Introducing....

Baby #4:

From scan today, at 12w 3d. Baby is due to join our family in October, God willing. My due date (according to scan) is the 9th, but of course babies come when they're ready! :-) I thought it was a lovely clear photo - and I *think* even Clement can recognise it's a baby by the shape of it! He gets really excited when he sees babies in real life, as well as in magazines - and he got excited and a big smile on his face when I showed him (followed by frustration for not being allowed to hold it!) and when I told him "baby" he said "babba".

But poor Benjamin was really upset to not be allowed in while I had the scan! :-( They moved to a brand new ultrasound department in the hospital and had signs everywhere (doors, desk, wall etc) saying they didn't want children in the room, etc and for a responsible adult to watch them in the waiting room. However, the new waiting room doesn't have toys like the old one did, and is tiny, with only a table full of dodgy magazines! Grrr! So he was pretty distraught to not be able to see it on the screen - but at least the printed photo was so clear.

So anyway, a long and tiring day for us all in Inverness! We had our monthly homeschool get-together from 12 to 2pm. And my scan was at 2:15 - so it worked out well to have both on the same day (meaning no extra 80 mile round-trip to Inverness!), so we just had to leave the meet up a bit early. And then did a little bit of shopping, finishing with grabbing some food and pizzas from Morrisons to pop in the oven when we got home. But leaving the house at 11am and not getting home until nearly 7pm *is* a long day! :-)

In other news, this past weekend, Abigail, Benjamin and Clement were baptised at church on the Lord's day in the evening. It was a lovely service and a very special occasion. I have to admit that I'd been feeling rather stressed about it - not sure how they would behave (especially Benjamin, who sometimes gets anxious about things and can be rather restless in the evenings). But thankfully they all behaved very well - and Clement even managed to stay in the whole service without becoming too noisy/disruptive! We are thankful for their baptism and our hope and prayer is that they would early come to trust in Christ.

Now I must try and get the dishes done, downstairs tidy, laundry, and if I'm still awake after all this, perhaps a shower before bed! :-)

Spring weather, lovely coastal walk, etc

I think this is nearly a record (certainly for this year), to be posting my 3rd blog post in the month! I wonder if I'll get another post in before the month is out! lol

Clement's idea of a snack: a nibble of a miniature Thomas train! With his brother sitting ON the table next to him! (Yes, Benjamin seems to end up climbing on top of everything - and Clement is learning the art very quickly!)

Playing his brother's guitar

Last week we had the most amazing weather - have to say I was delighted after *months* of freezing winter. It was just sooo nice to be outside in the sunshine - AND finally be able to hang clothes (and nappies!) outside and they actually get dry - or at least nearly dry.

My darling big boy enjoying the nicer weather - not even needing a coat! Though I have to say the cold/rain has returned the last couple of days - with snow in the forecast for next week! Just hope it doesn't actually happen!

On Thursday morning last week we drove a few miles down the road and went for a walk along the coast, around Ballone Castle and Rockfield Village. It was an absolutely lovely day - bright sunshine and dry.

Looking down towards Rockfield Village. You'd never know the place was there, as it was a windy single track road through farms before here, and then a steep road down to these houses, below the cliffs.

Ballone Castle, most of it is 16th century and was in ruins until fairly recent times, when it was bought by a private family and restored. I found an interesting article/interview with the owner and tells what they did: http://www.consortestate.com/article-details.aspx?artID=1073

Up close of the castle as we walked round the grounds of it

The back side of the castle as we walked down to the coast below it.

Me and my wonderful children! :-)

Wearing Clement in the Papoozle (and me looking wind-swept, as always!)

Benjamin running ahead, along the path through the gorse

Two Pied Wagtails along the rocks. I was pleased with the quality of this photo. I tried to get a photo of another bird but it was too blurry.

A lovely photo of Abigail (which is actually a bit rare, as she gets rather camera shy and ends up making funny faces most of the time!) It's just a pity I didn't know the camera was on a "night setting", meaning the lights went funny and it's a bit blurred. But I still like it!

