Goodbye

I have decided to move this blog onwards and upwards.

Wives and Daughters has served its purpose but a few things have come to light

1) My stats tell me that a very large percent of traffic coming to my blog are looking for information about the novel "Wives and Daughters" by Elizabeth Gaskell.

2) I am excluding a lot of mummy's out there who have boys and I myself might have a boy one day, you never know.

3) I like change and want a change!

And so....To all my lovely readers, friends and family please come and join me over at my new abode for a slice of cake and cup of tea

I bring you....Mummy's Shoes

The Gallery Weeks 1-7

I haven't been up to speed with the blogging community recently but I am back on track as I have discovered Tara's The Gallery.

It is positively ingenious . The girl is good.  Each week she gives a theme and we have to provide a photo(s) which depicts said theme. Somehow I have missed 7 weeks of themes but not one to shy away from a challenge I am going to give you all 7 right now.

Week 1: Beauty

My gorgeous daughter was pure beauty to me from the first moment I saw her

Week 2: Numbers

I have chosen number 1 as my number. Baby Belle has just turned one and she is saying goodbye to being a baby and hello to being a toddler. She is also my 1st baby. She always comes 1st in my thoughts. This picture was taken at her 1st birthday party.

Week 3: Colour

I am cheating a bit and not picking one specific colour but instead relating it to my childhood/upbringing. I had an amazing time growing up and it was always bright and colourful thanks to my wonderful mum, dad and brothers.

Week 4: Me
I think these photos show all the different sides of me and who I am today.

The daughter, sister, child and friend in me

The frivolous, fun, fashionista, dancing, girly side of me

The romantic 'in love' wife in me

The business woman in me

The jokey outdoor loving girl in me

The Mummy in me

Week 5: Outside my front door

We love to go out walking. Lucky for us we have a few places close by that we can go to do this. Castor, Ferry (we call it Fairy) Meadows and Orton Mere.

Week 6: Ugly

This was a hard one but I managed to come up with two photos. The first is of me.  Hubby and I had been walking for over 4 hours in 40degree heat and I had blisters from my new sandals.  At this point I had gven up and plonked myself down on the side of the road...my mood was very ugly. Hubby even said he'd carry me but I was being stubborn.  The second is of a phone shop we came across in Turkey, very funny but very ugly indeed.

Week 7: Joy
Joy for me has grown and spread. It started with my Nanny and Grandpa, then my Mum  and Dad and then grew to me and hubby. All this joy has been encapsulated into our little Baby Belle. So here I give you some photos of where hubby proposed to me and told me he wanted to be with me forever. Joy to me is 'US', our family, and our life we have today.

The Ring

Patara Beach..the rocks where he hid the ring

The Ring...again!

Eating out that night

Our Ottoman Lounge

The 1st Birthday Party

The long awaited, much anticipated "Flower Fairies Party" for Baby Belle's 1st Birthday has been and gone.

I am now enjoying the calm. But anyone who knows me will know that I delight in having events to plan for and so I am a bit sad it is over.

I must admit I was very fortunate because Grams had BB the day before the soiree to allow me to 1) make the cupcakes 2) decorate 3) decorate 4) decorate 5) prepare cuisine

Thankfully hubby also took the day off work to 1) Construct the Gazebo 2) Assemble the trike 3) Cook the chicken (his chicken kebabs are luscious!) and 4) Fill the balloons with Hellium. It turned out to be a really fun day working on everything together and hubby, not really being one for reveling, suprised me with how upbeat and happy he was. If you want to see a couple of our 'day before/preparation pics' (there aren't many because we were busy) you can see them  HERE

The morning of the party BB didn't want to sleep, of course anyone with a baby knows this is always the case, when you want them to stick to their routine they don't.  She knew something was going on. She usually sleeps, like clockwork, from 10-12 everyday so I told guests to arrive at 1, she would therefore be wide awake until the end of the party.  She went down to sleep at 10am and woke at 10:30am. I knew she would be shattered now.  But I can honestly say she was amazing! She got grumpy at around 3pm and so Grams and Grandpa took her out for a walk away from the mases and she had a power nap whilst out. She then woke up all happy and ready to continue the celebrations!

A few of the other babies and children couldn't make it because it was the easter hols and a lot of people were going away, but a fair few turned up and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, including the adults.  We told everyone we were cutting the cake at 3 but due to missy being a little exhausted it ended up being at about 4pm. 

I hadn't seen the cake until that morning. My mum (Grams) had been working on it for a few weeks and had done EVERYTHING from scratch. When I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so gorgeous! From the little flower fairy feet and faces to the pretty flowers and butterflies, she had hadmade the lot. My pictures really don't do it justice as the whole cake sparkled and glistened in real life:

It really is quite special. There are some more pictures here. BB also had her first ever taste of sugar/sponge cake too which was funny. She of course loved it.

If you want to see a selection of pics from the day click here

We had a lovely day and most importantly Baby Belle had a lovely day. Thanks to everyone who came and for all the lovely gifts. It really was very special and I can't believe our little girl is 1 Year Old already!

Short Sharp News: Fashion Company SOLD

It is the end of an era!

I have sold my fashion company.

I am so happy but also finding it very hard to let go. The new owner is coming on Friday and I can not quite believe it still.

The brand is no longer me but oh what fun I have had building and growing it. My clothes have made it to Miss England, to Australia and many many shows. It has been fun old friend but it is time to move on.

It is going to be an exciting year. I do of course have another venture in the pipeline but in the mean time I will be concentrating on the IT business.

A letter to Baby Belle (1 Year Old Today)

Our precious little darling we can not believe you are a year old already.

Where has the time gone.

You have filled our home with such happiness, joy, warmth and laughter. Your sparkling blue eyes amaze us all.

You are everything we imagined, everything we wished for and so much more

We love everything about you. We love when you come over to us with a book or your hand puppets and say 'peas, peas' (please).  We love our breakfasts together and we love our funny lunches and dinners where you hide your face to play peekaboo and end up with food all over you.  We love when we go in the car and you start singing.  We love seeing your face light up to new things and the wonder in your eyes.

We hope we can be everything you need and want us to be because you are just so perfect to us

All our love forever and a day,

Mummy & Baba (Daddy)  xxxxxxxxxxx

What a week & the winner of the Blackberry is....

I haven't blogged in a while as I had the mammoth task of organising BB's 1st Birthday Party.  This took place on Saturday and we had an amazing day! I will of course blog about this later and show you all some pictures too.

But for now I must announce the winner of the Pink Blackberry Competition. Thanks to everyone for your entries...it proved quite popular. All names were written on a bit of paper and one pulled out and the winner is..........

Me , The Man & The Baby

Please email me with your address and I will get it sent out to you asap x

TOOTHGATE

BB is 1 in a couple weeks and she still has the grand total of ZERO teeth.

I am not worried, I think she is actually teething at the moment but then I thought that at 6 months, 7 months, 8 months etc (you get the picture).

Every month I do a Baby Belle's 'Firsts' post where I write an update on all the new things she has discovered and done.  I am longing to say she has her first tooth, but the time never comes.

Two people have said to me, one in a quiet whisper (like it is something to be ashamed of) 'I think you should probably take her to the doctors now'.  Errmmm why exactly...because she is 11 months old and hasn't got her first tooth yet?  My doctor would laugh at me.

That is all :) x