cake, cress and cute

The blackberry cake went well - it was really tasty! There's still a tiny bit left but I may have to make another one with the remaining blackberries as Pete loves it! Maybe I'll try adapting the recipe to make some muffins!

Natalie's now at the stage where she can look at the pictures in storybooks, so Pete's been reading her a German book called 'Der Wakelzahn' (The Wibbly Wobbly Tooth). Did you know that the tooth fairy collects teeth to build her house with!

I decided to plant some seeds that my parents gave me - they're sprouting red cabbage, meant to be very good for you! They grow like cress, so I've popped some on my windowsill on some kitchen roll and we'll see what happens.

I've also planted some basil on the window sill (in a pot of course), as the shop bought basil always dies really quickly in our kitchen so I'm hoping I have better luck with the homegrown variety.

I'm feeling it's time for another Natalie photo montage. We did one when she was 2 weeks old (we like to call this 'the funny face of Natalie Grace'):

And here she is now at 17 weeks: The Very Smiley Face of Natalie Grace!

babies, blackberries and bandages...

So, got together with the other mums from church on Friday and we came up with a name for our toddler group - JellyTots! I've made a logo and we're good to go, just waiting to find the perfect venue for the group come September.

I found our first red tomato this weekend!

Plus, lots of strawberries have turned red too, yay!! Unfortunately something's been munching on the lettuce and pak choi though, and the neighbours cat keeps trying to use the raised bed as a toilet!

I'd been using the water bottle technique to deter the cat but I think they've gotten used to it - I'm going to try putting a net over the raised bed so the cats cant stand on it (well, not without getting their leg stuck!)

Pete's been working on the front garden to make it look less like a wild meadow - he cut the grass last week (took him about 2 hours because it was nearly a metre high!), and on Saturday he trimmed the hedge which desperately needed taming! Seeing the space look a bit neater I've been inspired to think of what we can do with it. It's a strange space, it's quite big but as it's out the front of the house we're not sure what to use it for. So, I'm going to start sketching some ideas...

On Sunday Mum and Dad came to stay so that they could look after Natalie on Monday while I went on my first aid course! The course was really interesting, but a little disturbing imagining having to perform first aid on your own baby! I'd say I feel more confident now though, so I'd recommend doing a course if you can - mine was free at the Children's Centre so its worth checking if your local centre runs one before paying to do one.

While I was out Mum and Dad took Natalie for a walk and found loads of blackberry bushes nearby so we all went for a walk later and picked a punnet - we got quite an impressive hoard! Now they're all washed and have been soaked in salt water to get rid of all the little caterpillars (yep, I thought it was a weird thing to do too but they did all float out of the berries!). Now I need to figure out what to do with them, it feels like the wrong time of year to make a pie - I found this recipe for a Blackberry & Apple Loaf so I may give that a go!

I gave Natalie some more tummy time today and she managed about 5 minutes - I feel like we're making progress!! Look how high she can hold her head up!! I'm so proud!

Creative in pyjamas

I spent most of yesterday in pyjamas because I was feeling exhausted from the few nights of disturbed sleep we've had courtesy of Natalie. The plan was to try and nap when Natalie did, but I couldn't quite manage that, so instead I browsed the internet for creative ideas and spotted these lovely quilts:

from oliverands

from jcasa

from onegirl

I want to make something similar that we can use as a play mat/ picnic blanket in the garden, but I think that project will have to wait until we've sold our car and we have a bit more of a disposable income again.

Anyway, whilst browsing the internet I felt inspired to create, so I got out my boxes of paper and fabric scraps and got crafting! I made some bookmarks inspired by ones I found on an italian blog:

and I started making some fruity pictures inspired by some I found on notonthehighstreet.com:

I also got a lovely belated wedding gift through the post from my kiwi friend Anita - it was a cute tile with a fern on it - Thanks Anita!!

This morning I decided to give tummy time another go - normally Natalie hates it but as the health visitor told me she should spend at least 20 minutes a day on her tummy I've been persevering and today I added a cushion into the mix, which actually made it more bearable for her - for 30 seconds at least!

Progress....

We've had progress in a few areas over the last couple of days...

We went swimming on Monday evening for the first time with Natalie! I wouldn't say she 'liked' it, but she didn't cry so we'll take that as a positive sign. We had to lower her in very gradually because she looked very unimpressed when we just went all the way in straight away, but after a while she got used to all the new noises and sensations. The swimming nappy seemed to work, although that may be because she waited until we were out of the pool and the nappy was off to do a wee...all over her towel! I managed to get in a few lengths too while Pete stayed with Natalie in the baby pool. We're going to try and go at least every fortnight in the hope that Natalie will eventually love it - it took my friend's baby 3 weeks before he smiled in the water, so watch this space.

