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...

A Big Fat Greek Celebration

I know that some people are wondering why I haven't posted this piece of information here yet but all I can say is that there were a few people I needed to tell in real life so they didn't find out from here. Those people have all been told now so I can post the news without fear of upsetting anyone.

What news I hear you ask?

Well the news that I'm an engaged woman! Well, not officially as I don't have a ring but seeing as though we've set a date, picked a venue, discussed the guest list and pretty much everyone we know has been told we're getting married I think we can safely say that I'm an engaged woman.

This has not really come as a big surprise to most people. Let's face it, eight years, a mortgage and a baby is kind of a big hint that we're not planning on splitting up any time soon.

So why now? Well when DD was born we registered her birth with her Dad's surname. I had no problem with that but now I feel the odd one out and that I need to have the same name as her. I'm not embarassed or ashamed but it just doesn't feel right.

This is a totally personal thing. I have no problems with other people not marrying (with or without kids) but to me it doesn't feel right and so I pushed the issue with DBF and we finally agreed to go ahead.

The date is 27th May next year. We'd already picked this date as the Christening for DD and so we're going to get the whole lot done at once (and therefore only pay for one party). It's going to happen in Athens and the best news is that pretty much all of my family and friends from the UK can come as well as guests from as far away as the US and Oz.

The bad news is that I'm already fed up with the organisation of the whole thing and am ready to throw a total strop and demand we elope. The only thing that keeps me going is that even if we did elope we'd still have the christening and so most, if not all, of the issues would still be there.

So, watch this space for exasperated posts about my trials and tribulations about trying to organise a wedding long distance in a country where people believe that forward planning only needs to encompass the month prior to any event...

Hi ho, hi ho...

...it's off to work I go.

So today's my second day at work and I'm shattered! Who'd have thought that starting to use my brain again would be such a killer.

Yesterday went fine. I dropped DD off at the nursery and she seemed okay with me going (she's a bit little for tears which is good). I managed the whole day without phoning or going to visit, in fact I started to feel like a bad mother because I didn't cry or have the urge to run down there all the time.

Then I spoke to a friend who used to be the Childcare Co-ordinator and she said to me that it just proved that I'd made the right choice with the child care as I had no worries.

That made me feel better as did DD's little face when I went to pick her up. She had a good day, apparently she grizzled a bit when they tried to get her to sleep but she can be like that with me during the day. Still, other than that she had fun, drank all her milk and played lots.

The really good part is that today when I went to drop her off again she was all smiley and happy with the girls at the nursery and much more interested in what was going on rather than me leaving. In fact my real worry now is that she'll be bored the days she's home. LOL

Another milestone passed successfully though and now we have proper food to look forward to as the next big thing.

Oh and thanks to those of you who left lovely comments about DD, we know she's gorgeous but it's always nice to hear other people say it too...

Five Months Old

So here as promised is the five month post. We'll start with a picture - apologies for the red eyes but I only took two pics and this was the best on offer...

So DD is now five months old and a total pro at rolling over. She can also sit with some help, stand when supported and is just great at hanging onto her feet and waving them about. Her mission appears to be to cover as much of the world as possible in drool.

She's able to go to sleep on our own and is also sleeping decent hours over night and during the day. Feeding wise she's still on milk but all of it comes from a bottle now and none from mummy's magic boobs.

Spotty dog is still her favourite toy and she's also still quite obsessed with feet but slowly learning there's other exciting things out there, especially our wizard and dragon hand puppets.

This month we're been all over the place with ten days in Greece, four days in Canterbury and three days in Stoke. She met lots of new people and was very well behaved most of the time.

She's also much, much more vocal and cries a lot less which gives Mummy and Daddy's ears a bit of a rest and means that she's a bit more understandable.

Finally, she now has a proper room of her own that's decorated just for her and here, as promised are some pics (and yes I know I could do with more hooks on the curtain but I need to get some more rings)...

A Minor Miracle

I haven't posted this before because I've been a bit worried about tempting fate (not that I'm superstitious really but better to be safe than sorry I always think)

Anyway the big news is that DD is totally able to go to sleep herself and has been doing so for over a week now! No fuss, no bother, no crying, we just put her in bed and she lies there having a chat with herself and after about ten mins she goes to sleep.

All the worry we had about how hard it was going to be to get her to do this and she just did it on her own. I don't know if it's got anything to do with her being in the same room as me in her travel cot for a few days when I was decorating her room because nothing else in her routine has changed to bring this on. Or maybe she's just big enough now that she's more comfortable being on her own.

