Ugh.

Ill. It's so much fun. We've had a full week now of family illness. It started on Friday afternoon when  I was hit with a migraine. I laid on the couch with cushions on my head and begged the boys to play quietly, and Rich hurried home as soon as he could and sent me to bed. All fine, except a few hours later, I woke up to the sound of Rich throwing up. That night was spent pleasantly, with both of us in and out of the bathroom. Like I said, fun.

The next day we were ok, if totally exhausted. Then Saturday night rolled around, I got what he'd had, and I had the added bonus of an already exhausted starting point. At least he got some rest though. Sunday, we skipped church out of exhaustion and not wanting to spread it about. I spent the day on the couch making the sounds of the dying (I'm not good when I'm sick, I tend to go a bit pathetic. I was however proud of myself this time, I managed to be sick without bursting into tears and needing support at the head-in-toilet position.) and Ethan started saying he didn't feel good either.

He got it next, though luckily it was quite mild for him. He stayed off school on Monday and was much better. I took a couple more days to feel up to scratch again, what with the whole growing another person thing.

Sam, the lucky little monkey, has avoided it altogether, but now has a stinking cold, along with me and Ethan. Do you know what's especially great about being pregnant with a cold? NOTHING. There is nothing you can take. Paracetamol is the limit. I am fed up, I have been ill for a week now with various germs and ailments. I have decided to self medicate with old episodes of Friends and this:

I think it's a good choice :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Maternity and baby clothes shopping, or how I got The Rage today.

So, today I wanted to buy a short sleeved white top, and a pair of maternity leggings to wear under a couple of dresses.

I went into town and stopped at 5 shops, 4 of which I know to have maternity ranges and one which I assumed to have. It was not a success.

To start with, I got to the car park and got Sam out of the car, only to realise the pushchair was at home. Sam is a known runner, however he was brilliantly behaved today thank goodness, otherwise I wouldn't have made it very far! I started in Asda. They had maternity clothes out, hooray! However they only had one side of one aisle, about 8 feet of clothes. There was a white top, huzzah! it was even a 2 pack, with a black top. Only it was such a mess, that none of the tops were attached to each other. And they didn't have my size. Wonderful.

On to shop number 2 - Sainsbury's. I assume they have a maternity line but there was nothing there either. (Sainsbury's website says no matches for maternity, so not their fault I guess!)

Shop number 3 - Next. Again, not a maternity item in sight.

Shop number 4 - H&M. Definitely a maternity line. Not a single item in store.

Shop number 5 - Mothercare. Loads of clothes - well you know, for maternity clothes. They even had some leggings! The catch, only about 5 pairs, and you guessed it, none were my size. They didn't have any plain white tops, but the tops they did have were £20 each. 20 Bucks! for a top I'll only be able to wear for 4 or 5 months. No thank you. So, an hour and a half of shopping, and we came up snake eyes.

Now onto baby clothes. All I want is to get some nice brightly coloured babygrows. There are none. I don't hate baby blue, but there's only so much pastel I can take! And why do boys clothes all have trucks/planes/monsters on? Though I will concede that much of the monster stuff is cute. I was getting more and more rageful until I went to mothercare and saw this:

And I practically melted. So cute. They also had a superman one! Then I got cross again as it only has poppers in the bottom, not up the front or back, and those suits make me so cross! why make it difficult? I am aware I need to chill out, it's the combination of frustration and hormones. Although I'll probably soon have a baby spiderman suit to placate me. I'll take it out and stroke it when I get cross :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Good days

I've had a lovely week :) On Saturday, despite feeling like absolute rubbish still, I went to see Les Mis with Amy and some friends. It was so wonderful. Moving and beautiful. I was shocked at the bits I'd forgotten (nothing major plot-wise) though. I thought all the actors did an incredible job, to my untrained eye ;) I'm not going to list them all, but Samantha Barks as Eponine was just amazing, A Little Fall of Rain was heart rending. 

As we came out someone behind us quietly said to his companions "I didn't know it was a musical." We stifled our giggles.

