11 months ago

I was pushing with all my might!!!

Yes we are just 1 month away from Lily turning one. All of a sudden one becomes nostalgic about the newborn baby days even though at the time I swore it was never happening again as i tried to soothe lily in her 5 hour colic fit!!!

I have brought out all the old clothes and looked at the photos with a tear in my eye. its all gone so fast, too fast really. This morning Lily had a bottle of moo juice (cows milk) as I am now weaning her from formula as our trip draws closer it will be easier and she has such a varied diet that I have no anxiety over that. Kristian and I felt so sad. he has made those bottles for 11 months every night. starting with 6 a day to now ...2 a day. when we arrived home from the hospital I was in a terrible state, so shocked by Lily's birth, sore from my c section and struggling with a baby that had not latched more than twice in 2 days. I sat on the bed with her , no top on and cried my heart out. Kristian and I and my mum had a discussion and then i spoke with Kristian's mum and decided that i was going to formula feed. My bleeding nipples rejoiced and Kristian set about trying to figure out the sterilising unit and bottles and how to make up a feed. easy you might think but we had never done it and mum had 25 years since she had and a lot changes. He did it beautifully and was, still is, so precise with his sterilising and making of the feeds. he does it every night for me without fail so I think this stopping sterilising and cows milk has really thrown him.

Oh yes Lily took to a bottle very well and was so happy that we were finally feeding her.

So I thought I would do one of my little updates on lily now so here goes...........

Lily at 11 months

Weight: no idea I have been very bad and not had her weighed for ages. she is quite tall though but always has been 56cm at birth. that's one long baby!

Feeding:

2 bottles a day , morning and night. porridge with fruit puree for breakfast. bread and cheese or tuna salad and lots of fruit for lunch. in fact lately all she wants for lunch is fruit. we are still loving strawberries but the current fav is raspberries which she picks from the bowl and stuffs in her mouth one at a time. loves grapes and melon. in fact any fruit. tuna is still a fav as well as scrambled eggs and ham and cheese. today when out I had this slice if foccacia with spinach and roast red pepper. she had so much of it. was gobbling the spinach by itself!!

dinner is still fish and mash with any veg or butternut risotto. she likes cous cous as well. she had some pasta the other day and liked that too

sleeping

aaaaarrrrgggg. lily sleeps like an angel always has, however we still have the early mornings. I think some bird gene lurks within her. This morning she woke at 6:30 so I was so happy today. I know its probably a one off but it beats the hell out of 5:30!!! 2 naps in the day about an hour each but I think she is trying to go down to one as its all been a bit fraught but I am sure it will work out

Likes:

sitting with mummy on her lap and pulling her hair and squishing her nose and face on mummies face. standing up on the side of the table. in the bath and especially against the end of the bed when i am making it as then the duvet goes over her head and she squeals. when I smooth it out she does that too:)

brushing her hair, walking along with her walking trolley, her books with flaps and textures, tickles from daddy, being chased, fake coughing ( yes FAKE) and fake laughing, going out anywhere, the swings , getting out of bed in the morning, her muslin cloth

dislikes:

napping, having her face wiped, being in a seat longer than she deems necessary , falling over otherwise she is happy , happy

so that's it then. this last weekend we went to see Kristians mum, Michele. in Bournemouth. she has moved to a new place and we wanted to see it before we left for Cape Town. We met her in Bournemouth and Lily went onto the beach. She was ok ,but it was fairly windy and I think this photo says it all

after this we went to have dinner. this was Lily's first dinner out. she was a star she had a kiddies pizza which she almost finished with a bit of help and then some ice cream. all the staff loved her and were watching her eating her pizza. she was a joy. we were out of there by 6:30 ( hoe things change) and she went home and had her bath then. I am quite stuck in my routine at times and it felt good to change it a bit and be more relaxed. it was good for her too. something different to see and do

so here are some pics of that

home is where...

