The Birthday Boy

Today is Arthur's first birthday.

I can hardly believe that it's been 12 months since Jenny and James allowed me to share with them birth of this gorgeous little boy. 

How time does seem to fly by as you get older.

I made his cake, don't look too closely at the icing, the cake tasted great but icing is not as easy as you tube makes it look!  I think cake decorating needs a gently touch and I've got a heavy hand, lol

Never mind, it was made with love, and that's what counts.

Jenny had been asking me to knit a rabbit like the one I did for Bonnie, Arthur's is a chocolate bunny

 :-)

 With a cute pom pom tail, (don't know how long the tail will last though!)

The pattern is a free one, you can find it on Ravelry, it's by Erica Knight

 I also made him a little embroidery

This is one of the DMC kits, I'm not happy with how it's sitting in the hoop so will have another go at fitting it in tighter.  The design is printed on the fabric but I have to say that they are very mean with the fabric, there is very little boarder when you put it in the hoop.

Still, it came out cute.

It's been a very busy week and weekend, we were at my Nephews wedding all day yesterday and I've been at my daughter's for most of the day today, no chance for sitting and resting at all this week!

I'll leave you with some photos of the birthday boy, my favourite is the last one, that sweet face!! :-)

Until next time

-X-

It's been quite a stressful and worrying week.  

Little Arthur has been in hospital for 7 days, Oliver has had chicken pox and we didn't think Arthur would catch it, but he did and he developed a high temperature.  When Jenny first took him to A&E in the early hours of last Tuesday morning she was sent home after being told it was probably due to the chicken pox, but she took him back again a few hours later because he didn't seem to be any better.

And thank goodness she did.  I won't go into everything that happened but he was started on antibiotics and anti viral's right away.   It turns out that he had a Strep bacteria, his infection levels were really high at one point, (in the 70's), but now they are down to 5.  

We are just so thankful that Jenny did the right thing in taking him back to hospital when she did, I shudder to think what might have happened if she hadn't.

He came home yesterday but will be kept on antibiotics for the next five days, Jenny will need to take him to hospital every day for him to be given the antibiotics because they are given intravenously.  She said he is much better, I haven't been to visit him because I have a cold and don't want to pass anything on, so I will have to wait a bit longer to give him a big cuddle.

As I said, Oliver has had chicken pox, he's been ok apart from a couple of off days and he did have a lot of spots, but he is better and back at school today.  

Just before that Bonnie wasn't well for a week, at one point the doctor thought she might have measles but thankfully the rash only lasted for two or three days and her blood test came back negative for measles.  In the end they put it down to a viral infection, she is back to her normal happy self now, although this photo made me laugh, she looks rather puzzled at Nanna taking her photo

As you can imagine I haven't been in the mood for much crafting, I haven't done any stitching on Bonnie's Christmas stocking for about two weeks.
 I did cast on a little cardigan but have yet to finish it.  

We are going away tomorrow, to Sicily, just for a week, usually I don't take any crafting on holiday with me but this time I might pack some knitting along with my books.  

I feel guilty for going away but I have asked Jenny if she wanted me to cancel and she said she is fine with me going, I know that Arthur is on the mend now but I just feel guilty not being here to help her with all the trips to hospital and looking after Oliver, I've had Oliver every day while Jenny and James have been at hospital, Joanne will help out with collecting him from school if needed while i'm away because James will have to go back to base in the next couple of days.

I haven't done my usual round of blog visiting this week, If I get chance while we are away I will try and catch up.

-x-

Offpiste

 When I went to the craft show at the NEC in March I bought a kit to knit an asymmetrical scarf, I was really drawn to the colour and the yarn was really soft and squishy.  

It's called the Off piste scarf and is from The Wool Shop Leeds, I don't think they have a bricks and mortar shop any longer, just a website.

The pattern and two balls of James C, Brett Twisted yarn were included, I chose the shade T3, but the kit does come in other colours. 

It's just so soft and drapey, I'd definitely consider using it again to knit another scarf or shawl.

It was a lovely day when I washed it and I decided to hang it on the line with some pegs to weight it down, I bet the neighbours wondered what I doing, lol

The weather was glorious for the majority of last week, this week the temperatures have dropped again, I'm glad I took the opportunity to get out in the garden while it was nice.
The daffs and the forsythia have finished now but they do bring some colour while they are here.

Just a few days of sunshine and the white tulips are joining the pink ones

 And the Pieris has turned a glorious red.

In just a few days the Hostas doubled in size

 and the anemones, which I had forgotten I'd planted were a nice surprise.

The previous owners planted lots of Primula's so we have them dotted all over.

My fairy garden :-) 

Not everyone's cup of tea, but it makes me smile when I look out my kitchen window.

Mark thinks I'm totally insane, but seeing this little house lit up at night makes me smile :-)

Something else that made me smile, our cheeky squirrel, he was in no hurry to move from his sunny spot on the bird feeder!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to leave congratulation messages, Arthur is already growing so fast, he didn't loose any of his birth weight but has gained 7oz in just over a week!

Oliver is taking everything in his stride, being the only one for so long we did wonder how he would react to having another small person in the house, but he's enjoying being a big brother, that may change in a few years when he has to share his toys, lol.

Until next time

-X-

Three times a Nanna :-)

Just a very quick post to say that Jenny had a little boy on Saturday 14th April at just a few minutes after 9pm.

This time I was able, and very fortunate to see my new Grandson come into the world,

It was a very moving and beautiful experience and I'm so glad that Jenny and James allowed me to share it with them.

He weighed 9lb 5oz and they have called him Arthur, and he's got a good set of lungs on him, lol

Mum and baby are doing well, they had to stop in hospital until Monday because they detected a very slight heart murmur, the doctor has said that it is very very small and they will check it again at 6 weeks, apparently it is quite common and usually heals it self.

Oliver is over the moon that he has a baby brother, I think he was starting to think that this baby would never arrive, every day last week he would ask, is the baby coming today?

James is on Paternity leave now for the next two weeks so I will leave them to get used to being a family of four and visit only if i'm needed in that time, not that they would mind me visiting but I think it is important that they have time to themselves to adjust.

Hopefully I can get some better photos next time, the lighting in the delivery room was very dim and these are the best ones I took

Enjoy the sunshine if you are in the UK, It was very welcome this afternoon :-)

See you soon

-X-