A Year in Pictures: Week 33

Wow, am I in trouble this week and next! I hardly took any photos. But I do have lots of pictures for the days I did take out my camera, so I'll just spread them out over the week. Sorry it's not authentic...

Saturday 13 August


We went over to Ipswich today for the first of Daisy's four birthday celebrations. Jon's Mum and brother-in-law had made a cake with her photo on it, and she got some lovely presents: a hammer & peg set, a 'my first gadget' set including a phone, a remote control and a set of keys, and a wooden puzzle with farmyard animals that makes the relevant animal noise when you put a piece in. Here's her cake...


Sunday 14 August


... and here she is enjoying her new toys.


Monday 15 August


Jon baked schiacciata yesterday. How delicious does that look???!!! It tasted delicious too.


Tuesday 16 August


Happy Birthday Auntie Jen! Here's the view of Jen's screen as we were Skyping with her today.


Wednesday 17 August


The health visitor came round today to carry out Daisy's one-year health check. She's 27.75 inches long, which is the 9th percentile. She weighs 18lbs 1.5oz; the 25th percentile, and her head circumference is 46.5cm - around the 85th percentile! Maybe that's why she hasn't shown an interest in walking yet; she's got a lot of weight at the top to carry on those legs! The health visitor said she is doing really well in terms of motor skills and brain development, so it's a good job she's got lots of room for all those brain cells...


Thursday 18 August


This is how she looked this morning when I went to wake her up from her nap :).


Friday 19 August



I had an impromptu trip to Southampton today to sort out that carnage that was the defrosted contents of my freezer, after Clare went round the other day to find there was no electricity in the property. I had some time to kill before returning home as I didn't want to hit the M25 at rush hour, so I went to Hobbycraft to buy some frames and while I was there I finally figured out what I could do with the ceramic coaster Daisy made 5 months ago. I'd been trying to work out the best way of displaying it, and while this isn't exactly a ground-breaking idea, it was difficult for me to visualise how it might look as I have no imagination. I put it together after I got back from Southampton and I'm really pleased with it.

A Year in Pictures: Week 32

Saturday 6 August


Cambridge always has such interesting buskers. We walked past this guy as he was setting up, and I wondered what he might be doing with a steel frame and a violin... He was actually standing on one leg for most of the time I was watching him.


Sunday 7 August


We went to Wimpole Hall this afternoon, which is a National Trust place about half an hour from us. We had Daisy with us and just wanted a change of scenery, and it was such a lovely day that we didn't want to spend it inside, so we didn't bother with going inside the house but just walked around the grounds. Nice, eh?


Monday 8 August


Mothercare was doing Buy One Get One Free on ball pit balls so we got two bags on Saturday and gave the paddling pool a dual purpose. The last time I took her to a ball pit, she wasn't too keen, so I suggested to Jon that he put her in the paddling pool and add the balls a few at a time. I went upstairs to the loo, came back a minute later and she was already surrounded by balls, smiling away. I guess she's over her dislike of ball pits, then.


Tuesday 9 August


I took Daisy swimming today. It was not a success. She's been swimming with Rob quite a few times, but she didn't like it this morning. I thought the water was a bit cold, and I think that's what was upsetting her, as she didn't cry if she was distracted by a toy or another child, but after half an hour of crying I decided enough was enough. She was very cute in the changing rooms though :).


Wednesday 10 August


We went to Leo's Funzone today, which is a small soft play area at the Leisure Centre. It's free for under-1s, but when you get in there you realise why - there's not vast amounts for pre-walkers to do. However, as it's the summer holidays and we don't have Sing & Sign or Gymbabes to go to, a change of scenery is a good start, so I think we'll probably go back a couple of times before her birthday. Here she is at lunchtime. Apparently she really, really likes Diet Coke...


Thursday 11 August


Pulling herself up to standing is old news now. She's not really moving along very much once she does stand, but she has done it a couple of times. If you tell her 'Up' and 'Down' she'll stand up or sit down accordingly, though.