Whatever it is though I'm not knocking it. Plus we've been bringing her bedtime forward slowly but surely and that together with the clock change means that she's now in bed at 8.00pm and she sleeps through till 7.00am. This is perfect for when I'm back to work so until she starts sleeping a bit longer (I guess when solids are introduced and also when she's moving more) this'll be her bedtime.

I'm sure there'll still be plenty of nights where she wakes up but knowing that I can put her in her cot awake is a great feeling. She's also gone to bed awake during the day and gone to sleep no probs then as well.

In other news she's now constantly demonstrating her new trick of rolling over. She did her first back to front roll last wednesday and has been unstoppable ever since. She's also making serious efforts to get moving whilst on her front but I guess it'll be a while yet before she manages that.

Tomorrow is five months old so I'll post a piccie then together with some of her new room.

Magic Boobs

For the last five months I've been the owner of a pair of magic boobs. Milk flowed at the push of a button (or rather the suck of a nipple) and all was good in the world.

Well, all was not that good. Sometimes the milk flowed without warning. Sometimes the milk squirted DD in the eye at twenty paces it was so eager to get out. Sometimes DD wanted so much milk that it seemed to be flowing constantly. 4.00am feeds were a killer. Then there was the 24/7 bra wearing that was tantamount to torture.

However, all that was offset with the fact that nothing compared to having her lying next to me getting her dinner. For those times the feeling was totally selfish, she was mine, and only mine, because no one else could do this for her. She could love other people for cuddles, kisses, warmth but nobody else provided the food.

Okay, so that's not strictly true, she was only exclusively breast fed for a few weeks as I introduced bottles early on. However I controlled the bottles and for a long time it was only one in the evenings given by Daddy.

But it all had to end sometime and I chose my going back to work as the trigger. Since our trip to Greece DD has been having more bottles and less breast and for the last week it's been one breast feed only in the mornings. Well this morning was the last morning.

The magic boobs are no more. From tomorrow it's five bottles a day and Mummy gets her boobs back (and more to the point can go to bed without a bra on).

Current medical thinking says you should breast feed till six months but I think that all the extra hassle required just for one or two feeds a day (or, heaven forbid, expressing!) is not worth it. Five months is more than okay and most health care professionals seem stunned we've made it this far.

I know that I was lucky to be able to breast feed and lucky that DD soon settled down into short feeds of about 25 mins at a time which made it much easier. But I also know she's happy on the bottle and I don't have to feel guilty about not making the full six months. Yes I'll probably miss the actual feeding but I sure won't miss the bonus features as listed above that could drive me to distraction.

So we've got a week to both adjust during which we've got to try and sort out a routine for work mornings. Luckily as she'll be having a bottle feed DBF will be able to assist with the feeds while we all rush around like headless chickens getting ready...

Time flies

When you have a baby...

It seems like only a couple of weeks ago I was finishing work for my six months maternity leave and here I am on the brink of going back!

I officially return to work on 7th November so the rest of this week and all of next is packed with all the things I have to do before I go back (Dr's appointments, car service, visiting friends, etc) and so the last few days will fly by.

DD is going to nursery. I'm lucky two ways, one that I work on a hospital campus and the nursery is five minutes from my office and two that my accommodating boss is allowimg me to work one day a week from home so fridays I'll be home attempting to get work done around DD. I'm not sure how it's going to work but that's the initial plan and we'll see how it goes.

People keep asking me how I feel about going back and I really don't know. I'll admit that my mind could do with the stimulation but DD is also just starting to get interesting so I really don't know if I'd be happy staying at home for longer or not.

It's not really an option anyway as I could have another six months at home but I wouldn't get paid and we can't afford to not have my salary. Next year is going to be quite expensive for us so we really need to get my salary back to full strength (I'm on half salary at the moment) and get on with saving.

I think it'll be good for DD too. She spent a bit of time with other little children at the weekend and she really loved them being around. I'm not one for mother and baby groups really so if she didn't do nursery she'd kind of be deprived of other kiddie contact.

She's such an outgoing baby too that I have no worries about her being okay with other people but I admit it'll be a huge wrench to leave her.

By the way, Lorna, I haven't ignored your comment and will post some pics of the new room but after the weekend when we've got the curtains up and the light fitting changed.