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Well, well, a new year and all that. Alas I have no pithy quotes or sparking wit to dazzle with at the moment. All I can say is that 2008 was a Good Year.

It saw the Little Mouse get more mobile, more talkative, and a lot of fun to be with.

It of course saw the Snuffalupagus arrive.

And visits from beloved eldest sister and madre.


And now, in no particular order, some baby photos from the end of last year.



Natasha was lucky enough to have her parents get around to registering her birth a LOT quicker than Emily. Yay for Starbucks across the road from said office.

If you're going to be a Wellington girl, you'd better get used to cafe's we thought.

'Helping' Mummy decorate the tree.

Little Kiwi Dress. Got Natasha early enough that it fitted properly.

Presents!

Obiligatory baby photo.

Sitting at the table. Admittedly she moved back to her high chair (at the table) but still. Maybe a booster seat.

Emily likes chocolate biccies. Note cute little owl suit.

Yeah, Emily escaped the reindeer going out suit - but Natasha being a winter baby - not so lucky.

Looks a lot like Emily has inherited the Crazy Matthews Bed Hair.

Not so much a Santa! as a "Wha?"



Smock! Smock! Painting!

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.