Finally some pics

I had fun with the camera this morning and here you are:

6-9 month top, 9-12 month tights and 12-18 month skirt...

If you squint you can almost see the famous tooth

A better view of the tooth (and tonsils LOL)

Children's Clothes

So I've been doing my quarterly sort out of Lia's clothes as she's just moving up into the 9 - 12 month stuff and I've been struck by the lack of standardization.

I should first of all point out that clothes are my real weakness when it comes to Lia. We don't go overboard on toys but I can go nuts in a clothes shop (which is weird as I don't own that many of my own and have no desire to).

I mainly shop at the supermarkets unless places have a sale and I've always got clothes in advance as I buy the end of season stuff for the next year(I got next years winter coat in the sale on Boxing Day).

And I do have limits, apart from 3-6 months where some of the stuff really didn't get used much (I put that down to me not thinking about how much time she'd spend just in a body suit or sleepsuit) she's normally got just enough to get through a week so I don't have to wash too much.

But on the whole, she's spoilt for choice of what to wear. Anyway, on to the point of this post...

Now don't get me wrong, I know babies come in all shapes and sizes so why would their clothes be any different but the differences are so marked in some cases that I don't understand the thinking behind it.

Take for example two skirts that I have for her. One for 9 - 12 months that I bought from Tesco (mainly because it had well funky tights included) and one that is 12 - 18 months that I bought from M&S. I picked up the Tesco one and measured it on her only to realise it'll be much, much closer to 12 months before it fits. No probs, but as I was sorting through I found a much smaller looking skirt, the M&S one. This one I tried on her and it fit absolutely perfectly!

So, the one for her age group falls off if she stands up but the one for twice her age fits? Now to me that's a bit more 'give' than I'd expect.

I've had this with clothes from Zara tpp. I don't shop there very often but when we were in Greece last year we were given the most HIDEOUS outfit for Lia that I went and exchanged almost immediately (not bad, I got five tops and a jacket for the same price as a trouser/cardigan set). I bought the next size up for her as I knew I didn't need any more clothes but when I looked at them properly they were at least a size smaller. Then when I checked out their sale at Christmas and got stuff I had to buy a size larger than I needed as everything in there seems to be a size smaller than everywhere else.

Oh and while we're on this subject, why do most stores size theirs in age but a few (H&M for example) size just with random numbers? I got a couple of summer dresses in their sale but spent ages trying to find out whether I needed size 82 or 96 or whatever - what's that all about?

And why are some parents prepared to pay stupid money for clothes their kids wear for three months? I don't even look in Mama's and Papa's as their stuff, even in the sale, is so overpriced I'd not even bother with it.

I remember when I was in hospital after the birth there was this real chav in the bed opposite (seriously, it was her 8th child by four fathers of various shades of brown and black and the guy she was with wasn't the father of the latest one, he'd already moved on).

Anyway, this poor little mite was an emergency caesarian delivery and as barely over 5lb. This woman dressed her up in this HUGE burberry outfit (tasteful pink and brown checks) and informed me it cost £60!!!! I looked at Lia in one of her '3 for £4.50 Tesco sleepsuits' and wondered if I was a bad mother. LOL

A Tooth!

We have a tooth!

Or at least we have a hillock poking out of the bottom gum but it's the beginnings of a tooth. It appeared yesterday, I swear it wasn't there in the morning but when I picked her up from nursery there it was!

Despite all the dire warnings from people she seems totally un-fazed at the moment and is sleeping just fine. She's still got the ends of a cold though and I'm praying it goes before the Greek Grandparents arrival on Sunday.

Her eyes have totally cleared up too which is great and so I'll be hovering round her with a camera and I'll get that picture posted sometime this week.

We interrupt our usual schedule...

So I can ramble on about some stuff that I've been thinking about for the last couple of days.

This internet thing is amazing when you stop and think. Forget the twisted dark side that we hear about so often (and that AOL seem to want to petrify us with in their TV ads) and think about the people that you have met that you've formed some sort of connection with.

I have friends that I met on the internet, I have people I actively dislike who I've met on the internet. Some of them I've met in real life and still like or dislike as I did before I met them which has led me to think that I can pretty much judge people through their writings on this here www and know that my instincts are right (but I am prepared to be proved wrong of course).

