Sanctuary

Whilst in Costco the other week, my beady little scrabooking radar picked up on this kit of lovliness:

Although an absolute steal at £25 (the albums must be worth that alone), I really couldn't justify it in the middle of a credit crunch. ***SIGH***

That was until I dragged my scrapping buddy Lauren down there and we went halves, giving each other the other half as a Christmas present! Woohoo! OK, so it took us an hour and a half to divide it up (we were both being far too polite about taking the best stuff!); but finally I ended up with this little pile of scrappy goodness:

So, last week me and Lauren decided it was high time we had a crop. What with babies (well, one baby who is extremely cute and I love her dearly; but she does get in the way of scrapping!) and hospitals (damn cardiologists interferring with my hobby time!), we haven't scrapped together since July and had both been very unproductive since. So, last week we had our first crop for a long time so I decided to use my Christmas pressie!

You may remember this post from back in September after our holiday to Center Parcs. It was so relaxing and, what with everything that happened since, it was fortunate we got to chill out when we did. Anyway, it had been on my mind in hospital, how lovely and peaceful that break was, so that became the subject of this layout:

The colours were just ideal for this picture that Rob took of our chalet at night. I love that picture, the chalet just looks so warm and cosy (which it was!)

And also, yet more chilled out pictures:

Aaah! Feel all chilled now just thinking about it; which is a good place to be as need to do the schoolrun in the cold slush soon!

Hopefully now, Lauren and I will get to scrap weekly so all being well, the Garlics scrapbooking gallery can be updated very very soon!

A Day For T'Internet Friends!

We had such a busy day yesterday. I thought that appropriately, my first proper day out should be with those from GUCH (Grown Ups with Congenital Heart Defects). There was a meetup planned for Liverpool, so it was up early yesterday (driving to Liverpoool was a bit beyond me at this stage, so Rob and the kids took me) and off to pick up my good GUCH buddy Gilly.

We met the others at 9.30 and, after the world's largest latte in Costa Coffee (it was FREEZING yesterday!), we went to look at one of Liverpool's 2 cathedrals. Quite an eerie sight greeted us as the freezing fog hadn't lifted, but an impressive sight none the less.

Now, not being of the religious persuasion, I don't really frequent churches, but I must admit that I love looking at cathedrals; the architecture on them is just fantastic. What was more amazing was that this one was only finished in the 60s, and yet looked hundreds of years old. I don't think there's many places built in the last 100 years or so that could look this impressive.

Anyway, here are some of my GUCH friends (for those reading from the GUCH site: l-r - Gilly, Vicki, Mike, Deb and Deb's other half!) enjoying the sights:

And as you can see, there were some wonderful sights:

After all that, Mike and Gilly needed a sit down!

Then it was on to the second cathedral, which was the more modern Catholic cathedral. As you can see, there was a much more modern take on this but I loved how they'd done it, especially the stained glass:

Paul got lots of good pics (which will no doubt be far superior to my snaps!):

And me and Gilly took the opportunity to have a good sit down (there's a lot of hills and stairs in Liverpool, not done either for some time!) and a catch up:

After lunch I was tired so met back up with Rob and the kids (who'd spent a few hours at the fabulous World Museum) and left my GUCHs to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, plus a few shandies later on! I so enjoyed meeting them all (only met Gilly before) and I'm looking forward already to the next meetup!

As we were over that way, we did a little detour on the way home and went to see my best cyber friend Marie and her lovely family. Me and Marie had a good chat about crafty stuff (and I got to see her fabulous new craft room; not jealous at all, honest!); Rob and Marie's hubby Kendo caught up on all things bike, beer and music related; and the kids? Well, the kids ran around and made noise and made us all wish we'd bought a jumbo sized pack of ear plugs! They're so funny together though and I so love the fact that they're growing up friends!

First of all, the ever cute Gracie decided to teach Xander the art of ballroom dancing:


However, that soon descended into all 4 of them 'dancing' round the living room to High School Musical (yes, Emily has now converted Gracie to the joys that is HSM on repeat 24/7! How Marie's still talking to me I do not know!)

I'm not sure Ewan was that impressed with the choice of outfit the girls had chosen for him for the disco however! Never mind, that just meant he abandoned the disco and gave his Auntie Lou chocolatey snotty kisses instead!

Anyway, a lovely if not tiring day yesterday! But it just goes to show how I've met some lovely people on this old pooter! I wouldn't have met any GUCHs if it wasn't for the message board and as for Marie, well if we hadn't been on the same birth club over at Babywhisperer then I wouldn't have such a good friend now (plus no-one to steal crafty ideas from!)

Chatterbox!

I'd mentioned in an earlier post how, while I was in hospital, Xander had suddenly found his voice and was finally talking. Unlike his sister, who said her first word at 10 months (and hasn't shut up since!), Xander wasn't an early talker and before 2, all we got was 'moo, baa' quack'!!

So, it's now lovely to hear him rabbiting away. It's mainly single words (mummy, daddy, Emy, Manma (Grandma)) and the odd 2 word sentence (Pooh Bear, bye mummy etc). He can also name all the characters in Roary The Racing Car!

