Yesterday made 5 years since....

....we got married! :-) In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday, but with 3 children now, 5 years has just passed quickly! It's nice to remember that special day - and it has certainly been five very happy years of my life!

Here's my beautiful little boy:
He's sitting up all by himself in the photo, but only because hands were hidden nearby to catch him should he fall (or throw himself!) backwards.

Pretending to be a lion!

Benjamin has been rather struggling with his eczema lately. :-( I think the late nights with all the chaos from us going back & forth between the two houses has tired him out and made him less relaxed. And of course, whenever he's tired, hungry or stressed - he thinks about scratching - whether there is visible eczema there or not! Thankfully he has eczema in a lot fewer places than he has had before. I mean, it all began on his feet, and was there until fairly recently. But he has very little signs of eczema of on his feet now, yet he'll still rub his feet together whenever he's bothered! The major place he's battling it is on his hands/wrists - which isn't helped by the fact that he will chew his hands/fingers and also scratch/rip them till they're running with blood! So I think they've been a bit infected lately and I've been trying to get that under control without having to take him to the doctor for full blown course of antibiotics, but not sure yet if that will work. They improve slightly overnight since he has mitten sleepsuits to sleep in, but mittens don't seem to work very well during the day since it affects him being able to play/hold things, and they'd get wet & mucky very quickly! Anyway, I'm just thankful that he's not covered with it like he was before - basically just arm/leg creases (behind knees and other side of his elbows) and his hands/wrists, and a small patch on his neck at the moment. It doesn't mean I don't feel stressed about it - esp when he has bad days of wanting to scratch all day, but when I think about it fairly, I realise that he was so much worse before! And he's sleeping a lot better too - most nights I'm able to sleep totally undisturbed! I don't go to bed early though ;-) - so I'm able to give him his cup for a drink around midnight or sometimes slightly later, but then I don't hear anything from him till he wakes up for the morning around 7:05am! So all in all, I do have much to be thankful for - even tho we still live with eczema!

Tickling his sister!

Abigail looking very un-impressed with Benjamin sitting inside her desk!

And smiling Clement again! He's got such a sweet face with his big smile. However, the poor little boy hasn't been doing as much smiling for the past week or so. :-( He's been rather poorly in several ways! First started around Saturday last week when he was just a *lot* more tired than usual and grumpy. Thought maybe it was just teething but by Monday evening he was a lot worse and had quite a high temp. So we phoned up the clinic here and they gave us an appointment for that afternoon. The doctor looked at his throat and said it was red/inflamed, so he prob had a sore throat. It was a relief to hear that, as I'd been concerned the fever might have meant another urine infection. But then 2 days later he woke up with an odd patch of redness on his forehead and small spots *all* over his back and tummy/chest, and an on-going nappy rash problem we've had was majorly worse! So back to the gp again! The lady said that the rash on back/tummy/head would be viral, and connected to the fever he'd had and that hopefully it meant he was on the mend! As for the nappy rash, she said that was thrush! :-( This is my first time after 3 children to have any thrush problems, so I'm convinced it's from Clement spending nearly 4 months of his life on antibiotics! grrrr! So she gave me a prescription for a cream which has made a lot of progress with clearing it up, though it's not toally gone. And I just hope it doesn't come back again. Guess I'll need to feed him lots of yoghurt to get some good bacteria back into him!

And here he is again, trying to crawl! He keeps getting up on all fours and trying to have a go, but not totally getting the hang of it yet! However, the solid floors are good for sliding around on, so he moves quite a lot. LOL

And here's him again, when he wasn't feeling very well! :-( Trying to snuggle up and get some rest in the pushchair while we were doing some final painting to our old house! At last we've finished the indoor painting and had the home report (survey) done today! So, we're on our way to getting it on the market!! And I took lots of photos of the inside as well, should anyone be looking to buy a house up this way (or just wanting to have a nosey!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7117104@N05/sets/72157622685364732

And now I must get myself to bed!

Moving house & various unrelated photos

So, we've moved house! :-) After 2 weeks of no broadband since moving here (only the occasional very slow dial up internet) we're finally back online today! So of course, the first thing I think about is updating my blog - which includes a stash of photos to sort through.

We ended up hiring a removal company (David Mackay from Ardgay, who were really good!) to move our stuff - we boxed everything up and they picked it up and unloaded it again. It really made it a LOT easier - I can't imagine how long it would have taken us to do it all ourselves! So the house was emptied all in one go, on the 1st of October. But we've still got to finish emptying the attic (or loft, as it seems to be called over here) and the garden sheds, once we've got the new one installed here next week. So yeah, so much to get done! I've started on painting the interior of our old house on Tuesday - did a fair bit of the sitting/dining room, but not quite finished it. I accidentally happened to find someone local on eBay who was selling off some paint very cheaply (as in, I wasn't even looking for paint!), so we went and picked it up last week. Lots of tins of unopened Dulux paint, for a fraction of the cost new - so hopefully have enough to do the rooms that need to be done. I always like to find a bargain! ;-) Just have to get the house finished so the home report can be done, and then put it on the market before winter sets in!

