The beginnings of life

My neighbour has had her baby!

A little baby boy.

She gave birth on Tuesday, 12th of august, after 9 hours of labour to a healthy 7lb 15 oz baby boy using only gas and air. Unfortunately couldnt use the birthing pool because she had to be monitored. I dont know why yet but I'm almost certain it was for some ridiculous reason or the other....

I am going to go visit her after lunch today. I can't wait to hold and feel that soft baby floppiness in my arms again.

To smell that sweet baby smell.

To hear those cute baby noises.

It will get me broody...

Oh how lovely little babies are!

I'm all about poems at the moment

Now I've found this one:

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

a poem about babywearing

INTO YOUR ARMS

Into your arms I was born
for you to hold me
to protect me
for you to nourish me
to love me.
I can smell your sweet scent
I can feel your movements
your heart beating
in tune with your gentle rocking

Sometimes its you I can feel mummy
sometimes its daddy
his deep voice soothing me
I can feel it vibrating in his chest
so close to him
in his arms

Into your arms I was born
for me to get to know you
and love you
for me to get to know the world
from the safe place I can always return to

9 months I spent in your calm warm womb
you let me grow in peace
until I decided to be born

Into your arms I was born
so I can continue to grow in calmness, warmth and peace
until I'm ready
to walk out of your arms
into the world

but always knowing
I can return

into your arms.

I copied this from startling lives blogspot

What you've got to do is mark the books you've read. Seeing the film doesnt count.

1 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
11 Little Women Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
13 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare William Shakespeare (some)
15 Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis
34 Emma Jane Austen
35 Persuasion Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières
39 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh AA Milne
41 Animal Farm George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney, John Irving
45 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies William Golding
50 Atonement Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi Yann Martel
52 Dune Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
62 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
72 Dracula Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery (a lovely, lovely book!)
93 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks
94 Watership Down Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl (think ive read all her books)
100 Les Misérables Victor Hugo

Nursing Fishy

Nursing my 18mo old is like
Nursing a singing octopus fish out of water
at an olympic competition for flopping
Our once restful bed is full of
flipping and flailing
humming and tapping
twisting and turning
Please don't talk with your mouth full dear fishy
those teeth pinch!
leaning and pulling
pinching and pushing
bending and leaning
and just when I've had enough
Just when I think I can't last one minute more
I look down at you in total frustration
Ready to take away your precious boobie
And your eyes sparkle up at me
You smile and I get the littlest peek
of your tounge and milk dribbles down your chin.
Keep nursing dear fishy.
I love you.

Written by T.L.V. aka "Milkmommie" on Mothering.com

bedtimes???

not here... not anymore

Sandra Dodd as always has something nice to say about "letting" your kids sleep when they like where they like:

SANDRA DODD SLEEP

As I'm writing this my son is sleeping on the sofa next to us. And happier, calmer and more peacefull than in a "routine" of being put to bed the same time every night...

long time no write

I'm back from my holiday now. We went to Reutte in Tirol, Austria for two weeks to visit my mum and go to the medieval festival / market where we sold handmade (by me) childrens clothes. We went by ferry Hull to Rotterdam and then travelled the ten hours to Austria in the car. William struggled with the journey which isnt surprising - being strapped into a car seat for such a long time. But considering the circumstances everything went very well!
We had a lovely time at my mums, we were able to go out for a few meals as mum watched William for a couple of hours. We went swimming and we went to the Sauna / Spa in Fuessen which was so beautifully relaxing!
We arrived back here on Tuesday morning and I think we are all glad to be back home. Although I could have stayed longer. Hopefully I will be able to go back some time this year. Two weeks is just too short.

When i got chance, after unpacking etc I checked my emails and read up on a few blogs i like to read. I was upset to discover one of my favourite blog writers, Veronika is not going to write any more. I loved reading her blog - she always got straight to the point and told it how it was.