As I have mentioned before I cross stitch. Because of this pasttime I found a bulletin board on the www and became part of an online stitching community about four years ago now. Throughout this four year period I have seen the best and the worst of people on the internet. I have played my own small part in some events, good and bad, and I'm sure there are a number of people out there who have strong opinions about me, also both good and bad.

Sometimes I do sit on my hands and try and ignore things, sometimes I post things that maybe I should have thought twice about but I have never posted something that I didn't totally believe in and I have never posted anonymously about anything. As in real life, if I have something to say, I say it and, if my mouth (or my fingers) get me in trouble then I take the consequences.

However, there are some that use the internet as their personal playground, they have multiple identities, create fictitious personalities, minipulate others, write hateful things and generally abuse the system that we all like to think of as 'nice'.

Take for example eBay. I love eBay, I've bought and sold many, many things on eBay and will continue to do so but it amazes me that people are actually surprised when buyers / sellers are fraudulent. How many people do you know in real life? Now categorise them on a sliding scale of who you'd trust with your life and children and who you'd keep hold of your valuables around.

MILLIONS of people use eBay. If you apply the sliding scale from my last paragraph that means THOUSANDS have the potential to be untrustworthy. So why are we all so surprised when it happens? Yes it's horrible, yes you never want it to happen to you or someone you know but it is a fact of life, like it or not.

Going back to the stitching communities, you can apply the same sliding scales there. Generally, most people are great, friendly, pleasant, trustworthy and all-round good eggs. But still people are surprised when something not so nice creeps in to the daily round of 'look at what I'm stitching'. I'd say the active stitching community that I'm aware of is probably around 800 - 1000 people (mainly women) with maybe that many again who look around but don't join in.

So, put that many people in a room and work out how many you'll get on with. How many will have a different opinion of things to you, how many you'll hate on sight and how many will make no impression on you whatsoever.

This internet thing can bring people together from all corners of the globe but what it can't provide is the tolerance you need to remain part of a huge community and not get upset by someone else's ideas and opinions once in a while.

It can't give you the intelligence to not post something in a public place that is likely to hurt and upset people.

It can't give you the wisdom to stop typing and hit the delete key until you've counted to ten and calmed down.

I'm as guilty as the next person of posting without thinking, I'm sure in the last four years I've upset some people and, whilst I stand by every word I've typed and I've never written anonymously there were times that I might have done things slightly differently if I'd thought about it longer.

But I'm still here, I'm still posting and I hope all of you do to as, even though I may disagree with you, vocally or non-vocally, I still get a kick out of this thing called the internet

No picture for a while....

Just thought I'd let you know you'll have to wait a bit longer for the next picture as Lia has a bad case of conjunctivitis and I don't think she'd ever forgive me if I took a picture of the way she looks now.

She's okay with it but her eyes are really puffy and red. We have drops that have to be put in four times a day (boy is that fun!) and at least they've stopped the gunk that was clogging her eyes up so badly.

I now have to have another day at home as nursery won't take her for 24 hours (fair enough). I should be able to get some work done at home though which should limit the holiday I need to take.

We've also both had another stinky cold but thankfully this one doesn't seem to linger too much. I had two days of feeling completely lousy and bunged up but today is much better. I'll be glad when both our immune systems get up to scratch so she won't bring the germs home and I won't catch them so easily.

Anyway, as soon as the eyes settle down I will get that promised picture for you.

Eight Months Old

Okay, the more observant of you will have noticed there was no seven month update as that fell on 1st Jan when I was in the middle of my ear infection 'fun'.

I'm also a day late with the eight month old post AND have no picture to share so I do apologise. I'll try and get a good pic this weekend but we've actually been busy taking mini-videos of Lia on DF's camera so that my parents can take a DVD with them on holiday to Oz to show her off to all the relatives down there (at least one of whom reads this blog so B, you have been warned!! LOL)

Anyway, Lia is now moving up to 9-12 months clothes. She's been in the 9 - 12 month pj's for a while now but I'm just starting with the body suits and tops as most of her extra length is in her top half (she seems to have inherited her Mum's short legs). We're also hoping she gains some weight quickly this month as she needs to be almost 1kg heavier before she can be in the next size car seat. It's a bit of a problem as she's so long she doesn't fit in the baby one that well any more and always complains about being so squashed in.

No teeth yet (despite the red cheeks) but we've had a couple of rough nights this week and she really didn't want me feeling her gums this morning so you never know.

