All These Channels And No Bob The Builder?

So, Xander's been coming on leaps and bounds lately. Today he's been doing tonnes of walking; mainly when he thinks no one's looking, but he's suddenly got the idea of toddling! The talking is going a bit slower, but he's getting there and sounded like he said 'here you are' (well, 'hee ya') earlier. He also has a grand total of 7 teeth now so is enjoying chomping on all sorts, including mummy's fingers!

He's had a fascination with remote controls for a long time; but today he decided he wanted every control in the house! Unfortunately Bob The Builder was nowhere to be found, but he finds the tv guide on Sky very entertaining; and loves boogying to the elevator music on there!!

The illness is still well and truely resident in the Gillard household. Rob took today off today so he could look after Xander while I went to bed and tried to shift this cold once and for all. All it seems to have done though is give him a cold! Great! I'm really hoping we're better this weekend as we have a trip across the Pennines planned tomorrow; Rob and I are supposed to be going with Marie and Kendo to see the Lancashire Hotpots tomorrow night while Rob's mum babysits. It's our only night out this Xmas so I really really want to go, so anti cold vibes would be very much appreciated!!

Poorly Sick!

Ok, this cold isn't funny any more (actually, it was never funny in the first place!). I've had it now since Monday and it just won't go. I've tried everything (even a few glasses of vino at Sam's Virgin Vie party last night!!) and it's not budging! So, anyone with any ancient cold remedies; send them this way, I'm desperate!

Of course it's been passed on by the snot monster himself: Xander Billy Jim but he seems to have got over his now. He's also had to contend with 4 new teeth in the past 10 days and taking a few more steps so he's been a busy boy!

Right, off to bury my head in a box of Kleenex!

Congratulations Jess!

Just a quick congratulations to my baby cousin, and regular visitor to the blog, Jess; who passed her driving test on Monday!! Yay, well done Jess!!

She's after a pink beetle! I think Emily will be her number 1 best friend if she manages to get one!

Just realised, she's not so much of a baby cousin anymore...**sniff**!

One Small Step For Babykind!

For those of you that I didn't text manically on Saturday morning; Xander took his first steps!! Yay!! There were only 2 of them but they were beautiful!! The funny thing was he was stood in the exact same place that Emily took her first steps too. So, anyone wants their baby to walk, just send them round and I'll rent you the square foot of carpet in question!

He hasn't done it since but he's poorly at the moment so anything that's not a 'lying down, dummy in mouth' position isn't going to happen!! Will post a photo as soon as he gets motoring again.

Gymnast Of the Week!

Well, we waited long enough for this one; 14 months to be precise; but last night Emily won Gymnast Of the Week at gymnastics! Yay!! To say she was excited is a bit of an understatement; positive giddiness round here yesterday evening! She was so excited that she tripped up the steps on the way out of gymnastics and broke the thing. But, a spot of superglue later and it was as good as new (and judging by the other bits of dried glue on the trophy, I don't think she was the first to do it either!!).

So, here is a picture of out little superstar...

Roundup!

So, I tought I'd do a quick update on things here; not too much happening, just a quick roundup!

Xander's well established in his new routine of nursery on Tuesday and my parents' on Wednesday. I'm really missing him on these days but it's so good for him to have different environments. We've also been going to a toddler group on a Thursday morning for a few weeks which he loves! He had a booster jab today; which he was NOT pleased about! But the crying only lasted 10 seconds then he was back to shouting 'Hiya' to all and sundry again! He also has had a tooth surge and has a grand total of 5!!

Emily is doing well at school. Her reading's suddenly coming on in leaps and bounds and she's reading paragraphs all on her own! We had parents' evening last week and her maths is excellent and she seems to be taking in a lot of facts in all her subjects.

Rob is just Rob! He's job hunting at the moment as it turns out he works for a set of numpties! One good bit of news though is that, with interviews coming up, he's finally cutting his ZZ Top beard!

And as for me, well I'm really enjoying my course. Some of it's taken a bit of getting into but I really look forwad to my studying time; though I'm sure that novelty will wear off! I've also got loads of craft stuff done lately; made lots of Xmas cards and done some more scrapping. So, couldn't possibly leave without giving you a LO; this is my latest of Emily on our jollies!

Love to all!

Freckles!!

So, this afternoon, me and Emily had a bit of a crop! For those of you not in scrapbooking circles, a crop is a getting together of scrapbookers to scrapbook together! Anyway, my crafting buddy Kim had set a challenge to take a white piece of paper and some pictures, and add just 5 other things to the layout.

I've done a bit of a challenge within a challenge here; as the picture is one I did for a photography challenge in the summer. I've been meaning to scrap it for ages and had a bit of inspiration today so went ahead. Anyway, it speaks for itself, not much explanation needed here!!

BTW, my 5 additional elements were: the brown paper, the pink spotty paper, the ribbon, the chipboard letters and the handmade embellishment in the corner!

Remembering Auntie Rene

So, it's a while since I posted a scrapbook layout. TBH, I've not been happy with my stuff lately so haven't felt brave enough to share! However, mum has bought me a lovely present of a monthly scrapping kit from Scrapping Angels and the first kit has given me loads of inspiration!

So, I've had this picture in my scrapping pile for a while. It's of my Auntie Rene, who died this February. She was really ill when this picture was taken last year, but she always managed a smile when I took Xander to see her. Emily remembers her but unfortunately Xander never will so I wanted something in his scrapbook as a momento of her.

I also wanted to do something different for his scrapbook, so I went for this old fashioned type paper from the kit, and the flower for a very unboyish bit of controversy!!

And the good news is, I still have enough stuff in the kit for another 2 layouts! Better get my thinking cap on!

Elvis Lives!!

Well, I never thought I'd be able to say that I'd seen Elvis live, but now I can!!

My neighbours Jill, Sam and I bought our other neighbour Margaret some tickets for an Elvis tribute for her 65th birthday in the summer; and last night was the night! It was actually really good and very entertaining. Margaret, a big Elvis fan, had a whale of a time and was singing along to everything! There were a few there who were taking it a tad too seriously; I'm not sure they realised it wasn't the real Elvis; but it was amusing to watch them!

So, for now, the king of rock n roll lives! Viva Las Elvis!!