Plodding

Sorry for the lack of blog updates but I have been going out in the evenings a bit recently and watching Celebrity Big Brother has really taken up a lot of my time. I haven't even watched a CSI episode since before Christmas!

We have been plodding along really, doing the usual groups and meeting up with friends and family.

Leo is progressing really well. On Saturday Rob and I watched him go from his belly to sitting up. It was so good to see. He does it all the time now.

Leo is also teething really badly at the moment. I think the next 2 on the bottom are on their way. He has been in pain with it and has woken up a few times in the night. I have given him Calpol twice which seems to help a bit.

We ventured out at the weekend to the park a couple of times and the shops. We also walked to a local pub for Sunday lunch which was really nice.

When we were at the park it was so cold, I wrapped Leo up but then took some macro pictures of him as he slept.

Back at home the boys were messing around on the floor so I took a few pictures. You can see how Ellis likes to squash Leo.

My favourite picture of them both.

Recently I have been trying to get Ellis into a pre-school. He has a place with a local pre-school starting in September but I wanted to get him something sooner. We have looked at a couple of places and I thought they would all just look the same but they don't, they are all so different. I totally suggest looking around as it's much easier to get a feel from the place. I still haven't heard back from a couple of places but I will chase them all up and make a decision by the end of this week for sure.

That's about it. Lots of groups this week. Leo has a health visitor appointment on Tuesday and we have a house inspection on Wednesday.

8 Months Old

Leo was 8 months old today. He is moving around loads so taking pictures was rather tricky but I think I managed to capture a few good ones.











Ellis at 8 months.









Ellis wanted to get in on the photo shoot too.









Leo soon got fed up.



I always seem to capture a goofy picture and this is my favourite.



Ellis was particualy demanding today and didn't listen to a word I said all day. He was really good in Leo's sing and sign class but that was about it.

Mummy afternoon was at Charlotte and Faith's house which started off really well. Leo rolled around the floor for a bit and even tried to steal Honour's toy.



I put Leo up for a nap in Honour's bed and then tried to relax and have a chat. This was unfortunately cut short as Ellis and Faith accidentally ran into each other and bumped heads. They both had big eggs on their heads but we cheered them up with some chocolate.

Things then just seemed to escalate so I put Ellis in the car and woke Leo up to go home.

At home I sat Ellis down with some books so he could be calm before bed time.





I tried to get a couple more pictures of Leo but he just turned into a little lion instead.



I was pleased to put them in bed and settle down to my evening of watching rubbish on telly. Going to bed now, a little too late again.

New Stuff

We had a lovely family weekend. Saturday started off early for me and I had had a rough night with Leo so when Rob got up, I went back to bed for a well needed rest.

While I was sleeping, the boys made cookies which were yummy! They were vanilla with white chocolate chip and they tasted delicious.

Rob popped out in the afternoon to the car shop to pick up some light bulbs and Ellis went with him. He was so excited! It was really cute to see him running up and down and chatting about it non stop.

Then in the evening my Mum and Dad came over to baby sit so that Rob and I could go out with Lucy and Craig for a meal. Mum and Dad arrived as I was giving Leo his last feed and they got to see Ellis for a little bit before I tucked him up in bed.

We had a really, really good time. We picked Lucy and Craig up then went to the pub for our meal. We had to wait a while for our food and Lucy and I suddenly realised that we were actually rather tipsy. I was glad that I didn't have time to put on any make-up as it would have been running down my face as I was crying with laughter.

The food was really good too. I had warm chicken and bacon salad with ceasar dressing, followed by lamb shank and vegetables. I also had maple and walnut cheesecake to finish off.

We were all sooooo full up and feeling sick that we made a quick exit and headed home.

We were invited in for a cuppa but I didn't want to get back too late for Mum and Dad, seeing as it was the first time they have baby sat in the evening.

Sunday morning I had a lie in which is always a great way to start the day. I got up at 9:30am to feed Leo and put him down for his nap. He had slept from 7pm-7am but woke at 4am and I had to go into him twice. Still not too bad really.

Leo woke up without a sticky eye! That had happened on Saturday morning too but it got sticky during the day. But on Sunday it stayed clear all day! Rob and I just kept saying how nice it was ALL DAY! I so hope it's fixed now.

We had promised Ellis that we would take him to the park on Saturday but he had such a long nap that we couldn't take him so instead we went after lunch on Sunday.

Learning from our mistakes we put Ellis on his bike and pushed him down to the park and Leo was asleep in the buggy all wrapped up warm.