Development wise she's more got sitting up pretty much mastered and she's much more balanced now. She's also making moves towards crawling but nothing major (she managed about a foot and a half in a backwards direction last night but it took her about 10 mins). Her fave occupation at the mo is rocking backwards and forwards at high speed. This has led to some bumped heads (hers and ours) but as her balance improves, there's less and less bumping (which can only be a good thing)

She's still tucking into her food like a good 'un. Her typical food regime is morning bottle, large bowl of ready brek, lunch, afternoon bottle, afternoon snack, dinner and then bedtime bottle! And we're not talking small quantities here so I don't think we're going to have to wait too long for that weight gain!

So she's had her first Christmas and New Year and was very well behaved for it all. We've booked our flights for this December as her second Christmas and New Year will be in Greece. It's a bit odd for me as this will be only the second time that I haven't spent Christmas with my family (the first DF's parents and sister stayed at our house) but I'm sure we'll have fun. Lia will be 18 months by then so will have much more input in the whole day.

I think that's about it. As I said, I'll take a pic this weekend to give you all a visual update.

The main excitement of this month is that DF's parents are coming over for the last week and we're going to stay at my parent's house (my parents being in NZ and Oz) which means we can show my in-laws a new part of England (Kent) and also all stay under the same roof (they normally stay at a hotel when they come over as our house is tiny). I'm not too stressed about the visit as we've got plenty to do and talk about (all those BFG Celebrations to discuss) so hopefully we'll all have fun.

Snow Pics

Finally DF sent me some of the snow pics and here's a couple - our Snow-Baby looking totally cute and my family home looking like Narnia!

A Happy Child

So we must be doing something right as we've been blessed with a happy child. Of course she cries sometimes and she can get grumpy but generally she's a bundle of giggles and laughs which is great.

However, as great as this might be, there is a downside to having a happy, chatty, laughing child. It's at 2.30am when she wakes up and decides that she's going to have a chat and a laugh with her stuffed elephant FOR TWO HOURS!!!

Yep, she didn't cry, she didn't want either or both parents, she just wanted to talk to the elephant at the top of her voice for two hours... I don't know what the elephant has done to deserve such an honour but I reckon she covered her whole life story in those two hours. It's a new cuddly toy and she's fallen totally in love with it. She's almost eager to get into bed now as it means she can see it, hold it and chat to it.

We stayed with my parents this weekend and we put Lia down for a nap before heading off shopping and when we left she was happily chatting with the elephant. I called my Mum an hour later and she said Lia was still not asleep but still just chatting away.

I don't understand what magic this elephant holds but it was the best £4 I've spent in mothercare... At some point I'll get a picture of it just in case all you other Mums want to see if it can cast the same spell over your child.

Here's a picture from the weekend. The elephant is not the one that is the subject of the post but she likes this one too. I'm not quite sure what she's doing to the crocodile though!

Oh and yes, we're thinking those red cheeks may just signal the mythical teeth are on their way...

Don't panic!

Oh the joys of parenting...

Since starting nursery Lia's had an almost constant cold that has waxed and waned but never really gone away (although at the risk of tempting fate she's been almost snot free for a week or so now) but through it all she's been happy and we've never had to even bother with calpol.

However, last wednesday I got the call from nursery to say she'd had a couple of bouts of diarrhea and been sick. I phoned DF to let him know and headed off to pick her up. When I arrived at the nursery she was sitting on the floor playing like there was nothing wrong. Typical. However, she did have a bit of a temperature and the girls at nursery were busy telling me they had a really bad bug going round that was about five days of sickness and diarrhea and so I should brace myself.

Yeh! The fun side of parenting.

Anyway, I got her home and she was definitely under the weather - she wanted to be held all the time and was quite miserable by this point. I phoned NHS Direct and got some advice from a nurse which was to take a layer of clothes off her to help her cool down, a dose of calpol and then some milk - small quantities at half hour intervals to see if she kept it down.

DF had arrived home by this point and was flapping. He wanted to take her to Casualty and get her checked out by a doctor but I was adamant that we should stick to the advice that we had and see how she was.

Typically this was the day that there were new symptoms of meningitis being discussed in the news, one of which was cold hands and feet. Lia had slightly cold feet which didn't help his flapping...

That and her throwing up on him.

