Books,,

Yesterday I took Molly to our brand new community library (which is conveniently around the corner from us) for a baby & toddler reading group. I have a wonderful memory of going to a library as a small child to hear The Tiger Who Came To Tea, I loved it so much and I can't wait for Molly to have those memories. We read together everyday, and each morning usually around 8am after her breakfast she brings me The Very Hungry Caterpillar and then various others throughout the day. So after an inspiring afternoon I thought I'd share a few of our favourites.

1) Molly At The Dentist. This one was given to us by my papa's best friend. It's been a firm favourite for Molly as it has pages that she can flip up and down which encouraged her to actually sit for a whole 2 minute book! I do believe beginning with this at night time for a proper sit on my knee and read is what's encouraged her for slightly longer and meatier reads- let's say 4 minutes! 

2) You're My Little Bunny. This one was another sweet gift from a family friend. To get Molly to sit through each page and not race to flip them I've made special noises and actions to go with each bit. It really does work, for example 'And when we all role down the slope, we land with one biiiig thump' and on thump we will both slap the page which is followed by a fit of Molly's giggles. I've noticed now when I say the word breeze she blows because she recognises the action from reading and it's been great for her growing vocabulary.

3) The Good Little Wolf. This is my favourite for introducing characters. We have Mrs Boggins who has a high old lady voice, Rolf who is very sweet, the Big BAD WOLFFF who has a rough gruff tone, and not forgetting of course Rolf's pal Little Piggy (Pigs are Molly's favourite animal and she snorts all the way through). I enjoy this one the most, I love the illustrations and the fact that the first time I read it I laughed aloud. I think Molly does too as she's been requesting it a lot lately.

The two books photographed are beautiful old Nursery Rhymes that have been passed down to Molly from each side of my family. We've started singing a few before nap time so that we sing during the day and read at night. Do you have any book suggestions? We're on the lookout for some more :)

New in,,

Just buying Molly some of these..

Because of these..

..scamp!

Ode to Miss Howard,,

I try and keep my posts to a good balance between DSLR pictures and the occasional iphone snap because well life happens, but I love these by Dan too much not to share. These were taken the weekend before last at my best friends birthday party. She is Molly's unofficial Godmother and my rock for the past five years and I know she will be there for many many more. Her birthday was in fact on friday and I went to see her in Manchester, it was so good to get away and spend some time with her :) everyone need good friends and I'm SO lucky to have so many around. So thankyou, friends.

I have some exciting things to post over the next week but for now I really do need to sleep. I started my new job today! I have a really exciting dissertation to write. Aaand I chopped off all of my hair on a whim- I'll post on that too at some point! Anyhow, thankyou for all your comments and love lately, I'm so sorry I haven't been able to spend much time getting back to everyone but I do look at everyones blogs regularly even if the iPad won't let me comment (really need to invest in blogsy..). And hey, how cute is that hug?? That Molly really does love me, it's pretty special.

For more frequent updates: 

twitter & instagram @teaandfairylights

Parking it,,

The weather has been very changeable to the point we are outside in the heat when suddenly

it all goes dark and we're tottling back inside again. Not great for headaches I can tell you!!!

Molly's final teggy two are just coming through now, you can see where the gaps used to be in the last picture!

Speaking of (weeks) we took these aaages ago when Jamie met us from work at the park.

I do wish for the sun to come back :( Today it feels like winter, we've been wearing a lot of snuggly clothes

and drinking hot chocolates.. Come back sun! I'm not ready for winter yet!

..I really do love that last one!

Absence,,

It's been a long week in our house, Molly is teething hard and yesterday gave up on napping all

 together! For a baby that naps 3 hours a day it was a LONNG 14 hour day. The 5.30/6am starts are 

pretty tough sometimes, as are the teething tears, however, today was a better day, I got dressed (though

 I didn't wear a bra or make-up, swings and roundabouts). And last night Chaz and I went to see Snow

 White And The Huntsman which I really enjoyed! Much better than Mirror Mirror, though HOW

 much is it like Princess Mononoke in the fairy forest!? And HOW much like Howl is the queen when

 she transforms back from the crows!? Something to consider..

