A monthly round-up

I know, its the middle of the month, but my phone is playing up and I can't get it to email- so unless I do this there's no pictures on my blog. And, of course, when I go through I find lots of pictures I don't think I've shared (excuse pregnancy brain!).
Anyway, here it goes:





Poorly Little One back in Feb is getting a bit big for her sling.
























cafe was shut, but DHs well equipped bag had essential soups!



Lots of interesting tools I got a glimpse of at Cliff Castle.

First the tree was felled and snedded

then they built a bonfire

I missed the fire, but just in time for the embers and cooking tea with friends

Big One had fun visiting old friends- and playing with well remembered toys!



The shock of a house

We've spent a little more time at the house, and I want to remember the novelty before it wears off!

We've been there in the evening, and WOW its bright with electric lights on after dark. In the caravan we go dim as the girls go to bed, and do quiet things before going to sleep- at quite an early time compared to folk with  more conventional lives. Our tenants have spent the last year with the curtains shut apparently, so I've no idea what they've done for light unless all the 20+  light bulbs died the day before they moved out- no light in the bathroom, upstairs hallway, most of the lights in  the kitchen, dining room and living room also dead. It makes it a bit dark for doing 'work' by, but its very bright compared to being in the caravan.

The othe big thing is we are slowly getting back on 'the grid'. We now have telephone and internet at the house. Another big WOW. The girls had their long- promised time on the cbeebies website as soon as it was connected today- with the accompanying grumps and fallings out when it had been on too long (ahh, yes, why we don't have TV hits me over the head again), and I finally don't have to be aware of which websites I'm looking at for the sneaky video that might use up the data allowance on the dongle for a month without me noticing.

Next will be water rates and council tax, we just need to decide when we're officially moved in. Yorkshire Water counts it from when there are beds set up. Ummm, beds sound a little conventional to us...but with me unable to get enough of having a bath AND a shower to use without sharing with others/carefully heating the water first, that'll be sooner rather than later.

We're working steadily through 4 transit vans (that's the long wheel based version) of stuff- despite months of decluttering, charity shopping, ebaying and carboot sale-ing before we set off last year. We packed up not knowing where we'd be living when we came back,and equally I never planned on living in the house again (severe morning sickness has a lot to answer for, making this an acceptable home again!). However, finding random bags of nappies, small baby equipment (and I have a friend who apparently has an attic full of stuff I loaned her!)  I am glad I wasn't more ruthless. Its also been lovely this afternoon to sit (on OUR own comfy sofa) and look at two bookcases full of treasured books. I just don't have the Kindle love, despite the space saving abilities of it, so being reunited with my books is very special.

What is quite horrific is the large quantities of boxes of  'treasures' for the girls. Random bits of paper, tin foil, pebbles that I strongly suspect will all be 'my favourite' when the girls see them, with no associated memory of where its from or why its precious, but we'll have to find somewhere for it. One mountain of boxes has ( hopefully temporarily) disappeared  into the cellar. There is already a stack in their bedroom....Sigh, deep breath. We will sort through it all eventually.

We have already paid for one more week on our pitch, so tomorrow the final task of emptying the awning and caravan of all  'living' essentials, and swapping the 'holiday' kit from the house (things like camping cutlery, bowls and cooking utensils come to mind) to the  everyday 'living' kitchen stuff.
The field next door has one early lamb, and we are going to be sad to miss lambing and the whole 'living in a field' even if the field wasn't our own, and had a drain, tap, electric and a toilet/shower block (if I wasn't still a bit phobic from the hyperemesis to use it).

Living in a house has waaaay more drawbacks, especially now the weather is warming up, but planning a home birth makes different things an immediate priority, and as such I do have a definite feeling of being settled, even if we still have a lot to sort out. Along with a definite dread of the next move, whenever and wherever that'll be.

More outdoor cooking

Busy bonfire

Looks like I missed a fun afternoon. They've been busy, and enough hot embers for cooking tea.