Anyway, the calpol did the trick with her temperature and she kept her milk down so when the nurse called back she said we should just keep an eye on her and if she got worse then take her to a doctor. Thankfully that was the end of the physical symptoms. She was very clingy the next couple of days and she was also slightly off her food but at least I didn't have five days of ick to contend with. But other than that she was right as rain and back at nursery on monday.

Yesterday I got a call from nursery - she's got a rash that's spread all over her belly and up under her arms! So I head down to get her and phone DF again telling him to call the doctor and see whether they say to bring her in or not.

Lia spends the whole journey home chatting happily to herself so I'm not that worried. The rash looks much more like a heat rash than anything else and does disappear when pressure is applied.

DF was home when we arrived and stressed and flapping again. He was relieved to see her so happy and he took care of her while I spoke to the doctor who diagnosed urticaria (or hives to us lay people).

No real treatment, it should clear up quite quickly on its own. Just try and keep her a bit cool and don't rub or irritate the infected area. Lia barely registered it - she wolfed down her tea and chatted away happily which made me feel much better but didn't stop her dad pushing a glass on the rash every now and again just to make sure...

DF's mother is a worrier. Big time. She stresses out over pretty much everything and can work herself up into a real frenzy given the right circumstances. DF has inherited this trait and it has never been more obvious to me than during the two events recounted above. He really over-reacted and would have had Lia at the hospital both times without giving a second thought despite us having advice from Health Care Professionals.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not uncaring and if I'd had the slightest worry I would have been heading to the hospital like a shot as well but thankfully both times it turned out to be quite mild.

He also has not told his mother about either event as he couldn't cope with her reaction. It's on days like these that I'm so glad we don't live closer to her...

Happy New Year

So I'm a little late but it's been quite a couple of weeks for us one way or another.

I hope you all had wonderful Festive Seasons and that you're all well and truly recovered from the excesses.

Our Christmas was great fun. Lia had a blast, mainly from playing with wrapping paper it has to be said, and we had a good time testing out her many new toys...

Even better, it snowed and snowed on the tuesday after Christmas so we were snowed in with a good six inches of the stuff. I know some of you will have more snow than you know what to do with or will hate the stuff but I LOVE it and with DF being Greek it's quite a novelty for him to see so much and have it settled.

We went to see The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe on Boxing Day and our garden looked like Narnia by the next morning which was magical. We were at my Mother's house which is out in the countryside so we really were cut off from civilisation for a bit and I was transported back to childhood when we used to pray the schools would close for the day so we could play in the snow.

New Year was a bit of a washout though as I got an inner-ear infection and was in bed Saturday - Wednesday. I was so bad that we had to get my Mum over to stay and look after Lia while DF went to work as I couldn't get out of bed without falling over. Still, I'm all better now which is the main thing.

So 2006 is shaping up to be an interesting year already and we have so much to look forward to. I now have the engagement ring I said I didn't want but am really happy with (18ct white gold solitaire diamond) and we went out on saturday and bought the wedding rings (18ct white gold plain bands). We've also booked our flights for May and we'll be in Greece for a total of three weeks which, as well as the wedding and Christening, will encompass DF's Mother and Grandmother's birthdays as well as Lia's first birthday. So all in all it'll be one long celebration.

We've also decided to spend next Christmas in Greece all going well so that's my year's holiday well and truly sorted.

I don't make New Year's Resolutions but I have two goals this year, to end it weighing significantly less than I do now and to have all our finances in order so we can start seriously overpaying on the mortgage. Hopefully those won't be too hard to achieve and I'll keep you updated I'm sure.

Stitching goals wise I don't have many but I would like to stitch Lia a christmas stocking and I am working on a large animal alphabet design for her as well.

Finally, I'd just like to say hi and thanks to those of you who have posted such nice comments. I'm a sporadic commenter on other people's blogs but I do visit many (and have now updated by side bar with some more addresses) so maybe I should make another goal to comment more for other people as I know how nice it feels.

Merry Christmas

It's a bit early but Merry Christmas and here's a picture to make you smile

Have a lovely Christmas and a great 2006

Not such a blast from the past...

This is not going to be a sentimental look at my childhood where I wallow in the memories of endless summer days etc. I did have a great childhood, I grew up in the country so climbing trees, riding bikes and generally exploring my surroundings was the order of the day but I don't feel the need to wax lyrical about those times.

