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.

Winter Killed Spring And Took Its Stuff

It's cold and has been snowing on and off for days. But not solidly enough to even build a snowman. Bah.

Cold weather means beloved wife cannot continue with garden project, resulting in grumpiness. Beloved elder sister on the other hand has fled to the British Museum, which is, according to her text, "the best museum yet".

Emily sees no problem with any of these, and continues her vigorous attempt to eat any tissues lurking around.

The Sister Has Landed

And I'm pretty certain it's hailing outside.

Alix and Sharon have taken Alix's zipcar to B&Q to find a new garden shed to replace the one destroyed by recent storms, leavign me on mouse-minding duty. A duty I should probably get used to if I don't get up off my bitch ass and write my CV and find another job.

Slightly fatigued today as we went to supper at Dave's (another one of the brotherhood) up in Blackheath last night - with zipcar and clutching dodgy google maps directions we pootled across town, Emily and Sharon in tow. Quite an amusing drive, as you go past all the nice mansions (well, apartments really) of Chelsea initially, then over Vauxhall Bridge, and you're in Peckham. Which is the inverse of salubrious really.

Fun party, nice to see Kath and Dave again (practically had to pry Emily out of Kaths arms at the end of the night), nice people to talk to and yummy food and drink.

In other news, hopefully Alix's work are accepting her proposed flexible working. This would be a Good Thing, as I don't have any great enthusiasm for trying to find another nanny.

In unrelated news, I'm certain that I'm months behind the zeitgeist on this one, but I recently saw the "I'm f**king Matt Damon" video (and it's, er, sister video "I'm f**king Ben Affleck"), and I was fairly amused.

And of course, cute baby video.

This Way and That

Need to find a new contract. Well, need is probably overstating the case, but its probably Not A Bad Idea. Fortunately end of contract coincides with beloved elder sister arriving, so having a little time off is a pleasant idea.

Plus, thankfully I have a little work to do for a former client so we're not exactly going to starve.

Things I will miss about current contract:

Working for a megacorp.
Being part-time for the last 9 months (and thus getting plenty of mouse time).

Things I won't:

Having to commute to Zone 5 (or 9 on a bad day) out to suburbia.

On other news, recently it was Mothering Sunday, and it was greeted in the traditional way here with presents from Fortnum and Mason (for Alix, natch), a lie in (ditto), and one of the best Eggs Benedict I've had since moving here. Yay for Mr Breakfast!


(Admittedly, since the Bene was made by me, that's more of an indictment on the parlous state of some of the cafes round here, but still).

(hmmm, might have to try and brighten this one)

The Myth of Fingerprints

What can I say about 2007? I can certainly recommend starting the year in a hot tub, drinking champagne with oodles of snow on the ground all around.
















A bit of distraction (and last opportunity - we thought) to go on holiday before the baby arrived turned into a very pleasand Christmas and New Years in Beijing, taking advantage of Wendy being on posting - and thus having swanking paid-for apartments.



We managed to fit in a bit of swanning around, cruising over to Amsterdam, before I joined the boys for the Hong Kong Sevens World Tour. London->Hong Kong->Auckland->Wellington->Auckland->Los Angeles->Las Vegas->Los Angeles->London.


Not for the weak of heart, or faint of liver.






















We discovered a few key things:

1. 4-litre jugs of vodka red bull are Wrong.
2. But its awfully nice of them to put spill-proof lids on them
3. The bars in Wan Chai will stay open as late as you can stay upright(ish)
4. Hotdogs at a baseball game are manky
5. You can't get a beer in LA after 2AM
6. Even in a strip joint
7. The only women to talk to you at 6AM in a bar on the casino floor in Vegas are hookers

So it was pretty educational all round really.

After all that craziness, and a quick Hilton spring Ball came the main event - the arrival of Emily! I consider myself incredibly lucky that I was able to get a long contract that was part time/work from home for the first 7 or so months. Being able to see her change day-by-day, week-by-week has been fantastico. Being back at work full-time now = not so fantastico.

Taking her mouseness back to NZ was amazing (after the jet lag) - the inspiration came from the Walkers - their enjoyment of Emily was so obvious that it seemed the appropriate thing to do to take her home to the Matthews as well.

Now? Things have settled into a routine (for now). Get up, do mouse-minding while Alix showers, breakfasts, etc. Get cleaned, shaved etc. Catch Tube. Work. Catch Tube. Play with Emily. Bottle, bath, bed. Dinner, spend time with lovely wife. Sleep.

I may have not much time to myself (the Tube mainly), or much time to read (ditto), but I can't actually complain that much.

And I joined the library. Free books!

Mouse in the House

I believe that this is where I'm supposed to give a summary of the madness that was 2007. However, I'm knackered, so instead I'll just give you a mouse photo taken by SMV with his zillion-pound camera.

Mouse vs. Iguana

The Matthews family is reunited after the exhausting world tour. Yay for half empty planes coming back!

The little mouse has been pretty fabulous, considering she's jetlagged and all.

It's cold and dark, but Christmas is around the corner. It's the first one for Emily, and while she won't notice the difference, that's not the point! What is a cute baby for if not to spoil completely over this time of year.

Though it's all a bit unfair - the iguana was MY birthday present!

(Madre - you'll need a decent connection for this one)