Dimitris' Christening

Grace had a very interesting Saturday afternoon attending a Greek Orthodox Christening for Dimitris Colin King, her second cousin. I think. I have always been more than a little confused on family generation lines, but for posterity, here is my best stab at it...

If Christina and I are first cousins, then I am cousin once removed from Dimitris, meaning he is one generation distant from me. Grace and Dimitris are therefore second cousins as they are children of first cousins. I find it ever so confusing, and as such Dimitris knows me as Auntie Heather and Grace with Auntie Christina. It's no wonder family generation lines are foggy - we create it! I'll pencil it in for sometime distant to draw a big algorithm for Grace to nail it before she starts school so she can wow her teacher.





Today in the news...

Moorland fires across parts of Lancashire, Northern Ireland and Wales are causing immense damage to flora and fauna while firefighters battle to tackle the blazes fanned by strong winds and accelerated by weeks of dry weather.

Osama Bin Laden today has been reported killed in a raid on a location in Pakistan by US forces. America's Most Wanted, Head of Al-Qaeda thought to be responsible for the attacks on September 11th 2001 where 19 hijackers took control of 4 commercial airliners and committed terrorism, killing over 3000 people.

The late Pope, John Paul II was yesterday beatified at a ceremony at the vatican in front of hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful. Beatification, or declaring a person to be "blessed", is the necessary prelude to full sainthood. For this to happen, the Vatican must declare the person to have performed a miracle. In John Paul II's case, Sister Marie, 49, said she and her fellow nuns had prayed for the intercession of the Pope after his death to cure her from Parkinson's Disease. Her sudden cure had no logical medical explanation and she later resumed her work as a maternity nurse, the Vatican says.

News taken from bbc.co.uk

Royal Wedding 2011

As Grace and me speed past our hundredth blog post (yay, hurrah, three cheers!!!), Katherine Middleton and Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis Windsor wed at Westminster Abbey in London on today, 29th April. Remarkably Grace sat like the perfect child she is, clapping her hands and gaping mouth as we watched the ceremony on television for more than an hour. I had to mark the occasion - this is after all the marriage of the future King and Queen of Britain. That's some occasion by anyone's standards. I'm in love already - Kate Middleton is truly beautiful and her new hubby is such a hunky toff they can only be set to have a wonderful life together. I am now a fully reformed Royalist as is Grace - and I'm ever thankful to Daisychain nursery for sending her home this week with a home made union jack flag made with her own hands smothered in red, white and blue glitter gel. Ace!






I assume it's obvious, but in case not - I don't claim to have taken any of these lovely pictures - I have snaffled them unabashedly from Google's image library. Thank you very much, that'll do nicely! x

Daddy Day Care

Matt the Husband has taken the reins and is now graded fully competent at occupying baby Grace for a full shift. Examples of days that went well and he kept his cool/sanity/both include...

Boltons Abbey - 12th century priory ruins and parkland in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.


Nostell Priory - built on the site of a medieval priory, now a National Trust property.


Circus - in the garden on the site of the dandelion weeds of the Langers family property.


Bless him, his hair is turning grey by the day and even Daisy-woof looks worn out at times. As the great man himself has just said - jack of all trades.... master of none. Mwahahahaha!!!

NEWSFLASH: Grace has got BALLS

No, my little poppet isn't cocksure. She has balls, colourful plastic balls for her inflatable paddling pool cum ball play pit. Brilliant. An entertained baby! And all for the grand sum of £3.... feeling the love for Asda.

A walk in the park

This is a picture of Grace's Daddy at the end of the London Marathon 2011. 5 hours 26 minutes and over £2000 raised for Help the Hopsices. WELL DONE DADDY! x x x

Rabbits

I don't know if you remember but a while back Grace and I signed up to take part in a research study into baby led weaning and the effects it has on the diet of the parent/s. Well we're done now and have submitted all of our data. We've been keeping a food diary of what I eat and what I offer to Grace over a period of time from 6-8 months of age.What this has to do with a graphic of the Easter Bunny is vague but what the heck - it's my blog and I can write what I please! Best wishes for Easter x x

Eight months Grace...

So as Grace turns 8 months, I can reflect on the following: Over the last 8 months, I have been given a period of grace from....

1) Hoovering - Matt the Husband now religiously does it all from top to bottom. On my post-op notes from the caesarian it said not to hoover and I'm sticking to that mindset.

2) Exercise - since Grace arrived I have been lucky/unlucky enough not to have time to exercise and as such I point the finger at Grace and Matt the Husband for my weight gain - Grace for taking up my time, Matt for taking over the hoovering and thus my opportunity for calorie burn.

3) Pride in appearance - this is a rather tenuous link as I never seemed to take much pride in my appearance anyway (go on, admit it - I know you were thinking as much) - and since Grace has arrived I really can't count the weeks my hair has gone without a dose of the hot irons. And what's more - I have turned into the slummy mummy who really does go to work and find weetabix in her hair and baby puke on her trousers. Nice.

4) Being a workaholic. I am now simply a wishaholic - I wish I could get my work done in the time I have.

And I wonder where did I ever find time to watch soaps, the news, google at random, and spend time thinking about doing x y and z. Now my days are very much flown by the seat of my pants (tight ones - my backside has expanded) and I reach every bedtime thinking 'WOW!' that day has whizzed by.

My compliment of the year has been dished out already - the HR Manager at work told me I had 'changed shape'. No kidding. But this is far outweighed by the compliments paid to Grace - beautiful eyelashes, such a contented little girl, those blue eyes.... it's all there and we love hearing it.

She's 8 months and blooming - thriving on life and taking each day in her stride. I'm almost certain she's half way to saying 'I love you Dada' and her other favourite rambling seems to be 'liar liar liar' - nothing to do with breaking my fast for lent I am sure....??? Push ups are mastered now and her little frog legs go like the clappers so it's only a matter of time until we see crawling I think. Sitting is officially mastered, and we have experienced our first sit-up poo. I like to think it came out looking like a fortune cookie - sorry if I'm putting you off your tea. Nursery is a wonderful place and she seems to enjoy every minute of it, it's the only day of the week where she can skip all day time sleeps and still be buzzing come bedtime. Favourite meals to date include chicken tikka masala with naan, tomatoey meatball risotto and strangely spinach and feta puff. Yum!!

So there's an update. 8 months.

Nothing more significant to post other than WELL DONE DADDY for running the London Marathon in 5 hours 26 minutes to raise money for Help the Hospices. STERLING EFFORT. x x x