Nemo's moving... Lots

So in the past 2 weeks Nemo has changed from a baby rolling around and almost crawling to a crawling standing and babbling machine. It was like Nemo turned 8 months and a light bulb went off. 

I have really enjoyed watching him crawl around. It does mean that now I see the house in a new light (although having a Labrador the house was already half baby proofed). The upside of having drinks knocked over regularly by either the baby or the dog is that Nemo can keep himself entertained for longer and I can contemplate doing non- Nemo activities.

Nemo makes two sounds (aside from moaning!) these are "wah" and "bah" I'm not sure what I can contribute this noise to, perhaps I could pretend he's trying to say banana? (a staple in our house) 

Over the last two days though he has a couple of times made a noise that sounded a bit like "mah" so I'm hopeful he might be saying mummy soonish!

Nemo and Poppy are providing to be a bit of a team. Poppy circles Nemo like a shark at mealtimes for Nemo's disgarded food and Nemo how likes to share his food with Poppy! 

Nemo and Poppy also bond over their mutual fascination with the vacuum cleaner. Nemo likes to chase after it and Poppy likes to watch it suspiciously following it around like the enemy. 

Today Nemo stood up unaided briefly for the first time ever! I have a feeling he'll be walking before too long as he can already walk a little with his hand held. 

Crafting fever

So Nemo's been able to entertain himaelf for a bit longer now he's almost 9 months old and he's also started having longer naps so I've been able to do a bit more crafting. 

I've really enjoyed getting my sewing machine out for the first time since Nemo was born. I made him some harem trousers out of a t-shirt and my knitting a waistband with spare wool. I was pretty happy with them- it's my first time making any baby clothing! 

Rowan wasn't very happy being made to model! 

 

Inspired by something I saw on pininterest  I made this for Rowan from bits of material I have stashed away and a plain baby vest. 

 

My crochet blanket is getting bigger:

 

And I'm also using another pininterest idea of crocheting using material to make a rug (?) maybe!!

Just a few things to keep me busy! 

Catch up!

So much has been happening I have struggled to keep up on blogging. 

Bye bye wisdom teeth!!!

Firstly I had my 'special' wisdom teeth removed at the beginning to March. I'd had a hard time trying to negotiate with the hospital  beforehand to have Nemo and my husband to be with me. I didn't have the best experience of hospital when I had Nemo (long story!) and I really didn't want to be on my own. Also Nemo is breastfed and outrightly refuses bottles. 

When we turned up to the hosptial the first nurse we met said "oh YOU'RE the woman with a baby" which made me a little nervous but I was quite relieved that I had another nurse who was really friendly. The procedure took much longer than expected as they were having difficulty with one of the teeth. The anaesthetic had a really strong affect on me and I dosed for hours afterwards- the woman who had her operation after mine left 2 hours before me! The hosptial had been strange about me breastfeeding Nemo after the operation saying that the policy is not to feed for 48 hours afterwards because of the drugs in your system. This is understandable but medical research states that a long gap is unnecessary if you have certain anaesthetics. I had practiced giving bottles of expressed milk to Nemo for weeks before but had no luck getting him to take one. Luckily the anaesthetists were really knowledgable and were happy for me to feed Nemo when I felt ready, despite what the nurses kept saying about hosptial policy! 

What was amazing was how quickly the nurses changed their mind about the policy when they watched my husband struggle for ages giving Nemo a bottle whilst he screamed on the ward. When I fed him Nemo my nurse was pleased and said  "that's really what he needed". 

The recovery was pretty rough. I couldn't taste anything for about 25 hours apart from this one bit on the side of my tongue which was really weird. The swelling wasn't too bad to begin with but got progressively worse over the days following. It then was replaced by bruising which made me look like I'd been beaten up. It then spread to my neck which made me like I had been strangled. I'm not showing you a photo of my face- it was not pretty and you might be eating breakfast!

First holiday 

So not thinking it through very well I forgot that we were due to go on a week holiday to Northumberland the day after the operation. We spent the weekend with my parents and they really helped look after me and my boys :) 

We went up to Northumberland on the Sunday night but it was less then 12 hours before I was at the local Berwick hospital for more painkillers! They were amazing at the hospital and we were seen before we even sat down in the waiting room! Even the receptionist was lovely having a giggle at me attempting to give my details with a very swollen mouth :)

On the Monday we walked around Berwick and went to the Green shop. This is a fair trade shop we go to every year. I always get my Mums Mother's Day present from here and they remembered I was pregnant last year and are excited to see us with Nemo. We went home pretty quickly because I felt quite unwell.

On the Tuesday we went to Alnwick. This is were we got married and it a special place for us. We went to Alnwick gardens were we had our wedding reception it was so nice to bring our baby to place with so many memories. 

 

On Wednesday we went to seahouses to have fish and chips for lunch then went to Holy Island in the afternoon (after a little nap!) 

We spent the afternoon walking around and letting poppy get rid of some energy. 

My mum would approve of this picture, she has a bit of an obsession with boats! 