We tried a new recipe: beef, courgette and potato pie - yum! It was really tasty and a great reward after it took Natalie nearly an hour to drink her bedtime bottle of milk (what's that about!!). It took about an hour in the oven so luckily we popped it in before we started the bedtime routine!

Natalie's first teeth are almost here and unconventionally it looks like it'll be her fangs that appear first! She's started waking up in the middle of the night again and I'm assuming that it's her teeth that are causing it - I hope they pop through soon so we can get a bit more sleep!

Double progress last night when I got stuck into weeding the garden and inadvertently got stuck into an hour long chat with our neighbours! I feel like I know them loads better now, and was able to lend them some cake tins and WD40!

Natalie finally fits into the dress her granny made for her the day she was born - YAY! I think she looks very cute in it too - the flower on the front is made from fabric from my bridesmaid dresses (2 year old fabric - that's practically vintage for Natalie!)

Swimming and massage - what a pampered baby I have!

On Saturday we had a failed attempt at Natalie's first swim - the pool was shut all day for a swimming gala! It was a bit of a shame because we'd psyched ourselves up for it, but we're going to try again tonight as soon as Pete gets home from work.

We had some friends over on Sunday afternoon to make cakes because we discovered a few weeks ago that some of the guys we know have never made a cake before!

Natalie woke up in the middle of the night last night which she hasn't done for a while (she's gotten very good at sleeping through), and it threw us off a bit - we can normally rely on her to be our alarm clock but she didn't wake up this morning until 8.35am, and neither did we - eek!! Pete had to grab some clothes and fly out the door to get to work on time, and we had to quickly get fed and dressed because we were going to baby massage at the local Children's Centre at 10am. Luckily we all made it to where we needed to go (almost) on time.

When we got to the Children's Centre we were a little bit worried to find out that the lady that runs the massage group was on holiday so it wasn't on, but someone checked for us and it turned out that even though the leader was away the mums who've been attending for a while were going to be doing it anyway and they were happy to teach us the moves! It was a great little group where we were instantly welcomed and Natalie seemed to love the foot and leg section of the massage. She didn't mind the tummy bits either, but when we got to the back she got a bit grizzly - she's still not great at holding her head up when she's lying on her tummy. So all in all I'd say that was a success and I'm planning on going every week. Next week there's a first aid course running that I've signed up for, I may try and find a babysitter for the two and a half hours I'll be out of the house but they said we could bring the babies if we cant get a sitter - could be tricky as I've never left her for that long while she's awake (and across a feed time).

Now I'm back at home I've noticed how much the garden's grown over the weekend! I need to get weeding the flowerbeds - I'd been leaving the little leaves that appeared because I thought they were more poppies growing, but now they look more like potatoes - whoops!

I also need to thin out the veggies a bit or we'll end up with miniature veg again like we did on our balcony garden in the flat we used to live in!

Busy day...

It's been a busy day today, but in a good way! This morning I had a couple of ladies over from church to talk about starting a toddler group now that we've actually got some children in the church. We went from having 2 kids to suddenly having about 12 in the space of 6 months! I was given the task of setting up and leading the group by our church leader, which will be a challenge seeing as I've never done anything like this before, but I'm excited about it. After the meeting today I feel really confident that we can do this well, I cant wait to get it started!

This afternoon I took my friend and her baby on a trip to Mothercare. I needed to get a swimming costume for Natalie because tomorrow we're planning on taking her for her first swim - YAY (hope she likes it!). For some reason they dont sell swimming costumes for babies as small as Natalie so I had to get a 'swimming nappy' instead, and she'll just have to be topless. Even the swimming nappy is pretty big on her, she's got such skinny legs - I hope she doesn't poo in the pool because that cozzie's not going to contain anything! I also spotted some sunglasses that we're reduced and couldn't resist buying them - safety first (plus they were really cute!). As soon as I put the glasses on her face she went completely expressionless - what a poser!

I also had a chance to plan our meals for next week - what a productive day I've had! I do this every Friday, based on what we have left in the fridge/ freezer/ cupboards - it's helped us cut down our grocery budget loads as we only need to buy a few things each week, and no food goes to waste. I like to throw in a couple of new recipes each week if I can to keep things interesting. I think I'll try and do the shopping tomorrow morning and leave Pete looking after Natalie - it's so much easier without the baby.

I finished sewing the vests today, I think they turned out pretty good!

Natalie seems to love them too!

We went to the cinema yesterday to see 'The Tree of Life' - what a weird film!! After two and a half hours neither me nor Lucy had a clue what the film was actually about! There were lots of scenes of suburban american life, interspersed with clips of stars and planets, volcanoes and dinosaurs stamping on each others heads - plus, there was hardly any dialogue which didn't help! Oh well, it got us out of the house and it was nice to see Lucy and Harry.

Tonight's dinner courtesy of the Sainsburys magazine! Looks yummy, I'll let you know how it turns out.