27 September 2015

Can't believe how fast September has flown past.

We've had some amazing sunny weather here the last few days and I'm in a festive spirit because Simon has taken tomorrow off work.  Granted, we're planning to spend the morning working on filing our taxes while Felicity is at nursery, but nonetheless!

We took down the curtains and pelmet from the livingroom bay window tonight in preparation for the painters coming tomorrow morning.  Yey!  Gosh!  So different!  But I will post before and afters hopefully by next weekend when the job will be done.  The curtains were horribly dusty - I will wash them and then put them safely away.  There were seriously yards and yards and yards of fabric there.  Someone at some point went to some serious expense with both the curtains and the installation of them.

Here are some pictures from our walk yesterday in the Botanics -

Felicity's new clothes fit!  And I couldn't resist the hat when she found it....

One day we'll master having everyone look at the camera at the same time - ha!

I just love this scrumptious little boy!

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26 September 2015

Saturday

Today's felt like a bonus weekend day because I know Simon has the day off on Monday.  Yey!

We took the kiddos to the Botanics this morning.  It was overcast, but some flowers are still blooming and Felicity had a great time finding the frog statues in the hot-houses.  Amazing to me to think that just 4 months ago, I had to ride on a scooter to get around at all.  And the last time we went, Titus was pretty newborn - I was in agony walking around the hothouses by the end of the tour.  This time, I felt pretty darn well normal!

My kids are so beautiful.  Felicity was flitting around like some bird-like sprite.  Titus was happy when he wasn't fast asleep.  I sat on a bench on the balcony walk-way over the mild climate greenhouse and fed Titus while Simon took Felicity around the fishes and the lilypad zones.  There were a couple of robins that had found their way into this little paradise and they were singing.  I know they were robins because one of them lit on the back of my bench and looked at me interestedly.  I had been half-humming/chanting a Faure Chanson sotto voce out of sheer contentment and I think he determined quickly that I was not a rival.  Still, felt a little like Snow White - he lit down nearer to me - about a 18 inches away from my shoulder - before darting off.  What life and energy in such a small fragile body.

We read through most of 'Plants do Amazing Things' this week, so Felicity was very interested in the 'meat-eating' plants when we got to the Venus Fly Traps and Pitcher Plant display.  She kept telling me, 'plants need water or else they will die!'  I'm trying to get her to remember that green plants also need carbon dioxide and sunshine and the minerals from the soil as well.  I've asked her, 'what else do plants need?'  'I don't know....SOIL!'  It's a start.

We had hamburgers for lunch and I finished re-stocking the freezer with hamburgers and meatballs this afternoon.  Our friend Stephen came over briefly, had a cuppa and picked up strawberry runners I've transplanted from the backyard.

I've been looking at materials to recover a chair I found (eek, on gumtree!)  Before and after photos forthcoming when I finish the project.

I re-stuffed two of our old tatty sofa pillows with feathers (yes, *feathers!!*  Good grief, glad I waited until the children were in bed!) from a very over-stuffed and uncomfortable pillow I bought last year.  Result is amazing - sooo cushy!  I used the tatty covers as the new inside pillow case and stuffed them inside the nicer cushion covers.  They are all zip-closing, so no sewing involved!  #feellikeagenius #recyclingrocks

We are getting our livinroom ceiling repaired, relined, and the livingroom painted next week.  So excited!  Must remember to take before pictures.  I am hankering after wooden shutters for our bay window, but I had a shutter-quoter-guy come out on Friday and they are definately out of the budget.  Now, I am looking at wooden blinds with tapes, which should give the same classic, stream-lined look without the shocker-sticker-price.

My favorite TV show this week has been 'Call the Midwife.'  I have finished series 1 already.  I went upstairs last night after watching one and I was literally sobbing.  Good, cathartic, clean crying - like on the perfect climax of a Puccini aria or when Dumbo's mom sings 'Baby Mine' to him when she's locked up in the prison-car.  'Mid-wife' is based on a book of memoirs from a lady who worked as a newly qualified nurse in a very poor London district in the 1950s.  I love the sets, the costumes, the dialog, the characters and how charming but also real it is.  It's dramatic without being coarse or obscene. (Is it too late to start series 2 on netflix?......yes.)