Sam did this:

And kissed and cuddled the baby for several minutes, which in Sam time must be about a decade.

He also asked that we make a snowman, and insisted he have a carrot nose.

 He was only little so it had to be a carrot-stick nose. He's checked on him everyday at least once (we put him on the bin so he could be seen from the window) and says hello to him. And his eyes. And his buttons. And his carrot nose.

 I drew a moustache on my face for a friend.

 Never let it be said that I don't give you anything, my dear (though I suspect near non-existent) readers.

And the pièce de résistance...

 Say hello to my little friend!

I had my 20 week scan today which I had to wait an extra 45 minutes for, with a full bladder. Thanks for that one, hospital. When I went in the sonographer apologised as there were staffing issues and people turning up late/not at all. I was not happy but did the completely British thing of saying "oh no, it's alright." Why do we do that?! I was cheesed off! I think I just got so grateful for an apology, and to be laying down, that I just went with it. She then also told me that the baby's head was plowing right into my bladder, so even though it wasn't very full (I cheat a bit on the amount of water they tell you to drink and when - thank goodness in this case)  that's what caused it. Yes madam sonographer, I'm sure the 45 minute wait had nothing to do with it.

So.. we are cooking up a little boy! Ethan is ecstatic, He was rooting for a boy, who he decided would be called Rudolph. Sam is fairly uninterested, but we're attempting to convey that an actual little brother will be materialising at some point in June. I can imagine it will still be a surprise. Rich had to stay out with the boys until the checks were completed, but as he came in apparently got a nice crotch shot and saw that it was a boy before I had been told :)

The little sausage has really begun kicking in earnest now, which is lovely and reassuring, though no fun for my bladder! 

Only 20 weeks to go, hopefully it'll go as fast as the first 20 have!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Exciting times!

So, how about two posts in one day?

I wasn't planning on it, but then something lovely happened. In the midst of feeling so terrible and like my head is stuffed to bursting with cotton wool, I decided to go to bed. Thought I'd give my bump a little poke and what do you know, it poked right back :) I've been feeling sort of flutters for a couple of weeks but I wasn't even sure it was the baby! I have felt a couple of thumps against the doppler when listening in, I don't think the baby likes it much, but I felt it to tonight, from the outside, with my hand! And then Rich felt it too, and now it's having a lovely wriggle which is very nice and reassuring. Nothing else to say my dears, but it felt a bit momentous at this end. Night night!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Poor Neglected Blog!

I'm sorry. I've abandoned you, cold and alone in the vastness of the internet. It's not that I don't love you little blog. It's not you, it's me. No really. To be perfectly honest there's not been much of interest to write about, I've been feeling rubbish with the baby on board, and this week I've had a wicked cold/cough/blocked sinuses combo, which under normal circumstances I'd just take something for it and carry on. Unfortunately there's almost nothing you can take in pregnancy.

I am incredibly blessed however, to have a brilliant husband, and good timing meant that yesterday when I was feeling really terrible, was a Thursday, which meant he was working at home. Rich always does the school run on a Thursday, so I was spared that, and he also sent me to bed for an hour and a half in the afternoon after I was dozing on the couch and started talking in my sleep! The boys were brilliantly behaved for him too, as usually he has to work upstairs away from us, or we go out, as it's just too much noise otherwise. I'm also incredibly happy and grateful to be pregnant, even when I feel so awful.


I really don't have a lot of news at the moment, hence the neglect ;) So I'll just leave you with a picture of my lovely boys on Christmas Eve, the gorgeous little sausages.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Merry Christmas, Happy new year, and some news!

We had a lovely Christmas and new year this year, we got to see my family for Christmas, and have a brilliant Christmas day with them and we saw Rich's family in between Christmas and new year and let off some fireworks.