The heart is? , you pay the mortgage? , your stuff is?
I have been pondering "home" for a few days now since I went onto one of the blogs that I found on Roo's blog via Ron's blog (shoo) she is a lady living in Italy. She is not Italian, but has moved from her homeland many years ago and travelled a lot. she no longer feels her birthplace is her home and at times feels like a foreigner or stranger where she lives now.
I felt so sad for her that she had no place to call home, no place to feel at home.

For me my home is so important. I am a taurean and I like my roots to go way down and anchor me to the earth never to move (or be swayed). I have a place I live here in England. I make it homey and comfortable and I surround myself with things that are special or meaningful to me, I do like it and I feel at ease here,but its not my home.

My home is a place where the sky is blue and clear, I can smell the sea and occasionally the wind blows like mad, limping car guards are given money for looking after my car, when I know that if anything happened they would not stand a chance, you spend all your time at the traffic lights(or robots as they are really called) shaking your head vigorously to avoid buying the latest hat that has fan and sprinkler system included,
Its a place where I can relax totally and feel at peace as my family and friends are nearby and we all get each other and understand what it is to call trousers ,pants :)

There is a friendliness in Cape Town that perhaps you don't realise exists until you live elsewhere . There is this easygoing vibe that makes me happy, along with the beautiful weather , amazing places to see and all my lovely, special people.

So if you have got to the end of this post and survived all my babbling I am here to tell you that I am so excited to be going home. no matter where I am based or what I do ,Africa and Cape Town will always be in my blood and it will always be "my home"

Anyone for tennis?

Yes, June has come and gone now . The rain has poured from the heavens. This can only mean one thing , it must be Wimbledon.


I decided this year that I must take opportunities when I can. I will not be living in London forever and then I would always regret things I did not do. Wimbledon was the one and only tennis tournament I always watched. Its like a legendary tournament isn't it? I used to sit in front of the tv with my puzzle and hot chocolate.


I mentioned to my tennis mad friend ,Jenny, that I wanted to go ,and of course so did she so the 2 of us set out bright and early,her from west London and me from SE London. We met at Wimbledon station at 8ish and found the shuttle bus to the grounds.





When you arrive it is really easy to find the end of the queue and we joined it being given a queue card. I was number1956. There is such a great vibe there. Much to my relief it did not rain and the queue moved quickly. There was even some excitement with a man and van stopped outside the grounds. He was obviously unauthorized ,and of course it was the morning of the car bomb threat. after much loudspeaker booming "move now" a police van swooped up dragged him from the car and bundled him into the police van. he will never do that again will he!


anyhow, I digress, we got in at about 11 and had a ball. we went to court 2 to watch the Henin game and generally milled about soaking in the atmosphere. we were very lucky when watching a smaller game that we turned around and Andy Roddick was using that court to warm up with his coach Jimmy Conners there. We watching him for about a half hour whilst Jenny nearly wet herself. 52 photos later we went to have some strawberries and cream which were delicious , and I have since found out that my friend Jasons company supplies them so thanks Jas.


We washed that down nicely with a large Pimms and lemonade yum yum.





Then off to henman hill to watch the Federer match and see Greg Rodetski(sp) cue more peeing from Jenny and a mad frantic rush for her camera, a pen and her programme. I kid you not poor Greg may still be recovering from this mad woman in a yellow jumper stuffing a camera in his face. I am still awaiting this photo from Jen but when I get it I will post it and you will see what I mean.





All in all the most fabulous day. here's me with my strawbs

The groundsPimms for the ladies

You may wonder where I left Lily when all this frivolity was going on, well she had a daddy day and loved it. they went to the park and all sorts.

Lily is now walking along with her little walking trolley thing. Its quite amazing how she is growing and changing. Yesterday when she was sitting with me as I was drying my hair I looked over and she had hold of my brush and was "brushing" her hair.

She has such a sense of humour now and tries so hard to get us to laugh. if she sees something she has done has made us laugh she will repeat it over and over.