However, there are things from my childhood that I do miss. Not just the life of no responsibilities and the fact that I could get much, much further on my bike than my parents seemed to realise. But also certain books that I loved yet can't find copies of to buy for Lia, places that are no longer the same, TV shows that I loved with presenters that you could respect and look up to rather than ones that try too hard to be your mate.

Just as an aside (and apologies to overseas readers who know nothing of what I speak) I was prompted by seeing Johnny Ball in the audience of Strictly Come Dancing to tell DF that if Johnny Ball, John Noakes and John Craven were gathered on TV to announce the end of the world my generation would totally believe them. No ifs, no buts, those were men that represented truth and, although they were grown ups, were totally on our side.

I don't watch much children's TV at the moment (bound to change as Lia gets older) but the presenters are absolutely dire and I dread the day Lia wants to watch Dick and Dom...

Anyway, that's slightly off my topic for the day. What I really wanted to talk about was sweets. Certain sweets that I loved in childhood that you can't get any more. Yes they brought back Spangles (although you don't see them that much any more) but for me there were certain gaps that just couldn't be filled.

And one in particular. Texan bars. I remember these as being rectangular with a thick, chewy candy covered in chocolate. The candy was quite orange and the toughest thing that you could ever put in your mouth. Not only that, when you did manage to suck it enough that it got softer it didn't break, it just stretched and stretched and stretched. I loved Texan bars and I also loved the competitions I had with my brother as to who could make one last the longest (very sticky results!)

So imagine my total and utter delight when I was looking for the address of a particular website selling old fashioned sweets to send to someone - A Quarter Of... - and discovering that TEXAN BARS ARE BACK!!!

Okay, you can only order them in fives but that's great cos I'll be chewing well into 2006 so I make my order and spend a couple of days stalking the postman until they arrive and finally, yesterday, they were in my hot little hands.

First disappointment, they're the wrong shape and they're half the size of the originals if that. But at least the packaging is as I remember and, lets face it, everything is smaller these days to what it was when we were little.

So I unwrapped and took a tentative bite (my teeth are not as sturdy as they were!) and bit right through! Okay I had to chew and chew and chew but the taste just wasn't right.

So there's two choices here, one my memory is not up to the task or two, they're not the same as before. I'd have to say that I think my memory is just fine and, given the rules about additives and the like these days, the recipe has changed but maybe I'm wrong and I've been romanticising this sweet for 20 years and can't really remember what it tasted like.

The real point to all this though is that, whatever the reason, I've been disappointed and I wish I'd never found them and so could have spent the rest of my life remembering them the way they were.

Still, I suppose I could always just prove I'm getting older by starting to moan about how they just don't make things how they used to...

Christmas is coming...

and we're all getting well and truly festive in our house.

The Christmas tree is up and decorated (has been since the 3rd) and takes up a large part of our small dining room. Presents are wrapped and under the tree (I think Lia's a bit too young for us to worry about Santa this year!) and all that's left is Christmas Cards to be written - a job I hate but I'm working through them slowly.

Lia has a Christmas party to attend on Friday at the nursery and will meet Santa for the first time. I'm hoping that she won't freak out too much as DF has a belly and a beard so hopefully she'll just see him as an older version of Daddy.

She's also meeting the Greek Santa on Sunday as there's a Greek church near where we live so we're heading there for the Christmas Service. I'm not too thrilled (church does very little for me) but it'll be nice for DF and Lia so I'm prepared to make an effort.

We'll be celebrating Christmas with my family this year which means a 100 mile drive on the 23rd. They were all full of 'we won't get her toys this year, she's too little' last time we saw them but I've since found out that most of them have succumbed and bought her a toy of some sort. Don't get me wrong, I have no objection to her having toys but at the moment her favourite playthings are the tv remote, free pizza menus we get through the door and her burp cloth (great to play peek-a-boo with) so I don't see the need for lots of expensive toys at the moment.

Still, I have to remember that this is the only child in the family, after her the youngest is 27, so people are just indulging a long unrequited need for kiddie things at Christmas. I will be putting a quota on toys in the future though as I'm not having the house full of stuff she plays with once and ignores.