Christmas was spent down in Reading, with a brilliant day of presents, food, laughter and family. I love Christmas at my mum and dad's, they love it, and the tree is always full of decorations from my childhood. We always sit fairly reservedly and my dad hands out the presents. This year Ethan got to sit with him and help and he loved it :)

Fireworks at Rich's parents was great fun too, especially when one malfunctioned! It sounds scary and it did make us all jump, but all that really happened was instead of a fountain style firework, we got more of a flashbang effect! The most entertaining part was just afterwards. Everyone jumped, but Carl (very much a grown up brother in law) squealed like a girl. Or maybe a pig. We were laughing our heads off! He's a great sport though and laughed along with us :)

New Year's eve itself we spent.... in bed. We are not new year's people. I don't really get it, it's just another night to us, and with boys who get up at 5/5:30 am, NOT worth it! I value my sleep too much to be cool ;) If I had a party to go to or something, then I'd enjoy it, but unfortunately the morning comes around all too fast!

Now for the news...

 Ta-da!

That's right, we're having another baby! There are sneaky posts from the past that just appeared here, here and here muahaha! I'm 17 and a half weeks, so almost halfway! In 2 and a bit weeks I'll be having my second scan, and hopefully it'll look a bit less like a potato this time. We are so excited. I am also exhausted, still sometimes slightly nauseous and suffering from an insane sense of smell. That is not fun. 

Oh, and our holiday, which I never came back and commented on, really was great. Except for the part where I crashed the car at low speed into a wooden post and destroyed the bumper. Oops. But for a first accident, not too awful. It's currently in with the insurers getting fixed, which was cheaper than getting it done ourselves, even with a small premium rise. However, our courtesy car is a Skoda Fabia. A fine car, even for our family of four. Except we had a Mazda 5. And we had to do the Christmas trip in it (200 miles each way, with presents!). I was a little nervous! It actually worked out alright, with a bit of tetris know-how and putting smaller presents in the space where the spare wheel should have been, as the car came with a repair kit instead! Hopefully we'll be back with our bus soon and I'll adjust back to the size of it without knocking anything else!....Don't tell Rich I said that... 

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

The endless cycle

It only takes one very early morning "Mummy, (or more accurately, Daddy - my children somehow have the innate sense that to wake mummy at 3am is a BAD idea) I've had an accident. In my bed." to take me from laundry status 'just back from holiday' to 'DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON!' I fear I am facing the 3 day washing sit-in. This is my kitchen. There's more upstairs. Hold me.

More on the holiday later, though like the div I am I didn't take a single picture, so don't get too excited!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Hearing a heartbeat

I am lucky enough to have a home doppler, and last week I heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It's a bit magical, there's a tiny little (4cms) person inside me. And I can hear them. It's incredibly reassuring as I miss out on a 12 week scan because I had one at 8 weeks. It looks kind of like a potato, but here he/she is...

That's my baby :) The bit that looks like a leg, is in fact cord. The white curve over the tummy is an arm, that wiggled when we saw it! We have finally told Ethan, so fairly soon we'll be going fully public.

I had another listen this morning, and it was lovely. Afterwards, I noticed I'd pressed it so hard to my skin it left a circle :S whoops!

Morning sickness, or should I say nausea is still a bit of a killer. Actually the nausea is starting to fade thank goodness, but the heightened gag reflex has not. The other day the wind blew some hair into my mouth and I started heaving. I kid you not. 12 weeks today though, so roll on the second trimester. Trimester always feels to me like a very american word. Is there an English alternative?

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Harry Potter Studio Tour

We had an AMAZING time at the Studio Tour, absolutely brilliant. I went with Rich, Jess and Jonny, though I think it was a little wasted on the men!

Harry's Cupboard - This is actually right at the start, at the side of where you queue to go in. Speaking of the queue, it looked very long, but went through quickly. You go through to a sort of holding area (lol) while you wait for the group before you to move on from the cinema, but even here there are screens with pictures and a guide giving light commentary and the very few rules. Then you go into the cinema. Another little bit by a tour guide, ours was quite funny. He told us all to take the seat belts from the left of our seats and strap in. dutifully, everyone went to do it, then looked confused when they couldn't find it. He had a good chuckle! 

