@AndSmelly
2019 has been a rollercoaster. So we're not making big plans for 2020. Its been a big year, we started off expecting a surprise third baby - buying maternity clothes in the sales and planning a new car big enough for three seats. By the end of January that was all over, disastrous and heartbreaking.… Continue reading Here comes 2020
On 31st January 2019 our third son was born sleeping at almost 20 weeks gestation. Those are the hard facts, cold and unemotional. The three days before were spent in hospital desperately hoping that the next option offered by a wonderful team of doctors and midwives would be the one to keep him inside and… Continue reading Recovery after loss
1 December: lunch out with Grandma and Grandad. This was planned anyway but lovely food and large boy taught Grandad the animal, vegetable, mineral game.2 December: small boy got to choose a charity for his Christmas donation instead of writing cards. Except he couldn't decide and changed his mind anyway. So no treat and the… Continue reading Advent activities
So we're at my sister in law's for Christmas. Their house is gorgeous and I am SO jealous. We'll be 16 tomorrow - 10 adults and 6 children. The adults are going to sit together at the dining table and the children at a little table beside us. Lying in bed in the middle of… Continue reading All together dinner
This year's mince pie production process started sometime last autumn. Probably at the end of October. The mincemeat recipe I use is my Nana's (great-grandma, my mum's mum's mum). I'm very lucky to have vague memories of her, she died when I was 3, in her nineties. This takes a good day to go from… Continue reading Making stuff 10: mince pies
History Over a year ago, early in that fateful fifth pregnancy, I was sitting at my desk working when my heart felt like a bag of marbles being shaken. It was only for less than a minute but it was so strange and I was worried. A few months later and I felt the same… Continue reading Cardiology normal
We've had a spare hour this afternoon so it was time for large boy to work on part of his final badge for Beavers - cooking. This is a really easy one for him because he loves cheese scones and we have a "go to" recipe that works really well. It's out of the On… Continue reading Making stuff 9: scones
The easy one first I blindly bought a denim pinafore a couple of weeks ago. Got home and tried it on and looked proper frumpy. It's too long, I'm too short, there's a problem. But I kind of know what I'm doing with scissors and pins and it had a deliberate frayed hem so no… Continue reading Making stuff 8: shortening dresses
Christmas is coming (like Game of Thrones "winter is coming" all ominous and doom-laden). This means that my carefully laid plans are coming to fruition. Gin has been prepared (Making stuff 3: annual gin, jam and chutney marathon) and bottled (Making stuff 4: gin bottling time) and so the time has come to put together… Continue reading Making stuff 7: teachers’ gifts
The last three days have been an annual nostalgia trip for me. Remembering that first labour, the total lack of respect for my plan shown by our bodies. The complete naivety about birth, sleep, new borns and parenting in general. How easy that pregnancy was compared to the four that have followed it. But here… Continue reading And now he’s eight
Smelly Socks and Garden Peas 