I'm still here!

I thought I'd better check in just in case anyone was getting excited thinking that baby had made an arrival or was in the process of doing so!

 

My due date is this Sunday so I suppose things could kick off at any time now, but the other boys all hung on in there a bit past their due dates so I'm trying to keep thinking that we still have a week or two left. That way it's not quite so depressing when the days tick on by past your date!

 

I'll do a proper update tomorrow of how things are going at 39 weeks but in the meantime here's a few of things going on in our house over the last week. Which isn't an awful lot as we've really been laying low.

 

Just in case!

 

James (13) decided to teach Alasdair (4) how to play chess one night. I was a bit sceptical about how much he would understand of it, although I knew James would be good to him and let him win. The following morning Alasdair asked James if he could play "chest" again because it was his new favourite game and when James asked him if he knew where all the pieces went he got them all right!

 

 

 

The two buddies were also busy painting our shed and the new back fence, which was finally fixed after being in a dilapidated state all summer. The gap is where the gate is going to go, so that the boys can go out and play in the woods without having to climb the fence - which is how the fence became dilapidated in the first place!

 

 

 

 

The nice new painted bit of the fence made the rest look a bit scruffy though and so David (7) and Calum (11) also got their painting clothes on and came out to help.

 

 

 

And finally, my biggest boy joined the Army Cadets at the end of the summer holidays. He has been loving it so far and this week got his proper kit. I think it looks great on him. The only thing wrong is that the Tam O Shanter hat they supplied is far, far too small. It's small enough to fit Alasdair so I'm not sure what sort of teenager would have a head that small! He has another one on order though and I'll share a photo of him with the full regalia on once it's here.

 

Still, Alasdair is rather chuffed to be able to wear this one and accompany James in the photo!

 

 

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Walking in the woods - as seen through Calum's camera lens.

I've posted plenty pictures of our Sunday afternoon walks to the duck pond in the woods across the road from us before.

The photos in this post are different, however, as they were all taken by Calum (11). He got a semi-decent camera this time last year for his birthday but these last couple of weeks he has really begun to show a good eye for the shots he takes.

There are quite a few photos to share so I'll just let them do the talking. 

These are how our local woods have been looking over the last couple of weeks, with the beginnings of Autumn creeping in. You might also spot Calum's fondness for wildlife shots! 

Oh, and a return of the Gaelic word for the day!

tunnag (toon-ag) - duck

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Make it Monday - Crochet & Cakes

Now doesn't that sound like a lovely way to spend an afternoon or an evening?

The crochet and cakes don't come together though, rather they are two (actually three) separate makes from last week.

Firstly the crochet.

I was on a bit of a roll with the granny squares this week. In order to get the baby blanket finished as quickly as I could (there are just under 2 weeks left now until our official D-Day, although like I've probably said 100 times before, I have always gone over and expect to do so again), I decided to stick to a basic Granny Square and not do the one with the little sunflower-like shape in the middle like I did for Alasdair's blanket.

Boy did I notice a difference in the speed these ones worked up! I started last Monday and finished it on Saturday, and had just enough of the wool from Alasdair's blanket left over to make it.

Obviously the fact that it is about a quarter of the size of Alasdair's helped me finish it quicker but even so, by my calculations it would take me a month to make a blanket the size of Alasdair's using these types of squares, not the three months it took me to make his.

Here are the two blankets side by side for size comparisons.

Now, onto the cake(s).

Last week our little crofter turned 11. He was supremely chuffed to get a tweed jacket as one of his presents!

He was also very happy that my mum and dad were down for a very brief visit during the week as my dad had some meetings to attend in Edinburgh, which meant that Granny could come to his birthday tea. Shen was unfortunately too busy with his meetings that night. 

I baked the cake, in my giant cupcake mould, for the birthday tea and then largely left the decor up to James (13) and David (7). The result was this rather space age looking cake, which Calum loved.

Then, as is often the tradition with the older boys on the weekend before or after their birthdays, Calum had his best friend round for a sleepover on Friday night. Of course we had to have a cake for him coming too!

At his point, being almost 38 weeks pregnant, I did wish for a moment that we could just nip out to the supermarket and buy a cake for him, but of course no supermarkets do Gluten & Dairy Free decorated birthday cakes so it wasn't an option.

Thankfully I have a 13 year old who loves to decorate cakes and wanted to make it. All I had to do was bake the basic cake and then the rest was up to him. He asked me to bake a square cake and then he carved it into the shape and decorated it. He even coloured the icing black himself, which took some time and left his hands rather stained!

The cake he decided to make was a camera cake, as Calum still loves photography.

The only trouble with all that black icing was that it turned a few tongues black!

Calum has been busy taking some really good autumnal photos with the camera he got last year for his birthday but they need a post of their own so I'll share them with you all tomorrow. 

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Make it Monday - Alasdair's Granny Square Blanket

 

Well, my aim was to get this blanket finished before the new baby comes along and I did it!

 

 

Last week's task was to sew in all those loose ends on the back before I could add the finishing touch of a border round the whole blanket.

 

 

And here is the finished blanket!

 

It's the biggest blanket I have made so far and took me just about three months of working on it on and off to finish it.

 

 

 

 

Here it is with the proud little owner giving you a sense of scale.

 

 

 

 

He has tested it out on his bed....

 

 

 

 

...and if it wasn't so dark in the photo you could see how well the colours go with his Thomas the Tank Engine duvet covers.

 

 

 

He has also tested it out for snuggly-ness....

 

 

 

 

....although he's not the only one who has tested that aspect of it!

 

 

 

He has also said that he doesn't mind sharing it sometimes and so it has proven to be the perfect size for snuggling up for some after bath reading time.

 

 

In fact I have even come through to find the teenager of the house wrapped up in it whilst reading on the sofa, but I won't affect his coolness rating by sharing a photo of that!

 

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No boomerangs allowed.

Those of you who have had the joy of living with a 4 year old at any point may well remember the constant, constant questions that seem to fill their days. Their minds seem to be working overtime as they try to work out the world all around them and they have questions about everything!

 

Some of Alasdair's questions these days I pass on to his oldest brother - that is those that are super hero or transformer or soldier related. Then there are the tougher questions that need to wait for dad to come home and answer. But mostly the way his little mind works is quite hilarious!

 

 

For example, the other day we were watching some Looney Tunes cartoons and he asked,

 

"Why is he called Sylvester? Syl-VEST-er? Is it because he wears a vest? Because he doesn't look like he is wearing any clothes!"

 

But one of the funniest things he has said this week was when we were out and about in the car at the weekend.

 

We stopped at a set of traffic lights that looked just like this....

 

Suddenly Alasdair piped up from the back,

 

"Huh? That traffic light says - No. Boomerangs. Allowed."

 

Sure enough, closer inspection of the lights showed that he was absolutely right!

 

We saw the same sign in the hospital car park on Monday when he had a check up with the Dermatologist.

 

 

As we walked back to the car he said,

 

"Look Mam, no boomerangs allowed in here either!"

 

I still haven't told him want the sign actually means. I'd rather he keeps his sweet, funny little idea of what it means for now!

 

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