The value of naptime...

...at the moment, is pretty low. Isaac suddenly had issues going to sleep in the day, and while those are now slightly improved, he'll only sleep properly if he's on my lap. Again. Sadly this means the tasks I'm able to accomplish are limited. I've not tried him in the sling for a while but I'm not sure he'll like it much (he went off it a while ago).

People were making comments like, "Hopefully he'll have a nice long sleep this afternoon, since he's been awake for so long. Then you can have a sleep too!"

These comments are pretty unhelpful when he'll only sleep on me. Yeah, I might be able to get a nap like that, admittedly. But do they not realise the immense amount of STUFF I have to do around the house - that I leave and leave coz I don't have the time or whatever and then it just gets hideous and terrible to deal with, and makes me more depressed and is harder to face...

That's not my kitchen.. but it could be. Well, I just tidied mine somewhat so the whole messy thing doesn't have the same wow factor.
(Photo: Rob Thurman)

Time For Change

I've always been a self-help sort of person. If I have a problem, sooner or later I want to fix it. Myself, of course. None of this going to counsellors, doctors or others (however beneficial they may be).

I don't know when I started pigging out on stuff (I'm pretty sure it was at about 6 weeks after having Isaac when I was just suddenly terribly terribly tired all the time) but it got to the point where I was just eating all the time, and having chocolate, biscuits, cake and all sorts of horribly bad things! And of course eating bad things all the time and sitting around all the time that I'm not out walking Isaac meant that I was feeling pretty bad all the time.

Time to fix that.

Isaac's Christening Cake

The original plan was for our old friend JN to do the cake. She did our wedding cake, and on our wedding day, in conversation about whether to save the top tier for our first child's Christening, she said, "Oh don't worry, I'll make you a cake for then too!"

Then we found out she couldn't come to the Christening, meaning she couldn't make the cake. They live quite far away, so was fairy snuff I suppose.

What to do? Well, I wasn't too worried about having anything fancy, and nor did I want to spend a fortune on a cake, so I started a hunt for something that would fit.

Turns out M&S had the solution.

Isaac and his cuteness

Yeah, sometimes I can't get over how cute kids can look. Here's mine, learning to play the piano at 10 weeks old...!

Two Years and Counting

Last Monday saw our 2nd wedding anniversary... two whole years of being married to my mister man, and I'm proud to say we have a lot to show for it! A house of our own, in a town that we love, and a gorgeous little boy.

We weren't able to do anything on Monday but last night went out for a meal - just us! SJ's mum babysat for us and we had a lovely few hours to ourselves out a the indian. There are two in our town and we normally go to the large popular one, so decided to go to the other for a change of scene. It was very lovely and had a very smart colour scheme of red, black and white...

Rearranging

Today we pretty much decided that Isaac hates his little carry cot thing that is currently his bed. He'd only ever sleep in it if you put him in  v e r y  s l o w l y  a n d  c a r e f u l l y  after he fell asleep somewhere else - usually in my arms! Of course this means that he spends most nights in our bed, which although lovely, means that none of us sleep very well. Not that we sleep that well anyway as we are (or rather, I am) constantly getting up to feed him, but you know what I mean.

It occurred to me sometime in the night that actually we could probably fit the proper cot in our room, and since it's much more like our bed, he might actually like it enough to fall asleep in! When we first moved here I thought we'd never be able to fit a cot in there as well as a double bed and a chest of drawers, but rather surprisingly it works quite well and the room feels (if anything) bigger than it did with a thin table bearing a carry cot!

Baby gyms of the coat hanger kind

Ah, how rubbish I am at remembering to post a blog! Mind you, having a baby doesn't exactly promote activity. At least, not activity of the non-baby-related kind. Ho hum.

Yes, I've barely touched the piano since Isaac was born. That makes me sad. One more thing to try and remember to do, and when something doesn't count as 'useful' (i.e. related to housework, baby things or shopping) it easily gets forgotten at the moment.

On a brighter note - who needs expensive baby gyms?

Red dress - the making of

After the announcement of the birth of my cousin's daughter Z, I decided this was a perfect opportunity to try making something. Y'know, something proper. After all, my poor neglected sewing machine has only done mundane jobs such as turning up jeans and darning socks as yet! To be fair, though, I only got it at Christmas, and even if I had thought about making Isaac something before he was born, the massive belly would've rather scuppered plans, I feel.

This isn't a tutorial - most definitely not! - but does show how I put this dress together and might help anyone wanting to try out the pattern. Speaking of which, the pattern is a freebie from the fab Made By Rae - do check out her blog! I happened upon her pattern when searching for 'baby dress pattern' or something along those lines. It's a great pattern in that it's easy for newbies, because it has no fastenings, buttons, or anything else like that which I would totally screw up.

All the fun stuff after the break.

Sewing, washing, sleeping...

Well, the dress is coming along, but not entirely finished. Just got the bottom seam to do, and I really wasn't sure how to do it. Because of the pattern being slightly different to what I was doing, I should have done the bottom seam before everything else, not after! But oh well, I think I can make it look okay. I'm going to be sad to give this dress away! I couldn't really make another to give away though, this one's taken me far too long already - Z's already nearly 3 weeks old, so goodness, it'd better fit her!

What A Week

Well, what a week. So much has happened... but first - I'd like you all to meet my new son!

His name is Isaac James, and he's the most gorgeous little squidgie pie ever. Well, ok, not little at all - 10lb 11oz... so quite large really! Also, he looks really scrunched up in that photo...

I'm a bit brain frazzled at the moment, don't think I have the energy to write about the week's events just yet... not sure if I will indeed at all. However, we're home, we're happy, and we're so very proud!