The short film was the only bit that I thought was a bit naff. There were nice behind the scenes clips and things, but there was a fair bit of waffling from Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. I was eager to get on!

 Doors to the Great Hall. If it's your birthday when you go, you get to be the ones to push the doors! Then it's into the great hall, which has amazing details that you never even see in the films, paintings on the walls and carvings. It seemed much narrower than on screen, but it was amazing, and filled with costumes and all sorts. We learnt that the floating candles weren't all added digitally, they started with them all hanging from wires that were digitally removed. The candles were fake-ish - they were filled with oil that they burnt rather than an actual candle. They removed many of them though when they burned through the wires and fell on people! They still used some, but digitally added the rest.

 Neville's cardigan! They also had Harry's first robes, but I had to have a limit on photos!

 The detail on all the props and scenery was incredible, this lectern had amazing details right down to the floor.

 Ron's bed. All the bedside tables had individual touches.

 The mirror of Erised

 Gryffindor common room. All the sets had information about them nearby. One of the paintings in the Gryffindor common room is of a young professor McGonagall. You'd never know from the movies, but everything has a little back story.

 The giant clock.This was swinging, and it is HUGE. And a teeny bit ominous.

 The stairs to Dumbledore's office. This one was just the statue, but there was one built that functioned, with a 12 foot hole under it that the moving stairs came up out of.

 The door to the Chamber of Secrets. The snakes on it actually moved, when in front of it you can see the tracks. Next to it is a door from a Gringott's vault, the parts of which also moved. The craftsmanship on them was so intricate, it was so cool.

 The Black Family Tree. It's huge, it wrapped around the top of the room.

 The Marauder's Map. This was in a case absolutely rammed with props, books, Weasley Wizard Wheezes, copies of The Daily Prophet and all sorts. Including Harry's photo album from Hagrid.

 Tom Riddle Snr's grave.

 The Potter house.

 Dobby. Jess noticed that though his sack/clothes were covered in blood, there's no tear from the knife. Also I've just realised that surely by this film he should be wearing his odd assortment of clothes?

 Absolutely amazing concept art. There were walls and walls of it and it was all brilliant. When I'm a gazillionaire I'm going back to buy some.

 Giant Hogwarts at the end. Absolutely huge, and the lights change to reflect the differing lights of day and night, and little lights come on inside the windows and on little lanterns.

The time turner I chose in the gift shop. Ah, the gift shop. The snag in the brilliant afternoon. It was ridiculous. Very expensive, though that was sort of expected, no queueing system for the tills, things in multiple spots in the shop with no real order to it at all, skinny aisles, and basically no system at all. And a very grumpy woman who pushed in the queue because she was too stupid to look and see where she was supposed to go.

There was a refreshment place about halfway round selling a small selection of sandwiches and crisps and things, and there was also a butterbeer counter. It was disgusting. some kind of fruity fizzy drink with a sort of ice cream on top, only it just tasted like very cold cream. Jess liked it, I think Jonny thought it was ok, Rich refused to try it. I gave mine to Jess. But it was only £2.95, so I didn't begrudge trying it. Much. 

The tour was great, but I think I missed some bits. It's not laid out in a set way to walk around, which is good because you don't get stuck in a line the whole way, but I think it was quite easy to miss bits. I wouldn't take kids, we saw a few bored ones. I also wouldn't take anyone not particularly mad about Harry Potter, the husbands got bored and wandered off LONG before we did. 

But my sister Amy didn't get to come with us, so I'll get another chance to go. Yay!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

WAAAH!!

So, I emailed a link to the boys halloween costumes on here to Jen of Epbot and Cakewrecks. I totally didn't expect a reply at all, as she's super cool and gets a ton of emails.

EXCEPT SHE DID! I am geeking out! And she said they were brilliant and she thinks they're her favourite Thor and Loki this year :) Love it!

That's all, except to say if you don't already check out her sites, you should! :D

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Ethan, God of Thunder and Sam, God of Mischief!

