Wordless Wednesday: Introducing….

So I am feeling rather guilty.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything and it suddenly occurred to me that anyone coming by this blog and seeing my last few pre-birth posts may be a little concerned that something untoward could have happened, when actually we are all well and thriving.
It’s merely due to the fact that although I was aware that things would be more intense with the arrival of our second child, I still underestimated just how little time or energy I would have each day after completing the bare minimum of domestic tasks and providing my littles with the attention they deserve (or at least as much as I can give).
Blogging has simply become one activity that I’ve had to let go of for a while.. a sort of unintentional blogging ‘babymoon’ pause.

Having said that I’ve been really itching to announce the arrival of our daughter who will be named here as ‘Dawncub’ for the same reasons surrounding privacy as I mentioned for her brother ‘Mooncub’ – they may thank me one day, or they may not care a jot, but I’d rather play it safe.

So since I can’t get much writing done at the moment, Wordless Wednesday is perhaps just what I need to get this out finally (even if by that time it happens to be Thursday!), So here goes….

Introducing our daughter ‘Dawncub’, who was born at home in the water on September 11th 2012 at 4.09am.

She weighed 6lb12oz at birth and has breast-fed well from the start and doubled in weight since.

She has had wide open curious eyes, right from the beginning and aside from one chesty cold recently she has otherwise been a picture of health – a real bonny baby!

Mooncub adores her!

So she is now over 12 weeks, teething already but still smiling heaps and generally loving life.
Here are a selection of photos from our first few days with our new family member!

Last photo of our family before the birth!

Mooncub with his new baby sister not much more than an hour after her birth – which he attended!

Dawncub’s first bath. It felt great to return to the water with her.

She had smiles for us right from the beginning.

Squidge!

Mooncub in love!

A family snooze – we’ve sidecar’d a cot to our small double to make more room.

Hope you’ve enjoyed these, there are many more to come and SO MUCH to write about when I’m able to get back on it properly.. Our ‘Birth Story’ is soon to come, news of our ‘E.C Journey’ hopefully soon also, my ‘Hospital Story’, how we’ve adjusted to life as a family of four, and so much more.. so do check back!

Pregnancy To-Do-List…

SOooooOOoooo much to do…

Maybe it’s the coming of the Full Blue Moon tomorrow (Mooncub was born on the first full moon of a blue-moon month!) but I’ve had a real sense of imminence these last few days and have had a strong feeling for most of the pregnancy that I may not get the full 40 weeks to be prepared.. then yesterday two things happened – the birth-pool arrived in the morning (yaaay!) and then I started getting rather frequent, though thankfully not painful tightenings that went on until bedtime… not Ideal at 36 weeks, give me one more week at least dear universe!

Anyhow, in an attempt to alleviate my anxiety about not being quite ready I decided to take a look at my Pre-Birth/Pregnancy To-Do-List, and here it is so far!…

• Write out Birth Plan and prep Papa Moon
  
• Re-arrange bedroom and Side-car a Cot to our bed for more Co-sleeping space
• De-clutter and re-arrange study/storage/guest room
• Clear and tidy downstairs ready to be able to quickly set-up as lovely birthing space
• Buy Birth-Pool
• Put together Home-Birth Kit Box and also potential Transfer Bag
• Put together Birthing Playlist of music I might want to listen to while I’m in Labour
• Write/paint out some affirmations, and gather pictures and soy or beeswax candles for relaxing and inspiring birthing space
• Put all freshly washed baby clothes and cloth nappies away ready for use…somewhere!
• Buy decent buggy that works for both newborn and toddler
• Buy new car seat
• Have a Mother blessing gathering/Blessingway
• Contact Local doulas
• Look into Placenta Encapsulation
• Deal with mountain of laundry
• Hire professional carpet cleaner machine and do carpets and rugs ready for a new crawler!
• Make some pot’s for my plants and little earthenware cups for Steiner School
• Get my hair cut and coloured

I made sure to take it easier today and there has definitely been less womb activity as a result, but with my mother coming over and taking Mooncub out on his trike to the park,  and the incredible help and energy of my mother-out-law and Ed, we managed to get the spare room totally re-organized!
So that’s one more off the list and it will make it a whole lot easier to deal with the rest of the house now there is more space up there to move stuff to.