Playing before tea

Smoky bonfire planned for later in the week by the sounds of it. Good fun to be had before then though...

Ta daaa!

Poorly lying down afternoon means I've finally finished my shawl. I started it when I first knew I was pregnant,but put it aside while I was puking, and then when I first felt better the quilt happened, so its been done in 2 spells.

Its a simple pattern,but took me a fair amount of concentration. Lots of mistakes,so noone else has one like it!
Beautiful soft hand-dyed yarn from Nimu yarns,which I got from her stall at the Natural mamas camp last year.

Happy its done,but I'll be glad of a more upright day tomorrow though!

Its a House!

We've had the keys a day and a half, and DH has been busy scrubbing floors and the back of the van is finally empty for the first time in months.

I've already managed the luxury of a bathroom shower (as opposed to jugs of hot water in the caravan, or a very long time ago using the showers on the campsite) which, despite a notable lack of light was quite a treat.

This morning though, waking up in the caravan with birdsong outside the window, Big One debating if there are birds living in the bonfire heap, hearing the owls through the night, seeing the bats at dusk -without other folk about and no traffic nearby- I think we're going to find it hard moving back in.

Our house is mid-terrace, with another terrace behind and a park across the road. DH was mentioning seeing the 'type' of people going past the window -ahh, I forgot the swearing that'll go along with that. I'm also now remembering how take-away drivers get muddled up with our house and the house down the road on the other side (two roads sharing a back alley can be confusing- folk assume its the 'road' and that the numbers work along both sides of the street) and, on one memorable occasion late at night- the police got muddled up too.

The park sounds nice, but you do need to be careful of broken glass, rubbish and dog poo. I'll try to focus on remembering the 'Carols by Candlelight' one Christmas.

I know that house living will be more comfortable on a personal space level, though I'm not sure of the luxury of our own washing machine- £6-£10 for Linda to wash, dry, and FOLD all our weekly wash is really quite fabulous. Especially when DH does the drop off and collection! Already Little One is LOVING being able to jump inside- that involves a shaking caravan and a telling off in our caravan. Both girls are finding it a treat to visit the house- yesterday they were telling me how much fun they had cleaning the shelves they could reach. Big One tells me they both helped clean the dining room floor.

We are looking forward to seeing most of our neighbours again. One special neighbour ( I think they might count as 'friends', lol) even lets us use her allotment and the girls play in her garden next to it. We'll have to get our skates on to get some plants growing but we'll get on with it once we get moved in. Sounds like Big One has invited herself over to play at her house today as well! Little One has other commitments and was very sad yesterday that she won't be going.

I also have an idea of growing beans up the back window. Our backyard is south facing, and that means on hot sunny days both it and the dining room gets very, very hot. We have grown plants on the window sill, which shades it but of course, the sun has already heated up inside ( its a very good greenhouse, but not always nice to live in!). I'm wondering if some (very tall) beans might cast a bit of shade and stop it becoming unbearably hot.

First we'll have to wait for the rubbish to be taken away. The good news is the council will do it for free- so eventually the girls will have a small amount of outside space to play.

Right, its almost a proper time to start the day and I think Big One is getting a bit fed up of reading over my shoulder. She wants to make some smilies J

Chainsawing done

Felled,snedded etc. He's had fun- definately hard work!
Have a friend lined up for firewood, but I think we'll get some good carving wood out of it too.Maybe even another chopping block.

Happy husband

Dh doesn't get to use his chainsaw often,so when the site owner mentioned a bit of chainsaw work, well he's been looking forward to it.
He waited until after 8 am to get started :-)
Apologies for phone pics- I really need a zoom on it.

Cliff castle. Shame the cafe is shut Fridays. And Mondays. We have emergency soup though, and its going down suprisingly well.

Boring normal lurgy

Ugghh, I'm full of cold. Just thought I'd share the 'germs' online. Little One has been quite poorly. She got it first, and has been very cuddly and sleepy (and snotty and coughing), just drinking water and not eating much at all. I've had my 'day off for working the weekend' in bed feeling awful, and today hasn't been any better.

