happy halloween

Happy Halloween everyone ;o)

guess the nursery rhyme

After Evie had her lunch (orzo pasta salad if you are interested) yesterday and I was finishing my Venti Skinny Ethiopian Pumpkin Spice Latte (I blurt it out to the barista parrot fashion ;o)) I was singing nursery rhymes to Evie

It then occurred that I could take photos of her and everyone can try to guess what I am singing ;o) Its a lot less painful than hearing me singing and surprisingly enough Evie does tend to enjoy it ;o)

There are five in all and some are easier than others ;o)

Nursery Rhyme #1

Nursery Rhyme #2

Nursery Rhyme #3

Nursery Rhyme #4

Nursery Rhyme #5

expressing what she likes

Now that Evie is talking more and is more in control of her arm movements she is able to tell me what songs she likes ;o)

Yesterday she was running her hand up her arm for Hickory Dickory Dock I even elongate the wee for when the clock strikes three as Evie loves being tickled ;o)

Evie also likes following me about so recently I have been getting her to carry my fruit packets into the lounge and then James will open it for her and she can start eating it ;o)

Yesterday James wanted a half finished bottle of drink (I had gone out to make a cup of earl grey tea and get some grapes) so as Evie had followed me out I gave her the bottle to take back to James and then a minute later she was back with the empty bottle and by then I had washed the grapes so Evie carried them back in also ;o).

a staying in day I think

listening to the wind howling I think that we are going to stay in today...

...especially as we dont have anything that we need to do anyway!

Still I shall play it by ear and will see if the wind calms down and we can always pop out later on.

nowt on

Because it is half term this week all of the pre school childrens activities are off!

As it is at the library they have cut some of the tots tales session - instead of there being three on a Tuesday (as there still was before the summer holidays had started) they had been cut down to just one with that being at 10.15 as it is it is too early for me to be able to get into town for and the Tuesday early session always gets filled up early so I would have to get there 9.30 ish.

And yes I have completed the survey (I did it while I was in there in the week getting some more books for Evie)

So this week we have no Tumble Tots or Tots Tales but I am going to try and book Evie some swimming lessons (because the classes run for a whole term I will try to book it for after Christmas but it does say that for some classes they have a waiting list).

black sheep

As you know Evie is now saying more words...

...yesterday she started saying black sheep as in Baa Baa Black Sheep, me & James must have ended up singing it to her 20 times at least ;o)

Its funny really of all the songs that I sing to her that she likes that one as I would say that it was one of the more boring ones.

abrazar

Yesterday lunchtime (whilst James was taking Evie for her mid lunch stroll) a little Spanish girl (her parents were sitting at the table next to me)  came up to me and had her hands on her head like rabbit ears so I asked her if she was singing Little Peter Rabbit?

So I was singing it and doing all of the actions and she kept coming back and because I was talking to her she was playing where I was sitting ;o)

And then she put her head on me like she wanted to give me a cuddle ;o)  So I said to her look your Mummy is over there ;o)

But she still kept on coming over to me and her Mum was laughing saying that she didnt want to be with her and I said that we should swap ;o).

The little girl Lucia (pronounced Lukia) is a few months older than Evie, she and her parents then left and they waved goodbye to us.

fruit of choice

After  I had my dinner last night; I had a chicken and leek crispbake, kale and potatoes (Evie wasnt too impressed with the kale I can tell you, she pulled it out of her mouth again when I gave her a piece to try!).

I gave Evie a choice of fruit we could have; either mango, grapes or blueberries and Evie said blueberries ;o)

Tonight I will give her the choice of either mango or grapes and we can have more blueberries towards the end of the week ;o)

guess the smear

Me James & Evie were having a coffee in town this afternoon (before coming home to have some lunch)...

James must have been bored with mine & Evies company because he asked what I think the smear was on the window?

I looked at the smear and decided that my the colour of it it must be the sticky chocolate brownie swirl and James thinks that is the carrot cake.

As an asside as I have been typing this post and Evie was going shhh shhh shhh shhh...

...and James asked what she was doing so I said that she was singing "Im a scary spider" ;o)

grupdate

Yesterday I tried eating grapes again...

Luckily I didnt feel sick while eating them which was what was happening before and Evie even enjoyed eating them too - she was a bit hesitant at first but was soon coming back for more of them ;o)

I just have to make sure now that I dont buy them everyday ;o)

Trying grapes again

Yesterday while in Sainsburys I was well miffed to see that they didn't have any blueberries left so I ended up getting some raspberries instead which Evie loved eating.