With a bit of luck I’ll be able to tick a few more off the list tomorrow, and for anyone who might be interested I’ll then post what went into my Birth-Plan, Birth-Kit & Birth Playlist etc as I get around to them.

Not sure there will be any Doulas in my area available this late in the day and I may have to let a few other things on the list go too, including the Blessingway sadly.. but so long as our home feels welcoming and ready and we’re prepared for B-Day then I’ll be able to relax into labour whenever it begins for real, and that’s what matters most…

Wordless Wednesday: A Day On the Severn Valley Railway

Yesterday (Tuesday) was my father-outlaw’s birthday, and he’d had the wonderful idea to spend it as a family traveling the the Severn Valley Railway line by steam train.

It was Mooncub’s first time on a steam train and although I had apparently taken this journey before, I could not recall it at all, and so it felt like my first time too.

It was such an aesthetically pleasing day – a real feast for the senses, so it was just too easy to take lot’s of beautiful photos – I must have amassed a couple of hundred altogether!
It was really difficult to narrow it down to even this many, but I’m really glad to be able to share them with you ~ Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Meeting up with my mum before climbing aboard.

Getting to have a look at the furnace in the engine room!

Having a quiet moment with Ed’s mum – Mooncub’s NannyC

Ed’s Parents… So many lovely birthday smiles from his dad!

The random chicken we met wandering around the town of Bridgnorth!

Enjoying the view, and some bubbles, from a lovely Bridgnorth churchyard.

The weather held out for us all day – then as an extra treat, a brief thundery downpour followed by this beautiful bold rainbow as we headed home!

Admittedly it is now late Thursday evening.. but hey, that was a lot of narrowing down I had to do! ;0)

A Pregnant Pause… & My 33 Week bUmPDATE!

It’s been a little quiet on my blog for a while now I know.
Though a good few posts have been started, a combination of a busy couple of weeks spent away from home (cat/house sitting for my mum and then a week in London seeing friends and family) and some emotional ups and downs have really dampened my writing mojo.

I hope it won’t be too long before I can get back in the blogging flow and when I do at least there will be plenty to write about!

In the meantime here’s another little bump update…

Technically bump photo taken around 32 Weeks as this was several days ago.

As for how the pregnancy is progressing for the most part all is going marvelously!

I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how well my back is holding up compared with around this time in my first pregnancy where I could barely move without spasms of agony.
This time I’ve been as active as ever and only really getting a bit uneasy in my movement from infrequent pangs of SPD (pelvic pain), but I even seem to have that more under control this time by taking non-gm Soy Lecithin Granules - which was a piece of advice I read online ages ago and it really has helped a lot!

My back has also improved even more since I saw a Chiropractor in London a couple of weeks ago. The night after the first treatment was the first night in a few weeks that I was able to sleep without waking almost hourly to change positions to ease back ache and cramping in my hips and thighs. The effect it’s had on my ability to rest more deeply has lasted all this time since – which has been worth every bit of the extra expense.

The only downer lately has been my growing anxiety about the fact that my little wombling has been lying side-long (Tranverse Lie), as far as I’ve been able to tell, consistently since my 20 week scan. Not head down or breech at any point which has had me fretting about why that might be – my main concern is that she is stuck for some reason as it often feels like she is trying hard to change position but can’t quite manage it.

It’s played on my mind that she is rapidly running out of space now and that turning will be even harder for her in the coming weeks so aside from having the Chiropractor I saw try the highly commended Webster Technique on me, I have also been doing the daily inversion recommended on the Spinning Babies Website as well as a few handstands in the local swimming baths the other day!

I have an ultrasound scan booked for a ‘placenta check’ in week or so as they were unable to see it clearly a the 20week scan. I am waiting anxiously for this scan because it seems that a ‘low-lying placenta’ can be a real cause of babies getting stuck in less than favorable positions, and a placenta that is too low really wouldn’t be good news anyway so I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that it isn’t the issue.

