The Great British Duck Race

The plan was to go to the duck race with some mummy chummy's however at about 9am this morning they texted me asking if we should cancel due to the peeing rain. I called back and after a bit of debating and motherly worrying about babies in the rain we decided to call it off.

I then flumped about the flat grumpng and plotting as I've had this pencilled into my diary for months, so in the end I decided that rubbish lungs and the great British summer were no match for me and that Edward and I would go and see how far we got!

As we walked out the flat and I realised just how much it was actually raining, and how out of breath I was already I quailed, however determined I told myself it wasn't far to the bus stop, I had a nice full tank of oxygen and the rain would pass soon. Without too much incident and with lots of help from a variety of kind people Edward and I made it to Hampton Court and down to the river bank.

Edward didn't have a rain cover and stupidly I didn't take a hat either, however I think we coped quite well with a hood fashioned out of a hanky and his changing bag pouch. I used his actual changing mat as a seat, you can tell I'm a real mother now, utterly resourceful :o)

Given all my 'umming and ahhing' I really thought we would have missed the 'grand' launch, however luckly we made it in time and actually had a lovely ten minutes sat in the rain waiting for the ducks to be 'unleashed'.....I say 'unleashed' but I really feel that may be a rather melodramatic way of putting things.




There were some audio-speakers near by and some local radio DJ's were commentating and letting people know what was happening. They were rather rubbish, however did their best to try and gee up the soggy crowd of spectators.

Eventually the finally coutdown began and out came the ducks! For a while they didn't seem to move very fast at all, and then they seemed to pick up speed as they got to the bridge. I suspect it may have just been due to perspective as once they were closer it was easier to see that they were actually moving.




It was quite exciting when they got close enough to see properly. Edward and I had a good peer over the edge to see if we could spot our ducks but funnily enough we didn't. Despite that we cheered ours along anyway aswell as my freind Dan's as he'd asked me to. There were definately ducks out in the lead, then the bulk of them following behind herded along by a team of canoeists.

As the ducks went by the weather picked up a little and there was even a little sunshine which was lovely. I wanted to see the end of the race but it wasn't very easy to follow the riverbank and I wasn't confident about being able to get back given how much it had taken just to get to the waterside. I decided it was better to leave early while I still had energy and was still enjoying myself than to push it and end up exhausted and miserable.



We got back to central London safely, again helped by lots of kind people and now I'm chilled out on the sofa looking forward to cuddles and Trigun later with the gorgeous sexy Luke.

It's good to be me :o)

Poppy Puppy Sitting

Some band are playing somewhere in the world and so once again it befell me to go and dog sit for the rents. Sadly not long after I went up last time little Bertie had to be put to sleep as he was just not getting any better, however he has since been replaced by Poppy the puppy soon to be joined by Carmen from Battersea.

The run up wasn't too bad, apart from the bit where my i-pod played 'Season's End' the first Marillion song I ever sang to Edward when he was just a few days old causing me to burst into tears! Alex, my brother, and his chum Tom picked me up from the station and we went and collected the sewing machine I won on ebay for a stunning £5! As I suspected, given its age, it is hideously heavy and I began to plot how on earth to get it home.

We then went to the supermarket and got some nice easy microwave food and a few other snacks including some rather scrummy jammy dodger bars which my friend Jo raves about all the time.

When we got in Poppy was terribly over excited and got caught between saying enthusiastic bitey jumpy hellos and piddling so opted for both at the same time....nice! After we'd sorted her out we made nachos and cheese and pizza and all headed out into the garden where we proceeded to stuff our faces and play with the pooch.

Late afternoon as it started to cloud over we headed inside, and I went for a nap. Not long after Alex got a call from his work (who technically he'd just worked his last shift for) and so he went off to that leaving Poppy in with me. She thought it was a fantastic opportunity to eat the contents of the guitar room, rather boringly on my part, I didn't agree and so took her back downstairs to the lounge where I proceeded to vegetate.

Alex eventually got home and we watched lots of youtube stuff together including a truly hilarious re-working of the Nickleback track 'Rockstar' it is too all intent and purposes the sequel titled 'Popstar'



I then headed to bed as my nap had been rather short-lived and puppy filled!

Saturday we both woke up around 7.30, I sorted the puppy while Alex got ready to go to Reading Festival with his girlie, it was nice though as we got the chance to eat breakfast together before he headed off.

The rest of the day was rather boring on the whole, I was really tired and the house was so messy and dirty it made my asthma really bad so I didn't feel well enough to move far without ending up gasping. So I read FHM and watched lots of really bad TV most of which I'm too ashamed to even name, however come the afternoon the x-factor marathon began and so I watched that and bitched about all the crazy loons with my sister on msn as she watched it, though she kept going off to the loo and to get food and stuff and so kept getting out of sync!

I also chatted with my chum Nick who I haven't spoken to for ages which was really awesome as though we often say 'hi' on msn we hardly ever have a proper conversation as we've both got a bit lazy, and I'm always distracted, I also have less to say these days as my life is happy and I'm content, sad that, you'd think I'd have more to say than when I was miserable.

Eventually I headed up to bed and took Poppy with me as she's not used to sleeping on her own yet. She had a really mad few minutes when she first got upstairs literally bouncing off the walls, but once the light was off she soon settled down. Overall though I didn't sleep well that night as I was so paranoid about her peeing on the new carpet also she kept waking and moving about and trying to cuddle my head.

At around 5am she finally woke up properly and started pawing me and the door so I took her out for a wee, and gave her some food and water. I then left her in the kitchen hoping it wouldn't be too weird for her as I figured it would just be like being left there when everyone goes off to work, as I REALLY needed more sleep as I was feeling so ill and it was so early. At about nine I woke to her whining so went down and let her out. She had attacked a plant and spread that all over the floor and more worryingly turned the oven on.... I was just SO glad it wasn't the hob as my parents have a huge gas range cooker, which like every other surface in their house also serves as a dumping ground for crap, if she'd hit the hob rather than the oven god knows what would have happened!

I cleaned up the murdered plant and we went back in the lounge and again vegetated till Alex got home with Emma and he then took me to the station, he helped me onto the train with the sewing machine so I didn't have to carry it far.

I chatted with a nice lady on the train who even offered me a lift home, however I didn't want to hold her up as I knew I was going to be slow and that I'd need a trolley for the machine. So when we arrived we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. When I got in I went straight on my bird and then had a sleep with some Oxygen for a few hours till I got woken to the delightful sound of Edward screaming his head off!!

It turned out he'd decided to remove his nappy and smear himself in poo while Luke wasn't looking, and then had the cheek to take objection to being hosed down.

