I Need Your Help!!

This is Maxi from 'Roary The Racing Car' and he is my son's most favouritest thing. They no longer make this toy so he is in high demand (especially with the big man in red having hogged alot of them for his sack), they have been selling (in second hand, well played with, scratched condition) for between £30 and £50 on eBay etc.

Now I love my big boy but just cannot justify this much for a plastic yellow car.

A woman at a local playgroup bought one for her son for £1 in a charity shop, I showed myself up big time when I offered her £15 for it but she turned me down as her son loves him too.

I have searched high and low for one, they come in talking and none talking and at this point either will do! He is quite big and has friction wheels (so he keeps on going when pushed).

I am asking any of you who visit your charity shops or carboot sales to keep your beadie eyes out for a Maxi. I will pay up to £15 and then of course will pay you the postage back and send you a huge big thank you present! I am not hopeful of one for Christmas but we need a Maxi to make Nathaniel look like this;


Thank you so much in advance and happy hunting!!

Daisie xxx

Little Angels!

Sebastian is much much better so yesterday we ventured out of the house (for the first time in what seems like years) and attended our 'boobie training' last session where we were having a little party. We are back agin after christmas to complete training but any excuse for a party.

As a fleet of volunteers we are called Little Angels and I found some wonderful little chipboard tree hanger decorations and turned them into personalised cards for all my little angel pals;


My contribution to the party was some homemade mince pies;

Nathaniel helped me;

But Johanna stole the limelight by bringing this amazing cake that her friend made for us;

The angels were so cute;

The cake was very tasty too!!

It was lovely to see everyone after the events of last week and two of my angel buddies were very pleased to see us as they had been to the hospital and seen Sebastian when he was very ill. It was good to get lots of things off my chest about the care we recieved too. A fabulous de-brief, thanks ladies!!

Then this morning we have snow (well, a small whiteish covering), Nathaniel was very pleased indeed;

He made lots and lots of lovely footprints and got very wet and cold on the way to school as he had to keep stopping to touch the snow;

School finishes today so we can all snuggle up tonight and hope there is more snow so we can go out tomorrow in our wellies!!

I have two sewing projects to complete for gifts but other than that I am completely organised, I think!

Hope this coming week doesn't disappear too fast and that you all get time to be ready to enjoy the big day on friday (this time next week it'll all be over).

Daisie xxx

Am So Glad That Is Over!!

As people have noticed (thanks for your emails) I have not been here for a while. My very smallest baby has been very very ill. He was a little snotty and coughie over the weekend so on Monday morning we set out to the doctors (after arguing with the receptionist for a slot). Our GP is lovely and decided because we have all been so ill over the last month or so that he should go to the hospital to be observed and find a treatment for his symptoms that was effective. It was a long day but everyone seemed to think that it is a form of bronchitis common in babies caused by a virus. So we came home with an inhaler to ease his chest and some nasal drops to help break up the mucus and help him feed more easily.

Monday night and most of Tuesday he continued to wheeze, feed irregularly and be miserable.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning he became much worse, refusing the breast (even for comfort), wheezing and labouring to breathe. By the time we got to the hospital he wasn't smiling or making eye contact anymore. By 11am he was on oxygen, had IV access into his arm and a NG tube for feeding. An x-ray revealed that part of his right lung had collapsed due to the pneumonia he had developed. Very frightening indeed.

Feeding became a huge issue as he struggled to even suckle for comfort with all the stuff shoved up his nose. He was becoming dehydrated so I expressed and we were feeding him small amounts often via his NG as anything more made him too distressed and he struggled for breath even more. What made it worse was my battle with a doctor and (some of) the nursing staff who were wanting to fill his NG with formula! How they thought this was appropriate with a child that was already struggling to breathe is beyond me but thanks to Tina, Katie and Deborah who helped me in my fight to keep him breastfed and well.

We moved him onto oral antibiotics late thursday and removed the tubes from his arm, this made him much happier as he then had access to his thumb again!! We slowly weaned him off the oxygen and removed his NG Friday morning. He is managing to keep himself content and hydrated at the breast now even though he's not feeding as usual. He has a few more days of antibiotics to take but everyday he is seeming better and better. Yesterday he smiled at us and was happy just to be at home with all his family.