T'is the season of eating too it would seem. Lia's apetite knows no bounds and DF and I seem to be heading all over for meals. It was his works Christmas lunch on Friday, we were out with my parents on Saturday, it's my works Christmas lunch on Wednesday, we're out for lunch on Saturday, a Christmas curry with friends on Monday and then a works buffet for me next Wednesday! All that before that actual Christmas food (which is incredibly well done by my family it has to be said).

I've decided to leave all thoughts of dieting till 2006 but once the holiday season is over I will definitely be on the getting fitter trail. Not only do I have the Big Fat Greek Celebration to look good for but I'll have a small, slim, half-Greek daughter who will be starting moving around so I'll need to be fit to keep up with her!

Food Glorious Food...

Before I start I should just say that I've decided to refer to DD by her name (or at least the shortening of her name) as I spend more time editing it out than writing posts.

So, Lia has been eating 'real' food for a month now and after a rocky start has launched herself at the multitude of food available to her with gusto.

Last night when I picked her up from nursery one of the girls told me that they love feeding her as she's easy to feed and very enthusiastic with anything they give her. I'll admit we did have a bit of a rocky start but it's been quite a while now since she's refused anything so I'm hoping that continues (I'm not looking forward to the fussy stage).

Her breakfast consists of ReadyBrek which, whilst it doesn't make her glow, can be guaranteed to make her, and anything within a ten yard radius sticky in the extreme. Still, she likes it, it fills her up and it's easy to make so we're sticking with it (no pun intended) for the moment. Plus four out of seven days the girls at nursery feed it to her so I just have to clean the clothes, not everything else. She's pretty good with everything else but for some reason this is the one food that she has to get her hands in and then wave them enthusiastically all over the place.

Nursery days include pureed meat and veg for lunch and pureed fruit for tea. Well they call it tea, Lia seems to look upon it as an afternoon snack as she's ready and waiting for food when I get her home. She'll wolf down half a jar or more of baby food and then rusk and fruit for pudding!

As we're still at the us feeding her stage it's not too bad mess wise but there have been some spectacular patterns made when she's had a mouthful of something and coughed (I'll leave those to your imagination I think). She's not showing any signs yet of wanting to feed herself anything (I have no idea when she's supposed to start doing that) so hopefully it'll be a while before we have to cover the room in tarpaulin before each meal.

Still, I'm thankful that she's taken to it so well and there's very little refusal of anything offered to her and I shall await the mess to come with at least some comfort in the knowledge that nursery will deal with at least half of it.

Today's the day!

It's parking permit day!

I was almost sad enough to take the day off work to watch the traffic warden's go about their business and ticket the £*$^"@s that park on our street but I had to take a day off for DD's christmas party in a couple of weeks so I'm at work.

Still, I'm whiling away the time imagining all those little yellow gifts being left on windscreens.

The even better news is that we found out when they put the signs up that we've been given exclusively residents only parking. For those not in the know about these things, basically there are different options the council can come up with and the most popular has been residents only 8pm - 8am and everyone else can park for up to 2 hrs for the rest of the time.

Giving us totally residents only means that no one else can park unless they are a visitor and have a visitor's permit. This is the best news I've had in ages and I can't wait to see how much of a difference it makes.

In other news, DF and I are now almost over our colds although DD is still suffering a bit. She's now having three meals a day though and progressing nicely with her food - we've even found that she loves bananas and so we can finally get her to eat some fruit.

That's all for today.

Six Months Old!

Wow, how does time manage to pass so quickly? Our little monkey is half a year old today and I can't quite believe it.

So what's the last month brought us? Well, she's started nursery and thankfully she loves it - she's all smiley when she's dropped off and she forgets I even exist most of the time as there's so much going on for her to see and do.

She's now eating two or three proper meals a day and has tried most things. As a 'half-birthday' treat she had toast for the first time this morning and she seemed to like that. She's not that fond of sweet stuff as yet (this can only be a good thing) but she loves chicken and most veggies (except cauliflower).

She's sitting up quite happily for short periods of time but hasn't started getting herself into the sitting position yet although I'm sure that won't be too long now.

I think that's it really. She's still sleeping real good so no problems there and she's generally just a happy little thing that smiles at the world in general. Betwen nursery and real food it's been quite a month for her.

Oh, one last thing, she attended her second (thanks Scully!) stitchers get-together in November. She also spent an hour or so in Hobbycraft with me yesterday so she's hopefully going to be a crafter like her Mum.

Here's a couple of pics that made me smile (and in case you're wondering, she inherited those eyelashes from daddy)...

