me and mine {december}

Daddy is loving

* seeing the kids' faces of wonder on the 25th.

* mini eggs back in the shops (which he also said in December 2013).

* eating Christmas dinner.

* new slippers.

* party with the extended family.

Mummy is loving

* celebrating our first Christmas as a five.

* her new rings.

* having lots of lovely family time over the holidays.

* practically everything in Next's new season of children's clothes.

* getting to be proud mama watching the big kids in their nativities.

The beautiful boy is loving

* absolutely everything about Christmas.

* being a narrator in the school nativity.

* watching videos about the solar system on YouTube.

* his new globe and atlas books.

* drawing pictures of his family.

The beautiful girl is loving

* that she finally got the Sylvanian Families otters for Christmas.

* dressing up clothes.

* her angel dress for the preschool nativity.

* eating popcorn and chocolate for breakfast.

* singing "Hello" by Adele.

The beautiful little lady is watching

* sleeping in her peanut swaddle.

* her Lamaze flower garden.

* sleeping in her snuzpod.

* practising her big beaming grins.

* just generally sleeping!

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{the baby diaries} month one

After sharing vlogs for each month of pregnancy, I was keen to share similar updates about our new little lady as she grows. This first one is a very late being posted... because, well, Christmas build up has kind of got in the way of blogging/vlogging time. But I videoed it a few weeks back and still wanted to share it. I'm talking about the early days with three, what she's like and the fourth trimester approach. I'll be back with her two month update soon, so let me know if you have any questions you want me to ask about her or about life with three.

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siblings {december}

One of the loveliest things about having three children is that overnight we doubled the siblings that our children have. Instead of just one person to grow up with, share history with, drive crazy, push to the limit and love unconditionally; they now have two.

It also means that there are so many more sibling relationships to watch and love. There is the big brother and big sister twosome, my original pair of siblings; so often mistaken for twins, completely thick as thieves and the very best of friends. Then there is big brother and little sister; he is so terribly protective of her, so gentle and careful with her, and in turn she stares at him adoringly and gives him some of her best smiles. Then there is big sis and "little sissy" as she keeps calling her, my girls; who I'm sure will be quite a force to be reckoned with in time, at the moment their relationship is a muddle of copious cuddles and generally finding the other one fascinating. 

And then of course there is the three of them together; my three little loves; a little gang. The three of them together means a lot of smiling and a lot of laughter, a fair amount of us reminding them to calm down and to quiet down and to be gentle, and a hefty amount of me feeling like I need to pinch myself.

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you are two months old {dear beautiful little lady}

dear beautiful little lady

As I sit writing you this letter you are sitting in your chair by my side. The change in you this past month has been remarkable, and totally magical, with your personality coming out more and more. While I write this I can see out of the corner of my eye that you are staring at me intently, willing me to look your way, and as soon as I do your little face lights up in the biggest smile.

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a little place to call their own

My older two are absolutely at the roleplaying age. Practically all of their play revolves around them pretending to be something or someone else, and a lot of the time that means acting out things they see. Of course with a new baby in the house, good old 'mummies and daddies' gets played a lot, and I always find it hilarious to watch them pretending to be me and their daddy... nothing makes you quite so aware of your own quirks as when a child is play acting at being you! Apparently Daddy shouts quite a lot, and Mummy is always holding the baby!

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a bear and a wolf

I know we aren't the only family for whom a big part of Christmas is some snazzy new pjs. There is something about the cold days and long nights that start in what should be the afternoon that just cries out for some cosy, comfy sleepwear.

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him and her and her {week fifty}

he made us so proud in his school nativity,

speaking all his narrator words clearly and loudly,

and singing every word of the songs with actions too.

she is a little obsessed with Peppa Pig,

and on more than one day this week

has insisted that she is Peppa and we all had to play along.

she had her eight week jabs

and really suffered with them the poor little mite,

but still managed to practise lots of smiles for everyone.

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smiles, snowflakes and the true meaning of christmas {little loves}

This little love of mine is such a little star. She seems to have a little more personality with each passing day lately. And she's a real little sparkler this one. God I do adore her.

11

how we've helped our baby sleep

We are very lucky and have three children who all seem to value sleep as much as their parents. But our latest a little addition really is the most amazing sleeper. She self settles at nap times and often at bedtimes too, and ever since she was born has only woken us once at night. It's an absolute dream to have a newborn who loves sleep so much; because I definitely think that the grind of caring for three children would be a LOT harder if I was super tired. But the reality is that I'm getting as much sleep as I would normally, and that I actually feel better rested now than I did in the later stages of my pregnancy.

Now I think a large factor in our well rested state is luck. We have got extremely lucky with our littlest one, and she just happens to be pretty chilled out and a fan of sleep. She was a pretty chilled bump too, with definite awake and asleep routines, and it seems like she's carrying on with that in the outside world too. I think it's probably just her nature... although ask me again when we've passed the point of the four month sleep regression, because it could all still go wrong.

But that said, I do think that as third time parents we maybe know a thing or two now about what helped our previous children sleep well. And it would be fair to say that we've thrown anything and everything that worked on the older two at our third baby; so you could argue that we've given her - and us - the best chance possible at a good nights sleep.

5

him and her and her {week forty-nine}

he is a cheeky monkey who likes eating icing straight from the tube,

is absolutely giddy about December being here,

and it giving us daily countdowns to Christmas.

she seems so grown up lately,

and has the cutest little group of preschool friends,

who love a mother's meeting at the door before the day starts.

she is smiling, smiling, smiling,

and looks like it might turn into a laugh any day now,

but still trying to hide it from mummy's camera.

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