New PJ's

I bought Ellis some new pyjamas ages ago and I decided to use them for the first time on Wednesday night. Rob and I think he looks so grown up!





We had a photo session a couple of days ago, just because, and I managed to capture a couple of nice ones.













Ellis took a liking to his toy box this morning and I just about got a picture of him, before he got out saying he wanted to look at the photo.









Rob is home this afternoon which will be nice. Not sure what we are doing this weekend as we have nothing currently planned. I wouldn't mind going on a train ride somewhere.

Ellis has been sleeping much better in his new room now. He has been doing 12 hours at night and is back into his routine of doing a 2 hour nap in the morning. It's heaven! I get a bit of free time to clear up, sort washing, do some blogging and just generally potter about and catch up. I do find that I don't want to start anything that can't be easily finished, like the ironing, as I'm never sure that he will actually sleep for the 2 hours. Bad excuse I know, but it does/will get done eventually.

We went swimming yesterday afternoon, as we haven't been in a couple of weeks, and it was brilliant. Ellis spent loads of time floating about and his confidence has really grown. It was so nice to watch but I have to be careful that he doesn't float too far away. I had to wear a bikini as I just couldn't fit into my costume. I thought I would feel a bit exposed, but it didn't bother me and I was proud to show off my bump to anyone who wanted a peek.

Twinkling Stars this afternoon which should be fun.

Ellis is waking up now so must go and make lunch before I get him. Makes it so much easier!

Midwife

Rob was home yesterday as I had a midwife appointment and so he came to sing and sign with us.

There wasn't that many people there but I think he enjoyed it. Ellis was rather tired so had his thumb in his mouth the entire time and just stood in front of the teacher.

When Dollop arrives, Rob will be taking Ellis to some of his groups so that I can spend some time at home with the new baby.

We then went to the Mall for some lunch and a spot of shopping. I bought some new t-shirts and I changed into one in the toilets. When I came out, Ellis pointed and said "t-shirt". I had to ask Rob if he even noticed.

We then went home for a cup of tea and a relax before we put Ellis on his bike and walked down to the clinic.



We had the midwife appointment and listened to the heartbeat again which was great. Ellis didn't like me lying on the table at first so Rob had to hold him.

We then walked home via the park.



Ellis was very tired and grumpy for the rest of the evening so it was quite nice to put him into bed.

Travel Videos Part 2

Here are some more travel videos, in no particular order.


Bad weather in New Zealand


More bad weather on North Island of New Zealand


BATS! Australia


Camel Ride, Australia


Out for a Chinese


Feeding the elephants


Typical hostel in Airlie Beach, Australia


Ice caves in Franz Joseph, New Zealand


Koala cuddle


Lamb feeding


Corn maze!


Minus 5


Rob performs


Rafting in Argentina (2nd raft)


Sandslide


Screw loose


Zzzzzzzz


Special place


No room!


A very long walk

Part 3 of the videos will arrive once I get the chance to go through them and reduce them all. Hope you enjoyed.

Bus

Ellis here! It's been a while since I've been allowed to write a blog entry.

I've been recovering well from the chickenpox. I don't think any have scarred yet but I am still quite itchy in places. My red eye is also getting better which is great.

I've been a bit naughty with my sleeping recently. I have been sleeping well at night but I haven't wanted to go down for my nap. There are just too many other things I would rather be doing.

Uncle Dave came over on Wednesday to help Mummy with moving some heavy things as her belly is so big now that she can't do it on her own.

He stayed for ages and we got to play around for a bit.



Uncle Dave even ended up baby sitting as Daddy didn't get home until late and Mummy went out to her line dancing class.

Today I did something new. Mummy, Daddy and I went on a bus into town. It was so much fun and I loved it. I really wanted to press the little button but Mummy and Daddy kept telling me no, saying that the bus would stop if I touched it.



We stopped for some lunch and did a bit of shopping. We bought a teddy, called Rolo, for my baby brother. I hope he likes it.





I'm really excited about being a big brother to my baby brother. Mummy and I talk to him through her belly button all the time and I give him nice kisses, and I even felt him move a few days ago, very cool.

We got the bus back to the car and then we went to visit Lucy, Craig, Shauna and Ashlee before going home which was really nice as we haven't seen them for nearly a month.

I think tomorrow I am being moved into my new room. It is much bigger than the room I am in now and it has toys and things to do in it. It wont be long before I will be in a big boy's bed which will be even more exciting.

Coughs, Colds and Chickenpox

Poor little Ellis has had Chickenpox since Thursday last week. They started on his bum and then just spread everywhere! Ears, mouth, back, belly, nappy area, head, eyes, legs, foot, under his arms, face, but not his arms.

Along with the spots comes a bit of a cold and he has had a chesty cough for a couple of weeks now. I think I may have picked it up a bit too as can't seem to stop coughing myself.







He has been in a bit of pain with the spots on his bum and the ones on his head and face have been really itching him. We gave him Piriton and put calamine lotion on some of them which seems to have helped a little bit.

Obviously we have been stuck in the house and not able to attend the last Twinkling Stars session. This week is half term so we haven't actually missed out on that much.

On the weekend I caught Ellis sat by Daddy on the sofa and took a couple of pictures.





Ellis and I have been quite bored so we spent some time looking back at some old videos and pictures. I can't believe how tiny Ellis used to be and how much he has changed in just 18 months!









I tried to tell him that it was Ellis but he just kept saying "baby!"


In hospital still





We also had a quick look through some travel videos. I showed him one with a helicopter in and he loved it. We watched it a few times. Here are a few of my favourite videos from the first part of our travels.






