good things

10 good things. (inspired by a little bird) :

1. I have managed to cross so many things off my to-do list, that right now I am sitting on the internet, sipping tea, without feelings of guilt or underlying stress. Ahhh :)
2. I can hear cheerful birds outside
3. The cup of tea I'm sipping was brought to me by my thoughtful man
4. My baby is sleeping (right now at least)
5. My Dad and his family stayed over last night, and the big Christmassy roast dinner we made was really yummy
6. The sun just came out after a rainy morning
7. That there are still so many of the little tiny fruit cakes, that my mother in law baked, still left over waiting for me to eat
8. While our back yard has been irreversibly changed, our front yard is looking nicer and nicer
9. I love Christmas time
10. There are presents :)

Merry Christmas. Hope you enjoy laughing with your families, and eating food in ways you shouldn't normally. .xx.

our tree. our gorgeously giant tree.

Today I found a feather from one of the three cute chubby tawny owls that have been hanging out in our gorgeously giant tree.

Last week Mr You discovered a nest cradling baby birds in our gorgeously giant tree.

Normally this would delight me. But right now it mortifies me. Why?

Because tomorrow we have to have our beloved gorgeous giant tree cut down. Sob.



One recent stormy night, a quarter of our tree tore off and fell to the ground. It completely crushed our fence, all but one of the other trees in our yard, and our brand new (built by a gardener only 3 days earlier) garden bed with lovely little stone wall, as it stretched across our yard and half way across the neighbours. Unlucky as this sounds, we were all very lucky that it fell where and when it did. A little this way or the other and it could have crushed our studio, or Millipede's bedroom, or had it been during the day it could have crushed the neighbours children.

We consulted lots of specialists, hoping desperately they would tell us all the tree needed was a little lop and it would be fine. But each and every one took one look at the tree and all said it is too dangerous to stay... at all.



This, the tree that (along with our studio) was the reason I fell in love with this house. The tree that everyone comments is beautiful. The tree that shades our yard in Summer, turns red in Autumn, becomes a sculpture in Winter, and feeds the bees in Spring. The tree that I had imagined we'd have Millipede's birthday parties underneath, hang his swing from, build a tree house in, and encourage him to climb.

The tree we buried Millipede's bellybutton stump under as a spiritual gesture on his 6 month birthday.



I have cried again and again that we have to lose our beautiful tree. That we are the ones who have to have to end it's long long life. That losing a tree isn't like when you lose a car, and are able to replace it with an even better one. That you can't put a tree out to pasture, letting it live out the rest of its days in a lovely field somewhere.

I really am in agony thinking about it. I don't think I can be here when it happens. I'm sure I will hear it moan and weep. How do you say goodbye to something so proud?

shhhh, don't tell

One of Santa's elves has let me in on a little secret...

Santa is bringing Millipede THIS for Christmas!!!


Camilla Engman cot sheet.

A bit of a splurge really, but one that will certainly help to ease my pain of having to get up to the little one with the shouty-mouth 5 times a night. How thoughtful of Santa! ;D

confounding

Screen Print by VWorkshop on Etsy.

YIKES, I really have dropped off the face of the internet haven't I? I have so so many months of Millipede catch-ups to do, and months and months of general life news to. But right now I am tired.

So so so so very tired.

Millipede has reached a plethora of "stages" seemingly simultaneously; teething, crawling, separation anxiety, and an apparent 9 month sleep regression stage. At least I'm using all those as reasoning for his horrendous nights at the moment. And when I say horrendous I mean I can no longer form whole words, let alone sentences.

Luckily during the daytime he is the cutest, most gorgeous, adorable thing on the face of the planet. It's a survival mechanism. A very very clever one ;)

But check this for a *can't think of a good word, insert one here, with your own well functioning brains*... during the night he will wake if my clothing brushes softly against a wall, and just every hour anyway, but today he slept through the smoke alarm going off right outside his bedroom door! TWICE!!!!!!!