I Can Now Announce

that we have a full compliment of downstairs rooms again! I really was so very excited I nearly did a little wee! We spent two days with all the furniture in one room again while we waited (and waited) for the floor varnish to dry but it was worth the wait and allowed plenty of piano practice;


My little workie man found space for his tool station when all the big scary tools were put away until next time;


Simon and I put some of the furniture in late on Wednesday night;

Can you spot the button flowers that Lynsey made for my birthday gift a while ago? Have a look Lynsey, you'll be pleased that all the buttons are still twinkling away in the jar and have not been tipped out and used elsewhere!

I am so pleased. Book cases needed now, the wall behind the sofa will be full floor to ceiling, it'll make the room all the more cosy, I am contemplating referring to it as the 'snug' because it's so warm and cosy and 'the front' just doesn't do it justice.

The lovely Ruth from TipTopToppers came today and was the first official visitor to the snug, she made suitable noises of admiration so will be invited again. She also brought a HUGE bag of clothes that no longer fit her big boys that will suit my small boys down to the ground. Recycling at it's very best. Thanks again Ruth!

And I eventually made the fingerless mitts I bought the wool and pattern for at the Knit and Sticth show in November! The yarn is beautiful, the colours are so vivid and it's so soft but the pattern was a shocker;

It all came out just a little too long and just didn't sit right. I rehashed the pattern a bit and made these purple ones;

A much better fit (I may frog the first pair and reknit them). These are for my friend Claire at work who donated lots of this lovely yarn to me ages ago. I have altered the pattern again to make a smaller version for Francesca who just loves them!

I have had a sock monkey featured on a blog and have been given a blog award but I'll mention all that tomorrow, am planning a little light knitting and an early night.

Daisie xxx

A Nip In The Air

oooooh, it's gone all cold again! The sky is grey and dull. After a lazy morning in bed thanks to a lovely hubby I got up and changed all the beds, bathed all the children and wrapped them up and headed out into the grey cold air to go to the woods.

There are signs that spring is on the way;


We had a good stroll;


Fed some ducks;

My beautiful babies;

Half term week ahead, dentist tomorrow, visits with friends on tuesday and wednesday, floors to sand and varnish, furniture to move and time to be made for knitting.

Daisie xxx

A Day Of Daddies

Thank you for all the beautiful kind comments left here on my last post, I have replied to some of you but ran out of time, if I don't get around to replying please know they were much appreciated!

Well, it turns out I was right to worry about the MOT, infact I had 315 reasons to be worried but the car is road worthy for another year and a diet of beans and whatever's lurking at the back of the cupboard never killed anyone!

I left for the hospital very early yesterday morning, before anyone was awake. It was strange going out in the dark so early, reminded me of when I worked shifts and the only people you see en route to work at 6am are those like yourself off for an early start or those on their way home after a long night shift.

I was first on the surgery list. Which was good but the pain when I woke up was unbelievable. I joked with the staff nurse when I went down to 'get the kettle on' but it took me ages to feel well enough to have a drink. I would rather have given birth, the pain is much easier to stand. My belly was huge (still is a bit but going down all the time) because of the air they fill you with. My stitches are pulling and I cannot wait to remove my surgical stockings when I go in the bath shortly, they itch like mad! But I did see a photo of my uterus and my ovaries, don't suppose there's many women can say that are there?!

Anyway, the Daddy bit. I was so soon out of surgery that friend Claire was not finished work (we had arranged for her to collect me) so I rang my Daddy and he came to escort me home. I was expecting to find Sebastian and Nathaniel with their Daddy but I also found Simon's Daddy with a small boy asleep on his chest;


I had a relaxing afternoon being tended by the men folk and was so pleased to see the girls on their return from school, I think they had been worried about me.

Then friend Claire came and bought me a red rose;

I was in alot of pain last night and have been unable to sleep for very long but my tummy is much softer (and smaller) this morning and to be honest I feel better for getting up and about and having a cup of tea (even if it is silly O'clock), am off to have a bath and remove my dressings and stockings (yay!!!!) and if I still feel like I do now then I'm off to work to face Ofsted, wish me luck!

Daisie xxx

Roll On Friday!

What a week I have ahead of me! Thought I'd blog today to vent and to remind myself that life is good really even when it seems bad.

Today the car is in for it's MOT, this always worries me enormously; will it pass, will it need loads of work, how long will it take? And then I have the fear of excessive cost, will I have to sell a kidney or offer sexual favours to pay to get it back?! All unnecessary but still a worry. So to combat today's troubles I'll show you Francesca's birthday cake. A deep vanilla sponge with a white chocolate finger fence filled with vanilla cream and strawberries;


Tomorrow I am in the hospital all day. I am being steralised, I have reached the point where I realise that emotionally, physically and financially I cannot afford another pregnancy. It is a decision I have thought long and hard to make and am sure it's the right decision for me. Simon will have sole care of all the children all day. I know he is perfectly capable and I know they are safe in his care but I worry that it will be raining and they will get cold and wet waiting for the bus to school, I worry that the bus will be late, I worry that Nathaniel will not like the change in his routine and be a pain for his Daddy, I worry too much really. Again unnecessary but a worry nonetheless. So to combat tomorrow's worries I am going to show you Francecsa's Learning Log (each child at school has a big book and each friday the class are given a word to do a piece of work on, sometimes it links to something seasonal, something they have been doing in school or something really random. Each piece of work is the child's own work so for some may just be a picture, sometimes more), this weeks' word is Valentine's Day. Francesca disappeared upstair yesterday with glue and paper and an endless romantic nature and came up with this;


It says; "Valentine's day is celebrated every year on Februaury 14th. The day is named after Saint Valentine - the patron saint of lovers. Traditionally people show their love for one another by sending flowers, chocolates and cards known as Valentines." I did try to get her to put that we don't do Valentine's day in our house because my Daddy is a tight ass but she didn't go for that!