SO, I took these with our tripod before Molly became a teething mess (at least these are the last two of a full set!!)

I kinda like them :) 

I love the face Molly is pulling at the chicken ;) 

Fathers Day

This is one I took of Jamie and Molly on his first fathers day last year.

It's my absolute favourite picture of these two, it sits in my jewellery drawer because I'm too scared of losing my purse to keep it with me.

One year! Goodness. And one year later she still has the biggest eyes I've ever seen,

and one year later he's still the best Papa I've ever watched.

In her eye's he is the funniest man.

Her protector, the one to get her clothes on the wrong way round and it not matter, 

and she, she is just the apple of his eye.

To celebrate we enjoyed some dinner out, though I'm pretty sure Molly enjoyed it best.

And I am now in a small food coma watching old episodes of Lewis.

 So here's to many more Father's Days to come!

And many more handmade cards, early morning cuddles and daddy kisses(and punches)!

..And to my Papa, I miss you x

Daddy,,

Molly says she's going to punch you..

                                                                                                         ..too good not to post ;)

This One Time,,

.. Molly had three 99's on the go!

Summer DIY

We finally have sunshine in England!!!!!

And Molly still has a lot of winter items that fit her. So, rather than buy her lots of 

new ones (OKAY I've done that too!) I've modified some of her tops.

It's quite easy and it means she gets a bit more wear out of them.

I used a tunic shirt she got in February for this DIY, but it's a great one for jersey vests and long sleeve tops.

-Cut about an inch longer than you'd like the sleeve to sit

-Roll it up two or three times until it sits right

-If you want to make sure it stays during the wash then stitch is at the top

and bottom with a little thread, my mother calls it 'tacking'

-If you're not into sewing and you don't mind rolling it up after the wash each time then just run an iron 

over the capped sleeve.. or like me use your hair straighteners because it's quicker!!

Easy, even for the baby-craft novice.

This One Time,,

Molly tried a daisy..

..I don't think she liked it!

They be all matchy matchy,,

It isn't a secret, Molly and I match quite often, stripes, polka dots, florals and lounge wear. We look pretty dapper. 

And last weekend Molly and daddy decided they like to match too with their gillets!! Naturally I'm looking for one too..

I took these outside our gorgeous little niece Lillie's birthday party. I didn't manage to get any snaps during the do, 

Molly was too busy socialising and squealing at the bouncy castle! I was exhausted by the end of the whole hour 

she was playing at full speed. I've never heard her 'prrriiing!' so much! Molly loves other children and it's so nice to see.

 She's a real toddler now, a real little girl. Where has my newborn dribbly thing gone!? I feel so old! She's suddenly 

developed and it's sooo much fun! I'm taking her for her first real WALK later, no push chair.. 

Bring on the summer of the toddler!

Today,,

While I watch Coco Before Chanel in bed.

I had planned to go shopping today after I'd rang up 

places and people to pay bills etc, but then I checked my bank balance,

budgeted and decided to stay home..

-One of THOSE days.

Any job suggestions that leave our evening and weekends free?

-that pay me super lots to only work one day a week?

while Molly keeps her bond with the childminder?

(I couldn't bear to have her away from me any more, it's hard enough during term-time)

No? I'd better start making and selling.

This afternoon I'm going to brainstorm ideas and work it all out

Also, I love how these two have co-ordinated- Pink! is the colour of May it seems :)

This week..

Molly learnt to WALK!

If you follow me on twitter and tumblr then you'll know I made a pretty big deal of it when she

just stood up and walked across the lounge all on her own!

No fuss, just got up and walked like she'd been doing it for years.

Well now she's showing off more and more and today when we got a bit of sun

she got to walk bare foot, mummy's favourite :)

Next stop- walking in shoes!

