Change of plan

Having spent a long time writing on this blog and developing my lil business I've decided the best thing to do is to combine the two blogs I've been running. That way I can make sure that there is always something new to read... so with regret I am going to leave this blog and instead post everything on my other blog: http://blueangelcrafts.blogspot.com
I hope to see you around on there - do leave comments as I love to hear from you!!

Cousins

One of the best things about being in a big family is that there are always people that are close to you in age. This is a picture of Immy with my cousin's daughter, Grace. Don't they look cute?!
It was quite a tricky shot to take as they were under their Jungle Arch playmat, but I think you can still see the cute look of adoration on Immy's face as she looks at her big cousin.

Avocado face

It's funny how you promise yourself you won't be one of those weird hippy parents, but somehow things just seem to happen. First it's antenatal yoga, then it's a homebirth. Next thing you know you are trying baby-led weaning. This involves a lot of mess. Bananas weren't too bad (until the residue turned black!) but avocados are a whole new genre of messiness.
Sadly this particular avocado was perfectly ripe. Ideal for squeezing between fingers and mashing in your mouth to a lovely pulp. So much more fun than traditional baby rice. Yum!!!

New chickens!

Today we got some new chickens to join our depleted flock! It was very exciting to see some new birds. They looked really scared and small compared to Trixie & Antoinette. We've named the new birds Henrietta II, FrouFrou II and Nigella. When they aren't so frightened I'll take some photos to post on here.

Snow walks

To avoid going stir crazy while the snow is still making getting out with the car tricky, I have taken to going for short walks around our neighbourhood. It's too snowy to use the pushchair for Immy so she's been in the sling on my front. However, she is not such a fan on the cold!

Snowed in

Being snowed in has had its benefits.... plenty of time for crafting as Mr Tigerlily can babysit!! Unfortunately this has left my craftroom in rather a state (as you can see).

Instead of tidying it up I have been doing what any sensible person would do - looking up craftroom storage/decoration ideas on the internet!! Mr TL is not impressed but I am in heaven! The snow has left lots of time to dream how the table might look if only had lots of amazing storage options etc.

Baby it's cold outside!

I'm sure you've noticed the weather but I can't resist showing some pictures I took in my garden over the last couple of days. It's felt a bit like it's the Christmas break again, which has come around really quick as Mr TigerLily only returned to work on Monday!

So we've been indoors a lot. It's a bit tricky to take the lil one out as she hates the cold and it's to icy for her buggy. Still we're snug at home so we'll wait it out in comfort.

Cool shades!

Whilst sorting out the gorgeous piles of clothes our little one has been given we discovered these and couldn't resist giving her a try with them! How cute!!!!

Bumbo

What a weird name for a kiddie seat! Still, she looks super-cute sat in this red chair. When she first sat in it she looked really pleased with herself, as if to say "look at me! I can sit up all by myself!"

Obviously being less than 3 months old, she can't. But it's nice for her to feel all clever and it's great for me as it means I can do things with my hands free e.g. eat my cereal in a relaxed fashion instead of as part of a balancing circus act.

By the way, I didn't name the chair Bumbo, blame the manufacturers for that!!

Santa Baby

Here is photo of our little Santa baby! We took this while we were eating our lunch as the little one had to join in!!!

What a cute outfit!!!!!!!!

We had a lovely first Christmas together and enjoyed an alternative Christmas lunch: beef wellington and sticky toffee christmas pudding with toffee chocolate sauce. yum! Next year our baby can join us but she was quite happy watching yesterday.

Look at our girls now!

Although these girls are missing their friends, just look how healthy they look now. Lots more feathers and they're back in egg production. Hooray!

Balloon toy

Ok I know I am biased but isn't she just soooo cute?!

(And I realise that the vid's the wrong way around but I've only just got my head around posting a video, let alone it being the right way round!!!)

Gingerbread House

In my quest for a homespun Christmas (of sorts) we put together our gingerbread house today. Yes, we cheated and bought a kit! It came from a well known Swedish store and we just had to glue it together with icing and make it look pretty!!!

Quite a lot more simple than I'd done in previous years, but perhaps that is for the best. Now I just need to make a little sign for the front of it saying our surname.

Smiling!

A big day! The little one has been smiling for a few weeks now but at last I have caught it on camera!!!