My Iron in my blood samples levels came back marginally low which might explain some of the big ‘slumps’ in energy and mood and headaches I’ve been experiencing. The doctor has prescribed some Iron tablets but as these can be a little hard on the stomach I’ve decided to try a more gentle herbal Iron liquid formula from the wholefood store first and see how that goes.

Mooncub is besotted with his sister already it seems and often comes to snuggle my belly and smother it with sweet little kisses and talk to her about all kinds of random things. She’s very responsive to his voice and I think she will be as delighted to meet him as he will be to finally meet her. I can’t wait! (but of course I will!)

So there’s plenty more to tell but it can wait.. I’m slowing down a little now as is probably a good idea since we’re getting close, and though still feeling strong, I’m also getting heavy and a little waddlesome!

….and I’m really very aware now that these are the last weeks we’ll have with Mooncub alone and it’s kind of sad as it is exciting.
I’m embracing that and want to spend every minute I can relishing the time I have left to interact with my best little buddy undistracted.

Counting Blessings 1 2 3…..

Of course I’d always known of the expression ‘to count your blessings’ but it wasn’t until a conversation with a close university friend who was reminiscing fondly of her grandmother one evening, that I realised that it was something that some people actually did.. or at least used to do on a regular basis.

It occurred to me what a healthy practice it would be to ‘count my blessings’ on at least a weekly or monthly basis even, and yet I forgot about it for quite some time.
Since then (which was some years ago) tough times have come and gone, I have had some very low periods emotionally (sad, bad, and mad!), relationship struggles and also all the ups and downs which come with entering parenthood.. and generally though I try to look on the bright side, actually ‘counting my blessings’ was something I rarely remembered to do.

In the past year I have read and heard more and more about the power of positive (and negative) thought, and from certain experiences I have come to hold a lot of stock in this idea – that the things we focus on are often the things we attract more of (Aka ‘The Law of Attraction’).
Not that this means I think we can always avoid befalling tragedy by tra-la-la-ling our way through life, grinning inanely and refusing to acknowledge that some things do simply suck.. but at the very least we will not only see more bright opportunities by focusing on our positives, but ultimately have more energy to invest in staying in the current of awesomeness when it does find us, and likewise have more for pulling out of the turbulence of the tougher times when they come by too.
,And yes. there does also seem to be the ‘magic’ element too of course.. those times when the universe just seems to hear you, like you and want to play!

By the by, a few months ago I was added by a friend to a Facebook group called Today I’m GRATEFUL for…
It’s a wonderful place..so uplifting. With a few thousand members now, some who post daily and some who post very occasionally. It’s great to have the reminder to focus not only on the positive, but also that it feels good to be around positive people…even if it is over the ether! ..and the support for when things are tough for members is extraordinary and very touching. Members make an effort to keep boosting one another up.
I guess this is similar to what religious communities provide for many, and it’s the one thing I’ve always admired about those with subscribed faith.. the positivity and the community!

So finally after all these years of thinking about it, I’ve decided to actually take on this little routine/practice/experiment.. so every Monday I’m going to try to get around to Counting my Blessings.. if I have time I’ll go for a Top 10 if not it may just be a Top 5 – the amount is not so important as the appreciation.

At first I thought maybe I would do it Sunday and end the week with gladness, but then I thought how much better it would be to begin the week with a positively charged spirit.. so Monday it will be, unless I’m too busy; then it may be another day.

One other blessing of a rainy summer!

I’ve been working hard at learning to look on the bright side even when it’s rained nearly non-stop all summer! So here are a few weather relevant blessings this week to get started; my first Top 5…

1.  We were officially given tenancy over our already highly weed-overgrown allotment plot a bit too late to really plant any summer vegetables.. it’s turned out to be a blessing though, as because of the constant wet weather this year the number of slugs has been phenomenal, so it would have been pretty devastating (and disheartening) to plant loads then lose it all to the little ravenous suckers!