We are going to a Community Group 'brunch' (how middle-class does that sound?) tomorrow morning and I really want to get out to a cloth-shop for my upholstery project if I can before church in the afternoon.  Other than that, goals for tomorrow are to keep the kids fed and clean, tidy the study and livingroom in preparation for Monday morning, and try not to drink quite so much coffee tomorrow as I did today.....

OK, seriously bedtime now.  Kids not been sleeping well the last week - wish me luck.  xx

22 September 2015

Gumtree strikes gold again.  I ran them through the wash as soon as I got home of course, but as I was folding them up, I counted:

3 pairs of quality blue jeans
2 pairs of wind-pants (or 'jogging bottoms' as they would call them over here) (perfect for nursery and messy play!)
9 - yes- NINE long sleeved shirts
4 short-sleeved shirts/vests
3 skirts (2 school-type gray and one denim)
1 fleecy jumper-style warm dress
1 hoodie
1 fleece jacket
1 puffy winter coat

For the amazing price of £10 for the bundle.

When you consider that I probably would have paid between £10-£12 pounds for 1 pair of blue jeans in the *grocery* store.  Or maybe found 4 long sleeved shirts in a charity shop for a tenner.  Whew!  Can't beat that.

I spent the afternoon clearing out all the 2-3 and 3-4 size (roughly 2T and 3T) clothes from Felicity's dresser and wardrobe to make room for the clothes that fit her now.  While I was at it and while the kids were happy, I went ahead and did the same with Titus' 0-3 month clothes.  He's definately ready for the 3-6 month outifts.

So I feel we've hit a mile-stone for both kids.  Babies growing up....

19 September

From Saturday....first family meal out together with Titus.

21 September 2015

Gumtree!

I am addicted to gumtree.  It's almost embarrassing.  It's a website where you can post up just about anything for sale in your local area.  Like the want-ads.  Or Craigslist.  It's amazing the stuff you can find on gumtree.

For example, my favorite gumtree find has got to be the beautiful arts and crafts wardrobe I bought for a song for F's bedroom. The most recent thing I actually bought from gumtree was a baby bathtub and bathseat for T.  The weirdest things I've picked up on gumtree were old bricks and bags of sand (for the path out in the backyard.)  I've sold miscellaneous furniture, usually instead of taking them to the dump or charity shop.  I wish Simon would let me sell his dusty cross-trainer.  Currently, I'm looking for a kingsized bedframe, a reclining sofa (or a chesterfield sofa...can't decide!), fireside wing chairs, a starfish lomond harp (ha!), a sideboard-type-cupboard-thing for the bathroom upstairs, a steinway grand piano (hey, I can dream, right?).....

I like the fact that you can look and not be in a hurry to buy the first thing that comes up.  You can wait and buy the right thing at the right price in the right location.  Good things come to those who wait.  And people with an imagination.  And you never know what you will find - it's like charity shop shopping (Goodwill, translated for my American readers...) without having to go anywhere!  (Though I have to add, charity shops in the States have generally been far better than the ones over here - here they are becoming more and more a 'niche' market, and charity shop people have started marking up their prices accordingly.  I can almost go to Sainsburys and certainly to ASDA and get brand new clothes for the same price or less.  So you have to look for quality/rarity at charity shops to make it worthwhile.)

My friend G reminded me of gumtree regarding kid's play clothes.  She got a huge bundle for S last week and was telling me about it.  I told her I'd been hitting the malls and grocery stores trying to supplement F's wardrobe as she has just shot up over the summer.  As addicted as I am to gumtree, I was ashamed I hadn't thought of it first.  I was going to go to Primark in town tomorrow morning (while F is in nursery), but instead now, I am going to go and look at a bundle of 4-5yo girls' clothes I found on gumtree.  I've bought 2nd hand clothes off the site once before and some of F's favorite outfits came from that transaction!  Seeing as F has practically ruined 3 sets of trousers last week alone (at nursery, having accidents) and the fact she's growing so fast, I don't want to spend a lot on her 'autumn wardrobe refresh!'

