The end of another era

Dearest Sophia,

This morning when I came to get you up (at 7.15am - you actually slept in, and I loved it, thank you!) I went in the bathroom first and then I was going to come in to get you, but as I left the bathroom you walked out of your bedroom and gave me the biggest grin in the world.
Yes, for the first time in your life you'd climbed out of the cot by yourself.

And as I type Daddy is busy taking the side off your cot to change it from a cot to a toddler bed. Whatever happened to my little baby girl? Oh life with is a constant "wenture" as you would say (adventure!). And I love it :D

Love Mummy

She reminds me of me

Last night Sophia was reluctant to go to sleep. She went to bed at 7pm, but was still wide awake at 9pm. I went in at that point to re-settle here and to change her nappy - she'd called out for us, which we heard over the monitor, saying that she was wet.

I took her out of the cot and we had a cuddle. I changed her nappy and we had a chat about mummy milk and the baby, and all sorts of other randomness, and then I finally persuaded her to get back into the cot. I lay her down and her teddy bears too, but she said "no!" and sat herself back up, and sat the bears up too, next to her. She arranged the duvet carefully over them all, and proceeded to serve them "coffee and biscuits". In the end I had to leave her sitting up and hope that she'd eventually lay down and fall asleep. I think it was about half 9 when things finally went quiet over the monitor (and that was also about the same time I went to bed too!)

The whole episode reminded me of something I did when I was little. We had two big boxes under the bed, one had dressing up clothes and the other stuffed toys - bears, dolls etc. One night I decided, for reasons known only to myself, that the toys all deserved to be in bed too, why should I get to sleep with a comfy duvet and they all had to sleep in a box? I carefully took them all out and arranged them all round the edge of the bed. They took up so much space that I didn't fit anymore, and I ended up going to sleep in the toy box!

big sister to be

My little Sophie Lou is changing so fast. Last week saw the end of "So-see", which was her version of her name Sophie. She started saying Sophie, and that was that, the end of the So-see era. It's funny, but it made me a little bit sad, she's growing up so fast.

Since her birthday she's become so much chattier. She's speaking in sentences some of the time and thinking really hard about what she says. She doesn't always get the tense right, but then who does?! She's got taller too. Every time I look at her it seems she's grown again.

She's very excited about the arrival of Little Bean. She knows that she's going to be a sister! And that the baby's in mummy's belly. She knows Little Bean will drink mummy milk. She knows the name we've chosen for Little Bean, and has been known to drop it into her general chatter and conversation. Luckily, it's only Menard and I who know what that name is, and we're the only ones who have actually noticed her saying it!

The other day I asked her if she was her dolly's mummy. She said, "No, Sophie sister!".
My word, will her world change when little bean comes home, but I think on the whole she's going to love it. Just as long as she still gets plenty of snuggles and cuddles, and there won't be a problem with that, I'm happy to get my snuggles with her while she still wants to have them.

Goals revisited

Well, we're getting down to the final few weeks now. I have either 3 weeks 2 days or 4 weeks 4 days to my due date (depending on which one you take!). Of course, little bean will most likely ignore them both, and come in his own sweet time, but still, it's good to have some rough markers to aim for!

Time to look at the goals I set myself at the end of September and see how we're getting on...

Christmas
Write Christmas presents list (who we're buying for)
Buy Christmas presents (probably lots on amazon using my swagbucks money. Yay!)
Wrap and label presents and leave in an appropriate place that they won't get forgotten about!
Ok, so, most of the presents are bought. (Oi, Steve, hurry up and think of some things for your Christmas list, otherwise I'll have to come up with something myself, and you don't want my pregnancy-addled brain to be doing that! And there are some which will be photo based (Quick plug for our business - EM Photographic Services) that will be taken once little bean is here.