Ta-da! I'm really please with how these turned out. I think I probably could have done better if I'd not left it so late to do, I was working on them right up until the morning of Halloween.

On to the making! Ethan's costume was quite a bit simpler than Sam's, because I already had the suit from Asda, leaving only the helmet and mjolnir (the hammer to you and me), which were very easy. The helmet started the same as Sam's, paper mache and a balloon.

 Then I used this photo (found via good old google, I think it's from the movie release posters) for reference to cut out the wings from craft foam - amazing stuff - and used my glue gun to add detail like so:

 Not too shabby! A tad wobbly, but alright for a kids costume. Then I glued wire to the back to help shape them. I could have used heat, if you heat fab foam a little you can re-form it and it'll stay in the new shape. I forgot that until after the hot glue though. You can see the wire in the next picture.

 

 You can also see Mjolinr, which was really simple. I had the cardboard tube and a small cardboard box. Hole in the box, stick in the tube. Bang, done. I also put a layer of foam on the box because it was a little bashed. Then I sprayed, which was fun til I got some on the patio slabs and could smell it all day long.

A little more glue, and the helmet was done, really really easy. The handle of the hammer I just added some dark brown foam strips for the straps and handle. Ethan later asked me to take it off as he didn't like the feel, but he kept it on for photos!

I also sewed a new cape for him as the one that came with the costume was pretty rubbish and thin, and had been hemmed so the shiny side was down. Simple enough job, buy a rectangle of shiny red fabric, hem the edges, sew on a bit of velcro at the top to attach. The suit already had velcro for the original cape so I didn't even have to bother with that.

On to Sam. His costume wasn't so much harder, but it had more details. This post shows how far I'd got with the helmet and jacket.

 Here's the jacket after a coat of gold spray paint (which I now hate) for the armour. I didn't end up putting more armour on the arms for 2 reasons - first, I ran out of time, and second, Sam had enough issues with the front piece! I used fabric glue from B&Q to glue it on, but I wasn't happy it was held on enough so added some superglue, and later used the glue gun a bit to patch it up. I had some leftover green satin fabric from making bow ties, so I cut that to size, hemmed it, put velcro on it and the jacket, and voila, another cape.

Helmet. It actually turned out easier than I thought, once I decided to make it this way. I used long thin triangles of foam for the horns to make them slightly pyramid-y as that's what they look like in most of the pictures I found, and glue gunned them in place. I looked at lots of other homemade ones, but didn't use their horn instructions as they just didn't look right. They are the place I discovered craft foam though which is absolutely brilliant.

 Then came the painting. Oh my goodness, how much do I hate the gold spray paint I used. I'm sure it was just a faulty can or other brands are better but grrrrr. The first can I used did the pieces on the jacket fine, and part of the helmet before it ran out (it was a small can). So I went and picked up another one. I don't know what I did wrong but somehow that one separated! I got some gold bits but a lot of silver bits. Either way, it looked a mess. The shop I'd gone to for the paint was in Leeds and this was the day before Halloween and I didn't have time (or the inclination!) to spend another £5 plus petrol going to get more. I looked through some shops here, no joy for spray, but in B&Q (again, awesome) I found some gold emulsion. Now, I don't know who the heck would paint their walls metallic gold, but I grabbed a tester pot and went with it. It was ok. It was drippy and took an absolute AGE to dry, but it covered the patchy awfulness.

 Ta-da again! Here also is Sam's staff of Loki, and of this I am quite proud. I tried to find pictures online but it's a pain, as he has 2 or 3 different ones in the film. I eventually found This brilliant blog post where a guy has finished his own (MUCH more professional!) staff. It gave me a great point of reference for shapes and general ideas.

I started off with a long cardboard tube again, it had previously been a sword for a knight costume for Ethan. Sam had a blue glitter and water filled bouncy ball which I thought would do well for the stone. I wanted to stick a torch inside the tube to light it up, but couldn't find one thin enough. Then I noticed on that blog that there was a sort of metal junction-y bit under the stone, and I had a torch small and thin enough for that. So...

