Why have 4 when you can have 5?!?

Sorry for the lack of blogs, I've been busy sorting through thousands of our photos on our computer, identifying the best ones and making them into photobooks. We have not done any photobooks since 2010 so we have 6 years to catch up on. We typically have about 1500 photos for each month (I know insane) so it's a lot of work. I have just ordered our 4th book which means I have now done 2016 and 2015. Just 2010-2014 to do now! I'm rather hoping 2010-2013 (before children) will be a little lighter on photos! 

This has taken me away from much of my crafting but I have managed to do a few bits. I have as of today finished the attic24 Moorland blanket. Although my 5th attic24 blanket it's one of my favourite. 

I love the colour transitions, it's inspired by the earth turning into the heathery moss and then going into the sky. 

Sorry they're not th best photos but I was struggling to get a good photo without bump in the way! 

The edging is simple but still lovely

And here are all my attic 24 blankets together (again sorry for the bump...!) Hubby took this photo of me whilst doing the moorland blanket 

I realised that there is a similar photo from almost 2 years ago! 

Some things never change! 

I've done a little bit of sewing recently. I bought a pattern for a romper with a lovely moon pocket on the front. I got enough material for a romper for Pebble and Baby Pip as Nemo being toilet trained would find it hard to wear. I did Pebble's romper first 

The moon is a pocket and it has a cute star on the bottom! 

Unfortunately it's way too big for Pebble, so much so it actually fits Nemo instead! I think I'm going to have to use it as pyjamas for him! I'm going to make one for Baby Pip and hope I have enough material left for Pebble! 

I also received some lovely turquoise jersey material- it has hedgehogs on swings on it- you just can't go wrong! 

I've made 3 leggings for the 3 children and just have enough material for a Baby Pip hat and mitten set. 

I've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of another jersey material with sloths on it! This week it arrived! 

Unfortunately the pictures I saw made the colour look more like a burnt orange background instead of this peachy orange but oh well- hopefully still gender neutral enough for all of the children! 

This week was half term. I have been struggling with my hips but managed to get the children to Alnwick Gardens and Edinbrugh over the week. So I will go showing you some photos of the children. 

Little Pebble is two!

Warning I'm going to do that annoying stereotypical thing where I say, oh where has the time gone..... My baby is so big now.. Etc etc

The morning of Pebble's birthday saw me looking through baby photos on tears that by little baby girl is now 2 years old! I'm going to blame the pregnancy hormones on that one. 

The years seem to go more slowly with Nemo, I think being my first I am acutely anxious about everything, it started when he was first born with: ....Is this sick up normal...should a newborn do this many poos (believe me every nappy almost without fail was a dirty one!) and this has evolved now to:..I still have to keep reminding him to hold a pen properly... Is it normal to be so resistant to learning the alphabet!

With Pebble the years seem to slip by more quickly, I don't worry about that sick-up and I know that she will grow out of that certain phase because her Brother did that exact thing. Suddenly my baby is 2, and can I really call her my baby anymore, Or has she definately gone over that baby/ toddler line? 

Pebble is honestly just a bundle of cuteness, almost everything she does is adorable (emphasis on the almost). Nemo and Pebble have completely different personalities and I think Pebble's was pretty set the second she was born. On the first night of her life she absolutely screamed if she was out in her cot. The midwives tried in vain to get her to sleep in the crib before eventually declaring defeat and reluctantly helping me sleep safely with her in my arms. Since her birth Pebble has spent a lot of time in this pose 

That is snuggled up to usually me or Hubby or alternatively another family member sucking her fingers. You can not give this girl too much love or affection she just soaks it all up. 

So here are the obligatory then and now photos....

Oh course having just turned two the tantrums have started and they can be very dramatic (I have no idea where she got that from......) 

For Pebble's birthday she got very girly things like dolls as Christmas saw us get quite a lot of car things. 

Pebble loved her balloon and kept it around her at all times for days!

We were bad parents, taking Nemo out of pre school and going to the deep sea world in Edinburgh. The highlight of this was the underwater tunnel where you stand on a moving belt and are you moved around a circle of tunnel. Now it had some sharks in but impressively these Sharks were pretty large (bigger then us!) 

The 2 days prior to Pebble's birthday Hubby had been in Bristol. It was a bit of a struggle to manage things so I didn't get to make Pebble's birthday cake until the night before. I was so tired but determined to finish it in time! 

Pebble loves things likes rabbits and ducks and likes the Alice in Wonderland film so I did a magic garden theme with a well and fair toadstool house. 

Perhaps not my best but Pebble seemed to like it. Pebble didn't get the whole blowing out the candle thing so Nemo did it for her. The hilarious thing was though that once the lights were out back on we found Pebble had already taken a fondant mushroom from the cake and was eating it! 

Well Happy Birthday to my lovely little girl, let's hope the terrible twos are kind to us! 

Preparing for Pip

Time creeps on, I'm now nearing the 2/3 mark in the pregnancy and I am enjoying making and collecting little bits for Pip. 

We don't really need anything for Pip, we have a set of boy and girl baby clothes, baby car seat, Moses basket, pram, cot etc. However we are getting a few off bits of clothing for Pip and I'll of course have to make Pip a blanket like I did for Nemo and Pebble but I'm not yet sure what to do.

I did this knitted cable blanket for Nemo and this crocheted granny square one for Pebble.

I couldn't resist buying this blanket from the frugi sale though!

We've bought a few things from charity shops and sales for Pip. 

These were from the h+m sale 

Charity shop finds (the sleepsuit on the right has a little elephant that comes from the pocket!)

This was from a local berwick shop

Now these weren't actually in a sale but we bought them from next to hedge our bets and to help Nemo learn that this baby could be a boy or girl!! 

I realised after making leggings and a hat for Nemo from some whale fabric last week that I could actually use the little I had left to make some little mittens!!

So here is the full set!

Pretty pleased as out of 1m of fabric I made leggings for the 3 children, a baby hat and mittens. I then decided I could use my left over fabric from other projects to do more sets!

I tried to use my more gender neutral fabric. I have some more boy material from Nemo's leggings that I will use if Pip comes out a boy! 

Today I made a dress for Pebble's 2nd birthday next week. I actually used fabric my Mum bought for Pebble (I think for her 1st birthday!!) and some leftover fabric from the pockets. 

This is now my 7th dress I've made from this pattern and I'm starting to wear of it. The bodice with sleves is a little tricky to make, it has a lining inside which is fiddly to attach to the gathered skirt. However I am going to make a sleeveless version out of this fabric before maybe putting the pattern aside for a while! 

The chicken fabric was also bought by my Mum for Pebble and the dotty fabric is left over from the dresses I made for my twin nieces in the summer. 

As for the children they have been pretty good this week. In a turn of events Nemo has been a little clingy to me this week and has been my shadow. He was really cute today, instead of going to school on this scooter he decided to take the baby doll with him so we could both be pushing prams.

I forget how protective you become of your children. As we walked through the playground at lunchtime some older boys were laughing at Nemo for pushing the pram (thankfully Nemo was oblivious to it) I found myself giving the boys the most intense - 'don't you dare' stare!

Pebble is being a very usual almost 2 year old, she goes from adorable to majorly tantrumy and back again in an instant. She's adopted a rabbit Hubby bought me years ago and won't go anywhere without it!

As pebble snuggles up to her rabbit or any other soft thing at night it makes me laugh that this is what Nemo chooses to cuddle up to at bedtime!

His campervan! Well at least my parents don't have to worry about Nemo not liking his Christmas present!