New Baby Cousin

Lorenzo, Joel & Ollie

Ollie and Joel now have a cousin join them in the Edwards clan.

Baby Lorenzo born at 4.48am on 30th May, weighing 7lb 12oz. Although Ollie has adopted the name Puzzle for some unknown reason but it's very sweet.

Not sure how Ollie will react to more Grandma and grandad sharing.

Couldn't believe how big Joel looks in comparison, they grow so quickly.

Brothers with sons

I always find babies such an exciting event. Maybe it's the innocence and starting fresh.

Two friends are having second babies towards the end of the year :)

OMG....I Had Sleep

I'm amazed at Joel he's only three and a half months old and he only woke up once during the night last night woohoo! Which meant mummy actually got some sleep.
The two nights before he woke up at 2am then around 6am which was also pretty amazing for his age. I do wonder though if it is because he's catching up on sleep as the night before that he had an awful cough which meant he constantly woke up so that night both of us didn't get hardly any sleep so you can imagine how I was feeling the day after having an active nearly two year old all day as well :(

Overall he's a quiet, content little boy and not much trouble at all. He loves to watch Ollie and me going about our day and he responds with lots of smiles. He's so different from Ollie as a baby as he was hard work from day one with crying all the time, never let us put him down and would never sleep much until about 14 months, he was and still is exhausting.

Three Month Old Joel

Three months on, My little man has grown so much in that time and starting to burst out of his 0-3 month sleep-suits. He is still feeding a lot especially at night so every 2-3 hours I'm up but I'm wondering if this week if he has been going through yet another growth spurt or maybe I'm not producing enough milk.

I felt Joel's sleeping became more predictable in the recent weeks which I was handling ok because I had some 4-5 hour periods of him sleeping in his Moses basket but as I say it has gone back to 2-3 hours in the last week which really does make the difference to my mood as I feel so tired all the time and become irritable quickly. Questions like do I want to continue breast feeding arise as I'm thinking I will struggle to get him to take a bottle later on as the last time I expressed he wasn't happy until I gave in and gave him the boob but I really don't want to breast feed beyond teeth.........ouch! Even the thought sends shivers down my spine.


Ollie still has a bottle of milk at night for bed which is not easy to stop. We've managed to cut down to one only but he sees it as his bedtime routine and a comfort but he's two next month. It just makes me think if it is hard to give up a bottle will it be hard for Joel to give up the breast. I really don't want to be breast feeding a toddler.

Joel has also became incredibly alert over the last few weeks, he watches Ollie a lot. He has been trying to talk to us with sweet little coos and gurgles. His smile also turns into a little chuckle.

I cant believe how quickly it has gone. 

Sling or Buggy?

Each time we wonder out of the house I have been putting off using a double buggy by putting Ollie in his single buggy and Joel in a sling because I know Joel will sleep most of the time if carried and I know I will be able to get into places with a single buggy, but I'm now wondering if using a sling every time I go out with Joel is a good idea as could it be the reason he is so clingy and that he's a happier baby if he's held all the time which is most of the day and night.
Even though it keeps him asleep it can be difficult to do anything with a baby strapped to you constantly and it gives you a bad back but I keep thinking its exercise and it could help me lose weight plus it gives me peace.

Do you think I'm doing more harm than good using a sling?

My Little Man - 8 Weeks

Another week older and little Joel seems less fragile than he was with his chunky legs and a double chin. He's sleeping less in the day as he's started discovering the world around him but he's still a little piglet and feeds pretty much every two hours unless I'm walking about with him in the sling. Night time sleeping hasn't really changed.

Ollie seems to be a lot better with him lately although now he tries to pick him up which is a bit scary. 
Today I put Joel on his lap so Ollie decided to stroke him and point out his nose, mouth, eyes, tummy which was very sweet. He cried when I took him away bless him.

It has been a while

It has been a while since my last post way back in November but while heavily pregnant I hadn't felt very fashionable and attractive in fat clothes so paused the outfit posting.

I had my second baby boy on 28th December so I've been lounging around in pjs and fat clothes for the past three weeks.
I now have the urge to clear out my wardrobe of many clothes to see what I should keep, sell or give to charity so I can make way for the new when my body starts to shrink (hopefully).

I had some great Christmas presents in the way of shoes (from previous wish list posts) but couldn't wear them as my swollen feet and expanding heavy belly didn't allow me to but now baby is out and it's a brand new year I hope to bring some more style posting........watch this space.

See one of my last dress ups a week before I gave birth:
Black and gold sequin top from select
Good old black maternity leggings from an eBay shop.
Velvet jacket cover up which is years old so not sure where I got this one.

New Arrival

I would like to welcome my new arrival Joel Luke Alain Edwards who was born this morning at 9.37 am, weighing 8lb 15 oz. 

7 hour labour which was incredibly painful with just gas an air and a sudden entrance with an added rip so you can imagine how that felt. I think it even shocked the midwife at how quickly my baby boy came out. My reaction was uh I did it, it's over.

I just know I never want to go through birth again I've now done it twice, both very different but equally painful.

Three Years Married

It was my 3rd anniversary yesterday, I can't believe how quickly it has gone.

It's a lot harder to celebrate now we have our little man, last year he was only 9 days old so it was all about him and this year I thought I would surprise my husband and take the day off work but we ended up looking after the little terror and running errands.
Our first anniversary we spent travelling around Scotland which was pretty amazing, hopefully we can do that again some day.

Last month I read a post by fellow blogger Rachel the Hat celebrating her 2nd wedding anniversary with pictures of her budget wedding so I thought I would do the same.

 Here goes my wedding in pictures.

Me & my Daddy

Moments before seeing my groom

You are Husband & Wife

Our Guests

Mum, dad & mother & father in law

My Brother , new sister & brother in law

Narrow boat ride for all

Cutting Our Cake





Speeches



Our first dance

Caricature

Our day is over

We had a pretty special day considering we were on a tight budget, but I don't think it looked cheap. We had a late afternoon ceremony which was in a registry office (it was a pretty ugly room but you aren't in there that long) so we didn't have a sit down meal which saved us a fortune. Our wedding car, photography and cake we're at a huge discounted cost due to family friends or friends providing the service. My dress was brought in a closing down sale. Our band was 'Chris Cole and the rockets' which my dad is in so was free to me. My Father in law was just setting up a video company so our wedding was the practise (Northill Video) you can see a clip of our video on you tube.
 Our reception was at a small venue next to a canal who provided a buffet for the evening which was our biggest cost. We had a boat trip for our guests before the evening reception to make up for not having a sit down meal.
And we loved our caricaturist (well worth the money) and made the evening for us and our guests as they could take something away with them. 


If you are planning a wedding and have a small budget see if you know anyone who can provide a service or maybe do things yourself. I made our invites and put together bits and pieces for the tables such as love hearts and confetti. Disposable camera are great for tables as you catch great moments from guests with these.

Hope you like the pics.



My Baby Is One

I can't believe my little man is one.

One of the first pics of Ollie

I keep thinking back to last year and trying to remember how I felt as I had a very long painful experience of childbirth (I thought it was anyway). 

I've probably been driving my hubby mad at the weekend by saying do you remember this time last year at certain points in the day. It all started at 6.15am on 15th and after paracetamol, pethidine, gas and air and an epidural he eventually arrived on 16th at 12.39pm. 

The little guy didn't want to come out so it looked as though I might have to have a c-section which scared the life out of me but they said they would try a vontose and/or forceps first. I hated the idea of forceps as I heard some awful stories about how they can damage your baby but I was prepped for theatre and about 10 medical staff surrounded me while they tried forceps and all I could hear was push...push...push but I couldn't feel anything, it was such a surreal experience then I heard "it's a boy" which I couldn't quite believe and just said did I just hear that right as we were expecting a baby girl but both of us said well that's got to be Ollie then which was the only name we had for a boy. I wasn't disappointed just excited and overwhelmed by the whole experience.

14.04.12 Cake

14.04.12 Presents

One year on and he is a lively,loud, cheeky but gorgeous little boy.

Unfortunately we had my grandads funeral on his actual birthday on the 16th which was rather gutting but he still managed to steal the attention and make people smile. 
We made up for it over the weekend with a family party and an outing to a soft play centre with a couple of Ollie's little friends the day before. 

15.04.12 Playing with friends

I am  a proud mummy to a toddler

16.04.12  I AM ONE

Being Back At Work

Last week was extremely hard leaving my little guy then I had five days off for Easter after starting back (that would be nice if that was every week), but it was filled with illness as my little man hasn't been well and I was just exhausted.
Ollie is normally very active, he doesn't stay still for a second but over those few days he wanted lots of cuddles and loved just sitting on the sofa curled up in my arms which was actually rather nice and he slept more, but it's always so worrying when they do things out of character especially not wanting to eat (he loves food) but spat everything out.

Now on my second week I'm starting to feel a little better as I don't feel as stupid as I did as I was completely lost last week I had forgotten so much but it didn't help being so tired and missing my little man.
He is also much better as the terror is back to his normal mischief which is great and just in time for his 1st Birthday on Monday.

Back To Work Tomorrow

Me & Ollie today

Well here we are, I'm at that point 
where my work days are back and I have to say goodbye to pyjama mornings, mummy lunches and morning coffees :-(

My early mornings will now turn into getting to work on time and not deciding on what breakfast Ollie should have while we watch baby cartoons then quickly changing to interesting mummy programmes....oh goodbye This Morning and Loose Women hello sitting in an office dreaming I was at home thinking of the things I was doing this time last week.

It's a weird feeling as it feels like it's the end but I still have my little boy which is forever. I'm sure when I get home the hubby will pass Ollie over so I do my responsible duties even though I didn't do that to him when he was working all day. Deep down though I think I will want to as for almost a year it has been pretty much me looking after Ollie 24/7. Making sure he is changed, fed, has clean clothes, bathed and getting up in the night so it will be so hard not to carry on, I don't want to feel I'm not needed anymore he's my little boy. 

Starting this year Grandma has had Ollie over night once a month which has been very strange but a godsend as well as we needed the sleep, but being without him by my side for nearly 10 hours a day 5 days a week will be incredibly hard I just know I will be thinking about him all the time and worrying if he has been fed and changed but I guess that is normal until I get into my new routine.

Hopefully I will get to be at home again some day as who will take all the pictures.

11 Months Today

Playing

In just a month my little guy will be one, I just can't believe how quickly the year has gone.

Look at me

He has been walking more and more over the last few days as he gains confidence he has also taught himself how to get up from a sitting position. I cant keep my eyes off him as I'm proud but shocked at how quickly he has picked things up. It still tickles me when I see him reversing off the sofa. 

 My baby is turning into a toddler.