While I was gone the boys had an ok time, apparently Edward wasn't too whingey which he often is when I'm gone Luke also used the re-usable nappies, I hoped this was a sign he was finally converting, but sadly no, he just could not be arsed to go to the shop for Pampers. Edward is pretty much mobile now as he's worked out how to pull himself along on his belly aided a little by his legs, and he kept crawling round and trying to poke his fingers into Luke's computer....oh dear we knew this day would come.

The finest Chocolatier to ever befriend a Spaniard

Today has been one of awesome fun and giggles!

After a terrible nightmare overnight where I never made it to Reading thanks to 'Bianca' from Eastenders and an overdue library DVD I ended up waking up relatively early paranoid it may come true and I may accidentally miss my day out.

I was quite nervous and excited as I haven't really been on a day trip with Edward to see a friend outside of London, so I worried I would forget to pack something. Sometime later and totally over-packed we headed out to Paddington via the post-office to post the faulty rat-trap back to the Amazon.

The train journey wasn't the most pleasant as it was packed with Reading festival goers some of which were rather unaware of their bulging rucksacks. I did however get a seat and spent the journey softly stroking the sleeping Edward's fluffy head.

We pulled into the Ding, it was SO nice to be back, this place has been many things to me over the years, but without fail is somewhere I have a good time, so well after a year of promising myself I was going to go it was really satisfying to finally be here!

We fought our way off the platform past all the be-wellied and be-tented ones and met Mr Chris by the door. We made a b-line for the festival-goer-free part of town and ended up by the canal where there was a small 'beach' that had obviously been set up for the summer. We were very tempted to let Edward to go mad in the sand, but decided that having a sand filled baby for the rest of the afternoon would be unwise, so we just sat and chatted and got given freebies by some girls from Lush :o)

After much debating and much indecisiveness on my part we eventually decided to go to New Orleans or was it Old Orleans? I doubt it's age makes much difference, it had table cloths you could draw on and that sold it to me! We had yummy foods and drew many beautiful pictures of our old characters from the role-play game we used to be in together where he was a Spaniard and I was cat highly skilled in the art of chocolate making....for no reason at all and for one day only Batman joined the party too!

We were tempted to take the table cloth at the end but decided a photo would suffice
I think it is fairly obvious which ones the talented Mr Chris drew and which ones I scrawled!

After main lunch we headed over to Krispy Kreme for pudding. I have seen these shops with increasing frequency and have heard many people rave about them. I must admit they were most tasty, by far the best doughnut I've had in years, and not too overpriced especially in comparison to any cakes from somewhere like Starbucks.

We then went to John Lewis to buy me some wool as my knitting needles arrived this morning. I am planning to join a knitting group so keep you eyes peeled for that forthcoming adventure. Afterwards and clearly in need of more wool, two balls not being enough for someone who can't actually knit, we decided to brave the ever so slightly creepy family run department store where they still write receipts by hand and send money round the building through weird vacuum powered tubes. It turned out to be much more affordable that John Lewis and is where all my future wool purchases shall be made...Mr Chris can't wait ;o)

It was actually a lot more sunny than this photo indicates...
....hurrah for over packing though as it meant we had a blanket

We then decided to go up to the park and sit in the sunshine, which is what we did indeed do, and where we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling, chatting and trying to persuade Edward that leaves and Mr Chris's shoes did not constitute good food....I don't know you feed a baby one chip and a crumb of doughnut and they go junk-food craaaaaaaaazy!!

Everybody has a fetish for Mr Chris' shoes it would seem!

It was finally time for Edward and I to head home and for Mr Chris to wander off to band practice, he walked us up to the station and we managed to get almost straight on a train, but not before I accidentally blasted poor Edward in the face with the hand dryer in the loo...ooops!! Quite funny though mwhaha!

All in all and utterly fantastic day and now I know how close it is, and how easy it is to get there, I'm sure I will once again become a regular visitor to the glorious glorious land of the Ding.

A Lovely Evening Out

Cousin Emily came to babysit Edward yesterday so that Luke and I could have a night out together. I spent most of Monday afternoon looking at all the restaurants and things to do in London trying to choose what to do and where to go.

We looked at a cruise and dinner on the Thames, there are some nice ones available but it was a little bit too expensive for just a normal evening out, we were also a bit worried about getting to the dock in time to catch it. We also looked at some dinner and theatre packages and again there are some good ones available especially for Wicked which is the show I'd most like to see, however again this was a bit pricey and we were worried about time.

We then decided the best thing would be cinema and a film, however after looking at the listings we decided there wasn't really anything on we were prepared to pay £20 to see, annoyingly Hell Boy 2 isn't out yet as we would have gone for that. We thought of going to see Batman but I haven't seen the first one, in the new series, and also we wanted to see it at the Imax however the only screenings with seats left are in the middle of the day around two, or midnight...tempting but I just know I'd fall asleep.

So all in all after lots of unrealistic over planning we decided to keep it simple and just go out for a nice meal. I narrowed it down to a Burmese place that sounded really friendly or a theatrical place in the West End that has opera singers and such walking around and is decorated like a theatre, I left in Luke's hands to choose which one he wanted to take me too....he chose a Thai place on the river that we'd walked past when we went to see the Telectroscope.

We spoilt ourselves and got a taxi, Luke wanted to keep it a surprise as to where exactly we were going and so I put my fingers in my ears jokingly. As we drove the taxi driver kept pretending to let slip the surprise asking things like 'so what time DOES the London Dungeon close?' finally he dropped us by Borough Market telling us as he did so that it is where they filmed lots of 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. I love it when you get proper London cabbies that banter and tell your touristy things, it makes the taxi ride into a real event.

Luke was a bit disorientated and couldn't quite work out which way to go, I guessed at this point we may be going to one of the restaurants on the water front, and even suspected the Thai place as he knows that's my favourite cusine, so I pointed the way to the river-front.

I was indeed correct and we went in, we thought they were going to seat us at the nice table by the window but it had been reserved for someone else so we got put in-front of a wall! It didn't matter though because I was looking at Luke as he is SO sexy and gorgeous.

The food was beautifully cooked and the place had a real 'out of London' vibe, I think because all the tables were well spaced and we didn't end up spending dinner listening to the next tables conversation like last time we went out for dinner. We talked about lots of things, such as our friends and travelling, I made a real effort not to talk about Edward too much as this was 'our' time.

After dinner we decided to try and catch the last 'flight' on the London Eye however even though it wasn't too far down the river there wasn't any clear route to it. We spent more time wandering down roads with traffic on them, that on the romantic river front, which was a shame, but we still had an enjoyable time. We got to Blackfriars around the time the Eye shut and so decided to give up and head home, I fell asleep wrapped in Luke's arms on the tube.

