Wordless Wednesday (well almost)

Now the weather is getting better and BG is getting older we have spent most of our days in the last few weeks in the garden, mainly in a bid to tire her out. 

We also went to Sacrewell Farm last monday to see the animals and the newborn lambs, BG spent the whole time going "ahh".

I though I'd share some of our pictures from the last fortnight...

The Gallery

As usual I'm always the last to catch up on what's going on. 




Tara over at Sticky Fingers has been running a weekly gallery, she gives a prompt and we go off and take pictures or use pictures we've already got. This week the prompt is Outside My Front Door, so here is mine..

Please excuse the fact I'm crap at playing with pictures I did this on word!!

Now these pictures are not technically from out side my front door, but the top 4 are from my kitchen window which is about a foot away from my front door so the view is pretty much the same.

These are pictures I already had, I'm not quite so sure why I had so many from my front window but I have. 

I think its quite a pretty view except for the one with all the bins, that's thanks so my now ex neighbour Batty Woman.

What you can't see is beyond the trees and grass is a road and then a grammar school, my little close is pretty well hidden and even though we live close to a school and Rugby club its very quite and peaceful here.

I live in a small market town and there isn't much to do, but what we do have is a gorgeous walled garden. That's the bottom picture , its a place called Ayscoughfee Hall, its an medieval hall museum with a huge garden at the back. It has a park, duck pond, coffee shop, tennis courts and much much much. Me and BG spent most of last summer there and we plan to spend many of our days there this year. Its 5 minutes from us and is peaceful, beautiful and makes you feel hidden away from the real world.

And that's Outside My Front Door.

NM X 

Once Upon A Time....

There was a little girl with blonde curly hair. When she was 5 years old she wanted to be He-Man, he had a better sword than She-Ra. 

When she was 7 years old, her Nan asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she replied “a secretary”, and her Nan told her that she was better off being the boss not the “secretary”.

When she was 13 she wanted to be an Archaeologist and travel to Egypt to visit the pyramids. Actually she’s still quite like to do that now!

As she got older her dreams and plans changed often, one minute she would wanted to be a micro-biologist, next a biochemist and the next a writer. She left the dream of writing behind her, mainly because her spelling and punctuation was terrible (still is) and carried on the Science route. She never *really* loved science, she was good at it but it didn’t excite her, this showed as she changed colleges and classes over a 3 year period, finally settling on an all round course.

When the blonde curly head girl turned 19, her life as she knew it fell apart, though not for the first time and she left her studies behind and found a job slaving away for 40 hours a week behind a bar.  Her next dream was to run a bar of her own, she worked hard and made her way up the ladder but that didn’t excite her either but it did pay the bills.

A few years later after she sent her little sister of to university she decided that she was fed up with working very hard, for little pay and little satisfaction and she went back to college. Not really knowing what she wanted to do, she studied Humanities and Social Sciences which she really enjoyed and then went on to do a degree in Business and Law, her plan this time was to get a “proper job”, she wasn’t quite sure what ones of those were but she wanted one anyway.  She wanted a big home, lots of money and a great car.

She finished her course and got a “proper job” and then another, but they didn’t make her happy.

What the blonde head curly girl wasn’t planning on was meeting the man of her dreams, moving in with him and having a baby, but that’s just what happened to her, and that made her happy.

The blonde curly head girl now spends her days changing nappies, cleaning, washing and cooking, but she wouldn’t change it for the world.

Sometimes life doesn’t go the way you plan it but that’s half the excitement of living. 

This is a very late Life Plan Meme that was passed onto me by Babygenie ages and ages ago. This is my take on my life plan.  I’m not going to pass it on, if you would like to do this meme then please do, and let me know when you have so I can take a look .

NM X 

Secret Post Club - March

My fabulous Secret Post Club parcel was from Bekimarie at The Ramblings Of an Everyday Mummy 






This is what arrived in the post...

and this is what was in those pretty wrapped presents..

Yummy chocolate and these very lovely Cup Cake notecards, which are even more special to me as unbeknown to Bekimarie I have been searching for the perfect notecards and now I don't have to.

A big thank you for my great presents, oh and the chocolate was divine!

NM x

The Soundtrack To My Week

The song says it all



NM X

Soundtrack Of The Week

This week BG has mainly be spinning around and around in circles making her self dizzy, which is really cute and funny until she hurts herself! But she gets herself up and does it again.

So the soundrack for this week is.....................

Dizzy by Vic Reeves and The Wonderstuff!

There were better sounding clips but I think to trueky appreciate the song you have to see them performimg it. 

GOSH - Peter Pan Week

We’ve been extremely lucky with BG’s health, apart from having to spend her first night in the SBU with a heart murmur, which thankfully went away, she’s fit and healthy. Some children aren’t so lucky and they rely on hospitals such Great Ormond Street to look after them and make them better.

