#frankiefox, crafty hooking and Sarah and Duck!

Frankie is a very
handsome fox!

We've been trying to go on an adventure a week - especially now we have Frankie Fox in tow (I'll introduce him in a minute). We've been getting the small one out and about now she's more interested in things, and she is a particular fan of the great outdoors (read: trees. leaves, dogs) and while she's not walking it's nice to pop her in the tula or a wrap and let her look around while I have a nice long walk through a forest, park or field while we have the dog.
It's been nice to spend time as a family as well, and spending our time outside is even nicer, especially as the weather seems a lot better at the moment.

Spotted: Baby Gruffalo

Anyway, We (read: Harper) picked up a little stuffed fox toy in our local Morrisons and at a fiver, I couldn't really say no, I'm quite partial to a cute fox toy anyway! So we picked him up and paid for him and he has since been christened Frankie Fox and taken everywhere with us. Everywhere, we have even tried putting Frankie fox down the toilet for an exploratory mission - thankfully he was caught in the nick of time because I can't imagine that would have made for very nice pictures... I have started a little hashtag on twitter to document his whereabouts, if you want to see what he's been up to check out #frankiefox
We have been to the seaside, we have been in the garden and we have been to a
HUGE country park near us on a gruffalo hunt (which was enjoyed all the more by Harper off-roading in her smart trike - not a smart idea at all)

Frankie at the beach

It's so nice to get outside after months of dreary, grey, wet and cold crappy weather, and it's nice to appreciate the sunshine (while we get it) with Harper this year as well - even if it would be much easier if she would just walk already! She's taken a few steps but she's just not interested, and to be fair if I could get away with not walking, I would too!
I have also very recently learned to crochet! And I have a BIG project on the go at the moment, but can't show you until the luck recipient has received his present (for father's day, not long so I had better get a wiggle on) and I am going to be making Harper some Sarah and Duck toys because it is a fabulous cartoon and I love it - Harper isn't bothered one bit, but I need an excuse and a 14 month old who enjoys a little bit of cbeebies is the perfect one! Really though, if you haven't checked out Sarah and Duck yet, do! It's like a bunch of hipsters made a cartoon for their little hipster children and it's just adorably obscure and witty and I actually enjoy it more than my child, so it's got the grown up factor in there too, it's fab and I love it!

Belated Easter fun, growing, changing and loving!

Not even a little bit happy about her
bunny ears...  

Well, it's been a while (again) and a lot has changed (again) and Harper is growing by what seems like the second! She is still not big by any means - at 19lbs 11oz and 73cm long, she's a diddy dot - but so much bigger than she was yesterday, or she feels like it anyway.

She's saying more and more words, and knows the sign for Mr. Tumble now too - and she's enjoying her sing and sign classes (well, she's enjoying crawling around and causing havoc, I am the one doing more of the singing and the signing).

She's growing in to a proper little kidlet now, and looking less like a baby, she isn't quite walking, she's taken a few steps here and there but she's not really got the confidence to let go of things as she walks, but she's a bit of a pro when it comes to running the walker/pram/anything that holds her up in to my ankles - and thus we are learning the meaning of the word 'no', so much so that I think perhaps she thinks it's her name?

After the results of the recent general election, I'm a little bit torn as to what to do with her education, but I suppose I have plenty of time to think about it still. I am however beginning to find little montessori activities for her to do to keep her entertained and busy. She loves helping and she loves the phone too, she will have a real conversation with her toy phones, the remote pressed to her ear and most recently, a banana and it makes me wonder if perhaps I talk to much! She holds it to her ear and says 'Iya!! *insert loud, baby noises and chatter with the occassional word thrown in* BAH! *waving*' and then the phone gets chucked on the floor normally - to start the process again. She's so entertaining these days and an absolute joy to watch!

Brushing Rigby, immensely proud of herself!

Her and our dog Rigby are best friends, even closer than they were before - unfortunately we lost our beautiful little black and white cat who was very tolerant of an overly excited and loving baby and we all felt the loss, even Harper did I think. But Rigby is brilliant with her, of course she's never left alone with him, but they play together and they have their

morning nap together and it's just beautiful!

I'm going to leave you with a beautiful picture of them napping together for now - but I'll be back soon (probably not!)

Food for thought...

I think they should make an attachment parenting bingo!

We have a one year old!

On the 19th it was Harper's first birthday! This bog has become somewhat neglected as late but a lot has kind of changed or been affirmed but more on that later...

My baby is ONE! That went so fast I barely had time to blink! My tinker is now standin, crawling as causing all sorts of havoc and I don't think it'll be long until my baby is a toddler (she's not a toddler yet babycenter stop telling me she is!!)
She had a wonderful day and was very, very spoiled by the whole family and will have a lot of things to do outside this summer and I can't wait!
She's learning new things every day and she keeps growing over night I'm sure of it - she blows kisses, sings twinkle twinkle with the actions and incy wincy spider and if you're happy and you know it - she also likes to clap herself when she's finished. She points to people if you ask where they are and she barks when you ask her what noise a doggy makes (she also barks if you ask her what noise a kitty makes, but you know...) she has taken one step but hasn't done so since and really I'm not too bothered she will do in time and she's difficult enough to keep up with these days as it is!
She is an entertaining little character as well and she knows what she wants (and doesn't too) and she is growing in front of me and I'm so lucky to get to watch it all happen!

