Meet Theodora Rose

Just a quick note to say that my beautiful daughter, Theodora Rose, was born on Sunday, 30th January at 9.42am. She weighed a healthy 9lb 1oz and has long legs and a full head of hair.


My labour started naturally at bang on 42 weeks and lasted 21 hours in total. I managed to use the birthing pool at the unit for a decent amount of time, but ended up delivering on dry land with no damage done (phew!).


We were kept in for observation for two nights and came back to our happy home on Tuesday. 


I can't quite believe:

• How much love you can feel for such a small creature
• How amazing my husband was at coaching me through the worst of it and keeping me motivated to carry on without more serious pain relief than gas and air (entonox)
• How much every single muscle and ligament in my body ached the next day!

We're settling in to family life now. I'll update soon.

Toasty

Toast

I find it hard to curb my desire for material things. As much as I admire the simple life, I'm a real magpie. I find myself attracted to the beauty of an item, but ultimately have difficulty seeing past it's beauty simply as an object or item of clothing, pattern, colour etc. and finding a way of incorporating it into my life/look. I just adore them as pretties in their own right. 

Consequently, I now have a rather eclectic and mismatched wardrobe, exasperated by a fairly recent change in body size and now pregnancy, so nothing really fits either my body or my personality. It's beginning to grate. 

Although I won't have much disposable income to indulge, I'm looking forward to re-modelling my style when I finally get my body back (now 2 days overdue) and turn 30 later this year (eek!), so I'm currently scouring clothing sites for inspiration like the above, from Toast. Very. Nice. Pyjamas.

As I've never been particularly flush, I've always gone for the cheap and cheerful bargain finds, so that I could feel I was regularly buying new things and not spending too much. I realise this is a mistake when you don't have some high quality basics to work around, so that's going to be my starting point. 

Hopefully, with some guidelines, forward planning and most of all, patience rather than impulse-buying, I'll be able to efficiently overhaul my look over the coming year, ready to return to work in the autumn (le sigh) and feel somewhat whole again. Ahhh...

Eeek!

A quick post to say how delighted I am to have been chosen as the winner of La Chapstick Fanatique's most recent giveaway.


I can't wait to receive the beautiful infinity necklace pictured above, made by the talented Ashlee of My Cellar Door.


Despite many, many optimistic entries, I've only ever won one other prize in all my 29 years - some tickets to an Ozzy Osbourne concert (oh my misspent youth!) that ended up being cancelled only minutes before it was due to begin - so I feel I've finally lifted 'the curse'!


Many thanks to both Morgan and Ashlee :)

A Well-Read Year

Inspired by Elizabeth at E Tells Tales, I'm officially documenting my 2011 reading list.
After I finished my degree, not that long ago, I had a couple of years where I hardly read at all, which is such a shame as I've always been an avid reader, but I guess my mind needed the break.


So I began 2010 with the aim to read 12 books and ease back into the saddle.


The year started off well...


A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf
100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Woman Destroyed - Simone de Beauvoir
Corvus: A Life with Crows - Esther Woolfson
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing (ongoing)


and then took a very specific turn... !


The Pregnancy Bible
Book of Names (Yes, I read them all and no, our chosen name does not feature!)
The Resourceful Mum's Handbook
The Rough Guide to Babies
Meditations for Pregnancy
What to Expect When Expecting
You Are Your Child's First Teacher
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Hypnobirthing
Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding


Now I know I'm going to be fairly busy over the majority of this year, but I'd still like to assume I'm going to find some time to read, even if it's just an hour a day... aren't I? Please say yes! So here's my list for 2011, bar all the picture books and fairy-tales :)

1. The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing (to finish)
2. The Catcher in The Rye - J.D. Salinger
3. Julia Margaret Cameron's Women - S. Wolf
4. The Quickening Maze - Adam Foulds
5. Women Who Run With The Wolves - Clarissa Pinkols Estes (re-read)
6. Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood - Jan Marsh
7. Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro
8. The Blue Hour: A Portrait of Jean Rhys - Lillian Pizzichini
9. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
10. Ideas That Matter - A.C. Grayling
11. The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway
12. Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 - Lisa Appignanesi

I hope to write a short appraisal for each here when I'm done, as proof more than anything! 


I've also found some beautifully illustrated children's books that I hope to share with you in time. I'll admit I've been collecting for significantly longer than this pregnancy; some of them are such inspiring stories, it's been hard to resist. 

The Imminent Arrival

Motherhood is looming, and about to be thrust upon me sometime in the next two weeks. I wish I could have a more specific timeframe but it's a lesson in patience I'll have to bear.

I'm currently inhabiting a strange space, eager for the creature to arrive, yet wanting to hold off that whole life-changing experience for as long as possible. This is for more than the obvious reasons - we've still got a fair bit of renovation to complete on our home.

My husband, B, has been working around the clock to get as much of the work, started about two years ago now, finished. Our initial plans hadn't included a nursery room and we were working around a lodger, so we suddenly had an additional two rooms to overhaul and all the expense that comes with it.

Anyhow, I'm pleased to say that it's going very well. Being our first, she (yes, she!) is likely to make a late appearance, giving us some much-needed time for the final preparations. Those might possibly make some hilarious famous last words!

::Paqman::

So, what hopes do I find myself having for you, little one? 

I hope that you will always know that you are loved, and never fear abandonment.

I hope that you can learn to love life and take all the opportunities and adventures it has to offer.

I hope that you will have joy and compassion for others, and a desire to participate.

I hope that you develop a love of learning and excitement at new experiences.

I hope that you have the eloquence, warmth and tenderness of your Daddy.

And I really hope that you don't inherit my feet. You poor child.

Welcome!

I made this blog this time last year and did not a thing with it. Well, after a VERY eventful 12 months, I'm re-instating it, so bear with me whilst I re-arrange the furniture somewhat.


To be continued...