I'm sorry, I have a cold...

Okay, so it's now two and a half weeks since the three of us came down with colds and we've still got them. To be honest, I'm pretty sure we all came close to recovery around the beginning of last week and this is a second version of the original but whatever the case, we're still suffering.

We've all now moved onto a stuffed up nose and a cough. DD seems to be coping okay - she'll sleep through still but occasionally wakes to cough long enough to ensure that Mummy and Daddy are awake then she'll go back to sleep leaving us to cough for an hour or so before finally doing the same.

It's an annoying cold. Not enough to take to our beds or stay home from work but enough to drain energy and make the smallest additional event seem a huge hurdle. And the cough is a dry tickle at the back of the throat that is a real killer once it starts.

As I said, DD is coping fine, she's bunged up and coughing but is showing no real signs of distress.

What we have had from her though is a couple of Mount Vesuvius type eruptions, one on Sunday night and one last night. Sunday she was strapped in her bouncy chair while we ate our dinner and she just opened her mouth and EVERYTHING SHE'D EATEN SINCE THE DAY SHE WAS BORN came out of her. DF and I watched open mouthed and when she'd finished she just went back to happily playing with her toys. Given her lack of concern we finished our dinner before cleaning her up as it seemed the easiest option.

Last night was a similar event only this time she managed to do it all over DF. She'd had most of her bedtime bottle and we'd just plied her with a bit of calpol (she doesn't like it as she really doesn't like sweet stuff) so DF thought he should try see if she wanted a bit more milk. Bad move. The second eruption was much more impressive than the first covering the pair of them as well as a large part of the floor.

I was sent off to fill the bath (trying not to laugh as it'd start me coughing) only to come back and find the pair of them naked with their clothes in a heap on the floor and DF using his foot to push the clothes around to wipe up the mess...

They then went off to the bathroom and had fun cleaning themselves up while I (with no urge to laugh any more) picked up the clothes and cleaned the floor. And typically her clothes were all white and his were all black so I couldn't even put them all together in the washing machine, I had to separate the lot first.

Men!

Thankfully she's coughing much less this morning so hopefully we've seen the last of the eruptions for the moment.

Life's too short

I was planning on posting about the trials and tribulations of real food versus the mouth of a nearly-six-month-old but I've had my day thrown for a loop a bit. I got to work this morning on time, DD was all smiley and happy at nursery and, apart from the Monday morning blues, life was pretty good.

Then one of my colleagues took a phone call. Another of our colleagues died yesterday. No warning, no nothing. She was at a concert in the evening and seemed fine but she died when she got home.

She wasn't that old and didn't have any health problems that we knew of. Yes she was a large lady which isn't necessarily a good thing as we all know, but it's still a total shock.

This comes on top of the death of another colleague who was diagnosed with cancer and died in the space of my maternity leave (her funeral was one week before the date she was due to officially retire).

I guess what this has made me really think about is am I happy? Do I have any regrets? Would I change anything in my life?

The more I think about it the more I'm sure that I don't have any regrets, I don't wish anything was different. I don't think there's anything I'd have done differently and nothing I'd really change about my life. Of course, I'd love to win the lottery and life a life of luxury but really I'm happy where I am now. Any changes of events in my past would have brought me to a different place and I wouldn't have DF or DD so how could I justify regrets?

So I'm lucky and, although deep down I knew it, I'm thankful for the reminder I've been given to appreciate what I've got.

Being organised...

This isn't the first time I've posted on this subject and trust me, it won't be the last. If this wedding and christening actually goes ahead on the correct days, with the right guests, hot food and a proper party it'll be a miracle.

I'm organised and I always have been. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I'm neat and tidy but I know what I'm doing when, how long it's going to take, who'll be involved and what I have to do. I'm also never late and, apart from the odd time when I was pregnant, I don't forget things.

To illustrate what I mean I shall tell you that this weekend I cooked a christmas cake and three christmas puddings, got the three of us to the photographers to have some professional pics taken to give as christmas presents, organised what time off we're having over christmas and so when DD is at nursery and basically finished my christmas shopping.

To illustrate why I'm having a bit of a rant about this I shall tell you that in the two months since we decided that we're having the wedding and the christening the Greeks have managed to book the room for the party. That's it. We don't have a wedding service and time booked, we don't have a priest and a church for the christening, no caterers, no nothing.