Speaking of Abigail, I'm still finding it hard to believe that this autumn I'll have to be "officially" homeschooling her! As in, she'll be the age for compulsory education. But she thinks she should be doing "school work" all the time, every day - already! Since she's so keen, I've been doing lessons with her most days. Mainly working through a large kindergarten "yearbook"/workbook, which covers everything from practice writing, to maths and other thinking skills. It seem she has a real love for numbers and loves doing basic sums - even writing them out by herself, nearly correctly too! She's also making good progress with reading and can read a lot of words (from working through a series of reading books with her daddy). I think my instinct would be to "let children be children" for as long as is possible. As in, she will (God willing) have enough years of studying ahead of her in her life, so there's no need to start it any sooner than you have to. But as much as she loves doing it, I though I should just go with it. After all, it can only be good practice for me getting into routine of full time homeschooling! :-)

However, Benjamin has made things slightly more complicated, as he's determined that he should be doing schoolwork too! So we've ended up buying a set of workbooks for 3-5 year old, and whilst a lot of it is above him, he's doing quite well with some of the easier pages. Most of the time he's keen to follow the instructions I give him, but he's a very determined little boy and he likes to make up his own rules! Yesterday it was some snakes he was meant to be colouring red, blue, and green. And he's learned to recognise the words red, blue, green, and yellow and knows what colour they are saying. But he insisted the snakes should have green on the tip of their tail - despite seeing the word "red" - and nothing I said could talk him out of it! Or another time it was meant to be tracing over lines and he said he wanted to circle them all - and it was impossible to get him to do anything else! So perhaps him wanting to be doing lessons is actually to give me some extra lessons in patience! lol I'm just thankful that Abigail is very good at following instructions in her books and does what she's meant to. :-)

Abigail and Clement colouring a picture together! :-)

Don't think I've been up to anything much else over the past week or so. Just been researching stuff about nutrition etc and trying to improve our diet! :-) I find the subject very fascinating - though there's often too much information available, and then I wonder who is safe to believe, etc. Of course, there are a lot of people out there, and I *know* I can't trust what they say, because of clearly incorrect information that they give out. So that's a bit easy, but a lot of it is more tricky!

A lot of what I've been reading about has focused on oils - the importance of good oils, and how bad about 90% of the cooking oils are (as in, the need for cold pressed olive oil, because sunflower & vegetable oils are all processed with toxic chemicals). Anyway, I've started cooking with an extra virgin olive oil from Lidl. Whilst it doesn't say it's "cold pressed", it does say solely by mechanical means (so hopefully that means toxin-free!), and trying to give the children plenty of butter on their bread, etc (as it's animal fats like butter that are good for you).

While I was in the middle of thinking/reading about fats and oils last week, I received a phone call from my long-time friend Jeanette who wanted to tell me about Paradox Oil, which she thought might help Benjamin's eczema! I thought it was rather providential for someone to just ring and tell me about an oil, when I'd been thinking about oils in relation to health for a couple of days. :-) This Paradox Oil is a mix of Omega 3, 6 and 9 - which we all hear about being so essential for all aspects of our health! So, I ordered a bottle of it the same night and it arrived on Monday morning (very fast service from the company in Belfast!) and I've been giving Benjamin a daily dose of it since. It can only be good for him, even if it doesn't produce a miracle cure for eczema! So I'm thankful for friends who are thoughtful enough to let me know about things like this, as it looks like a good source for these oils.

But now I think I should stop rambling and get this posted! Lately I feel as if I'm just too tired to go to bed! It's as if I get to the point where I'm so tired that I can't be motivated to finish up the chores around the house so I can get to bed! Thankfully I got everything done in fairly good time tonight - but I'm sitting here blogging instead of sleeping. So think I better move. Goodnight.

Benjamin is 3!

