There were three in the bed and the little one said . . .

 . . . well, she said nothing because she was asleep!

Charlotte hasn't been sleeping great the last few nights.  We think it may have something to do with some new teeth she's working on.  While it is definitely not awesome to get up multiple times during the night with a cranky baby, I admit that it was pretty adorable when we finally brought her into bed with us this morning.  We normally never do this (that slope is too dang slippery!) but this morning I was too tired to do anything else.  Luckily, we all slept quite soundly.  Charlie even slept through Jason's morning alarm!

I was able to get up and bathe and get ready for the day while she was still sleeping.  I was so exhausted from our rough night's sleep that I crawled back in bed and had a brief rest before I heard some rustling next to me:

She was a bit sleepy and pensive at first:

But then she was ready to play!

She also spent some time admiring our fancy new bed:

Then it was time to roll around a bit:

Soon she was asking for a book (she has been SUCH a book worm lately!) and she was off!

It was such a sweet time that I would almost agree to another middle-of-the-night wake-up just to have another sweet morning . . . wait a second . . . what am I saying?!?! . . .

I think I need some more caffeine . . .

Charlie's Room

Charlie's room was the first room we put together on moving day.  We wanted her to have all her things around her so that she would be happy and comfortable there.  She was most excited to see her counting bird cards and her framed collage of her cousins (that sorely needs to be updated!).  The room still isn't finished (we've only been here a week-and-a-half!) but it is certainly the room that has gotten the most attention!

Here is the view you get when you enter her room:

To the right are enormous windows on which I hung some bunting that we got at the Camden Market last summer:

To the left when you walk in is the big built-in shelving system.  Until I get some storage baskets for the space, it will look a bit sloppy, but it is nice to have everything so organised!

The other half of the storage unit has drawers, cupboards and more shelving.  This setup is really more practical for an office, but we're making it work.  You'll notice we don't have anywhere to hang all of Charlotte's adorable dresses, but I have a plan!  Stay tuned . . . 

I didn't know what to use all this storage for at first (I'm not one to hang onto things that we don't use regularly) until I realised that I could fill it with Charlie's old baby clothes!  They are all separated by size.  (Mary Halliday, are you thoroughly jealous?)

This room, like our other rooms, has enormous ceilings.  There is a particularly sweet detail over the built-ins:

The other side of the room has her changing table/dresser:

I'd like to get a little shelf to hang under her cousin collage to hold lotions, powder, etc.  (The bags on the door are for her cloth diapers nappies.)

Another cool feature of this flat is that most of the windows have shutters on them.  They are a bit bulky to use, but they are so fun and charming!  I've hidden a bunch of Charlie's art projects behind the shutters so that you only see them when they are closed (which we do for nap time and bedtime).  Charlie LOVES seeing them there!

We are really happy with the room and Charlie loves playing in there.  It is a really sweet space for her to grow up in!

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!

In the US they celebrate Mardi Gras and in they UK they celebrate Pancake Day.  Though entirely different celebrations (boobs and beads vs running while flipping pancakes) the idea is the same:  live it up before Lent.  

Though we refrained from holding a pancake race, we did make and eat pancakes.  Now, UK pancakes are not to be confused with US pancakes.  What are referred to as pancakes in the UK are called crêpes in the US.  These are not the thick fluffy morning treat that you grew up smothering in Mrs. Butterworth's.  No, these are thin and eggy and can be sweet or savoury depending on the filling.  Speaking of fillings, here is what went in our savoury crêpes (minus the lemon):

asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, ham and cheese (the lemons were for dessert)

Though we had our eyes out for a proper crêpe pan, we weren't able to secure one before the big day.  We also don't have a non-stick frying pan so we had to do things the old fashioned way.  Jason did some reading up on different techniques and was able to make us beautiful and delicious crepes (despite being in his pyjamas . . . )

Aren't they pretty?

He filled our dinner crêpes with ham, cheese, sautéed mushrooms and asparagus.  (The raisins in the background were Charlie's addition.)