Her early waking has reached ridiculous heights. I am at the end of my very short tether. The other morning she woke at 4 30 and I just carried on laying her down until she went off again but 6 is the latest she will go. so if anyone has any ideas they will be gratefully received

We went for lunch with friends Gavin and Catherine today and Kristian met baby Max for the first time. Jason and Sandi were there as well and we had a lovely lunch and both the babies were very well behaved. there was much baby talk and some adult talk (and how) and a mad nappy changing episode where Gavin was going to "show " Jason how to change a nappy . after screams of "no ahhh max "and the like I went into the room leaving Cath holding her head in the lounge to find poor baby Max covered in poo, the mat covered in poo , Jason handing pieces of tissue to Gavin who was wiping and then adding to the mountain of poo tissue at Max's head. Jason and Gavin are of course crying with laughter as Max decided to have his days ablutions as soon as his dad took his nappy off. All was well 10 minutes later and Max came into the lounge again freshly dressed in a new outfit and smelling lovely .

here are some more Lily photos awwww isn't she adorable?

Eating a whole peach she found in the fruit basket

Sitting with aunty Sandi today

just what do you think you are doing , mummy?

playing on the couch

and finally, Lily's new favorite thing. the touchy feely books. I have a lovely collection of books for Lily already. before she was born her aunty caroline gave her the Winnie the pooh box set. and Aunty Flo and Uncle David gave her the beginnings of her Beatrix Potter collection. she has a fab treasury book as well. However at this age she will not sit still long enough for a full story so I have begun her book reading sessions with these board books that have sections cut out for her to feel textures. The above photo is her feeling the Dolly's silky bows.

Well I am best off to bed soon as I anticipate an early morning again with my little angel. hope you all had a wonderful weekend and will look forward to all the new blog posts

xxxxx

the weekend * yawns*

I have just collapsed here in front of the computer to upload my photos and update my blog. I am officially exhausted. We have had a lovely weekend again. weekends never disappoint with Lily around as she loves to be with both her mummy and daddy. More people to love and admire her you see!



I have been up at 5 every morning with Lily waking up for some unknown reason. I am delaying giving her a bottle as i think 5 is still a night feed but I tell you she is having none of it and cries really loudly until she gets it, however worse than that is the fact she WILL NOT go back to sleep. Its very frustrating and unlike her. Therefore I am very crabby.

That was all made better on Saturday when we met friends Jason and Sandi on the Southbank for lunch. we went to a restaurant called giraffe, which is a chain that my brother Andrew used to work for when he lived in London. great food, lots of rose wine (for me) and good company made for a great afternoon. they treat the kids so well there as its very child friendly and Lily got given a balloon which was treated with much suspicion by the aforementioned. She was a little tired( I wonder why) so we eventually had to put her in her pram for a little nap but she was good as gold the whole day.

Today has been filled with cooking and housework, which my dear friend Veronica tells me is one of the 7 deadly sins on a Sunday. however we have a lovely clean flat and freezer filled with Lily dinners so I feel happy.



We have had a lovely 2 hours now just before bed where we were playing with Lily. eventually we are all crying with laughter. who would have thought a baby could be so funny and have such a little sense of humour. shes a delight to be around and we cannot wait to show her off In Cape Town again.



I think yesterdays boozy lunch is still got me in her grasp as I feel quite woozy so am off to sit in front of Glastonbury and eat my lovely chicken and fresh pasta and herbs. yay I love Sunday nights.

spot the difference

Here is a 1 week old Lily in her bugaboo pram

And here she is yesterday laying in it as I cleaned it all ready to sell. boo hoo

The spoilt little girl

Yes, That's my little girl!

She deserves it though for being the most divine creature on earth. The spoiling began at the beginning of last week when we bid on a new pushchair on ebay. We presently have a bugaboo, the most amazing pushchair/pram, however after 10 months of putting it up and down we really wanted an easy ,small one to fit into the back of the car. The bugaboo has served its purpose and we have loved it but its off to a good home to some other ebayer soon.