Well, Little One is a bit better, but I'm not. Big One has so far avoided all germs, and DH luckily hasn't been too bad, more sleep deprived from looking after Little One through the nights.

Anyway, I've been back at work nearly 2 weeks- had a weekend to work which I didn't want to let anyone down for, and today is another day off sick, sigh. Its good to feel (normally) well enough to work- I was beginning to wonder if I'd be like this the whole pregnancy! I'm just glad I did decide to ring work yesterday- at 4 am this morning I was really glad I didn't have to pull myself together in the morning to ring in, when its too late for someone to cover for my first patient, and they end up having to wait.

Another week and a bit and our tenants should have handed the keys back, so we'll be closer to living in a house again. The agents and I are having wobbles that they might not move out- we knew about problems with the front door lock, which oddly they didn't want us to fix...but now we find out our back door keys no longer work either. Hopefully there's some simple misunderstanding, but I hadn't considered they wouldn't move out, more that the house might be in an awful state. The agent did say if they don't move out its no simple matter to evict them, but I didn't want to be told any more as I'm not ready to think about that. I just want to be able to use a bath and shower with hot running water that is more than 10 litres.

Crochet blanket

I've been on the mend-a whole week without puking! Soooo,I've been feeling like getting on with my crochet squares. I've even got a little fed up of doing simple squares, but wanted a simple blanket for my first blanket for me, and good practice before trying something for the bump.

Do you like my fancy crochet hook? Its wooden (Birch to be precise) and the brand is Brittany. I couldn't resist it in the yarn shop in Crosshills near Skipton. I look forward to the day when DH or I can just turn our own on our lathe, but for the time being (I'm feeling it'll be a few years before we can be that precise) I love this one!

I think the blanket is ok, very happy for first attempt without any real plan and left over yarn :-) and all done since christmas,while I've been feeling pretty rough.

I've learned about sewing up- that's why squares usually have the same colour edging!

Back to work Monday,so I'm glad its done now. I'll decide about an edging another time. My only worry is the whole 'staying awake all day' problem with going back to work, but lets try not to think about that.

The girls have had fun playing with Aunty Wendy- she even bakes with them both at the same time!

Hyperemesis

My new best friend.

I've been off work for a week now, and the GP wrote hyperemesis on the form. I suppose that's not quite right, as from what I can understand I should be losing weight, be dehydrated, etc and I'm not that bad.
It is pretty severe morning (afternoon and evening) sickness that didn't stop at 12 weeks (hyperemesis can continue all through pregnancy, but does usually improve by 21 weeks so that's the next milestone I'm hoping for - if the magic 'feel better' week doesn't happen sooner), and I'm throwing up enough I can't really function.
With the last week away from work I'm slowly learning what helps, and what doesn't. Sleep is good, especially in the afternoon. Eating too little, eating too much, eating the wrong foods, not sleeping, not resting, bouncy children at the wrong time of day, trying to finish something,worrying, moving too quickly, moving too much all make it worse. Basically lying in bed not moving is usually good, and sometimes sitting up is fine- but not always.
I had a good day on Saturday, I even felt daft having my bucket with me when we were at someone's house. Sunday I had a couple of things that needed doing, missed my afternoon nap and- wham. Throwing up again.
I'm getting frustrated- if I do nothing I can feel well enough to see things that need doing. Then I try to do them- and feel ill again. I am actively missing having a TV now- I am perfectly designed right now for being a couch potato (with my bucket handy).
I can't help but feel (today!) that the challenges of caravan living aren't helping. 6 weeks until we get the keys to our house back- but I really can't think of an alternative living arrangement for those 6 weeks that is workable. Short term lets are expensive (and fairly grotty looking), and nothing is 'very' handy for my work. Another idea of mine is us getting a car in addition to the van- additional expense but I wonder if it might ease something? I can technically have time off for a relaxation class from work- but the one I've been to the last few weeks is a Thursday morning- I'd want to scan my first patient and then go- not really fair on my family to hang around for all that just so I can drop them off then go to my 2 hr class without inconveniencing work too much. I wonder if the relaxation is helping a bit with the sickness- it certainly helps me concentrate on the positives when its all getting to me.

