More Socialising

It's a grand life this being at home business! We got caught in the heavy downpours on Saturday - not that it affected Olivia - and were kindly rescued by Jake and Judith as we were passing their house. The coffee and cake were very welcome and we could have stopped for tea too but Olivia was due a pureed chicken dinner at home (er...yum?). We also met another Olivia (no pic, sorry), Judith's 3 year old granddaughter who kindly gave my Olivia a gold sticker to wear. Thank you big Olivia xxx

New Skip

Well the new skip is here and is filling slowly. I've been wondering whether we're actually going to fill this one or not but Richard assures me that I've ordered the right size (another 12 cubic yard one) and that a builder's skip would have been too small. More tat has been found in the attic so watch the Ebay space over the next few weeks...

Hello Sam

Well, last week was another meet up with a long lost friend - September seems to be the month for it - I met up with Sam, a friend from school whom I hadn't seen in 19 years. Yikes, doesn't time fly?! She got in touch with me via Friends Reunited and we met up for coffee and a sandwich (and the obligatory photos) in Telford Town Centre. It's strange how even after all that time it was pretty easy to chat and we still recognised each other.

My Baby Einstein!

Well, we had a very successful day on Wednesday. I managed to win a Graco Baby Einstein Activity Centre on Ebay for the paltry sum of £20. Brand new ones cost £80 in the shops so I was naturally very happy indeed! Normally on Ebay they go for much more but this particular one had lost it's feet and so I turned out to be the only bidder. I think the vendor was disappointed but such are the joys of auctions - we sold our floral displays and flower stands for only £29 so I guess it's swings and roundabouts. Anyway, the activity centre was Buyer Collects so we had to drive out to a village just outside Derby to get it. It was worth the effort though and we enjoyed a nice pub lunch out. Olivia was delighted with her new toy and has sat happily in it for hours at a time since. Note the His and Hers trousers in the picture below ha ha! (they dressed independently of each other):

Weaning

Well, weaning continues and the freezer is full of frozen cubes of vegetable puree, just like those in the picture (which are carrot by the way). So far, Olivia has tried carrot, pear, apple, sweet potato, butternut squash, broccoli (not a success), cauliflower, parsnip, swede and potato, either singly or in combination with each other. She will soon be trying beetroot and courgette purees. My only concern is that she's not too keen on any of them unless they're mixed in with baby rice made up with milk... Hopefully though she will grow to relish them neat and enjoy her meals more!

Saturday Tea

Olivia and I went to my parents (aka Gran and Grandad Cruxton) for tea on Saturday. Well, actually I ate tea and Olivia sat in the highchair with us at the table (she was going to eat later). We gave her some tomato and cucumber but she didn't seem interested in eating them - just in pushing them around the tray (I guess baby led weaning wouldn't have worked for us!). After these had landed on the floor too many times we replaced them with some blocks.

She really enjoyed herself playing with her Gran:




And pulling her Grandad's hair:

Sunny Llandudno Part III

After our trip to the copper mines we took Olivia to see the pier. It was a bit windy but she managed to stay snug in the pushchair.

We stopped off in one of the arcades for Olivia to meet up with Big Byrd and for Richard and I to play air hockey ( I won 7 goals to 3 - ha!). Olivia was quite taken with both!



Eventually though it was time to return to the hotel, but on Richard's shoulders of course:

Sunny Llandudno Part II

Olivia spent most of the time between feeds with Graham and Jean. This gave Rich and I a chance to go off and do our own thing. Early Wednesday afternoon we went to see the copper mines. Not for the claustrophobic, very tall or very fat!

And for those considering a change of career, we saw first hand the (not so) glamorous side of archeology:

Sunny Llandudno Part I

We've just got back from a couple of days away in Llandudno. Rich and I booked in at The Elms Hotel and joined Graham and Jean (aka Grandma and Grandad Talbot) who were there for the week. First night was spent settling Olivia in. However, she was more interested in getting into the party spirit!

Lunch at Delma's

On Monday our antenatal group met up for lunch. As usual I was particularly flakey and thought we were meeting at 11.30am.... in fact I pulled out all the stops to ensure I was on time. But no, I was an hour and a half early! We weren't meeting until 1pm. Oh dear. Will my brain ever come back?! Just about all the babies are now on solids and it was useful to compare notes as well as to see everyone again (we hadn't seen each other for several weeks). Well done Delma on arranging it - sorry to invade your home so early!

Long Time No C

Well, well. Sunday was quite a blast from the past. Cynthia (ex Harper student, once known as Cindy), who is currently touring the country before moving to Australia to study, was in the Telford area and made a special effort to come over to Newport - by bus! - to visit us. It was really lovely to catch up with her and find out what she's up to these days. God really blessed our time together and I'm so glad she came over. Every blessing to you in Oz Cynthia!!!

Bye Bye Elaine

For some weeks now Olivia and I have had coffee and cake with Elaine and Ben on Wednesday mornings after clinic. This week was Elaine's last Wednesday before she had to go back to work (boo!) so we thought we'd mark the occasion by going to Smallwood Lodge (v. nice). Judging by the photograph it's probably not a bad thing that I'm not going to be eating quite so much cake anymore!