Mices and Ballerinas

We have mice...there have been rumours that we had them for some time, but last night they made their most ambitious move and came out of hiding and scampered back and forth across the lounge and then I went in the kitchen and there was another one of the little cretins, he may have run off the counter and behind the dishwasher at speed, but not speedily enough, I saw him!!

This morning I ordered wire wool, the pest control recommended hole blocking device and an all signing all dancing all electrocuting vermin trap! I did consider getting a good old fashioned spring loaded one, but I figured this is central London and that mouse was a porker so he's not going to fall for that and it was best to just get a good trap to start with, and this seemed to be highly recommended on Amazon by lots of people with mice that had outwitted simpler traps.

It is amusing but there is something about rats and mice in the house that brings out the animal in you and makes you go all primal. Luke last night was stalking the house like a true man with a club, while I may or may not have squealed like a big fat girl every time they ran out of their hiding places. I feel I am quite traumatized by childhood images from 'The Lady and the Tramp' where the rat attacks the baby, complete with the hysterical shrieking granny, if you haven't memorized said film see the relevant scene in this YouTube clip about 4 minutes in. I will NOT have nasty mice nibbling my Edward!! This morning WAR was declared and I am going to win mwhahahaha!!! Your days are numbered little mices!!

Having plotted my warfare suitably I then took Edward to the library to the song and games session I have been meaning to take him to for over a month. We got there to find it was a special session and they had guests in from The Royal Ballet, namely a ballerina and a flute player. It was really good fun there was lots of movement, and a story, and then more moving and dancing about as we, *cough* the children acted out bits of the book. Bouncing Edward about and waving his arms and all the general prancing got quite tiring after a while though, and some of it I couldn't really work out a way to include him, so towards the end we just sat and watched. He really enjoyed it though he was quite tired by the end. I found it most amusing to watch all the little girls go green with envy as they watch the professional ballerina do lots or graceful ballerina moves, and smiled as they all tried their very hardest to copy her.

After getting out a few books for Edward we went to the grown-up library took a book back, and got out a few books, DVD's and an X-box game called Timeshift I quite liked the look of, Luke was SO impressed with me when he saw it :o)

After that we went to the doctors and dropped off my prescription, then Boots to get baby rice, Edward helpfully nibbled the box while we waited in the queue, and finally to the supermarket to do the weekly shop, Luke came down and met us there as I needed his manly strength to carry all the heavy shopping.

When I got in I was tired, but not exhausted, it's amazing what a few good nights sleep will do for a girl!

In the evening I puréed some apple for Edward. For Luke and I, I did gammon, for myself I made broccoli and courgette in cheese sauce. It didn't work terrible well as the roué went lumpy, sadly my quick browse of the internet yielded the most rubbish recipe of all time, I'm certain that next time it will be better.

On the weight issue, I weighed myself and I don't weigh as little as I thought which is good news, on our scales I came in at 49kg, not great but not as bad as I had thought. I did my feed last night, it alarmed many times throughout the night waking me up, and at 3am I actually had to sit up, switch the light on and fiddle with the drip chamber to get it working again argh!!!

Butterflies and Cake

Today has been a lovely day. After a lazy start my Mummy Chummy Shaune and her son Xander picked Edward and I up and we drove across town to the Natural History Museum.

When we got there, there were signs saying 'buggy park' and we got worried we'd have to carry the boys round, but hoped we wouldn't have to as both of them are quite chunky now. However when we bought our tickets it became clear we did have to carry them, we hesitated a little but decided that we should do it anyway as we'd planned this all week, and I've actually been wanting to go to see this for ages.

There was a maze thing where you could get a card stamped at all the different sections, however the boys were too young for it and we were too old! We both agreed it would have been really fun if they'd just been a bit older. At the end of the maze was the butterfly house.

We went through and were immediately hit by the heat and humidity, all four of us instantly started sweating which was a bit of a worry with the babies. They both instantly spotted the butterflies and both were totally entranced watching them fluttering around and eating from the flowers and settling on the leaves. They were really beautiful, all such vivid colours, some of them were so large though they were a bit unnerving.

We walked round slowly letting both of the babies have a good look at everything, whilst also of course having a good look ourselves. We had a bit of a perch on the bench as our arms were killing us by that point and took some photos, both of us agreed we don't have enough photos of us with our babies, nor do either of us have many 'family photos' so it was nice to take a couple, it was a shame we didn't have the buggies or it would have been a bit easier, and we would have been able to take some of the butterflies too, but never mind.

When we came out it was such a relief, though previously it had felt muggy, in comparison to the hot butterfly house it felt positively fresh!

We then walked down to the gorgeous cakie shop :o) It does the most magical tasty fairy-tale cakes covered in ridiculous amounts of colourful icing and sprinkles in all the world!! I finally got to try their red-velvet cake, I had bought one before along with a pink cake one time when I was in the Brompton, though I gave the red-velvet cake to my friend Sam who had been stuck in for ages and needed cheering up.

We chatted and ate our cakes, and when we finished we headed back to the car as Xander was starting to get hungry, poor thing he's also teething quite badly so wasn't a very happy chap.

In the car on the drive home Xander was crying and it frightened Edward and made him cry, it was so funny as they kept setting each other off. Shaune and I decided we would be like those horrible mothers that make you play with a child you don't like just because the mums are friends!!

All in all a lovely day out and I'm really pleased that I've managed to do a 'baby thing' as I've been a bit rubbish recently at getting up and out and making myself do things....you never know we may make it to the swimming pool tomorrow!

A VERY English Country Wedding

Edward looking SO impressed with the whole camping gig!!

This was as much a weekend away with my family as it was a trip to Fleur's wedding, our only chance this summer to all spend time together in the glorious Crossland caravan.

Edward-Tedward and I headed over late morning, the trip wasn't too eventful and thankfully we managed to get on a fast train, though annoyingly it had really narrow doorways so there was a rather messy shoving moment as I rammed Edward onto the train!

Alex then picked us up and we headed to TESCO's to get food and nappies for Edward as they had been to heavy and bulky to bring with us. We then headed out to Mothercare and Next. Mothercare had sadly shut down though actually it turned out to be a good thing as Mummy had already bought the cot I meant to buy and just forgotten about it! We went into Next to get Alex a tie, and found a nice grey one with purple stripes that went with his shirt, the customer service was appalling though and what few staff there were there were all half asleep and so it took about three hours to get through the till!