Jason and I were too excited to eat our dessert crêpes (lemon and powdered sugar followed by Nutella and banana) and forgot to take pictures of them, but we did manage to get some pictures of Charlie eating her lemon and sugar crêpe:

How to Eat a Crêpe 

by Charlotte Hungerford

step one:  look adorable

step two:  pick up crêpe piece with fingers

step three:  put crêpe and fingers in mouth

 

step four:  wash it all down with a swig of water

THE END

Our New Flat!

living room 

We are so thrilled to finally be in our new flat!  We are absolutely loving it here!!  It is much more spacious, comfortable and charming than our last flat.  We now have a dishwasher (woo hoo!) a microwave and the dryer function on our washer actually works.  We also have much more space than we did in our last flat.  It is so fun watching Charlotte run from room to room!

living room

We have now been here a week and are still settling in.  Most of the rooms are quite liveable, but our bedroom is still full of boxes.  We're slowly getting things put away though.  We've hung a little bit of art, but we are still trying to figure where everything is going to go, so things are certainly not permanent yet.

fireplace

Another big improvement is that we have lovely neighbours here.  The couple that live above us brought us homemade soup and homemade bread on move-in day.  How sweet is that?!  We've also met a few of the other neighbours (there are five units total) and everyone seems quite nice.

kitchen

As for the neighbourhood, we're having fun exploring and getting to know the restaurants, pubs and shops.  Charlie has enjoyed exploring the park and I've loved exploring all the antique shops.  In fact, Crystal Palace has a large indoor antiques market three or four times a week that we visited this weekend.  It was a lot of fun!  There is also a huge antiques warehouse that was filled to the brim with stunning old furniture.  I can't wait to go back!

other side of the kitchen

We have a new bed and mattress arriving on Wednesday but we are still in the market for a new dining table.  (You may notice that our previous dining table is now in the kitchen.)  We have a large space in the living room (not pictured) where a proper table is going to go.  We can't wait!

the communal backyard

I will try to be better about blogging now that things are a bit settled.  Sorry for being MIA for a while!  I'll get some Charlie pics posted soon.  

xoxo

The Nursery Sitch

Charlotte was only three-and-a-half months old when she started attending The Baby Room in old town Clapham.  The staff is fantastic and Charlotte always seems to have a great time there.  Perhaps it was because she started there when she was just a tiny baby (most kids seem to start around one year) but she seems to have become a staff favourite.  Of course they may give that impression to every family, but we like to believe it's true!

Charlie moves to her new daycare on Monday (more on that below the pics) and was given this sweet book from the staff and her friends at Baby Room.  It has two pages of notes from the caretakers and then quite a few pages of handprints and "notes" from her friends.  Here is a sampling:

Isn't that the sweetest thing?!

When we decided to move to a new neighbourhood, we were conflicted about taking her out of Baby Room.  She has been so happy there and we were nervous about finding another nursery that we would be as happy with.  I was heartbroken when every nursery I toured around our new flat was less than stellar.  After briefly discussing the idea of a nanny or child-minder, we quickly decided that we wanted her in a nursery setting.  We like the social aspect of daycare and we don't have to worry about a single caretaker getting sick or showing up late, etc.  Eventually, we decided to keep her with Baby Room but move her to a location closer to our new flat.  She'll still have to get used to being in a new facility with new staff and new playmates, but we know we like the company and we know that they provide excellent care for our sweet babe so they're worth a bit of extra effort to get to (one of the nurseries in our new neighbourhood is located one street away!).  

We feel good about our choice and were thrilled when we remembered that Charlotte's original caretaker, Grace, was transferred to her new Baby Room.  Another of her favourite caretakers is moving to her new nursery within a week or so as well.  And as it turns out, a number of her caretakers are up for babysitting and don't live too far away from our new flat, so hopefully she'll still get to see some of them!

Boxed Up

With our move less than a week away, even Charlie has found her way into a box.  Well, it is actually just one of her canvas toy boxes, but she is still my favourite little helper.