Easter Party

Up very early this morning which wasn't great but I was in a good mood which made it easier. I laughed, danced and messed around with the boys even before we had breakfast. The 3 of us sat together eating today which was nice too.

Leo wasn't feeling too well and had woken up coughing so I gave him some medicine and he went down for his nap at about 8:45am. Ellis and I then got dressed and left the house just the 2 of us. Ellis was really happy about that and kept saying as we were driving down the road, "it's just me and Mummy", "we left Leo at home".

First stop was the post office. Ellis put the stamp on the envelope and posted the card in the box. Then he put the parcel on the scales and helped me to pay the lady. He loved it.

Then we stopped into Nanny and Grandad Rennolds' house to pick up some sandwiches and sausage rolls that they kindly let us have for our Easter party. It was just Grandad and Cousin Kamron. We didn't stay for long. Ellis played trains and sat watching a film with Grandad while I did some stuff on my Mum's computer.

As we arrived home Rob was just going to give Leo is first bottle of the day.

We had lunch and Ellis was first up for his nap. I always know when he is ready for bed if he starts crying saying “I don’t want to go to bed Mummy!”

Rob and I then spent some time getting Leo to practice his walking. Within about 5 minutes he had totally changed the way he walks. He used to do a running 2 step, falling walk and now he waddles side to side and is in so much more control. It’s so cute to see this little thing walking. It almost doesn’t seem right! Ellis didn’t walk until he was 14 months old so it is quite a difference between the two of them. Ellis on the other hand was already saying duck and cat. I will try and get a new video tomorrow.

The boys napped and I got some things ready for the party. I then had to wake them up and rushed around finishing getting ready so that we could leave. We arrived late but I don’t think we missed too much.

Pretty much immediately the kids sat down to decorate their little bags that Charlotte had bought for them. They got to decorate them with fabric pens, gems, stars, shapes and googly eyes. Ellis loved it!





Here is the finished result.





Once the bags were decorated it was time to let them out into the garden for the egg hunt. It was great as there were loads of eggs all over the garden and the kids were brilliant. There wasn't one argument and everyone ended up with a good stash of chocolate eggs. I thought it was wicked. Thank you Charlotte, Mark, Faith and Honour. xxx













When they had finished they all lined up so we could get a group picture. It wont be long before Leo, Honour, Alexander and Baby Taviner will be joining them. Gonna need a wider lens!



The party continued inside and we all ate loads of food, did a bit of dancing and playing with toys.





How grown up!











I fed Leo his dinner in Honour's high chair but it wasn't that successful as there was just too much going on around him. He made his usual mess though.

We then packed up and left. We arrived home around bath time but I let Ellis watch a bit of telly just so he was sat still for a few minutes. Leo had a wander too and then we eventually went up for a bath at 6:45pm.

Leo tried to fall asleep drinking his bottle but he couldn't as the milk continually flowed making him cough. When I used to feed him he would doze off and would be fine. Poor baby.

I spent the evening doing the blog on and off as Rob was trying to sort out the new wireless router.

Another party tomorrow so probably more blogging to do.

Leo 10 Months Old

I can't believe that 10 months have passed since I gave birth to Leo! I will never get tired of saying that, I gave birth! So amazing.

Here are the pictures from today.









This is Ellis at 10 months.







Today though marks the end of breast feeding for me. I have decided after a week of having my nipples bitten off, that it is enough. He isn't interested any more really and just fusses about. I've had enough of it. I'm sad about it as my target was 1 year like for Ellis. I'm happy that I've made the right decision though.

Leo is doing really well and has started to take his first few steps. He needs lots of practice but give it 2 weeks and I think he will be flying around. More money to be spent on shoes!

Leo is eating chunkier food now and doesn't seem to struggle too much. He does eat quite well although he isn't taking much milk at the moment. I need to refer to my weaning bible to see if I'm doing things okay or not.

He is still in size 4 nappies and will be for a while. His vest size is still 6-9 months and he is in some clothes sized 9-12 months. He is so much smaller than Ellis was.

For the last month or so the boys have been sleeping really well. Obviously there is the occasional night that they wake up or start the day at stupid o'clock, but generally they are in bed by 7pm and wake at 6:20am. That is very precise I know but that does seem to be the general time. Depending on how happy they are in their beds, I can sometimes leave them until nearly 7am.

Ellis is growing up fast. Some of the things he comes out with are hilarious! Unfortunately taking the pull ups off at night wasn't successful. He stayed dry for a few nights and had an accident. Then on Tuesday night he was crying and I didn't think anything of it but when I checked him at 12:40am he was soaked in pee! Not nice, poor thing. I cleaned him up and put him in my bed before I put the bedding in the washing machine. I then started putting him back in pull ups and he has been dry ever since. In fact this morning he called out at 6:03am to be exact, to say he needed the toilet. I'm not in any rush and I could do without the extra work.







Today we had a lovely visit from Sophie and her 2 babies Maggie and Ted. Ted is 2 months younger than Leo and Maggie is about 5 months younger than Ellis, so pretty close. I only managed to get pictures of Leo and Ted though. They are so cute together!







On Tuesday we had Mummy afternoon here and I got a few pictures of Ellis with his buddies. He had just got up from bed.









