Bumpsidaisy!

Poor Charlie, he's having a rough time! I rang the doctors like I said I would in my last 'spot post' at 8:00 this morning. They gave me an appointment with the practice nurse for 8:50! It was a bit of a rush and we just made it in time! She examined Charlie's spots and said she doubts it is Chicken Pox. She didn't offer any other explanation for the spots but did comment that it could be very early Chicken Pox and just to keep an eye on them or they may well just go without developing, so really we were none the wiser! One thing she did advise though was that Charlie could go to school, he was delighted! I took him to school first though to check they would take him with mysterious spots and they were quite happy as the nurse had said to send him. So we whizzed home to put his uniform on and then took him back. When I went to collect him Mrs Longdon said he'd been fine all day, they'd kept an eye on him to make sure he was OK. The only thing was that at lunchtime he'd had a bump in the playground, bless him. I'm sure this won't be the last time, they terrify me the speed they run around, LOL!!

Building a stadium!!

One of Charlie's qualities I adore is his imagination! He expresses himself in many ways, though role play, dancing and generally playing. Today he was playing with his building bricks, he was building them into posts and we had to maneuver through them without knocking them over. He started to play by himself and called us to have a look a few minutes later. He'd built Preston North End's stadium complete with as he calls them 'headlights'(flood lights.) Of course we were both very proud of his efforts but Daddy had a very special sparkle in his eyes, it seems Charlie is as passionate about P.N.E as his Daddy!! Bless!

Join the Dots......Round 2?

On Friday night we noticed Charlie had a couple of little red spots, we thought this is it, Charlie now has the Chicken Pox. We were relieved firstly as our thoughts were at least they've both had it and then also the timing, it's 3 weeks until our holiday so he would be clear of them by then. By morning we thought he'd be covered in spots but alas he wasn't! Only about another 5 or so appeared and they were all these tiny spots! Only time would tell if he was going to get full blown Chicken Pox. Well over the weekend a few more have appeared, he now has around 20 (as you can see by the pics not many on his body and none at all on his face but they're completely spread out over everywhere else!) and he has been a little off colour all weekend, just generally clingy, crying at any little thing and saying he feels tired. Courtney, we thought, was lucky to only have them mildly. If these are Chicken Pox Charlie has got off very lightly!!! We went to a chemist today to see if the pharmacist could diagnose the spots but all he said was that it could be an allergic reaction or indeed the Chicken Pox, either way we have been advised to keep him off school tomorrow and bless him he is devastated, he loves school. I am going to ring our doctors surgery in the morning and see if we can just pop and see either a doctor or practice nurse to see if they can diagnose him conclusively!

Happy Birthday Chorley Roses!!

My crafting group celebrated our 8th birthday on Saturday! I can't believe we've been meeting 8 years! These girls mean the world to me, I look forward to our crop so much every month and I know they all do too. The fun and laughter we have you would not believe! I've spoken about the Chorley Roses many times on my blog, we started off very much as a scrapbooking group and as I've mentioned before our group has evolved into a variety of crafts but one thing that will never change will be our friendship. We've had a few members leave over the years which has been sad, others have joined us and we are now very much a gelled group! Happy Birthday girls!!♥


Sue, Tree, Cara, Wez (seated), me & Karin

Join the Dots!!

Bless her, Courtney has got Chicken Pox! We have been expecting it but to be honest I thought she'd have it around Christmas time! It is doing the rounds at nursery and Courtney was unwell mid December so I thought that was her coming down with it then. On Saturday as Mark was changing her nappy he noticed a couple of spots inside her nappy and called me over to look. I knew instantly it would be Chicken Pox! She also had a few little spots on her chest and a couple on her back. I thought she'd be covered by morning but she wasn't too bad really. A few more had come up but not as many as I'd thought! Over the days she's had a few more spots but has been very lucky! They're mainly on her scalp and inside her nappy, she has about 5 on her forehead and none at all on her face. The ones on her body are quite spread out. She's not been itchy at all really, just the odd scratch to her head but that's been it. Health wise she was a little off colour and didn't eat much the first couple of days but other than that has been her normal happy self. I was off work on holiday this week so I've been able to take full care of her which I'm grateful for. I'm just waiting and hoping for Charlie to have it now too, get them over with in one go!(just hoping it's soon as we go on holiday in 4 weeks time!!)

