http://bumpbabybeyond.wordpress.com/

:)

Still need to fix up a few things but this is my new and permanent address!  Hope to see you there!

Dear everyone,

I’m writing this post to tell you that I am not sure I can keep up with this blog.  I have enjoyed keeping it and love having a place to write down my thoughts and share the stories of our family but I feel that it is taking away from the time I spend with my family.  Recently it has become hard work trying to find a moment in the day to write a post and it has become more of a chore than an enjoyable half hour of blogging that it used to be.  Blogging here has become a daily pressure and I find that I feel bad and guilty when I don’t blog in a long time!  I also find myself becoming obsessed with checking stats etc and this is not the reason I started blogging!

Here is what I am going to do…

Before Ollie was born I kept a blog called Bump, Baby and Beyond… but when he was born I started this one rather than carrying on the “beyond” part of my previous blog.  Well, I have uploaded any relevant posts (I have left out my photohunt posts, menu plans etc as I feel they are not applicable to what I really want to write about)… to my old blog and am going to carry on with this.  My “new” blog will not be updated daily… I’m not even going to try to do it daily… but I will update anytime anything relevant pops to mind that I want to document.  I want to keep a record of my family’s happenings but I want to keep it fun and not a pressure.

I’m sorry to those who read this blog and enjoy the recipes etc… but I feel my family need more of my time… and I will still see you over at my other blog.

I will post the address in a couple of days when I have things tidied up a bit more over there…

Sorry again… I do hope you will still come visit me over at my new (old) hehe place!

Thanks for all your lovely comments over the past number of months :)

Emma xx

Not reeeeeally but I am so surprised at how fast time is flying and how much he has grown and developed in that short space of 4 months!

My little baby is big… now weighing a whole stone (14lbs)!!  He is now able to lift his head, neck and shoulders CLEAR off the ground in tummy time and his head is so steady!  Ollie also likes to chat A LOT!  He babbles all the time and hardly ever cries now.  It’s adorable.

19th September

We put proper bubbles in the bath for Ollie and he loved them!  He loves the bath!!

20th September

On Saturday, my mum came and collected Ollie for the day.  We had originally planned that he be babysat so that we could finish sorting out the house but instead we went out for lunch and had ourselves a day-date :) We did get some housework done but not as much as we should have!

21st September

0o0o0oh!  Look at ehat Ollie got in the post!  Our friends in Canada, Pamela and Paul, sent these over for him and a book called “Be Quiet Oliver!”…he feels super trendy now!!

Go see Pam’s blog! It’s cool!

22nd September

We picked up this gorgeous sleepsuit for Ollie the other day because the nights here are getting quite nippy now.  He also got one with cars on.  They are a little big at the minute!

23rd September

Ollie eating his baby rice.  We have not started weaning him properly yet.  He has only tried the rice a few times.  I think were waiting just a couple more weeks to start properly… he is very excited about it though!!  He seems to love the rice and porridge!

24th September

The above photo is of Ollie in his car seat ready to go to Granny’s for the NIGHT!  Yes! For the night!  Ollie had his first night away from home.  James and I went on a date to Tony Roma’s and had a couple of cocktails.  It was lovely but weird at the same time… I missed Ollie a lot, but less than I thought I would!  He had a great time at his granny’s and I don’t think he missed me at all!

25th September

Ollie’s first airplane journey!!  This is the plane we went on and the journey was fine.  He was a bit bored to be honest and the takeoff and landing didn’t seem to phase him at all… I think the noises might have been surprising to him but other than that there was no fuss at all!

]]> http://ramblingsofahousewife.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/week-19-25-september/feed/ 0 emmaleehughes 190908 img_1623 img_1631 img_1673 img_1677 img_1679 img_1696 http://ramblingsofahousewife.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/oops/ http://ramblingsofahousewife.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/oops/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:53:51 +0000 emmaleehughes http://ramblingsofahousewife.wordpress.com/?p=1268 ]]>

I did not know that I had put that many photos in the last post!  Sorry about that!  I hope the page loads ok! (You can click them to make them bigger!)