In addition to potentially finding absolute bargains, I really like using the site because I feel I am helping out normal people, rather than bankrolling some massive corporation.  If those things were just to end up in a landfill somewhere when someone threw them out, it's a win-win-win situation.  Better for them (they can exchange their unwanted goods for cash), for me (I get stuff I want cheaper) and for the environment (less waste in the landfill!)

Hail gumtree!  Let's hear it from the gumtree addicts!

18 September 2015

And we're walking, baby!

Thursday I *walked* to my friend Heather's house, then we *walked* down the cycle-path (every time I think/hear/speak this word I think - 'psychopath') to the Seafield McDonalds for lunch, then we *walked* the 25-30 minutes home again.  What a change from 10 weeks ago when I thought my poor wretched wrecked body would never be the same!

And I spent a productive 20 or so minutes in the garden weeding and transplanting strawberry runners.  :-)

Today I *walked* 20-25 minutes over to the Gaelic school for their Friday morning playgroup.  It was packed (they said it was the busiest group of the week anywhere) but Felicity had a wonderful time.  Mostly due to her friend Robbie being there, I think!  (And bless H.M's heart for letting Felicity tag around after them the whole time and looking after my daughter along with her son while Titus was insatiably latched onto me!)  Then we *walked* back up Great Junction Street along to the Kirkgate, where we had lunch at the community cafe, then we *walked* back to Queen Charlotte Street through Leith Links, up the hill home again!  While I pushed the double buggy and two kids most of the time.  Whew!

And I spent another productive 20 minutes in the garden weeding and transplanting strawberry runners.  :-)

Maybe the secret to getting Titus happy in the garden is to put him in the Moses basket instead of the car seat.  He seems to be happier lying on his back with more room to kick around.  It's a bit of a pain to cart out there, but it's led to more happy time so it's worth it!

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Downside is that F has been totally regressing on the potty-training side of things.  I read that it's common when a new baby comes along, but *honestly*  Just when I think we've broken the back of this problem.  Yesterday she *pooed* herself *twice* (two baths in one day, anyone?) and today she wet herself *three* times.  I hadn't taken spare clothes to the playgroup this morning and I was dismayed when I saw the wet patch.
 'Felicity, do you need the potty?'
'They have potties here?' (she asked in amazement)
'Yes, of course they have potties here!!  Come on!'

and I was about to cart her off to buy a new pair of pants around the corner and come back to the playgroup later when another mom lent me a pair of her son's trousers.  Sheesh - how embarrassing the first day we visit somewhere!  Times like these are good reminders to accept help graciously and humbly as well as offering help graciously and humbly.  But it's sooo much easier to be the helper than the help-ee sometimes!

_________________________________

Simon climbed into the car after work today when we went to pick him up, after going around and giving the kids a kiss in the backseat.  Felicity (prompted I guess by a conversation we had had in the garden earlier) immediately said...

'Daddy I'm SORRY that I threw dirt onto Titus!  I'm very sorry.'

(Felicity had been scooping dirt around and some of it had landed in Titus' basket - accidently I'm pretty sure....but I was brushing him off and had remarked something like, 'Oh Titus, you're all dirty.  What would your father say about that?'  and Felicity had said, 'Is Titus' father my Daddy?'  'Yes, that's your Daddy.  What would your Daddy say about throwing dirt on Titus?'  'A spanking?'  'Well, I don't think he'd be too happy about it.'.....and then I had carried on weeding and forgotten all about it.)

so her penitent declaration really tickled me and I joked something like, 'Oh the confessions begin immediately!  ''Daddy I wee-d myself *three* times today...'' '

and I hear incredulously from the backseat, 'Mommy, did YOU wee yourself three times today too??'

at which we burst out laughing.

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I was giving Felicity and Titus a bath tonight at the same time.  Titus has this wonderful little mesh chair, shaped almost like his bouncer, where he can sit and be stable while I have both hands to hold and wash him without having to worry about him slipping.  Felicity was helping me gently pour water over his body and she of course remarked on his private parts.

'Don't touch them' I said.  'We don't touch someone else's private parts.'

'I know' she replied. 'It's his peanuts.'
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Yesterday, the kids both fell asleep on me on the couch in the afternoon.  It was so sweet and I tried to document it - which is very hard one-handed when you have to be absolutely still!  Here are the results of my one-handed phone selfies....