Tuesday is always a busy day. The boys are in and out of their car seats, and that is a lot of physical work for me. Leo is in and out of his seat usually 12 times if we have Mummy afternoon at our house. If it is somewhere else you can add another 4 times to that!

Thursday afternoon Dad came over to sit with the boys so that I could go to the hospital to get my finger checked. It still hasn't healed properly so I need to wear the splint for a bit longer. I have to continue the exercises and basically wait until 12 weeks have passed before I can use it as normal.

Got a busy weekend ahead with 2 parties! Need to get my camera batteries charged up.

Short Walk

Leo took a few steps yesterday! So exciting!

Long Walk

Saturday night I decided not to put Ellis in pull ups as he has been dry in the mornings for weeks now, so why not?

We did the usual routine of toilet, bath, toilet, dressed, story, bed. The only difference being on that night was that he drank some bath water. It didn't really occur to me at the time but when Rob went in to get Ellis on Sunday morning and he was saying "I've weed in my pants a moment" I realised that I had some cleaning up to do.

Rob showered Ellis and I stripped the bed and put the washing on. I then went back to bed and Rob had the boys for the first part of the morning shift.

Basically on the weekends, unless we are doing something, we take it in turns to have a lie in. This weekend was slightly different in that I got up early on Saturday morning but Rob took over by 9am, so technically he didn't have as much of a lie in as normal. So Sunday morning was supposed to be my lie in day but I swapped with him by 9:30am so he could go back to bed. The lie in system works quite well, although I wasn't very pleased on Mothers Day when after being up for only 2 hours with the boys, Rob asked to swap with me at 9:30am. Bit cheeky, but I'm sure he thought he had earned it by doing breakfast in bed, with cards and flowers for me.

Anyway, Rob wanted to get on with some work on Sunday so I had agreed to take the boys off out so that he wouldn't be disturbed. My original intention was take them back up the field as Ellis hadn't stopped talking about it, but instead my Mum phoned me and bullied me (in a good way) into meeting up with them for a walk.

I had an hour to get ready and Rob was still in bed. It was tough going, especially as Ellis didn't get to the toilet on time while I was feeding Leo, so he did a wee all over the floor! I had to clear that up, sort a packed lunch, get all 3 of us dressed, get the changing bag ready with a change of clothes and shoes and load it all up in the car and go.

We made it to the meeting point and set off with everyone. Everyone being Uncle Craig, Auntie Karen, Cousin Charley, Alex, Cousins Chloe and Kamron, Nanny and Grandad and the dogs Vinnie and Tyler.



We walked up through a church, past a field of horses, through a farm where I used to go riding as a little girl and stopped by a duck pond for a few pictures.




Enjoying the sun





We then crossed a bridge, a field, and up into some woods. Lots of walking in mud, water and through trees. Ellis seemed to spend most of the time with Uncle Craig, exploring and just generally having a little adventure. Dad had Leo so I was free to have a lovely walk.

















We then walked back the way we had came, stopping by the duck pond once more.









Back at the starting point we all sat down for a well earned drink and I fed the boys their packed lunch. Most of it ended up on the floor but they scoffed what was left.





The pub wasn't serving food as it was too busy so we all got in the cars and went to another pub near by. Mum wanted to come in the car with me but her boots were muddy, so I made her wear some bags over them. Deja vu for Charlotte ;o)



I knew the boys would fall asleep in the car journey so I bundled them up into the buggy and parked them up for a good snooze.





The food was yummy and mine was barely seen by anyone as I stuffed it into my face at 100 miles an hour. I think I'm pretty used to eating fast now as you generally don't get much time with two little boys to sit and have a relaxing meal.









There was a little park at the pub so when Ellis woke up he went for a play and I fed Leo before we bundled back in the car and started to head home.

It wasn't that late and I knew Rob would still be working so instead of going home I went back the pub where we started our walk and had another drink with my Mum, Dad and sister Kate.

Ellis really wanted to go up the field so after the pub we stopped off there too. Ellis had fun in the car, Leo was carried around with me, we saw the cats, chickens and horses and we watched Auntie Katie ride her horse Boy.











I was feeling very tired by the time we had to leave. I knew I still had to get home feed the boys then bath them and put them to bed. I tried my very best to just not think about it and to just do it, which I think I did rather well.

Phew, what a long day! As you can tell my finger is feeling better and I'm able to type more. I have a physio appointment on Thursday so hopefully they will say I can take the splint off now and just use it as normal.

Leo is coming along really well with his walking. He doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to master the skill but is up to 2 steps now. Yay Leo!

Today Ellis had school. On the way there he was crying saying he didn't want to go, wanted to go home and that school wasn't any good for him. When we arrived and he saw Ethan he was off! He didn't say goodbye and was quite happy to put his coat in the box.

At home I fed Leo then started loads of veggies cooking for cubing and freezing for Leo. He can't have it pureed any more so I have to use a potato masher and it isn't going very well. It's hard going. I did carrot, parsnip, leek, potato, butternut squash and sweet potato. Still have plenty more to do and I would like to do a couple of dishes too. If only I had the time and energy.

The boys slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon and I continued my cooking and clearing up after.

Then it was play time followed by dinner and bed again!

I'm done. I'm off to bed. I just hope they sleep through as both of them woke up last night, Leo twice!