Holden: 15 Months

Holden's 15th monthly photo, taken on the 1st of every month.

Holden turned 15 months old two weeks ago. We celebrated our 3rd Wedding anniversary on the 3rd of April with a quiet night in with a takeaway then the rest of April was quite busy. We went swimming, to toddler group, bookbugs and met friends at the park, enjoyed a lunch with my aunt then a dinner with Grahams family. Once my parents returned from their trip to Australia, we enjoyed lunch with Grandad one day then dinner with Granny too after taking them to visit the show homes at our new house development. Holden went to a superhero themed birthday party wearing a batman t-shirt as we couldn't find a costume small enough. I got to have a night in with my friends where we enjoyed a few cocktails and also enjoyed a coffee after work with friends one night, which I hadn't done for a long time. We spent the day at a farm with My Spare Thoughts and her daughter, then met them again the week after in Glasgow for coffee, cake and lunch with This Girl Is... too. We visited the zoo again, for Auntie Hazel's birthday then enjoyed a lovely dinner in South Queensferry. The next day we had a birthday lunch with all the family at Nana's house. At the end of the month, my parents kept Holden for the night and we went out to celebrate Graham's Grans 80th birthday.

Holden continues to eat almost everything the nursery give him and we have discovered that he hates anything bland and prefers strong tastes. Taco mince and curry have been recent hits and baked beans are probably his favourite thing just now, along with porridge, fruit pouches and cheerio's for breakfast. The only thing he isn't great with are sandwiches so I'm trying to think of ideas for quick lunches. I've not had him weighed and there are still no more teeth but I think some are about to come through. I stopped feeding Holden in the morning after the 21st and now only feed him in the evening. He is walking really well now and attempting to run when he can, which is interesting. He's started properly waving and still loves to clap. I ended up having to take him back to the doctors as his cough was still there three weeks after we had last been at the doctor. Again, it was just a virus, probably from nursery, so nothing can be done.

This month I finally finished making and writing all of Holden's Christmas and birthday thank you cards and got them all sent and I eventually posted photos of Holden's Nursery. We also booked our flights for our trip to Florida at the end of November with Graham's parents, sister and brother in law, which we all cant wait for. In May we are going to have dinner at Martin Wishart with our voucher from Christmas, Holden has another birthday party to attend and we hope to see family from Wales who will be visiting.

I'm going to take the same photos every month if I can, beside his bunny and standing beside his penguin. {This month I didn't get a chance to take all of the photos until the 3rd!}

Holden: 14 Months

Holden's 14th monthly photo, taken on the 1st of every month.

Holden turned 14 months old on the 1st of April. As usual I'm behind in posting but especially with this one as that was a whole month ago and he turned 15 months today! As I mentioned last month we moved out of our flat at the beginning of March and in to my parents house where we will stay until our new house is ready. We had a couple of busy weeks sorting everything in the flat and getting the rest of our belongings and furniture moved in to storage before it officially sold on the 20th. We are getting used to our new routine of me being back at work three days a week; Holden attends nursery for two of the days and then my Dad looks after him every Monday. We've been to toddler group and bookbugs a couple of times this month and also spent time with friends. We also got to have a night out at the Chinese then pub with our friends, while my parents babysat. My parents then went to Australia to visit my sister and before they left we celebrated my dads retirement with a lovely lunch. This month we also celebrated Graham's grandads birthday and got to choose the kitchen, bathroom tiles, flooring and extras we wanted in our new house. Holden also had his first haircut before another trip to the zoo. We spent Easter having lunch with Graham's parents, sister and brother-in-law after we had rolled some eggs in the hills.

Holden has continued to eat well at nursery and he is loving all the new things we are getting at granny's house too, the corned beef pie and mince & potatoes went down particularly well. He still loves sausages, fish fingers, porridge, yoghurt's, custard, raisins and fruit pouches too. I'm still feeding him morning and evening too as he wont take any other milk. Holden hasn't been weighed this month and no more teeth have appeared so he still only has his two top front teeth with none on the bottom at all. The most exciting development of the month is his walking, which he is now doing really well. By the middle of the month he was walking properly and came to us for the first time when we picked him up at nursery, the day the movers came. We definitely have a toddler now. Since living at my parents he has also learnt to clap, which he hadn't really ever done before, and point to his nose. Holden has had an almost permanent cold since starting nursery and I eventually had to take him to the doctor after he'd had a persistent cough for ages. It was just a virus though so there was nothing that would help.

In April we will celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary and Graham's grans 80th and Holden has another birthday party to attend.

I'm going to take the same photos every month if I can, beside his bunny and standing beside his penguin. {This month I didn't get a chance to take all of the photos until the 5th!}

Holden's Nursery

I finally got round to taking some photos of Holden's nursery, just before we took it all apart and moved everything to my parents house. I'm really going to miss the grey stripe wall and hope that the new owners keep it. We still have some of the paint left so I think we might recreate it in his room in our new house.

