New Year, New Teeth!

I am totally gutted. Ellis fell and hit his mouth on the sink in the downstairs toilet. He has chipped at least 2 teeth. He didn't cry that much and after a quick cuddle and some kisses from Mummy and Daddy, he was away.

I on the other hand, cried and cried and cried. I felt sick and was really upset all day.

He did dribble a lot to start with and said that there was something in his mouth, and he rubbed his tongue on his broken teeth a bit but by the end of the day he was acting normal again.

While brushing his teeth this evening he complained that it was hurting him so I think a trip to the dentist is in order. Will call and sort an appointment soon.

I'm hoping the Peppa Pig episode of going to the dentist will help me to get him to open his mouth and show off his "new" teeth.

All future smiley pictures of Ellis will now show jagged teeth. :o(

Happy new year everyone! xxx

Leo Weaning

Weaning Leo onto solid food commenced at the end of November. He didn't take to it too well and then at Christmas he was ill and it pretty much stopped altogether.

Since he has been feeling a bit better he seems more open to the idea.

Last night he had fingers of toast and yogurt for the first time. He did really well and I was pleasantly surprised.

From Saturday he will be on the second stage of weaning according to the book I follow. He can have meat and eggs and can start to have food with more lumps in it to start him chewing. I have a couple of recipes that I would like to try and I think Ellis can have them too which will be good. I'll let you know how I get on.

Sing Song

Ellis received a microphone for Christmas from Nanny and Grandad. On the day, we didn't have any batteries but Mum and Dad brought some over for us. So here is the newest X Factor contestant, and I don't mean Ellis.

My Mum and Dad came over for an evening as I thought we rushed out a bit on Boxing Day because the boys were awake. This time they were in bed so we could sit relaxed.

We had a bit of food and drink and then we played Trivial Pursuit. I love playing it now as at least I can answer some of the questions. Mum and I were playing against Rob and Dad. The boys won as it was getting too late to continue so whoever got the next wedge won, and it was them. Hopefully we can do another evening soon.

The rest of the Christmas break has been pretty boring. Mostly we have just been chilling in the house which has made Ellis a bit stir crazy at times. Can't wait to get back to the groups and stuff, but I like Rob being home. Hopefully the new year will bring some changes. Would love to move house now, Ellis should go to pre-school soon and hopefully Rob can get a job closer to home. You never know, we might even add to the family, by getting a pet of course ;o)

Christmas Time

Christmas has been brilliant! We asked Leo what he thought of it.



We were all ill though which wasn't great but we kept going.

The morning started around 7:30am and I dragged Rob out of bed to come into Ellis' room to see what he thought of his Santa sack at the end of his bed. He was quite surprised and rushed off to our bed to start opening it.



Normally Rob would go and make a cup of tea and we would wait for him but he didn't bother and Leo was still asleep so Ellis just got started.



Soon Leo woke up to join us and I unwrapped his stocking while he sat there chewing on his new toothbrush. He really wasn't that bothered.



This was what was in Ellis' stocking.



This is Leo's stocking and under the tree gifts.



We quickly moved downstairs and Rob set up the video recorder to catch Ellis' response but as I thought he didn't see the presents and just went straight for the camera on the tripod. I was going to post the video but it was just too boring.

We continued to open presents in a rather calm and quiet manner which was actually really nice. Here is a collection of pictures and videos.













Mid morning, Nanny and Grandad Rennolds came over with more presents for everyone. We had a lovely time just chatting and seeing what we had got each other.





Nanny and Grandad had to leave to go for their Christmas lunch and Rob was then busy in the kitchen sorting out ours. We both originally thought that I would be cooking the food and Rob had written out a list of times for all the food to go in and out of the oven for me. But he ended up doing the whole thing!



Our first Christmas dinner at home as a family of 4.









All the excitement finally got to Ellis just before we had dessert. He decided to throw a sprout at me! We quickly cleaned him up and put him down for a nap. We didn't hear a peep!

After the meal I thought we would tidy up, play on the Wii for a bit and just chill out until Rob's parents arrived. I was wrong. Rob was sleepy so decided to go to bed. That left me and Leo.

We played and I opened some of his presents with him.





It wasn't long before he went for his nap too and I was left on my own on Christmas day!

I watched The Incredibles for a bit before nagging Rob to get up with me.

Half an hour later, Nanny and Grandad George and Uncle Dave arrived.

More presents were opened and we had some more food before bathing the boys.



For Christmas, Leo had received a special bath mat from Nanny and Grandad Rennolds. It's a mat with a seat in it and it worked really well.



Once the boys were in bed the adults sat and played Trivial Pursuit until quite late.