Clothes
Wash and sort the clothes we've recently been given
Get out the clothes we already have and wash and sort them
Decide on the system for storing clothes etc in this house
Sort through Sophia's clothes and weed out what's too small. Put away/give away. Check she's got adequate winter clothing for the time being.
Look at my clothes and check I've got adequate for being pregnant as the weather gets colder. Buy some long trousers and more underwear! Including new nursing bras.
Well I've washed one load of new baby clothes, and the ones from my mum's loft are in the basket, waiting to be done next. Still not certain on the system for storing them, but I have some ideas.
I've been through Sophia's clothes and put some away to store and some to be given away. Think she's got enough clothes for the time being now.
I found a pair of trousers in my wardrobe, so that'll help me survive the cold weather.
I've got some new knickers that come up over the bump and don't drive me mad! Nursing bras will be purchased in the next week or two.


House General
Autumn deep clean to have an approximate level of clean to start off before the baby arrives!
Eat up current contents and defrost both freezers.
Buy/cook to fill up freezers with useful things.
Think the cleaning thing will be ongoing. I'll add to that cleaning the car inside and out.

I defrosted one of the freezers, still want to do the other one.

Need to cook and shop once the freezer is defrosted.


Parent's House

Go up in the loft (or send my daddy!) to locate all the baby stuff we stashed up there - including changing unit, moses basket, sling, play mats....

My parents went up and found the 0-3 month storage box of clothes, the rest is yet to come down. Actually, they also took down the cradle/moses basket we slept in when we were little, but this needs a clean and some surface repairs as well as a new mattress.

BuyNew
breastpump

Breastfeeding pillow

Projector (Sophia's had a sad demise this week)

Bought a pillow, putting the pump purchase on hold for now. Making do with the nightlight on the baby monitor for now, though we do plan to get a new projector at some point.

Sophia's birthday
This came and went, and the cake was made (see a couple of posts back for pictures). All that had to be done was done. And I wasn't too exhausted afterwards.

Other
Anything else I think of!

Uh, lots of other things, I'm sure, but nothing that's springing to mind this second. I'll post this and follow up with a new to-do post soon.

quick update

Life lately has been one big yawn. Not that it's been boring, but that it's been tiring. I'm reaching the end of the pregnancy now (about 6 weeks or so to go now) and I'm feeling it. Pregnant life with Miss 2 year old is more tiring than being pregnant with her! We're surviving by taking naps together when we can, and with the help of my in laws and my parents too.

I'm planning to be back soon, but if I'm not, don't worry. We're doing ok :)

Maka Pakka cake! (and little bean bump!)

Fridge

Yesterday Sophia discovered the lolly moulds for making lollies at home with squash or juice. Of course she recognised what they were and was asking for us to make some lollies. So she and Nana made some squash and put the lollies together and put them in the freezer.

Fast forward to this morning. I had to leave Sophia downstairs for a couple of minutes cos little bean had been bouncing on my bladder... when I came back down I started doing a few things in the kitchen, making our lunch for a picnic with some friends. I looked in the freezer for something and noticed that the lollies were missing. I thought well maybe Menard's eaten them, although how he could get through six in one evening, and where he'd put the left over moulds was confusing. So I called upstairs to him and he claimed no responsibility.

Sophia heard me talking about lollies and said "lollies!". She went over to her toy 'little tykes' kitchen and opened the cupboard she calls the fridge. Lo and behold, there were the lollies. She'd taken them out of the freezer and put them in her fridge!

Time for an ad break...

A little plug for our business

Starting to count down

Ok, this is gonna be one of those list type posts that may interest you, or you may just want to pass by, but here it is all the same.

Things I want to do/buy/think about before Little Bean arrives...

Christmas
Write Christmas presents list (who we're buying for)
Buy Christmas presents (probably lots on amazon using my swagbucks money. Yay!)
Wrap and label presents and leave in an appropriate place that they won't get forgotten about!


Clothes
Wash and sort the clothes we've recently been given (I figure that with a toddler as well, there will be even more clothes to wash, so having more certainly wouldn't hurt, given I recall there were emergencies when we had to dry things double quick for Sophia to wear again)

Get out the clothes we already have and wash and sort them

Decide on the system for storing clothes etc in this house (last time around we had a lot of the clothes on the changing unit, given we have a climbing toddler, I'm not sure how well that will work this time around!)