 

While we bought almost everything before Holden was born, there are still a few things that I didn't get a chance to finish or put on the wall, especially once we knew we would be moving out, including his punch collages (like these I made for my niece) and his height chart. The white wooden H on his shelves is still to be spray painted blue, like his drawer number pulls, and I have another H & an R which I'm going to cover with patterned paper. We also have his full name in large MDF letters that we bought before he was born and we always intended to paint grey and hang on the build out above his cot but once we decided to move we thought it made more sense to leave them for his new room in our new house.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my favourite things are the stripe wall, penguin, blanket, mobile, cushions, shelves, prints & letters.

Here are all the details:

 

Stripe Wall: Grey Steel 2 by Dulux, DIY Stripes
Cot: Olivia Cot from John Lewis {gift from Nana & Grandpa} (no longer available)

Mobile: Mirage Mobile by Flensted from Danish Design - £29.50
Cushions: Chevron by Modernality2; Dream Big by Robin & Mould; Grey Village Cushion 3 by Ferm Living from Cloudberry Living - £13.45; Red Fox by Sass & Peril from Curiouser & Curiouser - £12
Cuddly Toys: Mini Owl by Holly Go Brightly; Bashful Bunny by Jellycat from Laura Ashley; Lion by The White Company {gift from Auntie Ashleigh & Uncle Patrick} (no longer available); Merryday Giraffe by Jellycat {gift from Auntie Hazel & Uncle Jake}; Dog by Jellycat {gift from these five lovely blogging ladies}; Furryosity Goat by Jellycat {gift from my cousin}
Blanket: Skyline Stroller Blanket by DwellStudio from The Little Baby Company - £29 (no longer available)

Penguin: Large Plush Penguin by Melissa & Doug from The Bakewell Toy Shop - £15.99

Drawers: Malm White 4 Drawer from Ikea

Number Pulls: Shaped Number Door Knobs from Bombay Duck - £3.50 each, spray painted navy blue 

Photo Frame: Orange Bus Frame by DwellStudio from The Little Baby Company - £17 (no longer available)
Ceramic Tile: Our Adventure is About to Begin by Rob Ryan {another wonderful gift from these five lovely blogging ladies} on an Ikea Picture Easel

Framed Hand & Foot Out Prints: Made at The Ceramic Experience {lovely gift from a friend when Holden was born}

Wooden Giraffe: Bought at one of the Christmas markets in Cologne
Curtains: Block Stripe Eyelet Curtains from John Lewis (no longer available)

Wooden Name Train: Train, carriages & letters by Ever Earth from Bliss
Chair: Poang Oak Veneer & Black Leather Armchair from Ikea
Storage Unit: Expedit White from Ikea; Lekmann Blue Boxes from Ikea (blue no longer available)

Fabric Storage Bins: 3 Nesting Reversible Fabric Storage Bins by Baffin Bags
Changing Mat: Wedge Changing Mat from John Lewis (at first we used it with these changing mat liners with the velcro removed)

Lamp: 12 Colour LED Touch Egg Lamp from B&Q

Storage Half-Cube: Blue Star Canvas Half-Cube from The Great Little Trading Company - £9.60 with all his wooden puzzles inside

London Bus: Wooden London Bus Toy from The White Company {a Christening present from Auntie Ashleigh & Uncle Patrick} 

Prints: Animal Alphabet & Number prints by ModernPOP in White Ribba Frames from Ikea; Postcards from Showler & Showler in White Nyttja Frames from Ikea
Rug: Lambskin from Australia {gift from Granny & Grandad}
Shelves: Ribba White 55cm Picture Ledges from Ikea
Letters: White Wooden H from eBay; Metal H from Australia; Wooden Penguin H from the V&A

Penguin Jigsaw: Penguin & Baby Jigsaw by Lanka Kade from The Little Baby Company - £3.95 (no longer available)

Cardboard Elephant: Press Out Elephant bought from Muji in Cologne
Ribbon Covered 1: One of the decorations for Holden's 1st Birthday, handmade by covering a cardboard number 1 with different ribbons
Chalkboard: A4 Chalkboard from Typo in Australia - $5 

Hooks: Large Navy Blue Metal Hooks by Rie Elise Larsen from The Little Baby Company - £6.50 each (navy no longer available)

Laundry & Toy Baskets: Kusiner Mesh Baskets from Ikea
Wardrobe Cube Storage Unit: Phoenix 2x2 Cube Storage Unit from Argos - £24.99

Fabric Storage Cubes: Modular Blue Stars & Stripes 3 Storage Cubes from Argos - £7.49

Hanging Drawers: Skubb White 9 Compartment Storage from Ikea with 4 Skubb Boxes from Ikea (no longer available)

3 Years

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary.

