Mia's birth video

finally got round to editing Mia's birth and I love this video. I only wish we'd had one from our little boy but we only used our phones and so the footage isn't very good. Making videos is my new obsession as it really captures the moment in a way that still images can't always convey. Enjoy...

The Siblings Project // Hanging Out

Since having a new baby I have struggling through the night feeds only to get a rude awakening at the crack of dawn from The Toddler so I have appreciated a slow start to the day.
This often involves snuggling in bed feeding the baby whilst the toddler watches some cartoons or plays games on the tablet.

Most of the time he is not too concerned about her but he does look for her in the mornings and sometimes he holds her hand when he's watching cartoons which is sweet.

Also he gets protective when other kids show an interest in her. At a mummy group a little girl kept fussing over her and trying to put her dummy in and he came over and said, "no! My sitter!" So hopefully he will play the protective older brother and look out for her in the playground and scare away any potential boyfriends.

The Ordinary Moments // Baby's bath time!

Due to a a mixture of the business of Christmas, the logistics of bathing a baby and a toddler at the same time, being a bit overwhelmed with two tiny tots in the house and feeling too exhausted we only bathed The Baby for the first time at five weeks.

I remember when The Toddler was a baby we googled 'how to bath a baby' as we were anxious about doing it right and not hurting the poor little thing. He had a few tears, but she took to it like a duck to water (scuse the pun!) No tears - even when The Toddler accidentally dropped her under the water!

I love this top picture as it showcases how calm and watchful she is with her gorgeous big eyes.

We find its often easier for one of us to hop into the bath with them and I adore this bottom photograph of baby and daddy. Its so precious and I know these years of shared baths, shared tears and smiles will be over before we know it and so its a reminder for me to not wish away the years.

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Linking up with lovely Katie over at Mummy Daddy Me who will soon 

have her own newborn to bath.

Our new arrival and birth story...

We are delighted to announce that on the 4th December Mia Robyn Anna came into this world. Just like her big brother she was overdue, but unlike her brother's hectic birth story we opted for a calmer experience.

The consultant advised that we had three options:

1) induction, as before, which would 

likely be long and painful and end in an emergency section

2) wait it out which could be risky for her as we were concerned about lack of movements

3) elective section which would be calmer and less risky than an emergency section 

It was a tough decision as last time The Belgian had the whole summer holidays off and thus time we have a toddler too. However I didn't want a repeat of my previous birth and so I was prepped for my surgery three days later.

It felt surreal driving into hospital early knowing by lunchtime our baby girl would be with us. I had a carb heavy pizza and garlic bread the night before and a small carton of Ribena for breakfast as advised.

We had to answer lots of the same questions and sign forms. We met Dawn our midwife with the toddler and I was a bit disappointed when she didn't remember us quite as clearly! 

Our appointed midwife Lorraine was very down to earth and kind and came to get us around 11 to walk me down to general surgery.

The Belgian sat watching Homes Under the Hammer whilst I was taken for the bit I was dreading - the spinal. I am not the biggest fan of injections and obviously last time it was all a blur if madness and necessity in a haze of gas and air. But this time I was lucid and opting to have this big needle inserted into my spine. Craziness.

The young anesthetist, who had seemed so lovely and competent, took half an hour to get the needle in. I was zoning out and singing songs in my head when I noticed all had gone eerily quiet and there was a lot of fiddling going on behind my back. They kept asking if I was a horse rider and if my spine was straight!? In the end an older guy had a try. A 'fresh pair of hands' a midwife subtly suggested.

He did it first time.

When they wheeled me into the bright lights I broke down. That experience had been pretty traumatic and the idea of what lay before me was daunting too. Luckily it was my consultant Cat and she was clearly very proficient at her job. The OR filled with random chat between colleagues and the calm I had been promised was evident. 

Our baby girl was lifted out and cleaned up and given to The Belgian. I couldn't believe how much she resembled her brother from the dark hair and eyebrows to the button nose and milk spots to the perfect little rose bud mouth. Once again we were in love.

We had three names in mind Mia, Amber and Lexi but when we looked at her we both agreed she was a Mia and we had already agreed on the middle names. Robyn as it is my sisters middle name and Anna like her super-Oma and also her daddy's middle name.