This is Felicity after she woke up...

And later, right before bedtime

I love Titus' face in this picture....lol  lil'dude is already so expressive.....

16th September 2015

More Felicity-things

Chocolate buttons are seriously an ingenious invention.  Just enough of a sugar rush to be an incentive, but not so much that you have a kid bouncing off the wall for the rest of the day.

Last Thursday, Felicity came up to me and proudly announced - 'I just did the potty all by myself!'  It's been such a trial trying the balance between F and T when she needs the bathroom (usually when Titus is already on edge/is eating/can't be put down easily.)  Taking toddler trousers down and up is unfortunately a job that requires both hands.  Especially frustrating when I *know* she can do it all on her own.  She just likes an audience and a little dependency.  (But I equally have trouble saying, 'WELL??  If you need the potty.  GO.  No?  OKAY, then I guess you'll just have to WEE YOUR PANTS then, huh?  But if you DO, you're only getting ONE story read tonight.  GOT IT?')    So...when she ran up to me saying she'd done the one thing that will make my life with two kids sooooo much easier, I immediately said, 'YEY!  How'd you like a CHOCOLATE BUTTON?'  and I gave her a bowl with 5,6,7 in it!

Woah ho ho HO!  Magic Words!  I've had this kid actually telling me to *leave her alone* when she's on the potty.  *happy dance*

So, we're coming up trumps in that corner.

On the other side of things, we've been starting to classify things that we DO and DO NOT do in public.  Especially 'in classes.'  (As we've been going regularly to a ceilidh dance class and Explorers and Grace Kids weekly.)

Things to do -

Listening ears
Helpful Hands
Walking feet
Following instructions....

Things NOT to do - (and incidentally, things I also never thought I'd have to specifically spell out, but we've learned from experience...)

Poking your finger into your nose
Sucking your thumb
Putting your hands down other people's shirts (especially the teacher's)
Running around in circles around everyone else

and new for today - laying on your back with your legs splayed and your feet way up in the air when you're supposed to be answering questions.

Yyyeah...so, it's a learning curve?

We'll get there.

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Titus is such a friendly baby.  It makes me so happy when he's obviously listening and wanting to interact with people.  Most mornings I bring him downstairs and lay him in his Moses basket in the kitchen.  This morning I was stumbling around, unloading the dishwasher like a zombie, and Felicity was running laps around the moses basket, excitedly chirping (faar to loudly, I thought) at Titus with her toys.  And Titus let out a crazy little laugh.  Not just a dry 'HAh!' like he does sometimes, but actually a giggle - it sounded like someone singing low with a wild vibrato.  And I stopped and looked at my children (I think I was hoping that F wasn't trying to throttle T...) and I laughed when he was grinning his face off and looking so happy and excited to see Felicity.  And he GIGGLED again.  And then, I dived for my camera phone and tried to get a video...but the moment had gone. (Figures!)  But he is charming.  And he likes people.  And he's starting to understand when people are being nice and when Felicity is playing with him (and he LOVES her.)

On the flipside, his cries are becoming distinct too.  And I was taken aback yesterday when he first articulated a cry of actual outraged justice.  I think I had to run downstairs and get something from the mail-man or something.  He'd been drinking and all snuggly on the sofa with me, and when I had to put him down, he was *indignant.*  ''HOW could you DO such a thing?'' his voice clearly said.  Oh, he was mad!  But I got back as soon as I could and he was equally as happy and eager to recommence.  Shoot.  He is so strong, that little guy,

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Projects, dreams, hopes, to-do lists.....

The livingroom is getting done.  Definately before Christmas.  We're ticking off the rooms in the house one by one.  I have to get the livingroom, diningroom and main landing finished painted before I can look into getting the floorboards fixed, sanded and refinished.  When that happens, it will make the house sing!  And there is also the downstairs bathroom to redo.  I know what I want in there, but I'm also torn as the tiles in there have really grown on me and the refurb I'm thinking of would mean getting rid of them.  Oh well, won't it be fun to read this in a few years when it's all finished and remember when we were in the middle of the process?  Weird to think we've done so much already - this is just the way I've been picturing it in my head from day one.  Right now, I just see how much there still is to do.

