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

Parklife

I get up when I want except on Thursdays when I get rudely awakened by the dustmen
(Parklife)
I put my trousers on, have a can of coke and I think about leaving the house (parklife)
I feed the pigeons I sometimes feed the sparrows too it gives me a sense of enormous well
being (parklife)
And then I'm happy for the rest of the day safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit
Of my heart devoted to it (parklife)

A classic hit from the early 90's.... Blur's Parklife. I love a bit of it!

Pizza please!

Grace is a girl growing up and developing a taste for fine stonebaked pizza. It's the first time Matt the Husband has dined out with Grace now she's taking solids and Pizza Express lends itself wonderfully to baby-led weaning. Lady Grace tucked into kalamata olives and dough balls for starter, followed by spinach and pepper pizza with mozzarella salad on the side, topped off with lemon sorbet with a wafer for good measure. Yummy! Grace behaved impeccably and aside from a 2-minute clear up operation at the end of the meal other diners wouldn't have known there was a little nipper dining out on the next table.

Tropical World

A little treat for Mother's Day saw us making a trip to Tropical World in Leeds. Grace spent a very flushed hour in the humid tropical heat that had even me feeling a little weak and dizzy, and that left Matt the Husband dripping like a tap as he stubbornly refused to take his jumper off, silly moo. Highlights for Grace were the bats and of course the meerkats. I felt especially proud taking this photo as for me it marks the turn from baby to little girl enjoying life and getting to know the world around her.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

I simply had to share this card with you that Grace made for me at nursery (with more than a small dose of help from Doromey her carer). My first mothers day was a treat as Matt the Husband took on household duties which allowed me relax in the morning... and do the household duties in the afternoon instead of the morning. He did cook a great joint of beef which we shared with Grace's Nanny and Grandpa, and we had a nice visit to her Grandma's on the way out with Daisy-woof.
Grace marked the occasion by popping out her 3rd tooth. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Johnny Town Mouse

Grace was lucky enough to be gifted an original copy of The Tale of Johnny Town Mouse by Beatrix Potter dating back to 1918 from my Uncle Frank. The book belonged to his Mother when she was a child growing up in war time Cambridge.

Her name was Grace May.

This picture was taken circa 1982 when I was a wee nipper. It's the first inkling that I'd spend time as a Veterinary Nurse. Anyway, back to the point - a wonderful gift from a special Uncle, Grace and I will treasure it always and read it often x x x