As they wheeled me out she made a little cry and the midwife said she was hungry. The moment I'd been dreading. I thought I would give it a try and she latched on straight away. I was really proud of us both. I had been led to think I was defective with Ellis 

We had worried we didn't have enough love for a second but this is clearly not the case and we can't stop smelling her, cuddling her and marvelling over how perfect she is.

Baby does Bruges...

The gorgeous and jet setting crafty blogger, Kelly Purkey, shared this link to a toddler's view of New York City and it reminded me of some photos we took in Bruges at New Years. I started putting the camera on the floor to get the toddlers perspective of Bruges.  
And the result? I kinda love it. They may be blurry, imperfect and unedited but I love them. 
We plan to get the top one made into a canvas for our wall - I just love his cheeky little grin as he balanced over one of Bruges many famous canals. 

He was particularly impressed to find a burger restaurant named after him too!

Our First Wacky Warehouse Party...

So a few weeks ago we received an invite to the Baby's first Wacky Warehouse birthday party. It's not the first birthday party that he's been invited to but this invite came from one of the little girl's who he is at the childminders with. A girl I have only met a few times and whose parents I have never met as we all pick up and drop off at different times.

I felt a bit anxious turning up to a party where I wouldn't know anyone. But I had to remind myself to get a grip as it wasn't even my party - and hopefully The Baby would recognise her and we wouldn't be gate crashing someone's party! Haha!

On the way to the party I realised I hadn't got the birthday girl a pressie. What does one even get a girl? Who may be turning two...or perhaps three? I quickly texted our lovely childminder asking for help. I should have guessed the reply really...Frozen! Or just generally Disney Princess'. So I got some tat at TKMaxx and brought a Frozen gift bag to 'wrap' it in. I avoided any of those number cards since we weren't too sure and when I asked the Baby he was very little help on the matter!  

I couldn't convince the Belgian to leave the sofa (and by extension his laptop and Championship Manager - 'you're not really a football manager dear!') and so we pulled up in the car park (next to an abandoned sofa - I kid you not!) flying solo. They took ages to buzz us in (as always) apparently having a child still makes you suspicious in these types of places. 

Once inside the Baby knows the drill and was straight into the ball pit and charging down the slide head first. I, luckily, recognised the birthday girl as she was in a flamboyant party dress. She also grabbed the present from me and had it open and was playing with it in about thirty seconds flat. (See picture above!) Perhaps this is the difference between girls and boys!

The babies were supposed to be playing in the under threes bit, but the Baby loves to break the rules. I had committed a mum fail as I wasn't wearing socks and so had to chase after him barefoot. We'd only been there ten minutes when he fell down a step and banged his head and was crying his eyes out. The other mum's were very sympathetic and perhaps were shocked by my blase he does it all the time attitude. But he really does. I was cursing the Belgian at this point. Clearly leading a third division team into victory was far more important. 

It was also apparent that most of the guests at the party were Polish and I felt silly for not realising that the names on the invite were Polish. Just as the tantruming tots and hollering hooligans reached a deafening pitch a siren sounded announcing "Will Anja's party please come to the party door?" It sounded very ominous. We were ushered upstairs and there was a huge horseshoe shaped table laid out with all the fried food a tot could dream of. The Baby was very close to meltdown and if it wasn't for that platter of lukewarm fries I doubt he would have stayed, quietly, in his seat.

The Baby was pretty shocked at the numbing vanilla ice-cream, but he came back for seconds only to go through the whole spectrum of emotions again. They were getting restless again - one of the tots shut his finger in the door, another was having a full on paddy as she wanted ketchup on her ice-cream and the birthday girl took a swat at the Baby. So he threw himself, rather dramatically, onto the floor. 

We were saved by the bell and they announced, "Anja's party back in the pool pond." Oh no! I'd had enough of chasing the Baby down rainbow slides and bumped heads and so we made our excuses and left with his first ever party bag and helium balloon. We were just out of the car park when I spotted this in my rear view mirror...

Clearly someone had had too much fun and he now has a bruise and a battered slice of birthday cake to show for it! 
Till next time hey...?