We're enjoying our house - it's great to have more space! Though it will be even better when all the boxes get unpacked and Abigail's room is finished (waiting for a few things to be done, including a wall put up to divide the large room into a bedroom for her). In the meantime it's a big room full of stuff, including boxes which the children find interesting to climb on, and occasionally open and explore the contents of!

As for the town here, everyone seems very nice & friendly. And I have to say, I'm quite glad to be even further away from Inverness! ;-) I'm just not a city girl - though I'm sure plenty of people would laugh at my idea of Inverness being too much of a city, since it's in the centre of the highlands, which is considered a rather remote place! LOL It just seems more calm & peaceful out here, people more trusting etc. When we first came here I went in the local pet shop only to find that there wasn't anyone in it. A few seconds later several people came in, and then I realised the lady & children who were further along in front of a local shop were the shop owners - and it was the 8-10 year old daughter who was running the till! And Peter was in the local plumbing shop and the man there was even going to offer to lend him a tool for something! So yeah, it seems really nice & friendly here.

Now, a load of photos, even though I really should be asleep in bed!

Abigail & Benjamin playing in the square in front of our old house, while mummy & daddy were busy packing boxes! They got these cars only the week before we moved. I saw them offered on Freecycle from someone in the next village over - I later wondered if I was crazy to ask for them, as they'd be 2 more things to have to pack up and move. But it turned out they were fantastic to occupy them with while we were busy inside - and they're still having fun with them!

All packed up and ready to go! ;-)

My smiling fat little boy - showing off a curl that appeared on his head after a bath once!

Now, are these photos the same baby or not? ;-) While going through my recent photo tonight, I came across a couple of photos of Clement which I was sure reminded me of other photos, and I wasn't mistaken. The one on the left is Abigail and the right is Clement - both at exactly 5.5 months old too! Of course, she's rather less fat than he is! lol

Benjamin and Clement playing together, before we moved

Benjamin's new bedroom! :)

our new back garden, with children playing in it

back garden again

Sitting room, though not totally finished - in need of new cushion covers, when we manage to get to Ikea again! And new rugs, etc. But an attempt to get things a bit like home!

another view of sitting room

Kitchen

and again, with Clement

Clement dressed for cold weather, though it's rather mild again now!

our bedroom, though not yet fully organised - or totally unpacked!

bedroom again

And who could these be? Clement on the left and .... Peter on the right, when he was a baby! Though Clement is about 2 months older than his daddy was in the photo - but I thought they looked quite similar!

Clement wearing the lovely cardigan that Naomi knitted for him! :-)

And now I must get in bed, or I'll not want to get anything done tomorrow!

Still around...

Well, I haven't got myself packed into a box yet! ;-) In fact, we don't really have anything in boxes yet - and only like 10 days till we sign papers and get the house! :-O But I've been doing lots of major decluttering - lots of bags gone to charity shops (or out at the door for the charity bag collectors - which means I don't have to haul them anywhere!). So I think we're accomplishing something - and I cleared out 6 pushchairs, which is progress for sure! Hopefully once we're ready to start boxing things up it won't take too much effort to sort things out - or at least that's the idea. But we hope to move and reassemble the shelving and books (as in, the multiple thousands of books that are for sale!) first, since that's not connected with what we need for eating/sleeping!

I think I'll just post these photos and then get to bed, as I never seem to get near enough sleep. We all ended up with a nasty cold/flu type thing - apparently connected with the virus that gave Benjamin the croup over 2 weeks ago. Abigail, Clement and I still have rather noisy/wheezy breathing from it, but hopefully that won't last too much longer.These first three photos are from today

"We don't do baby rice here - big boy food all the way - pass the baguettes, please!" :-) He loves to teethe on big bits of bread, especially the "crusts" from homemade pizza!

Smiling at his mummy, of course!

Making a funny face, and thinking about where he might be able to go

"Mummy says I must wear shoes when I'm outside .... so does that mean her shoes will do?" ;-)

Watching mummy in the kitchen

Again, watching his mummy in the kitchen (you might think I live in there! ;-) ) - he's quite enjoying the baby walker which we got when Benjamin was about his age!

Chewing a biscuit (cracker), but I had to soon take it from him, as he bit off a huge piece and looked in danger of choking!

Yep, he's one of us ... he loves books! ... tho eating them is even better!

Benjamin playing in a big box

Cooking a pretend meal

Soaking up the sunshine

A close up of Benjamin's face! lol

And Abigail too, as she didn't want to be left out

On Wednesday we went to see my friend Ruth, who's just had a lovely little baby girl! :-) She's called Lois and we went over to meet her, which was nice! Made Clement look like he's not a baby anymore to see a newborn!