I've had odd days of feeling up to doing a bit of simple crochet- I think its probably averaging a little over a square a week- a square takes about half an hour to do, so not much but at least its something constructive from all this sitting around.

DH is fabulous, he's been managing breakfast and bedtime routines single handed for months now, as well as everything in between. He even got a load of nice cakes for my work when he took my sick note in- and I think his life is much easier when I'm at work instead of taking up caravan space and an additional person needing looking after.

I have one more week of my sick note. Still hoping for a miracle recovery, but also worrying a bit about if this doesn't get better- in a way being off work hasn't helped me get better,its  just proven that if I rest and sleep lots I can actually keep food down, but the symptoms come straight back when I do anything.

EDIT- Reading this back, I've managed not to mention the various 'treatments' I've been trying. From extra B vitamins to stem ginger, dark chocolate (a small square when I'm starting to go urrghh but can't actually sleep/eat/whatever  I need does help for a while), several tries with acupuncture/acupressure (got more energy but hasn't helped the puking, a variety of advice (eating before sitting up, something in the middle of the night, etc). I'm getting closer to trying homeopathy again- I was all for going what sounded right from a book (cheap option!) but a friend has dissuaded me from that, but also not convinced me that one remedy will really help without tying in my other symptoms- and at the end of the day a homeopath is bloomin expensive.

A break

I'm having a break tonight. Cue two girls having some bed bouncing time before they leave me for an evenings peace.
I'Ve been for acupuncture, and its amazing. I feel so much better-still puking,but able to enjoy things more. I've even done some crochet for the first time in months! My only regret now is that I didn't go for acupuncture a few weeks ago. Christmas would have been better for everyone.

Why I've gone quiet- really

Apologies for the quick snap- its a bit dark at this time of the day, and the scan pic is on very shiny paper.

Well, the short answer is early pregnancy and living in a caravan doesn’t go so well together.

Baby is due in July, all being well. We’ve let immediate family know, so it feels right to share it here now.

This time, just to be different, my early pregnancy symptoms have included puking most evenings, and being extremely tired. With the girls I’d been extremely tired, extremely nauseous, but not actually puking. I am sure it’s just the one.

Living in the caravan when feeling so rough has been quite a challenge. Thankfully DH has been wonderful, he’s had to do absolutely everything and has done it all extremely well. The last couple of days I’ve been feeling a bit better- could be due to a few bank holidays meaning I’ve had a bit more rest from work. Being able to rest in the afternoon has certainly helped. Or even maybe the sickness is passing- I hope so!

With me struggling so much with the pregnancy side of it all, that’s the main reason  I'm struggling in the caravan and we’ve given our tenants notice.

Christmas and the couple of weeks before have felt really busy for us- nothing compared to usual ( what with no shopping, baking, cooking or xmas cards happening) but its been pretty tiring. Both girls have been excited about being in a nativity. Little One in the one from her nursery, and Big One went to Sunday school twice with grandma, and that worked out she could be in the church nativity at the Christingle service.

Church normally only features for us, at my insistence, going to the minster Christingle service annually with Dh coming along begrudglingly once J was big enough to come. Grandma had just asked to take Big One to the service once after bellringing, we didn’t realise she was going to Sunday School. However, as the following week was getting parts for the nativity at the Church Christingle service, we made the best of it and Big One was in the nativity this year. Note to self- children in the nativity don’t get Christingles, which is quite upsetting for a girls who was too excited/nervous to have a snack before hand. We had a proper melt-down!