There it is! the blade-like parts are all sprayed foam, the 2 sections under the ball are the torch. All glue gunned into place. It wasn't the neatest glue job, but again, time. I made a small cut away it the top of the tube so I could turn the torch on and off as the switch was annoyingly on the bottom end, then covered it with a flap of foam.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the results. I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew with this, but it was all surprisingly simple once I'd got all the plans in my head. Sam didn't want to wear his helmet much, and it rained on us while 'trickle treating' as Ethan calls it, but we had a pretty good time anyway, and they got plenty of treats!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Sam is two!

I can't believe it, two already. Feels like only yesterday I was panting my way to the hospital in the car, preparing to have him. Little did I know he'd arrive about 20 minutes after we got there!

 Now it's all about the nee-naws, and choo-choos. Speaking of which -

 We had a lovely afternoon on the Kirklees Light Railway, which is near us. They have several steam engines and two playgrounds, and the boys love it, Sam especially.

 Though Ethan is quite impressed too :) Sam's cake request was Peppa Pig, and I thought great! simple! I can make that! Peppa Pig is a very simple cartoon, so I thought super easy. Unfortunately I had a very unwell week (don't worry, all fine) and just could not face making a cake, so Sam got to choose one off the shelf.

I also had a slight fail when I went to put on the candles - there weren't any. Sparklers did the job just fine! Happy Birthday to my lovely cheeky monkey. He's unfortunately settled into the terrible twos like a pro, but hopefully it'll pass. He's still a scrumptious little pest though ;)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Morning Sickness

It's not fun.

I was extremely lucky with Ethan and Sam and didn't get sick at all. I have not been lucky this time. Well, I have escaped actually throwing up, so I guess I've been quite lucky, but oh my goodness, I feel so awful. I am managing to eat, but it's not enjoyable! at a guess I think I'm about 7 weeks, but I've got a scan on November the first to find out. I finally managed to track down all my sisters and tell them, which was nice, lots of excited squeals! We've also told both of our parents, but not Ethan and Sam yet. I can't wait to tell Ethan, I think he'll be very happy, especially as he's been asking recently when I'm going to have a baby!

You know what doesn't go well together? Morning sickness and a cough. Every time I cough I start to heave :( I cannot wait for this part to pass, not long I hope! Just a quick entry, I had to get it down somewhere!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Sam's Loki Costume - in process.

So Halloween is approaching, less than two weeks to go. Eek! need to get a wriggle on with the costumes!

Luckily, they are proving to (so far) follow the simple ideas in my head. As they're just for the kids I've simplified a bit. In fact with Ethan I've completely cheated, the base of his Thor costume is shop bought, as I was having issues with finding tops in the right pattern and it was only £12.50. I'm planning on modifying it as it's not as detailed as I'd like. Anyway, onto progress pics!
 

I found this picture via Pinterest for a good front on view of Loki's armour and helmet. I decided to simplify it not only for ease, but also because when you're making it for a 2 year old, the pieces get slightly weeny, and sort of pointless.

So here is Sam's jacket so far -

 I intend to add the shoulder and forearm guard bits. The yellow is just craft foam, lightweight and bendy, practically indestructible even for my Sam. Each side piece is 2 pieces of foam, the curved main bits and the thinner top piece. to make the sort of wing-ish design I just cut into the foam but not right to the other side, so it's still all joined on the curved edge, and slightly overlapped them. I tried glueing them in place with PVA as I was told that'd work on craft foam. Not so if there is any sort of pull or resistance. Superglue however was brilliant, even if I did lose a couple of fingerprints in the process. The circles I just stuck on, again, superglue. The jacket was a simple black zip through sweater from Asda, £3 I think. Though they don't tend to sell black clothes for 2 year olds, so I bought it in age 3-4 and took it in, super easy, especially if you're not too fussy about the finished sleeves.There were literally no small boys clothes in a dark enough green, so black had to do. The foam isn't glued on yet, I'm going to spray it gold first. I'm not sure about how to attach the necklace type bit, probably glue on one side and velcro on the other so I can still get to the zip to put him in it.