Swimming Lessons

Charlie has always been confident in the water and really enjoys swimming. We have taken him as often as we can and felt he was ready for lessons. Mark worked for a lady whose daughter taught lessons at her home. We enquired and today Charlie took his first lesson! I unfortunately had to miss it due to Courtney being poorly (more on that in my next post!) but Mark took my camera and managed to get these fab photos! It was warm in there and the camera steamed up at times but on the whole he got some great pics! He'll be going every Sunday now during term time.

New Cross Stitch-a-long!

I really enjoy stitch-a-longs! I've done a couple and they've been fun! This one is going to be just as fun I'm sure! The cross stitching bug seems to have really hit the Chorley Roses! We all started out as scrappers and indeed there are still a few of us who still scrapbook. As a group we have diversified into all sorts of crafting now and there are 4 of us who are cross stitching crazy at the moment! At our last Crop-i-day (a girlie crafting weekend away) Tree found a very cute owl design whilst browsing on her Ipad! We decided as there are 6 of us in our group and we really like owls that it would make a really appropriate stitch-a-long! We are stitching the branch at our leisure and one owl each month! I've started January's owl this evening, she's looking lovely in her rich jade and purple colours! There are over 30 colors in this design, they're all lush and I can't wait to see each owl flourish!

How we spent New Year's Day!

I promise this is my last post of today!
We had a leisurely lay in this morning, even Charlie and Courtney! When they woke they came into our room for a little while. We then rang Sylvia and Hughie who are on holiday in Australia to wish them a Happy New Year! Shortly after John, Mark's brother came for a visit. We then had a light lunch as we were at my Mum's this afternoon for 'coffee and cakes!' (She'd also bought in trifle, LOL! I will note now I was good, I only treated myself to one cake and a little trifle!) My sister, Nicola and nephews and niece, Chris, Ben and Emma also came. We took a couple of Charlie and Courtney's games and all had fun playing with them!

Scrapping update!

I have been scrapbooking but just haven't uploaded any layouts for a little while on my blog! In November I went on my girlie Cropiday! I think i've mentioned the Cropiday before but it's where my Chorley friends and I rent out a cottage in Pilling and just craft, relax and generally have a lot of fun! I mainly made my Christmas cards this time but did manage to scrapbook a few layouts too. I've also done a couple in between and did the 'Hello Father Christmas' and Nativity layouts last night (New Year's Eve!)
I must admit I am really pleased with all these layouts, I am loving Echo Park at the moment and continue to enjoy Studio Calico, their gallery is so inspiring. Again there is a mixture of scraplifts, inspired bys and my own work. It's just what works for me in my scrapping! (The Halloween and Leighton Moss layouts are digitally scrapped.)

New Year's Resolution?

So are you making a New Year's Resolution? I'm going to try my hardest with mine this year! In 2009 I lost 2 stones 10lbs and felt great for it! Despite saying I wasn't going to put it back on again and be a yoyo dieter, here I am having *almost* put it all back on! I kept stop starting last year, I'd be really keen and shed a few pounds then lose interest, it's not an excuse but the weather never really helped, I enjoy cycling but wasn't able to ride quite so much. I have been doing Zumba for almost a year now and really enjoy that but was restricted at first as I was a pay as you go member, it was working out too expensive to do any more than one class a week. I joined the gym about a few months ago so now have no reason not to do more than one class. I did start doing 2 classes but one was an evening class and towards the end of the year Mark always has to work late and with all the festive preparations and Charlie being off school Zumba took a back seat!
So, I'm going to try really hard! When I am tempted I am going to ask myself what I want more, that treat or to feel good again? We are going on holiday on the 10th of February so that's my first target, I have just short of 6 weeks, so I'm going to strive for 10lbs! I would say a stone but I have to be realistic! Some weeks I can lose 2 lbs in a week but quite often last time I would lose a pound but a loss is a loss so i'll stick with 10lbs and anymore will be a bonus!

At the stroke of Midnight......

Mark and I were watching the BBC with something sparkly in our hand (Shloer, LOL!!) We wished each other a Happy New Year and took some photos of the TV!! I went into the kitchen and saw our neighbour David across our windows and we toasted each other!! I can still hear the fireworks going off around us! What a great way to see in the New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Here's to 2012! :D