This Moment

inspired by soulemama

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{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Christmassing

 

We had a lovely Christmas this year. We flew back to our house in England to spend time with Ben's family and it was lovely to be back home. Funny, we have got two homes at the moment in two different countries.
Jamie loved seeing his nana and granddad, uncles and cousins.

He also enjoyed getting lots and lots of presents (too many as always!!)..
I got the best present ever this year, a proper camera. A Canon EOS 60d. It's brillant but I have a lot to learn as I do not understand a word of all that vocabulary that seems to come with it.

We have also got the LEGO bug. Up until now Jamie would play with Lego Duplo which is great but as a child I used to love LEGO. Especially building things out of my imagination. So to see Jamie play and enjoy it so much is a lovely lovely thing.

Today is the last day of this exciting year - in two days we are flying back to Germany and get back to a regular life. But these 13 days of holidays in our own home have been very very special. 

What we have been up to

I just cannot keep up with blogging... it makes me sad because I love to look back at what we have done and how much Jamie changes - but each time I tell myself to blog more it just doesn't happen.

Blankenese Beach

In September we moved from the UK back to my homecountry and town in Germany. It's only temporary (for up to two years) but I am loving it nonetheless..
Our life is simply wonderful here - we have got a lovely (furnished ) apartment right by the river Elbe in the nicest part of Hamburg (Blankenese where I grew up).. We have got woods, the beach, parks around us all in walking distance.. We have got a whole big bus system and train system that takes you into the city in 25 minutes...

 And most important, Jamie is now speaking both German and English perfectly!! I always spoke German to him but he ALWAYS replied in English the last year. Just to hear him say: "Speak German to me ,Mama!" melts my heart away. He also got to know my nan very well and now it's Christmas time , he gets to know my traditions and the German way of decorating..

This is the beach that is 10 minutes down some steps!! We are right on a big hill and go for walks every morning.. Jamie has made lots and lots of progress (he has been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and hypermobility/hypotonia) as I finally have got the time to focus on him entirely. We are totally back to waldorf days with rhythms, songs, stories, lots of outdoor time and imaginative play. This is doing him a world of good, we had lots and lots of problems before we came here, he went to pre-school 3 days a week and it basically wrecked him. Plus me looking after two little ones as a childminder - he was in a complete mess with sensory overload and he hardly slept and I didn't really enjoy the time with him anymore.

But that is all behind us now and whilst I do miss England in lots of ways I see these 2 years as a gift that came to us at a time of great great need.

So far we experienced autumn here with lots and lots of conkers and lovely walks through coloured woods and are now into winter with Christmas markets and mulled wine and lovely simple fairy lights all around us.

We left all our things in England plus our house , so we have got a lot less stuff around our little apartment and \i have realized how freeing that is. So when we get back we will be decluttering like mad. I have completely gotten back the joy of parenting, the joy of simple things and simple days and I think we will all come back as much stronger persons .

{this moment}

 Joining in with soulemama

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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~*~ Yarn along ~*~

 Inspired by Ginny

Oh I so so abandon this blog! Jamie has been ill on and off the last 3 weeks - ever since his vaccinations really.
The weather also turned into summer mode overnight so that we're out in the garden all day long which is lovely!
I finished the yello Milo vest, it fits perfectly. I even managed to knit another on in a lovely red merino wool with no mistakes visible :D !

Now I am onto an autumn/winter jumper - the pattern is called TAMA and I am knitting it with the loveliest Malabrigo Worsted yarn! I don't think I have ever seen a lovelier yarn!!
If anyone can tell me what it means to "slip onto waste yarn" I would even be able to carry on knitting *blush*

Reading Paleo Parents new cookbook "Eat like a dinosaur" - as both me and Jamie are eating paleo this is a wonderful resource - not only for paleo-people - for anyone really who wants to cook nutrient dense meals for their kids. It's shock full of advice and brillant recipes including a big treat section ! We have already made the anytime cookies, kale chips, nut butter smoothie, apple cupcakes and none of the recipes has disappointed yet!