Christmas has been busy catching up with our families, and New Year has been more quiet,which has worked well for me and my symptoms. I've even planned, shopped and cooked a meal- I can't remember when that was last a pleasure to do (and I normally love cooking!).  DH's sister and grown up child have come over from Oz, so its been good to see them too.
 Little One has been a bit poorly the last few days, and has a mystery rash which appeared last night- why do our children mostly only get ill enough for me to consider contacting doctors at bank holidays?!. I’m doing my usual panicking about chicken pox, but we don’t know what it is.My midwife has done a great job of reassuring me about implications for me and 'baby' (someone who does answer her phone even on New Years Eve, bless her). If Little One's rash is still there Tuesday we’ll see what a GP thinks.

This last month...

Has had a few challenges for us.
We've moved into Cara the caravan, and tried to settle in. I think it would work if we had just one more room, and the awning worked as we hoped. We had intended to do all our cooking in the awning, and have space for playing, and hoped to eat out there instead. We've got heat out there, but the condensation has been a problem- it drips constantly (unless its frozen!). We stopped trying to cook out there (that only made it worse) and the girls aren't too keen to play out there much if we're not cooking. DH has been busy working on the leak along the side of the caravan ( in the awning) so although he'd had that to deal with, it hasn't affected things too badly.
As it is, that's meant the caravan living space has also been our cooking, eating  and bed space. Not great.
DH and the girls have settled in but I haven't.I think part of my issue with it has been that I'm the one out at work four days, without daylight eithe end.
After a bad day, involving a night of no sleep with a screamy child, I explained my feelings *very clearly* and after discussions we have given our tenants notice- we can have our own house again 4th March. That is a long way off, and coping ideas in the short term we've had include me having odd nights in a hotel close to work.
We're also not managing to cook food as we would usually- DH has had a busy week, but I realise that yesterday I managed to make a quick coleslaw in my parents kitchen, which just seems too difficult in the caravan. So I'm not inclined to cook, something I would do a bit more of, and for other reasons we've just not managed to eat as well- something that is bothering us. No chance of home made mincepies this year, even though I have seen the mincemeat I made last year.
We're having a night at my parents, and it feels luxurious to have the choice of a bath or a shower ( I really, really miss a bath), a kitchen with surfaces to use for cooking, and space to just be quiet on my own for a while- or the girls to be busy playing in another room. That's not mentioning the delicious meal Mum made for us all- fabulous!
I feel its been a really useful experiment-we know DH and the girls enjoy the caravan, and I would probably be ok with a dry awning space. If we were on our own land we could build temporary shelter around the caravan to solve a lot of problems, but we're on a caravan site and limited by that. I think this is an idea for summer- but a ppositive thing from this is that it has also got me to accept that moving to our old house is an acceptable choice. Moving there will give us a home, most importantly (to me, anyway!) but that also we can try to sell it again. We've reduced our belongings, so it hopefully won't be too cluttered, and we can really work on clarifying where we want to be for the longer term.
Our travels have shown us so many places seem better for growing our own food than windy wintery Yorkshire- but we need to find what really will suit us. So many adventures still ahead.....
There is one other thing that's on the cards, but until we've had chance to discuss it with a few more folks I won't say more right now.
I'll finish up with an apology- Christmas is hardly happening at our place. This year Christmas cards will be a miracle, and I've not got any shopping done. I have tried to delegate to DH- which hasn't really worked.
Normally Christmas starts straight after Big One's birthday, but I've really not been up to facing it. So, dear friends, we still love you but won't be showing it with gifts or cards this year. If we see you you'll get a big hug. If we don't see you, you might get an email if you're very lucky!

Birthday Girl

Big Ones choice for her birthday 'cake'.
A very special day, and even more special as a new little girl has today as her birthday- welcome baby Heather! And happy birthday grown up Rach as well!

More patchwork

Patchwork

Only a couple of pics at a time- some of mum-in-laws quilts on display this weekend.

Textile exhibition

Great grandma is blind now, but some of her amazing hand embroidery is part of the display in Crosshills.

We have a pitch!