Friday 12 August


I've said before that I'm not keen on babies having things in their hair, particularly when they don't have any, but I figure she actually does have some now and I tried out this hair band this morning. I thought it looked quite nice, but I wonder if she had different ideas, because by the time we had walked into town it had disappeared...

A Year in Pictures: Week 31

Saturday 30 July


We left Keswick today after a lovely week with Nanna, Grandpa and Auntie Jen. On the way home, we stopped at my friend Clare's house and met her 2-week-old daughter Matilda. Helen and Dave also came round with Sam, who turned 5 a couple of weeks ago. Here he is trying on superhero costumes with Clare's son Harry, who's 3.


Sunday 31 July


Today Jon, Daisy and I went to Dunstable Downs, which is probably the nearest set of hills to here, at one end of the Chilterns. It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely walk along the buggy-friendly pathway looking at the gorgeous views, but it's this view that I like the best :). Coke's youngest fan? [NB Before anyone calls the NSPCC, she didn't drink any of it; the ring pull was still attached.]


Monday 1 August


I bought a paddling pool today as it's so hot, which gave Daisy the opportunity to try on her new swimming costume...


Tuesday 2 August


Cute from every angle.


Wednesday 3 August


More splashing in the paddling pool today. It was warmer than it looks in this photo!


Thursday 4 August


Daisy loves playing with her Gymbabes ball. She specifically likes it when you throw it at her head. Seriously.



Friday 5 August


This isn't my picture, but it's pretty much what I saw on the other carriageway as I was on the motorway today (except I was at ground level, not in a helicopter). I went to Southampton to check on the house, see Liz, Caitlin and Ava and have lunch with Clare, then as I was driving home there was an accident on the other side of the M25. It took me 3.5 hours to get home, as opposed to the usual just over 2 hours, but I was just glad I wasn't going in the other direction...

A Year in Pictures: Week 30

Saturday 23 July


This is our home for the next week. Isn't it cute? It's called Woolstore Cottage and is in Keswick, where Daisy and I are on holiday with Nanna & Grandpa and Auntie Jen. It's got a lounge/diner/kitchen on the ground floor, a twin bedroom and shower room on the first floor and a king bedroom and bathroom on the top floor. Daisy and I arrived after the other three, and they decided that it would be easier if Jen and I shared the king bed and Mum & Dad would have the twin room, so Daisy could have her own room too - the bathroom on the top floor :).


Sunday 24 July


We spent today getting our bearings and having a walk round Fitz Park, just across the road from our cottage. A passing stranger offered to take our picture. Unfortunately she wasn't prepared to hang around long enough for Daisy to look at the camera.


Monday 25 July


We went to the Lake (Derwentwater) today after Daisy's afternoon nap. I worked out how to put my camera onto continuous mode, so I got loads of Daisy being gorgeous, but I chose this picture for today as Jen is just as gorgeous and we haven't seen her on here for a while.


Tuesday 26 July


Two pictures in two days! And talking of gorgeous, I think this is a really lovely picture of Jen. Today she, Daisy and I went to visit my lovely friend Sarah, who moved to Bowness, about 25 miles from Keswick, in the last year, and had this little man, Finley, a month ago. Apparently this is not the way he normally behaves - usually he's more vocal than this - but we didn't mind at all.


Wednesday 27 July


This one's a cheat, as I didn't take it - Dad did - but it was definitely taken today :). Most evenings after dinner Dad's been for a walk round town, and tonight he took some beautiful shots of the sunset over the Lake.

Thursday 28 July


Today was the only day we saw any rain - which for the Lake District is some sort of record, I think. It was also the day that an invitational Twenty20 cricket match was being played at the local ground. As it turned out, the rain was very quick to pass in the morning and the overcast conditions made it a good day for playing sport. Dad went and watched the match from the start and after Daisy woke up from her nap, we went and joined him for the second side's innings. Here are Daisy and Jen sharing a joke.