Great Ormond Street Hospital needs £50 million pounds a year to do what it does best, look after sick children, they do this by fundraising throughout the year and you can help.

JM Barrie gave all the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1929, and this was later confirmed when he died in 1937. Since then, the hospital has received royalties every time a production of the play is put on, as well as from the sale of Peter Pan books and other products.

On 14 December 1929, at Barrie’s suggestion, the cast of a London production of Peter Pan came to the hospital and played out the Nursery Scene for the children, the first of a long tradition. Great Ormond Street Hospital now holds a Peter Pan Week. 

Peter Pan week is 26^th -30^th April. It's a week of Peter Pan themed fundraising
activities. There is a selection of fundraising ideas on the site such as a Captain Cooks treasure hunt, a Tinker Bell fairy cake sale or a Scarlet Day themed Mufti day at school 

On Friday 30th April at 9:15am a Guinness World record attempt will take place for the largest number of people dressed as Peter Pan 

There are some fun videos presented by Children's BBC SMART presenter, Kirsten O'Brien, demonstrating how to make your own Peter Pan costume

So if you want to get involved or think you children’s school or nursery want to be a part of Peter Pan Week, then click here for all the information you need. 

NM X 

A Letter To An Old Friend

To My Dearest Old Friend,

I often think of you and the times we spent together, the books we’d read, the music we listen to, the shows we’ve seen. I remember the bad hair styles and the even worse clothes we wore.

There were times when you were my only friend; we’ve been through a lot together. We had such fun, the parties, the drinking, the men, you got me into a lot of trouble on more than one occasion but I didn’t mind.

There are days I really miss you and yearn to be part of that life again, but I made the right decision, it was time to go our separate ways. Who would have guessed I would be settled with a good man and a beautiful daughter. My life is good, I'm happy now.

You were a part of my life for a very long time, you gave me strength and courage when I needed it, but you also sent me down paths of self destruction. You we're my best friend and my worse enemy all in one.

I will always think of you fondly, but I had to leave you behind, I had to move on with my life, I couldn’t carry on the way I was living.

You will always be in my heart and my mind.

Lots of love

Carol

This is a letter to the old me,  the me before I met my other half and had BG.

This was written for Josie’s writing workshop at Sleep Is For The Weak, I was inspired by prompt number 1. Tell me about someone from you past who you lost touch with and who you often think about

Soundtrack Of My Week

Music is a huge part of my life as some of you will know. I’ve always used it as a soundtrack of how I’m feeling and what’s going on with my life, I have a break up song, a sad song, a happy song and freak-out song!

Every Friday me and BG have a Friday freak-out I put on some music and we dance around like crazy people, last week we listen to Girls Aloud, AC/DC and Disney Songs. I also try and find a song that reflects my week, a soundtrack to my week shall we say s.

Let me explain this week’s soundtrack before I share it with you, this week has been a *bad* week and culminated yesterday in the day from hell!

BG is teething (as per usual), she has two molars coming through and is in a lot of pain, which in turn makes her super grumpy. Yesterday she woke up at 5.50 in a foul mood, screaming, and shouting, clinging to me, it could even walk across the room without her have a tantrum; it had been a long week already.

I gave her, her porridge which she wanted to feed to herself, so I let her that ended up all over her and on the floor.

It then took me 30 minutes to clean and dress her as she didn’t want to get dressed. I then made the biggest mistake of the day, I left a tub of sudacream in the living room, I went into the kitchen area to put some bread on, I turn back and there was sudacream everywhere!! All over BG, all over the floor (actually its still on the floor as I can’t get it out) and all over curtains, this was 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave for Musical Mini’s.

I manage to get her clean and re-dressed and out the door and we go off to mini’s, she was in quite a god mood there, except when she tried to get the bubble machine and I wouldn’t let her. Thankfully she fell asleep on the way home. 

I then get home to find out that when OH set up this new plug thingy at the weekend that turns plugs off when you switch the TV off it attached to the socket that the bread machine in plugged into and the bread is not baked.

I dropped down 44 places in the Tots 100, that really made me sulk, if the day hadn’t been going so bad it wouldn’t have really bothered me.

BG woke from her nap in a even worse mood and wouldn’t leave my side most of the afternoon, and when she did she pushed the highchair over and I had to move into the other room.

OH was late home from work and BG wouldn’t eat her dinner!

Phew That was my bad day yesterday, which links seamlessly to my soundtrack of the week..................................................................

Daniel Powter Bad Day 

I have chosen the live version and I love live music, enjoy 

Top 10 Surreal Mummy Moments

Carly over at Wads is running a Mummy Blogger Carnival over at hers about you top 10 Surreal Mummy Moments, is a mini competition and the prize is tickets to the Ideal Home Show, the closing day is today oops!

To be honest though the tickets would be nice I just like the ideal of writing this post. I didn’t realise how many surreal moments I had had, but here is my top 10 count down.