Yesterday my friend Katherine came over and gave me an extra set of arms.  I painted half a wall (not even kidding), made dinner (for 15 - to take to community group), and spent a glorious 30 minutes in the garden *all by myself*.  The garden was lovely to be in.  And yesterday I thought, hmm, it's not so hard to get out here!  If I could just spend 20 minutes in here a day, maybe get one job done each day, I'd have this place pristine by the middle of October....
Well, that was the plan this morning.  After taking Simon to work, Titus was asleep in the car, Felicity was dressed (with shoes on, even!) and I had intentionally dressed in blue jeans and an old top.  So I wade through the tunnel to the backyard, luggin Titus in his carseat and telling Felicity DON'T kick that door! and put Titus on the bricks so he doesn't get soaked in the long dewy grass and just get my garden gloves pulled on when Felicity says...

'I need a WEE!!'

and though she is much more competent, I can't let her go back through the shared 'tunnel' alone where I can't hear her if she calls me and needs me, and I can;t leave Titus in the garden, so the gloves come off and the carseat gets lugged back into the house by which time Titus has started to wake up from the bumpity bump of the heavy carseat against my knees and he's not impressed.  Felicity does her thing and wants chocolate buttons.  Later, I say, after we get some more work done in the garden....(heh, 'more' work done....like, 'any' work done....) and I set out again with the children...Felicity dashes out first and is already chatting with our next door neighbor when I emerge with car-seated baby.  I literally dash around like a crazy person trying to get something done because I know he's a time-bomb and yes, there we go, 2 minutes in and he's already bellering.  OK....take the baby and toddler inside....get comfy on the coach... persuade F we *don't* need to watch Despicable Me 2 (again, for the millionth time...)....yey! Netflix has added Toy Story.....introduce TS to the next generation....WHAT?  Titus, you're done already?  But we're only 4 minutes into the movie.......ugh.  OK, back into the garden.  Yes, I KNOW you want to watch Story Toy....after we get some work done in the garden....*weed weed weed...snip back these brambleberry bushes....ouch the gloves aren't thick enough, nevermind, time is of the essence....weed weed weed.....no! don't pick that allium flowerhead!  Yes, you can have the clippers I guess *locking the clippers before handing them over*  No, it's a secret how to open the clippers...  Felicity, can you gently cover up Titus with his blanket....maybe he's crying because he's a wee bit cold....where are you going?  NO! You may not go up into the house without me...come down here NOW!  If you go up we are NOT going to watch Story Toy!  You're cold? Well, go bounce on the trampoline, that will warm you up... *throwing away snails and slugs....taking off a glove to pull up my maternity jeans every time I stand up....weed weed weed....argh, the grass is so long....man, there are so many strawberry runners to transplant....my neighbors' weeds are going to seed that is going to over-run my patch....Titus, Titus, you are OKAY, son.....OKAY OKAY, I'm gathering up my tools and taking off my gloves....OKay Felicity, can you carry this inside for me please?  *Hoiking up Titus and the carseat*  *Obviously not my day for gardening*  *slinking away with my good intentions dragging behind me*  *Shame since it;s the most beautiful cloudless day*  *Remind myself that maternity leave is *NOT* about fixing the garden...it's about keeping my children alive....*

OKAY, argh, OKAY! WE *WILL* WATCH TOY STORY AND EAT CHOCOLATE BUTTONS...............BUT I'D MUCH RATHER BE WEEDING THE GARDEN!

15 September 2015

Here we are halfway through September already.  If you had asked me in May, I would have told you that this day would, in fact, never arrive.  Yet, here we are, inexorably drawn through the days and weeks in the inevitable passage of time.  And I'm glad!  Titus is 10 weeks old today.  I am stronger and happier with my body than I hardly ever remember being before.

There have been no fireworks to speak of this week or last, probably why I have found it difficult to sit down and write!  But somehow it's the mundane things that you forget and are especially nice to go back and read about and recall once they are long forgotten.

