In which Babymomma and family strike holiday gold

Went to Devon for a week's holiday where we had nothing but glorious sunshine for the whole week - in March. How jammy is that? Did Lewtrenchard, in the sun. Did Wenbury beach and cliff walk, in the sun. Did Paignton Zoo, in the sun. Did the viaduct & river walk, in the sun. Did the walk to Belstone Tor, in the sun. Discovered Pennywell Farm, in the sun. Did the Dewarstone walk on bf's birthday, and with Mary-Fairy, Leon-berger and Kate-O-Matic, and in the sun. Did Sushi with friends, not in the sun but on a Friday evening sans enfants.

Pure. Holiday. Gold.

Day after we got back - pissed down with rain. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

The shorthand version of the longhand version of shitty christmas

I started writing this longhand version of why the run up to Christmas was so shitty, but it's taking forever and time is precious and all that, so the shorthand version is we were all horribly sick most of the time and 2 days before Christmas I lost my job because our company couldn't survive the collapse of the Icelandic bank system and I still don't know if I'm going to get paid this month.

Clearly, there is a lot more to get off my chest, particularly about being unwittingly unemployed in the midst of a deep recession, but we've finally had a good run of form so I'm not going to ruin it by moaning. Christmas Day at Auntie Seema's was most excellent. As was Boxing Day at London Zoo. As was the day after Boxing Day when La Gitane and Krusty came to stay before hopping on a plane back to HK. As was the day after the day after Boxing Day when Richard, Hilary, Danil and Seriosha came for a visit. I've eaten a LOT of cake. It feels good.

10 rounds with Mike Tyson

It's impossible to change Felix' nappy at all these days. Normally, I require the help of bf to pin him down. Yesterday at the zoo with uncle A, auntie T and cousin A I had to change him toute seule on a changing station that didn't have a strap to keep him place. Result - 10 minutes of struggling and a total babymomma energy crash all afternoon.

Other than that - no new news. London Zoo yesterday en famille. Jasmine and Abagael get on like a house on fire - though J wants to copy everything A is, does and has. Today Jambeans and I made cake for Nani's birthday, which was raw and collapsing when we took it out of the oven, but by the time we had ferried it to Auntie Seema's had miraculously recovered and tasted delicious. Nigella, irritating as she is, scores another goal.

Jasmine knows her animals

Given her parents' predilection for zoos it comes as no surprise that Jasmine already knows 'okapi', 'lemur', 'tapir', 'toucan' and 'seahorse' along with the usual other animal fayre that accompanies toddlerdom. And she has just completed her first animal collage, of which we are very proud.