I will have to subscribe to the Mothering magazine - she edits it - just to be able to read some sane peoples opinions ;oP

Today I finally got rid of our old double bed frame and chair with footstool to British Heart foundation. (British heart because my dad died of a heart attack 5 years ago)

I also managed to put Williams bed up in his room and it actually LOOKS like a childrens bedroom now. His toy kitchen is up there too and we have had a nap in his bed already and he has also emptied his kitchen and played with it all over the upstairs! I think he likes it!

The living room looks a lot better now we have gotten rid of the chair - a lot more space! (for william to mess up)

I also brought across a fair trade swinging hammock chair which is hung up on the swing hooks in the kitchen / conservatory at the moment but i want to get some fixings for the living room so I can move it about. It will also fit onto the extension arm of our swing outside so on nice summer days (of which of course we havent had any since coming back) it will be nice to hang out there and read a book or watch william play.

Which Im going to do now.

My first negative breastfeeding comment

So, we went to Mikes parents on Sunday, father's day. It was a nice day especially as we didnt have to do ANYTHING for a change. We still ended up doing loads, but not because we HAD to we WANTED to - there's a difference.

Anyhow, we went to his mum first (his parents divorced when he was 3) and we were just sat talking and William was playing a little but he was tired so he really only wanted me. After a while i picked him up and fed him and that calmed him down and he went off to play again for a bit. While i was feeding him though mikes mum said to me "it's about time he came off that isn't it" to which i just replied "no, not really". She didnt say anything else to me but i could hear her thinking (oh he's too old, he's gonna get spoiled blah blah ... )

She came round the other day too as she was in town and let another comment slip about our co sleeping arrangements. "When are you going to start sleeping in your own bed then?" again i just replied "when he's ready"

To be honest though i know where she is coming from. before i knew about the benefits of co sleeping, the natural instinctive urge to have my baby with me aswell for as long as possible and most importantly probably, before i was pregnant / had william and i "Knew it all" you could have found us all talking about how Mikes daughter from his previous relationship was STILL in the same room as her mum and she was "STILL" being rocked to sleep and how S., her mum was making a rod for her own back by not letting her fall asleep by herself. And how M. would NEVER learn to fall asleep by herself. I was going to be so much of a better mother and "teach my child to sleep by himself"... So i can understand, why to her it seems like i have just given up and am "just as bad" as S. It makes me laugh now how much I've changed and how far I've come.

To make things easier for us all we have even bought a super king size bed so we can all fit in comfortably! And Williams bedroom is more like a storage room at the moment anyway... :oP





So I guess i will be getting more comments as time goes on - not that it will stop me from breastfeeding my son!

Just some pictures of lazy summer days

Ten ways we misunderstand children

By Jan Hunt, M.Sc.

1. We expect children to be able to do things before they are ready.
We ask an infant to keep quiet. We ask a 2-year-old to sit still. We ask a 4-year-old to clean his room. In all of these situations, we are being unrealistic. We are setting ourselves up for disappointment and setting up the child for repeated failures to please us. Yet many parents ask their young children to do things that even an older child would find difficult. In short, we ask children to stop acting their age.

2. We become angry when a child fails to meet our needs.
A child can only do what he can do. If a child cannot do something we ask, it is unfair and unrealistic to expect or demand more, and anger only makes things worse. A 2-year-old can only act like a 2-year-old, a 5-year-old cannot act like a 10-year-old, and a 10-year-old cannot act like an adult. To expect more is unrealistic and unhelpful. There are limits to what a child can manage, and if we don't accept those limits, it can only result in frustration on both sides.

3. We mistrust the child's motives.
If a child cannot meet our needs, we assume that he is being defiant, instead of looking closely at the situation from the child's point of view, so we can determine the truth of the matter. In reality, a "defiant" child may be ill, tired, hungry, in pain, responding to an emotional or physical hurt, or struggling with a hidden cause such as food allergy. Yet we seem to overlook these possibilities in favor of thinking the worst about the child's "personality".