Memories of Christmas Day 2014

I thought that whilst they were still fresh in my mind I would jot down some Christmas Day memories:

• The Baby was so besotted with his play kitchen from granny and grandad that he was not interested in opening any of his other presents - including his stocking. Then he discovered some random other toys that granny had acquired for his visit and he was too busy playing with those to open any presents. We really should not have worried...well to be fair we didn't really! Just a stocking with some fun bits and some mega blocks.

• Do you see the candy striped pressies balanced on top of his kitchen? When granny gave it to him to open he took it back to the top of the kitchen. He's not usually so neat and tidy!

• Mara gave dad a Beach Boys dvd (we're all big fans in our house - memories of summer road trips in France and dad making the car dance as we listened to the Beach Boy's cassette) and we all found their geeky appearance and 'dad' dancing hilarious. One of them was really going for it with moves from river dance one minute and twerking the next! We then introduced my dad to the fact you can find Beach Boys songs on youtube and we all had a sing along to some of the classics like 'Then I kissed her.' I've always been a fan of a song with a narrative.

• Whilst we were browsing youtube we also played some guess the intro quizzes (where I beat everyone hands down) and some general knowledge quizzes.

• The Baby kept tricking us by faking being tired and as a result he ended up being put down with a bottle FOUR times before he finally napped at 4 p.m! (His usual time is about midday!) Too much excitement and fun and second hand toys to play with clearly.

• Mara and The Belgian were in the kitchen for most of the morning prepping the Christmas dinner. It meant we missed out on The Belgian's pancake breakfast and had to make do with Lindor truffles and chocolate bunnies. The Baby ate one of the truffles in a unique way by biting through the wrapper. But then chocolate for breakfast is a standard on Christmas day surely?

•  Auntie Mara had brought The Baby a story book written in French and I read it in my best French accent (hamming it up as usual) and also gave my best rendition of the Queen's speech to mock mom's love of the royals.

• Christmas dinner was served, uncharacteristically, at the early time of midday and most of us weren't dressed yet and so we don't have any family shots around the table as it wouldn't have been a pretty sight. The cracker jokes were as cheesy as usual and only some of our family got into the spirit and wore the party hats. The Baby enjoyed playing with his turkey dinner but I woudldn't day he consummed much of it.

• The girls won the first film choice with Serendipity. Mum had requested it, but she was asleep after the first scene (as per usual!)

• Boys won with the next choice and we ended up watching the controversial episode of Top Gear. Very festive!

• We usually go on a Christmas day walk to burn off the stodgy and indulgent dinner, but this was a very lazy Christmas day and The Baby's awkward napping 'routine' meant that we missed the limited day light.

Musings on Motherhood: My baby is a year and a half!

And the worst part is he is not a baby anymore. Perhaps I will have to rename my blog, but then surely he will always be my baby?

So what do I want to remember about him for the last few months?

I want to remember how sociable you are and how everywhere we go you charm everyone. You really do attract attention and will sometimes just toddle up to complete strangers and touch their knee and beam up at them. Very endearing and they can't help but smile back. You are very tactile. The childminder says you play really nicely with the other children she minds and are particularly chummy with Caleb, who is a month younger than you, she said babies your age don't usually play together but you two definitely do. In fact she said you both love her play kitchen and she spends the whole day restocking all of the plastic pots, pans and food as you both love throwing it everywhere, or transporting as she kindly calls it!

I want to remember your new words like 'buh bye' 'hiya' (a firm favourite accompanied by a wave) 'what's day' 'oh wow' 'uh-oh' 'dada' 'nana' and 'baby.' You first said 'wow' when daddy proudly showed you his carved out pumpkin glowing in the dark. You are saying around 12 words at the moment. You have also taken to pointing when you wants things, like your bottle or a toy, but it's sometimes difficult to work out what you want and this is why it can be a frustrating age and can end in tantrums. Luckily your tantrums just involve throwing yourself on the floor and are not accompanied by screams...yet.

I want to remember your boundless energy and how you fly from the sofa to the chair and climb right up onto our laps. Or how you climb all over us - not always welcomed when we are trying to chill out. You climb up the stairs no problem and have even managed to go back down them on your tummy - although we don't encourage this!