Several of my family have already booked their flights and accommodation (the organised gene is an inherited one) and at the moment all we can safely offer is a room they can hang around in...

This event will probably be the death of me (or at least may finally be the thing that drives me to drink). If it was up to me everything would be organised now but all I can do is nag DBF who in turn can nag his mother who in turn can say, 'don't worry, there's plenty of time yet'...

I know the Greeks managed to get the Olympics organised when all around them there were doubters but I'm convinced they're going to fail miserably with my weddding. The frustrating bit is that there really is nothing I can do but wait for them to sort things out.

The even more frustrating part is that until we have dates set for the wedding and christening some of those on the international guest list can't book flights and hotels as they can't be sure of what dates they need to be there. And they're all nagging me for information.

This all seemed like a good idea two months ago but now I'm really not so sure...

A long post about little things

So DD has had her first cold. She and I both came down with it on Thursday and it's a real stinker! She coped very well though with very little crying. Her main problem was sleeping as she'd wake up finding it hard to breathe so she'd cry but a quick visit from Mum or Dad and she'd settle again. The bad news is that DBF is now suffering from it (of course as it's a man cold he's home from work today) but at least DD and I are over the worst (and she's sleeping again).

DD is now experiencing real food on a daily basis. I did attempt to cook and mash carrot on Friday but that took waaaaaaay too much time and effort for so little reward (remember I was stuffed full of cold too) so I used the free bottle of baby food we'd got in some baby pack or other. DD lapped it up and was eager for more so I've told the nursery to get on with giving her food and I bought more jars this morning. She'll get fresh stuff at nursery and in a week or so I'll be giving her fresh fruit so I don't worry too much that she's having jars as well.

Saturday we went en masse to Swindon to meet up with some stitching friends of mine for lunch. It was to celebrate the birthday's of two of them and there were secret pressies for both. I think I've mentioned before that I belong to an online UK stitchers community and we'd all got together and stitched designs and one totally mad volunteer had made them up into two quilts. The lunch was great fun, the gifts were well received and DBF did a marvelous job of appearing to enjoy himself whilst surrounded by mad women.

We've booked a venue for DD's Christening - Sunday 28th May. Or at least DBF's mother booked it yesterday. We're having the party at the Officer's Club in Athens which is apparently very regal and dead posh. The main reason we chose it though is that it's cheap. DBF's father is an ex Brigadier General so the cost to us is so minimal that we aren't even including it in our budget! That's great as it means we can afford a few more guests.

After talking about it for ages I finally booked a photographer for this saturday so we can have some professional portraits taken of the three of us. I have this idea that we'll have a family portrait done every year around Christmas as a way of keeping track of how we grow and change. It also means that this year we don't have to worry about what to get people for Christmas as we can give them all a copy! I don't suppose we'll get away with it every year though...

Parking Permits. I never thought something so insignificant could become so important to us. Our street has actually featured on a TV programme about the worst parking places in the country. Basically it's a one way street that is a little over three cars wide and there's parking on both sides. It's terraced housing so there's no off-road parking at all so you have to park on the street. There are a couple of main roads nearby where the residents don't have any parking options at all. It's also five minutes walk from our street to the centre of town so people park there and go to work, park there are go shopping, park there and go eat and so on and so on.

Basically it's a total nightmare. Come this time of year we can't take the car out on weekends as there's never anywhere to park when we get back. There's a huge bootfair in a school playground just round the corner on sunday mornings so the streets roundabout are stuffed with cars. People park and go into town ALL day for Christmas shopping. Evenings you're lucky if there's a space as people go for late night shopping or those that park and go to work stay later to do a bit of shopping.

Oh and don't get me started about how BADLY they park. If you live on our street you learn to parallel park with inches to spare round the car (I'm not kidding) but non-residents park across what could be two spaces or leave their car two feet from the curb so you can barely squeeze past it. It's a windmirror graveyard as at least two a week get destroyed.

I guess you get the message from that minor rant that I've had enough right? Well I've been lobbying the council for years (seriously, we've lived there six years and this has been an ongoing bone of contention for us and many others on the street) and finally, last wednesday we got a letter from the council that the permits will be in place on 5th December!!!!! This is totally amazing and I can't even begin to describe how happy I am. I'm even considering taking the day off so I can watch people come to park and have to move...