Arthur is now a walking 1 year old!

Arthur is no longer my little baby, he is fast becoming a walking toddler!

This video was taken a week before his 1st birthday on the 2nd of December and he's much more confident now, he's walking all around the house.. following me everywhere!! He can turn corners now without toppling over so Rose hardly ever has a moment of peace without him following her and trying to wrestle her! They are definitely ones to enjoy some rough play, if I hear Arthur crying out I'll go into the room their in and check no ones hurt and Most of the time I catch him being rougher with Rose than she is to him. He's finally getting some pay-back time are being pushed around for months by his big sister! 

I've been finishing off a few more craft projects...

I crocheted these maybelle flowers aggess ago with the intention of making them into a garland and then for a month they sat forgotten about while I got on with other things, then when I returned to finish off the garland I decided I'd actually prefer the look of them as a cushion instead. I turned the flowers into the Maybelle squares and then added a slightly floral red backing fabric and I love the way it's turn out. It now has pride of place on my sofa.

I finished off the little cardigan I was knitting for Gem's bump... it's supposed to be unisex as they don't know the sex of the baby but the blue buttons are quite floral.. Oh well, I think they look lovely. Even if the baby is a boy, a little bit of prettiness never hurt anyone! 

I came across my Best ever charity shop find the other day. I never come across items like this usually but I was obviously having a very fortunate day! This crocheted granny square throw/shawl was put in the charity shop by some crazy person and it was priced at only £7.50! I absolutely adore it and it's made with 4ply yarn so must have taken forever to make, I can't believe someone got rid of it!

Last night I finished Rose's Maggie rabbit that I'm going to give to her on Christmas day. I'm super chuffed with her because I'm not very experienced with hand-sewing but the pattern was really detailed and it was actually pretty simple! I love her... 

Our house isn't looking very festive at the moment, as we are currently going with a brown box Everywhere theme this year... we are moving on the 3rd of January (back to Dorset!) and so we are having to pack everything up in the next couple of weeks. We're going to stay with my family for a couple of day's over Christmas so at least we'll enjoy a bit of Christmas cheer there instead!

I'm so exciting about moving but also a little terrified. It feels a bit like I'm going to be starting all over again with the whole making friends thing, I hated not knowing anybody when we first moved here to Chichester but I need to remind myself that it's totally different this time. Now I have the children as a way to meet people and I'm pretty chatty, so I should make some friends quite quickly.. I hope! We have a couple of friends that will live about a 15 minute drive from us but I'd like to get settled and meet some people that live directly in my area too.. Finger's crossed. Wish us luck!

xxx

Heatwave!

We've had the most wonderful day here today. This morning Ray went for a bike ride with Rose in her bike seat down to the canal where they fed the ducks and watched the boats going up and down the canal. He sent me a video of Rose watching a boat going by whilst they were calling over 'Good morning!' and she looked completely fascinated by it all. It also meant that I had a good hour where the house was a little quieter with just Arthur and I in. Fortunately I managed to get him down for his morning nap quite quickly which meant that after getting dressed, I actually had a little luxury Saturday morning knitting time! Always a bonus!

We went down to a Fun day fair thing that was happening just out of Chichester but returned pretty quickly as it was heaving with people and Rose, who would have enjoyed it much more than us was actually sleeping in the buggy. So after a quick wander around, we returned home (stopping off at the shop for a few picnic goodies) and got everything together to head down to a really beautiful gardens that is a short walk from our house. Unfortunately there was a huge gust of wind through the house as we were about to head out the door and our hallway door slammed on a couple of Rose's fingers. The look on her face was just awful, it must have been so so painful. Luckily there wasn't too much damage and she's just scraped a little skin from above her fingernails on two fingers. But this meant that the walk round to the gardens was a bit stressful with me pulling Rose along on her scooter while she wailed away to herself. No amount of cuddles seemed to make her feel any better, so I ended up singing a Very long version of 'Old MacDonald' to her which she just couldn't resist telling me which animals to sing about next, it didn't stop her crying but we had a little pause between the wails at least!

I'd actually choose to have a simple afternoon in a park any day over a big busy event like the one we went to first of all. It was so lovely to spent some quality time together, just us. Rose was soon distracted from her sore fingers by running around the gardens chasing her ball with either myself or Ray (a little chocolate cake may have also helped here!). It was also peaceful enough that Arthur had a huge nap in the buggy and woke up a very happy chap. I could sit and knit a few rows of Rose's cardigan and have some lovely conversations with Ray.

Apparently the weather is supposed to be beautiful and even warmer tomorrow, so I plan to spend most of my time outdoors if possible!

xxx

A little trip away.