We then headed home where Daddy was already waiting for us. We chilled for a bit killing time before Mummy was due to finish work, we then shoved the last few things in the Landrover and headed over, we got a call from Mummy just as we were leaving to say the person she was caring for had just had a fit and so she would be late. Actually as it worked out we didn't have to wait for her for too long, and I don't think it made much of a difference to the traffic which was relatively clear all the way, well at least I think it was I was actually asleep most of the journey, despite having major chest pains that I thought were going to land me in hospital :o(

When we got to the site I waved rather feebly out of the car at people before hiding in the bed with Edward and going to sleep, Grandmummy did all his bits for me as I was feeling too weak and in too much pain. That night I had a really high temperature but mostly slept through it, and Edward was relatively good and settled though did wake up quite early.

The day of the wedding we woke early and had a bit of breakfast, there was lots of rushing too and fro, and grumping from most parties. Edward and I kept a low profile and Alex straightened my hair while I did my neb. Eventually it was time to go and we all set off to the church where there were quite a few people already there. I thought we were all going in and so went on ahead in to the church itself (which was very small and sweet and beautiful) One of Simon's family greeted Edward and I as we entered and grinning at Edward said 'ooo I do hope he causes a ruckuss!' I foolishly assured him Edward would be good and hopefully not cause too much noise, though admitted I was under instruction from Fleur to pinch him so he'd cry as she wanted a traditional crying baby!


From almost the moment we sat down Edward started to agitate, I fed him milk, I gave him food I gave him cuddles, I sang him songs, but none of it made any difference he just fussed and moaned and threatened to cry the whole time. My hat kept falling over my eyes and my hair was so long it kept getting it the way!! All in all a bit of a quiet nightmare was going on in our little corner as the ceremony went on thankfully blissfully unaware. I did manage to see most of the important bits and it was truly lovely, however I feel I am now truly a mummy as I have experienced the 'baby at wedding' scenario, for those of you not 'in the know' it mostly involves singing '10 Little Ducks' to your little bundle of joy whilst your child-hood friend swears the most important vow of her life!!! Kind of surreal, but somehow quite fitting :o)

After the ceremony we headed back to the farm and had some drinks and nibbles on the lawn and set up Edward's new cot/tent so he could have a nap, as he was clearly utterly over tired. Finally after lots of grizzling he fell asleep. I could have quite easily joined him, but instead made do with just watching all the people chatting and all the dogs (who were beautifully dressed up for the occasion) frolick around the croquet lawn!

After a while, and conveniently just as Edward woke up it was time for lunch, so we all headed down to the barn which was beautifully decorated. I must admit my photos of the wedding are a bit non-existent as I was stressing over Edward, however I did take this one, which in many ways I think actually sums it all up rather well...


The dinner was a very scrummy hog-roast the odd off-cuts of which got pilfered and enjoyed thoroughly by the many maurading pooches! I sat with Alex, Edward and Daddy up at the back and we got chatting to some of Fleur's friends from Thailand and America. It was really nice to meet them as Fleur has been away growing up with them all, all these years, it fitted a few pieces into the jigsaw of who she is now for me.

The blushing bride herself :o)

Edward got cuddled by lots of people and stolen by Aunty Shellie and fed Cheesecake, which I think may be slightly better than when he got stolen by Uncle Alex whom I snapped with a very suspicious looking beer bottle!




All in all a very lovely afternoon, though by the end of it I was shattered and so headed off to do my drugs and have a lay down, I also thought Edward needed a bit of peace as he was starting to get a little fractious again despite being clean and fed. Once back at the caravan Edward went to sleep for the night, and after sorting out his bottles for the morning I joined him.

The next morning we all had a nice family breakfast together chatting and laughing which was fun. The whole atmosphere was much more relaxed now the wedding was over and there wasn't a risk of us missing it! Alex helped Shellie and Simon clear up the barn though as I wasn't going to be much help I stayed at the caravan. We then all headed off in a cavalcade to a local pub for a lunch arranged by Fleur and Simon for people who'd come a particularly long way. It was a really tasty affair, Edward had some vegetables whilst sat in a big boy high-chair that we tied him to using Fleur's shawl!


After that we went off to get some petrol for the generator, and picked up a few bits that had been requested and for breakfast the next morning. We dropped them off at the house and then spent the rest of the afternoon together in the caravan chatting before getting an early night. Though looking at this photo of Edward it seems he had a rather more wild time than the rest of us...trail of clothes...empty milk bottle....discarded wine glass!!! Shocking !!!


The next morning we again had tasty breakfast, then packed everything up and got ready to head home. We popped up to the house to say our goodbyes, and so I could have a nose around Fleur and Simon's tiny cute little fairy-tale house, as I took a moment to peek out of the window however I was stabbed in the foot by a hideous wasp/hornet who stung me so badly he actually drew blood!! Up to that point I'd been feeling so smug about not having been stung, especially as Shellie had been stung on the bottom three times, and Fleur's Simon had, had to go to A&E having swallowed a wasp...clearly I was not meant to leave there without one though!

The drive home was uneventful but painful due to my injury. Once home I had a nap with Edward, Daddy watched the Grand Prix, Alex went to work and poor old Mummy scrubbed out the caravan. Once Alex came home he took me to get a burger as I had terrible cravings for one, then we watched Scrapheap Drag Racing before all getting a reasonably early night.

This morning I got woken up early again by his Lordship whom I dutifully cleaned and fed, I then packed up our stuff as I wasn't sure if we were going in early with Daddy to the office. Actually in the end he went in with Alex and so I got a chance to have a bit of a lay down before Mummy and I had to go into Bedford.

I went to my solicitors and got the final bits of my divorce papers settled.... about two years after having actually got divorced! Then we picked up Daddy and got the train to London. We parted ways at St. Pancras as they were off to Battersea to see an orphaned Black Russian called Carmen. I headed home and fell into bed and have barely been out of it since....all in all a long weekend full of oak trees, sunshine and family :o)

Greatham Family Picnic!

Thursday afternoon I made two different types of Thai marinade one I'd used before and one I found as a video recipe on a fantastic site called video-jug.

Friday morning before going out with Fleur and Shellie shopping I made some cakes ready for the picnic, I made cherry and coconut cakes and plain fairy cakes, I had wanted to make them butterfly cakes but I realized it wasn't practical to transport them that way. Friday afternoon I made Mexican Pastillos which are a sort of biscuit served at traditional Mexican weddings, we weren't really celebrating a wedding of any kind but it's a recipe I've wanted to try out for ages and so this was a good opportunity, they were quite nice but not what I'd been hoping for.

Late Friday after the worst of the pollen had settled we headed down to Greatham and arrived to find everyone sat out on the benches chatting and eating, we of course sat down and joined in. It was particulalrly lovely to spend time staring at the stars spotting shooters and lost satellites, i do miss that under the orange glow of London Town.

