Halloween

For Halloween this year I couldn't bring myself to buy some tacky dress-up from Tesco for £10 a pop for the girls so I talked them round to choosing something from their extensive collection of dressing up clothes and treated them to a new 50p wand each! I didn't get a good picture of Esther, she was a princess witch, yes there is such a thing! She had this dress on with a witches hat and wand. When I took the picture she had already been to a 'little spooks tea party' at our neighbours house and couldn't seem to keep the lollipop our of her mouth long enough for me to take a decent picture! Eliza dressed up as 'dinderella' of course! Her favourite and I think it suits her so well.

Alice wore an outfit picked out by the girls and amazingly kept the tiara on all night!

Love this little cutie!

On the Saturday before Halloween it was the church trunk or treat activity and Halloween Carnival. Ben was at his brother Sam's stag weekend so I took the girls, we got there late but made it through all the carnival activities and Eliza won the dress up for her age category - she was so pleased, Esther felt it was a win for the team and didn't mind not winning hers. The trunk or treat was a hit with the girls - who wouldn't enjoy collecting free sweets from the boot of 20 cars?! As soon as we had been round we jumped in the car and headed home as it was well past the girls bedtime.

Dissappointingly we didn't get our pumpkins carved out in time for Halloween and they are still sitting outside the front door uncarved (minus the one I used to make pumpkin soup for dinner today...) We are planning on carving them ready for my parents arriving at the weekend but I'm not sure if it really will happen... Our evenings are just so busy this week (and last week). Luckily the girls didn't think anything of not going out treak or treating on the Sunday since we had had the trunk or treat the night before. We went out to an open house on Sunday afternoon for someone from church who flew out today to be a missionary in Australia so by the time we got back we'd missed most of the trick or treaters - now we also have about 50 lollipops which must leave the house soon or I will eat them as I have no self control. We didn't even get any Halloween decorations out as we had a house viewing on the 30th. Turns out he put an offer in on the house 4 doors down who had just reduced its price and had no forward chain. Boo hoo. The good thing is our house has stayed pretty tidy and it's been 4 days since the viewing!

Playing in the Rock Pools

One of the days on our holiday we set off in search of a beach on the south coast of cornwall. We wanted somewhere not too far from where we were staying as we had a doctors appointment for Alice (she had an infected nappy rash poor thing). We decided to go to a little coastal town called Looe 13 miles away which in Corwall takes as long as 30 miles anywhere else, teeny, indirect roads.When we got there we were initially a bit dissappointed to find no sandy beach but a rock beach. Actually, a beach full of rock pool and seaweed makes pretty interesting discovery time for both kids and parents! We had some nets, buckets and spades and the kids had a great time investigating the contents of the rock pool finding crabs, shrimps, lots of limpets etc. They also got a few war wounds slipping on the rocks and seaweed. Unfortunately this type of beach is no good for a baby. It was the middle of the day and actually pretty hot, there was no way of getting the pushchair down to the beach and nowhere flat or slightly soft to lie a baby down or even change a nappy and there wasn't even really a comfortable place for anyone to sit! It'll be a great place to go when the girls are just that bit bigger.
Here's Alice and Daddy enjoying a comfy seat on the beach: Esther (wearing Eliza's sun hat!) with Looe island in the background:

Eliza looking good in her funky pink outfit:

That nice warm feeling during church

Usually the nice warm feeling I get during church is the Spirit confirming truth or testifying to me but a couple of weeks ago I got a different kind of warm feeling... on my leg... Huggies had failed me .... big time... Alice got away relatively unscathed but I decided it would be best for me to go home and change. Luckily I had a bar of Zote soap at hand to get that nasty stain out and my skirt has survived as good as new! That's the first time this had happened to me but I don't know if it started an unpleasant ball rolling because this week Eliza had an accident on me too (luckily not the same type as Alice!). I think I'm going to have to start taking around a spare change of clothes for me as well as the kids! Thanks girls!

Changes

Babies change sooooo quickly. The other day I thought I saw something white in Alice's gums then dismissed it, Ben told me he thought she had a tooth but I didn't believe him either but today I discovered he was right, she has her first tooth come through! Who would have guessed? Just popped out of nowhere without any warning. She can also commando crawl and push herslef along by getting up on her knees or mostly her toes! It's pretty exciting but I think I'm going to have to ban the polly pockets from the living room...and all the stones the girls keep collecting and leaving on the floor, and the barbie shoes... and the fuzzy felts.... the list goes on...
She's doing pretty well for 5 1/2months!

Really only 3 months???

There is seriously something wrong with the clocks right now because supposedly Alice has only been with us for 3 months! It feels like she has been here such a long time. I don't think I took any pictures of her for about a month (just kept forgetting to buy those batteries for the camera...) but we made up for it a little bit this last week (thanks to Bex too). So here are a few things about Alice.

She has always been a great sleeper at nights and wakes up around 5am for a quick feed before going back to sleep. Entirely do-able as far as I'm concerned!

She is so patient with her big sisters - whether they are overly loving or Esther's lovely locks get in way or they especially like to yank on her feet when I'm holding her!

She hates the car seat! She can cry for a full hour in the car. Not pleasant but that is the only time she really cries, she doesn't even cry when she wakes up in the night.

People are always telling me how petite she is but she is actually pretty long - she has only just turned 3 months but the 3-6 months clothes fit her already fine! I think it's because she has a lovely petite little head and delicate features.

She loves to talk and dribble and laugh and especially likes it when you pretend to sneeze!

She is a snuggler and I love it! She just loves to cuddle in!