2. It’s been a really dry few years here in the UK previously and most of the reservoirs have been low.. leading to hose-pipe bans and worries about continuing water shortages. Hopefully this rather dreary summer will be a blessing in that it’ll hopefully lead to ensuring less worry over water supplies should next summer be a real dry scorcher!

3. I’ve had A LOT of preparing to do ready for the arrival of our new little one in September – most of which was/is domestic stuff that has meant that I’ve needed to spend much time indoors decluttering, sorting and re-organizing… so it’s really a blessing that the weather hasn’t been glorious and left me frustrated that I could not be spending all my time in the garden, or at festivals or at our new allotment!
NB: I think I’ve now done enough on my Pregnancy To-Do-List, to warrant a few non-domestic days soaking in the sun though… so whenever you’re ready please O’great (& numerous) weather deities!

4. Although I’m generally very tolerant of very hot weather (and usually get cold very easily) which possibly has something to do with spending my toddler years in Israel, alas pregnancy does make me highly empathize with how the average Brit feels during a summer heatwave! So it’s another blessing that along with the dampness of this summer we have also had fairly cooler temperatures than usual for this time of year, so I’ve spent barely any time feeling too overheated swollen and uncomfortable so far which is good.

5. My last blessing is that we have at least been graced with a few short intervals of lovely sunny weather.. enough to have spent a few really beautiful days out making bright shining new memories to carry with us… Like; my Birthday… recently visiting a friends farm and picking strawberries and raspberries there as well as seeing 12 one-day old piglets! ...also seeing horses race at the local racecourse, going to a steam engine event on castle grounds, watching dragon boats race on the river that runs through our city …and of course we’ve spent a few sunny-but-not-too-hot days chopping the weeds down on the allotment.. all very good times!

If you have some of your own blessings you would like to share then please do so below, I would love to hear them!
If you are a blogger then feel free to put a link to your own ‘Counting Blessings..’ blog post, that would be great too!

Wordless Wednesday: June! (+linky)

Dragon boats, Horses and Steam Engines! It’s the stuff that toddlers dreams are made of, and yet we’ve seen all these wonderful things this month!
I’ve been looking back on some lovely days full of wonder and realising that we’ve really made the most of the few sunny days we’ve had this unseasonable month of June.

Because it’s been such a wet summer we haven’t done quite as much in the garden as I’d hoped we would, but we’ve managed to get a few goodies in.. including Mooncub’s ‘Red Giant’ Sunflowers!

The first time Mooncub (and I) have ever seen a Dragon boat race!
Mooncub adores Dragons so this was especially exciting for him.
We are lucky to live so near a river and I know we’ll spend lots more lovely summer days by it.

This was by the stands put up for the Dragon Boat Race. We mainly took this picture so Mooncub could show his bump-buddy the awesome emergency vehicle we’d found!

Unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures of the horses, but this was the tree stump, near the end of the racecourse, where we sat and watched he horses and their jockeys thundering around the far end. We were with Mooncub’s ‘Nanny-C’ and ‘Poppa-D’ which is what he calls Papa Moon’s parents. They live very near to the racecourse so I’m sure we will do this many more times!

Mooncub and his Bump-buddy couldn’t wait to get aboard ‘The Smiley Happy Train’.. but then with a name like that, who wouldn’t be eager!

Feeling Smiley and Happy on the little train!

A Castle, a big old Steam Engine, the Smiley Happy Train & two young friends having the time of their lives in absolute awe and wonderment!
It’s easy to see why this is my favourite photo from the Steam Engine Day!

….& and finally.. we think that EVERY play park should have a disused tractor for climbing and playing on!

Well, I fell asleep before completing this, so it’s now officially Thursday, but still better late than never! If you’d like to join in with Wordless Wednesday (despite it being Thursday!) then please use the ‘linky’ button below…

bUmPDATE!! ….week 27

I’m just about to sleep, and as usual, little lady is having an end of the day bump-party!
So while I wait for her to settle, I’ll  just share with you a quick little update because we finally got around to taking a few more belly shots last night!

