Another year older

I didn't get chance to pop back and post my last Advent gifts and wish you all a Merry Christmas, things went a bit manic.  With all the to-ing and frowing to hospital, the food shop and taking Bonnie to see Father Christmas because Joanne and Gavin couldn't and then Mark passing his cold on to me, I was pooped!

So, did you all have a good Christmas?  We've had better, in fact Christmas Day it was downright awful if I'm honest.  We have drawn a line under that.

I still haven't managed to shake off my cold, I'm afraid it's going to settle in my sinuses, as usual, and I dread that happening because I cannot take decongestants, (sigh). And I now have two cold sores to go with it, great!

Everyone came round for a few hours for my birthday on Friday, we had planned on going for a curry on the night but to be honest I really didn't feel up to it.

I made myself go out of the house today, we don't need any food, we still have plenty to last but I did need to get cat food, the town was heaving!  I have no desire to look at whats on sale so I won't be heading out to any shops until normality has resumed, lol

I did take some bread with me though so I could go for a walk around the park and feed the ducks.   It was getting towards late afternoon by the time I got there but there were still lots of families about, children with new bikes, scooters and pushing new dolls in prams :-)

For once the seagulls didn't seem bothered about stealing the food.

I missed sharing the last couple of days of Advent with you, theses are all my yarns

From Lay Family yarn

From Crafthouse Magic

And from Jo

One of the gifts my eldest daughter gave me was also yarn related, these are from Crafternoon treats, the Sugared Almond set of minis

 I think I have plenty of minis to keep going for a while, and the are all so gorgeous!

Joanne and baby Jacob are doing ok, the midwife has still not signed him off as he still has a tinge of jaundice.  Joanne is waiting for one more infection swab to come back but as no one has called her back for more tablets we are assuming that's ok.

Bonnie has taken to him really well, it's so sweet to see how she is with him, she's going to be such a lovely caring big sister.

I'm not going to do an end of year round up of things I've made, but thank you to everyone who has read my posts or left me a comment, I have made some good friends through blogging and I'm so grateful for that 😘😘


I wish you all a Happy New Year, may 2020 bring you good health, happiness and may you find joy in all you do.

See you soon for brand new decade!!

-X-

23rd Day of Advent - Almost there

Thank you for your congratulations yesterday, mum and baby are ok, but his jaundice levels have gone up so they have started the treatment for that.  

At the moment I think it's highly unlikely that they will be home for Christmas, they will not be allowed home until both his and Joanne's infection levels are normal, they are going down but they do need to be normal for two blood tests before they can go home.

He is now in a cot for light therapy, to treat the jaundice, he can still stay by mums bed though.

We do have a name, Jacob Mark.

Mark is chuffed they have given him his name.

I like it, I think Jacob suits him :-)

I was late opening my advents today so I do apologise for the poor photos.

 More beautiful colours :-)

Jo included a chocolate, it didn't make it to the photo but it tasted lovely :-)

My Body Shop gift today was....Well, I'n not sure what it is, lol.  If you know do tell.

I think It may be some sort of blending sponge?

I don't blend, lol.  I wear minimal make up, colour corrector, mascara and blusher and that's me done.  My make up takes all of five minutes in the morning :-)

I might pass this one on to my daughter :-)

I managed to get all my food shopping done, the supermarket wasn't too bad.  Aldi is closed for two days and Morrison's is closed just Christmas day, so I'm not bothered if I have forgotten something.

I'll sign off for today with a few photos of my favourite Christmas things around our house.

And my favourite stitched piece from last year :-)

I hope your day was good, for a Monday, I hope you have managed to get everything done and are not too stressed.
I will see you again tomorrow for the last Advent post!

-X-

21st & 22nd Day of Advent - Two Birthdays

Playing catch- up with the advents again today, I do have a good excuse though.

Please welcome the new addition to our family, grandchild number four ❤❤

👶

(Taken about a hour after he was born)

 (And this evening.  He has already scratched his nose!)

Momma did not have a good time of it.  As you know her waters broke on Thursday and she had been in hospital since the early hours of Friday morning but was not having contractions.