Anyway I will be trying to post about our life once a week from now on as I am sure to be happy to be able to remember all the little things in our life!

This moment - a bit late

 Inspired by soulemama

. . . . . . . .

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Elvis' nut butter and banana smoothie - made entirely by Jamie himself.

Yarn Along **Milo Vest**

Inspired by Ginny

I haven't knitted since before Christmas as somehow I felt completely burnt out after the manic Christmas run-up , trying to get the scarf for my MIL ready.. 

When I saw friends talking about a lovely childrens vest called MILO I knew I had to try knitting it. So when I got the pattern I was somewhat disheartened as it requires knitting in the round. So far I have only knitted two very simple hats and two gathered scarves so I thought I would never ever be able to do this!!

With the help of a good friend and youtube and a technique called the "Magic Loop" I have actually produced something similar to a Milo and it is working. OK it's by no means perfect , some little mistakes visible BUT I have been doing "Learning by doing" and I think that the second MILO will be a breathe!

I have left out the cable pattern though ;) !

The Yarn is "Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk" and is wonderfully soft!!

Reading myself through all the wonderful "Hawthorn Early Years Series" , at the moment it's The Genius of natural childhood which is theoretical and practical with lots of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and songs. 

Also reading the "Paleo Diet" as still going strong on the Paleo Diet and so far have lost 14kg and feeling great!

Change...

A lot of change has been going on in our lifes recently!
First of all life with Jamie was getting difficult! He was getting tantrums at everything and was grumpy and whiny all the time. So I went back to basics. Which to me is always waldorf! I bought some books of Donna Simmons (Kindergarten for 3-6 year olds and the journey begins at home) and it has changed everything to the better! we now have a really good rhythm to our day and I am totally centered with everything to do with Jamie and it so helps to keep him happy! Tweaking our rhythm was quiet easy and only involved one real change which was to go outside for a walk straight after breakfast! Jamie has so much energy he simply isn´t happy to just play after breakfast. Then he is happy when we get back and I do all the cooking and cleaning :)
One little change and our days work so much better!

I have also lost 23 lbs since the 6th November !! Yesterday I put on the jeans that I bought before I got pregnant with jamie and they fit!!! So paleo eating it is - I feel great with it!

I have read so many many great books recently, The genius of play just totally reassured me that what we are doing is just enough. We don´t need any formal learning at Jamie´s age at all. He learns everything he needs while playing!
Raising Happiness has not so much changed my parenting but my own happiness... I had to realise that I cannot be 24h a day of just being a mother.. I need some time to myself to do things that are important to me. So I have started having time to just myself while Ben looks after Jamie and I feel really good about it.
 Phases of childhood is a very very interesting book! I totally recommend it!
Free range kids is an eye opener! I am not a big worrier anyway and this book made it even clearer that kids need their freedom !!
Playful parenting , there wasn´t that much new in here as that is how I parent a lot! But still a good read.

No wonder I never get time to update this blog!

Seven Days ..

Inspired by Jacqui

Playing in the woods - every day !

beautiful sunset at Manchester Airport

plane just landed

watching planes coming in to land

seeing double rainbows

mad weather - one side sun the other rain..

Jamie reading Tom a story ..

We had a lovely week, Jamie finally recovered from a bout of various illnesses (tonsilitis, mouth ulcer, teething) and he has been so happy and playful this week. Lots of imaginative play as well, it´s lovely to watch.

This moment

Inspired by soulemama 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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{this moment} - times two

His favourite ever spot. Have to come here every day..

big achievement for this little man..having had trouble with his muscles all his life!

December in Pictures....

I made a resolution this christmas to not take too many pictures, instead enjoy every second. So that´s why I didn´t really blog much in December! We had an awesome time, every day was filled with joy and lots of outdoor time. Christmas was lovely and just as simple as I wanted it to be (at least christmas eve!)

Well I did take some pictures!!LOL