Friday 29 July


Today we decided to have a game of bowls at the park near the cottage. Dad won, with Mum a close second (6 to 5, although they play twice a week so they have an advantage), and Jen and I only got 1 and 2 respectively. I was playing with Daisy on my front in her carrier, and I'd like to say it made it more difficult for me to play well, but I don't think I would have played any better anyhow... Here we are celebrating our first point.

A Year in Pictures: Week 29

Saturday 16 July


This is Jessica, Jon's niece, modelling a creation she made herself from an old mailing bag. It's called Mildred...


Sunday 17 July


When I put Daisy in her pushchair, I usually assemble it outside (it lives in the boot of the car) then bring her out to it. This morning I brought her outside then realised I needed two hands to put the pushchair together, so she just sat on a box of nappies in the boot while I sorted it out.


Monday 18 July


I bought Daisy a gilet to take on holiday with us to the Lakes next week. It's 6-9 months (she's almost 11) and is enormous on her - I'm glad I didn't decide to get the 9-12... When she turns her head the coat stays where it is and she just sees the inside of her hood ;).


Tuesday 19 July


Love those puppy-dog eyes :).


Wednesday 20 July


Daisy's getting really good at standing up. She sometimes needs a hand to get there, but once she's on her feet she can stay there for ages.


Thursday 21 July


Always up to date on current events.


Friday 22 July


In the last 48 hours she's really mastered the art of getting to her feet. Easy peasy.

A Year in Pictures: Week 28

Saturday 9 July


Just doing some reading. Hmm, interesting...


Sunday 10 July


Today we had salmon for dinner, with broad beans, red onions and courgettes from the garden. Just call me Felicity Kendal. Actually I didn't grow them, so just call Jon Richard Briers...


Monday 11 July


I always put Daisy in the middle of the lounge, and she invariably moves immediately to underneath the TV and stays there. Just in case she misses anything from three feet further back.


Tuesday 12 July


First time in a big girl shopping trolley :).


Wednesday 13 July


Daisy helped me wrap some birthday presents today. OK, maybe 'helped' is overstating it a bit, but it was nice that she wanted to get involved.


Thursday 14 July


First time on the swings! There's a little park right next-door to our house, with a small playground, and while she's a bit small to enjoy any of the other things, she loved the swings.


Friday 15 July


We went back to the park this afternoon as it was such nice weather. I attempted to get Daisy to model her sunglasses but literally a second after I took this, she had taken them off...

A Year in Pictures: Week 27

Saturday 2 July


We had pasta for lunch today, with broad beans straight from the garden :). We also concluded our week off work (or, in my case, parenting) with a trip back into London to see Les Misérables, Jon for the second time, me for the seventh. Alfie Boe and Matt Lucas are both currently reprising their roles from the 25th Anniversary Concert at the O2 last year, Jean Valjean and Thénardier respectively. They were both excellent, but really no more so than every other member of the cast. Everyone sang really clearly and was easy to understand, particularly Javert, who was played by Hadley Fraser, coincidentally also a feature of the 25th Anniversary Concert, although playing Grantaire, a much smaller part. This occasion marks the first time I haven't cried at a live production of Les Misérables. Wow, I must be growing up ;). Actually I think it's more to do with the fact that the last scene, where I usually cry, contains one of my now-favourite songs in the show (now that I'm sick of the usual suspects: I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own, etc), and I was concentrating so hard on listening to every note that I forgot to cry ;).


Sunday 3 July


Daisy came home today after a week with Daddy. Here she is sharing a joke with her octopus.


Monday 4 July


Daisy spent much of today putting assorted toys into my slippers, then taking them out again and grinning.


Tuesday 5 July


After having a really good day yesterday, Daisy decided to top it off by throwing up her entire dinner just before bath time. Fortunately for her, she was standing up and using me as a prop at the time, so I was able to direct the vomit away from us and onto the floor. Unfortunately for us, she had had pasta with a tomato-based sauce for dinner. It would probably have been easier to clean up if she had got it all over me instead of the floor, but I didn't think of that at the time. I spent half an hour scrubbing the floor while Jon put Daisy to bed, but didn't get much of it out. Here's Daisy admiring her handiwork this morning. I'll be ringing the carpet cleaners later on today.