4. We don't allow children to be children.
We somehow forget what it was like to be a child ourselves, and expect the child to act like an adult instead of acting his age. A healthy child will be rambunctious, noisy, emotionally expressive, and will have a short attention span. All of these "problems" are not problems at all, but are in fact normal qualities of a normal child. Rather, it is our society and our society's expectations of perfect behavior that are abnormal.

5. We get it backwards.
We expect, and demand, that the child meet our needs - for quiet, for uninterrupted sleep, for obedience to our wishes, and so on. Instead of accepting our parental role to meet the child's needs, we expect the child to care for ours. We can become so focussed on our own unmet needs and frustrations that we forget this is a child, who has needs of his own.

6. We blame and criticize when a child makes a mistake.
Yet children have had very little experience in life, and they will inevitably make mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of learning at any age. Instead of understanding and helping the child, we blame him, as though he should be able to learn everything perfectly the first time. To err is human; to err in childhood is human and unavoidable. Yet we react to each mistake, infraction of a rule, or misbehavior with surprise and disappointment. It makes no sense to understand that a child will make mistakes, and then to react as though we think the child should behave perfectly at all times.

7. We forget how deeply blame and criticism can hurt a child.
Many parents are coming to understand that physically hurting a child is wrong and harmful, yet many of us forget how painful angry words, insults, and blame can be to a child who can only believe that he is at fault.

8. We forget how healing loving actions can be.
We fall into vicious cycles of blame and misbehavior, instead of stopping to give the child love, reassurance, self-esteem, and security with hugs and kind words.

9. We forget that our behavior provides the most potent lessons to the child.
It is truly "not what we say but what we do" that the child takes to heart. A parent who hits a child for hitting, telling him that hitting is wrong, is in fact teaching that hitting is right, at least for those in power. It is the parent who responds to problems with peaceful solutions who is teaching his child how to be a peaceful adult. So-called problems present our best opportunity for teaching values, because children learn best when they are learning about real things in real life.

10. We see only the outward behavior, not the love and good intentions inside the child.
When a child's behavior disappoints us, we should, more than anything else we do, "assume the best". We should assume that the child means well and is only behaving as well as possible considering all the circumstances (both obvious and hidden from us), together with his level of experience in life. If we always assume the best about our child, the child will be free to do his best. If we give only love, love is all we will receive.

From the Natural Child Project

I guess the first step is realizing what we're doing... Once we've realized, we can think about our actions and do something to change within ourselves to help lead a harmonious life with our children and start accepting them as part of a society in which everyone deserves the same respect and love regardless of their age.

I have ordered my car seat and here it is:

Its the recaro polaric and its rearward facing up to 18 kgs, or 40 pounds which is approximately 4 1/2 years.

It is secured using ISO fix, two buckle straps to the back of the front seat and a metal support leg. It looks like it shouldnt be able to go anywhere - lets hope so!

It cost 199 pounds and I got it from here.

From mainstream to chrunchyville

When I fell pregnant I found myself in a new and exciting, scary and always surprising or even shocking world which had been hidden from me before that sperm met that egg.
I thought i knew everything, a lot of parents - to - be do. Well i guess that's just the way it goes. You start off by knowing it all but as soon as your little baby is born your mind seems to go blank and all those theories get blown out of the window. You slowly find yourself on your way to a whole new lifestyle, never mind a parenting style. I was pretty mainstream when I started out. The one thing I knew I would do was breastfeed and not give up easily. Now my son is 15 months old and we're still going strong! But a lot of other things I have changed my mind about. The main culprits for making me change my mind are Jean Liedloff, John Holt, Alfie Kohn, and a few others too. Like these websites: The natural child project and Mothering - natural family living.

So now I find myself in a place I never thought i would be at the age of 23. I am engaged to a beautiful, loving, caring and affectionate man who is as close to perfect as you can get ;o)
I have a gorgeous little son who is rapidly growing up and I'm scared of that! I want him to be my little baby for ever! ;o)
I have a house and I'm growing my own vegetables. We want to get some chickens and hopefully move to somewhere more countryish soon.
I am on my journey to Unschooling my child and my life.
We live consensually or at least we try to.

