Seems I've forgotten to blog for a while...

Only just realised that January passed with only 1 post from me, and I thought it was a quiet month! Guess I was just doing a lot of sewing - must have made about 12+ outfits/dresses, so I guess that explains where at least some of my time was going! With all the snow and bitterly cold weather, it's not so exciting to venture outdoors much!

Can't think of anything too exciting to report just now - just been doing the usual stuff mostly. Last Tuesday we had our monthly homeschool/Christian education get-together in Inverness. There were quite a lot of folk there again, as well as more new faces, so that was encouraging.

As for Benjamin's eczema, things continue to be encouraging in general, though we can have some rather difficult times with his hands. :-( But I think everything continues to point to enviromental factors, though I'm trying to be more careful about giving him an egg-free diet, as so far that seems to be the only food item that it appears to cause noticable flareups after eating. Now that his feet/behind knees are so much better, for the first time in 18 months, Benjamin is able to just wear trousers - without any cotton tights under them, for over 2 weeks now! :-) For some people, this might not sound like much - but it's a major step forward. The poor little boy has been wearing tights *every* day, *all* day long since he was 18 months (including in hot summer months), and he would scratch his legs/feet till they bled everytime they were off. So it's wonderful that he can dress like an ordinary child during the day. That's not to say I don't have to keep an eye on him - I do - but things have improved enough that he can be upstairs playing a lot of the time without getting up to any trouble in this regard. This also means there's hope for potty training, since he can survive in less secure clothes (yay!) which he's been making progress with, though not there yet by any means. The only downside has been, running around the house in less clothes leaves his legs exposed, and he's ending up with patches of eczema on his legs where it has never been before! It's not severe, and I try to get trousers back on him when this happens. But this indicates a clear connection with enviromental factors and his eczema. But what these are, I don't know! We've got laminate floors (well, apart from the stairs) and I try to hoover frequently to keep the dust down. And we don't use any harmful chemicals/cleaners around the house. But perhaps it's the beds/bedding he likes to play on! He's daily ending up on the bunkbed, on our bed, on Abigail's bed - hiding under duvets/pillows etc. And whilst I carefully regulate his bedding in his bedroom so it can be frequently washed at 60 degrees, I'm not so careful about our beds (esp with big/thick duvets which don't wash easily). So perhaps it's all down to dust/dustmites. But how to get him to understand that playing under duvets is dangerous, I don't know!

Here's the said Benjamin, pleased with his new fleece jacket! A charity shop bargain find of mine - brand new with tags, Hanna Anderson brand, for only 3 pounds! :-D

Clement loves his cloth nappies too - they even make great toys, or so he thinks!

And climbing in the drawer of the train table is fun too - he did it all by himself!

Anyone want to volunteer to clean this baby??! Clement is our messiest baby so far - food everywhere, often requiring multiple changes of clothes a day! He hates bibs and will do everything possible to remove one, not eating anything till it's gone!

Abigail and Benjamin with the flower necklaces they made, from a kit that Aunty Leah sent to Abigail for her birthday!

Enjoying his food again - he's *got* to have lots of big people food (fed to himself, all by himself!) to keep him happy! Sitting in his lovely Ikea high chair - another charity shop find of mine! ;-)

My fat little boy, showing off his new Bumgenius Flip nappy!

First haircut, at 9 months! Or at least a trim - afraid the back of his hair could have done with being shorter, but I found it hard enough to cut what I did (oops! lol) He was brilliant while I was doing it though - sitting so perfectly still.

My boys in their matching trouser sets that I made for them! I love Painting Red Rhinos fabrics, and was very excited to get this "London" one with red buses - Benjamin was very excited too!

Abigail! (her brothers spoiled the photo with odd faces/eyes closed, but I thought it was a nice one of her!)

My dear family - Peter, Abigail, Benjamin, and Clement!

Showing off another nappy! :-) GreenKids Minkytimes, in blue/brown retro dots (I love these nappies for Clement, esp as his skin doesn't tolerate very many kinds).

Visiting daddy's office/room of books! :-)

Abigail in a dress I made for her last week. Having done so much sewing for my online shop (and sold 5 dresses so far!) I thought it was time I did a bit of sewing for my own children, so they'd not feel left out!

Birds in the back garden

A happy Clement - still only 2 teeth! :-)

And to bed I shall go!