Some would say that March isn't really the best time to visit the Isle of Wight but we were actually pretty lucky with the weather... if you don't count the heavy snow that we had for 2 day's after we arrived! Fortunately the snow stopped falling and melted for the next few day's after that and we had some lovely spring sunshine which we made the most of by going for couple of nice walks. 

We drove up the road to The Needles and went for a long walk out along the coast, luckily we had Rose's scooter with us so I pulled her along on that and she didn't get too frustrated with being strapped in the buggy the whole way. She was due a nap though so by the time we reached the end  of the walk and were making our way back again, she was fast asleep in the buggy... just in time for us to have a nice quiet visit to the cafe! (Arthur kindly stayed sleeping for quite a while so we were treated to a little peace and quiet!)

I'm not sure when Rose will stop napping in the day but she currently wakes up at 5:30am Every morning without fail, so by the afternoon time she's absolutely shattered. I've tried keeping her awake throughout the day the help her sleep longer at night but she just gets far too tired and becomes grouchy and clumsy.

We had a lovely day trip to a miniature village which Rose absolutely Loved. They even had a working train going around it which fascinated her (and her Dad...) Ha!

This was all followed by a delicious cream tea... we had far too many creams tea's on this holiday! I'm now attempting to get back on the diet, which I'm finding is a lot harder this time round. I just need to focus on the summer months and all the clothes I want to fit into again. I'm not huge but just that little bit bigger than I'd like to be.. 

We all took a trip to the supermarket the first evening we were there to buy supplies for the week and the man on the check-out asked me when this baby was due! (To be fair I wasn't wearing the most flattering shirt in the world..) He looked thoroughly embarrassed when Ray told him I wasn't actually expecting and I actually cried when we got to the car! I must have been feeling particularly hormonal that day but you would have thought he would have seen Rose And a newborn baby in the trolley and put two and two together.. never mind, no more chocolate for me!

Arthur's growing up so so fast.. the smiles appear regularly throughout the day and he just seems a lot more content. He's actually been sleeping All evening up in his cot in our room...he's Never done that before. Up until today, he's only settled in the evening if he's in the baby carrier on my front. So maybe we've turned a corner there, fingers crossed anyway!

The best bit about going away for the week was that Ray cooked All of the meals! Such a lovely break for me and this left me with rather a lot of knitting time, especially in the evenings. I will have to show you some of what I've been working on but right now, I'm going to try and get to bed. Maybe Arthur will be kind and let me get a couple of hours sleep before waking for a feed?! Ha! No chance!!

xxxx

May round up - Part two (even though it's nearly the end of June!)

Well I'm now 15 weeks pregnant and definitely looking like I have a bun in the oven... rather than just looking like I'd been eating my weight in cake! Everything is going well so far, fingers crossed! Although yesterday and today I am struggling to do anything with my left hand as my wrist feels about as strong as a twig... even typing at the moment is pretty uncomfortable but I will get a blog post written, even if it kills me!! Ray thinks I may have a spot of Carpal tunnel syndrome related to this pregnancy so I'm going to get myself a wrist support tomorrow, it's only in my left wrist at the moment but then again I broke that wrist when I was younger so maybe the bones are still lined up a bit funny..!?

Here are the rest of the photo's from our trip to Dorset, which feels like agggess ago now. Once I publish this post, I will get started on my most recent one which I already have the photo's for...

Nan had Rose for a good few hours on one of the day's when we were back in Dorset so we made the most of the opportunity of a bit of 'just us' time and had a lovely lunch out next to the beach followed but a nice walk.

We were So lucky with the weather and I think our minds went into shock at not having to constantly watch Rose and we both dozed off laying on the beach in the sunshine... very responsibly neither of us had any sun cream on and I burnt my arms quite spectacularly. No tan for me after it all just peeled away! 

We had a lovely walk around Langdon hill and got to enjoy all of the gorgeous bluebells, it was lovely to just be walking with one another on our own for a change as we end up talking about other subjects apart from the usual baby/toddler/rose related things... although, Rose still features in most of what we talk about!

On one of our day's away we drove half way down to Cornwall to meet up with Mum so we could spend a bit of time with her and she could have some quality time with Rose. We had a lovely picnic in the park enjoying the sunshine, it was so hot that we even went paddling in the stream along side the park to cool us down a little. It's really difficult living so far away from Mum when I'd like her to see Rose a whole lot more but hopefully it won't be long until we're living a little closer to her and in the mean time, we get to look forward to a visit from Mum in July. :-)

Our friends Matt and Amanda got married and their wedding was just perfect, absolutely beautiful. Rose was with Nan and Grandad for the whole day and evening so Ray and I really got to enjoy every moment without struggling to keep Rose under control! It's very difficult to get her to stay still and in any one place for any good length of time these day's.

