Rollercoaster of life

I'm not really a cliche user if I can avoid it, but I've got to say this last week definitely comes into the category of "Rollercoaster of Emotions".

Last Monday was my first day back at work after 10 months of maternity leave. For weeks I've been swinging between dreading it and looking forward to it (although, to be honest, dreading it was more common!). I wasn't scared of not remembering what to do (not sure I knew in the first place!) or feeling out of touch with my colleagues (as I've managed to keep up with them via pub lunches, facebook and the odd email here and there) but I was just so nervous about leaving Lily with anyone else. I realised that for her whole life the longest time we had spent apart was about 4 hours - what a scary thought.

We are very fortunate to have found a fantastic childminder and my equally fantastic mum has also offered to spend some time looking after Lily, but that didn't stop my (another cliche coming...) feeling of a heavy heart when Monday morning finally rolled round and the time actually came to part with her for the day. I think the thing that hurt the most was not being able to explain what was going on. She's a bright 9 month old, but not quite that bright yet! Although she'd met Michelle a few times before, she definitely looked a bit confused when I left :(

I found the best way to cope was just to keep busy at work and being the first day back there was plenty to do. The wheels of administration grind very slowly where I work (sorry, another cliche!) so there were plenty of phone calls to make and people to chat to. The day passed surprisingly quickly and I was really pleased to collect Lily in the evening and hear about what a good day she'd had. Although we only had a couple of hours together in the evening before bed, I found myself making the most of that time trying to find out how she felt about her first whole day away from me. I did feel a sense of relief that she still appeared to be talking to me!

The rest of the week passed off similarly and I could see Lily's confidence at being without me growing even in the space of a few short days. Part of me feels sad that she can manage without me, but of course it is better for her development to interact with others.

I think being away during the week makes you savour what time you do have together and make the most of the small moments that might otherwise pass off un-noticed. This weekend, for example, has been a busy one, but the most fun was had this afternoon A walk to the local shop for an ice cream:



Followed by Lily's first ever go on the swings in the local park:



Oh yeah and I had to have a go too:



Then back home for a splash in the paddling pool and a home grown strawberry as a snack! It's amazing how much fun you can have so close to home. Hopefully next week will be even better than last week ready for more fun and games next weekend!

10 Things on the 10th

1. The issue of Mollie Makes I am still reading. Must get on to issue 2 soon!

2. Consecutive dunkings Lily managed at swimming today. And no tears :)

3. Ribs in the bag of starters with our Chinese tonight. So how come I only got one?

4. Dads who made it to Dads and Babies Rhymetime last month. Will there be more tomorrow?

5. Numbers that would do on the lottery tomorrow. I am not greedy...

6. Unfinished craft projects in the living room. This obviously does not include those in the bedroom, spare room or utility room.

7. Solid hours for which Lily slept last night. Can she do the same again tonight....?

8. Minutes by which I missed the Sainsbury's delivery man today. On the plus side, when he came back we had a good chat about VW campers.

9. Whole days left until I return to work (booooo!).

10. Things. On the 10th of the month. Will I keep this up? Who knows but it was fun today.

My, Haven't We Grown!

Today we had the mums and babies from our NCT Group over to us for our regular weekly meet up and it really struck me how much we've all grown!

When we first found out we were expecting Lily we really had no idea what to expect! One of the things I was keen on from the start was attending some ante-natal classes to hopefully prepare us a little for what was to come. Various friends had recommended the NCT classes so we signed up and were booked on to some sessions during August 2010. I remember before the first class feeling quite nervous, partly because this made the impending birth seem rather more, well, impending, than it had. I was also quite nervous about being thrown into this group of people with whom we only had one thing in common - babies!

As it turns out, I needn't have worried. Ever since those classes almost a year ago, we have met almost every week and shared our many different experiences of early parenthood. As our babies have grown I think we've also grown from that group of acquaintances with only our big tummies in common to a group of friends with all sorts in common (particularly our love of tea and cakes!).

I have always been quite an independent soul, not really feeling the need to rely on others for support, but I have been amazed at the comfort we have offered each other. Just being able to meet up with mums at the same stage has been fantastically re-assuring, knowing that we are all going through similar issues, being able to share ideas and learn from each other. When joining this kind of group, you never know who you might end up with (!) but feel so lucky that we are all so supportive and non-judgemental of each other. We all have different parenting styles and different ideas but we all seem to get along fabulously well and respect each other's ways while offering each other gentle encouragement and guidance when things aren't going so well.

