Isle of Wight Adventure

This post is long overdue, but better late than never!

Back in May, Amelia, Grandma Seaside, Granny Jan and I went on holiday to the Isle of Wight. Amelia loved being with both her grandmas at the same time! Sadly, my camera ran out of battery a few days into the holiday, but here are some of my favourite photos:

Short, but sweet, Fun Fact Friday

1. Amelia has started yelling 'Mark' when she wants his attention. Normally she calls him Daddy, but if he's in another room, she loves calling out his name. We find it impossible not to laugh, so she'll probably still be calling him Mark when she starts school.

2. Everything is a hat at the moment. We've had nappy hats, water hats, clothes hats and – my favourite – food hats (notably fajitas or something similarly messy).

3. Amelia's word-of-the-moment is ‘stuck’. Everything is always stuck and she’s always stuck. I love it when I put her armbands on to go swimming and she says ‘I’m stuck’.

4. We've been enjoying lots of picnics in this beautiful weather. The only downside is the mess Amelia makes when she eats tomatoes. I need to remember to dress her in black on a picnic day.

Update!

1. I had a GREAT birthday this year. I had a joint pyjama and pudding party with my friends AGB and Bacon, Mark took me to see Billy Elliot in London and my parents and sister threw me a One Direction themed party. What more could you want from a 26^th?

2. Amelia loves pretending. She feeds, dresses and reads to her dolls and teddies. It’s so cute.

3. Amelia’s getting pretty good at dancing. She takes it very seriously. I need to try to capture it on camera, but my favourite in-the-zone-dancing is when we’re in the car and a song with a loud drum beat comes on the radio. With no facial expression at all, Amelia sways from side to side, and then after a few seconds, acts like nothing’s happened.

4. Amelia loves the swing at my parents’ house. She now says ‘weeee’ when she wants to get on it.

5. Amelia also loves the pebbles in my parents’ garden. She’s definitely an outdoors girl.

6. We had an unexpected stay in hospital last week when Amelia’s temperature went mad. She’s almost back to normal now though, and we’re enjoying freedom and seeing people after being confined to one small room!

Fun Fact Friday

1. Amelia’s walking! I never thought the time would come. Since Christmas she’s been on her feet most of the time, but only started to take some steps last week. She's got the hang of it very quickly though because she’s quite close to running already!

2. We’ve been making the most of the nice weather this week. Amelia loves going on walks to the park.  This is her favourite position to sit in:

3. I wouldn’t say this is a fun fact, but last week I was disappointed to find that the African market stall in Ipswich has gone. Where will I get my Mazoe from now?!

4. Amelia only likes to paint in blue or green. Is this normal?

I’ve lost my camera charger, so please excuse the poor photos!

Fun Fact Friday

I’ve been useless at blogging regularly, but hopefully these weekly Fun Fact Fridays will help keep me on track!

1. Oh my, why have I never made granola before? I’m addicted. I’ve been trying lots of new recipes this month and am well on my way to ticking off #55 on my 99 Things to do in 999 Days list, but I wish granola wasn’t one of them. I make one or two batches every week and can’t stop eating it – for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

2. I bought Amelia her first pair of shoes this week. She’s so close to walking, so I thought that taking her shoe shopping might give her the last push of encouragement she needs. I was wrong! She wasn’t happy at all about having her feet measured and refused to walk in any of the shoes we had her try on. I still bought her the cutest pair of pink and flowery shoes in the shop though, and she will be wearing them this week.

3. Amelia’s been very chatty recently. New words include: blueberries, good girl, please, baby, duck, dog, cat, that, hello, night night, Mark(!), Granny, Grandad and red. She’s even started trying to make sentences, like ‘bye bye Daddy’ and ‘blueberries please’. She’s certainly making up for her lack of movement in other areas!

4. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m really enjoying being back at work. My colleagues are great, the children are genuinely delightful and Amelia loves her childminder.

5. Amelia's very funny at bedtime. I think the photos say it all!

99 Things

Merry Christmas! We’ve had a wonderful holiday, filled with family gatherings, endless games, too much food and too few photos.  Amelia has loved all the attention and we've loved being able to catch up with everyone.

I nearly stuck to all my New Year’s Resolutions this year, so thought I’d take on a '99 Things to do in 999 Days' challenge.  My start date will be 01/01/14, which means I have to complete everything on my list by 26/09/16.  So far I’ve only got 88 things on my list, so I’m open to suggestions!

Family

1. Have family photos taken

2. Go on a picnic

3. Take Amelia abroad

4. Go on a bike ride

5. Have a day out in London

6. Compile a family photo album

7. Go to Edinburgh for a long weekend

8. Visit two counties we’ve never been to

9. Go fruit picking and make a crumble

10. Don’t watch the television for a week

11. Start some family traditions of our own                          

Personal

12. Don’t complain for a week

13. Read all the unread novels I have at home

14. Read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography

15. Watch one film recommended by each parent

16. Watch The Killing

17. Watch Homeland

18. Read all the Harry Potter books

19. Watch all the Harry Potter films

20. Keep a dream journal for a month

Health and Fitness

21. Give up chocolate for a month

22. Take a Zumba class

23. Swim regularly

24. Get a new glasses prescription

25. Get down to a healthy weight

Spiritual

26. Read the Bible

27. Keep a prayer book

28. Go to a home group regularly

29. Keep a diary of all the things I’m thankful for on a daily basis for a month

Musical

30. Go to a music festival

31. Make a portfolio

32. Make a website

33. Do another Grade VIII

Arts and Crafts

34. Make a table cloth using my sewing machine

35. Make lip balm

36. Learn how to sew buttons onto clothes

37. Learn how to hem

38. Learn how to sew on zips

39. Do a watercolour painting

40. Make something for Amelia

41. Make a ceramic

42. Upcycle an item of furniture

43. Make a quilt

44. Create a photo wall

45. Make a canvas picture with buttons

Food

46. Make jam

47. Make cinnamon rolls

48. Make ice cream

49. Try five new foods

50. Perfect three different pasta dishes using our pasta machine

51. Make three different smoothies using our smoothie maker

52. Try a steak

53. Make and decorate a cake

54. Marinate a piece of meat

55. Make 30 new recipes and add them to my recipe book

56. Make five new desserts

57. Make a gingerbread house

58. Make cordial

Home

59. Finish decorating

60. Re-do our kitchen

61. Re-do our bathroom

62. Sort out our garage

63. Maintain our garden in the warm months

64. Keep a vegetable patch

65. Put pictures up in Amelia’s room

66. Put bunting up in Amelia’s room

67. Put a name plate on Amelia’s door

New Skills

68. Take a course

69. Learn how to change a tyre

70. Understand the offside rule

71. Learn a hip hop dance

72. Learn sign language

73. Learn Spanish

Helping Others

74. Do two things for charity

75. Send a care package to someone

76. Send Christmas or Thank You cards to soldiers overseas

77. Volunteer for a charity

78. Give someone a gift for no reason

79. Write and send 50 letters

80. Give blood

Other

81. Get my car cleaned properly

82. Be able to name all the countries

83. Be able to name all the states in America and their capitals

84. Get my wedding ring fixed

85. Sell something on eBay

86. Sign up to www.postcrossing.com and send 10 postcards

87. Throw a Murder Mystery party

88. Make another '99 Things to do in 999 Days' list