My beautiful little girl

Ten weeks old

"Mummy went the wrong way!"

This is what my son Oliver, kept saying last Friday whilst out and about with Mum, Dad and Bekah.

What was to have been a day of baby sitting for Mum and Dad whilst I was spending time at the dentist (they cancelled on me at the last minute), turned into a lovely outing instead for all of us.

Mum and I had talked about going to a local rose garden, which I must say I had driven past countless times in the past decade. So we set out, all squeezed into my car, without map or sat nav! "I know where is it", I said.

As we approached the village where I thought the rose garden was, I was unsettled to find that all road signs were absent. "I'm sure it's down here", I said.

We had seen another sign with a little flower on it, so thought maybe I was mistaken and that we should follow this sign instead. It took us to a new garden called Future Gardens, but where was the rose garden?

Mum was sure that it was still there somewhere, as she'd checked it out on the internet just the day before. Finally after 45 minutes and a stop at the local post office to ask for directions, we found the Gardens of the Rose....BEHIND future gardens....exactly where I had thought it should be. Why had they removed all the signs?

Anyway we finally arrived and had a lovely afternoon strolling through the fragrant air. If during the summer months you ever have an hour or two to spare and are passing J21A of the M25...it's well worth a visit. If you can't find it...just ask at the post office!

I'll be on the look out for this one below Rosa "Hot Chocolate", a lovely burnished Orange.

I loved the way this Rosa "Hannah Gordon" faded from intense pink to the palest of pink.


My precious little boy running around the maze (with Grandma - out of shot)

Beautiful blue skies

Below is Rosa "Irish Eyes". They change colour as they fade.

I was particularly taken with these very old fashioned roses. Not something I've really noticed before. They were just amass of colour.

The wonderfully fragrant arches

I think we all had a lovely time.

The tiniest splash of colour

Yesterday evening I took a slow stroll down the garden with the camera, as Oliver ran around the place like any toddler will do. This is what I found.

A pink hardy geranium

A delicate yet tall deep purple geranium

Two more but very different pink geraniums against the acid green of the cotinus "golden spirit".

A Spirea getting ready to flower, complete with little companion.

A striking Aquilegia from my nursery pots

And some pale pink ones hiding amongst the bamboo


The bright pink of Cistus "sunset", a find from the Duchy of Cornwall nursery last year.

The pretty blue star of the Knapweed.

Choysia enjoying a second flowering...this old shrub will unfortunately be taken out for the refurbishment of the new flowerbed.

And last but by no means least, the amazing seed pods on the maple tree.

5 weeks old

I thought it was about time I took some new photos.

She's still not impressed with the camera, but she enjoys looking at the TV... and especially loves the sound of Daddy and Oliver's voices.

She's been very much on the verge of her first smile in the past few days (more than just wind)...and I was sure it would be Daddy that got this first pleasure.

BUT IT WAS ME....so very precious.

Out and about?

Last Tuesday, a week ago already, Rebekah and I ventured out for our first walk together. Not quite the first time we've been out (as we've been accompanied by the boys on a couple of other occasions when I've needed to be ferried about in the car), but it was our first excursion as just the girls.

We only walked ten minutes down the road to the local health clinic. My health visitor had given me instruction to find the centre and get Rebekah weighed when she was four weeks old. And it was some well needed freedom from the four walls of my house. Yes, I'm getting a bit stir crazy!

So how is Rebekah? Very well indeed. She'd already reached 9lb 12.5oz (4.44kg) at her weigh in, which means she's put on a whole pound in about 2 weeks. Feeding well and sleeping well at night too. The only fly in the ointment is that she's now found her voice, or rather it's increased in volume by a fair few decibels. Neighbours who hadn't realised before...certainly know there is now a new baby in the neighbourhood.

I was feeling quite wonderful after my walk, and was then planning daily constitutionals until I'm allowed back behind the wheel (next week....yippee!)....then I go and do something really silly. I get a trapped nerve in my hip/pelvis! I cannot believe it. No idea how I have done it, but have been pretty immobile and in a lot of pain this past week.