Other than the obvious, one of the things that's upset me most about my imminent return to work was the thought of losing touch with my NCT group. It is so easy when circumstances change to let contacts slip and before you know it a week, a month, a year has gone by and contact is lost. So I was really relieved today when we started talking about this and resolved to continue to make the effort to meet up, even if it's not all together every time and even if it's not every week. In these kind of situations it's easy to make hollow promises, but I have a good feeling that we will all make the effort to make it work. I truly hope so. Vicky, Vicky, Heidi, Katherine, Emma, Joe, Luke, Tom, Doug and William, you have all helped Lily and I far more than you could ever know over the last 8 months. Thank you xxx

Bracknell Bound

A bit of old news this, being from nearly a month ago! However Steve has done a little write up of our trip to the LTV May Bracknell Meet here :)

Boxing Clever

It was Lily's Nanny's birthday this week so of course, all self-respecting Nannies require a Treasure Box to hold on to all those special little keepsakes to remember their first granddaughter's early days. As usual I did a bit of shopping around and found that nothing really fitted the bill properly, so decided to fall back on my crafting skills and make something special instead.

First job - arm oneself with materials.... a lidded cardboard box from Hobbycraft and some pearlised poster paint.





Combine the two together to create....


The box and lid both ended up with two coats of paint inside and out to get a good even finish. Next job, customise the lid:



I used some cardboard cut out letters I picked up in a card shop a while ago. One of those purchases I knew would come in handy at some point! Now I need to decide what to do with the other three sets! I attached them with some super sticky double sided tape (as shown on the letter Y). This stuff is great for projects that might get a bit of extra wear, or for attaching slightly heavier items like buttons for example. I used the same tape to attach the ribbon:



At this point I thought there was something missing so I decided to add a flower and tag. Flowers seem to feature on most of my craft projects in some way. I made this one by layering up some paper flowers with a brad (a little doodah like a mini paper fastener) then sticking the glittery centre over the top (with more super sticky tape).



The tag was made by coating a metal-rimmed vellum tag with glitter glue, and writing a message on a handmade paper tag using a gelly roll pen. Then I used a scrap of ribbon the tie them together and attach them, along with the flower, to the box.

Inside the box I placed one of Lily's first sleepsuits, a hat and some bootees. I also made a little box ready for a lock of hair from her first haircut. This might have to wait a while as her hair is so fantastic that I really don't want to cut it!



The box is made from an origami design using two squares of paper, one slightly smaller than the other, to create a box and lid. It was decorated in the same was as the main box using ribbon, paper flowers and a tag.

In my excitement at finishing this gift, I forgot to take a picture of the completed article! But I will add one soon to show off the finished result! Lily's Nanny was very pleased :)

A Right Royal Knees Up

Wedding fever truly hit the Prior household yesterday! The lounge was decked out in bunting, union jack table cloths were out in force and of course there was a little spot of dressing up:



TV went on at 8am and there we sat, watching all the build up and right through the ceremony itself. I know there are some people out there who are anti the royal family to varying degrees but I thought it was fabulous and made me proud to be British. It was so impressive to see the huge outpouring of support for a young couple who seem so in love and in some ways so normal, but have such a huge weight of responsibility to carry through their future.

After a quick break for a swimming lesson.....





.... it was back home to get the plates and (union jack of course!) napkins out ready for the royal visit! Well, not quite but two sets of parents and Aunty Carole amount to almost the same thing.

In true British style it wasn't long before we had a knock at the door inviting us to an impromptu street party round the corner. So we gathered up cakes and wandered round. Say what you like about "the country today" and "things aren't what they used to be" but we had a great time and were really welcomed into the area. I love these times when the community comes together with a common cause to celebrate.Maybe this was a good practice run for the Diamond Jubilee next year? I better get my organising hat on, I feel a spreadsheet coming on....! Talking of hats, Lily's red, white and blue effort was such a hit I may have a few orders coming from the local primary school :)

All too soon it was time to head back home, have a little relax:



and contemplate having watched history being made!

National Distress?

You can't help but notice the outpouring of national pride recently, in the run up to a certain wedding tomorrow. I am sure every other little bit of suburbia around the country is like ours with flags, bunting, street parties and so on. But I am beginning to see a worrying trend. Those of you who know me in real life will know it has been concerning me for many years but the last few weeks have seen an exponential rise in the number of distress signals around:



If you're not sure of the problem here, check out this link. Or this one. Or even this one.

The problem with being something of a pedant about certain things as I am, is that I feel the urge to knock on people's doors to ask them the cause of their distress. As a Girl Guide I want to assist where I can and can't help but wonder if there is any way I can relieve their anxiety. I have resisted temptation so far for fear of a less than thankful response. I only hope the flags come down this time tomorrow so that normal service can be resumed once more!