I guess I've come a long way since listening to the likes of Supernanny about routine, rewards and punishments and their outlook on how to "get a child to respect you".

My friends have now, I think, come to accept that I'm not "normal", that I am on some sort of a "mission" maybe? Which makes me laugh. In a way I suppose I am. Whenever something comes up i try to explain to them why I do things the way I do. And if I wouldn't think whatever I am doing is right... well I wouldn't do it then, would I.

This can lead to awkward situations though. All the mums from our post natal group still meet up once a week on a thursday for a coffee and for our kids to "play together". Now I know I seem to be very relaxed, probably actually lax in their eyes. Like I don't care. But that isn't true.
We met at my friends house a couple of weeks ago and as the weather was lovely we were outside in the garden most of the time. I took Williams shoes off because i feel barefoot is best for baby feet. So off he goes, exploring, learning, being inquisitive.
My friends garden is divided into sections, a muddy section with flowers, a grassy section and a pebbled section. William wandered off to the pebbles (oooohhh stones!!!!!!!!!!) and started to walk on them. I thought to myself that will be an experience for him, feeling the stones underneath his feet, the shapes and unevenness of it all. Well.... while he was quite happy walking on the pebbles another friend who was there with her daughter (hollding her hands - and she had shoes on) said to William "Oh, be careful! You'll hurt yourself" (errr.... how exactly???) so i just called out "no, he's fine. He'll come off it if he doesn't like it" Then I got the "LOOKS" as if to say.... don't you care???
Later:
We are inside playing on one of those water - colour mats and William goes off towards the kitchen and garden door.
Now I'm thinking he's either going outside (where the worst thing he could do to himself is eat mud) or he is in the kitchen wher he can't do anything either. Well... my friend has got a child the same age as William and you would think that she would have safety locks on any cupboards with "dangerous" or non-child-things in them.
Once again though I am made to look as if I don't care. I didn't get up straight away to "rescue" william from the dangers of the garden or kitchen. I gave him a head start and came after him after a couple of minutes. Thing is, none of us had noticed that he had gotten into a (unlocked) kitchen cupboard and was holding a plate in his hand. I just went over to him and said "Can I have that please, thank you" but before I could reach him - it was a heavy plate - he had dropped it. Luckily it only chipped the edge but there were those looks again "She doesnt care WHAT he does! And she's not even telling him off for smashing a plate!!!"

These are all very nice people, don't get me wrong but they just don't understand where I am coming from. It gets so frustrating! Thank god for people like Julie and Ann who DO understand and who I will get to meat some day in real life!

Oh... and here's another blog about a journey from mainstream to crunchyville

Rearward facing Car seats are safer

Well, i knew all along that rearward facing car seats for toddlers were available.
Somewhere.
When my son grew out of his infant car seat (Maxi cosi cabriofix - winner on WHICH test)
we bought the Britax Evolva 123 thinking its one of the best car seats available in the UK - hoping that for our next child rearward facing car seats would be available up to 4 years of age.
Well.... my friend Ann has been in touch with Britax and this is what she said:

You sell a car seat that is suitable from birth to 4 years. I am not sure about the specifics of it, but I think it says something like rear facing up to 13kgs then you turn it forward facing. Its a fantastic idea as it is two car seats in one - but what I would like to know is that if it HAS to go forward facing once the child is 13kgs or if that is just optional? I realise you should not turn it forward facing before then but that is not what I am asking. Because I would like to keep my child rear facing for as long as possible as this is safest - so is that car seat alright to keep rear facing for longer? I can not see mechanically why it wouldnt be acceptable to keep it rear facing even up to the 4 year weight limit the car seat has but I thought I would just ask. Thank you! :)

The reply she got was this:

Thank you for your e mail.
The First Class si seat which is our combination seat is rearward until maximum weight of 13kg and no more, the seat is crash tested up to 13kg rearward facing, as all the infant carriers. Under no circumstances can the seat be used rearward beyond this weight as we are governed by the European Safety Regulations (UK) and all current seats must comply to this. However, there is a seat on the market which is a Swedish seat that is used rearward up to 4 years of age. The Swedish law stipulates all children up to 4 years of age must remain rearward. This seat can legally be used within the UK and you can view and purchase direct from one of our agents, their contact details are below:

In Car Safety Unit 5,
Erica Road,
Stacey Bushes Trading Centre
Stacey Bushes, Milton Keynes
MK12 6HS> Telephone 01908 220909

Fax 01908 317536
E-Mail info@incarsafetycentre.co.uk
Opening Hours 9:30 - 5:00 Mon - Fri> 9:30 - 4:00 Saturday
Closed Bank Holidays and Sundays

I hope this is helpful to you
Regards
Mandy Hutchence
Customer Services

I am glad i have found somewhere in England that will sell rearward facing car seats for children up to the age of four (or 55 pounds, 25 kilos) the website I am getting mine from now is http://www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/ although there are some other places available too.

To find out more go to http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/ - they have links to other retailers in the UK and also show video footage of crash tests on rearward and forward facing car seats.

This video on youtube is quite good aswell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo


Now... my personal opinion on this (and I'm sure a lot of parents will agree) is that you cannot put a price on the most precious thing in your life - your children. While these car seats might be more expensive I do think they are worth it. Not a single child was killed in Sweden in a rearward facing car seat betwenn 2006 and 2007. 27 children were killed in the UK in forward facing car seats when they COULD have been in rearward facing car seats. IF parents in the UK would be aware that this is an option.

Take your time to have a look at the links in this entry and make a difference to the law by signing this petition:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Carseats-stage1/

You can also write to your local MP and most of all TELL ALL THE MUMS YOU KNOW - tell them how they can make a difference and tell them that we are left in the dark - but we can change that.

Here's to hoping that someday this will change.

along with breastfeeding rates
and along with longer maternity leave
and along with better health care - with health care "professionals" who know what they are on about
and along with more people being aware of the options of Home birth....
i could go on....
enough for today x

The business of being born

Watch the film HERE

Last night i finally got chance to watch this film everybody seems to be talking about. It was a very emotional 1 1/2 hours for me. I admit i cried nearly the whole way through! It is so emotionally filled, with JOY, joyfull birthing and that amazing feeling of "OMG my Baby my BABY!! THat is my BABY! OMG i did it my BABY" after giving birth, all the pain, sweat and tears of the last hours just disappear at that very moment and DAMN right I am proud of doing it all by myself, I am proud and happy and so unbelievably thankful that our bodies were designed so well to make this miracle possible. The day I gave birth to my son was so unforgettably PAINFULL but so miraculously, amazingly, other wordly beautiful and fulfilling. I know people who have had cesareans and I really don't want to sound pitying but i do feel sad for those who were robbed of a chance of giving birth the way nature intended. Yes, cesareans cand and do save lives but sadly they are used far too often. Even Forceps or Ventouse deliveries, being cut, being laid on your back bacause you can't move from you Epidural... All these things rob Women of their right to use their abilities in their bodies. Two of my lovely friends, Julie (who is pregnant) and Ann want to have homebirths after difficult first deliveries. I wish them all the best wishes I can... but i just know that they will get the experience they wanted the first time round and that it will be like another miracle.
I was lucky.
When I think back to the birth of my son I really couldn't have wished for a better birth! Everything just went exactly as i wished and hoped for. If you want to read my birth story go visit my other blog http://williamus.blogspot.com/.
My friend and neighbour is pregnant at the moment, she is due to have her baby end of July and still thinks she would prefer a hospital birth to going to the birthing centre. I know i can't make her change her mind, I cant make her see things the way I do but I will show her this film so whatever decision she makes it will be an informed one.
One thing has definitely been settled (at least in my head) and that is that the next baby is going to be a homebirth baby! As i know i can do it without intervention, without pain reliev other than swimming in a pool and gas and air (and SCREAMING!!!!) I know I will be able to give birth at home. Just my lovely Partner i need to persuade before ... but I have got a few years time!
We have decided to start trying for baby number 2 when William turns 3 years old. I think that is a nice age gap - obviously I will be watching William, I want to know he is ready to be more independant as I don't want to push him. But 3 years and 3 months seems to be the magic number too!

