Child-wrangling

Alix is off partying at her Xmas do, leaving me in charge of the Mouse and Natasha. Fortunately Emily was thoroughly worn out by Renata in Hyde Park today, and Natasha seem happy enough with bottles (of ebm at least). So far so good.

Nerdboys

This one's for you.

Status Update

Natasha has moved out of the 'new baby' clothes and into the 0-3 months. Looks like she has a similar liking to boobies as her sister.

Everything seems to be ticking over as well as can be expected. Nothing quite like "been there done that" to make it seem easier though.

Back at work now, have got a part-time contract till Marchish.

And the main event:

And Her Mouseness:

Snuffalupagus

Natasha Ann, born 6:45AM Saturday 15 November, 3.54kg.

Quick and straightforward birth, and both Alix and Natasha seem to be doing fine.

Chicago!

Just like last year, Mr Eff organised tickets for the NFL game played at Wembley. Due to his ridiculously overbooked schedule, he wsa in fact in Poland when the game was on, so me, Stefan, and some Americans he met on the bus went instead.

Truly peculiar game, american football. A bit like the bastard child of league and AFL. But the most important man on the field is the guy with the orange gloves.

In other news, Alix popped along to the NCT nearly new sale to score some Mouse and Snuffalupagus goodies. Her Mouseness and I kicked a beach ball around in the park while we waited. An old lady thought Emily was adorable. I had to agree.



Afterwards we retired to the spacious Chiswick Starbucks (with lots of sofas and kids toy area - do these guys know their market or what!) for coffee and cake.



Emily thought that was pretty good too. Or at least she thought her smoothie was yummy, and she got to show off her lid-putting-on skills.

Exit Light

The other day I (rather randomly) was invited along to a Metallica gig at the O2, which was actually quite a blast.

The good thing about the venue was the stage was setup as an island, with all the standing and seated sections wrapped around it.


Being a new stadium, beer/food/all that stuff was easy to get to - and the concourse around the venue was packed with bars and restaurants (reminded me a little of Vegas actually).


And Metallica put on a fairly decent set - despite it being a charity gig (tickets were £5 to fans registered on there site, or something like that), and promoting their new album they still played some of their back catalogue. And since we were in the standing area less than 10m away from the stage, much head-banging was done.







In other news, Alix and I are busily trying to finish up the work we are doing before Snuffalupagus arrives. This may not be entirely successful.



Autumn has arrived, leaves are coming off the trees, and the central heating has been turned on. A new fluffy hat has been purchased for Her Mouseness. It even sometimes stays on.








And of course, some cute videos.


Emily helping with the dishes...

Emily on the swing!

And the little mouse on the slide.

Knackered

Very, very tired.

Good news - main client has signed off on 65 days work, which will (including time off, and part time after snuffalupagus) see me through to end Jan-ish.

Bad news - am now trying to be at the office by 8ish, so I can get a solid amount of work in, and still get home at a reasonable hour. An hour door-to-door each way makes the wake-up time Not Of Quality.

I'm pretty certain I've never regularly gone to work at this hour before. Blaaa.

In other news, Emily continues to be adorably cute. Latest work is "pretty". Unsurprisingly really.

And of course, it remains important to find the toes.

Dinnertime

Gorgeous weather on Saturday meant that an expedition over to Supermodel's place for rugby (on unfeasibly large TV) and BBQ (Cooked to perfection by Eff) was the call. Emily was charming, through kept escaping inside to sit on the Sofa of Comfyness to watch moving pictures.



Managed to get Renata to babysit Saturday night, which let me and Alix get out for dinner to celebrate the last anniversary of the week. Went to a local place in Brackenbury village called (unsurprisingly) The Brackenbury, which was pretty damn good. Sufficiently good to go the whole three courses. Yum.



Since it decided to pour with rain today, the logical thing to do was to go down to the park and play in some puddles. So it was a very muddy mouse who had her bath tonight.



On the garden front, our cup of tomatos runneth over, so Alix is researching tomato relish recipes. Double Yum.

Fifth, Second

The Bank Holiday Monday was a pleasant bonus for our anniversary of getting actually, legally, married (on a beach no less), and we decided to head east to meet up with Nana Kath, who wanted me to be a ringer for her mate's tug-of-war team at the Narrow St Fete.

Said team (the Grapes Pub team) was more than happy to have someone lend a hand, and we proceeded to destroy the opposition, even though they had tied their end to a fence.

Edit - and we're famous, even...


Emily pottered around the fete, played with a bubble making machine, correctly identified varous dogs, made friends with some of the Pearly Kings and Queens, and conducted various pram-raids.







Afterwards, pootled back to Canary Wharf - which reminded us of how much we liked living in our little 'bubble' back east - and chilled out with coffee and cake at the slowest Caffe Nero in the world. While Alix was getting the order, I was chasing the little mouse all over the marbled floors of the mall, or through the cafe, where she was making lots of new friends. Admittedly, the ridiculously cute fairy dress that we brought back from camp bestival probably helped.



Thankfully a bit of peekabooing with Mummy kept her in one spot long enough so she could be swept up and put into a highchair for dinner.




We have also noticed that with the increase in walking, has also come a marked increase of interest in books. Which is mostly OK.

Moving with the times

With the impending arrival of Snuffalupagus (and the assorted side-effects from this), it's time to start reconfiguring the house. We spent Sunday swapping out the sofa with the bed from the Mouse's room, and cleaning that room out.



