Waiting...

One of the biggest changes once the baby arrives will be our mobile set up - at the moment the dog gets his fair share and more of the back seat but he'll have to travel in less comfort once the baby seat is in too. (We have a rear facing stage 1 seat for those interested. More details here.)

You'd think 2/3rds of the back seat would be enough for him but there were anguished cries from the small person yesterday as the dog failed to stick to his half of the seat and spent half the journey home practically in Isaac's lap.

We don't really buy 'baby' food or anything that's particularly branded for children except for Ella's Kitchen fruit pouches. The boy loves them and they're a no-mess easy way of getting more fruit into him in those awkward toddler eating phases. As a result we've collected a lot of lids over the last couple of years. They make great toys for colour sorting and for making patterns etc.

I think all children go through phases and this is very much a car phase. The box gets emptied and then the cars lined up, piled up or just zoomed around the house.

Well if Daddy is stupid enough to lie on the floor what does he expect....

The bump is big enough to have developed it's own postcode and I'm sure there are moons orbiting it. The baby isn't going to be all that big (probably just on the small side of average depending on how long she stays in there) but I just carry my babies right out front so the bump looks huge.

I'm getting fed up now. I had the boy 9 days before my due date so this is officially the most pregnant I've ever been (39 weeks). I know I could still have a few weeks to go but it's odd territory for me.

The boy does love his camera - although he's taking very few pictures and mostly just presses buttons and takes the memory card in and out of it.

Weekending

The weather has improved and we've had some lovely sunny days (although a biting wind) so this weekend was spent out and about doing things. Including taking the bear and the boy to the park. The bear takes his retriever heritage seriously and is obsessed with his ball to the exclusion of other dogs, children and everything (apart from cats and squirrels). He runs his doggy legs off and then goes and finds whatever shade there is and throws himself down on the floor for a few minutes recuperation before starting the whole process again.

The boy meanwhile climbs, swings and rocks until those of us standing around in the cold wind decide we've had enough.

It was Mothering Sunday in the UK this weekend and I was lucky enough to get my favourite flowers delivered and a BIG card made for me. I also got a lie in and tea and cake in bed! Although the cake was shared...

Cranes, picnics and fires

There was much toddler excitement on the trip to the dentist as they're doing up the building next door. There was a cement mixer, various diggers and dumper trucks and a humungous crane. I got very cold waiting for him to have his fill of the view.

The blue thing is one of his favourite toys at the moment and he spends quite a lot of his day sitting in it 'reading', eating or just rocking. I have a reusable sandwich wrap that he loves using for a picnic with his wooden food and yesterday he had a burger that kept him happy on and off all afternoon.

We've moved the electric piano from in front of the fireplace so that there's room for the birth pool and so the fairy lights that make the fire look 'lit' have come back into action. The boy loves to sit with his feet on the grate gazing into the flickering lights.

Being a farmer & bouncing a lot.

We've had some lovely sun this weekend (although a very cold wind) and yesterday afternoon the boy spent in our friend's garden chasing chickens, playing with balls and driving the big digger. He announced he was being a farmer.

We've cleared room for the pool ready for when baby comes and yesterday had a trial blow up just to check that all was still okay with it. The boy loved it and spent 45 minutes flinging himself into it and around it (and occasionally off it).

He had a few problems with static electricity though and kept getting a shock every time he touched anything outside the pool. He'll love it filled with water so I suspect it'll get used outside a bit this summer...

And of course all his toys had to have a play too.

The quilt has gone to its new home. I think she liked it!

Blue thing, black thing, bump thing.

The boy has been loving his blue thing recently. He can sit in it cross legged and rock and spin himself and falling over in it is fun too (as long as he doesn't bang his head). It's the perfect place to sit and eat a snack.

The big fake fur came off the sofa the other day and was used for some snuggle time as the boy was determined to be naked even on a cold spring day (small children seem to have an aversion to clothes). When the chair it had been on was needed by grown ups the fur got flung on the floor. Half a nanosecond later it had a dog on it...

My lovely husband keeps exclaiming about the size of my bump. This culminated last night in the statement that I looked like Cyril Smith. Now for anyone not familiar with the ex Rochdale MP I suggest some googling and having a look at some images of him. The remark could have resulted in death or divorce but thankfully I have a sense of humour still (some of the time) and so today the Cyril Smith picture was taken.

And a less Cyril one to show that it's all bump and not just an expanding waistline...

Finished

Finally after lots of stopping and starting I have finished the quilt for a lovely little girl. She's about to become a big sister any day now and has recently moved into her new big bedroom so I'm hoping this will look good in there. It's been a long time in the planning and even longer in the making and it's far from perfect but I made it all by myself and made it with love. So Megan I hope you enjoy it!

Things I have learnt while doing it:

• You can never have too many pins.
• However long I think it's going to take me to do something double it and then double it again and then you're getting close.
• I have learnt more than I ever could have dreamt about tension and sewing machines.
• As a subcategory of that, if your tension is up the spout change your needle first before you do anything else.
• Quilters have the patience of a saint. I'm at best a bodger but I'm still going to call this a quilt.
• I love doing patchwork. I love seeing the patterns of the fabrics work off each other. I'm less good at doing all the finishing bits.

The fabrics are from Alice Kennedy's Owl and Apple collection for Timeless Treasures bought from Etsy. The brown swirls look purple on photos but they're a similar brown in real life to the brown owls.

A rare moment

The boy has been a bit out of sorts the last few days. Nothing specific but just a bit snuggly and sleepy and not quite his usual high energy self. It meant a rare opportunity to get a pic of him asleep though as he was out for the count enough for me to open the curtains and crash around the room at the end of his nap.

He seems a bit better this morning so he's been helping me sort the recycling out. He carried the big blue box into the house himself when it was empty and gave a pretty good go when it was full too. It's helpful to have someone happy to do things low down at the moment as once I'm on the floor getting up again isn't easy!