Rose and I had a lunch date around Sarah's a couple of weeks ago and as it had been so lovely and sunny they still had their swimming pool set up. Sarah gave Rose a chance to dip her little toes in the water and she got a taste for the water... 5 minutes later she was in a swimming costume and walking around the pool with myself trying desperately to keep my shorts dry, I was having to stand up very straight!

Ray and I have had a bit of 'date day' instead of 'date night' today as my lovely friend Danielle has kindly taken Rose for the day and in return I will have her little girl on Friday, the girls love having one another to play with. So we've been to the cinema together (Ray has the day off after working the weekend) and I'm now enjoying the piece and quiet before my little girl comes home. :-)

xxxxxxxxx

Our first trip to Wales with Rose.

Well it's me again! What do you know... nearly 2 weeks without a post and then 2 in one day! I seem to have had a blogging turn-around.

This post is wayyyy over-due. 

We went to visit my best friend Vicky and her boyfriend James at their new home in Wales last month and soon after we got back, I put all of the photo's together in this post but it's taken me until now to actually add some writing to it!

This was where I finished knitting Rose's 'Ring around the Rosie' dress... I'd had it nearly finished for ages but just lost the motivation to knit the edging, but with an almost 6 hour car journey there and quiet time in the evenings, I finally got around to finishing it off. It's Such a good feeling when you eventually finish off a project that should have been over and done with a good while ago..!

We went on a lovely walk while there... the views around Vicky's place are amazing!! Incredible! Very lucky. :-)

I'll admit that Vicky took a whole load of these photo's. I think she was enjoying having a play with my camera (she's a Photography graduate!) and I was enjoying having the lovely photo's to look over afterwards!

I think Rose fell in love with Myrtle the cat, she's not really had any contact with cats before and couldn't believe her luck when she spotted her. Poor Myrtle was probably very relieved when we left for Sussex and she didn't have Rose following her around Allll of the time!

Vicky and James live in the most lovely little cottage in mid-wales, it's been really well renovated and now they have the option of underfloor heating and solar panels. They even had an Aga! One dayyyy I might get one of those beauties! ;-)

See what I mean about the views!? Imagine having this right outside your front door!

Rose enjoyed being up in the rucksack carrier where she could see everything that was going on...

Ray Did carry Rose for the first half of the journey but she is a Very heavy lump and it was all up-hill so I offered to take her for the return journey where it is was mostly down-hill! ;-)

Rose loved spending time with her God-mother and I enjoyed seeing my best friend again. It had been quite a while...!! xXx Thank you for having us to stay my lovely xXx

I seem to have lost my blogging mojo!

It's been 12 day's since my last blog entry which doesn't sound very long but in blogging terms that feels like forever! I seem to have temporarily lost my blogging mojo!...

Rose and I made a last-minute trip back to Dorset for Easter as Ray was working for the whole of it. So I was away for a few day's and then just busy for a while, the trouble is that the longer you go without blogging... the harder it is to find the motivation to then sit at the laptop and put a post together!

Sooo... Rose is upstairs having her afternoon nap and Ray is being a brilliant husband and is busy cooking a roast dinner in the kitchen (they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach but this is also very true in my case as well!) So I'm taking the opportunity to sit down and get typing! :-) I always feel so good when I've clicked the 'Publish' button so I just need to get on with it... I'm sure blogging is better than some types of therapy!

We had lots of lovely little trips out while I was back in Dorset, on Easter Sunday afternoon my cousin Josie and I took Rose to Abbotsbury farm park. Both of us used to get taken there when we were little and it is Such a lovely place to take young children. 

There are all sorts of animals for the kids to see and feel. Rose even got a chance to feed a baby goat! (Admittedly, it did end up being me that was holding the bottle... not that I minded!) My auntie Lettie used to  live on a Small-holding and it brought back lovely memories of  my cousins and I going down to feed the baby goats/ lambs before going to school! :-)

On another day we went with Nan and Grandad to the Subtropical gardens. We spent a lot of time in Abbotsbury over the weekend! There were some beautiful plants there and I couldn't resist taking some photo's.... so prepare yourself for a lot of flower photo's! 

I've been trying to catch up with my time on the laptop and have been going through my emails. I had a shocking amount of old emails that needed going through... I went from 2651 down to 19 and that was just in one inbox! I'm now working my way through my replies to comments. I'm sorry I haven't been very good at getting back to people's emails lately... life kind of just got in the way!

I've been using Instagram a lot lately... if your on there I'm countryrosecrafts. I only have the iphone 3GS at the moment so am extremely excited about getting my upgrade in August sometime! :-)

It's good to be back!

xxxxxxxxxxxx