Here's to natural birthing!

spooky piccie

Photos at last!

I can at last post photos of events when they take place yipppie!! I went and got a handy little USB device which has slots for my memory card so I don't need to order a cable.

So here is the first picture
Its my gorgeous son William sitting on a tin container which reads "Jamie Oliver, Cheeky mug"
William was playing with this when suddenly he decided he wanted to sit down on it, he kept trying and eventually figured (with a little help) how he could sit down without falling by puttin it behind him instead of infront of him! He was walking round it in circles trying to get it in the right place to sit on and couldn't figure out that *he* had to turn round himself.
When he finally sat down he looked so cheeky i just had to take a pic.
Isn't he lovely *insert proud mummy moment*

Sprouting mung beans

Ive had a bag of mung beans lying about in the "pantry" for ages now so a few days ago i decided i would try and sprout some myself. We've been eating a lot of chinese lately (home cooked stir fries are sooo easy!) and i though well why buy the beansprouts if i can make them myself?
So, i put the beans in to soak and then went to search for something to sprout them in. I found my three tier steamer and converted that into a make shift sprouter! I thought I'd see how i get on, try some different beans and then maybe buy a proper sprouter, we'll see.
The other thing we have been doing is sowing some windowsill seed vegetables and herbs. So far we've got basil, tomatoes, aubergines and red and green peppers... they've only just gone in so we're waiting to see some first shoots soon hopefully. I also got some living green salad from tescos which we potted on and thats growing nicely (spinach, rocket and baby pak choy)
Mike repotted some of his plants while we were at it with the mud and compost in the conservatory.
The other thing that I have finally gotten around to doing is ordering a weekly organic vegetable box to be delivered from a local farm. We got our first one on wednesday last week and i felt like a little kid before christmas! I had to laugh at myself afterwards for getting so excited about a cardboard box full of vegetables. Still makes me chuckle now, but it is really nice knowing where your veg is from and also that it isnt wrapped in plastic and polystyrene (used to get my veg from tescos - why does all the organic stuff have to be wrapped so much?)
This will keep us going untill we plant a proper vegetable patch outside in our garden to go even closer to home and even cheaper! It will also be a lovely thing for William to see and do when he gets a little older. He'll be able to pick his own lunch! :oP

Theres something that has been bothering me for a while now... Everytime I put an entry in here i want to show you what I'm on about with pictures.... so ....
I must get round to taking some pictures with Mikes phone so i can upload them onto here. I have got a digital camera but the lead to upload pics has gone missing :( so will have to make do with the phone untill i either find it or get a new one...

William is asleep at the moment so I'm going to be off now to drink my coffee while it is still hot.
Then I've got to figure out a better way of getting showered without William a)eating toilet roll b)pulling the shower screen back and water going everywhere c) making a generall mess ...
and all that without him getting upset and crying - wonder if hes too young to sit in his rocking chair playing the ds... probably... oh well, I'll think of something.

I am a meez!!!

To be honest i feel like i should be writing about something else but hey, its my blog ;o)
So, what do you think? I feel like its quite close to the truth!

Nestle free zone

Take a look at the link posted on the right, find out why I am boycotting Nestle and maybe join the boycott. Here's a quick overview:

Nestlé is targeted with the boycott because monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be responsible for more violations of the World Health Assembly marketing requirements for baby foods than any other company (see the codewatch section for profiles of the different companies to target their malpractice).
As UNICEF has said:

"Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute."

Although Nestlé does dispute the facts. See the Your Questions Answered section for responses to Nestlé's denials and deception. The boycott will continue until Nestlé accepts and complies with Baby Milk Action's four-point plan for saving infant lives and ultimately ending the boycott.