Sort through Sophia's clothes and weed out what's too small. Put away/give away. Check she's got adequate winter clothing for the time being.

Look at my clothes and check I've got adequate for being pregnant as the weather gets colder. Buy some long trousers and more underwear! Including new nursing bras.


House
General Autumn deep clean to have an approximate level of clean to start off before the baby arrives!

Eat up current contents and defrost both freezers.

Buy/cook to fill up freezers with useful things


Parent's House
Go up in the loft (or send my daddy!) to locate all the baby stuff we stashed up there - including changing unit, moses basket, sling, play mats....


Buy
New breastpump
Breastfeeding pillow
Projector (Sophia's had a sad demise this week)


Sophia's birthday

Design cake

Make cake

Buy other food

Buy birthday present

Have party

Collapse in big heap!

Other

Anything else I think of!

Pitiful Potato Crop

I dug up my second crop of potatoes and got a pitiful amount! (So pitiful, in fact, that it didn't seem worth taking a photo unless I added some more of our homegrown carrots to the scene!)

I think the problem was that although I had banked them up, I'd left it too long to get round to doing that, and the potatoes were all only in that initial amount of soil. It's a good job both my parents and in laws have grown potatoes this year, so there are bound to be a few more coming our way!

Quick catch up

Today is one of those chill out sorts of days. I'm hoping for a nap this afternoon, although of course that requires Sophia taking one too! (or me taking her round to see Nan and Grandad)

Little bean's kicking away like anything at the moment. Think he's having a good day. We had to do the glucose tolerance test yesterday. Sophia stayed overnight with Nana and Grandad so that I didn't have to worry about getting her up early and getting us both ready and me to the hospital for 8.30am. I quite enjoyed just sitting reading for two hours, although I'm not sure I'm want to do that everyday! I'm seeing the midwife on Thursday, so should get the results then.

I had a telling off from Sophia this morning! I had put my feet up or her chair. She came over and pushed them off and then put on her sternest face, wiggled her finger at me and said "Leave it!". That's me told then.

Homegrown carrots

I put these ones in a stir-fry for dinner last night. They are a miniature type, but they've turned out pretty well, I think! There are more in the garden, I just pulled up what we needed

Saturday

I might have been in here more often this week, but for the fact that for 3 of the last 4 days Sophia and I have both napped for a couple of hours in the afternoon! Yep, I've decided, or maybe my body has, that it's got to that point of this pregnancy where naps are totally the way forward, especially while Sophia's still a willing participant in that plan.

So I think for the next week the plan will be as follows - by all means schedule to our hearts content for morning activities, but afternoons need to be sacred nap time! Well at least half the week anyway!

Things are moving along around here. Little bean's kicking like crazy, and oh yes, that's a bump for sure now! Sophia's getting so chatty now, although I don't always understand all the words she uses. And on that note I'm going to end this post cos she's come to try and help me type...!

"sing-sing"

Sophia's sat over the other side of the room, in her hands she has an open instruction manual she found in a box, and she's "sing-sing", or singing, as we would say.

"window, door, round and round, all day long.... sing sing, mummies, daddies, So-sees bounces, all day long"

I love listening to her singing, and hearing the oddments of all the different songs we sing together coming out again as she makes sense of them, and just enjoys the sound of her own voice!

productivity

Today's been pretty productive. I was inspired by 31 days to clean - Having a Martha house, the Mary way's September challenge to get started in my kitchen (although I actually haven't done the challenge of cleaning out my fridge and freezer, but I have done lots of other things. I know it's not yet September, so it's ok, but I figured best to start while I'm motivated!)

Anyway, I've made an approximation of this pumpkin and sweetcorn risotto recipe, which I'm sure I've linked to before. Only this batch had butternut squash and carrot, and chickpeas instead of sweetcorn, and Red Leicester cheese instead of mozzarella. I've also assembled a potato and leek 'thing' (technical term there) which in a while will have warm milk poured over it, and be popped into the oven along with pork chops for dinner.

