Sunny Skies

We have been busy bees recently - well more Johnny and less me as I grow to the size of a small hippo!
Here are some updates:

We have had some fantastic weather recently and Jacob has been outside for most of it! He so loves to be outdoors. We even went to our first BBQ of the year! He has helped daddy in the garden cutting the grass, planting, sowing seeds for the allotment, building a planter and decorating his playhouse.

Bike rides are back on the menu now its warmer - much to Jacob's delight! I think he has inherited his Daddy's passion for bikes.



Jacob, Johnny and Ruby also had a lovely spring walk in Swithland woods - I so wish I could have gone but just not up to walking any distance now as the twins are growing by the minute. They had a fab time.This week Jacob has started saying 'I' instead of 'my'. This has also coincided with a very funny accent which has us in hysterics. I think he is just practising his sounds but it is so cute.

I had a fantastic Mothers Day. Jacob popped his head round the door after my lie in and shouted Happy Mothers Day (after shouting it all the way up 3 flights of stairs!). And I was treated to chocolate croissants, a homemade card, an allotment cook book and a huge box of chocs - and lots of cuddles! Perfect! - Thanks boys xxx

Where we're at!

One of the things we want from this blog is a record of what our little munchkins are up to for us to look back on as time goes by. They change so much so often it is easy to forget all the fabulous little things they do. So where is Jacob at now?

He is a chatterbox! I love being able to chat to my little man - and he loves it to. He loves to ask 'Are you alright mummy? Your babies wiggling?' His speech is better by the day. recently he has started to use adjectives (with great expression) - everything is 'really amazing!' this month. Each night at dinner we recap our day and I love to see the bits which stick in his memory - things I had barely noticed mean so much to him. He loves to whisper and shout too. Like a parrot he repeats conversations between me and his Daddy in a big shout. As soon as he walks in the door he bellows 'Hello Mummy, you alright, we're back!'.

He is really changing how he plays now that he has language at his disposal. He likes to enter make believe worlds with his toys - farm animals and figures play, chat, fight, get told off, make up etc. It's an advantage that I am sitting around a lot, courtesy of a huge bump, that I get to sit and watch this fabulous insight into his world. I made him a felt play mat recently for his farm animals, but he uses it with all his toys - like his Happyland ELC sets. I loved watching him make the dogs go splashing through the pond and get told off the other day!



He is great at jigsaws now. He used to need a lot of input to put pieces in the right place (anywhere would do for a while). But now he looks at the bits of the picture and figures out which bits go together. He can do 6 piece ones on his own now. I was also really surprised to find he could thread buttons on a string. The first couple took a lot of concentration and attempts (grunting Nicol style!) but he picked it up so quickly and threaded a huge long string. He was very proud and pulled it around calling it his Caterpillar!


Jacob has some favourite books at the minute. He loves Jez Alborough, especially 'Where's My Teddy?'. He almost knows it off by heart and if we read one line, he says the next. He likes us to read a book to him then we hear 'My read it' and he then 'reads' it back to us. I love hearing him remember and copy our intonation and he asks us questions about the pictures 'Can you see the parrot mummy?'. He also likes to read to his frog hand puppet and tell him all about the story. So cute! He has also become DVD obsessed (when we let him!) and loves Buzz Lightyear! He would watch them all the time but we watch them instead of TV so he doesn't watch any more - its just very repetitive - which appears to be what appeals about DVDs.

In a few years time I hope these updates will bring a big reminiscent smile to our faces, and his!

More peacocks

I decided to make a peacock with Jacob this week seeing as he loved the ones at the sanctuary so much. I cut out a body and feathers from and old cereal box and we sponge painted it all blue (Jacob loves sponging!). We then used our fingers to add some sparkly glitter paints and other colours.
The next day we glued on some sequins, stuck the feathers on the body, added an eye (Jacob's favourite bit!) and some pipe cleaner legs. Hey presto a peacock. Jacob proudly showed it off to everybody who walked through the door today.

Parents, parrots and peacocks

We headed 'home' to Skegness to visit Granny and Grandad and Nanna and Grandad this week. We spent the day at Granny's house where Jacob got to see Grandad's huge selection of rabbits. He got to name one Sophie (his favourite name at the minute as his best friend's baby sister is called Sophie!). He was spoilt with some new Iggle Piggle pants and an ice cream and loved every messy minute.

We then went to Nanna's house for a Sunday Roast. Yummy! Jacob slept in a big double bed this time and loved it. We also were treated to a lovely lie in - thanks Mum!
We visited a Parrot Sanctury near to Mum and Dad's which was very exciting for Jacob. We saw hundreds of parrots - some of which talked to us - and Jacob enjoyed feeding them monkey nuts.

We also saw some peacocks who kindly put on a good feather display to Jacob's delight! The trip was rounded off with a walk through a free flying aviary where parrots come to land on you. Jacob found this very funny and loved having the birds sitting him! We had to buy him a parrot headdress in honour of the one that landed on his head.

A great couple of days!

BIG art! Valentines day creativity

After seeing a cute hanging heart on another blog I began thinking about valentines day. Jacob has some lovely friends who we wanted to make them for so we set about a big painting session. We got red paints and lots of tools (cotton reels, potato printing hearts, brushes, sponges, rollers, straws) and set to work.


Jacob had such a great time and loved getting messy (unlike his daddy!). He most enjoyed using the roller (and obliterating all the loves stamping we did!) and making footprints.
One it had dried we cut out big heart shapes, added a ribon for hanging and glued them together leaving a little hole for stuffing. We stuffed them with old carrier bags and glued up the holes. Hey presto - gorgeous hanging hearts. We added a message for Jacob's 'girlfriends' and delivered them with a kiss on valentines morning. I think they liked them!
Later on Valentines day, Jacob and I baked some heart shaped cookies for his hardworking daddy. I think he liked them as he ate about 6 within 5 minutes of walking through the door!

Snow fun

On the second of February we got snow!!! Cue one very excited little boy who was besotted with the classic 'The Snowman' film at christmas. I love the spell snow casts over children, and adults come to think of it! Jacob couldn't wait to get out in the snow and build a snowman.

Both he and his daddy enjoyed every minute and did a fine job!


Only days later, the snow fell again, and our friends came to join the fun and build a snowman friend for the original. They had great fun on make-shift plastic bag sledges.



We all warmed up with hot-chocolate and crumpets.

We love the snow!