She was eventually induced on Saturday and all was going really well, the midwife thought she was quite near to giving birth after around 3 hours but when she examined her she had only dilated to 2 cm in all that time, her contractions were strong and close together so she should have been nearing the end.  

At this point Joanne started saying she really didn't feel very well and that she thought something was the matter, a doctor was called in and he asked Joanne what was the matter. she repeated what she had told the midwife, to his credit he only asked her once and said if she thought something was the matter then he would do an emergency section.

I was scared, so Joanne must have been terrified, she really did look so pale.

Thankfully baby was delivered not long after and both were fine.   

Up until I was told they were both ok  I had held it together but the relief of being told everything had gone ok was too much and I just broke down.

They will both be in hospital for quite a few days as they are being treated for infection and are on antibiotics.  So I think Joanne's instincts were right, and thank goodness the midwife and doctors listened to her.

Look at Bonnie's face! bless her, she has been looking forward so much to this baby brother

The other birthday was Jenny's, my eldest daughter, she is 37 today.  It seems only yesterday that I was the one in hospital having just had my first child.  

How time does fly.

Only two more Advents to open, I will miss having these little treats to open every day, but will look forward to putting all the gorgeous minis into my blanket and having little bath-time treats for months to come :-)

Yarn Advents for 21st

And a mini had cream from my Body Shop calendar

Advent yarn for 22nd with a lovely tea from Jo.  

I love this cherry bakewell tea and I can't get it in the shops around here so I shall enjoy this tonight as my bedtime cuppa, thanks Jo :-)

I opened some face cream from my Body Shop calendar, I've never tried this so will look forward to seeing what it's like.

I've got some food shopping to do in the morning, i'm hoping that the supermarket won't be too busy, i'm not doing a 'big' shop, I haven't done that for years but with what's been happening here these last few days I haven't done any food shopping at all since last Wednesday.

Mark Is currently sneezing his head off in the other room so I'm keeping well out of his way until he is over the worst!  He has more drugs and potions than a chemist lined up in the kitchen.  I can't take any cold remedies, I swear by ginger and lemon tea and extra doses of vitamin C if I feel a cold coming on, works every time for me, but Mark puts his faith in over the counter cold cures. Men!

Hope your weekend has been good, see you tomorrow

-X-

19th & 20th Days of Advent - Best laid plans

My daughter, Joanne, called me last night saying her waters had broke! so it was panic stations for a while.  You might remember that when she went into labour with Bonnie we were in London, and although we were only a few hours away by the time we got back Bonnie had arrived!

Well this little chappy is not being so cooperative for his Momma.   We were at the hospital until 3 am, and then Joanne and Gavin went back about an hour later and I went to stop at their house with my youngest daughter who was looking after Bonnie.  I Got into bed a 4 am and was up again at six because I had to go to work.

Joanne is still no further along, she is having pains but not very strong or regular ones, they have kept her in and are going to put her on a drip if nothing is happening by 10 pm tonight.

Until last week the baby was lying transverse, he is now in the right position but still giving problems as he is lying a bit awkwardly. 

Looks like I might be up all night again tonight but I will be glad when Joanne has had this baby, she has not had a good time these last few weeks.

Here are the goodies I opened yesterday, along with an extra treat from Jo.

And from today, all beautiful coordinating minis :-)

Body Shop gifts were, a white musk body lotion for yesterday

And a bath bomb for today

I've finished work today, I was only in for a couple of hours this morning as the office shut at  lunch time for the Christmas Party,  I came home and went straight to bed, lol.

I hope your Friday went well

See you tomorrow
-X

18th Day of Advent - Last stitching for 2019

I finished stitching my January Calendar Girl on Sunday.  It took me three Sunday afternoons of stitching, I'm happy with that, it means that I know It will be possible for me to get one a month done without putting too much pressure on myself.

I really enjoyed the stitching of this one, hopefully I can find some time before Christmas to make it up ready to put out in January

I went a walk around the park again this afternoon and took my bag of bread for the pond life.

I think the seagulls were even more greedy today, I thought this one was coming for me, lol

I'm really quite happy to have been able to get such a good photo with just my phone! 