This little bean is a really lively one – even more so than Mooncub was. Unlike him though, she has much much more definite routines and I can predict when she is likely to wake up and how long before she will settle. Mooncub has always been fairly resistant to building a routine.. and that kind of personality has had it’s advantages – he’s always been very flexible with bedtimes and nap-times so we’ve been less tied by them for example. I would, if I’m honest, be grateful for a little more predictability this time around though!

We’ve got a name in mind, something that I thought of a long time ago, but which Papa
Moon was resistant to at first – he now seems really keen on it now though.. & Mooncub likes it too!
We so far only have one other name in mind should the first not seem to fit when she arrives. hmmm… going to have to think of her ‘blog’ name might be also!

Otherwise I am happy to report that at the moment I am a happy healthy pregnant mama and all the Pilates I’ve been doing this time around seems to really have been paying off!
My back is doing great, much better than it was at this point in my pregnancy with Mooncub! I’ve been getting very tired but otherwise feeling strong and my immune system seems to be in top form… it’s got to be down to all my healthy eating!

I’ve been looking at birth-pools online.. not sure what to go for just yet. I’m tempted to get a professional La Bassine Pool for when I’m ready to train as a Doula.. yes I want to become a Gentle Moon Doula.. that would be awesome!
If anyone reading this has had a water birth at home I’d love to hear about it and what pool you might recommend!

That’s about it for this bUmPdate!
(…and it seems that someone is ready to let me sleep now!)

How to Make a Play Cooker in 10 minutes!

After a particularly good day (and night) the other week, I awoke the next morning and, for the first time in a long while, was in a good & productive mood and had a clear head ready for the day!

Mooncub and I had breakfast and then it was time to decide what to do next..
It was raining (as it has been the majority of this summer) and neither of us felt like going out in the garden or for a walk.
Mooncub seemed to be in quite an independant spirit, so I decided it would be nice to give him an activity he could do by himself for a while, then I could get on with a few other domestic things.
I set him up with some crayons and his large sketchpad, but he soon lost interest… and that’s when the idea came to me!

For a long time now Mooncub has shown an interest in cooking and baking (which we do together sometimes) and really enjoys spending time in the play-kitchen at the Waldorf Steiner Family group we go to once a week, and he also loves the sweet little wooden play-cooker at his bump-buddies house.
I would love to have brought one for him, but aside from the expense, we live in a small Victorian terraced house and their simply isn’t room for such a bulky play-item to be permanently in place….
..so, I looked at his sketch pad.. then I looked at one of our dining room chairs.. and then I set to work, here’s how...

STEP 1: The Hobs
I took a page from his large drawing pad and trimmed it to size.
Then I used a round container lid as a guide to draw the 4 circular hobs.. we have gas-rings, but as Mooncub’s only 2, I thought electric would be safer (and easier to draw!) ;0)
I used some blu-tack to stick this onto the seat of the chair.

STEP 2: The Control Dials (and on/off switch as it is electric!)
I trimmed a strip of paper to fit the length of the front of the chair.
Using a smaller round lid as a guide I drew 4 hob controls, numbered 1 to 6 and added an on/off switch.
I used blu-tack again to attach it along the front of the chair.

STEP 3: Cook-Ware & Ingredients.
Luckily we had a little white teapot, from a tea-set we gave Mooncub at Christmas, that worked well as a stove top kettle. We also had a white milk-pan and little colander so it all sort of matched!  He also had a little wooden spatula for stirring which was actually a traditional butter spreader that we brought in Sweden a a couple of months ago.
Mooncub was more than happy just to use the dried runner beans as his first ingredient (collected from our garden last year).
He likes to play with those beans quite often – you wouldn’t believe how many hours they’ve occupied him in various ways!

He played with it for quite a while just like this… but then he decided he would like to do some baking so….