We haven't been to the park in months and I noticed such a huge difference in the way Ellis was. He ran better, climbed better and just looked huge in the small park. He loved it and had a great time.

Leo slept for a while but when he woke up, he had his first ever go in a swing. He wasn't sure of it to start with and I probably pushed him a little too fast, but he soon started to enjoy it and had a good look around too.

"Hmmm, not sure of this Mummy"

NOTICE THE CLEAR EYES!

We popped to the shops before going into Costa Coffee to warm up. Ellis had fun lounging on the huge sofas and Rob and I drank our buckets of tea.

At home Leo was showing off his new skills, well sort of. He can wave on command and even tries clapping. He can happily go from sitting to crawling and his commando style of crawling is really coming along and he zooms about all over the place.

Bath time was nice and relaxed and it wasn't long before Rob and I were downstairs messing around with computers.

Another busy week ahead. Looking forward to it but also feeling like I would rather be sat by a pool somewhere warm, sipping a cocktail reading my book.

Ellis Photography Take 2

While Rob had his back turned, Ellis grabbed the camera again today and this is what he took.

Not bad.

We had a lovely weekend and I will post about it tomorrow hopefully.

Ellis Photography

Ellis grabbed the camera today and I didn't mind him having a go. He actually didn't do too bad a job.

I hope he ends up loving taking pictures as much as me.

Spikey

I've left a big gap again and I'm not sure how that happened. Time just passes by so quickly.

Thank you for all the comments regarding the Swine Flu jab, I know what I'm going to do now - NOT!

Things have started to settle back down now, now that the weather has cleared up.

On Sunday Rob left early as he was working away on a course so my Mum came over and we went to the big shops to try and take some Christmas presents back. We had so much hassle! Credit notes instead of refunds and one shop said I was a day late with my receipt, but thankfully she did it anyway.

The boys were really well behaved and we stopped for a nice cuppa before doing a few more shops and going home.

Because we arrived home so late I did the quickest thing possible for the boys to eat and Mum helped me to get it down their necks in time for bed time.

Tuesday was a busy day. It was a rush to start as we had to get to Sing and Sign by 10am, which we managed to do. Unfortunately our normal teacher was away and the stand in teacher wasn't that good so we didn't enjoy it as much. Hopefully it will be back to normal next week.

Mummy afternoon was around Sally and Anna's house and as always we had lots of fun.

Wednesday morning was an even earlier start. We had to be at my Mum's for 9am for Ellis to get his hair cut. It just so happened that Leo woke really early so I fed him in my bed and then went back off to sleep. We all got up at 7:50am and had to have breakfast, do toilet duties, get ready and leave by 8:30am. I do not know how I did it, but I did. Leo wasn't dressed and I didn't eat or have a cuppa so that saved time.

He was a really good boy having his hair cut. He sat nicely on the stool and let Leanne do it properly. Ellis has very unique hair and it will never look right, we just have to make the best of it we can.

I took some pictures of the boys when we got home.

Wednesday afternoon is the boy's music classes. This week my Mum couldn't help out so I asked the teacher, Debs, if I could bring Ellis to Leo's class. She said it would be fine as a one off.

We arrived early and I was a bit worried about how he would be but he was an Angel. He sat nicely with Debs, singing and dancing, doing all the actions and just generally joining in but not getting in the way. Debs said she wouldn't have minded having a son, as long as he was like Ellis. What a sweet thing to say.

We met Daddy at Sainsbury's and after a quick tea and cake stop we did our food shopping.

Today started off really lazy. We watched telly, messed around, Ellis sat in Leo's high chair reading books, we played with the toys and had lunch.

After lunch we had a doctors appointment for Leo and once we had finished there we went straight to Nanny and Grandad Rennolds' house for dinner.

We had a really, really good time. Nanny cooked a delicious meal of lamb and vegetables which Ellis ate too and helped to bath Leo and Grandad and Ellis just spent so much time playing trains, drawing and messing around with a remote control car.

I had taken Leo's dinner with me and he ate it all plus more! I couldn't believe how much he ate. While I was cleaning him up I got his hair wet and spiked it up. It looked super cool!

Ellis was sad to go home and told me all the way home about all the things he had been doing with Grandad and that he can do some more drawing when he goes back, as Grandad said so.

Leo fell asleep in the car but was quite happy to be put in his bed. Ellis was as good as ever and I haven't heard a peep all night and it is 23:26pm!!! Way past my bed time so I'm off.