The littlest Allen at 1 month old

And I know I say it all the time, but wow has the time flown! Here are some things about my beautiful 1 month old daughter....

• she has really long slender fingers - piano player's fingers :-) (incidentally, her big toes look a little like thumbs and her feet are quite long too)
• She has the most beautiful, huge eyes that are amazingly alert
• She farts a lot
• She is holding her head real steady
• she hates having a bath - more precisely, she is now starting to not mind the water bit at all, but still screams blue murder when I take her out to dress her. It is done in record time as she actually starts to go purple and lose her voice.

• She smells 'soapy' as Jasmine says. Newborn, as I say. Except for when she farts or has done a 'poo-nami' (which smells like egg)
• She grunts a lot - probably trying to get out all those farts
• She can smile - despite the wind, I maintain they are proper smiles as she does them in response to my voice when I am talking all sillily (is that a word? It is now) in my sing song voice reserved just for her :-)

• She hates sleeping on her back, so I have to cautiously go against HV advice and allow her to sleep on her front in the moses basket when I am able to keep an eye on her. Otherwise, she sleeps on my chest - her other favourite place.
• She is a 'sucky' baby and loves nothing better than being snuggled up against mummy with a boob in her mouth (wether she is feeding or not). I mostly loves this, but sometimes don't when my other two children are also hungry and satisfying their need is not so easy as whipping one out. Cue screaming baby and flustered mummy, flittering about the tiny kitchen trying to cook up something vaguely nutritious and tasty with an ever depleting store cupboard. Ben and Jas have on occasion resorted to making themselves jam sandwiches ('shame' emoticon)
• When she cries, she curls out her bottom lip and it is the most adorable sight!

• She is beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, and every other such adjective. I absolutely love her to bits and she has completed our family in the most wonderful way :-) 3 healthy, happy children - we are so blessed!

Movember

No, it's not a typo, it's a valid cause to which Nick decided to donate his face - with very unattractive consequences.......

Even Sofia was shocked at the transformation.....

"who are you freaky, weird, moustache man, and WHAT have you done with my daddy?!"

We went to Birmingham to see Nick's side of the family the weekend just past, and needless to say (despite it still being November and therefore 'Movember') Nick shaved it off before his family could witness his foray into the world of hairy upper lips......

Randoms

Happy 30th Nick (aka Daddy!)

for Nick's 30th birthday, we took a (very looong) trip down to St Ives.

It seems strange to think that when we met, I was 19 years old and Nick had just turned 21........now he's 30 and I'm staring straight at it (well, almost - I still have a year and 5 months to go yet!)

We are now 5!

Sofia was born 27th October 2010, at 22:22, weighing in at 6lbs 13.5oz - and what a beauty she is!

Jasmine's 6th Birthday

OK, so I am REALLY behind with this blog, but almost caught up......

As I was so heavily pregnant, we decided not to have a party this year, but to take Jasmine, her best friend Ellen, and Benjamin to the Pottery Place to paint some pottery, then back home for cake, pizza and presents.  They had a blast, and Jasmine even said that this was the best birthday EVER!  So, take note fellow mums, you see all the stuff I planned and made for her Fairy and Hawaiian themed parties?! (If not, see older blog posts), well, DON'T BOTHER!  Nick put up some balloons, got some party poppers and glow stick from the local 99p store, bought some frozen pizzas, crisps, sweets and juice, and it was the BEST as far as Jasmine was concerned.  Long after Ellen went home, we all partied well into the night (well, I was a little less energetic!) with our glow sticks, making shapes and patterns in the dark.

Sorry, lots of pics, but it was two separate days....I just condensed it all into one blog post this time :-)

Helping to bake her cake

Jas and Ellen both chose Cats

Ben chose a lizard

leaving her birthday handprint

There actually is a girl MORE boisterous than my own......see where those fingers are?!

see those pyjamas?  Well, she has worn them practically EVERY night since - I have to sneak them into the wash and have them ready for the next night or there is trouble!

Then, on her actual birth day, she sat and read each and every card she got BEFORE opening any presents - not many kids I've ever seen do that...most want to just rip into the presents.....

Back to School

Ok, so I am behind with the posting here, but anyway....

Ben had a new haircut......

And Jasmine made sure I didn't forget to leave out her curl.....

I say this a lot, but I can't believe how much the kids have grown up - I mean, just over the summer even, they both seem somehow more.....more like actual people.  I know that sounds odd, because of course they are people, but any mother with kids will either get what I mean, or will one day get what I mean when it suddenly happens to their own children.

So, Ben enters class 3 and Jasmine class 2.  She was a little apprehensive about leaving class 1 because she liked her teacher Mrs Lincoln so much, and also because she heard through the school grapevine, that once you are in Year 1 (Class 2), there is a lot less free play.....but she was also excited about being in a 'big' class, cause that means she's not amongst the youngest anymore.

They have been excited about the prospect of having hot lunches for the first time - and to be honest, despite the cost, I am also relieved.  No more having to struggle to get Ben to eat a balanced packed lunch because he doesn't like cheese, or ham, or jam, or nutella, or cold food such as pasta/sausages/sausage rolls and lots of other things he refuses to eat.  It also means much less to do in the morning (or the night before).    And we have looked through the menu and decided with Ben in advance, which of the options he is going to eat (or at least try).

So a big 'YAY' for hot lunches!

Devon part 4

The kids' favourite place to hang out...on the kitchen counter.  And with a view like that, who can blame them!  Just wish I could've hoisted mysef up :-)

Snuggling with granny Pat.  The wonderful granny Pat who, makes up and writes stories just for them, plays olympic games with them in the garden (and even at 76 years of age, still has a go herself!), helps them stage magic shows (and lets Jasmine be a clown rather than a magician's assistant - because Jasmine would prefer to dress up in granny Pat's too big trousers than in glitzy, girly clothes suitable for a glamourous assistant!).  Granny Pat who bakes cakes with them, lets them eat all the sausages and pizza they want and teaches them about the various flowers and creepy crawlies in the garden.  They do love their granny Pat :-)

Devon part 3

waiting for the ferry to Salcombe.......

gorgeous views on the ride over

raiding the dressing up box at 'The Winking Prawn Restaurant'  Jasmine ate a half pint of prawns, shell on.....

Ben ate yet another sausage and chips (pretty much all he ate during the entire holiday!)

digging for water

who's that handsome boy there?!

that water was freeeeeeezing cold!

Jasmine warms up on the rocks after lots of frolicking in the icy sea

sampling yet more delicious Salcombe Ice cream whilst waiting for the ferry home

Jasmine and daddy enjoy a chat on the way home

Jasmine being, well....Jasmine!

having a cuddle to keep warm.....

The tide had gone out too far for the ferry to drop us right back into Kingsbridge, so we had to walk a good 20 mins to get back to where we'd parked the car.  Needless to say, the amount of walking we'd done tha day really did me in!  We had our promised meal of fish and chips (sausage for ben! and a side of mushy peas for me - which I was told was a distinctly northern thing!).  You can't stay by the sea and not have fish and chips!  We got ours from the famed 'Cod Father'  :-D