Walk in the Woods etc

Just thought I'd try to post a second blog before January is gone! Not sure I have anything to say really - but more photos than last time, anyway! :)

Here's Abigail wearing a skirt I crocheted for her! I made up the pattern as I went along, so not exactly perfect - but something fun & relaxing to do (instead of using the computer! lol)

Benjamin (making a funny face - or maybe just hiding from the camera's flash) and holding one of his favourite cuddly toys! Pooh, Tigger and a particular big teddy are all very special to him.

I seem to have a blank mind - can't think of anything interesting to say. Might be due to the fact of getting a combined 4.5 hours sleep last night! For one reason or other, it seems that both Abigail & Benjamin aren't sleeping so well just now! Sometimes it's dreams or needing the toilet for Abigail - and Benjamin either wants a drink from his cup, is just restless, or itchy with his eczema! Last night it was both of them - first Benjamin an hour after I went to sleep (tho he settled again quickly); then Abigail woke up an hour later - 3 times within the hour and I ended up sleeping in her bed for 3 hours, until Benjamin woke up at 5am, in a rather restless mood. He was awake until 6:45 (and so was I! especially as I had to make sure I kept him from scractching himself to pieces). I finally fell back asleep sometime after 7am....and about 30 minutes later Abigail woke up for the day...so that was the end of sleep for me. :-( Seems there's no such thing as extra sleep when I'm pregnant - if anything, it seems to be even less sleep! lol

Anyway, I was feeling tired and a bit breathless/wheezy with my asthma this morning, so decided we should go for a nice walk to get some exericse and fresh air. I think I end up feeling worse with breathing when I'm indoors for too much of the time (which I certainly have been for the past couple of weeks) - and fresh air (as long as it's not *too* cold) makes my lungs feel a lot better. So the rest of the photos are from our walk in the woods (about 5 miles away). I felt much better afterwards - apart from sore back now! :)

Abigail as we were beginning our walk

Benjamin, Peter, and Abigail

Our two lovely children - they were still full of energy at this point (but wanted to be carried part of the way back to the car!)

Me (with 31+ week bump), and Abigail & Benjamin (who was trying to escape from the photo)

Abigail & her daddy - sitting down to have a biscuit & juice before we headed back.

Wishing he could climb a big tree! (he said afterwards "Ben-ja-men climb tree big boy" - already planning what he's going to do when he gets bigger!)

Playing in the leaves & grass together

Well, better go cook some dinner before it gets too late. I think the children (and possibly me too?) could benefit from early baths & bed tonight. :)

A post of few photos...

Just thought I better post something here before I go a full month without blogging! Seems I have very few photos to post, so this might be an extra boring post. Sorry!

Here's Benjamin trying on a "sleeping bag" for the very first time (looking a bit shy, or maybe sleepy!) but cute too! :) He won't keep his duvet (or any blanket) over him at night, and since he wears thin cotton pyjamas because of eczema, he's been getting rather cold at night! So I thought I'd try him in 1tog sleeping bags (light weight because of his eczema) and I think they've been quite a success, as it means he stays covered all night long! Occasionally he says "don't like it" to the idea of being zipped up in a bag (lol) but I think the fact that the above bag is covered in red buses has helped a lot! :) His other sleeping bag is striped (with bright orange - a favourite colour of his) so both are quite popular with him, which is good.

We came down with a nasty vomitting bug the second week in January, which left us all feeling about 20% alive! From the symptoms we had, it seems it was the Norwalk Virus (aka norovirus). Benjamin got it first (around the 7th) and then I followed 2 days later, and Peter & Abigail got it later that day. Both of the children seemed to be rather more severely affected by it - being unwell for about a week. I went 2 days without any food & trying hard to just keep water down (which wasn't very easy for over 36 hours). But thankfully I started getting better just after I felt I was getting to a serious point with regard to dehydration, which can be dangerous when you're pregnant. The midwives would have wanted me to go to hospital for fluids, but I didn't see how that would be possible with Peter *and* both children being sick and in bed! So I was very thankful when I started to keep fluids down. It just left me feeling very weak and took about 4 days before I started to feel about 80% alive again! :)

Here's Abigail & Benjamin doing some cutting & pasting, while they were still feeling poorly with the virus. Abigail went quite a few days sleeping most of the time (and hardly eating anything), but would get up occasionally to do something until she felt exhausted again. They both enjoy crafty things, so this kept them occupied for a little while when I was trying to pack books/get post ready to go out.

Here's Abigail looking very excited as she's playing with some paper dolls for the first time! Her Auntie Leah sent them over to her and she was really surprised, as she didn't know they were coming. These are extra special too, as Leah and I played with these when we were little! I can tell you, we spent *many* happy hours with them. I'm really pleased that Leah kept them all these years and has now passed some on to Abigail. Leah also found some new (unused ones) off eBay which she sent over too. So I think we'll keep those in their new state until Abigail is old enough to keep them in good condition! The old ones are put up in a safe place too, but Abigail just *had* to play with them for a few minutes and try the various clothes on them! :)

An upclose photo of "The Ginghams" - and they even have an unofficial fanpage on the internet: http://home.xnet.com/~countzi/ginghams.htm

Well, can't think of anything else exciting. Maybe I should go to bed, as I've been awake since 6.30am (having gone to bed after midnight last night). Benjamin keeps waking up rather early in the morning and he didn't fall back asleep this time (thankfully he's fallen asleep again on the mornings when he was awake at 5am!). I wouldn't mind if he slept in sometime, but Abigail never sleeps much past 7am, so he doesn't get much of a chance anyway. OK, goodnight. :)