Hard to believe I now have a 3 year old little boy! Though in some ways, it seems ages ago that he was born! :-) So, just a few (err, perhaps a bit more than a few!) photos from today, as well as a few from earlier in the week. Most of these got posted to Facebook a couple of hours ago, but of course I have a number of friends/family who aren't on FB, so must make sure I put everything here too! :)



I'm sure I was thinking the other day of various things I was going to say when I next blogged, but I've got a nasty chest cold/infection which has really hit me today - feeling really poorly! So don't think I'll feel like typing much more than is necessary!



The Thomas cake, which I was decorating at midnight last night! Everytime I decorate a cake I think I really should learn to do cakes properly - but of course, another birthday comes round, and I must attempt one! I think Benjamin was pleased with it, though he would have liked a few more engines on it!

Presents and balloons, all ready (at 1am last night!), because my children seem to dash down the stairs on the morning of their birthday to find their presents! Benjamin woke up at 6:20 but thankfully I got him to go back to sleep in the cot in our room and he slept for another hour or so.

Trying to give mummy a smile, while concentrating on what might be inside the paper!

A wee pressie for Clement too - though he gave up on trying to open it and threw it under the couch!

Anything "Thomas" always goes down well - even better this book, since it makes noises and the camera flash goes off!

A much wanted guitar! I think it was in early January that Benjamin spotted a real one in the window of a local shop and begged me to buy him one! Of course, that one was about 200 pounds! So I found a toy one online (real wood, and real metal strings, etc) and he seems really pleased with it!

Playing his new guitar!

Guitar again

Benjamin and his big sister!

Birthday cards!

One candle out, two to go!


And now a few photos from earlier in the week:

On Monday we had an amazingly sunny day, and the sun was lovely and warm! I was "stuck inside" sewing pyjamas for Benjamin. But Clement really enjoyed playing outside in the travel cot. He is always desperate to go outside anytime someone opens the door, so it helped for him to be outside with is brother & sister. If only he would start walking, then he could run around in the garden with them. :)

Benjamin wearing his new eczema/mitten pyjamas that I made for him on Monday.

Looking very pleased with them. The lovely sharks on the fabric make them more fun! I think I'll do some with monkeys next!

On Tuesday morning I took the 3 children on the train to Dingwall to meet up with a couple of friends and their little boys at Runaround, which is a lovely indoor soft play place. We had a really nice time together and had lunch in the cafe at the place. Benjamin's friend Jonathan has a birthday the same day as Benjamin, so we thought it would be nice for them to do something fun together, and their friend Calum will be 3 in exactly one month. The above photo shows Abigail giving Benjamin a cuddle on the train! :)

Couldn't get one of all 3 looking at me, nor with good enough light, as we kept getting shadows from trees etc.

Thankful for eczema

I was thinking this morning of the long list of chores I had to do this morning before lunch (make a pan of soup, clean the bathrooms, put away lots of laundry and nappies, wash lots more dirty clothes & nappies, as well as all the constant picking up of toys, clearing up of dishes, looking after children) and realised I had quite a lot to get done. Then I saw that Benjamin had worn a hole through the mitten of his "eczema pyjamas", and since he's put a *large* hole in the knee of his other pair, I felt it was time for me to make some new pyjamas for him. It's been on my to-do list for a while, since he is getting rather too big for the ones I made last summer, but I've just been letting him get a bit more wear out of them! ;-) Anyway, no, I didn't manage to make the pyjamas today (as I'd hoped to) - I didn't even get the pieces cut out this afternoon, as I was sure I'd have enough time for - just never seems to be enough hours in the day for everything I want to get done! Hopefully next week. Many times I've felt that it's rather a bit much all the extra things that have to be done because of Benjamin's eczema - and in the more severe periods, felt it wasn't fair, when so many people out there have perfectly healthy children, that I have to deal with all this. But it seems everytime I think this way, I'm soon confronted with someone who's going through something far more severe with their children. Last year it was someone I knew of online who lost their baby only hours after it was born - and then I realised that I am SO ungrateful to ever complain about anything I have to do for my living children! They would do anything to have their child back. And then this morning I learn of someone who's 2 year old child is in her last hours of life, dying of cancer. And when I see what others are going through with their precious children, I then feel *thankful* for eczema - so thankful that this is the worst my children have had to suffer. And I realise that we never know what trial we will meet with in life next, so should always be thankful to God for the blessings he gives us, knowing that He does all things well.