Our first family holiday was a success.  Were back from 4 and a half lovely days of relaxing, eating lovely food and viewing the amazing Scottish sights and scenery!  It was great to have James for a long weekend instead of just the normal two days and Ollie kept quite happy almost the entire time!  It was so exciting bringing Ollie over to Scotland to meet his Great Grandparents (my Granny and Grandad) for the first time.  They were so pleased to meet him and spoilt him with cuddles hehe!

My Granny and Grandad moved to a place on the Scottish Borders called Kelso in May.  Kelso is a very picturesque, pretty and historical town with cobbled roads and old abbey ruins!  My Granny is an archaeologist so it is a brilliant location with lots of interesting things for her to see!

While we were in Kelso we saw a lot!  On Friday we went to visit my Uncle Damon and his children (my Auntie was picking my cousin Ellie up from boarding school so we didn’t get to see much of them).  I got to meet my 6 year old twin cousins, Toby and Oscar, who I have never met before and also saw a cousin, Hamish, who I have not seen since he was a baby!  He is now 9!  They adored Ollie and gave him lots of cuddles!!  My Uncle built his own house and it’s fabulous!  Hamish gave us the tour!

Friday was my Auntie Tammy’s birthday so we all had a nice dinner together.  James and I made stuffed meatloaf for everyone and it went down a treat… Uncle Damon and the boys came up for cake later in the evening.

On Saturday we packed a picnic and went to Holy Island/ Lindisfarne.  There is a causeway you can drive over but only when the tide is out and when the tide comes in your stuck there until it goes out again!  We went over at 12 midday meaning that the tide was coming in and we could not leave until about 5.45pm!  Luckily there was plenty for us to do.  The Island was adorable… so so pretty… with a castle, saxon church, priory, gift shops, beach and little cafes.  Ollie enjoyed all the fresh air!  We got the best weather!

On Sunday we had a more relazed day and went to visit Uncle Damon again.  The scenery around their house is just amazing so we went for a short walk in the hills.  We then took Granny and Grandad out for dinner to a resturant called Cross Keys and they enjoyed it thoroughly!

The flights were fine both there and back… I thought the air pressure would hurt Ollie’s ears but it didn’t.  He had his dummy to suck on the whole way and he didn’t cry at all the entire flight!

Not sure where we will go next but were definately going back to Scotland next August so we can see the Edinburgh Military Tattoo!!

I pinched this from Cassie over at Southern Domestic Goddess…

Me and My First Baby!

1. Were you married at the time? Yes… we started trying quite soon after the wedding.

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? We found out in October after getting married May.  Reactions were disbelief, fear and excitement.

3. How old were you? I was 23 when I found out.

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? Having tried for a couple of months beforehand with no success I had become obsessed with testing about 4 days before I was even due!! Hehe… and when I tested I really thought there was no hope and that I would be disappointed again… but there was the teeny tiniest faintest line there and then I was confused unsure whether it meant I was pregnant or not so I did a digital test and there was just one word… pregnant :)

5. Who did you tell first? James was with me at the time… but then I phoned my mum who didn’t believe me and then we told James mum.

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes… I’m very very impatient!

7. Due date: 18th June 2008

8. Did you deliver early or late? Early!  He arrived almost 2 weeks early on 5th June… and he gets extra cuddles every day for coming early… I literally could not move any longer!

9. Did you have morning sickness? Nope… I was very lucky.  I did have bad nausea non-stop for 2 weeks.  I also can no longer look at or eat potato and leek soup or lamb stew without feeling queasy!

10. What did you crave? Indian Take-Away!!!  King prawn bhuna with pilau rice and onion bhajis was my favourite and still is hehe!  I also craved Dominoes pepperoni pizza with the dominator base!

11. Who irritated you the most? The sonographer who did my 20 weeks scan.  She was a student and there was a proper sonographer with her and they kept discussing (in very hushed voices) things that can be wrong with a scan… meanwhile I am freaking out thinking that it is me they are talking about!  How unprofessional!

12. What was your first child’s sex? Male.

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy?About 30 I think!

