Bumps in the night and other stories

We have not had the easiest week. No major disasters but little Matthew has been poorly.

It all started on Tuesday night with a temperature. Poor little thing - did he cry? On Wednesday a trip to the GP indicated a sore throat. Wednesday night - more tears! Thursday afternoon and some spots appear (panic - chicken pox?) but a quick drop into the doctors and panic over. Thursday night was bad! Matthew woke at 9.30 and didn't sleep again until nearly 12. In the end it was a car drive that got him chilled out enough to sleep. Friday came and by this time he wasn't really interested in food or his bottle (most unlike him!) and I was still not convinced we had a correct diagnosis. So I took him back to the GP, who finally diagnosed Hand, foot and mouth. I did panic at first that this was something he had picked up from one of our numerous farm visits this summer but she quickly reassured me that it is as common as a cold - especially in this age group. The sore throat was due to spots and ulcers in the mouth ( no wonder he couldn't eat) and the spots on his arms and legs were completely non itchy (none on his body at all). At this point I was so relieved that all the symptoms finally fitted together.

He was still a little poorly Saturday and Sunday - very tired, a bit grumpy and off his food. But by Sunday night he slept 12 hours from 8 till 8 (bliss!) and on Monday he seemed much happier.

All in all nothing serious but it is so hard seeing your little one suffer - especially when you don't know how they are suffering or what it is.

But that's not all....

On Tuesday night as Simon came down the stairs to get some medicine for Matthew he fell down the last few steps and into the baby gate. I'm surprised the whole neighbourhood didn't wake up with the sound of the bump. Scared the living daylights out of me! Fortunately no major damage done ( to Simon or the baby gate) but the bruise is quite incredible.

So not much scrapping this week ( one layout which still needs its title finishing) but out to my Thursday evening crop tomorrow night so hopefully I can get a couple of layouts done then.

And now for the picture of the bruise....

more layouts and more blogging

Its a miracle - another post. I can't promise to keep this up as next week its back to school but for the time being my intentions are good.

Ive a couple more layouts to share. Both again with inspiration from Shimelle. (wow - managed to get my links to work this time - thanks Sandra F!)

The first is a photo from my cousin's wedding last month. It was just the most beautiful wedding. The weather was great - the rain stopped just before the ceremony and the sun shone for the rest of the day. The venue was beautiful, the bride was just stunning and of course it is always lovely to spend time with family. Ive used Shimelle's scrapbook starting points and have gone with her suggested yellow/grey/black/aqua combination. Not colours I would usually combine - but I love the results. Ive used some Authentique paper ranges which are fantastic and added a few other embellishments from Jenni Bowling and MME.

The second layout is a challenge from Shimelle. This time from the scrapbook sketch of the week. I often scrapbook Matthew in bold colours - oranges, blue, reds etc but these photos of him in a lilac t-shirt, stroking guinea pigs and rabbits' with me in a blue floral skirt just called for something a little softer. The title can't be read very well in the photo but its called 'cuddle time'.

Guilty as charged!

Ok ok ok - so I know I havent posted on my blog for over a year. Im guilty as charged. I really wanted to keep my blog as a record of life with Matthew alongside some of my favourite events, photos and scrapbook layouts. But the reality is that life has got in the way. Yes - I do get some free time when Matthew is sleeping or with grandparents etc etc but when the time comes I usually have a long list of things I want to do. Ive managed to do lots of scrapping over the last year and somehow everything else has just taken priority over my blogging.

But I do want to keep a blog. I love reading other peoples and if I keep it simple I'm sure I can manage a few more posts ( I couldn't manage many less!). So this week Ive been inspired by Shimelle's scrapbooking blog http://www.shimelle.com/ . She has posted some fabulous challenges and this was just what I needed to start using my blog again.

Below are two layouts that I have created for two of her challenges. The first one uses a sketchhttp://www.shimelle.com/paper/1155/scrapbooking-sketch-of-the-week/ and the second was to use the colours aqua, red and white http://www.shimelle.com/paper/1162/a-scrapbooking-colour-story-in-red-white-and-aqua/. Both have helped me scrap some of the many photos I took during our recent holiday to Somerset. The first is of Matthew behing the steering wheel of our car. He is a rather obsessed with anything with wheels at the moment, tractors, trucks, cars.... The second of a silly face he sometimes pulls that just makes me smile. This one was taken in starbucks - got to have one - even on holiday!

But before you look at my pictures. I just wanted to say that in the last year I have been blessed with spending most of my time with my wonderful little boy. He is a happy, smiling, friendly and cheeky thing and surprises me all the time with the things he does ( and by some of the things he is beginning to say). He make my husband and I smile all the time.

Ps If someone can tell me how to turn a link into just a word that people can click on then please tell me as this blog looks very messy.