Luckily he didn't come any closer, aren't they cheeky!!

Speaking of cheeky, I had a new Advent in the basket afternoon

This basket is where I've been keeping my Advents from Jo, and because there is a space now, Molly thinks she can fit her fluffyness in there🐱🐱

My lovely minis from today along with a bath bubble form Jo.

Sorry the light was not good for photos this afternoon.  The two yarns that look grey actually have some green in them too but its just not showing up, and the one from Jo is not as orange as it's showing here.   

I opened a Strawberry glossing conditioner today from my Body Shop calendar.  

I had already opened the matching glossing shampoo a few days ago so i'm glad I got the matching conditioner too because i'm really impressed with the shampoo :-)

So that's another day closer, It's whizzing by now isn't it? 

Are you all organized, or will you have last minute present buying to do?

-X-

17th Day of Advent - I'm a sucker for a mug

It all started with this one last year

And then the two little reindeer ones

Then the lovely vintage Santa I saw when passing a charity shop in town.

I found these three all on the same day in two different charity shops a few weeks ago

And you have already met the newest addition earlier in the month

Some may say I have a problem, lol, but I love my Christmas mugs, although it has become a standing joke and I think the kids fear for my sanity😜 

🎄🎄🎄

Today's beautiful Advent minis, and a little chocolate treat form Jo.

And another face mask from my Body Shop calendar

Not long left now, another seven days, It's been such a lovely treat opening these goodies every day!

I hope you had a good day

See you tomorrow

-X-

16th Day of Advent -Wednesday - A basket full of minis

The lovely June  and Marlene asked if I'd got any plans for all my Advent minis, and indeed I do :-) 

I have wanted to knit a mitered square blanket for a long time, they are usually made by using up all the left over scraps from when people have knitted socks, but as I have yet to complete a pair of 

socks (!) I didn't have any left over 4 ply yarn. 

Then I found out that you could buy mini skeins of yarn, so, happy day's,  I started collecting and before I knew it I had a basket full!

I have made a very small start on my blanket, there are several patterns you can use but I'm using the Knitted Patchwork Recipe by Martine Ellis, (which is free on Ravelry) and the chevron layout that Ellie of Craft House Magic suggested on her video tutorials, which you can find on you tube.

As you can see, there is a long way to go on this one but I have enjoyed choosing the colours I've used so far and It's nice to see how they knit up.

Here are a close up of some of the colours, although with the poor afternoon light some of them are not showing up true to colour.

So my blanket is where a lot of  my Advent mini skeins will be going and I shall be choosing some to add in over the Christmas holiday

Here are the one's I opened today :-)

A gorgeous pink theme going on today :-)  I think all of these would fit right in with the colours I've got going on in my blanket at the moment.

I opened another lovely body butter from my Body Shop Calendar.
I still haven't sorted out something to keep all these goodies in yet!

Thank you for all your lovely comments every day, I really do appreciate you taking the time to stop by. 
Jane, you have left me some lovely comments every day, thank you, blogger is not letting me find your blog when I click on your name though, can you leave me a link back to your space please?

I do hope your Monday wasn't a Manic one

-X-

15th Day of Advent - Rudolph

A couple of weeks ago, while I was having a sort out, I came across one of my purchases from our Yarndale trip in September.

This cute little kit came from The Knitting Gift Shop who had a stand there.

 

There are other kits too, a bird, an owl a sheep, but as soon as I saw Rudolph I knew he was coming home with me 🦌

I knit his little jumper last night and now he is hanging on my tree, isn't he cute with his little silver bells and dummy ❤

Here are today's lovely minis from my yarny Advents, Jo popped a lovely progress keeper in today's  gift bag too, thank you Jo, this will come in handy for when I cast on my Betwixmas shawl😀 

My Body Shop gift today was this facial soap, I don't usually use soap on my face so It will be interesting to see what this is like compared to face wash.

I'm on a count down to breaking up from work this week, so it will either whizz by because I've got lots to be doing at work, or drag on because I'm looking forward to breaking up, lol.

Hope your Sunday has been good, see you tomorrow

-X-