things to be thankful for

I found this last week rough. There's been a lot of things on my to-do list/plate/heart/mind/...you get the idea. It was easy to get bogged down and focus on the bad news and on the crappy situations that seemed to be everywhere I looked. Enter amazing people who I love. I have great friends. Friends who encouraged me to be thankful, friends who brainstormed with me, volunteered to help, went shopping for us, told me not to give up but to fight the negativity and to hold onto The Rock.

So this week I am being thankful. This morning before Ellie Boy woke up I wrote down 25 things that I am thankful for. If you read the list you'd probably think I've gone off the deep end! The list is full of little things like...no.6 Barry's Tea (can I hear an amen from all my Irish readers, haha?!), no.13 Elliott's 'satly scrunchy face (he wrinkles his nose like he's trying to be funny), no.20 My Hub's silly sense of humour, no.2 the sound of the rain on our flat roof and how it reminds me of the night of our wedding day.After writing down 25 simple things that I am thankful for I realised that I have so very many good things in my life. Even down to the small things. This week is already looking up but even if it's just as crap as last week it's ok, because I'm different.

What simple, small things are you thankful for today? Leave a comment and encourage someone else xx

I'm leaving you with no.8 and no.17 on my list: Black & White Photography and my son's chubby fingers.

Bad Mommie Blogger

Yes. I know. I'm a terrible blogger. I'd love to have some epic excuse for being awful at keeping here updated but the simple truth is that life just got in the way. Technology is still not my friend but I've decided to fight against all the frozen screens and unresponsive programmes and blog anyway!

Life is hectic at the moment. Two of my faveourite people are getting married this weekend, hurray! I'm helping them out by printing and sewing a couple of bit and pieces so a little busy with that. I'm so looking forward to seeing this great couple come together .The fact that they met at our wedding makes it even more sweet.

Their wedding is out of town so The Hub and I decided to leave out little prince with his granparents and spend the first night away from him since he was born. I'm completely divided between being really excited and looking forward to the break but also hoping I don't miss him and already having a little sad/anxious feeling growing in my tummy. Eeek...

Speaking of our little guy, I recently brought Elliott for his developmental checks and turns out he's doing just great. I could bore you with all the stats but the truth is if that's that important to you it really shouldn't be. Note to non-parentals: Some mothers get scary competitive about how their darling son/daughter weighs more or can roll more that than another little baby. Personally I think this is STUPID and should be outlawed! All it leads to is insecurity and worry that, "My Johnny isn't {insert said supposed 'skill' here} yet, blah blah blah..." When you sit down with a group of friends have you EVER thought to yourself, "hmmm, I wonder which of us stood unaided first...that would change everything!"? Nope, didn't think so. Babies/people are different shapes and sizes and grow at different rates. The strange thing is that whenever I've come across someone with a special needs child or a child who isn't yet reaching their 'should be' milestones, these parents are actually quite confident and satisfied with their child's own unique development. More often than not it's moms of perfectly 'healthy' kiddos who are doing the comparing and checking. I know that I've done this in the past but I'm going to make a huge effort not to go there anymore.

Am I the only parent who thinks this? Probably not, other parents probably just have a more eloquent nicer way of saying it, ha!

On a more positive (less-ranty) note, here are some cutie photos of Elliott trying to eat a pumpkin.

Happy Wednesday!

I hate technology...

this is how I feel about technology!

After almost of month of holding my laptop together with various random items from around our house, I finally replaced the dying cable. Since then my internet has been down, GRRRRR!!! Anyway, it's been a crazy busy month and I've got so many things to write about. Here's some of what's been happening around here...

So far on Weightwatchers I've lost 8lbs (in four weeks). I've found the programme fantastic but was disappointed with my own will power!  I may have already said this here before, but my problem with food is my lack of self control. I generally eat very healthily, cook all my food/sauces/soups from scratch but if I open a packet of biscuits I will eat the entire pack. All of them. Even if there are twenty in the packet.

Doing WW has helped me in lots of ways but if I can't get past this sort of overeating I won't have suceeded, no matter how much weight I loose. I've been really lucky so far and have managed to loose weight every week, even if it's only half a pound. After an incredibly unmotivated week and lots of chocolate I'm expecting to have gained weight. Weigh In is tonight so I'll let you know how I get on.

Elliott is EIGHT AND A HALF MONTHS old! Which means I'm super late doing his monthly photo and update. Will have that up tomorrow so do check back for some adorable baby photos of Elliott and Sophie!

 Eights months marked the end of breastfeeding for me and smEllie Boy. There were a couple of reasons why this was the right time for us to stop. I'm hoping to dedicate an entire post to this topic and to how we're getting on with formula and bottles.

Have a lovely evening!

(UPDATE: I did indeed put on weight, but only a half a pound! Hopefully it'll motivate me to loose more than that again next week.)