I did a mammoth batch of washing up, cut up and froze some apples and rhubarb from my in laws, picked up and tidied up the ground floor of the house, and also done various things online. Seems pretty productive to me :) Oh, and a second load of washing is in the machine too. Now I feel about ready to collapse in a heap. I reckon that'd be allowed though, don't you think?

Pies all over the place

I made chicken pie this week too. Super simple, just a crust on top, not a base as well, like the fruit one had.

Inside I made a packet up powder chicken soup up with half the amount of liquid suggested in the instructions (that way you get a lovely thick sauce).

Meanwhile I sauteed some leeks and cut up some leftover roast chicken into small pieces. I mixed the chicken and leek into the soup sauce and heated through (my chicken was frozen).

I poured the mixture into my pie dish and popped the crust on top, cooked in a hot oven (about gas mark 7/22oC/??F!) for about 18 minutes. (I know that's precise, I'd have left it for twenty, but Soph had a melt down and needed some attention, so I took the pie out then, rather than leaving it in and letting it burn!)

Next up, once I've bought some sausagemeat, is sausage pie! Also, I have photos of the apple and blackberry pie somewhere on the computer, so I'll share them once I've found them!

I venture into making pie

I've never made pie by myself before. Probably partly to do with the fact that my dad is a celiac and has to have a gluten-free diet, hence eating pastry doesn't necessary come at the top of the priority list, even though we did made a lot of other stuff from scratch including cakes, bread and biscuits for him.

Anyway, I know other people make pies all the time, and I read a post on 'The Path to Frugality' which spurred me on to deciding it was time to conquer pies.

So today, I made pie. It was apple and blackberry. I think that ideally I would have had more pastry, as what I did have turned out a bit thin. I also have a feeling that filling will be a bit runny. And I'm not convinced that I cooked it quite long enough. But I made pie! All I have to do now is summon up the courage to cut into it and eat some!

I may say that too much...

I think we say "aren't you lucky to have a biscuit/juice (rather than water)/a treat?" to Sophia quite a lot, I've realised.

The other day when we were packing up to come home from holiday she found the box of food with a packet of crackers sticking up. She pointed to them and asked for "biscuit?". When I told her no she added "lucky?"!

Holiday fun

We've had a lovely week in Aberystwyth, Mid Wales. Obviously it's been difficult hearing about events back home, but I think we've managed to relax and enjoy ourselves. The weather hasn't been great, but who says that a walk on the beach in high winds isn't as fun as going on the beach in the boiling hot sun?!

Sophia's discovered the enjoyment of ice creams and of throwing pebbles into the sea, not to mention picking up stones and pebbles to take home with her (we've tried to limit her, and I reckon the majority of the stones won't make it back to London!). She's also done a lot of walking, given that she's only 22 months. The only problem sometimes is convincing her she needs to have her hand held, or let us at least hold on to the reins. One of her favourite words has got to be "naughty", which she uses to express her dislike of us doing something like holding onto her reins!

Photos to follow once we're home.

Oops I did it again

Guess what I've gone and done, guys?!

We went and drove to the other end of the town we're staying in, to near the harbour, and were going to go down on the beach. I got out of the drivers seat and walked towards the boot (trunk) of the car, and somehow turned my ankle over and now I'm sat at home with ice on it, barely able to hobble to the loo and back when i need to go!

I'm hoping that ice and rest today will allow me to be able to drive tomorrow. We've got to drive about 3 hours tomorrow to my grandma's house where we're staying over to break the journey, as we did on the way here too. It's my left ankle, so i need that foot for the clutch to change gears! We've really got to leave here tomorrow and get to my grandma's, but if that does it in, we would have the option to stay on there another day or two if need be. Problem is it's only me and my mum who drive, and we have two cars, so we both have to drive! So please pray that i can get it to a position that it's possible for me to drive tomorrow.