Heart over head....

I'm delighted to share some really exciting news with you (all two of you!), come October, there's going to be another Velcro Baby joining our family!

Apparently the teeniest Velcro Baby is due at the beginning of October, I'm not telling anyone the actual date because a, both previous arrivals have been a week or so late and b, I'm hoping to avoid all those "Any news?" texts/phonecalls/conversations which make me want to poke the questioner (who I'm sure is just well meaning and interested) in the eye.

We're expecting a few raised eyebrows over the arrival of this baby, on paper, this was probably not a sensible decision, but, I'm rarely sensible and anyway, who wants to live their life on paper? We live in a small house, we don't have a lot of money and we already have two young children. But ultimately, we knew we'd be far more likely to look back with regret on a life lived with a bit more room and a bit more money, than a life stuffed with children and love.

A lovely German friend assures me it's very common on the Continent to have millions of kids in small houses and just stuff them into corners and bunkbeds and such like, so we came over all European and threw caution to the wind.

Actually, I don't think we'll have to compromise on much, generally our kids stay in our room for quite a while anyway so I'm not too worried about not having a spare room for this baby. We also have a loft stuffed with clothes, reuseable nappies, toys, a cot, a buggy and millions of maternity clothes, so we shouldn't have to buy much, and breastfeeding was still free last time Ichecked.

I'm contemplating the idea of Tandem Feeding, as Velcro Boy is still enthusiastically breast-feeding and, if I'm honest, to satisfy my rebellious desire to do something REALLY controversial and out there! I fed Moobles until I was 6 months pregnant with VB, and if I'm honest, I'd really had enough by then and was knackered, with a little encouragement she was happy to stop. We'll see how things pan out this time, October is still a long way off I guess.

Happy Birthday to my lovely sister in law!

My lovely sister-in-law turned 30 yesterday. She's only a year older than me, and is already making me feel a bit better about the big 3 0!

I'd like to say a public HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her, she's a fabulous sister in law, aunty and friend who always puts others before herself and is one of the most beautiful people I know, both inside and out. She knows how to make others feel special, and I hope she knows just how special she is too.

This is her with my lovely husband and a very small Velcro Boy...

You live and learn

Spurred on by the (brief) spell of nice weather we've been out and about lots in the last few days and have learnt lots of things on our travels.

Moobles has learned how to scan shopping through the self-service till at the shop, she likes finding the barcodes and making the machine beep. She's been looking for barcodes on her books and toys, and I fear I may have to do a bit of research into exactly how a barcode is made and what it's for if Moobles current line of questioning is anything to go by!

Velcro Boy has learnt that if you cry "help! help! help!" repeatedly someone will come and rescue you while you're hanging precariously from the edge of your (tall) chest of drawers. Sadly, what VB hasn't learnt is that if you got stuck trying to climb down your chest of drawers from the top bunk the first five or six times, the chances are you're going to carry on getting stuck and should probably give up this dangerous occupation until your legs grow or there is someone in the room to airlift you off.

Gadget Man has learnt that he can move rather quickly when he hears VB shout "help! help! help!". So far he's had to jump out of the shower to rescue him and has managed to go from fast asleep to rescue mode in less than 3 seconds.

I have learnt that I really should aim lower when it comes to birthday cakes. We had a little family party for VB on Saturday and as tradition demands, I made him a cake. The last cake I attempted was meant to be the Mad Hatter's top hat, it tasted alright, but looked, um, dodgy. And Moobles is still bemoaning the fact that it didn't have Alice sitting on top of it almost a year on. So I decided to make Nigella's Devil's Food cake, figuring that if it looked awful, at least it would taste alright.

In order to make it a bit more VB friendly, I decided to make a marzipan Mike Wazowski, I really should know better! It turned out alright after a lot of swearing and "help" from small people. But much of the kitchen was coated in green food colouring, including Moobles who was attempting her own marzipan creation. VB also took the opportunity to cover the front room in cornflour, which was brilliant, because I didn't already have a tonne of things to do! Next year, I'm going to try and convince myself to just buy a plastic toy to go on top or maybe just buy a cake, it's got to be easier than making one!

Two years ago, I looked like this....

It was 10.30pm and were just about to leave to go to the hospital, I don't think either of us realised Velcro Boy would be making his appearance 90 minutes later, at 00.07am!

His birth was quick and intense, and it took a while for the midwives to believe he was about to arrive. But arrive he did, with very little effort on my part thankfully and he's been a constant joy and essential part of our little family ever since.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow gorgeous boy x x x