So today I tried again in marks and spencers to get some they did have them but they were at just over £3 a packet so I decided to try myself on grapes again (esprcially as they were on offer).

I just hope that I dont start feeling sick while eating them (as I graped myself out whilst I was pregnant).

bokeh and Evie feeding her lima

This weeks Project Flickr is bokeh as with all of my photos its always hit and miss as to if it comes out well...

...yesterday I was giving Evie her dinner (or rather her finger foods before her dinner) and I decided to give the bokeh another shot ;o)

And it actually came out well ;o)

Evie had a cut up slice of pear for her dessert and she held out the fork so that she could feed lima (hes a hand puppet) so I got the camera out again ;o)

a few minutes

Evie normally has a nap in the day of between half an hour and two hours...

...not yesterday though!

We were coming back from town and Evie fell asleep (it was just before lunchtime) a few minutes later we were home,so James got her out and was carrying her upstairs and she woke up.

So she had her lunch - we tried her on some super noodles James made her up half a packet but used the whole packet of seasoning in it!  She didnt eat much more than a few spoonfuls.  James knows that if I had done it for her then I wouldnt have added any of the seasoning.

So I ended up doing her some rice but she didnt eat too much of that either but at least with the two things combined she didnt do too badly.

And then she had her yoghurt.

So I expected her to fall back asleep after her lunch but no she didnt.

It was then coming up for her dinner time and I thought she will probably fall asleep while eating her dinner (which is what she tends to do if she hasnt had her nap) but no she had her dinner and her bath...

...by this tinme I thought ok she is definitely going to keep going until bedtime and she ended up falling asleep on the floor at 8pm (her bedtime is normally 9pm) and she was so sleepy that we just changed her nappy and didnt bother doing her bedtime cup of milk.

She has slept straight through (so far) so not having her milk last night hasnt left her hungry ;o)

she doesnt like jumpers

Ever since the Christmas things have come out (in August for those of you not in blighty) I have been on the lookout for clothes for Evie (might as well take advantage of the fact that she wont refuse to wear something because it looks lame to the full ;o).

All of the shops that have got Christmas clothes in have really nice looking jumpers but Evie doesnt like jumpers so I have been on the lookout for long sleeved t-shits and dresses.

I have managed to get her a few bits so far but am still on prowl for other bits ;o)

I am still working my way through seven months of podcasts and have just started listening to bump club it is interesting and would have been good to listen to when I was pregnant.

Evie has also been saying sets of words...

She can now say "no more" for when she has had enough to eat - I make sure that I take away her food when she says it so that she knows to say it only when she has had enough!  Not sure if its sinking in yet with her though!

She can also say "scuse me" for excuse me and I get her to say it when she has sneezed ;o)

And she also says "oh dea" for oh dear when she has dropped something ;o)

We get a lot of "oh dea"'s ;o)

didnt want to sit with me

I took Evie with me to the library yesterday for Tots Tales and she kept on walking to the book rack to get books out and then the lady running it came to sit down so Evie decided to sit on the rug at the front (and not with me :o().

The lady doing it did tickle Evie for open shut them and held her hands for row row your boat, but she did miss out on being picked up for the grand old duke of york, the wheels on the bus and down in the jungle (which are the bits that she enjoys most) but she did seem to enjoy herself anyway ;o)

While I was there one of the other Mums told me that there was a photo of me in last weeks Essex Chronicle so I asked her "it isnt Chelmsfords most wanted is it?" and she said no and that I was looking at a wooden arch ;o)

Then I remembered the Sensations festival that was on a couple of weekends ago and I was holding Evie while having a go at using a "laser harp" not sure what it was called ;o)

Typically I missed out on buying the paper by one day but I did manage to get a couple of photos of the article from the libraries copy ;o)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambernectar/10202282345/in/photostream/

click on the flickr link if you want to read the article ;o)

first Christmas bits and downloads for Evie

Last night I finally listened to the last of my 95 Steve Wright podcasts ;o)...

...so I was then able to start listening on my fancy schmancy new player ;o)

So this morning I set about putting songs and podcasts on my old player for Evie - I think that I will put them on tonight for her when she is having her bath ;o)  I did think about putting them on when she is having her breakfast but they would be a bit of a distraction!