Yesterday and today Felicity has been going up to Leith Academy nursery in the morning.  I love the way she asks permission about which toys she's able to take.  Lately, I have been limiting her choice to *one toy* - more because she would try to take everything and lose them if I let her!  She is so sweet.  One of her favorite words lately is - 'MAYbe....?'

'Mommy, is this a momma-girrafe?' (holding up one of her 'pokey' toys)

'I don't know.  Is it a momma giarrafe?'

'MAY-be....?  It could be.  Maybe it is!'

'Well, Maybe it is.  You could pretend it's a momma-giarrafe.'

'MAybe!  Mommy, is it a mommy-giarrafe?'

'Well, if you want it to be you could make it a mommy-giarrafe'

'MAY-be??  MAYbe it is!'

Each MAYbe is punctuated by this wide-eyed, insinuating, wondering blue-beamed gaze.

I love my blue and gold and pink girl.

We watched the Spiderwick Chronicles movie this week - and it got scarier than I anticipated towards the end, but it was too late to stop her watching it as we were already too far in.  I 'saved' the day by telling her the ogre (which is really freaky!) was like the dinosaurs at the zoo.  'He's got a machine inside him.  He's not real.'  So she's been calling it 'the Dinosaur movie.'

Yesterday she told me it wasn't the big guy (the ogre Mulgarath) that scared her.  It was the little guys (the goblins.)  I told her that they were all machines, and she didn't have to worry.  She surprised me when she then said - 'they bite someone.'  And sure enough, they did bite someone in the movie - pretty gruesomely for a 3 year old too.  She's a sharp cookie, that one.  I told her that it was still all pretend and the little boy was perfectly fine.

This morning while we were getting into the car, she saw someone coming out of their house walking their dog.

'Look at that *tiny* little dog!'

'That kind of dog is called a pug.'

'Why is it called a pup?'

'No sweetie, a Pug,'

'Why is it called a pub?'

'No sweetie, a PuG.  Puh-Guh'

'Why is called a pug?'

......
and so on.


Felicity came home from nursery today with her leggings *filthy* (her second set - she'd had an accident with the first set she wore this morning.  Oh, the laundry!)  I asked her what had happened to her trousers -
'Did I sit in the sandbox?'

'I don't know - did you?'

'Maybe I sat in the sandbox!'

'Oh, you did, did you?  Was it fun?'  (lol)

and later I was changing her and noticed her socks were soaking too.

'How did your socks get so wet?'

'Maybe I poured water over them in the sandbox!'

'Oh, OK.  That would do it.'

 

13 September 2015

Catching up...

This week has flown past!  I will start catching up by posting a few wedding pictures from last Friday.  It was a lovely wedding!  Pictures will summarize!

Gorgeous invitations!

The plan for the day

Arriving in South Queensferry

Selfies!

Walking to the boat

I love panoramic photos!

Lovely day for a wedding!

Lovely sleeping baby!

Beautiful weather!

Aww!  Little-wee-sucky-lower-lip-sweetie-baby!

Inchcolm Abbey  (Look Mom, I'm walking!)

A favorite photo from the day.

Island selfies

Very windy waiting for the boat to arrive - the cloth sling to the rescue again!

Walking to the reception

Beautiful bridge at night.

2 September 2015

Life is good and keeping busy.  For example, today I took Simon to work, took Titus to the doctors (first immunizations, poor lad!), put on dinner in the crockpot, washed sheets (because we had a 'fountain' accident while changing a nappy this morning) ran errands all afternoon (pharmacy, returned shoes to ocean terminal, color matched foundation, bought birthday cards and wedding wrapping paper, ordered some photo gifts (but no spoilers!), then took Felicity to Explorers this afternoon.  Liz came around for dinner tonight for Simon to fix her laptop.  Both kids asleep by 9pm! woot!  Practicing my wedding hair-style while waiting for the sheets in the dryer to dry and putting away laundry.

I love being able to carry laundry baskets upstairs again.  I have almost succeeded in finally cleaning my room - next job is Felicity's room.  Then the garden.  Then the scary cupboard under the porch.  Then the dining room.  Then...well, you get the picture.

She cracks him up - for obvious reasons.

Favorite picture yet.  Such a sweetheart.

These two!  I just had the camera focused on Titus as Felicity moves too fast anyway.