Wednesday 6 July


Although she still hasn't mastered proper crawling yet, Daisy leans onto her hands from sitting, puts one foot on the floor and takes a 'step', dragging her other leg along with her. Which means she can get around the room pretty quickly now. Just 10 seconds before this photo was taken, she was at the other side of the room, and the next thing I knew, she was picking out DVDs.


Thursday 7 July


Boo!


Friday 8 July


Daisy got quite warm in her car seat this afternoon. I don't think it's the air temperature as much as the material the seat's made of, which doesn't breathe all that well. When I got her out of the car her hair had gone curly in the heat :).

A Year in Pictures: Week 26

Saturday 25 June

We went into Cambridge today and had lunch at Jamie's Italian. It was nice. Not excellent, as you might expect a Jamie Oliver restaurant to be, but nice all the same.


Sunday 26 June


I love this picture of Jon and Daisy reading the papers. Caption competition, anyone?


Monday 27 June


My two favourite girls in the world, both looking beautiful.


Tuesday 28 June


As we are child-free all week, we've made the most of it and are seeing one or two shows/concerts. Tonight was the turn of Glee Live, which kind of played a part in getting Jon and me together. Here we are waiting for the show to start. It was really good, and I wasn't the oldest there, not by a long way. I was expecting there to be thousands of teenage girls and us, but there were actually just as many over-25s as under-25s, if not more. You can't see it in the picture but I'm wearing my William McKinley High School cheerleading top (it's actually the top half of the pyjamas that Jon got me for Valentine's day;)). Excuse my hair, by the way; I had a mobile hairdresser come round last week and I asked her to cut me in a 'growing out'-style fringe I could sweep across to the side. She cut it way too short and I'm still trying to work out what to do with it for the best until it grows a bit longer...


Wednesday 29 June


No show today, but we did go for lunch in this beautiful building, which happens to be a Michelin-starred restaurant called Paris House. The food was delicious, and really reasonable at £30 for three courses. We both had profiteroles for dessert, which were served with salted caramel and were the best I've ever tasted - and I've tasted a lot. We spent the afternoon visiting the house we've bought in Milton Keynes and watching X-Men: First Class at the cinema. A great day.


Thursday 30 June


The second show of the week was Take That at Wembley Stadium. Jon booked tickets before we got together, but he found himself with a spare ticket, so I took it, then another person in his group couldn't make it so I asked the lovely Clare to come with (sorry again, Jen). It was a great concert, particularly as I'm not a huge Take That fan - I don't dislike them, but I haven't ever bought any of their albums - but just as great was seeing Clare, who I used to see at least once a week and who I haven't seen for two months, since I moved up to St Neots. She said she missed me and I cried ;). Anyway, here are Take That singing my favourite of their songs, The Flood, on stage at Wembley. On the big screen is Robbie; he and the rest of the band are standing on the silver rigging below the huge statue on the right of the picture.


Friday 1 July


We went to see Betty Blue Eyes tonight, a musical based on the 1984 film A Private Function which starred Maggie Smith and Michael Palin, among others. It was very good - a bit too farcical for my liking; I like my musicals to have a bit more substance, but definitely value for money. During the day we spent a good three hours looking round St Paul's Cathedral, somewhere I've never been, despite having been to London dozens of times in my life. The entrance fee was £14.50, which I thought was a bit steep, but it was well worth it as the audio tour which was included in the price was excellent. And the audio tour headsets were iPods - hope they got a deal from Apple ;). However, given that photos are not allowed anywhere in St Paul's and it's difficult to take a picture of the outside as you can't stand far enough back, here's a picture I took while walking there this morning. It's of the famous 30 St Mary Axe, or 'The Gherkin', as it's more affectionately known, and I think it's beautiful. Maybe I missed my calling and should have been an architect...