Making me smily, currently.

A few memories making me smile from yesterday..
1. This photo of Molly and I taken yesterday before we went to Pizza Hut to stuff ourselves. She's so cute!
2. Feeling extra motherly. After we had lunch we went to do our weekly shop, while Jamie was paying for it I picked Molly up out of the trolly to discover she was wet. Something that hasn't happened in ages! Well she had drank a full bottle at lunch so I grabbed a nappy out of the new pack we'd just bought and took her to the toilet. She sobbed and sobbed as I removed her wet clothes. I think this was the first time she had ever been aware of wetting herself and she did not like it. I put her (thankfully) dry jumper back on and held her tight, she soothed pretty quickly Molly doesn't carry it on as it were. To know I could make it all better made me feel amazing. SO much love.
3. Late nighting it. When we got home after a warm bath she napped and napped and I let her sleep 'til 8! Her bedtime is 7! Jamie was out so we had a girly snuggle downstairs for an hour with some milk and weetabix for supper. We listened to Ben Howard and danced around the (tidy!) living room and she finally went up at about 9. Having an hour just the two of us in the evening reminded me of the sporadic schedule we had when she was a newborn. We used to dance for hours back then because, well, she loved to hear me sing :) (hehe, if you've ever heard me sing you'll be sure to know she is my ONLY fan!). I spent the rest of the night feeling pretty good with a glass of Rosé and an episode of Poirot, it's a mommas life but I love it! And I'm kind of excited to get uni done and move on to the next chapter. Bigger house/lots of babies.
All in all friday was a pretty good day.. and I think Jamie should have all fridays off!

Finger Paint!

This week Molly and I made finger paint from this recipe.

It's pretty easy just add flour, sugar and water over a hob until smooth

allow it to cool and add the food dye!
I must admit I as too excited to let it go completely smooth.

I was dubious as to how good it was for Molly but she seemed to

enjoy eating and playing with it (mostly eating..)
Next time I'll add more food dye to get a stronger print :)

..once Molly tired of the paint she was in the cupboards!

Summer is around the corner!

I've really been enjoying our time outside, and finally after all these 

April showers the sun has come back out!

It's a blessing having the park around the corner

from our home. Whenever Molly gets a little restless we can just nip out for a walk

and have a little play. Last summer I used to take her on the big girl swings on my lap because

she was too little on the baby ones. Then the lucky girl got to watch mummy do it

all on her own from her pushchair.. she found it hilarious honest!

Now I think she's just glad to have a whole swing to herself.
I love the three of Molly so much I plan to print them and hang them as a series
somewhere in our home. We still haven't been brave enough to hang anything
and we've been here a whole year, time to get hammering I think!

Note: I took these a couple of weeks ago during our incredible heatwave to see more follow us on instagram, search teaandfairylights :)

Easter 2012.

Again, last Easter was rather neglected as we were still getting used to tiny newborn Molly,

I had a million hand-ins and we were getting ready to move house. This year we had a little

time so last night I made Molly some little ears! I love them, here's the tutorial, I saw it linked

on Kelli's blog. Next year, or next time we have a dress up night out I shall be making some 

for me too! Molly had a little basket full of treats and little hair clips I've been making her.

Her Aunty and Uncle got her the most lovely personalised egg, and Jamie and I got her a few

mini lindt bunnies. They are my favourite, my mum used to get me one every year :)

(Do excuse my messy kitchen)

Molly had two baths today! She's become rather a messy eater lately, but it did mean she got to

wear two Easter outfits :) We had a few sunday visits planned for friends and family but in the end

didn't even leave the house, though the Easter Bunny struck again in the form of grandparents and

Molly got some more white chocolate! I won't need to get her any pudding for months.

It was nice to make a little Easter effort, I'm going to try a little harder with family days but it's ever so

enjoyable. Right, time to try and sleep as I have a busy week and a lot of writing to do next week.

Universities and babies- who knew it would be such hard work! 

-Bring on the dog!