Which of course means that we have a bed in our living room, which isn't so civilised, but in a few months time that will be the least of our worries.

The remainder of Sunday was spent chilling out, chasing the mouse around the house, and having coffee and cake.



Emily liked the anzac biccies.

And the Peekabooing.

Got Wood?

Five years ago today, we had, as a colleague of Alix's described, a "fake" wedding in (mostly) Sunny Townsville. Amongst family and friends, we got up in front of everyone and said that we thought the other person was a bit of all right.

OK, maybe not those exact words, but the sentiment was there. Or a more refined sentiment even.

Due to Snuffalupagus, not so much alcohol was consumed to mark the occasion, however a chilled day was spent, hunting and gathering and bringing in more of the harvest.

Emily helped out, as it meant she could eat some of the tomatoes.

Parklife

Following on from the debauches of Saturday, the logical thing to do on Sunday was to go to Hyde Park, to feed some ducks and tree-rats.

A bit of Bus Lotto, a quick stop at Whole Foods (yummy, but very wanky), and ducks and tree-rats were fed shortly after. Little Miss Mouse also seems to be developing some speed. (Seems to be accelerating, according to Renata.)

Emily then proceeded to steal some cake from her parents.

And I think she's pointing at the squirrel, because she thought the nuts were for her, and the little furry bugger has nicked off with them.

Ducks!

Lost in Action

On Saturday, went on Eff's 10th (and final) Pilgrimage to Brighton.

Much frozen margarita (and Mojitos, and Bloody Marys, and CVR) was consumed on the train.

It's not that long a train.

How Did You Get Up There, And Where Are Your Pants?

Obviously anyone who has had small children will smirk at this, but the current issue with a more mobile mouse isn't so much the walking (Emily is starting to walk independently), but the clambering.

Chairs, sofas, her pram, beds, the lot. And then you take you eye off her for a few minutes, and she's up on the dinner table eating Alix's harvest of beans. Sans pants of course.

Badgers Bottom Stole my Brain

Went to the Great British Beer Festival last night with Rhesus, Eff, Toadboy and Pedro.

As a consequence, I have the brain of a chicken today.

I blame the (7%) cider.

Blarg.

Party at Boris's

Friday evening was the London Lounge Bar at the top of City Hall.

After a few beers, we tried to convince Boris to join the Exiles for a run-out - we could do with another prop. Not entirely sure we convinced him....

Camp Bestival

Having finally reduced the Matthews count in the flat after seeing Madre off at the airport, we headed south for the Camp Bestival family tour. (Camp Bestival being a hip-but-still-family-friendly music festival.

First time campervanning, which was... interesting. We aslo managed to stay a night in the New Forest going there and back - fabulous campsite at Hollands Wood.

Will post more details when less knackered - for now, some mouse photos.


Little Miss Smiley/Growly.



Nope, no idea either.



Kids Garden at Camp Bestival - spent most of the time there...


Look ma, one hand!


Self explanatory really.


End of a long day, looking out at the last day of the festival.


Lounging by the river in the New Forest.

City of Stuff

Still utterly knackered after taking Madre on day trip to Paris in the weekend.

Not sure If I'd recommend the day trip vs. staying over... The "getting up at inhuman hour" does make it a bit gruelling.

Still, we ticked off everything I wanted us to do, and even threw in some RER lotto just to make things exciting.

Will post details and pics when energy reaches reasonable levels.

And of course some mouse photos - these are from the Sunday after we got back. Emily is wearing her "Little Miss Muffett" dress that Alix scored at a second hand shop.

This post brought to you by the letter B

Birthday, bbq, babies and bubbles.
'Nuff said really.

Whirl

Stuff has been going on.



Probably should write about it.



Shall post cute mouse photo instead.

Winter Gardens

Over the last few weekends we've taken Sharon out to see some English gardens and parks. Of course the weather has been filthy, but that hasn't (quite) stopped us.

First up was Kew Gardens. Which is magificent due to demented (and dementedly large) greenhouses.

Which transforms cold, grey day like this...

To a warm, mist filled tropical oasis like this. Which Emily (natch) slept through.

We were in time to catch a fair few daffodils and other lawnflowers, and the obligatory bad coffee. Very nice. (well, not the coffee, obviously).

Next up, last weekend, was Hyde Park, to show Sharon some tree-rats. We stopped off on the way at Whole Foods, which despite being a big pile of eco-wank had some extraordinarily yummy food at it (one extremely gooey unpastuerised brie, for example).

Hyde Park, was, well, very Park-y. Had yummy picnic, showed Emily some swans, tried to stop her eating dirt, showed Sharon various tree-rats, and then fled for the nearest Starbucks for warmth and coffee.

And the next day it snowed of course! We shall see if Alix's plants survive.

Last, for Beloved Elder Sisters birthday, we took her out to a Michelen-starred restaurant, The Greenhouse. Yum. Started off worryingly, as the first amuses-bouche tasted a bit like dishwater. Or old sock. But thankfully, everything improved extremely rapidly.

Sharon seemed to be flavour of the month with the staff - she scored brownie points with the bread waiter for scarfing down half a dozen servings of his (admittedly fantastic - esp. the stilton) bread.

The cheese selection puts any "cheese board" to shame - a trolley with the most fantastic variety of cheeses was wheeled to our table... Highlights were the Vintage Comté (aged 4 years), and the Saint Felicien, which was, frankly, profanity inducing (in a good way). As one might expect, much porto was consumed with this.

And of course, cute baby video.