Step 4: Fitting an Oven shelf.
With any luck your chair will have support bars beneath the seat. In which case you can do as I did – which is simply to place a large enough baking tray/cookie sheet on top to form a shelf. Otherwise you may be able to form a support for a ‘shelf’ by using some electrical tape or strong string to make bridges between the legs of the chair on either side.
Step 5: Make an Oven door.
Next I simply took another large sheet of thick sketchpad paper, trimmed to size and used an off-cut to form a good sized strip for a handle. I outlined it with the black pencil I’d been using, just to make it stand out a bit, then used two small strips of sellotape to stick it to the side of the ‘door’. I decided to draw in a mock viewing window, cross hatching for effect… and voila! It was now ready to stick to the ‘cooker’.
To do that I just used another couple of strips of sellotape (you could use electrical tape if you are worried about your furniture) to form a hinge. At first it sat quite wonky so I put a ring of sellotape facing sticky side out at the top of the ‘handle side’ chair leg – this formed a kind of catch which held the door closed and also straight.

Step 6: Put the (real) Kettle on and Leave ‘em to It!
Mooncub spent a blissful hour and 45 minutes there about, playing very happily at his little kitchen (I put another chair next to the ‘cooker’, with a chopping board and a mixing bowl on top, in place of a little unit). Also don’t forget to bask in their joyful smiles!
The great thing is that you can stick this in drawer when your little is finished using it and bring it out another day.
They can have fun decorating it however they like!
It doesn’t matter if it gets trashed as you can easily make another one some other time.
It only takes 10 minutes!

Wordless Wednesday (Linky) – 29 Swings Around the Sun!

This week began with my 29th Birthday, and I had not really been in a celebratory mood leading up to then, so it was a last minute decision to gather friends and family at the local Countryside Center Cafe for a light lunch and a little play in the park with the littles. I was so glad, as it turned out to be a truly Happy Birthday!

My special day began with a real surprise – a full vegetarian English Breakfast in bed, cooked by Papa Moon! He even did me a fried egg, which was especially amazing as he has never eaten eggs and so has not ever cooked one either.
I was going to include a picture but decided not to, as the photo really does not do justice to its deliciousness!

Mooncub was excited to be on the way to the Countryside Center and telling Mama “Happy Birthday!” again.

Mooncub had a great time playing in the park with his two buddies that live on our street.

On the round-a-bout type thing – myself, Mooncub, Papa Moon, my mother, foster sister, friend/neighbour & her son.. and a mother and son at the back who we didn’t know, but thankfully seemed to be enjoying our company!

Mooncub discovered the joy of rolling down grassy slopes!

Bliss at the bottom of the slope!

Even accidentally locking our keys in the car and having to call out Auto Support didn’t put a dampener on our day!

Back at home for some tea and delicious, super pretty, organic birthday cupcakes baked by my Mum, and complete with edible violet flowers.. Yum!

My birthday was so full of unexpected wonderfulness and so many incredible gifts of things I love including; lots of peonies, a beautiful dwarf cherry tree, many organic yummies, a floatation therapy session to have some time (something I’ve always wanted to try!) happy littles & of course.. great weather! I couldn’t have wished for more.

So what have you been upto this week? If you have a blog it’s not too late to join in with ‘Wordless Wednesday’. Just choose some photo’s from your week and share your post with us by using the ‘Linky’ button below…

If you haven’t got a blog I’d still love to hear what you’ve been doing so please feel free to leave a comment!

One Fine Friday…

…and I’m not referring to the weather, which continues to be unseasonably soggy for June.

There may have been grey sky’s overhead but but I’ve felt more sunny than I have in a good long while… Friday was a great day!

First off, I’d woken each morning this week completely exhausted – partially my own fault as I always go to bed much later than I should. Partly it’s because I’m getting more bump-tious and less comfortable – so more restless at night, and partly it’s these damn allergies! (to various things; mainly something seasonal but also to dust and a little to our cat)
..but this morning I was treated to a blissful hour and a half extra sleep, as lovely Papa Moon took over despite having to work late into the night ahead.
I woke feeling much happier, refreshed and less allergic.
One breakfast smoothie later and I was ready to take on the day!

