Thursday 31 May 2007

crossing the threshold

jambeans crawled into the hall by herself today. she was looking for me - crawled quite confidently down the hall, but then got hesitant just before the dining room and stopped for a bit of a think.
ooh she's just adorable

she thought i wasn't looking, but i was peeking from the stairs. hee hee.

she's been on great from today, despite the cough and snot. we went to muzzie hill for brunch with caroline and ben and we both bought a hilarious book called "who's in the loo?" for our respective bubs. i also managed to pick up some i-saw-you-coming-bag-and-necklace-type-stuff that i don't really need, but i don't feel guilty at all. ha ha.

Wednesday 30 May 2007

my world has shrunk

before jasmine i read, watched and listened to the news.

i've not been one to soak up opinion and editorial. and 24-hour reporting isn't what i call journalism. so mainly i took in enough headlines and facts from various sources, just enough to work out what was going on and to form my own view.

but after jasmine i just stopped.

and i haven't really started again.

and i don't really miss it because the big stories are big enough to find me - i don't have to go looking for them. and also because the news is always the same - the people and circumstances may change, but the issues generally don't.

and mainly because i simply can't bear the stories of violence, murder and abductions any more.

Tuesday 29 May 2007

Jazzie please sleeeeeeeep

snot monster re-invasion, combined with general scrumbly teething behaviour and light sleep &/ nightmares induced by brave new world of crawling/walking means jambeans now crying her lungs out and has been for last 45 minutes and i want to go to bed as busy day tomorrow what with bank holiday meaning two day week and jambeans pleasesleeeeeepppzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Saturday 26 May 2007

Zoo time again

Back to London Zoo with Jessica, Nick and their bub Sophie. Cos we're members we got early bird entrance and got to see the vultures eviscerate some bunnies close up. It was fab.

No pictures, again, cos we forgot to charge the camera.

Definitely crawling now

Overnight Jasmine has gone from "but eet huuurrrrts myyyyy aaarrrrmmmms" to "andare andare ariba ariba" on the hands and knees front.

I left her alone for a few minutes in the middle of the living room yesterday and returned to find her by the bookcase systematically ripping the pages out of the A-Z.

With a very smug smile on her face :-)

Wednesday 23 May 2007

uh-oh. addicted to facebook


I'm a busy, working mum with an attention-seeking diva (= toddler) for chrissake.

Who's also trying to keep her blog up-to-date and vaguely witty (both counts, failed) when she has any spare time.

Which is less than never because the spare time she doesn't have is currently wasted on replying to messages on her facebook profile.

it's stressful enough having one virtual persona right here but now i have to go and keep another one up-to-date.

aaarrrrggghhh.

Saturday 19 May 2007

Next level of knackerdom

It only seems like a couple of weeks since Jasmine took her first steps. Now there's no stopping her. She's desperately impatient to move and every spare second she has is dedicated to pulling herself up, toddle-trucking and cruising. She's also sort of getting the hang of crawling on her hands and knees (as opposed to on her belly army-stylee) but would much rather be on her feet.

It's all about pride mixed with fear at this stage. For every new achievement the physical exertion is written all over her face and body, and it's a real, tear-welling moment of pride when she succeeds.

But she also needs constant supervision. Turn away for a second and she's on the other side of the room, turning out contents of a bottom draw, complete with plastic bags and mothballs. And I realise now that nothing is sacred - every shelf, cupboard and draw that Jazzie can reach is no longer just "our stuff" but is now buried treasure for baby explorers.

It's all fantastic, but also really knackering. I'm pretty used to being physically knackered all the time but this is emotionally knackering too, which makes it worse. I'm so knackered I fell asleep on the sofa in a knackered stupor again last night and when I finally made it upstairs (ie the bf had to prod me awake and force me to get up) I was too knackered to brush my teeth (something I haven't done for about 5 years) and just climbed knackeredly into bed. Sigh.

Sunday 13 May 2007

Lost my writing mojo

Not much else you can say really.

Tuesday 8 May 2007

About Uncle Mary and Auntie Leon

  • Collectively known as the dudes, Mary and Leon are our best mates and live in the West Country with their new baby Kate (born only 3 days before Felix) and their two dogs Millie and Tiki
  • They are the ones to blame for introducing silly words that stick, like boyfried, girlfried and welding and saying tee hee hee instead of laughing, and are totally fun and childlike all the time
  • Through her I met her boyfried Auntie Leon, aka Leonberger, who is a very silly man but is no longer her boyfried, he is now her husband and he is also a pillar of the community, though its hard to believe, being a teacher and all that in his spare time
  • And through him I met his bestest bestest mate from school, who is also a very silly man, but is hopelessly attractive, and he became my boyfried and he is still my boyfried and the father of our children and also a pillar of the community, though its hard to believe, being a doctor and all that
  • when they got wed, boyfried was best man, and i was bridesmaid so it was all very Fred and Wilma and Barney and Betty but in a totally non-cheesy way
  • Got that?

Auntie Mary:
  • Loves mountains and high places and canoes and outdoorsy type pursuits
  • Knows how to build a dry stone wall
  • Listens to other people. Man how I wish I could be a genuinely interested in other people in the way Mairy Fairy is
  • Knows herself inside and out, and has done since the age of seven
  • Has a totally bonkers family including of 3 elder brothers which explains why she rarely lets any kind of shit get to her
  • Owns lots of really really large and heavy pieces of furniture
  • Is very very silly
Uncle Leon:
  • Loves mountain climbing but hates heights (paradoxical, but true)
  • Has a PhD in DIY. His present to us when Jam-beans was born was to decorate her nursery and turn our shit heap of a house into something halfway decent and try and undercharge us for it. What a cool guy
  • Is brilliant at inventing games out of nothing and anything
  • Is the kind of guy who always gives his seat up for other people, and thinks of others first
  • Leaves nothing sacred. And I mean nothing in the "yup I really have just made a joke about your mother" kind of way. But gets away with it because he's always totally funny
  • Cannot face a camera without gurning
  • Chose the best nuns outfits for him and the boyfried when they went on a stag to the munich beer fest together (which they wore, together with a sign that said "will f*** for crack") but that i also got to try on and thought i looked super cool too
  • Is very very silly

Saturday 5 May 2007

Ben and Zayne's birthday party

Unlike us, Ben and Zayne's parents were brave and held a joint 1st birthday for them a few weeks ago at Clown Town. Jasmine had a great time - she discovered squishy slides, ball pits and birthday cake, all for the first time. She also discovered that balloons are the best thing in the whole wide world ever, and doubtless will continue to think that for many a year (until she discovers stickers, basically) so we bought a big pack of balloons for her and she's had one a day to play with pretty much ever since.
That was a few weeks ago, and she's been on great form since then, but the snot monster invaded again a couple of days ago. (More proof that the Law of Sod is very much alive and in operation - I was working in Swindon again when the dreaded phone call came from the nursery. Without tubes there simply is no easy way to rush back on a train and pick your daughter up early.) She's been rollercoastering up and down since then, but I guess it's another sign of a years' worth of experience that we're quite calm about it all, and know that it will pass.