So, it looks like my blog is off to a rather neglected start this year. Only one post a month, though I think this month might not be so bad, as after all, Benjamin will be 3 next week, so I'm sure there will be a post with pics from his birthday! It's hard to believe he's already this old - and Clement will be 11 months the same day - only 1 month away from his first birthday. They grow up so quickly!

Already a computer geek, this Clement is! He will go to great lengths to get to computers - and he has removed several keys, several times, from my laptop! Pity these things aren't more child-proof!

Not the best of photos (as taken in a mirror) but shows a smiling Clement riding on mummy's back in a mei tai.

Benjamin is concentrating on making a star with some "hama" beads. Abigail got these from her Aunty Leah in November and when Benjamin tried making something with them before, it was a bit of a disaster! He would attempt to place a half dozen or so on the board and then he'd get frustrated and dump them all off - or worse still, insert one in his nose! :-O But a few weeks ago I got them out for A & B and was amazed at how much Benjamin has changed/matured over the past few months. He actually stayed with the project for nearly an hour(!), and filled the whole board (must be 150 or so tiny beads!), with me only helping with the last 6 or so that were in the middle/difficult for him to put on. So I was very pleased to see improvement with his patience and perseverence! :-)

Abigail making a star too! She *loves* all craft activities and would do something all day long if you let her. She ends up using drawing as her creative outlet the rest of the day - drawing many pictures a day, always with complicated stories to go along with what it was she was drew. And she's quite good at things too! I think yesterday it was monkeys on swings, sometimes it's snow monsters(!), etc.

Abigail and one of her toy kittens. Wearing a dress that was intended for my shop, but my seam ripper slipped on me when I was cutting the final button hole :'( and whilst I "glued" the rip back together and it's barely visible, it wasn't good enough quality to sell. So I gave it to Abigail to play in.

Benjamin sat on this bush for ages after Peter pruned it last month! At first he got stuck up there but then he worked out how to get up and down it. Doesn't look very comfortable to me! lol

I already posted this on my Facebook page, so anyone who is a "friend" of me there will be bored to see this picture again, but I love it! :-) Clement had lots of fun emptying his daddy's paper shredder!

Big sister and little brother - funny face he's making!

And big brother and little brother - what big boys I now have! :-)

We got another big dump of snow on the 24th of February. As you can see, Abigail was very pleased! I was just glad I'd had an outing on the train with the children to Inverness the day before in the beautiful sunshine, as we had inches of snow for the next week or so!

Benjamin enjoying the snow too!

Big flakes still falling

Always eating!

All 3 of them have soooo much fun with this toy parking garage!

Tuesday this week, Clement sitting outside in the sunshine - once most of the snow had melted. His first time to sit on his own outside. He loved every minute of it - and enjoyed popping a few stones in his mouth too. Wonder what is so tasty about dirty stones? Benjamin tried to eat them for a couple of years.

Brothers together

This dress above is a new style that I've made for older girls. A few people had suggested if I might make something for older girls, so I've had a go with this particular one. Size 7, so for somewhere around 6-8 years, I'd say. Any opinions about the style, etc would be much appreciated! Don't know if it looks the sort of thing that girls that age would wear or not, so any feedback would be great! It does take rather longer to make than the small dresses I've been doing (which are easily made in an hour). So I'm not sure I'll be making very many of these (as the other pattern is suited to a busy mum who can fit in an hour in the afternoon etc), but depending on interest, I might try to keep a few of this style in stock.

Well, I'm sure I had other things to say, but time has run away on me, so I must end this post and go to bed.

PS from Peter to say that Clement is starting to stand up without holding onto anything and talking (yes, lots of words!). I had planned to write about his speech but barely managed to get this finished. So will have to wait for another post.