It seems so much to have happened in such a short space of time and I cannot believe the baby I have at home today is the same one I feared would die on Wednesday morning.

My brave little soldier!

Daisie xxx

A Present

This is a little felt book that I made for my friend's baby son's first birthday;

Can you guess what he's called?

Clever you!!

Nathaniel spent ages sitting next to me while I stitched and made his own creation with the felt off cuts and my box of pins;

Daisie xxx

Dress Update

She likes it;


I have finished the sleeves and sewn the hem, it isn't entirely straight but becasue it's so huge it doesn't matter. The bodice was a bit baggy and instead of taking the sleeves off and trimming it all down a size I added a 'sash' style tie to the centre piece of the bodice to pull it all in a little bit. Elizabath likes this as it make her look like there is a small bosom there!! The zip went in but isn't central (not sure how I managed that) so tomorrow I will take it out and trim down one side to make it line up right. There is a little more bling to add to the front and some finishing by hand to be done but it will be delivered to her teacher tomorrow at hometime. I do hope she likes it, although not too much as I am not making anyone else's costume!!


Daisie xxx

What A Day!

Well, after nearly a week of antibiotics and still having a horrible cough and suffering rib ache and general breathlessness I decided to go back and see if the GP could do anything else for me as I am just so fed up of it all and so tired. After Nathaniel and I had been on a hunt for school tights for Francesca (when will that child stop growing upwards?!) we hot footed it to the surgery to then be sent on an adventure to the hospital for a chest x-ray, "to rule out pneumonia". It's not pneumonia but then I never get anything pneu, boom boom! So I now have another course of antibiotics and a five day course of steroids. Fingers crossed for full recovery soon.

The long day and the cold and having woken for a wee twice last night took it's toll on Nathaniel and after stuffing his face with chilli courgette pasta and buckets of coleslaw he became grumpy. I asked him if he was tired and ready for bed. His answer involved parting his bowl and his garlic bread and resting his head in the space between and falling asleep;


I carried him up to bed and tucked him in and he didn't even notice!!

Daisie xxx

It's Sh*t, It's Eighteen Inches High, It's Pink,

and it made my five year old so happy and excited I thought she'd pee herself;


We have a proper tree (not up yet) but have old mental confused cats who either try and climb it or pee on it so it lives in the 'front' room so we can close the door on it and the cats are only allowed access while there is someone to keep an eye on them. We 'live' in the back room where there are toys aplenty, a huge table and comfy (washable) places to sit. Francecsa desperately wanted a pink tree in her bedroom but there is little space and to be honest enough crap in there already. This is our compromise and it is now on the radiogram next to the fruit bowl. She decorated it after school with her friend Jodie and made her own angel.

And then, in the glow of merry christmas crafts with all the children being delightful, disaster struck. I had planned stew and dumplings for tea but when I went to make dumplings I realised I had no suet. Dum dum dum! Now, I could have dragged all the children out into the minus two degree darkness to the corner shop in the hope they would have some? I could have made a longer journey to the supermarket where they would have some but then run the risk of any one of the small people falling asleep en route? I even contemplated the madeness of not having dumplings with the beautiful succulent lamb that had been bathing nicely in a bottle of good red plonk all afternoon! Then from somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind the idea of cobbler formed. A vague memory of stodgey savoury cakes. I didn't have time to google for a recipe and Prue Leith was of no help (on this occasion) so I made a usual scone dough (minus sprinkling of sugar and sultanas) and added a huge spoon of grain mustard and a good grating of strong cheddar, I then had a wobble as I couldn't find the frilly circle cutter (the one I use for scones) so had to use the cutter that I use for Francesca and Nathaniel's sandwiches. I put them all atop the stew, closed the oven door and held my breath.

Then was really rather pleased when I opened it again and found these;


Rather tasty they were too. So maybe not having suet in the cupboard isn't such a bad thing after all!!

Happy December!

Daisie xxx