Lots of water play in July!

July has been such a fab month. Yes I realise it is not yet over but I had a spare half hour so thought I would crack on...

LOVING the sunshine. Don't seem to remember it being predicted which makes it all the better (nothing worse than to expect a summer and get just a another milder version of winter...like last year). And we have had some really great weekends.

Seeing our Scottish rellies again a few weeks ago was a real treat. The whole family met up for hot dogs, ginger beer and eton mess in the sunshine. And 'Uncle Al' had created a mud kitchen in the garden. You have never seen anything so exciting for a child, in fact I would have happily had a few hours playing myself (for more photos of exactly what a mud kitchen involves see http://abcdoes.typepad.com/abc-does-a-blog/2013/07/make-a-mud-kitchen-its-a-must.html)

We also had a trip to The Lakes with our lovely friends, The Miltons. On previous trips Mabel has been slightly nervous of their huge dog Daisy, who although friendly is a little boisterous. Not so this time (check out baby Monty taking a dive in the background!)

Pretty much the entire three days was spent in or around water whether paddling at the lake, in the paddling pool or the small stream that runs through their garden.

We had a really lovely break including days out on a boat, an open top bus ride and fish and chips in the park. Not to mention evening barbeques, some girls' free time shopping/drinking wine in the sun and even a game of Cluedo! We picked up some ginger and rhubarb jam (mmmm) from a little cottage opposite this quaint village hall...

The bus was much faster than we realised and shortly after this picture we had a near miss from a passing tree which nearly whipped Monty in the face. Adrenalin loving Mabes was in her element:

The weather also made for a lovely day at Greenhead Park in Huddersfield with our NCT friends. You have to love a well maintained and managed park space. Greenhead Park was renovated a couple of years ago and now has an huge open paddling pool, great play areas (including den making materials and water pipes etc), a lovely cafe and miniature train rides. Since all being back at work we haven't met up as a group for a long time so it was great to see our now big girls playing together and generally catching up on everyone's news. 

Aside from that we continue to fit as much as possible into our lives. G Kisby has been busy doing his last assignment of the year for his masters course and we have been viewing houses as much as possible since working out that we can (just about) afford to rent our house out rather than sell (since we can't find a buyer). We did get an offer but it was low and they hadn't sold their house so I guess it was pointless. Curses to the slow housing market. We are both a bit unsure of the whole renting thing but since neither of us have a pension perhaps it will turn out to the best option. We'll see.  

August is likely to be just as busy if we manage to find a house but very exciting....

Did I mention...

Post pregnancy pilates? If I didn't then I meant to. First time round I didn't do anything toning wise, I wasn't massive even by the end and Mabel was such a non sleeper I spent hours walking the streets with her so didn't feel I had to.

With Wilf it has been very different - perhaps this time my body wasn't quite so 're-boundable' (such a word? If not it should be) and I have struggled to get my stomach back to normal. The muscles still haven't properly knitted together and I am really conscious of still looking pregnant. He is also very heavy to carry around and I do find myself with dreadful posture.

So I have been going to a really good baby friendly pilates class. And they don't just say it is baby friendly, it actually is. How thrilled am I to have found it.

I had bought a dvd and tried to find on YouTube ways to re-knit stomach muscles because i knew you could do more damage by just doing sit ups. But actually I don't think there is any substitute for a good instructer since I now realise that when I claimed I could pretty much do the entire dvd and not ache the day after it was very much that I was doing it wrong. 

And what else has been going on. Well I have been continuing to try and wind down my breastfeeding. Easier said than done. I've had awful mastitus (fully in bed with 'flu' like symptoms, that whole switching between changing jammies due to sweat followed by shivering over a hot water bottle. Even woke G Kisby up in the night in tears because I thought I was losing my mind talking jibberish. In hindsight just my temperature but not nice. Made me realise how lucky I am not to have felt that ill for such a long time.  In fact I can't remember the last time). G Kisby had to stay off work but a course of antibiotics sorted it out.
(not sure why this bit is green, can't seem to get it to go back?)

Things are now loads better and I am pretty much finished. The only issue is that I have kind of stopped using my left boob in favour of my right. I didn't think this through. I have the most ridiculous looking boobs in the world. When I go swimming I have to use Wilf as a human shield as I get in (not hard, even with one 'Jordon' boob he covers me up). People must think I have had a boob job but could only afford one side. One boob is literally knocking about in my massive feeding bra while the other is trying to get out the sides. Curses, dam this not thinking things through.

