Now we are 1

Now that Lily is one things have changed for her and I. My little tiny baby is not such a baby anymore. Her little personality is developing and we are seeing more and more of it every day.

Now we are 1

I love to kiss and hug people. I love to give loves and pat peoples hair and heads. sorry aunty Ronnie but its one of the few kissey photos i have so i needed to put it up

I can crawl really , really fast but even better i can take steps. In fact today I did 7 in a row and I am walking around hanging onto everything

I can also ride on my new trike that I got from my mummy and daddy for my birthday. I hold onto the handles and they push me around. I love it

I now eat most things and love my food. Today we went to a greek cafe and I had 7 black olives. Everyone could not believe it!!!

I am getting very good at making people laugh as well. I do funny things like showing my teeth off or pulling a funny face and everyone laughs and i laugh with them. I am so happy all the time

I am really enjoying reading my books even more now and point to them so I can have my bedtime story. I also watch " in the night garden" on tv. I really love it but I think mummy and daddy love it more. they just sit there mesmarised telling me about Iggle piggle, upsy daisy , macca pacca and the tombly boos. My daddys favorite is the train called the ninky nonk. they took me to hamleys on Friday to see the window

I can babble and laugh and say some words like mama , dada and baba but most amazingly to my mummy I understand everything . I am so active now and I can sit and stand on everything , be it dangerous or not, heres me the other day sitting on my shape sorter box. how clever
So far I love being one. I wonder what this year will bring.

its one of those months

You know those days where every bird is singing, the sun is shining and everything seems bright and beautiful. where are those days? they have abandoned me.

I am of course extremely depressed after a lovely holiday and suffering from withdrawal at my family and friends being so far away. I am comfort eating this week. I have a stash of lovely sweet things and as soon as I feel tearful I eat something!! Granted i think this can only cause more tears in the long run , probably in some awful marks and spencers changing room.

Over and above this down state the world keeps conspiring and throwing things I hate at me. the first being 2 days after I arrived back. Kristian was tucked up safely at work and I was in the kitchen about to feed Lily lunch. strolling over to the sink I thought " whats that"
At this point let me explain that I have arachnophobia. Spiders send me into uncontrollable shaking and crying.
Yes people a big, big spider was in my sink. not a normal size one. my heart started pounding and the sweating and crying was setting in. armed with only a hot tap and a plastic spoon I proceeded to bash this thing manically and spray it with hot water. at this point my plug had plunged down and when i was certain the thing was dead ( lots of legs were everywhere) I set about trying to pull up my plug with only a kitchen spoon.

So I set about my misery again unable to taste the sweet treat I was having to help me through the spider trauma due to my 10 million ulcers in my mouth and weird cut tongue. things started to look a bit better when Kristian and I went out to buy Lily her birthday gift ( a trike) a more upbeat post will follow this about that. We then had lunch with our friends Gav and Cath and Jason and Sandi in Blackheath village on Sunday and that was also lovely. and I had a lovely afternoon singing session and lunch in the park with Cath and Max which was also lovely.
But then the universe though NO. we must put something else in her way

As you may all know we are wanting to move to a 2 bedroom place. we live in a very expensive part of SE London and our flat is lovely. it was a bargain at the time. So we email our landlords to say we want to move and will not be renewing. OK they say so we must be out by 25 September but he will give a month over but no rollover leases anymore.
Panic stricken we begin to look around at places and very soon realize that the compromise we have to make for an extra bedroom is extreme. We went to look at a place in Lewisham ,which should have tipped me off already, it was diabolical. I just came home and cried and cried.
After a lot of talking and planning we have decided to remain here in our flat.
suits me as I hate any sort of change and I know the area. We will now have a bit of money left at month end as well which was the major problem.

I am hoping today is a better day. so far I feel upbeat as I don't need to pack or move AGAIN and the sun is shining. Lily looks so cute reading her book she found in the bookshelf. Wit her around you cant be blue for long.....

the perfect holiday

Lily and Grandad sitting behind the bar


The fabulous foursome. Veronica, Steven, Kristian and Wendy out for dinner V's 30th

~Well we all knew it would come to an end eventually. Someone told me once with every high there is a low. A very pessimistic person i would say but I must tell you in this instance it is true.

For weeks we all counted sleeps and got so excited and then the day finally came and we arrived in my beloved Cape Town to all these wonderful people who we miss so much. We had the most glorious 5 weeks. It was a well timed holiday as we included my daddy's 60Th birthday where we had a great party at my mum and dads house. then it was Lily's 1st birthday which was such a fabulous day. My darling friend , Veronica , phoned me the morning of her birthday to congratulate us on keeping a child alive for a year! Lily had her party and her birthday in the same house as I had mine 30 years ago. I love that, don't you? I love traditions like that and family heirlooms. I have instructed my parents that they are not allowed to sell the house as one day perhaps Lily's daughter will have hers there!

We then had Veronica's op which i agree is not exactly a pleasant thing but I was so glad I could be there to support her and make her laugh a little.

We were there for little Adams 1st birthday party as well. Lilys first party she has attended. she loved it especially those wagon wheel biscuits!!

My dear friend Caroline was heavily pregnant through all these events and I was hoping and praying that she would give birth and be out of hospital so that I could cuddle the baby.As it turned out Amy Paige Avnit was born on her due date on 24 August ( my prediction by the way) Veronica and I were lucky enough to sneak in for a visit when Amy was only hours old. She is a beautiful baby.

Finally Veron turned 30 on the 30th August. We had a lovely day that day and had a fab dinner at a restaurant called Saigon in Kloof street. I had a yellow chicken curry with sweet potato and steamed basmati rice. Absolutely divine and such a lovely restaurant.

the saturday before we left saw the infamous purple party. lots of booze and fun was had by myself as I danced the night away with all the energy given to me via jaeger bombs. This is a tot of jaegermeister with some red bull. Quite lethal!!

the best bit of the whole holiday was everybodys bonding with Lily. Her Nana and Grandad love her so much and they developed all these little games and routines with her. She loved it and could not wait to get out of bed in the morning to go and play with them. Her Uncle Ands had a tougher time due to his loud laugh. She was not keen on it at all but thawed eventually. she loved her aunty Ronnie and Uncle Steven as well and gave them many many loves. In fact she was so divine the whole holiday and is so grown up now. I think going away like that really makes them change and grow.

We had her first steps on the 30th august and since she is getting braver and braver. Her grasp of what we are saying is amazing. shes a bright cookie.

So now we are back in England leaving the joys of Cape Town behind. I struggle immensely with this and have found this time to be my worst. loads of ulcers have sprung up on my gums and my tongue feels like is has been sliced up. I am assuming this is stress. along with a stinking cold I am not a happy bunny. I will soldier through for now. A very wise person told me recently that sometimes trying to control a situation leads to it being worse. I should give my problem over to the universe and angels and trust that what is best will happen for me. I have taken this on board and hope to be living in Cape Town in the near future!!

Thank you to all of our friends that made our visit so special. I really miss you all so much already

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we is ladies who lunch!!!

KRISTAN AND I AT THE WORLD OF BIRDS
MUM ,DAD, ANDREW , MYSELF AND LILY AT THE WOB
AFTER A GREAT DINNER AT CLIVE AND NICCIS
LILY WITH HER NANA AND GRANDAD

Hello all

I finally have 5 minutes to update you on our Cape Town holiday. It has been busy , busy here and we have had a ball. 4 weeks have flown by and we have only a week and a bit left. this is the stage where I start to get weepy and have a constant lump in my throat. As much as I try and stop it I feel as though I will burst into tears at any second. Caroline is going to have little baby Avnit soon and that may send me over the edge as babies and childbirth are a major trigger for me LOL.

We are about to go our for lunch again in a half hour or so. what Lily and I will do when we are back to sandwiches in the lounge is a mystery. she just loves eating out as do I!!! almost every day we find ourselves somewhere and she gets perched in her highchair which fits onto the table and she has whatever we are eating. On Wednesday Kristian and I went to the Waterfront with her and we had pancakes at the pancake house at the clocktower. yesterday we went to Cavendish and I had the lunch buffet at woolies. It was all sort of curried stuff. she loved it. had chicken and fish cake and the rice with korma. hilarious.

So we have become the ladies who lunch . Today we are off to the Cape quarter to look around. I have been but its Kristians first time. For those who don't know its a centre in the old cape quarter at the top of town which has great little shops and restaurants and a wonderful vibe.

As you can imagine my diet has taken a severe hit and I feel i have picked up weight but I really don't care as I am having a ball and as soon as I am back on English soil(sob) I will start again and lose the rest of this wretched weight.

We had our first dinner out the other day as well. My dad took us to the casino and we went to wang thai where I had the most divine tamarind duck with basmati rice. Mum , Veronica and I then went to the roulette table for a spin and we all did rather well and had a great time. dad played poker as did Steven and Kristian played the star wars machine ( what else ?) where he won R300 and then lost it all again. Ands sat with us for a while playing the outside bets on the roulette table but his surly expression did nothing for the table jovial mood and he gave it up[ eventually to go home. I think the gambling gene is not strong within him.

No walking from Lily Luby yet but she walks along holding things at great speed and is just delightful at the moment. I still cannot believe she is a one year old. the things she has learnt in a year are amazing and the joy she gives us all even more so.

have a good weekend everyone

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Happy Birthday Lily Grace!!!!

Yes the day has arrived. My little baby has turned 1 year old. Last year she was a tiny helpless bundle with a shock of black hair and this year she is a bundle of fun . laughing , babbling crawling, walking along with her little pram and just being adorable!!!

Yesterday we had her first birthday party which started with her being very tearful with all the faces and noise but she perked up considerably when the present opening started ( definitely my child) and from there had a ball.

Thank you to all the special people in her life that came to celebrate her first year with us. It was so great to have you there. Lily was so spoiled by you all.

So I have the big day ahead of me. I feel so emotional today, I cant believe that something so precious and beautiful has been given to me. she brings me so much joy everyday. surely I am the luckiest person in the world!!

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I'm here I'm here!!!

No, I have not fallen from earth and deserted all my blogging buddies. (You will be happy now Nicci, she has been telling me I have been neglecting my blog)

We have arrived in Cape Town in a flurry of excitement and have been here over a week already. It has been wonderful to see everyone. We are so blessed as we fall into all of our friendships so easily and its like we never left ( we can dream!)

Lily was an angel on the flight over and laughed and squealed as the plane took off, the Adrenalin junkie she is. She then slept beautifully in her bassinet while her mummy and daddy were trapped behind it in very small chairs unable to lift the TVs out. I luckily had Harry to read but Kristian , desperate for entertainment watched his TV at an angle.

The week has been filled with activity. My dad turned 60 on 30 July. We had a lunch in Franchoek and this past Saturday a very enjoyable party. I started it out with one of my brothers cocktails. an espresso martini. The combination of espresso coffee and alcohol was quite potent on me as I don't drink coffee or much alcohol of late. I was so red that Caroline thought I had had a sunbed session gone bad. I had a GREAT time though.

We had a lovely dinner at Caroline and Craig's as well where she outdid herself with a beautiful table arrangement and divine food. Lily came with us and slept in Sandra's study and never woke up once. such a good girl.

We have spent lots of time with Steven and Veronica who both Kristian and I miss terribly. we used to do everything together when we lived here and have know each other for 10 years although I have know Veronica for ( pause to put brain in to gear) 17 years. Kristian and Steven have been friends for 16 years. So we have a lot of years there. Veronica and Caroline are my oldest girlfriends and I miss them so much. Just to have that female company and laughs.

We have also spent time with Clive and Nicci our good friends, we had a very funny evening at Ste and Ron's last week. our first baby free evening for many months. It was bliss and we had a great time.

So as you can see I have a very good excuse for being such a bad blogger. We have a lot of lovely things happening this week as well so I will update you all soon with that.

Here are a few pictures of us on our holidays

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I've gone potty!!!!

I just want to express my great excitement at the release of the final Harry Potter book. Harry Potter and the deathly hallows. Kristian has bought me a copy which is reserved at waterstones in Greenwich and we plan to go down later to collect it. In the past I have been there at 12 when all the excitement is at its peak but this time was unable to do so.

How on earth I am going to read it , look after Lily, have the weekend with Kristian's mum and pack our cases is beyond me but believe me I will do it. once I start one of those damned books I am up till all hours reading.
YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a weekend in nature

Playing on the Hamleys playmat

Harry Potter film in Leistersquare
All ready for my day out!

As some of you may know , and others not, I am not a very sporty person delighting in working my body and sweating like a pig . I , for one , have never had that "high" that comes from a good workout and the thrill of winning is confined to boardgames ( I am manic with those though)



I am finding though that motherhood requires a fair amount of physical activity. lifting , picking up , throwing into the air and the like. Also, things that kids like to do seem to be outdoors so Kristian and I have decided to try and take Lily to do things around us... outdoors.



She loves to crawl around now and there is only so much shopping an 11 month old will tolerate (sigh).

We did start our weekend with shopping, we went into London to go to Hamleys. I have a childhood memory of going to Hamleys with my parents and getting this doll with red hair. she was such a beautiful doll and still lives in my cupboard ( I hope ...mother). I thought as Lily was turning 1 she needed a doll from there that she could keep. Hamleys is one of my favorite places. I just love toys. i was so disappointed with the dolls though as they were all baby dolls and not girl dolls if you see what I mean. so no doll .

We did have a ball on the baby floor though as Lily tried out all the toys on this big mat they have with all sorts of things to play with. To my amusement she seemed to like the sweeping brush the best and strangely seemed to know what to do with it. I am hoping this isn't that she is a cleaning freak and more of a harry potter magical thing.



Saturday was the first of our outdoorsy bit. We have some woods near us called Oxleas wood. I have been told its really nice for a walk so off we set. It was lovely, there was a big open green bit which we sat on at first whilst Lily crawled at speed down the grass slope till she lost her balance and rolled , which created much laughter from her and us. after that we went off into the woods. at this point let me point out that even though I hate physical exertion, I love the outdoors, but Kristian is none too keen on the great outdoors, he prefers the wilds of the shops.

You would have sworn we had stumbled into the blair witch project. he was so panicky thinking we were going to get lost. We had a scare at one point when he lost cell phone coverage and then again when he had a face off with a bumble bee!!!

He was so pleased when we got back to the open green bit and he could see the car and go to have a coke in the restaurant. I mean how wild is a woodlands that has a restaurant?



Today we stuck to the more familiar surroundings of Greenwich park. It was gorgeous! a brass band were playing in the bandstand and everyone was sitting on the grass enjoying it all. We had a brief thunderstorm for about a half hour and then it cleared again and we walked around the park for a while.



So a little bit of exercise for me and a lot of the outdoors which did feel great and gave me that much talked about "high"

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

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