And now, the helmet -

Paper mache. I've done 3 basic helmet shapes and it took the best part of 2 days, with layers and drying glue and what not. Why have I done 3 you ask? well. One for Sam, one for Ethan. The third was the first attempt of Sam's, but I made it too small, and it scratched his face putting it on. Whoops :S For the right size I measured their heads at the largest point, then added a couple of inches (I forgot to add the inches in the first attempt) then inflate a balloon, with the balloons widest point measuring the same. With Sam's second attempt it was actually a little bit too big, and he looked like a bobble head! Sigh. So this time I just cut a slit all the way up the back and overlapped the sides until it looked ok.

A tip to cut down on the time you spend paper mache-ing - draw the shape of the helmet on the balloon, and just make sure you overlap the lines a small amount. You can't see in the picture, but the back stops about halfway down the balloon. It leaves a bigger gap to get the thing on his head, and also stops it being too tall for his head too. This means that if you cover the whole balloon you're then cutting off an awful lot of waste, which you've just spent yonks glueing onto the balloon and waiting for it to dry. Can you tell I also did this on the first one?

The horns are plant wire I found in B&Q for a couple of pounds. I'll be adding craft foam to them to make them much fatter and more 3d. Then I'm going to try adding a few craft foam details to the helmet before spraying it gold. I've already sewn a rectangle of green satiny material for his cape, and he'll just wear dark trousers and wellies.

For a costume process post, this is a bit wordy! Will update with more progress when it happens!

P.S. Spellcheck says 'gluing' is the correct spelling. It just looks wrong though, so I've left the e in. Sorry if it makes you twitch ;)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Unexpectedly expecting :D

So yeah, this happened...

It's a bit of a shock really! Not a total shock, as we were attempting it, but the medical appointments I've been having recently are related. Both Ethan and Sam had a little help getting here with some medication. I won't go into details, but my body wasn't behaving as normal, all easily fixed and done.

This time, we were waiting for me to start the medication again, and waiting and waiting as it has to be taken at a specific time o' the month. I'd made a second appointment to see the consultant (memo to me, cancel that on Monday) to see whether we needed to do any more tests or anything. I've been taking a random test every couple of weeks, and today, This showed up!

Shocked is not really the word! after the first test I screeched to Rich to come into the bathroom and check it for me, and he said yes, there were definitely two little blue lines, but that we should do another one and not get too excited until after that. He's a sensible man. He also suggesting getting the more expensive one that tells you how far along you are, which is what you see up there. I got showered and dressed with a goofy grin and jittery shakes while madly texting my lovely friend Harriet who is very recently post-natal herself and was possibly still in bed (sorry Hat!). I felt completely spaced out, and we went to run errands. ERRANDS I tell you. Eventually we got to Sainsbury's and bought the test, then went to lunch. Rich convinced me not to do it til we got home in case it was negative and I had to sit through lunch upset - again, sensible man - so once more we waited.

Eventually we made it home and I congratulated myself for not rushing us home, and promptly ran to the bathroom ;) And the rest, as they say, is history. I've no idea how far along I am, the test says 3+ weeks, but it counts differently to normal pregnancy counting, apparently it means at least 5 weeks pregnant. Who knows though, so on Monday I've got to get an appointment with the midwife and see what she says.

I'm SO excited! I love being pregnant, I am blessed in that I don't suffer with morning sickness very badly at all (fingers crossed!) and really enjoy the whole experience. I mean, I probably whinge as much as anyone else about being uncomfortable at the end, and other complaints that my mind has conveniently forgotten right now, but on the whole, I love it :)

P.S. I've found that Blogger will let me post this in the past, woohoo! So, hopefully, it'll appear in sequence, on the 6th of October, even though I won't be publishing it until I've been scanned and reassured. Sneaky!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!