Christmas, Tula love and a little bit ofweight loss!

Our OTW Tula, isn't it gorgeous??

Wow, I have somewhat abandoned this for a little while, but everything's been going in a little bit of a whirl lately, and Harper is taking much more watching and chasing... She is learning something new every single day and getting cheekier with it by the minute! My previous post talked a bit about our new tula, that we got in November, we have since added another to our arsenal and there is another on the way - but we will be selling the first to make room for it soon. We have used the pram once since November, ONCE. I keep the pram on stand by purely because I still have problems with my back and hips post partum (the joys of an epidural where my back's concerned but we're still trying to work out just how to fix the hip thing...)
ANYWAY, Harper will not sleep when we are out normally, she will get tired and whinge because she won't sleep but she won't sleep no matter how tired she is - at least not in the pram and I think has only done it once since she was a newborn and slept all the time anyway. Well, the babywearing has changed that, and she will get tired (and a little grabby with her tiny knife fingernails) and then she will put her head on my chest and fall asleep, leaving me to do my food shopping in peace without worrying whether people are getting irritated at a baby crying - which I know I shouldn't worry about, but I do - we quite often get comments saying how happy she is and how smiley she is, and she is happy, she is happy that she gets to look about when we're walking, she's happy that she gets to grab me in the face as we're walking, she's happy that she's close to me or her Daddy! What baby wouldn't be? We do of course get less polite comments, one tat stuck out to me was 'she'll never learn to walk if you're carrying her!' - ONE: She is NINE MONTHS OLD we aren't quite aiming for that yet and TWO: How would she be learning to walk if she was in a pram? But blah to the naysayers, we have happier baby and a happier mummy too because it makes trips out much less stressful.


Harper's Evil grin!

Nearly two months have passed since my last post, in which Harper was 8 months, she's now 9 and a adorable), she waves to everyone for everything, and she waves a little bit like the queen which is funny, she claps and thinks she's clever - she claps when she's pooped now too, which is... something? She has the cheekiest smile you've ever seen, and she also has an evil grin, which entertains the family no end! She is growing and learning before my very eyes, and in a way it's affirming that I am doing something right for her, which is very reassuring!
half months, starting to get herself around a room (I don't know how), pull herself up to stand (or for a cuddle, which is
Speaking of me! I started Slimming World on the 26th November, so it's now been almost 6 weeks - and I have lost 14 and a half pounds! I have a long way to go until target, but it's feeling much more reachable now than when I started! I guess my competitive streak helps in that I want to be getting slimmer of the week and slimmer of the month (I have gotten slimmer of the week twice, and my first month I got slimmer of the month, result!).
Anyway, I am going to leave this here until the next time - hopefully before Harper's first birthday... I can't believe how soon that's going to come up! We are moving her to a bigger bedroom and decorating it for her so she can fit all her Christmas presents in it - honestly I have never seen (or heard) so many toys!

Harper playing with her shape sorted and being taught by her cousin - she loved Christmas!

Baby wearing and festivities!

We have been having adventures in baby wearing since my last post, I got my first tula a couple of weeks ago and we haven't used the pram since! I love it! It's supportive, it's comfy for me and for Harper and it's good for her legs. You can front and back carry with it (though we've only been so brave as to try front carrying so far) and it's lovely! Harper never sleeps in her pram she gets cross and whines about being tired, but never sleeps, yet we have had none of that using the tula at all! I am so impressed by it, I love it!

I haven't posted in a little while because my computer is out of commission, so I am currently posting in my phone (which is a pain in the bum). We have got the tree and some lights up now though, and Harper has just turned 8 months! She's growing so fast!

Hopefully my computer will be fixed soon and I can wrote a better post, but for now I can thoroughly recommend the tula baby carrier!

Finger painting and puppy cuddles

Lots of fun was had with
our edible finger paint

We have been looking on pinterest a lot lately since we got Harper's yumbox (see my previous post, there will be more about that soon!) and we discovered lots of different edible finger paints recipes, so we figured we'd give it a little go!

A masterpiece,
I am sure you will agree

We have a bunch of baby rice and stuff that we never used and probably never will so I decided to pop a bit of food colouring in that and see how we diddled - it was a great success! She really enjoyed herself - more "paint" on her than the paper, but a good time was had by all nonetheless. She really enjoyed squishing the paint in her hands and er... throwing it across the room too. She painted her first picture and once it's dry (providing it keeps) it'll go on the fridge until she's 20 probably, if it doesn't keep I have a photo of it that I will print out and keep on the fridge instead, with her name and age on it. I really enjoyed doing this with her, of course she sits on her own now but I sat just behind her and watched her have fun and it was nice for me to watch (despite the colourful baby rice that is encrusted on my jeans now).

After all her painting she was quite tired, so we put her in her bouncy chair (that she's pretty much outgrown, but still loves) for a nap, and the dog got in and joined her, making probably the cutest thing that's ever happened ever happen in our house - shortly before I fished him out because he's not allowed in there, which woke her up and I got this beautiful picture. That's one for the album!