Saturday we got woken early by Fred trampling about the house excitedly however managed to get back to sleep and have a pretty good lie in as Edward was tired out from all his adventures the day before. I then went downstairs to find it full of people preparing food and so got going on my marinades, which didn't take too long as it mostly just involved smothering the meat in them and shoving it in the oven for a guess period of cooking time!


Luke had taken Edward out into the garden on his playmat, I went and sat out with him for a little while and Luke helped manhandle things like benches down to the picnic area. I then had to go and do my nebs and physio. By the time I'd finished that it was about kicking off time for the picnic hurrah!!

Food glorious food!!

Everyone had made really tasty things, someone in particular had made an exceptionally nice rice which I ate lots of, even little Edward joined in and had some pitta bread and tennis balls!



This was the first time Edward had met most of the family and it was really lovely how many people came over to admire him and congratulate us, I don't know if Luke really took it in as he is paranoid they all look down on him, but they all seemed sincere to me and genuinely pleased to welcome a new little member into the family. Edward of course lapped up the attention especially when it came from Harriet who is his favourite girlfriend!


There was a tennis tournament organised by Camilla which lots of people took part in including Fred and Luke, neither of them did well but they both had fun, though afterwards Luke felt utterly awful and had to go and lay down for most of the rest of the afternoon. The combination of the overdose of hayfever meds, tennis and heat got the better of him :o(



The picnic went on all afternoon though Edward and I had a bit of a nap up at the house half way through as it was all a bit much!

That evening was again lovely and chilled out, and I got to do lots of tidying in the kitchen which made me feel better as I'd felt guilty for skipping off earlier after having just done my bit, not that I could have done much if I'd stayed as there were so many people milling about.

Sunday morning Edward and I spent some time down at the pool with Thea, Harriet and Shambala though not too long as Luke decided it was best to head home as he was still feeling really bad and it was rubbish sitting inside sleeping while everyone else was outside. Although I would have liked to sunbathe a bit more I didn't mind too much as I know the instinct to 'crawl home when feeling crap' all too well.

It was a gorgeous sun-soaked weekend and I can't wait for our long stay later in the summer, I just hope it's as sunny so that Thea and I can catch some rays with the little sun-worshiping baby of gorgeousness :o)

Fleur-Bert!

A very old and very dear friend of mine Fleur came to visit with my sister Shellie and her boyfriend Simon. Fleur was a girl we have known since we were little and we grew up like sisters spending weeks at a time at each others houses only to finally be taken home and ending up staying at the other persons house! Sadly she moved away to Thailand and so we mostly lost touch with her as that was the dark days before the interweb and the glories of facebook.

However she has finally come home to England and is actually getting married next Friday, an event to which we are invited hurrah! She was up in London sorting out the last few bits for said wedding and arranging details with Shellie who is going to be her maid of honour ( I think!)

They arrived Thursday and we sat chatting and I showed off Edward to a very delighted Fleur, then we went out to dinner leaving Luke in the safety of the pollen free house helpfully babysitting. Fittingly enough we went to the Thai place at the end of my street and it was nice as Fleur could talk to the staff in Thai, though the waiter did a real double take when she first started speaking to him. She was quite amused by the coconut rice as in Thailand it's only really eaten as a pudding with mango, something I already knew, but I don't care it's so tasty I could eat bowls of it just on it's own :o)

The next day we all went shopping on Oxford street as Fleur wanted to get some stockings to complete her bridal outfit aswell as a dress for the next day. We had fun in Ann Summers, especially Edward who ate his breakfast there whilst giving his best flirty eyes to the manikins that he thought were real ladies...bless!

We spent hours in Monsoon and found a perfect dress for Fleur in Laura Ashley though had to get a nicer ribbon for it in John Lewis. Shellie then had to go as she had patients, but Fleur and I stayed on and had lunch in the cafe at the top of John Lewis as it has a nice view, and also rather fantastically gives out free baby food!

It was a really good fun girly day though a bit of a mad rush at the end as tragically there had been an accident on Oxford Street and it was closed and so we couldn't get a bus and had to dash all the way home and then to Paddington to put Fleur on the train home.

A Lovely Family Day

Well as the title suggests today has been a really lovely family day, it started out with us all having cuddles in the bed this morning which we haven't done much since we moved, that was really fun and lovely though sadly I missed getting a photo of Luke and Edward playing as they looked SO cute together.

After yummy lunch of chicken pie and rice pudding for Edward, and bacon sandwiches and mushrooms for the parents we decided to be brave and risk going to the park, somewhere we tend to avoid due to Luke's horrid evil hay-fever. I think we were out for about half an hour, we mooched down to the Serpentine and had ice-creams than mooched back via the post-box so I could post my letter for 'my' Postpal. Luke was very itchy and it wasn't entirely pleasant for him but I was really grateful that he made such an effort for us all and even he agreed that a short walk like that was bearable. It makes me so sad it has to be like that and that it can't just be a totally enjoyable experience but it is better than nothing and I'm very grateful to him :o)

I then had to go to the dentist, she took some x-rays and wanted to do a filling. I'm terrible when it comes to brushing my teeth, I don't know why but I really really hate it with a passion and always have, so it is no surprise I need work done, I'm trying to be sensible and take advantage of my maternity certificate before it runs out so I can get it done free! However I was really frightened I tried to stay calm and do deep breaths but I was still panicky. In the end she decided it was best to refer me to have it done under sedation at the hospital, she said if I was a normal patient she would have carried on but due to my steroids she was worried that I may go into some sort of hypoglycemic shock, I felt so guilty and pathetic and like I'd wasted her time but she was very nice about it. I also think she was worried about me passing out and not knowing how to deal with me and the forms she'd have to fill in if she had to call an ambulance and so decided to er on the side of caution, as it means I get out of having it done for a while longer I'm not complaining!

Edward has been a pretty good boy overall today, much more settled than yesterday, though he has got into the habit of making a very annoying moaning noise, he has also taken to doing fake coughs which are really quite funny especially as he often smiles and looks terribly pleased with himself after he's done one...obviously been watching me at physio time a little too closely :o)

You can just make out Edward's little butterfly that his friend Abi sent him in this one!

Bertie-dogsitting and Grand Reunions

This weekend most of the Crossland's went to Berlin as our gorgeous friend Diana was having a big party in a castle. We couldn't really afford to go and so I offered to dog-sit as poor little Bertie is very unwell at the moment and not able to go to kennels.

He has a mix of complex conditions I don't really understand and is on a lot of complex medications including one that has to be injected and one that you can't touch with bare skin. Thankfully all that CF training came in handy and with the help of Mummy's notes I managed to do a pretty good job of looking after him, he even skipped a little and wagged his tail. Stroking him was heartbreaking though as he is so painfully thin, you can feel every single bone, and he's quite unsteady so shakes terribly from the effort when he crouches to go to the loo. Mr Squish (the cat) however was most supportive and came on walks with us and snuggled against Bertie for cuddles, it was a shame I didn't quite manage to get a snap of it as it was really heartwarming.

The best thing about being 'home' however was that it gave me a rare opportunity to see a couple of my very best friends in all the world, namely Prince Adme of The Bog of Eternal Stench and Marquis Jarmies of Bogborough :o) We tried to work out when the three of us were all in a room together at the same time and came up with the horrid suspicion it had been at my wedding five years ago...shame on us.

Freakishly Adme was at the train station when I arrived and so gave me a lift home, then he came back later that afternoon and we went out for lunch/dinner with Jarmies at an all you can eat in MK which was fantastic as it offered a wide range of food. We had a few issues with a waitress who tried to take Jarmies' plate when he'd barely touched it, and then spent the rest of the evening trying to barge me to the floor as I went to and fro with my plate (we suspect we overheard us talking about her and enacted revenge upon poor little me as I looked like the easiest target!) All in all it was great and we didn't stop laughing except to shovel food haha!

That evening Adme came back to mine and we died his hair, it didn't quite come out the shade showed on the box, it was more reddish, however it looked really good and solved the problem of Adme's eyebrow's being too dark compared to his hair...quite a major problem I'm sure you'll agree. After that I did some cupping, moxa and acupuncture on him, it's been a while since I did such a full on treatment and I really enjoyed it.

I freaked out a little when I went to bed as I was in the house on my own and it hit me how out in the middle of nowhere I was as it was suddenly so dark and quiet.

Next morning I foolishly woke up at 6am panicked that it was time to do Bertie's meds and so ran downstairs, worried he had died in the night as he didn't stand up when I came out, but when I bent down to stroke him his little tail started wiggling...phew!

I worried I may not wake up again and so I gave him his meds a bit early then went back to bed, though typically I then couldn't get back to sleep, so instead I lazed about in bed reading FHM for a while. I then mooched downstairs and spent the day watching bad TV like Nanny 911 (which is criminally poorly editited so much that even I noticed the continuity errors!)

In the evening Adme came over again and we hung out, both of us were kind of tired and quiet but it was still really nice just to be in the same room and bitch about big-brother together :o) I dream-plotted to hire a large skip and throw out the entire contents of the house on the basis that there was nothing of high enough value to warrant the amount of stress and misery all the stuff causes my parents. There is just so much it's overwhelming and impossible to know where to start, I just wish I could afford to hire the woman I hired before to come back and give them more help as it seemed to have a good impact both practically and emotionally last time she visited them...though I have noticed that 'storing stuff in zip-lock bags' has become the new 'store stuff in boxes' ...bless them...one day it will be sorted and they are trying they just need to work as a team and be ruthless :o)

Monday I woke up a little later but still early. I did Bertie's bits and then spent the rest of the morning trying to do a bit of tidying for Mummy.

Late morning they all arrived home, they'd had a lovely time especially Daddy who'd been asked to DJ and had made such a good job of it that everyone asked him to do some more the next morning.

Daddy then gave me a lift to Bedford where I managed to get on a speedy train, they had hoped I'd stay and that they could take me out to dinner but I wanted to get home to Luke and Edward and due to my jammy train catching I was back in the smoke in about 30/40 minutes. I was very tired though and not feeling well so it was a really physical effort to get to the bus, and then from the bus-stop to the house. When I got in Luke had run me a bath which I got straight into, then I had a lay down on the bed with my oxygen till I felt a little better.

I then had to go to the dentist which I didn't fancy but thankfully it turned out to be a very quick consultation as she was just doing an assessment, I have to go back next week for the work :o(

When I got home Aaron was over, later Mr Vince arrived. I must admit I was a bit anti-social and laid in the bed on my O2 as I felt crap. After a while we started moving the lounge around, it took a lot of effort and experimenting but now it looks really good :o) Half way through Chitzi arrived which was fantastic as we haven't seen her for ages, she cuddled Edward, who, just like Luke and I formed an instant appreciation of her giant boobs!!

Hayfever Trials and the Listening Post

So far this week has been a little apathetic, I have sorted lots of paperwork which is never ending it seems, however I haven't done much so it was nice to finally get up and go and do something.

Luke took part in a hayfever trial today, they took blood and did some skin-prick tests to assess what he is allergic to. Sadly he reacted to too many different allergens to be able to fully participate in the trial however the woman did give us the name of a doctor who she suggested we request a referral to, she said that Luke should be able to have immunotherapy, yes that would be the same immunotherapy the GP told us was outlawed due to excessive deaths!!

Though of course his hayfever is 'just hayfever' and not a totally life-inhibiting condition that means the poor man can rarely leave the house for more than an hour or so at the time or the condition that prevents him being able to take his son to the park. Fair enough a bit of a runny nose and itchy eyes is nothing, but Luke has severe and chronic hayfever, antihistamines don't work and he's not going to grow out of it, so it was a relief to finally see someone who understood and treated it like the serious condition it actually is.

As we were over that side of town, and the large quantity of rain in the past few days has dropped the pollen count to bearable we headed to the science museum which we have been planning to go to for months. It was fantastic fun to mooch around though of course Edward went to sleep literally the second we walked through the front door. Seriously that child I try to expand his mind and he just sleeps... it was like his first trip to the park all over again!!

By far the best thing we saw, in my opinion, and a big part of the reason I wanted to go, was to see an art instillation called 'The Listening Post' it wasn't entirely what I had expected and was actually better than I thought it was going to be.

I consider myself to be very much a child of the 21st century, the few weeks after we first moved and didn't have internet I felt genuinely lost and frustrated, it is such a massive part of my life, I have spent so much of my life enveloped in it. It keeps me in touch with my friends and my family, it has given me a platform and audience to write to, and provides such an utterly bottomless and magical wealth of information that for all it's dark corners and downsides I wouldn't be without it for a second.

It is a strange place, an adjunct to the real world, yet all of it somehow eventually down a long wire comes back to the real world, I truly believe the content of the internet to be one of the greatest single achievements of the human race. It is effectively a world created from the human mind, so often I find my body cannot do what my mind dreams of being capable of, in many ways the internet takes me to those places, when I'm too ill to travel to see my friends it takes me to them, it shows me pictures of all the countries I cannot fly to, it teaches me all the things I will not have time to learn, the internet is so utterly without boundaries, it is the eptiome of what we as a race are capable of, it is the eptiome of freedom.

Outside 'The Listening Post' was a quote from a review that called it a 'chapel to humanity' or something similar, I thought it was a very accurate statement. It is an honest, haunting and beautiful summary of what the modern world has become, proffered without judgment. Having walked through halls and halls of weapons it was a relief to see that beneath it all there is still hope, we are just us, just human, nothing more and certainly nothing less.

A/S/L?
23/F/LONDON U?

"Thank God For The Internet"

Just a few photos!

I know this has all got a bit behind as I've been away, I will do a catch up post but will backdate it so make sure you don't miss it.


For now I just wanted to put these pictures up of Edward and Aunty Thea as they are just so gorgeous. She is such a perfect aunty she loves her little nephew so much, in a funny way it makes me feel really proud, both of Thea for being so wonderful, and Edward for being so adorable!


The final photo is from our trip out on Saturday. We had planned to go to Liberty's as Thea had read about it on my blog, however Gay Pride was on and we couldn't cross Regents Street to get to the shop. It didn't matter in the end though as walked down watching the parade which was quite moving in places, especially hearing the cheers for all the military staff who were allowed to wear their uniforms for the first time. Initially I didn't think it was appropriate for them to wear them, but then I decided that it was actually important for them to make their statement, this country is full of all sorts of types of people, and those men and women are as much a part of our society and the forces that defend us as anyone else and it is right that they take pride in what they do especially when you consider they lay their lives on the line for people who hate what they are.

After initially not wanting to walk as far as Regent Street we ended up walking all the way to the South Bank where we had a yummy lunch in Wagamma before having ice-creams. Thea then headed home and we rushed back to ours to make sure we were back in time for the end of Dr Who. Hurray Cathrine Tate is gone, and David Tennant is still alive....all faith is restored!

Hospital Admission

Sadly my photo is a bit boring, I got distracted by the match, but it gives you and idea of what it was like!

Well it was a bit of a varied one this time, I wasn't hugely ill which made a really nice change, I said to the taxi driver who took me over that it made such a nice difference to be going in and knowing I wasn't going to be chained to the oxygen when I got there.

My blows on admission were really good, so good in fact I felt quite guilty for being there. The plan was just for a bog standard 10-14 days of IV's. For the first few days I was in one of the private rooms which was really nice and had a sofa, but I knew it wasn't destined to last so I didn't get too comfortable.

The admission was mixed in it's success, my lung function actually went down, and I didn't feel any better by the end of it, however I didn't feel any worse.

I was lucky enough to take part in a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of muscular physio on correcting the curvature of my spine and generally mobilizing my rib-cage. It was very interesting to take part it as we chatted about all sorts of complementary therapy concepts while we worked. It made me feel a lot better and straighter and the difference in the measurements was shockingly good, all in all a major success. I just really hope that the trial is a success and the secure funding for regular treatments.

Unfortunately my whole system is always under such strain there is no quick-fix, I need constant maintenance, for years I've felt guilty about my posture, but the physio treating me was very supportive and encouraging. She said although obviously there were things I could do to help myself it is just the natural thing for my body to do, breathing comes before good posture in the body's order of priorities, and I have to say it's a wise subconscious decision .She also said it was partly cultural, partly from a sedate lifestyle, but also when we see other people stood in poor positions sadly we are liable to copy them, the body is kind of lazy like that!

Other things of note that happened...

I went home and cuddled my boys and watched Dr Who, which though not earth-shattering was a lovely thing to do. I really enjoyed the fact they were so close as I could nip home and see them and still participate in Edward's care, I got to feed him, bath him and put him to bed a few times. It is also much nicer to be snuggled on the sofa with Luke at home, than cramped on the bed with nurses and tea-ladies and goodness knows who else coming in my room staring at us.

Finally and most excitingly of all my dear friend Raj managed to get us tickets for center court at Wimbledon!!! I ran a bit late getting there thanks to pharmacy who had managed to send my drugs to the wrong ward, however it wasn't too bad and Raj had made himself useful helping out the wardens directing people towards Wimbledon.

We skipped down towards the courts under clear blue skies and on the hottest day of the year so far, by the time we got there the atmosphere was already buzzing, everyone was mincing about in lovely summer dresses, blazers and straw boaters (which Raj pretended to hate, but secretly I think he was jealous)

We mooched about looking at the courts, watching people warming up, and just generally soaking in the atmosphere, I think everyone was on a high from the gripping Murry match that had taken place the night before all secretly hoping they'd be lucky enough to be part of something equally gripping, and of course the streaming sunshine helped.

Eventually it was getting close to time for the match on center court to begin and so we furnished ourselves with Pims and water and took our seats. We each picked a random unpronounceable girl to back. It was a good match, though it went on for a long time, and sadly right at the end poor Raj came over quite faint and we had to go out so he could recover and so we missed the end!

I then did my IV in the medical room (well finished it off) and so missed most of the Serena Williams match, we came back just in time for the end. What I saw was impressive even from the gods where we were sat you could sense what an intense and powerful woman she is, I'd be quite intimidated if I ever had to face her I think.

It was quite surreal to actually be at center court having seen it for so many years on TV. I really missed having the little purple and green BBC graphics to tell me what was going on score wise and almost hallucinated them into place on several occasions. On the upside it was really interesting to see around the edges of the court and spend more time watching the inter-ball girl/boy politics, though in fairness they were terribly impressive and professional, one girl in particular was incredibly sharp, almost robotic in her movements....we think she has a promising career in the armed forces :o)

We then watched the mens doubles which was very different in style and pretty good, the match went on for a shorter length of time than the first womens match which made following it much easier and more interesting. To end we got to see some of the senior mens doubles, which was more of a comedy act than anything else as they took the mickey out of themselves for being so old, it was quite a nice end after the intensity of the earlier matches.

We didn't stay to the end though as we were a bit bored of being sat inside center court by then, so we went for a last wander round the site, had a mooch round the gift shop, and watched the very impressive junior womens doubles finish off their match. We then wandered down to the train station, we debated getting the bus but decided the £2.50 they wanted to charge was a total swizz, I regretted it a little half way up the very long steep hill, but felt smug once I got to the top.

It was a really magical day and something I'd highly recommend to anyone should they ever get the chance....tick 'thing to do before I die - go to Wimbledon' off my long list :o)

Thankyou Raj

Mummy Chummys and Sling making

I was a little late leaving the house this morning and then managed to get on the wrong bus. I had planned to go to Hyde Park corner and then walk down to Green Park where I was supposed to be meeting my new mummy-chummy Louise. Instead however I ended up getting on a bus to Oxford St. there was a bus from there to Green Park but it didn't look like it was going to arrive soon, and I was already running late and so walked down. It was quite a long way, and some of it was uphill, but I made it there and never saw the bus go past so clearly made the right choice.... go little lungs go!!