Help make a difference today

New family member!

My cousin Julia came to visit us again for a week. She stayed at my sisters house and on Sunday we all met there to have a take away and a chat. After we had eaten Julia brought down a scan picture and surprised me by saying "and this is the new addition to our family!" she is due in October! What a nice surprise that was! Of course i had to dig out some stuff for her to take - some of my maternity clothes and some baby clothes too. Next time I'll see her she'll be with a new little baby, how sweet :o)

William is coming on!

Today I finally saw William crawling DOWN the stairs! He's been loving crawling up them for a few weeks and now he's figured out how to come down them backwards! yay! I can't believe how he has come on so much in these last few months, crawling, walking and climbing, he's now also feeding himself with a spoon and he can use a fork. He also loves using a knife - as a fork mostly, although I've seen him copy me "scraping butter on his bread". He also loves to "feed" me with his (empty) spoon. He can build a tower of 4 bricks! He can say a few words, "dada" being his favourite, although it can mean anything he might be interested in at that point in time. When "dada" does come home from work though or when i say his name William is at the door in a flash waiting to welcome his dad home and to be lifted up and have a big cuddle and a scratchy kiss. I love to see how he is developing every day I can't imagine anything I would want to be doing more!

Charity shop shopping

Yesterday after we had been for a nice meal in Grean Dragon ("our pub") we decided to do a bit of Sunday shopping. Mainly because I have lost so much weight due to my son guzzling his lovely mummy milk that everything I try on is too big (just to give an idea I was 12 stone before getting pregnant, I then put on 3 stone so by the time William was born I was a whopping 15 Stone. Now, 14 months later I am a mere 9 Stone 10lb)
This is me 8 1/2 months pregnant

So not surprisingly everything that was once too tight is now hanging off me. Unfortunately I only found one top so wasnt very successfull... Mike on the other hand well that's a different matter alltogether. He found 25 pounds worth of records and two history books. One for himself, a 60s edition HIstory of the world from neanderthal man to Hitler (Man didnt become any more clever as time went on lol) and the other book he bought for William should he ever want to have a peek inside it. Its a picture book of 20th century history. We had a look through it and certainly found it interesting if a bit depressing as half of it seemed to be covering different wars.
I will be taking some stuff to charity shop myself soon as William is growing so fast and i dont know where to put all his stuff. Might sell some of the nicer things on Ebay, we'll see.

Oh and before I forget we had snow today too! It started snowing last night and this morning there was still a layer out in the garden and on the daffodils!!

Housework

It is important to discuss different ways of doing things around the house, how to make things easier for yourself etc and this is exactly what I am doing at the moment. It is of course inevitable that while one discusses such things with other people on the handy MSN that the housework doesnt actually get done. But sacrifices will have to be made ;o)

Ann isn't going to like this (lol)

Right, so, while I was in Austria (7 weeks) the whole EC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication) went out of the window a bit. Partly due to me not always being there (snowboarding a few days) and mostly due to my mums cream carpet and her slight panicky view on this (apart from the fact that she thinks I'm pushing him into doing something he isnt ready yet - but all you who do EC will know differently)
Anyways I've kind of settled back into a life here in England so I have decided to try and give it a go again. William is now in his tiny underpants (and his bum looks sooooo small!!!) and I'm sure I'll have just as much washing to do the first couple of weeks (it'll be pants and trousers instead of nappies) Let's just see how it goes and how William responds (again) as it went quite well before i left for Austria.