So yesterday we were rather amused when he managed a 4 word sentence: now, if you touch one of his toys he shouts:

"Oi, give it back!"

Bless him!

And Finally...The Good News!

So, today was the day I was dreading: I went for my follow up appointment with the cardiologist. But, in a nutshell, it's looking good!

I told him I wasn't interested in a long term prognosis, I'd rather not know! However, the lovely Dr T decided to tell me anyway: that my prognosis was probably no different to before all this happened! Relieved isn't the word I tell you. The stent is very robust and they're not known to corrode or anything like that, so it should just stay in there forever now. They will however have to monitor it for the rest of my life now, but he's promised to take very good care of me!

He also said that I can eventually get back to what ever I did before, which includes being able to pick Xander up again. You wouldn't believe how hard it's been not to pick him up and squeeze him this past couple of months. As for Emily, well she's getting so big she'll be picking me up next!

One interesting thing was how rare this was. I knew it wasn't too common, but I'm the first case my cardiologist has ever personally seen. I'm certainly one in a million me!

Anyway, afterwards I saw the physio to discuss how I get back in shape physically; my legs and back are very weak so she's shown me some exercises to build up gradually. Then I went round to see some of the nurses etc who took such good care of me. I'd baked muffins yesterday for them all so was like Santa! It was funny seeing them stare straight through me at first (I look different vertical, dressed and washed) but the hugs that followed were lovely.

So, hopefully I can now get back to normal. It's such a good feeling; feel like I've not dare breath for the last 2 months and it's been such a difficult time for me and Rob. I'm very emotional right now but that's out of relief!

Finally, I just want to thank everybody again for all their love and support. I tried counting the other day how many cards, flowers and gifts I got, plus how many visitors both in and out of the hospital. I had to give up, it was just too many (I daren't even start counting texts and emails)! There are just so many people who have been so wonderful and it's something I will never ever forget. Thank you!

My Whoopsy Daisy Angel!

*** PUSHY MUM ALERT ***

Now, I've never really been a pushy mum...

...until now! Because...

EMILY GOT THE LEAD IN THE SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, in the school's production of The Whoopsy Daisy Angel, Emily is...can you guess... the Whoopsy Daisy Angel!

Where did I put that agent's number...

Rockstar Part 2

Following on from my son's obvious rock star leanings, we also have another potential rock star in the family. Emily loves doing concerts in her bedroom and dancing around pretending to be Hannah Montana. Yesterday, when Auntie Zoe came to visit, she decided to show off her all round musician skills by writing, playing and singing her very own songs. She certainly has the stage presense of Hannah Montana:

And from the look of her first ever music video, she certainly has fans like Hannah Montana:

But, why is it I wasn't reminded of Hannah Montana but more this lady:

What's In A Name?

For some reason, my kids have both ended up with really long names. It wasn't intentional; we just seem to decide on a first name quite early on in pregnancy and then the name grows as the pregnancy goes on! We picked Xander's name fairly on, and I always knew that if I had a boy I wanted to have William in there somewhere after my Grandad who had passed away when I was only 3. Then, as I got nearer my due date, we decided that we needed something that meant something equally to the pair of us. After much deliberation and endless arguments from Rob that 'No, Xander William Slash isn't an option Louise!', we decided to name him after this fella:


This is the mighty James Hetfield of Metallica. We've both been a fan for over 20 years and so he seemed appropriate as we couldn't ever see a day of not loving his Royal Rock Godness!

Anyway, imagine our delight the other day when we caught our son wandering around like this:


Yes!! Even though he dances round to Mickey Mouse he does have some musical taste genes in there; it's a classice piece of '85 Metallica aswell so he's starting with the good stuff!

Unfortunately for Xander, we won't be taking him to see the mighty 'Tallica in February (thanks to my sis & bruv-in-law Gem & Dave and my oldest Metallica buddy and James worshipper Ali (who won't be reading this far as she'll never get past the pic of James!)). He's not quite ready to see Mummy screaming at rockstars just yet; but hopefully in 10 years time I'll be introducing my squids to the mosh pit (yeah, at 44 I can see me doing that!)

In other more sedate news; Thursday night saw the lights switch on in our local town. I was determined we would go as it's normally really good. So, on go the thermals, long sleeve jumper, cardigan, thick coat, scarves, gloves etc etc and off we went. The kids were all trussed up against the nasty wind that started about an hour before we set off:


Emily got a lighting up butterfly, Xander couldn't care less so we didn't waste £4 on anything that lighted up for him; and me and Rob hogged the tea van (lovely hot chocolate with whipped cream, yum!).

I must say, our local town really do go all out with the lights, it's very impressive. Apparently there was someone from Emmerdale switched them on but it could have been the town hall cleaner for all I knew! Anyway, Emily and Xander were certainly impressed:

So, looks like Christmas is well and truely underway and I'm trying to embrace it with the whole '32 days till Christmas' countdown rather than my usual '33 days till it's all over' one!

Oooh, maybe I should do a 'XX days till I see James' countdown...