I know I say the same every year but this last year really has flown by. We had a busy 2012 watching Holden grow, and a couple of weddings and holidays. So far the start of 2013 has involved Holden turning 1, my return to work, selling our flat, and moving temporarily to my parents house.

We have lots to look forward in our fourth year of marriage including our new house being completed in the summer and taking Holden to Florida at the end of November.

 

(Image by Craig & Eva Sanders)

We are having a quiet evening tonight then we will celebrate properly in a few weeks by enjoying a tasting menu meal at Martin Wishart, which was our Christmas present from my parents.

Holden: 13 Months

Holden's 13th monthly photo, taken on the 1st of every month.

 

Holden turned 13 months over three weeks ago. We've spent the start of March moving out of our flat which is why this post is so late. February was another busy month. Holden had three birthday parties to attend for his NCT friends, then we got him his first pair of shoes, in a tiny 2 1/2. Me & Holden went to Bath with my parents for a few days to visit family, and we also had to start thinking about moving by getting quotes for removal and storage of our furniture. We spent the last week of my maternity leave meeting a friend for coffee, another for lunch, visiting a gorgeous new baby then having lunch with Graham's gran. In preparation for me returning to work and Holden going to nursery, he had three trial sessions and was brilliant at each of them. He started properly on the 26th and so far he's really enjoying it, he loves all the toys and the other kids and he's been eating and sleeping well for them which is good. I'm back to work for three days a week but he only goes to nursery for two days as my dad looks after him on a Monday.



Holden is eating really well just now and so far he's eaten everything the nursery has given him, including banana which he always threw away at home. They said that they dont know where he puts all the food since he's so small and I think they didnt expect him to eat much. Sausages are one of his new favourites, along with the usual porridge, fruit pouches and yoghurts, and Im stil feeding him morning and evening. He finally has some teeth which is definitely helping his eating. The first appeared on the 21st of the month with the second following on the 1st of March. He had his 1 year check-up and weighed 16lb 121/2oz and was 71cm tall then had his next set of 3 injections in the middle of the month. He got a lot better at standing during the month and even took a couple of wobbly little steps from the sofa to me, on the 17th.

In March we are moving out of our flat then trying to get used to our new routine of work and nursery. Since we are going to be living at my parents until our new house is ready, we are hoping to be able to get a night out with friends aswell.

I've decided to carry on with Holden's monthly photos as I loved having them to look at altogether at his birthday party. I'm going to take the same photos every month if I can, beside his bunny and standing beside his penguin. {This month I didn't get a chance to take all of the photos until the 2nd!}

2012: My year in review

Better late than never I wanted to do a quick recap of last year, just like I did for both 2010 & 2011. If nothing else it reminds me of all the events I haven't written about yet! We had a fantastic 2012 with the arrival of our gorgeous son Holden. It's also been a busy year including Holden's first big trip!
 

January

My niece Willow was born in Australia!

I started my maternity leave.

February
Holden was born.
 

 

March
Holden: One Month
We celebrated my first Mothers Day.

April
Holden: Two Months
We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary & Holden's 1st Easter.

May
Holden: Three Months
My blog turned 3.

June
Holden: Four Months
It was Grahams birthday on his first Fathers Day.

I had a night away at Lucy's hen do, which started with laser quest!

July
Holden: Five Months
My sister and family arrived for 6 weeks and we enjoyed lots of time together including a trip to the zoo.

I was a Bridesmaid at Lucy's wedding.
 

My niece Willow got Christened and Graham and I are her godparents.

I had a weekend away at Hazels hen do.

 

Then we spent a week in Center Parcs with my family.

August
Holden: Six Months
Holden was Christened, my sister Ashleigh and Graham's cousin Andrew are his godparents.

Graham's sister Hazel got married and I was one of her bridesmaids.

September
Holden: Seven Months
We went to Perth, Australia to visit my sister & family for 4 wonderful weeks.

 

 

While there we celebrated my nephew Enzo's 3rd birthday.

October
Holden: Eight Months
Holden's 1st Halloween!

November
Holden: Nine Months
We bought a new house!

December
Holden: Ten Months
It was my Birthday and Holden's 1st Christmas, which I mentioned here!

2012 was a busy year! Lots of new experiences, weddings, hen do's, christenings and a couple of holidays thrown in!

 

We've already had a fantastic start to 2013 celebrating Holden's 1st Birthday and we have lots to look forward to including our new house being completed and hopefully a trip to Florida at the end of November.

I returned to work on the 25th of February for 3 days a week, so I enjoyed my last few weeks of maternity leave with Holden and then we had to move out of our flat. As usual I've still got so many things to write about from ages ago so I hope that 2013 will also be the year I can get back to blogging properly.