the fruits of my labour

1. Last weekend we moved Elliott into a new bed:

Before that he was sleeping in a toddler bed, which converts into a cot and vice versa. Isobel’s really going to need the cot soon (she’s currently sleeping in a bassinette), so we had to get on with it. Elliott was both happy and very tired when that photo was taken. The bed and bedside table are from Ikea and I quite like the bedding, which Chris and Elliott chose together, but I am hoping we can get something from here soon. The transition has been a breeze for all of us. And without any prompting (but with a little bit of sadness on my part), he hasn’t asked to sleep with his previous bedtime companions (three of them!) once since he made the move. He’s so big now, but still so small. Just don’t try to tell him that!

2. Isobel’s been wearing a lot of Elliott’s hand-me-downs. Lots of blue. So yeah, she does get mistaken for a boy sometimes. But not as often as Elliott was mistaken for a girl and we never dressed him in pink! Not because of the colour, but because I wanted to make some of Elliott’s old clothes more “Isobel”, I decided to try my hand at appliqueing, following the excellent instructions of Erin at house on hill road. I turned this plain navy blue top, as shown by Elliott at six months:

into this initialised top for Isobel, at about six and a half months:

The stitching’s not that straight, but it was late at night, and I really didn’t care enough to unpick it. I like to think of it as more personal the way it is. I’m quite happy with it, though, and I’ll think I’ll be looking for something else to applique soon…

Isobel looks so serious in this photo. She’s such a happy, placid baby, though. We thought Elliott was too, but I think Isobel may be even more so. But it is so hard to get her to laugh! Her giggle, like that of most babies, is so cute, but she really makes us work for it. I guess she’s a lot like me in that regard. I don’t laugh out loud all that often, so when I do, you know it was funny. Anyway, I’m going to have to work on being funnier for Isobel.