Little Hope is 10 months old today so I thought I'd do a little update on what she is doing.

Her first tooth has just broken throught the surface of the gum but isn't really visible yet.

We are still breastfeeding. Since Christmas she has not been sleeping throught the night. She was ill at the beginning of January and woke every 2 hours for nursing. She is still doing this but now just once or twice a night. She has 3 'solid' meal per day, mostly roughly pureed, and seems not to mind what it is apart from avocado. She's only liked this when mixed with banana.

She is sitting up, unaided, crawling and trying to pull herself up. She doesn't babble as much as the other two did, but likes to make animal/lion noises, hums and 'sings' and attempts to make signs for milk and waves. I think she said the word 'dog' yesterday when we were looking at a book together.

She is generally a very happy, easy going child and only seems to cry when she has a good reason ie tired, hungry or wants her nappy changed which I sometimes miss because I can't smell it! She does hate being dressed and undressed though and gets very angry, then!

I had a sort out of the toys this afternoon. Here I have assembled some collections of toys and 'real' things based on the treasure baskets you get in heuristic play and put them in these floral boxes and wicker baskets. For more information on heuristic play, follow this link: http://www.littleacornstomightyoaks.co.uk/Articles/Treasure%20basket.php

Here are a few of the things I have included.

I have a cold - bah!

And so to bed... (sigh!)

Awwwwww. Hope looks really cute in this leopard top. (Thanks, Auntie Vicky!) Henry is playing with her. She loves the lion puppet he is holding. She doesn't talk much yet, alittle bit of babbling, but seems to prefer to make lion noises!

This picture was taken after school. I always give them a little snack when they get in as it seems to help keep moods stable! After this we all went off to Mothercare to get Hope a cotbed as she is outgrowing her Ambynest (baby hammock). It will be such a shame to see it go -it's lovely. Hubby's colleagues gave us some Mothercare vouchers when the little one was born so they pretty much covered the cost of a nice, white, wooden cotbed. We have decided to keep her in our room for the time being and get a nice comfortable futon sofa bed for downstairs if we need to sleep away from distraction.

This picture was taken after tea. I made chicken soup again as I have a cold starting. Henry and HM are ready for bed in their pyjamas, reading the Argos catalogue (groan) while they wait for me to prepare hot chocolate for Beatrix Potter night - it's the tale of Tom Kitten!

So here we have a little cup of instant Hot Chocolate topped with a spoonful of vanilla ice-cream, squirty cream and marshmallows and a couple of little sweeties on the side.

This might seem like a lot of fuss and bother to some but I find it's worth it. It's only on Friday night and they get ready for bed in record time.

Happiness.

I've just taken a break from painting in the kitchen to read the latest post from http://saltandchocolate.blogspot.com/. One of the good things about reading other people's blogs is that it can widen one's horizons and in this case has expanded my library somewhat. The lady here is talking about a book she has been reading about... happiness. She says she is happy. I'm happy too, most of the time. But I haven't always been so. I haven't read this book but my view is that I think you have to decide to be happy and take charge of it. It can take a bit of practise if you're not use to it, hee, hee! All the advice I have read usually tells you there is no point saying to yourself "when I have more money, am thinner, get a better job, x,y and z, I will be happy". I was interested in reading the bit about conversation too and it reminded me of the marriage course that Hubby and I attended at a local Church 2 years ago. Each week married couples came to the Church hall and were treated to a lovely candlelit dinner for 2 and after followed a presentation on a particular aspect of marriage that couples in general cope with. One week it was communication and one of the exercises that followed involved identifying our bad habits as a listener. It was very helpful. And that course is one of the things in my life that has enabled me to be happier. A good relationship with one's spouse definitely helps and beats fancy new kitchens etc. I'm going to kick back now with a yummy egg mayonnaise baguette and coffee that Hubby has just brought in for me (I'm spoilt!) and watch a bit of Loose Women while the paint dries.

Oh, and the picture is of a couple of very nice books that help the happy factor in our house: Ready, Steady, Cook for Kids (from Auntie Vicky) which we've been using a lot on cooking day (which is cancelled today for obvious reasons) and Heaven on Earth by Sharifa Oppenheimer - one of the many books I have purchased as a result of seeing them recommended by other bloggers. I think this one was on Salt and Chocolate, too.

Some advice please...

I think the time is approaching for us to transfer Hope to a cot. Hubby and I have been talking about where to put it/her as for now she has been sleeping in our room. Ideally we'd like the kids to have their own rooms. Hubby is all for converting the understairs cupboard! He doesn't like my idea of moving our bed down to the study. So I'm thinking of moving her in with her big sister. The problems with that would be the different bedtimes (HM likes to read in bed) and so far HM's inability to keep all the little bits and pieces off the floor. It is a big age gap but it might be workable for the next couple of years. If there is anyone out there reading this who has managed a similar situation and has any good ideas I'd welcome comments.

Time now to relax for a bit with a cup of camomile tea, Celebrity Big Brother and a cuddle. I've been enjoying this series of CBB. Stephen Baldwin was very entertaining - shame he's already out. And the Tree of Temptation is funny. I'm not sure who I want to win, though.

I started sowing my seeds last week. Some of them have started to come up. I just love growing things. I put some of the seed trays on Honor-May's windowsill as it has a warm, sunny aspect. I warned her that they were there and asked that she "leave them alone or what will happen?" "They won't grow, Mummy." Good, I thought. She's sensible, I can trust her. Anyway, this is how I found them when I went into her room this morning. No doubt she'll blame the dogs. Very active imagination, she has!

Even though the big dog was sitting on it, one of the hollyhock seedlings was breaking through.

After I put baby down for her morning nap, I popped out to the shops. (Hubby was home!) I went into Homebase as I want to give the kitchen a bit of a freshen up. At the moment it is all green and I've been thinking of adding some other colour for the door and woodwork. I ummmed and aahhhhed for ages between this porcelain blue and candyfloss pink, but the blue won in the end 'cos it was much cheaper and it is gloss (the pink was satin). If I don't like it, I could repaint later with pink, maybe.

This is what I mean.

When we first moved in I covered everything up in this Cath Kidston wallpaper. (Actually, father-in-law did, thanks!) I still really like this, but I don't like that the kitchen is so dark and feels pokey.

So I'm thinking of painting out this area in ivory to lighten it up and keep the paper elsewhere.

And all that stuff on top of the units has to go!

And perhaps a general tidy up and reorganisation to clear the clutter.

She's lovely!

Well, big sis wasn't too miserable to play with little sis this evening. They had a great time playing with Honor-May's new Barbies!

But Bagpuss is Hope's favourite.

She's no hamster!

And the cherries are all gone!