Camel in San Diego Zoo


Grand Canyon


Hotel Waldorf Astoria - NY


Kingda Ka - Seven Flags Park - New Jersey


Line Dancing in Nashville


Ooops! - Guatemala border


Tarzan swing in Costa Rica rain forest


Top of volcano in Guatemala


My all time favourite video!

Mummy afternoon this week was cancelled due to Ellis and Anna both having Chickenpox. This didn't stop Sally and I getting together, so this afternoon, Ellis and Anna had fun playing and we even stripped them off to compare spots. I have to admit that Anna has a lot more spots than Ellis and I hope she starts to get better soon. In a strange way, it has been nice to experience this with someone else. Sally and I have talked a lot over the last few days about symptoms and what is going on etc. It makes you feel like your not going through it alone.


They look so grown up!

We have planned to go out on Friday to Costco and Ellis should be well on his way to recovery by then. I am hoping that his red eye will be better tomorrow, if not I may have to phone the doctors to see what they suggest.

Ellis has been rather bored at times and I have been trying to entertain him with different things. I have now opened his easel which he uses the chalks on and we have also been playing with pegs in the kitchen! He does look after himself sometimes and likes to have a good dance. Unfortunately he heard me click the camera on and stopped.



Nanny came over this morning and provided a small amount of entertainment as she vacuumed the house for us. Thanks Mum, your wicked. x



It was then business as usual in the evening except that Ellis was still chatting, counting to 3 and cheering himself, playing music, thumping, and calling for Nanny, Sally and Anna until about 8:30pm.

Yet More Snow!

I could not believe what was happening outside as I got out of bed this morning. I could hear cars struggling to get up the road and when I looked out the en-suite window, Sally was trying to make her way to work! I told her she was crazy and to drive carefully. 10 minutes or so later, she rang the doorbell after having abandoned her car near the end of the road. At least she tried.



After breakfast, I set Ellis up with his colours, which he really enjoyed.



I then did some more videos of the snow.







Ellis woke up at 4:15am for about an hour, and I think it was the heating's fault. So I turned it off, got myself a drink and went to the toilet for the 3rd time! What a horrible night's sleep. This also meant that Ellis eventually went back to sleep and thought this was his nap time. I waited until after lunch to put him down again and he slept for 1 hour 30 minutes.

While Ellis was asleep, I did a few things but I also felt I was missing out on playing in the snow. So don't ask me why but I did this.





Twinkling Stars was cancelled today due to the weather so Ellis was getting rather bored at home. That was until Sally, Anna and Nick turned up to keep us company. They bought cakes too!

The kids played and the adults had a chat until they went home. They were just pulling away in the car when Rob arrived.

After a quick cup of tea we all got wrapped up and went for a play outside. I had a small snowball fight with Rob which was great fun but for the most part we just walked around.







We had a bit more playtime in the warm before it was time to bath Ellis. The two cheeky monkeys seemed to have a lovely time together, and Ellis spent some time drawing on Daddy's face. I cleared up and had a nice shower.







After Ellis was in bed, Rob and I assumed the positions that we normally do. Rob on his laptop on the sofa and me on the computer blogging or watching rubbish.

I have done so much blogging over the last couple of days, 3 different websites in fact, that I definitely need a break. Don't worry if you don't hear from us for a while. I am sure we are fine and having loads of fun.

18 Months Old

For breakfast yesterday, I thought it would be nice to have something different so we had pancakes. Well at least I thought we would have pancakes. I polished mine off no problem. Ellis on the other hand wasn't that keen.

I just rolled some fruit up in it and then put some strawberry yogurt on top.





I tried just giving him little bits at a time but he spat them out. So I thought I would just mix it all together. Doesn't look all that appetising now.



Ellis didn't want it so I tried to show him the individual ingredients so that he could get an idea of what I was trying to feed him.



That didn't work either and he just spat the food out and pointed at the berries on the table! I eventually gave up and gave him 2 bits of Weetabix. I also gave him some warm milk which he loves at night time but didn't want it in the day, and certainly not in a cup!

"Ah well"

Woke up this morning feeling like I wanted to stay in bed. That was until I looked outside!



I let Ellis have a play with some snow and then we got wrapped up and went outside for the first time.





We had such a brilliant time. I took loads of photos, here are just a few, and a couple of videos.













We even built a snowman together. Ellis loved it!

















The snow was quite deep in places and Ellis dragged his feet rather than picked them up so he spent a lot of time falling over. He didn't mind and it was fun to watch and film.







It wasn't that cold and when we went in the house, I checked Ellis' hands and they were toasty.

Ellis was worn out and asked to go for a sleep. I put him up for his nap and he had an hour and a half. I did the first part of this blog entry.

After lunch I decided we should go swimming. It took me ages to get everything ready but the roads were clear and we arrived on time.

We had a lovely time in the pool but getting out was a different story. It was really cold and Ellis stood by me shivering and laughing. It was really cute, but I got him dried and dressed as quickly as possible.

We then went to my Mum's for dinner. We arrived early as again the roads were quite clear and spent lots of time playing around.

As the title would suggest, Ellis turned 18 months old today. I had him weighed yesterday and he is 2st 1lb (13.2kg). Will try and do his height tomorrow. The health visitor said he was a big boy but a healthy size.



While at Mum's I tried very hard to get some good pictures of Ellis. As you can see the results are varied and I have posted some bad ones too to show how many I have to take.

Bad photos.























Okay photos.













Photos I like.











I was getting so frustrated that Mum gave me a hand at one point.













It was all good fun.

We left a little later than normal and when we got home we checked on our snowman. He had melted a bit and fallen over! Ellis kept saying "oh oh!"

Quick bath and bed for little one and then I did this mammoth blog entry!