In the background is the castle. The lobster pots remind me of my childhood, I had one we found years ago in my sea themed bedroom :) 

This was our view as we headed back across the causeway. 

On Thursday we went for my favourite beach in the world- Ross Sands. I don't know why but I just love it there- it's always pretty deserted I suspect because you have to walk about a mile to get there. 

 

Poppy and Nemo are developing such a bond, poppy follows him around everywhere and Nemo always reaches for her!

Nemo's mighty steed!!!

Me and Nemo Ross sands March 2014

Vs

Me and Nemo Ross sands February 2014 (just started to get a bump!) 

On Friday we went to Bambrugh castle - somewhere in all the years of going to Northumberland I've never been in to. I have to say I wasn't overwhelmed by the inside although the outside (which you can see for free!) we fantastic. Maybe the cold strong winds didn't help! We had a good day there though and it was nice to be inside. Nemo got lots of attention as my husband carried him around in a sling. 

(I felt a bit sorry for this cannon!)

On the Friday night we had saved our monies to go to Alnwick Treehouse for dinner. It's a really special place for us as out wedding reception was held here. The manager of the restaurant even recognised us and gave us free drinks which made us feel important! 

We had a beautiful and yummy meal and it was so lovely to bring little Nemo with us :) 

Well that's me for now! 

:) 

To my Mummy :)

So this year is my first 'proper' Mother day. I've been reminising about last Mothers day- Nemo managed to use our wifi to send me some flowers and chocolates. 

Last year we had recently had our 20 week scan. I keep the scan photo on our mirror in our living room so I can remember how excited we were and how to never take Nemo for granted (even when he's being grumpy!) 

I've been thinking alot about my own Mummy and how being a Parent to your children never ends. Although you leave home and slowly need your Parents less and less I am lucky enough to have amazing Parents and still go to them for support (a fair bit if I'm honest!). Since becoming a Mummy this year I've found I needed my own Mum more. 

Nemo's birth... well it could have gone better. Long story short, it was a 3 day ordeal which ended in an emergency c-section. It was a last minute decision for my Mum to be there but we were so glad she was. She was so supportive during the birth (she even sat in a cold car for 4 hours at 4am one day outside the hospital!) After I was discharged me and my husband were at home for a couple of days on our own. We were totally unprepared for me being so unwell and were totally overwelmed- I don't think we ate anything other than toast! My mum came down again for the weekend and was was brilliant. She was our cook, my breastfeeding teacher and our housekeeper! I've been reminded as I thought about Mothers Day of how one morning Mum made us breakfast in bed just like me and my siblings used to for her on Mothers Day when we were little.

Every time we visit my Parents my Mum spoils us with her amazing cooking and baking- there is always a cake (often lemon drizzle) made for us! My Mum has made a brilliant Grandma and it has been lovely to see her with a baby (I was too young to remember her when she had little little children). 

 So very Happy Mothers Day Mum and thanks for showing me what a super Mum looks like!

P.S here's photos of a sunflower, a Swiss cow, a boat and sheep because I know how you love them :) 

Visiting the leprechauns

It's been a month since my last blog- a bit of a symptom of how hectic things have been. At the end of February we went to Northern Island to visit my big sister and her husband. 

They have a beautiful house bordering on countryside but within a couple of miles of a town. We arrived on the Thursday night. Nemo was really good on the flight- he just fed for the entire flight. I heard this is a good way to stop the pressure building in their ears. 

On the Friday we went to the local town to look around, leaving my husband to sleep as Nemo had a bad night! My sister went all soft and got me 2 tops and a cardigan from a charity shop- they wee good finds! We went back for lunch then went to the beach in the afternoon. This was Nemo's first trip to a beach :) 

My husband showing off his pram skills (Nemo's not in it!)

On the Saturday we went to St George's market in Belfast. It had lots of lovely stalls the highlight probably being a jewellery stall run by a lovely woman who upcycles things. Here website is here: http://www.strayjewellery.com/

Not only is the jewellery very reasonably priced but she also does free delivery- insane! 

Here are a couple of things I bought:

We had cake in the market, whilst a man played some music. Apparently there's often live Irish music being played. Nemo had his first taste of cake and it certainly made him happy! 

Here he is making a grab for another taste! 

Afterwards we went to Victoria Square shopping centre where you can get an elevator to the top of a glass roof and look out over Belfast. 

On the way back we stopped by an insane Irish tourist shop almost entirely filled with amazingly cheeses Irish tack. It was so over the top I found it humorously charming and could not resist getting a few things including a top for Nemo:

 

I also got a new pair of Irish socks, a little family joke as me and my husband got married in Irish socks and my sister got Nemo some baby Irish socks when he was born. 

We had a weekend of lovely food- particularly some banana and walnut cake with chocolate orange spread which was so yummy! Also were Jamie Oliver mountain meatballs and beef casserole-hummmm!! It was so lovely to spend time with my sister and her husband in their beautiful home. 

Unfortanately Nemo slept terribly that weekend and tired everyone out. On the flight on the way home I let Nemo suck on my finger and felt that a sharp little tooth had cut on the bottom on the gum which explained his bad sleeping!