Then on Wednesday we had an appointment with mothercare for a new forward facing car seat. It seems like just the other day we got the infant carrier!. she is now over the weight limit and staring at the back of a seat is not very interesting for a little girl who is very interested in the world around her.

After a fraught 2 hours trying every seat in our car the poor woman finally found one that actually fit properly and off we went into the shopping centre for a day out. I was baked by the sun outside. I had no idea car seat fitting was so complicated.

Here she is in her little seat.........

Lily's last bit of spoiling was her first pair of shoes. (complicated once again) they are called cruisers as she is cruising( walking holding onto things) therefore the shoes must still be very soft and flexible and not too small. her size is a 2 1/2 E. they are the cutest things LOOK.........

Otherwise all is well. We have been away to Lily's nana for the weekend which was nice bar the awful weather we are having.It may shock you but its raining again.

Lily is being a little charmer and has us in stitches. her new game is chasing me around the couch. she squeals with delight when she catches me and then head butts me for some reason. I am of course getting all my exercise this way. who knew crawling was such hard work. she is just so mobile now its frightening but she keeps us well and truly entertained.

On my weight loss front I lost 5 .5 pounds the week before last but stayed the same this week. I have lost over a stone now and am very chuffed. I am finally feeling a little more comfy and my baby belly is shrinking a bit. wow only 9 months for that to start happening

hers a few of the monkey chasing me

xxxxxxxxxxx

bedtime battles

Tonight we have had a victory. I have been pondering victory through life, when you are a toddler its walking or tying your shoe laces. Then at school, its school achievements or sport ,and then onto higher education its a whole new ball game. Your work life is peppered with small victories and promotions and then...............you have a baby and victory is getting them to eat a small piece of broccoli!!

We have had a very unhappy little girl at bedtimes. she is just having such a ball during the day that when night time arrives she just does not want it to end ( haven't we all been there?)

Lily has always gone to bed so beautifully, but the only certainty with parenthood, I have discovered, is that it can all change in the blink of an eye.Change it did and we had to take action as she was going off at 8 eventually and we were so stressed.

I had spoken to Verons sister Nicola and she asked me if I was doing the controlled crying correctly. sheepishly I admitted no. I just cant leave her , it breaks my heart. She told me it took 4 nights with Dylan and he was on track. sigh.................. you all know what I had to do :(

We tweaked it somewhat in that when we went in to her we picked her up calmed her down and then put her back down.this is called the pick up /put down method. yes it has a name.

We did it for 2 nights . first night it took 7 gos in and out . then yesterday it was 4 . tonight Kristian put her down and turned her on her side . gave her her muslin and went out. and...........yippee she went to sleep not a peep.

now its for me to continue it and not be a woes!!!

here's some new pictures of princess Lily Luby...........We LOVE her SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much

A lily update

Yes its that time again. the time for you all to be bored with details of my beautiful daughter and all the fabulous things she can do!

here goes

Lily Grace Humble

Age: 9 months 3 weeks old

Eating:

lily is doing fabulously with her eating. all my hard work making and pureeing has paid off and she will eat almost anything ( bar sweet potato and chocolate) her favs are butternut rissoto , fish and mash with tomatoes and cheese and a variety of veg, all fruit, sandwiches with dairylea, and of course her all time fav ,avo. she has also been introduced to scrambled egg now which she loves and makes for an easy lunch of supper. yogurt always goes down well.

She will hold and eat things with not much mess. her actual meals are lumpy and textured now and she loves it. I mash most things.

Sleeping:

still does her 11 - 12 hours. she is on an 11 hour thing at the moment and we are having a few bedtime dramas but she is so good on the whole but goes through these sleeping phases and then the next week she fights the sleep again. I learnt a long time ago to go with the flow and let her have what she needs. I could however do without the 5 30 wake up call. lily , if you are reading! her naps are still only 45 min to an hour. she has 2 a day. sometimes, once a week she will have an hour and a half in the afternoon.