Afterwards we went for a walk near Tore. The above photo shows Abigail and her work of art (she's got a big creative streak!). She and Benjamin collected lots of interesting objects - pine cones, acorns, hay, feathers, leaves, etc and when we got home Abigail arranged them all in her trainers, which looked quite clever really!

And this is what I collected during our walk:

19 of the 22 cooking apples we picked/collected! We were walking along a path where a old railway once was and we found a lone apple tree there! No idea how it got there, but I made a *lovely* apple crumble with 3 of the apples that evening! Now I must make sure I make something else with some of them tomorrow, as Abigail was rather disappointed that I didn't make a pie or cake today!

Ok, I'm off to bed now - I hope! :-)

Photos of all sorts

I'm falling asleep at the computer - well, I feel a bit like it! Clement is having his midnight top up! He always likes a feed before I go to sleep for the night. But I'm feeling rather exhausted just now - probably due to always staying up too late! And added to that, last week & this week were a bit more hectic with Peter being out most of the 2 weeks for jury duty at the High Court. So I had all the normal things to do, as well as trying to get book orders out and posted on the normal days, etc. But he's finished the jury duty today, so we're hopefully back to normal, in that regard.

Brothers having a cuddle!

Lying in the kitchen floor, all dressed for bed it seems!

Yummy fingers

My 3 precious children, with Clement trying to look like he's as big as the others!

Big sister and littlest brother

Clement's legs are actually strong enough to stand up at something, though at 4.5 months he can't actually do it - but he does have the strength in his legs to stand and support his weight for quite a long time!

In the high chair with a cup of water. Clement has decided he wants food early. And I guess the idea of "baby led weaning" means the baby gets to decide?! LOL In any case, he's made it very clear that he's ready for it and able to eat too! The first time I finally gave in to let him taste something (a cooked carrot stick) he bit a piece off, chewed it up (like a pro!) and promptly swallowed it! :-O I was shocked! I was sure that babies had to learn to swallow things, and their gag reflex (I think that's what it's called) has to be lost, meaning they start by spitting the food out again, before learning to swallow. But he chewed & swallowed the *first* time, at only 4 months! I was always of the mind to delay giving solids as long as possible, and since Clement is nearly 19lbs (several pounds heavier than lots of 1 year olds!!), and almost on the 98th centile for his weight, it's clear he's getting plenty to eat. But I guess he had different ideas, and is a natural male ... likes his food! LOL So we're exploring all sorts of fruits & veggies, which is fun. And he likes everything he's given - so far!

Chewing his toys - everything goes in mouth

My latest pushchair [blush] ! I've always wanted to try a Phil & Teds - and at long last, I've got one! And I think it's fantastic - it is so easy to push, and soooo compact. So I've been having a mega clearout and trying to downsize my pushchair collection (I think I had 5 singles and 3 doubles). So far only 1 single has left the house, meaning there are 4 doubles currently here! But most of them are on the way out the door - either ending soon on ebay, or to be picked up by people, etc. I'll really miss the big shoping basket on my Kolcraft Contours Options Tandem, as the P&T has a very small basket compared to the other, but I think I'll be happy with the switch. And glad to have less clutter when we move house!

Isn't he cute?!

2 boys with tongues! Doesn't Benjamin look grown up here? I don't think he looks like just a 2.5yo!

Teething on a raw carrot!

Benjamin and his lovely soft "Very Hungry Caterpillar", which we won in a lovely giveaway from Leah (not my sister, on this occasion!). It arrived in the post this morning, on just the perfect day to cheer Benjamin up! :-) He's feeling quite poorly just now - I think he's got Croup! :-( He's got awful barking cough, slight fever, and bad sounds with his breathing - meaning he's getting rather breathless at times, which can be a bit scary. But I'm just trying to keep him calm and not let him get upset about things, and that helps him to not get out of breath. Hopefully he'll get over it soon and be OK. Though I worry about him at times, as he seems to be always catching something or poorly in one way or another. Thankfully we've been keeping the eczema fairly under control lately. I think the manuka honey cream is helping in that regard. Last week I had forgotten to order another tub in time, so we ran out over the weekend and he had a bit of a flareup, with it coming back worse. But it's calmed down since we got the cream again. So just have to make sure I don't forget again and let us run out of it! Obviously his skin isn't perfect, but it doesn't seem so out of control as before.

Clement's first time on Mummy's back, today. But I think I tied the straps wrong (so don't anyone follow the photo! lol), since I usually wear him on the front. But I think I'll be having him on my back a lot more now that he's bigger!

A happy little boy - and mummy's hands are free to cook dinner!

and 20 minutes later, a peacefully sleeping baby! :-) Amazing!

Ok, off to bed at last. If I don't post anything for a while, I might have accidentally packed myself away in a moving box! ;-) We're closing on the house a week earlier, so should start moving before the end of the month!!