Also my poor little boy gets the chicken pox. He's been absolutely covered, and I have been close to tears at times when applying cream to his itchy spotty body. I put his eczema creams to good use, which have been much better than using calamine. He's fine now and we just have to wait for the spots to disappear.

Alas no new photos of Rebekah, but here is my little helper watering my little herb garden.

And here the garden, complete with a newly shaped new flowerbed which suddenly appeared over Easter. It's a very large semicircular flowerbed, which will get a mixture of shade, through partial shade to full sun. It needs to be completely cleared of some very old shrubs, to give me a blank canvass and I will have lots of fun planning and planting this space during the summer. Watch this space.

I've just heard the postman, who has delivered my new copy of The Garden...time for a cup of tea before Rebekah's next feed. If I'm quick enough ;-)

Three weeks old

Doesn't time fly. Rebekah was three weeks old yesterday, so I took a few photos this morning.

Mummy the flash is too bright!

I will look away this time!

Someone is enjoying the sunshine...

Emmy is making the most of the sunny weather.

Hope the weather is nice where you are today.

Hat

Here is the hat that I mentioned I was knitting in my last post. I have found knitting the perfect activity, as I'm not allowed to do anything until I've recovered. I am finding it especially frustrating at how limited I have to be. No lifting, except for the baby, and that is only if the baby is at a certain height. I cannot bend down to pick her up. No cooking. No washing. No ironing. No going out, and especially no gardening....despite the glorious gardening weather we have this week. So it's down to the husband this week to look after us all, and I should make the most of some quite time to care for baby and rest, whilst she rest, whether this is sleeping myself or indeed knitting.

The pattern is from Roses and Posies by Patons and the hat is Bee. It suggests to enbroider some flowers on it, but this will be a job for another day. I will try and get a picture of Rebekah wearing her new hat, when she's next awake.

Now I must finish Oliver's red jumper.

New arrival

It's hard to think that just a week ago I was nervously anticipating the birth of my baby daughter. Rebekah came into this world at 12.53pm on Wednesday 15th April. Amazing that the 3rd stage of labour was all of 2 minutes. It was 13 hours for Oliver, and when you count the 1st and 2nd stages, it accounted for a few days.

Anyway back to Rebekah. Here she is....looking so very perfect. And very much smaller than we expected, at only 8lb 6oz (3.8kg). So she is now making use of newborn clothes that only reached Oliver's tummy button, which shows how much bigger he must have been.

We've been home since Saturday, Rebekah is such an easy, sweet baby, and I'm recovering very well from the surgery. An elective c-section has certainly been a very positive birth experience for me. And I am glad I took some music for theatre, to take my mind off the spinal (the thing I was most worried about). Thank you Take That.

And this afternoon between feeds, I'm making use of some wool Mum passed my way, to make a hat for Rebekah, as it's still a little on the cool side here.

Thanks for all your lovely comments directly or via my Mum. I'll be back again soon.

x

Only one day to go...

I started with this post just before Easter, when I was still taking in the fact of knowing up front the day my little one will arrive. I still find this very strange to comprehend. But why should I be as even though when you're waiting for labour to happen naturally you still seem to expect babies to arrive on their due dates...which they very rarely do. Very strange indeed. I know it shouldn't be as elective c-sections these days are very very common. At least now I'm getting used to the fact I'm in for an Op in the morning, as up until now I've been pretty scared.

I have to say that the last couple of weeks have been quite emotional. I had forgotten what it was like. But then every pregnancy is different. When I was carrying Oliver, I was out and about so much more. I even went into London to watch tennis at Wimbledon only a week before my due date...whereas this time round I can't even manage a walk to my local shops. Last time I cried a lot once I went past my due date...this time the crying started at 38 weeks.

But then I guess every pregnancy has to be different, because every child is different. And now I only have a few more hours to wait. And whilst I'm preparing for what lies ahead...I am so looking forward to no more indigestion, and being able to sleep on my back again. Not to mention a little baby sister for Oliver, the thought of which brings a little tear to my eye.

I will hopefully be on line again soon, and hopefully with a picture too.