Isn't she just adorable?????

(I know I am totally biased, but she is gorgeous, isn't she?!)

Sad end

At last I will explain what happened to 2 of our beloved chickens. In short, a fox got them.

We'd been allowing them out of their run as they really liked being outside. At the end of November we let them out one morning and within 10 minutes 2 of them had been killed. I only managed to rescue 2 of them by getting them into the kitchen away from the evil fox that was scampering around our garden, feasting on our darlings.

A lesson has been learnt.

So with FrouFrou and Henrietta dead, Trixie and Antoinette are cold and lonely. Thank goodness they have each other. We've applied to get a couple more chickens as it's only fair on them to be in a small flock. Hopefully we can extend their run too so that they have more freedom.

Birth Story (Part 1)

Our birth story for our baby is something I want to remember. As time goes on I keep worrying that I'll forget the little details so I am determined to record it and here seems as good a place as any.

On Tuesday 13th October 2009 and 10.50am I decided to go for a walk and put my boots on in the kitchen. I felt a sudden rush of liquid and leapt to my feet in a Jumping-Jack-type stance to avoid my waters ruining my lovely brown suede boots. All I could think was "not the boots!" Little else registered as the baby wasn't due for another 9 days so it couldn't possibly be happening.

The other side is that I had been feeling 'odd' since the Friday before when I had a sharp contraction. I continued to feel strange that weekend while I went shopping for nursing tops and bras and ran a Christmas craft party.

Anyway, when I had recovered myself I decided that I ought to ring Mr Tigerlily and let him know that things are likely to kick off in a few hours or so. No need for him to dash home and be all hysterical when I'm fine on my own. I believe the first labour is likely to last 12 hours + so there was no need to panic.

Ten minutes later and I'd had 2 or 3 contractions! Time to ring Mr Tigerlily and demand he return home sharpish!! It was quite hard to speak though so it was more like "Home! NOW!!" The next task was to get some professional assistance. I'd gone upstairs to run a bath as this was alledged to help ease contractions (I still don't know if this is true!), but this caused a few problems... how to get downstairs to get phone numbers I needed? where to place myself ready for labour??

In between contractions I managed to crawl up and down the stairs a couple of times, due to making a number of errors I had to make a couple of trips. Things felt like they were speeding up even more. Irrationally I thought that the best place to go, having rung the hospital and found out which midwife I needed to ring and rung the midwife and convinced her I wasn't imagining things, was to sit in the bathroom! I sat silently next to my nice bath, not being brave enough to climb in as I wasn't sure I would be able to get out again, and waited for help to arrive......

What a load of rubbish

Nearly 6 weeks after having our little angel and life is settling into 'normality' again. We have friends over, cook dinner and sit together or potter about in the evenings. Life has not ended. Although it's not always plain sailing we are not miserable.

Now that I am getting my sense of self back I realise that it's terrible what horror stories people tell you when you are about to become a parent for the first time. If things were that bad you wouldn't wait for your friends to get pregnant before telling them woeful tales. No, you would take them to one side while they are still single and let them know what could happen to them if they were to (gasp) have a baby. You will NEVER sleep, you will be MISERABLE, you will have NO MONEY or FUN ever again.

Lots of people have babies. Some people are not even that bright, but they make a little human being and bring it up. It can't be that bad or people would not go back for a second, third or more.

We have a gorgeous little angel who is showing us another side to ourselves. Yes she can be tricky but ultimately the good waaaay outdoes the bad.

One month on

A month has passed and she's grown so much! It's been fun to see many of our friends and family, who've all been extremely generous and kind. Yesterday Immy was given this cute Santa suit - so she's all prepared for her first Christmas now!
I'm amazed at all the new things I have to do each day and she is so rewarding!

Lil baby

Here is a photo of our baby girl. She's a week old in this picture and taking her first bath! Unfortunately she looks a little yellow due to jaundice but overall I think super-cute!!!

She really liked her bath which surprised me as I thought it would be a blood-curdling screaming event but I was wrong!

Baby came early!

Not got a lot of energy to write too much but our little baby Immy arrived early, last Tuesday (13th October) and we've had a whirlwind week. She is (of course) the cutest baby in the world and has given us great joy. She's also worn us both out! Still, it's more than worth it when you see her cute little face.

I'll post again when I have photos and more energy!