mobility:

her crawling has taken off , literally, she moters around the flat so fast that she "trips" over her arms sometimes. she is really exploring things and is quite obsessed with the kitchen and all its cupboards. we have now babyproofed some of the house like the cleaning cupboards and her drawers as they are on runners and if she got her fingers caught in them it would be nasty. she is standing now as well, supported of course. she can pull up on anything that stands still for long enough and has started to wobble her legs a bit and try to step forward or back :)

so all in all she is very mobile shall we say.

cute stuff she can do:

clap hands , listen to the command "clap your hands "and do it , wave at everyone but especially herself in the mirror, giggle insanely at the wierdest things(yesterday me chasing a fly to kill it- bad karma yes yes I know but they are annoying) , say mama , dada , baba and a variety of other sounds, chat to things like books and birds, crawl really fast after birds. at this juncture you may have sensed a bird theme. I don't know if its just Lily but this child seems obsessed with birds. Looking at the amount of kids throwing large chunks of bread at innocent ducks at the park I am assuming children like birds. she can squeeze her bath toys now and is getting really good with grasping things. she passes things to us and then holds out her hand to get them back.

likes:

the swings, being sung to,exploring , birds , tickles ( she lies really still and closes her eyes while you tickle her ) , eating all her favorite foods, going for walks in her pram

dislikes:

sweet potato , going to bed , napping for longer than an hour , getting into her pjs after her bath , getting out of the bath

So thats it, lily in a nutshell

Here in the humble valk household we have recently got a webcam and mic and are now chatting away to mum and dad and Steven and Veronica. It has been really fun as they have been able to see lily and all her cuteness.

other news is Congratulations to our friends Gavin and Catherine on the birth of their little boy , Max Davis, I have yet to see him but he looks amazing on his photos. Gav came to have a beer with us last night and after we left Kristian and i spent ages discussing and reliving Lily's birth and early days. Something that will be happening for many ,many years to come I am sure

Nana Fi has gone home

Yes she has left on a jet plane this evening. We had a drink this afternoon and then drove to heathrow to drop her off .

We have had the most wonderful time with her. Lily loves her as she sings and plays with her all the time.

since my last post we have been very busy. we were away in wiltshire over the bank holiday weekend. Good food and wine and excellent company led to a wonderful weekend in beautiful rural setting. Lily loved it all and got on very well with everyone especially the little poodle , Lucy. she screeches at birds and small dogs now.

In the week we went into London 3 times. the first day we went to the national gallery and looked about. it was foul weather and we were rained on most of the time. the next day we met a friend of mine from SA, Jenny,in St James park where we had a fabulous picnic sitting on the deck chairs and then walked miles seeing Buckingham palace, and walking the north bank of the Thames. the weather was amazing for us .

Yesterday we went into London from Greenwich Pier on the boat. it drops you at the London eye. we then went up in that which affords you the best views of London. The highlight for me was the boat trip as you see London differently and it was just so relaxing. water does that to me.

So a very weary Wendy is saying goodnight tonight. Its been a wonderful 2 weeks... back to normal tomorrow. I will update on Lily tomorrow.

xxxx

swan lake and other lovely things

My apologies to all who check for a new post and are left frustrated by my lack of new material. I have been busy , busy the whole weekend doing fun things.

When I last blogged (or as my mother says podded. ?) I was about to go to see swan Lake a the royal opera house in Covent Garden. Lily had given mum and I a pair of tickets for Thursday night. I have never seen ballet like it. The royal ballet must be amongst the best in the world. you just want to cry its so beautiful. I have always been a fan of the ballet. it reminds me of my childhood as every Christmas I would go with my mum to the Nico malan all dressed up in my finest. I love sitting there clutching my programme whilst the orchestra tunes their instruments and then the thrill of the lights dimming and the curtain rising to show off some sumptuous set design.

The royal opera house is out of this world. its so ornate with rich red seating and a ceiling that looks like a wedgewood design. The sets were the best I have ever seen in anything including phantom of the opera which is my favorite and the dancing was spine tingling. I really had to gulp back some tears.

As you may have gathered I loved it. an experience of a life time, and one I hope to share with my daughter one day.

