Sunday Update

I'm still here and well :)

We've started to get a sort of routine together now. Megan can still be quite unpredictable with feeds and everything but we are getting there. Slowly but surely.

On Monday I took down all of our Christmas decorations to try and get some of our normality back.

I have taken soo many photo's of this little one! I cannot help it she is just far too adorable :)

Alice is still enjoying being a big sister, long may it last! This is her tickling Megan, although I understand it doesn't look that way I promise that is what she is doing!

For Christmas Alice got a play kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa and it has been extremely well used!

Grandma has been over pretty much everyday and Alice has loved every minute of it! They made this big tower of Lego blocks that was taller than Alice. She was very impressed with it :)

Megan at 10 days old became too big for her newborn baby-grows, she couldn't stretch her legs out properly, poor baby!  Needless to say I've now put her in 0-3 month clothing which are now HUGE on her!

She is just too cute not to put another picture up of her! Megan is one chilled out baby and looks especially peaceful when sleeping!

And lastly, in my tidying up yesterday I found this necklace I got from Alice, or shall I say her Nanna, for Christmas. I am extremely proud to be able to wear it! I absolutely LOVE being a Mummy and my girls could not make me any happier :)

Hope you've all had a brilliant first week of 2013!

Claire
xx

Christmas Food Shop

Today was the day we did our Christmas food shop! Now, I have never properly been on a Christmas food shop but as we are having everyone round here for Christmas my Mum and I have been organising what we are going to have and need to get etc.

We spoke first thing this morning, and she really wasn't keen on going. We both knew that we wanted to go either today or tomorrow as we felt that Sainsbury's would have been a bit hectic if we decided to put it off any later! Eventually we decided it would be a good idea to go today and get it all over and done with.

First thing we did when we got to Sainsbury's, to prepare ourselves of course, also Alice and I hadn't had breakfast, was go to our favourite place! Starbucks of course. I'm going to tell you now I had my camera with me but didn't take any photos, I don't think anyone really wants to relive a Christmas shop through photos if I'm honest haha!

We managed just under an hour in Starbucks before we decided that we should go and tackle it! The thought of it had filled me with dread as we both knew it wasn't going to be easy whilst we had a 2 year old with us as well!

In total we spent a good hour going around the shop picking up everything we needed, including a Disney Princess magazine and some Smarties Cookies to keep Alice happy!

I cannot tell you just how exhausted I felt after all of that! I was extremely out of breath, I do forget just how heavily pregnant I am! I'm a lot smaller than I was when I was carrying Alice so for me to stop and go "take it easy you are 38 weeks pregnant" doesn't really happen a lot!

Once we got back to our house, my Mum helped us unload the bags from the car and then she was off again on her many errands. I swear she is like Super Woman some days. I really just don't know how she does it all!

I wasn't going to allow myself to rest as we had plenty of things that needed to go in the freezer so my first port of call was to unpack all of the shopping so that I didn't have to worry about it at a later point. I managed it a lot quicker than I expected! It felt good to have it all out of the way. I honestly don't think I have ever had a freezer as jam packed as I do right now!

I also now have my baking things all sorted now. I am cheating I must admit! I'm using cake mixes rather than making it all by scratch but I really don't think I want to be making cakes from scratch on Christmas Eve with everything else that will be going on!

Once I had everything put away it was time to relax, well as much as I can with a 2 year old about the house! We were putting on her jewellery from her Disney Princess magazine and looking at bits from a Cinderella gift bag that we got. It was going to be saved for Christmas but unfortunately Mummy wasn't too bright whilst hiding it in the trolley and she ended up sticking out and being quite noticeable!!

But once she started to get tired she relaxed a little.

Whilst Alice was having her nap my friend Sam came over and we just sat and chatted for ages about all sorts. The time went past and the next thing I knew it was 4:15pm and little miss was still sleeping! I feel horrible when I have to wake her up from her nap but it was getting close to dinner time and I really didn't fancy having an extremely late night after last night!

As soon as she came downstairs and saw Sam, well she calls him Uncle Sam, that was it! He was dragged off to play and all sorts. I came into the kitchen at one point to find there were stickers on the kitchen counter!

He is extremely good and plays anything she wants. She can so easily wrap people around her finger it's quite funny!

Anyway I think it's time I headed off to bed. Hope you all have/ had a good day :)

Claire
xx

A Day Late

Well, for the first time in 15 days I didn't make a post. I had every intention of doing so but I started to feel incredibly ill so I gave it a miss and decided I would be better off just getting an early night instead. I have woken up this morning feeling sooo much better so I thought I'd update now whilst Alice is watching Finding Nemo.

We both weren't feeling particularly wonderful yesterday morning so we had a rather relaxed morning. My Mum text me whilst Alice was down for a nap and asked me whether we'd like to go round to hers in the afternoon. I said yes straight away as I know Alice would love to see her Grandma and since we've been ill we haven't really gone out of the house so it would be a chance to just get out!

