is there something i should know!!

for those 80’s chicks amongst us, a bit of Duran Duran….ahhh do you remember…..

*sit back and remember those oh so nasty perms and all those pastel colours*

Don’t know where that came from….i was just thinking of a title and that came into my head.

So, layouts, i have finished a good few last night. Caught up with some challenges from 2peas. Here is one i really like…

I like to do layouts about the very ordinary things of life. There will always be stacks of photos around of us, the people that make up this family but the its and bits of life get forgotten. Anyway in 5 years time I probably won’t have the same things taking up space in my house. Although you never know!

So..more news, and this won’t be news to some. We are at t-minus 7 days (tomorrow) that Ben, Poppy and me fly to Vancouver, BC. OMGoodness, there, I said it.

We are going for one week exactly and we are going primarily to check it out because we are seriously thinking about going to live there for a while. It is somewhere we intended to go about 5 years ago and it didnt happen and now it just seems back on the cards and we are going to ‘test’ the water, so to speak.

I have mixed feeling about it, to be honest. I am really excited to go but am equally a bit blue that I am will be leaving my two little baby buds at home with their grandparents. This is mainly because of the expense. The joys of being married to a teacher means that just as you get your free time, so the holiday companies plant their prices right up there in the ‘HOW MUCH?” category.

But they are going to be fine (my mantra) and they will have a blast with my mum and dad (more of my mantra) and it will be great and good and lovely. *repeat*

So we have fixed up a couple of meetings and we are hopefully going to go to Whistler for a little look. And of course I am going to be looking into some scrapbook stores….oh..yes…i have my list, i have my yahoo maps printed off and i have lots of space in my suitcase….

So….yeah…that is what we will be doing next week. Sometimes I feel like I am in a bit of a dream. we have wanted to do this for so long and now it seems to be happening. Hard to take it in.

Maybe that is what its like…you know, when your dreams suddenly become scarily real…and i say scary because i mean that I am, at times, terrified…

that it might not be all i had hoped…

that letting your hope rise often means it can get shot down..

But i guess there is risk involved. But that’s life right? We have to take risks or we stand still, motionless, afraid to move, paralysed by fear.

And you know what? that’s not going to me 🙂

Thanks Hebe for the craft lesson with this one. Those letters look awesome. Mmmm..yes..black dots not supposed to be there, had a bit of falling out with the scanner….

and this one i did about a week ago because I was feeling like I hadnt done many of the baby and so this pic was one i took by accident almost. She is so NOT tiny any more. Those really tiny days are gone for good. *sigh*

Got a couple more that i am planning to finish up tonight.

We went to the National Railway Museum today. Don’t laugh…we have an obsessed train spotter little boy…good day, i think everyone else in the North east was there too. But i am determined not to waffle on about trains……i would like you to come back to my blog again 🙂

So just for you Mum, thought this might take you back…

and so it was…..

I wondered into Borders yesterday afternoon waiting for Ben and came across the parenting section of the store….a place i generally stay away from…

But, i had some time to kill (WHAT!!!) hang on, i had some time to kill…just had to say it again…doesn’t happen that often.

anyhoo..i was browsing and noticed a book titled ‘good mother, bad mother.’ I peered at it for a while and saw that it was written by Gina Ford. Most people in UK who have smallish children with know of this woman. A maternity nurse from scotland who has no children of her own but advocates a very strict routine based system to get kids sleeping through when they are like 5 minutes old or somethingLOL

I took one look at one paragraph of her ‘contented baby’ book, when Isaac was a baby, and put it firmly back on the shelf with a bit too much force probably.

So i was reluctant to pick this good mother, bad mother book up and even so much as read the fly. But i did thinking to myself….’sheesh, this woman, now she has written a book telling women that they somehow have to fit into her definition of good and bad’

and here is were the humble pie comes in…..

it wasnt like that at all. I have to say after about 15 minutes of reading this book I found myself warming to her. The one line that sticks with me in this book was ‘ regardless of wether breast fed, bottle fed, routined, demand feed, rooming in, own room….a baby that is loved completely will always thrive better than a baby that is unloved’

Amen, i say Ms Ford.

This is SO the point when it comes to mothering. Yes, yes, i know there are the facts…like breastfeeding, yes it is the best for a baby…that is, when it comes down to it, undisputed.
BUT, giving your baby, formula does NOT make you a bad mother. Maybe babies sleep longer and better when they are in Gina’s routines but does it make you a good mother to follow it and a bad mother not to.

Don’t think so. When it comes to it. Kids need their parents and they NEED to be loved. If doing things differently to the baby guru/mafia type people keeps you sane enough and with your head sufficiently above water enough to do this most excellent job. Then I say, go for it. Your kids are going to remember how much you showed your love, not what formula you used or how long they had a pacifier.

Now, dont get me wrong, i do have a professional opinion here. I work with the tiniest fragile lives and yes, i do have an opinion about how they should be fed. But so much of my professional opinions get watered down by the reality of having three babies in three years. 🙂

So worth having a look i reckon. Did i buy it?

Not a chance! It was £15.00. My opinion may have shifted a bit but not that much….

and speaking of well loved babies…. here are some big and small, that i’m kinda fond of 🙂

oh yes..i have got some scrapping pages to put on but thought i would wait till tomorrow….so check back.

is this…

you breed a bunch of monkeys…LOL…

Our day at the wonderful Liverpool dock side ended with them all hanging from this railing and having a good few giggles.

Maisie surprised us, when Isaac began swinging on the bar, she looked a bit put out but literally threw herself at the bar and swung with the best of ’em.

I even heard Ben say to a couple walking past…”she’s not even two”….awwwww…can you sense a bit of fatherly pride there!!

Bit brief tonight, i am off to a scrapping day tomorrow so should have some good ‘uns to post over the next couple of days. So hang in there fellow scrappers 🙂

last one for this evening.

isn’t she just a cutie.

I’m out.

today that is. Got a very cool email this morning, thanks amanda 🙂 one slighty scary one (but in a good way i think) and a couple of come to our store and spend lots of money. I thought i would post a layout or two that i have been doing. Need to get me some more supplies, especially paper. But holding of for two weeks time…!:)

this is a very very quick layout i did for a challenge based on the old james blunt song. i think i did this the day before that binkin’ awful day i had….LOL…that is just the way it is!!!

and this one is a little bit more busy than i would normally do but i wanted to get a lot of pics on it, hard when you only do itty bitty 8.5×11!!

okay so with that i leave you. have a bit of peace in your day today.:)