Moving Day

Yesterday we decided it was time to move Ollie out of our room and in with Harry. This was not a spur of the moment decision; I have been discussing it with Luke, weighing up the pros and cons, and grilling every mum that I know who has children sharing a room for the last six weeks. I am really nervous about the whole process as if it does all go wrong, Ollie would have to come back in with us again as we do not have a spare room, which would be fine for now but a problem longer term. I also knew there was a good chance Harry would not be too keen on the change as last week I foolishly asked him if he would like Ollie to sleep in his room, to which he responded with a very strong 'NO, Harry room!'.

We eventually decided it was going to happen and that I should take Harry out for the afternoon while Luke did all the hard work of moving the cot beds in to position. After tea we took both boys up stairs for their bath and to show Harry the new sleep arrangements, we stood there in the doorway waiting for a reaction, he just looked that the two cots and said 'Ollie sleep there' laughed and ran off to the bathroom. This was a huge relief and so stage 1 was over and went well. After bath time we read stories as usual, the boys had warm milk and then we put them both to bed, slightly staggered, Ollie first then Harry, and to our surprise everything seemed to go well. Downstairs we sat petrified, nervous and practically in silence as we intently listening to the baby monitor, we were waiting for the inevitable but there was nothing, just silence as they both fell soundly to sleep. I spent the whole evening clutching the monitor, worrying and feeling strangely sad that my baby was to be no longer sleeping next to me.

I am however pleased to say that all went well and they slept through until 7.15 this morning without any issues.

Tonight seems to be following the same pattern and all I can hear is silence, but I am still sat here with the monitor right next to me. I am sure there will be lots of ups and downs but hopefully we have started a smooth transition, fingers crossed.

Our Christmas Day

This year we had Christmas day with all my family at my parent’s house and it was brilliant, their house was decorated beautifully and the food and wine just kept on coming.

We must have all been very good boys and girls as we have been very spoilt, the boys loved all their toys, Harry favourites have been the brio train set and road mat, Ollie got the cutest knitted dinosaur, I was very lucky and got a new lap top and Luke a tiny camcorder.

Even though Harry loved his presents, I think the best part of his day was eating huge amounts of chocolate cake!

(I have enabled the comments field below as a bit of a trial so please feel free to leave a comment on any of my postings)

The BIG 30!

I had been dreading this birthday for some time for the fact that I would be saying goodbye to my twenties. But thanks to my wonderful husband, gorgeous boys (who were very well behaved when we went out for lunch) and my lovely friends (who surprised me with Champneys vouchers and a pretty pink cake tonight) it has been a fantastic day. Thank you  xx


So all that is left to say is

‘Merry Christmas to all and to all Good night!’

(Luke read The night before Christmas to Harry tonight just like my Dad did every Christmas Eve to my brothers and me)

Today was my unofficial Birthday

Today I celebrated my birthday with my family and it was great! My actual birthday is not untill Christmas Eve but that is a bit of a strange day to have a birthday as everyone is preparing for Christmas, so I get to have two birthdays each year. We spent most of the day playing in the snow, but did stop for tea, cake and presents. Thank you for a lovely day x

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Today it snowed!! Not a huge amount, just a little dusting, but it was enough for Harry to play in. He loved driving his trucks around the patio table leaving tiny tyre imprints.

Afterwards in the warm we decorated our gingerbread house, I think he ate as much icing as he put on the house. It was a real christmassy afternoon.

(Although we have been doing lots christmassy things and talking about christmas all week, when Harry got up from his lunchtime nap he came downstairs, looked over at the christmas tree and said 'hello, Happy Birthday tree?!!' He really makes me laugh!)

7 days to go!

Christmas Kisses

10 Days to go!

So glad it's Friday

This week has been the kind of week that would test even the most patient mummy. Harry has been somewhat testing to say the least with his current favourite words being 'I want it' and 'NO!'. So we have had more quiet time at home as the thought of toddler groups or visiting friends are not very appealing when you have to bring the little menace with you. However, to make the best of a bad situation I have been keeping him calm and entertained with some christmas craft activities, making cards, gift tags and decorations. Salt dough hearts to hang on the tree have been the best so far and it is so cheap to make you can make loads and loads of little shapes and will keep you busy all afternoon.

We found that 2 cups plain flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup cold water resulted in the best mixture. Create your shapes then put them on baking paper in a very hot oven or microwave until they harden, if you use the oven place a sheet of silver foil over the top and this will help them harden but not bake too brown.

Given Harrys current 'frame of mind' I dont think I will be using my precious decorations on the tree, instead it will probably be just fairylights and lots and lots of salt dough shapes.

14 days to go!

The Little Leaf

My vintage Esme earrings

Just want to let you know that I have decided to sell a few of  the little things that I have been creating recently. I have been busy making earrings and other bits of jewellery mainly using vintage Japanese celluloid flowers.

You can visit my flickr site to see some of the things I have been making:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelittleleaf/

I am currently in the process of setting up a shop on Etsy but if you are interested in any of these iteams please email me thelittleleaf@yahoo.com.

Hope you like my creations x

Little Donkey

(Harry is  wearing a grey outfit and a crown with a donkey face drawn on it)

We had a lovely Christmassy afternoon at Harry's nursery nativity today were he played the important role of the donkey. It was all very chaotic with children dressed as farm animals running about throwing the hay from the manger at each other, a little sheep that danced around the stage for the entire nativity and a couple of crying cows but it was all very sweet. Especially when they sang twinkle, twinkle little star complete with all the actions, something Harry had been showing us for the last couple of weeks. After that it all become abit too much for Harry and he started to cry for his muzzy so I had to make a quick entrance on to the stage and he watched the rest from my lap at the back of the hall. It was the perfect start to December.

 Plus our neighbour has put up their Christmas lights which look fantastic and include a big flashing sign that counts down the days till Christmas ... 24 days to go!