Once Alice woke up from her nap I phoned my Mum quickly just to let her know and then I went to go and get her. I told her that Grandma was going to come over and take us to her house, as soon as she got out of her cot she danced around saying "Yipee!" [if you hadn't noticed Alice is very much a Grandma's girl!]

My Mum got to ours not much longer after Alice had woken up, she was already out in Waitrose getting food so she was just going to come and pick us up after she'd finished in there. When we got there my Mum remembered that she had bought Alice a princess advent calendar a while back so that she could have one at her house. Every time we've been over we keep forgetting to open it and we finally remembered and opened it up for her. The film around it took some getting off. We normally got told to get some scissors if we resorted to using our teeth to open things as we were growing up so this is just a picture reminder to my Mum ;)

Alice had 16 days to catch up on and she did it quite happily, just a side note, the chocolates inside were extremely tiny!

Later on Alice had noticed the angel at the top of my Mum's Christmas tree and insisted that she wanted to have a look at her. My Mum told me that I had actually picked out that angel for our tree years ago. Alice thought she was very pretty and gave her cuddles and danced around with her. It was incredibly cute to watch :)

We ended up staying at my Mum's for a roast dinner before coming home again. I didn't really take too many pictures but I do have one of Mac. So I shall leave you with a picture of Mac sleeping before I update again. Hope you are feeling healthier than myself!

Claire
xx

A Day Spent At Grandma's, With A Hint Of Santa

Alice was very snuffly today and so the cold has started. I'm hoping that she will manage to get rid of it before Christmas is here!

Anyway, today we spent a quiet morning at home before my Mum came over to drop off lots of Alice's old baby things in preparation for little Megan to make her appearance. She appeared just as Alice was settling to go down for a nap but I knew it wouldn't last once Alice had seen her beloved Grandma was here ;)

We went into town to get some bits and pieces and then we went back to Grandma's and spent the rest of the day there. As per usual Alice got in and got straight into making herself at home! She especially likes Grandma's chair and she loves to pretend to sleep in it!

My Mum also has 4 cats at hers and ever since Alice was a baby Mac has taken a shine to her and Alice has fallen in love with him too! It's not hard to tell that he is her favourite. As time has gone on Alice has been able to give Mac lots and lots more affection and he is extremely tolerable of it all. She tries to pick him up and give him cuddles, half the time it does look like she is strangling him! But at the end of the day they still love each other and watching their friendship is just far too adorable :)

 My Mum wanted to do some work on her laptop whilst we were there, so she sat in the kitchen at the table to do so. Alice likes to be with her as much as possible so she decided that she would sit at the table too to eat her cake.

It doesn't take long before she decides what she really wants to do is play on Grandma's laptop instead of sitting across from her!

Whilst in town we bought Alice a magazine. One of her favourite things about these magazines is the stickers which she loves to stick wherever she can. Today she decided Grandma's couch was the best place for them!

We haven't seen Uncle Hugh in a while so it was nice to see him today and as soon as he got in from work he had a little follower. He knows just how to put a smile on this little one's face and she knows that he likes Spiderman. As soon as she saw him she started singing, shouting ;), the Spiderman theme tune and he just turns straight into a big kid and gets stuck in with her. She really couldn't ask for a better Uncle! They just make each other smile so easily :)

We had a visit from Santa this evening, before we got home from my Mum's, and we thought maybe Alice might like to see him. Unsurprisingly she wasn't very keen on him, he was very sweet and understood so he kept his distance. He did give us a friendly wave from afar. Maybe next year she might warm up to him :)

Claire
xx

I Love A Latte

This morning Alice allowed me to have a lie in as she didn't wake up until 8:45, I normally get woken up at 6am. After looking at the time I panicked as her Daddy was supposed to be coming to pick her up at 9 so I text him asking if he didn't mind picking her up from about 9:30 - 10 as I needed time to get Alice ready to go and pack her bag! Luckily he didn't mind at all, so we played a little before I got her all dressed and ready.

During our play she was telling me that Cinderella and Snow White were both sad because they missed each other. So I told her that maybe they should have a cuddle, next thing I know I see this. This was the closest she could get them to cuddle, but whilst they were cuddling she decided to start playing with something else.

 

Not long after I finally got Alice dressed and bag packed her Daddy turned up to take her to play for a few hours. I had decided that I would do some organising and wrapping of presents whilst she was away. That didn't happen. I ended up watching the Food Network and doing a few bits on my laptop. Not very productive of me I must admit!

Next thing I know I'm finding myself quite fancying a Costa Praline and Cream Latte, also knowing that I could get a free one with my Costa card points made it even more tempting and next thing I know I am getting my coat and shoes on before heading out the door! Just before I left I had remembered that the Christmas fair was on in town. This unfortunately meant that there was no way I was going to be able to sit in Costa to have my coffee, especially around lunch time. I was still adamant that I was going to have my coffee so I decided I would just have to get it to take away.

