so little and there's nothing you can do for them.

 

Mummy and Daddy taking turns, I wonder who is the most tired? 

So Monday we go home and nurse poorly Pebble. Tuesday Pebble was knackered and not eatting but otherwise well and Nemo is off pre school as he's still in his 48 hours post diarrhoea period so we go to Ikea to get some storage for Baby Pip's clothes.

It's miraculous that Nemo and Pebble managing to avoid injuring anyone with these trolleys, their driving was interesting... 

We end up deciding to get a little wardrobe for Pebble to hang her dresses in and give her drawers to Pip. 

I have to admit getting a bit too much pleasure from seeing her little wardrobe with all her pretty clothing hanging down nicely. 

Tuesday night came and again middle of the night we hear crying and find that Nemo has projectile vommitted all over himself. Cue another sleepless night of staying with him whilst he makes his way through all his pyjamas and all the sheets. The next day the poor thing is understandably exhausted.

Oh And I forgot to mention the clincher whilst Nemo is being sick here there and everywhere so simultanously is my poor husband. Now in pregnancy I get very a sensitive sense of smell and had to dig deep that night.... 

Wednesday sees us all very tired and I start to feel unwell. I tell myself that I'm just being paranoid but just like the last domino that afternoon I get very sick and by 5am the next morning we eventually call 111. After a whole load of shenanigans I won't bore you with I am in an ambulance on the way to hospital. 

I was concerned that Nemo might be distressed by the whole thing but apparently he was just disappointed when the ambulance left (note the ambulance leaving not me!) I had a couple of days at hospital which included many failed attempts at getting lines in (it's so reassuring when the person attempting to put a drip in says things like "oh I've gone and popped another one" when sticking needles in your veins!) I now have an impressive collection of bruises, this one being my favourite! 

However now I am slowly beginning to feel normal, just exhausted. 

My poor husband spent his entire week, either sick or caring for other sick people- how joyful for him! 

I was determined to try and achieve something over the weekend depite still feeling pretty rough. Just so I could feel that the week had not been an utter disaster. 

We got all the 0-3 months clothes down from the loft, washed them and put them out in the drawers. 

Here are all our sleepsuits, sorted into girls, gender neutral and boys. So exciting to start to get things ready.

I also swapped our winter decorations to our spring/ Easter ones. 

Easter wreath 

I used the hearts I made for a Valentine's Day in 2014 to decorate these lights 

http://themumthedogandthebaby.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/valentines-weekend.html?m=0

Easter rabbit and carrot bunting

I love how the attic24 moorland blanket looks on the sofa. 

I didn't like the old cushion covers (we got them free with the sofa) so I made the green and blue cushion covers to brighten it up for Spring!

Also today I have just finished baby Pip's blanket. I was really concerned that I wasn't going to have enough wool and look how much I had left!!

Here is it blocked (well as much as I will ever block anything!) 

I love the cable design. Now just have the teddy to do!

Well anyway of course now all our immune systems are scuppered all the family now have colds but there you go! Hopefully will be feeling 100% by the weekend!