Boys will be boys!!!

Today we have had the amazing pleasure of wall-to-wall sunshine all day!  So not to look a gift horse in the mouth, we had some fun in the garden.

My little man has shown a great liking for playing with water, so I set him up with a tub and a variety of stuff to splash about in the water.  And he had great fun - splashing about and making lots of noise and mess.

And then his Granny and Grandad arrived with a brand new toy for him - a bright yellow watering can.  He was very interested, and fairly quickly picked up on the idea of pouring water out of it - although I could not persuade him to pour the water onto the plants - it was far more fun to pour it on the grass, the patio, his feet ..... 

But everything changed when he discovered a pot which I haven't got round to planting.  He started digging around in the soil, and then found that he could dig up soil ...

 

and pour it into his half filled watering can!!!  Nice!!!

This kept him occupied for at least 15 minutes - almost unheard of for my little fella! - and he gradually got more and more mucky.  And you should have seen the state of the watering can!!!

I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to have to strip him and take him straight for a bath - but how can a mummy mind when her little boy is having so much fun!



In the meantime I'm having great fun starting to make a quiet book for Baby J.  This is something I found on Pinterest (I am so badly addicted to that site!!!) and for those who don't know it's a handmade fabric book with the aim of occupying little ones and keeping them quiet.  Hence the name.  Clever, huh?!?  I'm making mine almost entirely from felt, and I have so many plans for pages!!!  But for now I just need to get going properly so I at least have something for J to take away when we go out to visit Daddy on his ship.  I'll blog more about it when there's a bit more to show, but in the meantime I really must get back to it!!!

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Mummy trauma!!!

Well, I have finally done it - I have stopped breastfeeding my little man! Anyone who knows me will know that I've been through a lot to manage to keep breastfeeding my little guy - from refusal to latch, to nipple shields, mastitis and bleeding nipples (caused through early appearance of teeth!).

But I managed it - with a lot of help and support. I'd always said I wanted to feed Baby J till he was 12 months old, and then that got extended to our arrival back at home after our trip out to hubby's ship. But then when it came to it, I discovered that I was more attached to the feeding than I realised. I loved that snuggly, cuddly, personal time between my little boy and me - and although I wanted him to move to the next stage and I want the additional freedom of not feeding him for when hubby goes back to sea, I also wanted the snuggles and closeness.

So yesterday I had a visit from the lovely nursery nurse who has helped me through all the trials and tribulations of parenthood and PND, and when we talked about it she made me realise that I was just delaying things. On a him, I decided that the previous feed had been particularly lovely and peaceful, and I didn't want to get too emotional and ruin a final feed, so decided not to feed him last night.

I was upset - but he was fine! He sipped at some cow's milk (he's not a fan!), cuddled for a bit, and then went into his cot with no more than the usual objections. And he slept really well. So I think I'm going to have to accept that my baby is growing up, and although he doesn't need me in this way anymore, he still needs me. And as we close one door, a whole range of new ones open. Exciting!!!

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Flowers flowers everywhere!!!

It has been an uncharacteristically sunny day here in the good ol' North of England!

I love sunny spring days - feeling the sun on your face while having to wrap up warm, wandering through the gorgeous riot of colour that is spring flowers. I'd been put in the mood by some lovely bright daffodils I'd bought while we were doing the supermarket shop

and then my wonderful mum presented me with a pot of muscari (or grape hyacinths), which are one of my favourite of all the lovely spring bulbs.

So when it proved to be an amazingly sunny day, and my plans for the morning were unexpectedly cancelled, I suggested to hubby that we took the little man for a trip out. At this time of year, one of my favourite days out is to go to the spring garden at Dunham Massey, a fairly local National Trust property. Lovely hubby suggested I took my SLR, which would be its first outing in almost a year, as I don't get the chance to fiddle with lenses etc when I'm the only one with the little man!

Off we trotted after the morning nap, and arrived just before lunch in glorious sunshine. I'd half expected it to start chucking it down as we made our way there, as northern weather is not what you'd call predictable, but thankfully the sun stayed out! We had a very tasty and warming lunch in the restaurant, and hubby had his latest opportunity to try and get used to being around kids as we sat in the 'family area'. Patience is not one of his virtues although he has many others, and I had to keep reminding him that noise is fine, and you can't expect little ones to be quiet with impeccable table manners! Well, we got through it, and headed out to the gardens.

I had an amazing time with my good old SLR in the gardens, and took tons of pictures of the gorgeous flowers...

snowdrops - so delicate looking but so hardy!

narcissus and daffodils - a burst of sunshine to make everyone smile!

hellebores - oh how I love their droopy grace!

and many other spring delights!

Baby J had a whale of a time practising his newly found independence and walking skills, and hubby watched us both with a kind of bemused benevolence.

We had marvellous fun, spent the afternoon in the spring sunshine, and drove back home happy...

...but tired. Especially the little man!

We're just hoping he sleeps tonight, as he either has the start of yet another cold or his teeth are on the move again. I'm not sure which is worse, but the signs so far are not good!!!

But the day has inspired me to push on with my latest crochet project, a birthday present for the daughter of a lovely friend of mine in a riot of colour!

Looking at it just makes me want to smile!!! I've taken ideas from some of my favourite blogs and added some Mummy Lewis flair! I'm just hoping it works out, but so far so good ... and I'm loving having an excuse to so something pink and girlie!!! Hopefully that will be the subject of a blog v v soon...

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What a week!

I have been um-ing and ah-ing about what to write about for my first 'proper' post, but then today we have had a momentous day in our family - baby J is no longer a baby

and is now officially a toddler (cue soft sobs into motherly handkerchief!).

He finally took his first completely unaided steps about 2 weeks ago, and we've been doing the walking-from-mummy-to-daddy ever since, but always very shaky and freqently getting so excited and pleased with himself that he would fall over.

And then a couple of days ago. We had a really good night (which as anyone who knows us will tell you is not normal!), and he woke up with such an excitement about him, when he took him downstairs ... he just took off!!!

It brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes as I watched him toddling through the house chasing the cat (poor Dylan - he is so long suffering!). So now Daddy is going to have to fit the second stair gate and I am going to have to hone the eyes in the back of my head - life will never be the same again - but it will always be fun!!!

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