After getting into town I couldn't resist popping into my work to say hello to whomever happened to be working. My friend Rachele was working so I talked to her for a little bit before she had to go to the till as the shop was rather busy. I ended up having a browse through the Christmas books, as I always want to see if there is anything I might like to get for Alice. I just knew I would end up walking out of the shop with something! Note to any book lovers, it is absolutely fatal when you work in a book shop. The book I found was Christmas Decorations to Cut, Fold & Stick it was just too adorable to not get!

I had to leave soon after I bought that as I didn't want to end up buying much more. Whilst in town my friend Sam text me asking if I was up to much and next thing I know he's meeting me in town and coming along to get a Costa. Unfortunately it was only a brief meet up as I needed to go home to be back in time for Alice coming home. 

The Christmas fair wasn't very festive in my opinion and it seems to me that it just ends up being like a French market but with added rides and some Christmas music being played in the background.

But my Praline and Cream Latte made it all worth while ;)

Once I got to the front door of the house next thing I do is look up to see Craig arriving back with Alice. I then had to try and get the door open so that she could actually come inside, I'm still not really used to the lock on the front door but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon enough.

We were home for about an hour before my Mum came over to pick us up as I needed to go back to the flat to hand over the keys to the Landlord. We popped in to say hello to my Grandparents first and it is so lovely to see both of their faces light up as soon as they see Alice. It is very hard not to love this daughter of mine and she brings smiles to so many peoples faces it is so lovely to see.

Once we got to my Mum's it wasn't long before my Dad made an appearance to see his granddaughter. Lots of tickles and lots of laughter was coming from the both of them.

My Dad then took me to the flat so I could hand over the keys to the Landlord. She was very impressed with how well we had cleaned the flat and that was that. I no longer have any access to the flat. It is all over and now we can get on with enjoying our house. 

Alice and I ended up spending the evening at my parents house, which happens quite a lot when we go there. My Mum ended up showing me a few things on Photoshop Elements and I managed to get some of my December Daily pages done. Once they are printed out I shall do a post on them. But for now all I can say is that I am doing them and you will see them as soon as I manage to get them onto pages rather than on my laptop :)

Claire

xx

Back to Blonde

This morning my Mum came over at about 9am and took Alice and I to Starbucks to have breakfast, I think Alice enjoys coming to Starbucks just as much as we do. She particularly enjoys having the Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffin as well as one of their big chocolate coins. I personally also enjoy their Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins and I had one of their Peppermint Mocha's, decaf and with whipped cream, obviously ;) Alice hadn't seen her Grandma since Tuesday and absolutely loved seeing her today. Whenever we see Grandma, Mummy becomes second best naturally. They love being in each others company and you can just tell they get up to such mischief, probably more so when I'm not around.

Our local Starbucks is attached to a Sainsbury's, for those of you who don't know what Sainsbury's is, it is a grocery store. So once we were done with breakfast we went to do a bit of shopping. I've found it's best to keep Alice involved in picking out our shopping so that she doesn't get bored. She absolutely loves picking out the fruit for me.

She managed to wrap Grandma around her little fingers, which isn't hard for her, and got her to buy a big Lindt chocolate teddy bear for her. It had to be bought as we were going around Alice managed to figure out the foil comes off quite easily and she started munching on it whilst we were going around.

Our next stop of the day was to go to our hairdresser, Mary's, house so that I could get my hair done. I am a natural blonde but as I got older my hair just got darker and darker. Earlier this year, after Craig and I split up, I decided to make a change and dye it a light blonde colour. My roots have been coming through quite badly and my hair was what I can only describe as 2-toned. As you can see in the photos below the top half is brown and the bottom is blonde!

So our trip to Mary's was to rectify that. Whilst we were in Starbucks we got a text from Mary asking if we could get to hers for 10 instead of 10:45, so we agreed and got there at 10, with another client of hers. She had meant to tell us 10:30 but never mind, she has 2 young children and said that Alice could go and play with their toys. Alice spotted a princess dress-up dress and that was it, she wanted to put it on. I have to say she is the cutest princess I have ever seen, although I may be slightly biased on that judgement!

Next thing I know Mary's finished with her other client and it is my turn. So I went to go and get my T-Bar, so I've been told it's called, done whilst Alice and Grandma carried on playing.

Once we were finished with all the foils I went to go and check on Alice, we had noticed things had gone a bit quiet near the end. This is what we found.

A very knackered out little girl, bless her!

And then we washed out the dye and.....

TA DAH!!!! I am back to blonde again. I must say this isn't a great photo of myself but it'll do to show off my newly blonde locks!

We went and dropped by my Grandparents house to drop off some bits my Mum got them from Sainsbury's and to say a quick hello as Alice and I hadn't seen them since Alice's 2nd birthday. My Grandpa had the physio over so we didn't stay for long but I think they enjoyed seeing Alice even if it was just briefly :)

The rest of the afternoon/evening we spent at my Mum's house. It's like Alice's second home so it's nice that we can just go there and relax like we would at our own home.

And that is another day over with! Hope you all have had a lovely day :)

Claire
xx