Update on Doctors appointment

Well i turned up at the doctors and I couldn't believe it! The secretary had done the same thing again, where she didn't listen to what i was telling her and therefor didn't book me in at the right time or with the right doctor for that matter. So all i did was talk to Dr. Pearson for a while who then wrote down WHO i had to see and WHEN so I could get all my checkups. I am going back now on the 24th at 8.30 in the morning. As I'm having my cholesterol checked I can't eat for 12 hours beforehand. I am going to be starving! You try not to eat when your little one is attached to you for breastmilk throughout the night! Luckily Mike is able to take me in the morning and I'll just have to take something to eat with me so I won't collapse on the way back lol. It's a good half hour walk (walking fast) from the doctors to town centre where i can get the bus back home. I dont mind walking, I actually quite enjoy it, but I do like my quiet starts to the morning where the first thing I do is make myself a coffee to wake up. Still, people would say to me now I should learn how to drive - but I'm quite happy not driving or owning a car. It costs too much and the way parking is here - by the time I would find somewhere to park and have paid for the parking i have walked into town anyway - or gotten the bus for less money.

On the way back from town after seeing the doctors I was sat in the bus and a lady got on - a mother of a young lad's my guess from the way she was talking on the phone. She was talking about how the police had messed the statements up and about how there seemed to be no witnesses coming forward although whatever happened happened right infront of the police station as the schoolbus dropped the kids off on the way to school. I don't know what happened but it sounded like something quite serious which involved a gang of kids and her son. Listening to her I knew again that my decision to homeschool would never change.

William is awakening now and is asking for food so better go.

Just found this blinkie and thought id copy it onto here as i couldnt agree more.

And now I'm off to read through my other two entries as a dear friend of mine kindly pointed out that they are full of spelling mistakes and i should be ashamed of myself. (Thank you Ann ;o) )

William is still full of cold today and he only slept soundly in his Mai Tei, on the way back from town in the bus. I had to go to the bank to withdraw some money as i can't remember my pin code - yeah, great i know! I only got a new card not too long ago and didnt use it much before I went to Austria so now that I've come back my mind has gone completely blank.
It was quite embarrassing actually as we went to Tescos to do some shopping and we saw this computer on offer there. We were looking at different computers as we needed a new one (the keyboard on the old one had stopped working) so we decided to buy one of those on offer there and then. And then i couldnt remember my pin number at the checkout. Ohhhhh the shame! Some friends lent us 45 pounds and i got the rest out of my other account and my face still burns when i think about it. But a computer is a must, right? As how else could i be writing this now!
Anyways...
Did a bit of shopping - we had asparagus tonight with pork, (Mike needs meat lol) lots of potatoes and hollandaise sauce yummy! William was still awake while we had our tea and didn't fall asleep while late either (actually, about 30 mins ago)

Didn't do much else today but tomorrow will be a busier day, i need to tidy / clean / DUST!!!! as im having the post natal group bunch round on thursday. Im also going to the docs for a general check up. My dad and uncle both died from heart attacks due to high cholesterol so that's one of the things I'll be checked for. I'm also going to ask whether they do testing for allergies and intolerances as William turned red again today after eating his tea (he had bread, cheese, beetroot and onion and olive spread, im thinking it was either the cheese or beetroot...) We'll see...

off to bed now as is late and im tired!!!!

ok so here goes

I have just come back from Austria where i visited my mum. Was only back in England for a couple of days and had to go to A&E. William decided to take a leap from the bed onto the under bed drawer head first. After 3 hours in A&E we got told he was fine, luckily but it was a big shock!

Now he's full of cold and is finding it difficult sleeping again, although tonight seems to be going better (only been up twice up to now lol) that would seem like so much to some people...

Last night he didnt sleep well, he was snuggling up to me so close, like he wanted to make sure i was still there. I love sleeping with my son, i know he'll want to be in his own room and i won't be allowed to enter soon enough.

We had a birthday party for all the babies from our post natal group on saturday which was lovely. All the kids ran around (as well as they could) and they had a bouncy castle too, which william liked a lot, although he couldn't jump himself.

When back at home that night Mike and I talked about all the classic examples of conditional parenting and bribing we'd heard during those 1 1/2 hours at the party. I'm surprised Mike picked up on it as much as he did. But I'm glad he has noticed as he will know what he has to do (or not do) when William is older. And any other siblings that will come along hehe. (Although I'm not quite sure he is aware of that yet)

Bedtime now x