10 The pregnancy test – My other half realised I was pregnant before I did and sent me to do the test, to my shock he was right I was indeed pregnant. We had only been trying for 2 months.

9 That 1st scan, that’s when it becomes real that there is a baby in your tummy, we both shed a tear.

8 The first kick and my god could she kick. She was fidgety then and fidgety now

7 Calling her by her name, the first 100 times! It’s so strange to call her by a name we have given her

6 The first time she said ‘mummy’ my heart melted

5 The first smile that isn’t wind

4 Telling people that I was pregnant, then telling them that my daughter had been born

3 Bringing her home and putting her in her moses basket, so overwhelming

2 Holding my baby for the 1st time, the most amazing experience ever

And finally at Number 1 the most surreal mummy moment so far....

Finding out the sex of BG, we didn’t find out of the scan. I remember lying there with drips in both arms (I had a c-section) they took her away to check her over and I had to ask if I had given birth to a boy or a girl!

I’m sure there are a lot more moments to come

NM X

Guest Post Day - BumblingAlong

Today is guest post day, this is the fantastic brainchild of Erica at Littlemummy.com. You will alot of bloggers have swapped blogs for the day, this is a great way to find new blogs.

I have the great fortune to be twined with BumblingAlong, I was lucky enough to have found her blog a while back but have been really slack at going over and having a read (sorry Bumbling) I will be making sure I pop over more often.

Without further ado here is her excellent post.....

Hi, all NewMummy readers! I’m Bumbling, and over at BumblingAlong, I blog about Moo, my little one, who is also 15 months old.  I’m a new blogger, and so I was very pleased to have the opportunity to swap posts with the lovely Carol, the gracious host of my guest post here. My blog is still pretty bare, but I’m working on it, and I’d love for you to come over and say hi.  In fact, NewMummy herself is helping to boost my post numbers with a post about how her little one is learning to talk - please go along and have a read.

Whilst Moo is keen to make a lot of noise, I’m not sure that I could class it as talking. I'm never sure whether other people would recognise her noises as being the words I believe them to be. She clearly says “hiya”, “yeah” and “no”, but other words, yeah, that might just be wishful thinking on my part!

That being said, the fabulous Josie over at Sleep is for the Weak I'm sure recognised Moo's "quack quack" when we saw some ducks during a walk in the park. But if I hadn't been sure what she meant, I could just have looked at her hands.  Whilst saying "quack quack", she was also opening and closing her hand in a manner very similar to a duck's beak opening and closing.

That's right - we use baby signing!

Not as consistently as we should to make it really useful, but slowly and surely, Moo has been learning the signs to go with her sounds, and at 15 months, it is starting to make a real difference in our communication

We haven't been to any classes, just used information available online. We haven't been as consistent as recommended, but signing has definitely helped Moo let me know what she wants, although the point and grunt/"dat" remains an effective form of communication!

"Duck" has always been one of our most used signs, probably because the first song and sign that really caught Moo's fancy was "5 little ducks", and she loves playing on Peekaboo Barn on my iPhone...  But "milk" was the first sign we tried to learn.  The version we learnt was holding your fist vertically, with your thumb pointing up, open and close the fist - a simplified sign for milking a cow!

Moo uses this sign a lot, and it is signed vehemently every morning when she gets up, and also when she gets out of her bath in the evening.  And then it very definitely means milk.  But unfortunately she also uses it a lot during the day, and she hasn't had daytime milk for ages! So is she really asking for milk? Or is she looking for food or water, or something else entirely?  It's hard to know, but at least we're making a start.

So we have "duck" and "milk".  What else?  She knows and uses "bath" - not just for when she is having one, but also when she needs her nappy changed! We have inconsistent use of her version of the sign for "more" (index fingers tapped together), although she's more likely to point and shout "agg" (again!).

But the one that got me was her very appropriate use of the sign for "bed" on Wednesday night. We'd had a fractious evening. Daddy had come home from work, given Moo her bath and then rushed out to a chess match. Moo and I were sitting brushing her teeth in the living room, a good half an hour or more before her usual bedtime. And she pointed to the door.

I thought she wanted something from the table, so offered her everything appropriate, only to be greeted by a strong shake of the head. She sat on my knee, looked me in the eye, put her hand up to her cheek and tilted her head. A simplified version of the sign for bed.  She was tired. Bed it was.

And she fell fast asleep.

(And as I was on my own, I got straight on the phone to Nanny and straight on Twitter to announce my amazement!)

Baby signing rocks!

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Thank you so much for that amazing post Bumbling, I have two books on singing and still haven't done it with her yet, I think its time to give it a go its clearly working really well for you!

Don't forget to check out my guest post over at BumblingAlong  and if you want to see who else have swapped blogs for the day, pop over to Littlemummy.com and see the guest post draw.

NM X