Today our caravan moved to a brand new pitch, and we have learned to put up the awning, albeit with half marked poles, 1 broken joint and incomplete instructions. It didn't rain much, and with only a fair amount of grumpiness (we needed lunch, not crisps) and we had it figured out within 3 hrs. We didn't finish until after dark though, so no final pic as my phone doesn't flash.
We're really happy about the living space we'll have, so just another week of getting moved in.
We had a quick trip to collect our Suma order this morning-we've not been for about 7 months but its such an interesting place to call into-the folk we meet seem happy in their work,helpful, and we get good,mostly organic, wholesale priced food. Fab!

This weekend DHs parents are running a textiles exhibition and sale, so we'll be busy hopefully helping, and I intend to buy loads of raffle tickets as the patchwork quilt Mum-in-law has designed and made is stunning!

Next week has a birthday in it, so time not at work must be spent planning and preparing, and a few trips out and about are planned.
I'm not entirely sure when we'll be properly moving, but its getting exciting seeing we've got somewhere real to go to!

Just another Busy Day

I've not have much to say here for a week or two, but life's been going apace as usual. My parents have returned from their holiday, we've been madly tidying up before they returned, and fit in a day of learning with Robin Wood to properly sharpen my carving knives with DH.
We have bought our home-to-be, a very lovely (and huge) caravan. We're just waiting for the pitch to be finished at the campsite, and hopefully that will be this week.
I'm spending most of my week working for a living, which is still enjoyable, and the novelty of getting paid happened last week- a very nice experience!
We had a trip to Leeds City Museum, which was so interesting Big One wants to return for her birthday treat- even more than she wants to go to yoga. There is a yoga class starting up, with the first one on her birthday which was just what she wanted to do- until recently. We'll see how things settle down before making a definate re-organisation I think.
We've been to the Square Chapel today, which prompted the girls to repeat the performance when we got home for their grandparents. They did all right- for the first 2 minutes, anyway!
We're planning to help at a Craft Exhibition at St Peters, Crosshills (near Skipton) this weekend- and, somehow, start to move into the caravan. Fingers crossed it all magically comes together!

The bits I forgot

I was rushing with my last post, can you tell?
We've also managed to catch up with friends who are dear but rarely near these days (Pizza Hut has its uses!), and I've been unsuccessfully attempting to crochet a shawl. I've gone back to the start yet again, and I'm on my third pattern. I'm trying to crochet- the knitted ones don't appeal the same way, but I think using laceweight yarn is just proving very tricky for me, let alone following a pattern. I think I'll try one more week, and then go back to small projects. I've not got the patience for big things either!
A quick snap of the family with 'Cara'. Her previous family named her, and the girls love the name, as well as the bunks!

Last photo

From our walk on Saturday.

Pics from a walk

We spotted fungi and a Little One up a tree...but my phone only lets me attach a couple of pics, that's why I'm serial posting.

Forest school

The girls loved getting elderberries to make paint, and then painting flags for bunting!Big One's photo has got lost though :-(
On our walk on Saturday we found a cave...

Busy weekend

Yesterday we managed to find a 'new to us' little patch of south-facing woodland to explore.
Today has been busier in the kitchen- 4 loaves sourdough bread,4.5 jars apple pickle and 11 jars apple butter.
This afternoon we got to the Square Chapel and saw a performance called 'Turned Out Nice Again' which was perfect for the girls. Both girls are easily scared by performances (and TV- octonaughts is too scary) so today was a first- they both stayed for all of it! Well, apart from a toilet trip. No scary loud bits or dark bits, gentle audience participation and lots of singing, dancing and physical humour. I loved seeing them both enjoy the show.

Learning to knit

I've been going to a knitting class, and its worked! Two bus trips to work, two lunch times and one hat knitted, and a couple of hours last night had the second hat made and both sewn up. I will be asking for help with sewing up, as I definately need to work on that. I hope the smaller one will be lovely for a 1 yr old who I haven't seen for a long time....
Right, must round up the troops for Forest School!

Autumn crafts

We managed a walk on Sunday, and collected some leaves. Big One wanted to make a picture, and Little One helped make a candle holder. Good fun while DH sorted tea!