Friday morning saw us packing up our tiny noddy car and driving to Wiltshire where our friends Dave and Flo and her daughter Lee and her family live. we always stay with Lee and her husband Dave and her 2 daughters have recently moved onto a farm where their house is the converted stables. Its an acre of farm land and is stunning. it was wonderful to get some fresh air and be in the country. We had a weekend of amazing food , good company and lots of laughs. lily was a star charming the pants off everyone and being generally cute.

she has discovered that standing is a wonderful new trick and last night had me giggling (inside) when I went in as it was bedtime and she was crying and she had managed to pull up into standing in her sleeping bag and was hanging onto the cot bars crying at the bedroom door. I, of course ,could not laugh. I just had to put her down and say time for night night.

So we are going to enjoy our last days of fun with nana Fi before she goes back home on Sunday but we are feeling better about it as in 60 more sleeps w will be with all our special people in Cape Town. Grandpas, Uncles and honorary Uncles and Aunties.

just one last congratulations to Mari and Bob on the birth of their little boy , Bayden. We have all been waiting and are so excited for you. I hope he settles in and the 2 of you settle in quickly. Enjoy and remember I am only at the end of my blog if you need any advice

xx

nana fi is up and running

Hello people
I too have comment moderation ( see purple Ronnies blog) so no one nasty come on here!!
Well my mum now has her blog up and running and I have nearly pulled out all of my hair!
it started with me asking so whats your username and password?
she answers I don't know nanafi? so after much typing in of a variety of different usernames and passwords she finally remembered the right one and the rest as they say is history.
I have added her link on the left for anyone who wants to have a nosy. i hope you find her as amusing as I do.

We have had a fantastic day in London today. I have developed a love /hate relationship with London. It was the most glorious day today. clear skies and sun shining but not so hot that its unpleasant, just perfect. Mum , Lily and i set out on the train this morning into Victoria station. From there we took the bus to kensington gardens. I had to have photos taken for my dutch passport. this is the 4th set I have had done. all the others have been returned to me with a variety of unpleasant comments on them. this last one claimed my face was too wide! the last one claimed my ears were not visible. everytime i take them into my passport place and say no try this fork out a fiver and send them off. this time I have used their recommended photographer in kensington who charges £13 yes people £13 do any of you smell a rip off!! I am fuming and I better get the passport now as presently I am passportless and travelling in 65 sleeps!
Ok now my rant is over, after that we go into kensington gardens and we sat at the lake and fed the ducks. Lily was screaming at them. she loves birds flaps her arms around like a mad baby.she is so vocal at the moment she says mama , dada, nana , ye ye ba ba and various other sounds. She was delightful today and had a ball. We went to the princess Diana memorial fountain and splashed our feet which was great.
then we set off home . back to Victoria. It was filled with people and I mean filled. there had been some sort of fire so all the trains were being diverted from charing cross and London bridge leading to pandemonium. all the trains were being cancelled from Victoria for some reason and we waited and waited for a platform number for our train. It turns out that all the hundreds of people on the platform also wanted our train.
We had to squeeze onto it I was separated from mum as there was a seat and she has many ailments. I wanted lily safe so I gave her to mum and then i stood with the pram.then 40 people tried to squeeze onto the train. let me explain here that I am a very claustrophobic person. we were all sweating and I just wanted to kill everyone. then lily started to cry. we sat there for 15 min before the train departed. In short it was a nightmare and something i loathe about London. when the transport is good its very ,very good but when its bad its horrid.

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Well its been a whirlwind here at the moment. Nana Fi arrived fine and well last week with only a slight limp ! she has been amusing me with all of her faux pas's starting with putting brown sauce in her coffee as she thought it was brown sugar.

she has been having a ball with Lily singing away as she loves to do. She insists that lily loves it and to be honest I think she really does. Lily has a few favorite things at the moment that are keeping us entertained. firstly , drawers, not of the underwear sort but the sort that you store things in and open and close. these hold great appeal for Lily and now that she can crawl over to them she spends ages opening and closing them. I am starting to say AH AH to her and move her but it has no effect at ALL. secondly the radiator is just her best she sits there pounding on it. the third favorite thing is clapping. we just say "lily clap your hands" and she does. lastly she is quite fond of blowing large wet raspberries at us, which she finds highly amusing.