Boxing day was an early start as the boys woke up at 6am! Originally we were going to go for a walk with my family but it was too cold and we were all too ill so thought it would be good to see Rob's parents in the morning and then see my family in the afternoon, so that's what we did.

We arrived a little later than planned due to delays out of our hands, i.e. Leo napping too long and then having to change a nappy at the last minute etc.

There was yet more present opening and spending time together.













Leo got to watch the fish before we all sat down for some food.



Leo seemed to be doing really well with his eating on Boxing day and I think it was because he was feeling a little better.



Rob's parents have pictures on the wall of Rob and Uncle Dave when they were little so I took some pictures of them. I think Leo looks a bit like Rob as a baby but then Ellis looks more like him as a toddler.





Leo fell asleep on my lap and I thought he looked cute so asked Rob to take some pictures.







We then went to some local shops to buy Uncle Dave's Christmas present (long story) before going to my parents house.

It was hectic as soon as we arrived. Mum was very busy getting food ready for everyone as they hadn't eaten yet.

Leo had a sleep in the travel cot and Ellis slept in the car for an hour. Once awake it was time for more presents!



People then just picked at the food and sat around chatting.

Dinner and bath time for the boys was busy. Kamron and Chloe both needed to bath too. Kamron was first then Ellis and Leo. Rob gave me a hand and we had loads of fun messing around.







I finally manged to get Leo settled in the travel cot and Ellis just played around and watched TV while we had a nice game of cards. It was very relaxing. Unfortunately when Chloe was told she had to go home she wasn't very happy and screamed a bit. Leo then woke crying and I tried to get him to settle but he wouldn't so I ended up bringing him downstairs. I don't think he knew what was going on and just stared at everyone.

It was getting late and Leo was up and Ellis was still watching TV! I couldn't believe he stayed awake but he did the same last Christmas, so we said goodbye and went home.

Leo was a pain to get back to sleep but Ellis went straight off. He didn't even fall asleep in the car on the way home!

I had a bad night with Leo so woke up shattered the following day. We didn't do anything apart from hang around the house.

Leo was 7 months old on Boxing day so I took the usual pictures.







Here is Ellis at 7 months.









It's so amazing watching the boys grow up but it does make me broody for a baby again. I would love another one but not sure I can go through it all again. The pregnancy is hard for me even though I love it, and then no good sleep for 6 months + can be a killer! I don't know, time will tell I suppose.

Christmas was good. Not amazing as we were all ill but I enjoyed it very much. The lunch Rob cooked was delicious and it was nice just being at home for a change. Not sure what we are going to do next year but that is a long way off. Leo will be running around and chatting by then, scary thought.

I've been trying to do this blog for days but with all the videos to do, it has taken ages!

Will try and do another one soon.

Christmas Build Up

I have to try and keep the writing brief as I need to shower and get to bed but wanted to do a blog entry before Christmas day as that is going to take up so much time when I do.

We have had a bit of snow recently and I haven't been out in it as the kids haven't been well. Leo is still quite bad but I'm hoping tomorrow he wakes up improved. Anyway, on Tuesday, Ellis just got it in his head that he wanted to put his boots on and go out in the garden. How could I refuse! He had been cooped up in the house for days so I wrapped him up and out we went.








One, two, three...


GO!







As you can see we had so much fun. I watched the videos with him the following day and he laughed so hard! I tried to video us laughing but second time around it wasn't as funny but still quite good.



I've been feeling rather ill too but just getting on with it as best I can. Leo is still waking up rather regularly in the night so I was feeling very tired yesterday so after Rob had a long lie in, I swapped with him and Ellis came with me! He has never, ever slept in our bed so it was quite a novelty and I loved it.





Christmas Eve has been good, busy, but good. Leo is still sicky bad but Ellis has been doing much better. Still has a very runny nose but seems in good spirits.



The day started off with Ellis receiving a letter from Santa.





Then in preparation for tomorrow Ellis cooked some cookies with Daddy for Santa.





We then popped out to see Auntie Lucy, Uncle Craig, Shauna and Ashlee. The kids played while we drank one beer some tea and ate loads of biscuits.

We stayed for quite a while but had to get home to finish off getting ready.

Rob went to the shops and I went home to give the boys their dinner.

Ellis put out some milk, a carrot and one of his cookies for Santa but was getting rather upset about letting go of the carrot. He was very tired so after brushing his teeth, a couple of stories he went to bed.





Rob and I then worked really hard getting everything ready. I put the gifts under the tree and got the stockings ready.







Then we did the vegetables and wrote a plan for the timings of it all.

Rob did some more wrapping and we tidied and cleaned up ready for the morning. I took some pictures and tried to do this blog quickly but didn't realise how many videos I had to post, which takes ages!





From the 4 of us, to all of you, MERRY CHRISTMAS!