..and there was A LOT to take on!
We rent our home and the letting agency come around to do fairly regular inspections.
I was mortified at the last one, as the place was such a mess. I’d let things slip a great deal while I was wiped out during the first few months of this pregnancy, but to be honest it wasn’t too brilliant to start with!
So this time I was determined to have the place looking lovely and clear and approaching some kind of orderliness. We were already getting there after a full couple of weeks of sorting, blitzing, and rearranging.. but this morning there was still HEAPS (pun intended) to do!
My wonderful mother-out-law arrived to occupy Mooncub, and I got stuck in, and like a woman possessed (or possibly a feistier version of Mary Poppins), I managed to create a relative wake of order and cleanliness as I moved through the house.

Papa Moon caught another couple of hours of sleep before getting up and chipping in, and his mum sprinkled a little of her magic in the kitchen.
By the time the agent came around in the afternoon the place was transformed, not the perfection I’m still aiming for.. but better than it’s been in years..possibly ever!
I was, and am still, totally delighted!

My lovely friend (mother of Bump-buddy) had Mooncub over at hers for lunch, while we applied the finishing touches. Then they all came back over for celebratory hot chocolates all around!
It was so great to watch the boys have more space to play, and then sit at Mooncub’s reinstated little play/drawing station, first with their mugs of lukewarm organic hot-chocs. and then to enjoy playing with aqua-beads – one of Mooncub’s favourite activities.
They also played cheerfully for a while with some dried runner beans that we all collected together just before spring, from what was left from our gardens last crop. It’s funny how those beans have provided just as much, if not more concentrated play time than any of his other actual toys. Hurray for the simple things!

Then my friend and I left the boys having fun with Papa Moon and Nanny-C, and hurried off to do a rare treat – a quick bit of supermarket shopping sans kiddo’s (honestly THIS is what it comes too!)
What joy to hurtle around the isles being able to think undisturbed.. to just concentrate on the task at hand and be done!
This supermarket sweep proved even more delightful for me though as I found three things which made me very very happy.

No. 1, They had own-brand Organic Cornflakes – I don’t normally do cereal but I’d really been craving cornflakes lately, however GM corn gives me the heebie-jeebies so this was a real find!
No. 2, They had own-brand Organic Granola – I didn’t know that I fancied this until I saw it too of course.
No. 3, They had own-brand Organic Ginger biscuits & Shortbread biscuits! - I’m ALL about biscuits at the moment.

We got back and I was able to feed everyone nice and quickly with some pasta I’d cooked a little earlier, which meant that, as neither of the boys had napped earlier, they were both set for an early night.
We said our goodbye’s as bump-buddies left, and then Papa Moon got set for work.

Mooncub & I then had a lovely peaceful time getting ready for bed.
First he spent some time giving our cat some much appreciated fuss as we watched the rain from the attic room window. We got his lovely little hands and face washed, teeth brushed, pottied and pyjama’d before climbing onto his little bed and cuddling up for a few books.
Next the sweetest cuddles before I reclined back on the other end of the bed, legs cradling his little form over the covers as he drifted easily into sleep… perfect!
It is rarely this easy, this sweet, or peaceful, but mainly it’s rarely 7.30pm!
Mooncub has inherited our ‘night-owl’ natures and is rarely able to settle before 9pm.

Having a whole evening to myself is a seldom luxury indeed, so I was keeping my fingers crossed that this good fortune would hold and I might have a much needed relaxing hot soak in the bath without interruption…. and it did! Bliss!

Then one last gift of the day..
I’d been the winning bidder the day before on a cot on Ebay with just £3.80!
This was because not many people would want a cot with the rails missing to slide the front up and down on, but for us this is perfect, we wont need one side, as we are planning to ‘sidecar’ it to our bed to turn it into a co-sleeping arrangement, to find out how to do this check out this great article by Dr. Momma.
The real treat was finding a message from the cot’s owner saying that they would be coming to our city the next day and could deliver the cot to our house, saving me driving 20miles and back to go pick it up.

After that I knew I was pushing my luck to try to watch a whole film on TV before retiring to bed, and so wasn’t too surprised or disappointed when little one awoke half way through the movie… besides he had the sweetest snuggles for me as he re-located (as he does every night) to our bed and we both settled back down to sleep… a very fine sleep.

(We had a great morning this morning too, I created a cute little Cooker in 10 minutes that kept Mooncub occupied for 2 hours!)