...Badger baiting

Here's a glimpse of my Sunday morning...

We had a tough night from teething so it's great to see Jesse in good spirits. I hope you all are having a quieter, more peaceful Sunday.

...dogs and babies

Jesse's favourite thing is Badger. Shame it's not mutual... ;)

In the early days Badger's nose was put out of place as I had to hold this little screamy thing a lot to my chest to stop him from crying. Badger spent more time on our bed upstairs instead of sitting on me on the sofa. But pretty quickly he accepted Jesse as part of our pack. Helping me change his nappy (not particularly wanted) and stopping him from crying by licking his feet and bark talking at him. 

Now that Jesse can grab his fur, Badger is much more weary of him. Like any mama of furry and furless babes, supervising the baby/ puppy relationship is a daily priority. There are times when Badger brings his toys to Jesse to play and there are times when Badger growls when he sees Jesse approaching because he doesn't want to play.

But whenever Jesse falls over on his unsteady feet, Badger is there to (try and) lick his wounds and distract him from crying by waving a toy. And whenever I put Badger in his crate for eating Jesse's toys, Jesse is the first one there trying to let him out.

We are working on teaching Jesse to respect Badger's space and not to grab his nose...

... 101 days and counting

So Jesse is 101 days old today.

He has moved from his moses basket to his cot but is still in our room with us.

He is on to size 3 nappies and at last week's weigh in was 14lbs 12 oz

He has the cheekiest grin in the morning times.

                                               

He loves a good giggle with Patch his dog from Zia Carly and Uncle Charlie.

He has nap time in the pram with Long Neck his giraffe from Karen (daddy named him).

He stares at the colours and snuggles with the blanket from Natasha.

He likes a good thump about on the computer just like his daddy.

He has rolled on his back from his tummy (but we think it was a fluke as he's only done it the once) and he is desperate to sit up. He does these cute little crunches with his little elbows tucked in to let you know he wants up. Thanks for the octopus and the baby-gro now fits him, Amy.

He enjoyed a visit from his little girlfriend Aurelia (Lady A), who was quite taken with Badger.

And Jesse's pretty fond of Badger too.

We just want to thank everyone for his gifts, we have been completely overwhelmed by your generosity and send our love to you all x

...playing with the MamaRoo

We totally fell for the MamaRoo while watching Gadget Man one evening.

Tested out by my favourite actor Richard Ayoade and my old mate Denise Van Outen ;) how could i not believe them when they gave it a big thumbs up?

Yup I'm so susceptible to celebrity endorsement, (case 2 in kind my Pendleton bike) a hazard of the job...

We decided to set it up early so that Badger could get used to the noise and movement of it.

This turned out to be a wise move as he was not a fan to start with and barked his chops off at it. Wouldn't be ideal and soothing for the baby! Now he isn't bothered by it.

I hope the baby is more enamoured with it or I'll be having words with Richard and Denise...

...resting up

After days and days of rain the sun shone on Saturday. We took Badger for a walk, basking in its warm rays before going to the newly renovated Kings Head for tea and cake.

Returning home we watched Frances Ha while I bounced on my yoga ball to ease the aches of the growing baby. At 36 weeks there really isn't a lot of room left for it but it still finds a way to squirm around.

Here we are waiting an hour and a half for the consultant to see us. Fun, fun, fun.

The boys weren't too impressed with Frances Ha. It had good moments and a fab supporting cast but I found it hard to like the main character - nobody is perfect but she didn't even seem to try. 

It was a much needed relaxing day. I hope you are having a good weekend too x 

...Cracking open Easter 2013

 Here's a taster of bank holiday celebrations with my family.

                                                    My nephew Luca with my twin Carly

My nephew Brandon Beans

The boys just chilling

A photo with both my sisters, Daniela and Carly

We spent a lazy bank holiday Monday watching Les Miserables and snuggling up with Badger on the sofa. My new Primark dungarees are ideal to keep the cold out, but a little tricksy when negotiating toilet breaks.

...entering Badger in the La Senza 'Pets on Pyjamas' competition

...thinking about it, I haven't asked Badger yet how he'd feel about starring on pjs in La Senza stores next year...I'm taking liberties, I know.

My lovely colleague Grace is submitting her gorgeous sausage dog pup Dexter and has demanded that we all enter our pets. So I couldn't really refuse and his photo is just too cute not to submit it.

Here's a more recent pic of Badger sleeping with his partridge.


It may look cute but Badger has destuffed the partridge, poor partridge.

Happy Friday! x

...shopping for a Christmas tree

...starting our search for owl decorations, we went to homebase. I have this dream of a Christmas tree covered in little white owls but sadly it was not to be.

...refusing to even glimpse a tree there, I dragged Sam to Stewarts Garden Centre in Christchurch, because it's tradition. For more years than I can remember, the Illingworth family Christmas tree shopping experience involves my dad and my sisters standing by the biggest, fullest  tree we can find, while my mum holds on to a much smaller one across the other side of the centre. Where usually the matriach rules supreme, at Stewarts this rule relaxes, & as is tradition, we bring home the monster tree.

And in recent years they also have reindeer, and Badger likes to rub noses with them as a Merry Christmas greeting, it's his tradition. This year did not disappoint, we brought home the biggest tree. I actually started to sound a little like my mother, "Ron, where are we going to put it?" And like Ron, Sam dismissed my uncertainty, hauling the monster tree to the overeager sales guy.

As is tradition, we had to rearrange the lounge and lop off some of the trunk to make it fit. But fit it does and I love it!

After the tree decorating , drinking hot choc with marshmallows & listening to carols, our friends came over and we moved on to mulled wine and went for a gorgeous Salathai in Southbourne. A great start to December. Hope you're all feeling festive too.

...watching Tyrannosaur

...a harrowing afternoon at the picture house. Highly recommended.


Tyrannosaur

As we don't have a decent art house cinema in Bournemouth, we took our stinking hangovers up to the Harbour Lights Picture House in Southampton to watch Tyrannosaur. My love for Paddy Considine knows no bounds and after seeing his short film, Dog Altogether, I was a little prepared for the trauma in store for me.

But no one else can make his lead character kill his dog within the first fifteen minutes and then have me rooting for him by the end. That's the truth of a film like this, it's dangerous to stereotype people. You might hate an aspect of their character, but it's just that; an aspect. A few times I've tried to write people off and then they show a different side to me and I feel awful for being so dismissive. I'm in a constant circle; hating then liking, then hating, then liking the people on Big Brother. I guess you can't like all people, all the time.

An old lady was so moved by the film she had to talk about it and stopped me to voice her views over the sinks in the loos. "Unjust but very real" and "I wanted her to call a solicitor".

I did give Badger an extra tight squeeze when we got home though...poor pup.

...enjoying the sunshine at the Burley Cider Festival

...browsing twitter on Saturday morning, I came across tweets from @lostinthelarder and @thelarderhouse (thanks guys) about a cider festival in Burley. So we rounded up our cider loving friend Will & the dogs and went to sample some cider.

Roscoe the whippet having a little drink

Roscoe the whippet having a little taste

Not having a taste...

Smooching on the haybales

After the festival, we got a bit lost as we always do driving out of the New Forest. The boys brought home 10 litres, yes 10 litres of New Forest cider and we stopped off at St Catherine's Hill to take the pups for a sunset jaunt.

We found a wigwam and Will fiddled with the camera settings until it looked like daylight

As the sun set, we set off for cocktails at the Larderhouse