Celebrations at home today as my baby girl has turned 1! What a fantastic year it has been, I have never had so little sleep or had so much love and it is without doubt, the best job in the World!
My husband and I bought her her first doll, I made it a new hat to wear and found a cute new little knitted cardigan and booties set from our local charity shop for 25p which fits perfectly! We also gave her a ‘Spring’ book by Gerda Muller, and some Stockmar crayons. I quickly put together the dress she is wearing last night, it was so quick and easy to sew and looked really comfortable too.
Grandma came over in the morning for some tea and cake, then after her lunch-time nap we went for a blustery walk with my very good friend and her baby girl who is a few months older than mine, then another friend came over along with my baby’s Nanny and half-brother. She has been given some beautiful presents and cards and is a very lucky girl to be surrounded by so many people who love her.
It only seemed appropriate to have a carrot cake as I made the same caked the day before I gave birth and asfter she was born (I had a home-birth) the midwives, my husband, my Mum and I all sat around having a cup of tea and cake!
My very good friend came up with a great idea on how to decorate it with sugared petals, they are easy to do and look lovely now that they have set, all you have to do is pick some edible flowers, (I have used primroses and violets), lightly brush the petals with whisked egg-white and sprinkle on some sugar which has been baked in the oven for 15 minutes to really dry it out (make sure the sugar has cooled first). Leave in a warm place overnight and they are ready.
Since before my baby girl came into our family I knew that I did not want her to watch TV, that statement in itself tends to get people thinking that you are a bit ‘alternative’ to put it politely; but for many reasons we have decided that it’s best that she watches very limited television, and as I only watch about an hour’s tv at the most a week then it wouldn’t seem right for her to be plonked in front of the tv for hours on end.
As a child, I grew up with only being allowed to watch certain programmes, at the time I used to think this was a silly idea of my Mum’s but now that I’m a parent myself (and before being a parent) I can see why. My baby girl has been very ill this past week and I have turned to the television for help in calming her down when she has cried in pain and needed some kind of entertainment, in this instance the tv has been so needed, though apart from now, and at Christmas when she was ill when she watched an hour’s tv, she has never had it on in the day unless she goes to a friends house or if her little baby friends come to my house, which I don’t mind as then it is a ‘treat’ for her.
Through my studies in social science and currently a child psychology based module, I have discovered that through much research, a child’s IQ is often actually lower by the time they go to school if they watch entertainment based children’s TV programmes, although a small amount of educational programmes can actually boost a child’s IQ. This has led me to search youtube for some inspiring and educational tv programmes for her, as although I do not want her to watch tv for the sake of it, I do understand that some programmes are educational and good for them, I’m yet to find anything that Ireally love although I wish there was a version of this in an English accent (purely for the different way that we pronounce our letters/words):
Instead of turning on the box, I’ll include her company whilst I cook her meals by letting her explore the veg that we use to cook, we go for walks in the garden where we look at the ducks in the stream at the bottom of the garden, look at the flowers, water the vegetables growing and feed our pet rabbit, she ‘helps’ me when I fold the washing and sweep the floor etc, and recently I have started to let her watch certain videos on youtube similar to the one above just a couple of times a week.
These are my thoughts for now and what I think is right for her at this age and before, as she gets older I may let her watch more although we will hopefully be in Australia by then and have a much more to do outside in the warmer weather where it won’t be such an obvious thing to do…….(hopefully!)
Hello! I’m having a Spring clean and tidying up my blog/ making some changes to the appearance etc. sorry that its a bit of a mess but do come back soon and it will (hopefully!) look much better!
I’ve recently started using Pinterest and love it! It’s a great place to store all the things found on the web and has kept my ‘favourites’ tab a lot clearer. Oh, and it’s also VERY addictive! My boards can be found here The pictures above are some of the lovely things I have found on the web and added to Pinterest
There has been an old coffee sack in the shed for a couple of years so I have put it to good use this year by lining it with a bin bag, filling with compost and planting in some ‘King Edward’ potatoes. I’ve added some drainage holes by using a screwdriver, hopefully they will grow well and taste good in the summer!
Our baby girl has been ill for a week now, off to the Dr yet again tomorrow – on Sunday we went for a stroll in the sunshine to get everyone some fresh air and a break from the house and garden, we wandered past this steam engine exhibition just a few minutes walk from our house – it was like being back in time watching them work and smelling the smoke….
A few weeks ago I was contacted via Etsy from Wee Waldorf, Luz bought one of the toadstool balls that I made and I donated a couple more needle-felted balls and an applique patch that I had sewn. I have been featured on the website – hooray! The link is here and has loads of fun stuff.
Whilst little ‘T’ was having her lunch-time nap today I managed to get out in the gorgeous sunshine to tidy up the garden a bit, I have nearly finished painting the shed and garden furniture with a wood stain and got the vegetable patch and canes ready for growing some vegetables. I stopped to appreciate the pheasant in the garden next door to us, and my Mum’s cat came along to say hello as well. It’s such a good feeling to be outside again and appreciate the little things in life.
Celebrations at home today as my baby girl has turned 1! What a fantastic year it has been, I have never had so little sleep or had so much love and it is without doubt, the best job in the World!
Madewithloveuk's Blog 