Yesterday I was using the facilities in Mothercare and decided to look at their clothes whilst we were in there ;o)

I found this dress which she can wear for her birthday and Christmas and her this Christmas top ;o)

I even mentioned to the shop assistant that last year I managed to dress Evie in a Christmas outfit every day throughout December ;o)

counting higher than her age

On Sunday evening James was in the kitchen with Evie and he came out and said "you wont believe this but I think that Evie just counted to two" ;o)

And she then came into the lounge (where I was tidying her toys for the millionth time) and she counted to two for me too;o)

Its funny really because last week I was telling Evie to do something and I started to count to three...

So I said one and then Evie piped up and said two herself ;o)

I was so proud of her saying two after I had said one that I didnt hurry her along.

I did a video motion picture yesterday of Evie counting ;o)

spending points

On Friday I mentioned that I may be able to get a new music player.

James had decided to let his Mum try the shuffle player (he did manage to get it charging again) as she will be going into hospital soon for some surgery (she is expected to be staying in for a week).

I was talking to James about it and he said that I should treat myself (as I hardly ever treat myself), so as Evie was refusing to go to have her nap yesterday afternoon I decided to take Evie out in her buggy and walk down to Argos so that I could get my new player and I got a case for it too ;o).  And I managed to spend my Nectar points so didnt cost a penny ;o)

And I will call it my Christmas present ;o)

Evie eventually had her nap as we were looking around in Next I was very disappointed with their Christmas clothes as they were just jumpers and Evie makes a real fuss if I try to put a jumper on her! ;o)

I will give the player that I am using at the moment to Evie (as the buttons can be locked) once I have finished listening to the 95 Steve Wright podcasts ;o)

I am currently loading the new player with the unlistened to bits ;o)

chocolate advents

This morning we were in Sainsburys doing our shopping and I had a look down the seasonal aisle (as I usually do) and I saw that they had their advent calendars out and even better there was an offer 2 for £5 (for the more decent ones) ;o)

So I got myself this one and Evie this one ;o)  I even let her chose which one she wanted ;o)

no more bottle

We usually give Evie her bedtime milk in a bottle, last night we tried giving it to her in a sippy cup...

...I was worried that she was going to throw a wobbly, but she was ok and seemed to like drinking her milk out of it ;o)

She did spill a little bit in her cot but it wasnt a lot.

Yesterday I dug out my old mp3 player so that we could load it up with stuff for Evie to listen to, but because I havent used it since 2008 we couldnt get it to charge up yesterday, so James has taken it to work with him to see if leaving it charging all day will help.

Im hoping that I can get a new device out of this and let Evie have my old one (as you can lock the buttons on it).

I would get it from Argos so that we can use our nectar points (so no actual cash will be involved ;o)).

ordering Mummys Christmas present

For the last couple of days I have been compiling Evies present wish list (its especially hard finding stuff around £15 as there is also her birthday too).

As luck would have it we were walking past Boots and their gift guide was out so I nabbed a copy so that I could have a gander when James takes Evie out for her mid lunch walk ;o)

So I was looking through the guide and most of the categories now say "find more online" I tend to look online for stuff now anyway but its not very fair on those people who dont have or refuse to use the internet!

Anyhow I saw that Philosophy have their Christmas products out so I saw one that I liked the sound of the sweet fluffy cupcake bubble bath and decided on our way home that I would pop in store to order it (on the off chance that it would be in stock).

Last year they werent in stock until the beginning of December and I was well miffed to say the least.

Anyway so I go in store find the Christmas aisles and see that they dont have any philosophy products and then I find the order forms fill out all of my details and go and find a till...

...while I was queuing I spied some Cadburys Sceam Eggs on sale 2 for £1 so I picked up a couple - finally I got to the till told the cashier that I would like to place an order for a store pick up (fully expecting him to tell me that they werent in stock yet) and he told me that they were in stock - yay ;o)

So I told James on my way home that I have ordered my Christmas present from Evie ;o)

booking 2nd birthday bash

Because of Eves birthday being so close to Christmas I like to book her birthday lunch early...

...me & James were umming and ahhing about where to book...

...we finally decided on Wagamama after our lovely meal in Bath and it was my second favourite meal while we were away ;o).

As James has booked off the week of Evies birthday we have booked the lunch to have in the week ;o)

And unlike Frankie & Bennys last year they didnt try to push us to have their Christmas menu!