Bump Cast and Keepsake Lion

When I was 33 weeks pregnant I got together with my friends and they surprised me with a bump casting kit! We had loads of fun making the cast and I have now decorated it and have it on display in Harry's bedroom. 

I painted the cast the same colour as the feature wall in the bedroom and then did Paul's handprint, mine and Harry's, now his hand is a little easier to prise open! I then wrote on it; 'All because two people fell in love.' I'd seen this quote and the handprints done on a canvas but thought it would go perfectly on the cast. I then sealed it with a PVA/water solution.

In the photo bottom right the lion that the cast is next to is made from Harry's clothes. I found the lady who makes it on Facebook; Keepsake Cuddles. I love him and he is something for me and Harry to keep, rather than having his clothes sat in a box in the loft.

Craft and Decorating

I've been planning on doing this post for a while, hence the Christmas stocking, but have only just got round to writing it up!

When myself and my sister were small our mum made us stockings with red fabric that had little christmas bears on it. I loved putting them out each Christmas Eve, with a note to say whose was whose, ready for Father Christmas to visit. Even though Harry was only 5 months at Christmas I wanted to make his first stocking, start the tradition with him. (He couldn't use mine as Father Christmas still visits me!!) 

I bought the fabric at a local market, mum had the red ribbon already. I used my stocking as a template then got busy with the sewing machine. I was so happy with how it turned out and I hope, as Harry gets older, he will enjoy getting his special stocking out each Christmas. : )

This next piece was something I made when I just happened to see the metal tags on notonthehighstreet.com I was looking for something else and saw these and got the inspiration to make this birth date art for Harry's room. The frame was from Hobby Craft and with a bit of card and a glue gun here is the finished piece. 

I absolutely love having loads of photographs around the house! I already had a few on the wall up my stairs; I wanted to have some of Harry there too. I didn't want to take down any that were already up, so I added to the collection! The inspiration for this comes from the Dunphy's house in 'Modern Family'. I got some tips from Pinterest on how to do the layout etc.

I hope you like these craft and decorating ideas. What crafty things have you done lately? I've got lots of ideas on my Pinterest for future projects; lots of hand and foot printing and salt dough! Also look out for my upcoming blog on my finished bump cast that my friends did when I was 33 weeks pregnant.

Catch Up

Hi all, it's me again! I haven't blogged for a while; I don't know how other mummy bloggers find the time! I've been enjoying spending time with my little man and my big man! Harry is now sleeping better at night, after a few weeks of waking almost every hour and a bit of co sleeping, I've got my evenings back. Which is lovely; spending time as a couple is important and I'd missed it.

We did have to do a bit of sleep training. The decision wasn't taken lightly and I read up on a few different ways of training but in the end thought I'd try Sleep Sense by Dana Obleman, which a friend had successfully used. I just read the book and used it as a guide to write my own plan that would work for us.

I was worried at first as I'd always been against controlled crying, but we just had to do something as H just wouldn't even be put in his cot at one point. I was ready for the change, that's an important part of it, if you're not ready it won't work, plus you need great support from your other half, working as a team. I'm a member of a peer support group for mums on Facebook and know a lot of these ladies are against controlled crying, night weaning etc but this method is what I felt would work best for our family and after reading the sleep sense book I felt a lot better about letting H cry for a little bit. After all even when he's awake and he cries I can't always get there to give him a cuddle immediately. All babies are different and we need to find our own way and what we think is best; there is no right or wrong way to do things.

It won't be the method to suit everyone but it has worked for us and the night weaning happened as a by product. I was quite happy to carry on feeding at night but H has slept through, on the whole, without a feed most nights. If he does wake I do still feed him.

It's also helped with nap time. It's still a bit hit and miss but I try and put him down about the same time everyday in the cot. I loved my sleepy cuddles with him and still have a few, but felt I needed to get a bit more of a routine in place for when I return to work.

Other than that things are going really well, H was a bit poorly the other week, just wanted to be attached to me or Paul all day. But he's back to 100% and he's back to being the cheeky monkey we love. It's horrible when he's I'll, like most babies they regress to a newborn state and lose their personalities.

He's showing signs that he'll be crawling very soon, eats well, chats a bit and giggles lots!

That's just a little catch up and hopefully I'll be blogging again soon now I have a bit more time.

Amy x