On Wednesday and Thursday Ofsted are coming to inspect us at the centre. I know that we all do a brilliant job for the families we work with but the inspectors want to come and observe my baby playgroup. I know and understand the EYFS guidelines we wrok to and the Every Child Matters outcomes we work towards, I know what impact the sessions have on our families but fear I may be the sticky cog in the team as I have no formal EYFS training. The peer support role I fulfill I have no problem with, I know my stuff (and was auditted for the BFI last week and came away confident in my skills and knowledge). I know it will be fine but I am worried how my physical state will be after Tuesday's surgery. To combat the Ofsted worries I am going to show you the start of our room finishing;

The walls are coloured, the chimney breast is pointed and painted, the electrics are in, the skirting board is varnished and waiting to go on. It's all looking rather good!!

Roll on Friday!!

Daisie xxx

My Smallest Girl

Is seven today!!

This time seven years ago I was waiting for the jelly to start the journey of her birth. Elizabeth had convinced us that we were expecting a boy baby called Peter. Elizabeth, aged just 2, was with us in hospital and although at the time it was frustrating because that was not the plan, in hindsight it was magical and so special that after me Elizabeth was the first person to hold her baby sister, she never mentioned boy baby Peter again, she was so in love with our new bundle. Francesca was a whopping 8lb 9oz and was so perfect (she still is). I never imagined that I would love another baby as much as I loved my first but a Mummy's heart has infinate expansion room. Francesca explained to Nathaniel when we were expecting Sebastian that when a baby arrives so does a new lot of Mummy love so they all still have the same.

She is beautiful;


And a bit of a Rock Chick;


A wonderful big sister;

And I love her so much my heart could burst!

She is funny too, she spent a while the other night reassuring me that we'd be safe in the jungle because man eating lions don't eat women!

Happy Birthday Francecsa!

Lighting!!

It's been a long hard week at work, just getting into the swing of it, think it'll take some time. Just taken over another worker's case load of core visits, hence an extra day at work, of sixty families, yes sixty families, that is one scary number. But atleast my working 'week' will fly by as my days will be so full!

But in the good news, our walls in the front room are all smooth and lovely and Simon has been priming the plaster to paint. He's slopping on a coat of white to the cieling before bed as we speak. I have been and chosen the colour, decisions are so hard. I have a picture in my mind of how the room will look and it took a while to find the right colour, it's called 'Espresso Delight' and is a beautifully warm but not dark tone, like a very milky coffee. I can't wait for it to go on tomorrow :)

As usual time and money have got in the way (or disappeared) so the book casing will have to wait for another pay day to come and go but hopefully there will be enough in the pot to get the skirting board on and get a blind made for the window so we can at least redistribute the furniture and get the telly out from under Seb's cot and up on the wall!

Francesca came with me today to help get the last of the paint and painting supplies, good job she did as I got distracted by light shades, we need three for the mo (hallway, bottom of stairs and front room). There were lots of shades in the sale, not having Simon with me to bounce ideas off I got the camera out of my bag and my lovely assistant helped me record our finds to bring home to my lord and master for inspection.

This is one I liked for the hallway, as yet unpainted, will be glistening white and airy, we have blackened iron coat and shoe racks, pram, wellies (the usual gubbins), as we can't afford to replace the staircase we paln to paint the very worn treads with a high gloss paint, at the moment we seem to be agreeing on a deep green, I thought this shell shade would be nice;


Then on the shelf full of shell shades I spotted this one, reduced to a fiver, that might work in the front room;


But this one kinda goes with my ideas too;

This one is lush, the picture doesn't really do it justice, it's about two shades lighter than the walls will be and has minty green, black and dark brown branches and leaves, also massively reduced to just £10;

But this is the one I fell in love with, it's very seventies in feel, it has a central shade (so you can't spy the light bulb, always a winner) and three floating bands around it;

It's probably darker than what I had imagined but it's all a new game as we have only just taken down the Ikea paper shades we've had for about a million years. Now the question comes about the dining room, it will be (hopefully by the end of the year) gutted and redone in the smae colour as the front room, we knocked through under the stairs and although they are two well defined spaces they need to marry, do I have two shades the same, or the smae colour, texture or completely different, these decisions are so hard!

Francesca was no help at all and found the shade that she would choose;

I think not love!!

We had fun though and looked at mirrors and other finishing touches too. I can't wait for payday!!

My two interior deisgn assistants;

The sky here is so dark and the rain has been falling for days, our moods seem to be matching the weather this week so am going to indulge in far too many cuddles tomorrow and perhaps some popcorn and a movie!

Hope you are warm and dry too!

Daisie xxx