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? I had a bleed at 5 weeks and we were told it was too early to do a scan so we went for a scan at 6 weeks and there was a little bean beating.  I also had to have a 9 week scan just to check the progress.  I had another bleed at about 18 weeks but again things were fine.  Eventually I was signed off 3 months before my due date due to stress!

15. Where did you give birth? In the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin.

16. How many hours were you in labor? … established labour (where you have started to dilate) – 9 hours… but I had been having contractions since the night before… so TECHNICALLY…22 hours!

17. Who drove you to the hospital?A taxi!  James was in the taxi too… he just had not done his driving test yet .

18. Who watched? James.  They were strict in Dublin and would only allow one person in!

19. Was it vaginal or c-section? vaginal

20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? I was given an epidural.  It was super!

21. How much did your child weigh? 8lbs 1ounce.

22. What did you name him/her?Oliver Charlie James Hughes!

23. How old is your first born today? 16 weeks and 6 days!

I’m not tagging anyone so whoever would like to join in let me know and I’ll come look at your answers!

Ollie is spending his first night away from home with my mum tonight.  I’m not nervous about my mum minding him for the whole night… I’m just nervous about missing him dreadfully… I don’t know.  I guess the first time is supposed to be a bit scary.  I just wonder does he know he is going there and won’t see me until tomorrow… and does he think were giving him away?  Who knows what little babies think!

When my mum picks him up James and I are going out for dinner… our first proper date night in a while.  Were going to Tony Roma’s, a delicious steak and ribs restaurant in Belfast.  When we get home we are going to pack!!  I know… fun!  We have a long drive to Dublin tomorrow afternoon to catch the plane.  I’m nervous about taking Ollie on the plane too!  What if the air pressure hurts his ears the same way it hurts mine?

We are away from Tomorrow until Monday… I can’t wait… it is our first family holiday and although we are not travelling far, I can’t wait to get over to Scotland and relax with my grandparents… and it will be nice to have James off work for a few days!

I’ll not say bye bye yet… I’ll still be posting my 365 tomorrow!

x

of late have been a bit more than awful…

I promise promise promise promise I’ll make a little bit of time for myself to blog in the evenings.

Life has been hectic since we moved back here… we LOVE it and since moving back and seeing family and friends again… our social life has just exploded.  I know that’s not a proper excuse and should not count as to why i haven’t been blogging as much, because I love blogging and really should take that little bit of time out to post!

We now visit my mum for dinner every Sunday and we visit James mum for dinner ever Monday… other days I have been spending with my mum (hey, we have 2 years of only seeing each other once a month, to make up for) because she works near where we live and often she pops in to say hi before or after a shift (she is a nurse)… I’ve also been spending time with my best friend Charlene and her little 11 month old darling Josh.

James and I still have a lot of decluttering and organising to do on the house… we got a good bit done on Saturday when my mum took Ollie off us for a few hours.  We even had a date on Saturday!  Not something we get a chance to do much!!

I am going to be going to a mother baby group as of next Friday and I’m really looking forward to it.  It is about a 2 minute walk from my house and I’ll be going with my friend Clare who has a 10 month old baby called Ruby.

This Thursday James, Ollie and I are heading off to Kelso in Scotland to visit my Granny and Granda.  It will be the first time they meet Ollie and Ollie is very excited to meet them.  I can’t wait.  It isn’t often that great grandparents get to meet their great grandchildren so we feel lucky that Ollie will have the chance.  I haven’t seen them since my wedding in May of last year.

These are all the plans I have so far, but hopefully you get an idea of how busy I’ve been lately.  I am going to set aside time every day to do my blogging as I have really been missing it!!

O0o0oh and Ollie has had a couple of spoons of baby rice and he loved it!  He is 4 months this week so we are going to start weaning him properly either this week or next.  He is definately ready and I can’t wait to let him try all the lovely food on offer!

He is also getting his vaccinations tomorrow.  Fun.

Anyways!  I hope you girls (and guys?) are all fab!  I’ll be back very very soon with proper, regular blog posts, pics of Ollie, recipes etc etc… in fact I have one waiting here for stuffed meatloaf… huge success by the way!!

Emma xx