I want to remember how coordinated you are and how well you negotiate levels, steps and obstacles in your path. It is often commented on by others how advanced your physical development is. Your childminder is always commented on your strength, stamina and balance. You love doing the toddler squat as you play with all your toys.

I want to remember how you're finally interested in books and love to sit on the floor surrounded by all your board books and turn the pages. You have a lot of texture books and so you tend to swipe the surface of every page just in case. Your favourite bedtime book is 'Patch of Black' and you often want it read to you again again...perhaps you are just delaying bedtime! Recently you have enjoyed reading about Peppa Pigs Christmas and also Fancy Dress Christmas where each of the animals is dressed up and you have to turn the flaps - you love doing this over and over again and I often don't get to finish the page as your so keen to flip it over.

I want to remember your love of sausages, pasta and anything sweet. More often than not your food is thrown in the floor when you've had a few bites, but the few times you get chocolate buttons or sweeties not one is wasted. In fact you tend to shove them all in five at a time and keep cramming more in. (We're working on your table manners.) You always preferred finger foods and I even make your porridge chunky so you can eat it with hands, however in the last few weeks you've been asking us to load up your fork and enjoyed feeding yourself. It takes twice as long and our dinner gets cold but hey ho! In Belgium you loved the frites and waffles and are showing your affinity to the culture through your sweet tooth! You love attacking the mound of whipped cream on top of the waffle too.

I want to remember how happy you are and how happy you make other people. Your smile is infectious and it lights up your whole face. You've started playing a lot more games with us and enjoy peek-a-boo, wrestling with daddy, feeding us your dinner and giving us kisses (only when you feel like it!)

Your favourite toys are definitely your cars and anything with wheels. Your building up quite a collection - especially after Christmas. You make 'brmm brmm' noises and run your cars along the carpet or up the sofas. You love opening the doors and putting cargo in the back of your trucks. You also like the brio set grandad glued onto a piece of wood and painted like grass. You most enjoy sitting on it as you play with it. You enjoy watching In the Night Garden, Peppa Pig and Baby Jake but recently have liked anything on the big screen! 

Being your mamma is exhausting and relentless, especially since your still not the best sleeper in the world and are a little bit too obsessed with your bottle for an eighteen month old. However there is never a dull moment and you enrich our lives so much.

(NB: These photos were taken between September - December 2014) 

Difference between men and women...

So tonight I had parents evening (yeah I know on my day off!) and so the Belgian was in charge of dinner, bath and bed time all on his own. 

I arrived back at 8:30 and can you imagine what I found?

The top picture shows the bath which had toys everywhere and was still full of bubbles. 

The Babies' clothes were strewn across the floor along with a just stepped out of wet nappy.

Dinner dishes were strewn across the kitchen along with a half eaten pizza.

Toys littered the floor in a car, block and duplicate explosion.

 The Belgian was no-where to be seen, but was finally found asleep in bed.

Who says that men can't multi task?

Cake smash step by step layout

So what is more shocking - that I have blogged every day in November so far or that I produced an actual scrapbook layout?

Bit of both I guess. But I had some time on my hands (umm...not really) and love, love, love this photo from the Baby's first birthday (which I still need to blog about actually!) of his cake smash. He really got involved. I love the pose and the wrinkled nose and the conviction of this shot.

He is his mother's son for sure.

I was also inspired by the gorgeous layers on this layout and so I cracked out a 12 by 12 pad and got building.

I started with this bright yellow polka dot print as it reminds me of the sunshine that day...

I built some layers with other papers and washi tape and a day of the week sticker.

I repeated the date stamp and the 'SO SWEET' stamp in alternate black ink and coloured ink.

I inked all of the edges to make it pop and built some more texture in with the wood veneers.

I added the photo with pop dots and built some more layer by cutting the sentiment out of a 12 by 12 sheet.

I added a banner and the number 1 in blue polka dot - both cut out from one of his birthday cards.

There you have it a layout created in about thirty minutes and I might be reverting back. Or switching it up a bit more. After all you can't create such impressive layers in Project Life can you?