We then had a leisurely wander through the park chatting about lots of different baby things, such as births, weaning, dummy's etc. it may not sound very exciting, but I still find it very enjoyable to talk about it with other mummy's and find out what their opinions are. It was really nice as though I think Louise are in some ways quite different people (she's much more sociable and into going out than me) our attitudes to our babies are really similar.

Neither of us are sticklers for routines or any kind of evangelical extremes, though we know when to put our foot down (for example controlled crying) mostly we appreciate that babies are babies and that just going with the flow seems to be the happiest approach for all.

We had a nice tasty lunch, all the waiters and waitress' at the restaurant kept coming out to make a fuss of our babies, though I love the attention and it's nice to have people excited to see Edward and tell me how beautiful he is, I always feel a little bit shy about it and never know quite what to say. Little Amelie loved the attention and was smiling and chatting away. It was so amazing to me to hear her little voice, though she made similar noises to Edward her voice was SO different, I'd never really thought of Edward sounding like a little boy before, but having heard her there is clearly a difference.

After lunch we wandered back up to Trafalgar Square so Louise could get her train home. I was going to get the bus home, but decided while I was out I could go and find some fabric for making a sling for Edward. I went to Liberty, I've never been there before, and I couldn't actually afford anything they sold, but it is the most beautiful shop full of stunning fabrics, clothes, jewelery everything really. There was so much creative talent crammed into their products I left feeling really inspired. If I ever had the money to do a proper interior design project in my home I would defiantly go there. I also plan to take Thea as it is just the kind of gorgeous arty place she would love.

A woman in the haberdashery department gave me directions to some shops nearby that she thought may sell what I was looking for (Liberty is too posh for fleece!) I got a little lost, but I'd actually looked at this part of town on the map before I came out and so had a rough idea of where I was headed and without too much drama found my way to Berwick St. I looked in one store that had a fantastic array of colourful and interesting fabrics, however sadly no fleece. They suggested a different store, that did have some fleece, however having had a chat with the assistant I ended up getting a sort of thick cotton/jersey type fabric in a shockingly tasteful grey/blue which we both agreed would probably be more appropriate.

Thoroughly exhausted I headed home. I fed Edward his dinner (see his blog for piccies). I then made the sling which I'm quite pleased with, however I feel it's a bit big for Edward at the moment and he can't really see out of it that well, unless he dangles out the side of it like a cheeky monkey! I then ate very tasty Korma made by the very tasty Luke :o)

Sleeping, Barbecues and Budgets

A blurry Edward keeping a VERY tight hold on the sweeties!

Saturday was a very quiet day, none of us ever really got going, we just laid about cuddling and sleeping all day...it was gorgeous. We watched 'The Hulk' and I really made Luke giggle because I held Edward's arms up in a sort of body-builder pose and went 'grr' !!

Sunday we were a bit rubbish at getting-going again today, I think a bit of a hang-over from yesterday. We were supposed to be going to Vince's barbeque down in Worthing, however missed the 12 o'clock train, then left to get the 1 o'clock train with what we thought would be plenty of time to spare, however the buses conspired against us and despite trying to get a taxi to Victoria managed to miss that train too! Both now starving we each got a drink and a sandwich and sat and ate those, we then got some sweeties and hula-hoops for the long train journey.

We finally got to Worthing and Mr Vince picked us up from the train station. It was VERY weird to see him driving as though I knew he could I've only ever been with him in London and he never brings his car up here. Lots of his chums were over, and of course the ever gorgeous Lady Karolina. The girlies were very excited to see Edward and all thought he was gorgeous and very big for a six-month old...I think there perception may be rather Chinese based as he's kind of small because of being so premature....however I of course loved showing him off to new people as he is just so gorgeous :o) My cool sexy boys!

We all sat around eating and chilling....as it was very chilly in the wind hehe....and admiring Vince's fantastically well constructed barbecue, it was very enjoyable to be out of the city for a bit with friends in the sunshine. After a bit though we had to head home as we were both falling asleep and didn't want to get back too late.

Luke and I had lots of lovely cuddles that evening and watched a documentary following the story of The Kinky Boot Factory together while I did my physio and waited to be able to give Edward his last feed of the day. I've seen the documentary before and it's very moving, and reminds me of my own parents and their struggles and triumphs with their business. In the TV guide it implied that this was a follow up documentary and so we watched it all the way through hoping to see that the company had gone on to great success in the years since the program was first made. Sadly the TV guide lied... however a bit of googling later and we found that the company are very much alive and well hurrah for eccentric British business!!



Monday I had ambitious plans to go and buy fleece today as I found a pattern for a no-sowing Mei-Tei baby carrier which I plan to make. I would quite like to get a sowing machine so I can make a more advanced carrier, but even on ebay they are just too expensive to justify.

The hospital bed manager (who sounds terribly camp on the phone and makes me smile whenever he calls) called and said that he's going to do his best to get me admitted on Thursday. We had a bit of a joke over how it was SUCH a shame I had multi-resistant bugs as it means I have to have my own room, it's hard I know, and of course I'm much rather be in the bay with all the loud snoring sleep-apnoea patients with their constantly bleeping machines but my pseudomonas and I are just not that sociable haha!! Part of me is looking forward to going in, it's kind of nice to have the time and space to really focus on my lungs, and to have other people do all the hard work and motivation for me, however part of me is worrying about Luke and Edward and how they will possibly cope without me.

I then got distracted into doing the washing, and then going over the budget which is something I've been putting off for days. We have spent FAR too much this month, though most of it has been on bills and relatively essential 'new house' stuff too much of it has been frivolous. To help get our spending under control we are planning to print our budget out and stick in on the fridge as it's too easy to forget about it when it's tucked away in an Excel file. I've also bought a little book to write down everything I spend, this has two advantages 1) I will feel guilty if I have to write in it and so will think more carefully before spending the money in the first place 2) we will be able to see where the money is going, especially from those hole-in-the-wall withdrawals. While I was still feeling good and poor I went to the supermarket and managed to pick up a chicken for just £2 so tasty roast for us all.

Edward has really got into rolling now, however can still only do it one way and so keeps getting stuck on his tummy crying to be rescued and making himself sick!! Poor little monkey! He is also developing quite a hankie fetish, he loves covering his face with them and flapping them around, it's very funny to watch :o)

Luke and Karolina are playing WOW tonight with their cows, and I am watching them and laughing as Karolina keeps getting terribly annoyed and it's very cute!!


Edward shamelessly flirting with Karolina...watch out Vince!