Mabel has also started potty training. I will leave the gory details until my next post (yes they are gory, why does cleaning a nappy feel very different to sorting out a full size poo in a potty. Or, er not in the potty. But definitely in the heat. Blurgh). 

And I have also been lucky enough to have that first experience (which I am sure all parents must have) of the door being opened by your toddler in a public toilet while you are having a wee. Mine just happened to be the toilet in the swimming pool changing rooms. So yes, I was pretty much naked. And in my dart to the door I pretty much soaked my own swimming bottoms. On this occasion I chose to follow the rules and shower before entering the pool.

No pictures, can't get them off my ridiculously old phone (doesn't even have predictive text, smashed mine and had to get one 'out the drawer' - you know the kitchen drawer I mean?)

More to follow... 

Wilf at 8 months, Mabel at 2.6

Wilfie boy is changing loads at the moment.

He has started pointing at things (I have been playing to his interests and he will recognise pictures in a book, namely banana, apple, you see where this is going...) His signing is ace, he signs for drink, all done and 'clean hands'. Hmm, all food related again. Turns out he doesn't actually sign for 'all done' regularly enough. I sign for 'all done' and he gets cross. 

He is also starting to love toys that actually do things which I personally find a bit more fun.

He rolls across the floor at some speed and is right on the verge of crawling. He will pull himself up on things and does the same thing Mabel did which is climb onto any thing or one that has been silly enough to sit close to him. I found him wrestling Mabel the other morning. They were laughing but it was only a matter of time. And I don't reckon our 8 month old was going to be the one crying.

They still get on really well. Only once this month have I had to rush through to find Wilf screaming on his back and Mabel looking sheepish on the sofa. I resisted the urge to judge too soon asking, "what happened?" rather than, "what did you do to him?"
"Wilfie fell over and banged his head"
"Yes I see, how did that happen"
"Was an accident"
"So how did it happen?"
No answer. Continues to look sheepish standing well away from the scene of the crime.
Wilf continues to scream, think he must have got a fright since he is usually pretty hardy. The screams obviously hit a nerve.
"Sorry Wilfie"
"You don't need to say sorry if you didn't do anything. Did you push him?"
"Yes"
(hmm thought so. At least she has a conscience!)

Mabel's current obsession is 'favourites'. I think she has just got the hang of this concept since she now asks and tells you her favourite everything from colour to song. If you try and give an opinion she will normally tell you that can't be your favourite and then tell you what is. Hasn't fully got the concept then. 

She continues to be 'spirited'. The best only way to channel this is to let her think she is the one making the decisions and give her lots of responsibility. I am thinking we can just carry on this way until school when we can let someone explain that she can't always be the leader. Good luck with that. 

She has also taken to talking to anyone and everyone. Nice in the shop when it is an old lady and it clearly makes their day. Less so when it is the 18 year old at the reception desk at the pool who she is clearly making feel very uncomfortable (when does social awareness come?) or waves like the Queen from her pram saying "hello" as we pass random strangers on the street. I was pretty shy as a child whereas when at a recent birthday party she was dancing for a group of people she didn't know, asking another to help her get a plate from the buffet and showing another person her 'fat tummy'. It makes me uneasy watching her. It is hard because I'm not sure I like the trait of 'showing off' or wanting to be centre of attention but should you try and stop it? She hasn't learnt it from us so it must be nature. I am conscious that I don't want to dampen her natural confidence and social side because I don't always feel comfortable with it.

Although the changes are less obvious as they get older I am still fascinated and amazed by how much she knows and learns every day. She recalls events now from some time ago,
"We went to the museum and then went to the cafe and I had a banana and climbed into the chair my own self"
(er, yes we did)

It is really strange that we are slowly not becoming the centre / most popular people in her universe,
"No, Aunty Fee feed me my beans" the other day was met with a, "what the hell?" under my breath.
Thinking this will be something we need to get used to. Particularly with Uncle Al around, they spend time making magic potions using wooden sticks and he whips up snappable play dough in about 5 minutes. 

Here is our boy with his Pierre Duck. Notably I couldn't get him to keep hold of it this month for launching himself forward, which I thought told a story in itself: