I know there is a Thursday link up with this name so I thought I would use it today to share the things in my life that make me happy. Yesterday was a bad day but today the clouds are … Continue reading
Reasons to be Cheerful!
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Naughty and Natural Cheers!
Walking in the Weather What a glorious week of sunshine! It is hard not to be cheered by the weather alone. I have been out in it every day, walking with our giant double buggy. The babies get two walks … Continue reading
Reasons to Be Cheerful
In a week when many people around the world are holding on to hope with their bare hands I feel quite selfish gloating about my cheer. And yet here I am, because this week I do have genuine reasons for cheer and pride. My little miracle babies are doing so well and I cannot hide how I feel about that after the terrible start to life that they had.
My Reasons to be Cheerful this week:-
Esther and William are above average in their general development
This week we had a clinic appointment for Esther and William at the hospital. At this clinic they are weighed and undergo a number of developmental checks that I do not pretend to understand. What I do know though is that the Consultant told us that she is very very pleased with both babies. William is just above the 75th percentile for development and Esther is just below. This is marked against their corrected age of 4.5 months. I was so proud watching them work thorugh the exercises with the physio I thought that I might burst with pride and they did everything with a smile too. The session was topped off when one of the nurses said to us, “We always knew these babies would be clever ones!” Proud Mummy moment!
Esther and William loved their first baby class, Baby Sensory
Today we went to Baby Sensory for the very first time and Esther and William both loved it. In particualr they loved helium balloons and the ball pool. I was so impressed with the class leader, Julie Reynolds, and her welcoming manner that I signed up for 10 weeks straight away and we start next week!! I am so excited!!! I am going to review the session on my blog so please watch this space x
Esther and William have moved into their very own BIG cots!!
After William crawling on top of Esther in his sleep a couple of times we decided that the time had come to move Esther in to a cot of her own. It has only been one night so far but again it is a really proud Mummy moment though I am also sad that they are not sharing anymore. My babies are growing up. Next move will be into a room of their own and no longer with their Daddy and I. That will be a big moving day. This was just a small moving day but a big reason for cheer.
Need more stories to make you smile? Hop on over to Mummy from the Heart’s blog and share your Reasons to be Cheerful.
A Wonderful Week of Cheer!
I have had a lovely week this week and have much to cheer about. So here I am to share it with you and Michelle at Mummy from the Heart who always inspires and encourages so many of us to share our positivity and cheer. Thank you.
Esther and William have finally met all of their cousins!
On Sunday it was David’s Mum’s birthday and to celebrate her special day she really wanted to have all six of her grandchildren together for the first time. This had not happened before as one is only a couple of weeks old and we have been out of circulation through the winter. But on Sunday we were all together for a few hours and it really was rather special. Seeing Esther and William begin to interact with their extended family was quite emotional. Their almost 5 year old cousin kept stroking them which was very sweet. William in particular was avidly watching the boys playing and seemed keen to get involved and have a go. The Henley family are a very close family so Esther and William will grow up with these cousins around them. They are very lucky and I think their first meeting bodes well for adventures in the future.
I have had a great week out and about with my Mum
I was rather apprehensive about having my Mother here for any length of time but it is the end of the second week and things seem to be going well. We are enjoying each other’s company, she is looking after David and I, and the house, so that David can focus on work and I can focus on Esther and William. She is being great. Mum is also getting to know her grandchildren better and watching their enjoyment of her is a wonderful reason to be cheerful. As she lives in Spain she will not see her grandchildren all the time so periods such as this are extra special. Love you Mum x
Weaning is going well and the babies are enjoying lots of different foods
Esther and William are loving exploring new foods and this week have even been negotiating lumps!! They love mango and papaya and all fruits. Esther sucks slivers of mango from my fingers as she cannot quite grip them herself. They have eaten broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, sweet potato, cucumber. They are having lots of first tastes and seem to welcome them all. Feeding them is such fun and they get so messy as they try to help with the spoon or the pots. What a great stage of babyhood this is. Makes me smile.
To see what is making others smile this week, hop on over to Mummy from the Heart and perhaps share your reasons to be cheerful too x
Reasons to be Cheerful
After a not so cheery week last week I am back this week and full of beans. Hurrah!
This week has been a good week and I am hopeful that next week is going to be a good one too and so we are full of cheer in the Nairn/Henley household. Here are the main reasons why …
We have a beautiful new addition to the family. Our beautiful niece Diya Isabella was born on the 21st February, a very special and healthy baby girl, weighing a little over 7lbs. We were lucky enough to go and meet her on Saturday and she is just so cute. She is all tiny and curled up and new to the world. She has the softest, darkest hair that curls round the nape of her neck. She has long crinkly fingers and such delicate little features. She is still all floppy and new and it is impossible not to love her. We are so pleased and proud to welcome her to the family and especially pleased that Esther has a little girl cousin who is so close to her in age, and will be even closer in development. Welcome to the world Diya Isabella, we look forward to watching you grow x
My Mum is staying with us at the moment meaning that David has more time to work and I am able to get out and about more with the twins. So far we have been to Ashford shopping, Leeds Castle for coffee and cake and today we are going into Maidstone for a walk around. All of this outing and abouting has been made even more special by the fact that the sun is shining and spring is definitely on its way. This also signals the end of cold and flu season and a slight relaxing of our self imposed isolation. The twins can come out of hiding and finally embrace the world!
Esther and William had some professional photographs taken with Paul Barsby in Ashford and the results are stunning. We had the session as part of the Cherubs programme but could not resist buying some extra prints of our own. The portraits are great, don’t you agree?
Have you had a week as cheery as mine, perhaps you need an extra slice of cheer this week, whichever, why not pop over to Mummy From The Heart‘s Linky and see what is making a smile this week.
Cheery Blogtastic Week!
WOW! Has there really been another week? I feel like I have achieved nothing this week but I am sure that there must be some cheery bits somewhere?!? Oh yes, yes, yes, yes!
1 – I am now the proud owner of a dishwasher and a washer / dryer!!
This decision to obtain a dishwasher and a tumble dryer is going to change the quality of my life by giving me just a few spare minutes a day to do something for me. It will mean that I am not searching the house for places to hang washing on a rainy day and that my airing cupboard will not be full to bursting with damp baby gros! A little luxury! My first reason for cheer!
2 – William can roll from his front to his back and his back to his front! Tick follows tock follows tick follows tock!
William is on the move. He can roll around the room now with great groaning effort. He has realised that by throwing himself around in this way he can travel and get to places he wants to be. It also means that he can amuse himself for longer periods of time, just rolling! Esther, not wanting to be out done by her little brother, has started trying to roll today but she is not so successful. At under 10lbs she is such a tiny little thing and seeing her try to propel herself across the floor with no power or purchase is heartbreaking. But she will get there, I know she will, and in the meantime I take great delight in her being photogenic.
3 – I have taken some beautiful pictures of Esther this week that I am very proud of
David bought me a camera for Christmas and I am finally starting to get some good results with it. I adore looking at people’s baby photographs and have been trying to take good shots of my own. This week I finally feel like I am getting somewhere!
4 – My blog has reached over 20, 000 hits and I feel like I have made my first blogging friend in TheBoyandMe (Hope that she does not mind me saying so!)
This week my blog reached over 20,000 views. I know that is probably not a lot in comparison to others but I feel like it is a real achievement for me and it has filled me with blogging confidence and cheer. This new found cheery confidence has led to me commenting more on other people’s blogs and trying to interact more on Twitter. Through my endeavours I have found a blog that I love, http://www.theboyandme.co.uk/, and have started chatting a bit to its author, who seems to be lovely. Please try and read her blog if you haven’t already as it is brill! It has played a major part in making me cheery this week!
To see what is making other people smile this week pop on over to Michelle’s blog and join the hop!
Have a great weekend one and all!
Gratefully Cheery Week 6
This week has been a difficult week for me as Esther, William and David have all been quite unwell. As has my cousin who was hoping to come round and support us while she was off work this week. However this difficulty has lead to one of my main reasons for being cheerful, I have asked my Mum to come and stay for a few weeks, and I am really really looking forward to spending some proper time with her. More on that in a minute.
My reasons for being cheerily grateful this week …
My sister’s wedding was a wonderful occasion and she was a beautiful bride!
It really was a great day and Julie did not stop smiling throughout. I did not stop crying! People kept asking me on the run up to the day “Will you be emotional when your sister gets married?” and I said no. I really did not think that I would be but as soon as I woke up that morning the tears welled up. I could not look at Julie without crying. She was so beautiful and I felt so so proud. My little sister was a bride and now she is a wife! Congratulations again Mrs Newsome!
Esther and William seem to be surviving their first cold without needing medical intervention
I think that they both have the same cold on top of which they are teething but oh how different they behave!! Esther is quietly getting on with life while William is letting everyone know that he is not very well! So so different. He is definitely suffering though our William. He screams with pain and his cheeks are red raw. He is also a total snot monster and seems to be off his food. But I am thankful, so thankful, that 3 days in and he does not seem to be getting worse. I am hoping that this time hospitalisation has been avoided. Touch wood!
Esther and William are now sleeping in a big cot!
When we got home from the wedding on Sunday night we did not rebuild the bedside co-sleeper instead we transferred both babies into one traditional wooden cot. It is still beside our bed to make night feeding easier but it is a big, proper babies cot. They sleep side by side horizontally across the cot. We plan to keep them together until after our wedding in September when they will be one year corrected age, then they will graduate again to a cot bed of their very own!
This blog has entered the Wikio Top 500 Parenting Blogs at 396!!!
Today I received an email telling me that my blog has entered the Top 500 of the Wikio UK Blog Ranking in the category of Parenting. Woo Hoo! And when I checked my ranking it is 396! This has not only made me cheerful, it has made me determined to be a better blogger and to make my way up the ranks! One can only try! One of the things that I am hoping to do is move my blog and rename it to make it more memorable and appropriate for the content it now includes. I have a website as well as this blog called Edspire and so may combine the two and host my writing there.
My Mum is coming to stay!
My parents live in Spain and though we seem them quite regularly it is not the same as having them here when I need them. Subconsciously I think that this has been really getting to me since my operation and the babies being born. It has, from my point of view, really affected my relationship with my parents. Today I made the first step in putting things right by asking my Mum to come and stay. I should have done it weeks ago as we have desperately needed help but something inside me just wouldn’t let that be. Now I have realised, through Esther actually, that this is not the right way to be. I loved my Nan more than all the world and my children deserve to have a chance at a similar relationship with theirs. Also, I would hate it if Esther acted toward me as I have been doing to my Mum recently. I have to move on from the bad birth of Esther and William and do everything I can to give them the good life they deserve. David’s family are wonderful but I want Esther and William to know my side of the family too, and I want my Mum and I to be friends, something I don’t think we have ever been. Lets hope that we can all start again and make things work as they should x That really will be something to be cheerful about!
A Week of Good Cheer
This week has been a week of firsts, and cheerful firsts at that! I have lots of reasons to be cheerful this week and here are some that I have chosen to share.
As with previous weeks I have chosen photos to illustrate each point but they are shown together in the gallery at the end of the post.
My Fiance has started his 2011 challenge – to swim in the sea at least once every month!
David and I both love the water but for me it has to be warm, at least the weather if not the water! David however enjoys the sea in all seasons and this year he wants to make sure that at least once each month he swims in the sea, wherever we may be. On Sunday we went to Winchelsea in East Sussex with my parents. My Dad captured these great shots as David braved the waves of Winchelsea Beach. Mad fool! I love him dearly exactly because of things like this x He makes me smile so much x
I had a wonderful few days introducing my sister to her niece and nephew
My little sister, Julie, is home from Australia to get married. Her wedding is on Saturday. She took some precious time out of her busy pre-nup schedule to get to know her niece and nephew. It has been just lovely having her around and we will miss her very much now that she has gone. She was a natural with the babies and now we are hoping that Esther and William may soon have some new cousins to play with, albeit on the other side of the planet! Have a wonderful wedding wee sis, we will see you there!!
I am not alone as a Premmie Mum
I struggle some days with feeling alone and lonely and misunderstood. Kylie Hodges has shown me that this is not true. I am such an avid reader of this blog and I hope that one day I will get to meet Kylie and her beautiful little boy, Joseph. Thank you for being such a great friend and support. Your virtual shoulder to cry on means so much. Thank You.
http://notevena.blogspot.com/2011/02/being-mum-to-premature-baby.html
I went on the train to town with the babies
For ages I have been wanting to take the babies on the 9 minute train journey to our nearest town but I have not been brave enough. Today I did it, with my sister, and it was really good. We had a good girly day shopping and it was so good to get out. We had coffee and I breastfed in public too. It is not something I would want to do all the time but I am glad that now I have doen it once I will not be too worried to try it again. Spring is coming, the end of cold and flu season and time for us to get out and about! How exciting, a definite reason to be full of cheer.
Still need more stories to make you smile. Follow this link to Mummy from the Heart’s Blog to find more Reasons to be Cheerful!
Reasons to be Cheerful Week 2
This week has been tough for me as David has been away at BETT 2011 promoting Zu3D. I am very grateful for the help I have had from my wonderful MIL and fabulous best friend but I have missed David … Continue reading
Reasons to Be Cheerful 1 2 3
Today I am joining a Blog Hop – new terminology for me and an exciting idea. This has been started by Mummy from the Heart and you can read more about her and the idea here http://mdplife.blogspot.com/p/reasons-to-be-cheerful.html Mummy from the … Continue reading