My picnic went very well on Sunday. We woke to sunny skies and spent the morning preparing our picnic plates. we all met at 12 :30 and made our way to the spot. We all had a wonderful day sitting around eating and drinking. By the time we arrived home I was shattered and spent the evening vegetating in front of the TV.

Today we went to the beautiful Canterbury. Its about an hour away from us and once again we had a lovely day , so sunny! we browsed around there and had our lunch in a park. it was a great day. my mother is now passed out on the couch. holidays plus baby are a tiring combination for a nana!

xxxxxxxxxx

It's my birthday!

Yes the 19th of May has come around and I have turned 30. I have had the most fabulous day. starting bright and early when Lily was so excited she woke up at 6 to wish me!

I then got up at dyed my hair in preparation for my birthday.(actually to get rid of my greys:( I am NOT being 30 and having greys)

Then I opened all my pressies. I was thrilled with them all. My wonderful husband to be gave me a tanzanite set in platinum with diamonds ...YES I actually got that. I nearly peed my pants.Then he got for my mum and me (from Lily) 2 tickets to the royal opera house to see swan lake the ballet. I LOVE the ballet and the royal opera house is amazing. I was SO spoiled.

Then, onto the train to the south bank of the Thames. we got off at Waterloo east and walked to the London eye. from there we walked along the bank and went to wagamamma this fab japanese restaurant. I had a noodle soup coconut based with prawns , chilli, ginger coriander. It was so divine. after that we went along the bank a bit further seeing those great statue people. You know the ones that dress up and and are so still they look like statues. The one was a dog. he had a table with a kennel on top and then his face sticking out like a dog. very funny....but perhaps you had to be there.

Anyhow I am pooped now off to watch any dream will do

here's some photos

xxxxx

going into labour soon? read this

Hello
I have a few readers that are going to go through labour quite soon. So Mari and Cath and later Caroline this is for you. I was reading magical beginnings ,Enchanted lives by Deepak Chopra and this bit really stood out for me. I wish I had had the book before I went through labour.

Birthing your way
There is no right or wrong way to birth your baby. As you move into the rigor of contractions , relinquish your attachment to how things should be and simply allow what is unfolding to occur.Be in your body and listen to what it needs. Flow with your breath and slow down. Take one contraction at a time and stay connected with your baby.Feel your support system around you. Listen to your needs,trust your instincts , and release into the process. release your worries and release your fears. stay present and trust that your birthing experience is unfolding exactly as it should.

from "magical beginnings, enchanted lives" Deepak Chopra

Sounds so simple but it can be difficult to remember that and not panic at times. I feel that that passage is vital in making birthing a positive experience. For me my attachment to the birth I tought I was going to have got in the way of the one i was having.
Good luck ladies and remember to breathe
xxxxx

Sorry Sue, I wished for it and i got it!

the Lilster is CRAWLING.
for weeks and weeks she has been on all fours rocking. then 2 days ago she moved her legs 3 times.
this morning we went to baby group. Lily was not much in the mood. wanted to sit on my lap all the time. Some stupid nanny who goes is trying to tell me to make her more independent , "rod for your own back". "they are manipulating you" etc came up blah blah ( but my feelings on all that are another post entirely!) anyhow we did the singing and did not even get a laugh with the okey kokey song!
then on arriving home I plonked her on the floor to use the loo and when i came out she was motering across the floor to get her blue duck!
Since then she has made it to the radiator to take the cap off. she loves the radiator! she has gone to the table pulled up and spilled all my ryvita on the floor. I could watch her all day. i am so excited for her. you can see how pleased she is as frustration was setting in so at 9 months and 2 days.LILY CRAWLS
I will post some photos of her later