She likes to sleep on her tummy with her head pushed into the side of the moses basket and she somehow manages to manouver back over there after I move her back to the middle. I'm thinking she is going to need to go in the cot soon because she can roll/fall from her front to back and rocks the basket like crazy! Plus she is getting to be pretty long....

We loooooooooove her Royal Gorgeousness and are super glad she is ours! Here are some recent pictures:

Alice's blessing

Sunday 6th of June was Alice's blessing day. Nearly all our immediate family came to be there with us which was so nice.3 of my old friends for university came with their husbands and children too - the last time I saw some of them was at Eliza's blessing! It is so nice to catch up. Ben said he had been feeling nervous all week about giving her the blessing and when the time came he was really emotional and for those who know Ben he's not one for showing masses of emotion (probably a good thing since I'm the exact opposite...). It was a really wonderful blessing, she is a special little girl and we are so glad she is ours!
Again I didn't take any pictures but this is one that my friend Becky took... And a couple of the girls that Auntie Bexie took (she bought them the lovely matching dresses too)...

Afterwards we had some food at the chapel and got to spend time with everyone who had come to visit and some friends from the ward. It turns out there was a baptism the same day and we had enough food left to share with those who stayed for that! It was a great day with friends, family and good food!

Babies shouldn't be allowed to catch a cold.

It's so mean when little babies catch a cold! Not that Alice has a bad one but bad enough to keep her and therefore me awake during the night! Not fun... boo hoo.

Strange Placentas.....

After I'd had Alice the midwife came back into the room to tell me about my strange placenta! She said it was really calcified i.e. had lots of calcium deposits which either meant that I was a smoker or the placenta was really at the end of it's useful life. Obviously I don't smoke so this baby must have been really ready to come. She also said there was a whopper of a blood vessel on the top of the placenta which could have ruptured had my waters broken - not good, would have been a real emergency situation! Also the cord came out of the side not the centre which was unusual and also meant it could have ruptured more easily also apparently. After her telling me all this I was alone for a while whilst Ben went home to change, see the girls and sleep before he came back in the afternoon to pick me and Alice up. It gave me a bit of time to think about how blessed I was that my waters didn't break till she came out basically and all those weeks before hand we had been praying for Alice to come at the best possible time and that all would be healthy and well and to hear that actually something seriously horrible could have happened and didn't was a real testimony to me of prayers answered.

On Monday the Health Visitor came for Alice's 6 week check - she weighed 10lbs 8oz and was 58cm long - no wonder she has grown out of many of her 0-3 baby-gro's! I happened to mention to her the placenta story and she asked if there was a history of twins in the family. There is on my mum's side and Ben's brother's are twins. She said sometimes when the cord is not from the centre it's because there had been the possibility it that maybe at the very beginning of the pregnancy there were twins. Interesting.

Baby Alice

Hooray! Bex is home and has been set to work taking some pictures of my cute baby. Here is a little selection! If you want to see more of her amazing talent have a peek http://www.scarlettphotography.blogspot.com

I think this is my personal favourite...

Time is flying

How can it be that my 'newborn' is nearly/only 4 weeks old?? Feels like she's been here forever and I am really enjoying her! I think with my other 2 I always felt a bit more confident when they reached a couple of months old but this time I feel much more relaxed - maybe it's because I'm not too sleep deprived, thank you Alice and long may it continue! Babies change so fast - hurry home Bex, I need some decent pictures of my baby while she is still a baby!


Eliza has been having a few issues with wetting herself the past couple of weeks but it seems she is getting a bit better - we only went through 3 pairs of pants today! Still, I'd rather wash a few extra pairs of pants than change more nappies!

Esther is doing pretty well though her pre-school teacher took me aside on Monday and said Esther had a bit of a 'wobble' and kept asking for her mummy but after a few cuddles she cheered up apparently.

We survived the week without mum but she is back now for the weekend and to see Bex when she gets home on Tuesday - we're all pretty excited about that! It's been nice to get back into a routine and take charge of the house again!

Another little sucker?

Eliza is a big fan of her thumb - it seems Alice might be also! She flashed me a little cheeky smile (alright, probably wind....) whilst I got photographic evidence of her first thumb suck!

Sisters

We finally got some pictures of the girls with Alice! They are both being great with her, Esther is especially affectionate and wants to help with everything - getting her changed, changing her nappy, soothing her if she is crying. She likes to sing to her, talk to her, show her toys and generally be a great big sister. Eliza is pretty good too but doesn't understand the purpose of being quiet at times! If Alice starts crying Eliza tells me that the baby wants a drink of 'tummy juice'! It cracked us up the first time she told us!

Some pictures as promised!

Here are a few pictures of Alice when she was born. This is me (obviously) must have been an hour or so before giving birth - the gas and air life saver is hanging on the wall just behind me but was in full use not long after this picture! It was quite funny because Ben and I were doing a crossword with the midwife inbetween contractions! This is actually the same Delivery Room Esther was born in and the midwife was one who had I'd seen for my routine check-ups when I was pregnant with Esther! I got the room with the ensuite! The Delivery Ward was soooo quiet that day - I'm not even sure there was anyone else in except me! Shortly after birth - me looking glam!

The clock on the wall shows she was about half an hour old here - she was born at 8.28am.

All dressed and wrapped up sleeping!

We need to take more pictures! It's been a bit hectic though - Ben was back at work today full time - he has a lot of things to do and we figured since my mum is here he may aswell have time off when she is gone and things have hopefully quietened down a bit at work for him.

Alice is doing pretty well, looks just like her sisters but has dark hair! More to follow as there were quiet a few interesting details to tell but I must get some sleep before she wakes me up!

Easter Present

We got our 8lb 3oz Easter present this morning - Alice Bethany born at 8.48am! We're home now - I'll write more later!