Here is a link to an amazing array of fun food - some edible and some not. There is such creativity in this crazy old world.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Our cottage weekend
Seb decked out in his ever so non-matching fun in the sun ensemble.
Father and son went out for about 90 minutes of J-stroke. Seb loves to be on the water and shocking but true, will actually go for ages without speaking.
Seb and M in their ever so matching shirts (made from the curtains that hung in our Ghanaian guest room. Beat that Scarlet).
Auntie Row-berda getting in on the blowing raspberries action. It is contagious.
Seb enjoying a lovely spot-the-X type of book from our kind hosts, Kevin & Arthur.
Seb's favourite moment of the weekend? When we were about to eat at the picnic bench, and the last person on (who shall remain nameless) sat down, prompting us to lurch to the ground. It was quite funny. The gazpacho didn't even spill!
It's here!
Our couch arrived today and for the first (and perhaps last) time in my life, I sunk into/on to a new sofa. Thankfully, M immediately stretched out and proclaimed himself satisfied.
Here it is in its glory. Yes, that an antelope peeking out from behind. We'll have to find a new (or higher) home for that.
Here you can see the tweediness. It's chocolate brown and eggshell blue. And did I tell you about the stain treatment scheme we are on?
View from the stairs - you can tell that I didn't stage the shot b/c there in the corner is Bella, the blue donkey. We are going to move pine bureau up into our room, and hang a family heirloom painting in that corner instead.
View from the couch (with said painting still in cardboard box at back...)
Here it is in its glory. Yes, that an antelope peeking out from behind. We'll have to find a new (or higher) home for that.
Here you can see the tweediness. It's chocolate brown and eggshell blue. And did I tell you about the stain treatment scheme we are on?
View from the stairs - you can tell that I didn't stage the shot b/c there in the corner is Bella, the blue donkey. We are going to move pine bureau up into our room, and hang a family heirloom painting in that corner instead.
View from the couch (with said painting still in cardboard box at back...)
HUNG - EEE
Sophie's vocabulary is growing in leaps and bounds. But nothing is more sweet than when she wants a bite to eat. She will start making high pitched noises that sound like "Hung - e" and then put her (inevitably dirty) fingers to her mouth. When you ask her if she would like something to eat, she nods her head most emphatically and states "yesh".
She also is a veracious eater. Yesterday for supper, she polished of almost 2 - yes TWO - huge pork sausages, about 13 large fusili (they probably have another name since they are the large kind) and 4 florets of broccoli. Meanwhile, her older brother downed 1 sausage (maybe) and 2 broccoli bits.
Also high on the cutey-patootey list are her kisses. She has blown kisses for some months now. These ones are different. It would be more accurate to describe them as smackers. She just purses and lets rip (they are afterall an off-shoot of her learning to blow raspberries which she - and her bro - do at all hours of the day). She gives them randomly and with much feeling. She was mad as all let-loose with me today and suddenly I felt this pucker on my arm. Hey, it was way better than a bite!
Wish our girlfriend luck though. Tomorrow morning, she and her lucky dad get to spend his morning off at a walk-in medical clinic to get her diaper rash treated. It is red and sore and probably fungal...
She also is a veracious eater. Yesterday for supper, she polished of almost 2 - yes TWO - huge pork sausages, about 13 large fusili (they probably have another name since they are the large kind) and 4 florets of broccoli. Meanwhile, her older brother downed 1 sausage (maybe) and 2 broccoli bits.
Also high on the cutey-patootey list are her kisses. She has blown kisses for some months now. These ones are different. It would be more accurate to describe them as smackers. She just purses and lets rip (they are afterall an off-shoot of her learning to blow raspberries which she - and her bro - do at all hours of the day). She gives them randomly and with much feeling. She was mad as all let-loose with me today and suddenly I felt this pucker on my arm. Hey, it was way better than a bite!
Wish our girlfriend luck though. Tomorrow morning, she and her lucky dad get to spend his morning off at a walk-in medical clinic to get her diaper rash treated. It is red and sore and probably fungal...
Thursday, 3 July 2008
$12.69 + tax
That's what I just paid for 44 disposables. Just a price check for those of you who don't buy baby diapers much. Seemed like a deal after Newark, NJ.
For anybody still looking
She cracks me up. The outfit is pieced together by trousers that Madeline wore back in Nairobi and the sweater/top from an ensemble via Nana. But they are clearly overshadowed by that cheeky monkey's grin.
Sophie's first swim suit
2030's 007
How sweetly they sleep. It was hot.
I just had to stage this shot. I mean how often do your clothes match a room! But this romper from last year's run on vide greniers blends right in with my aunt & uncle's guest room. Sophie was chuffed at my aunt's thoughtful foresight.
It really WAS fun
Just in case people get the impression from the last post that I wouldn't do the trip again, here are some great shots of the fun that was had by all. And that was just London.
Seb with his spirit guide Babush and "Big Ben" - who though 15 months younger is the same height and weighs more than our skinny-minny.
Riding yet another train; this one in Battersea Park. Seb declared his favourite moment in London was going over London Bridge in a mini-cab and singing "London Bridge is falling down".
Big Ben was protective of Sophie and when she wandered off, he would bring her back. He'll be a great big brother come November.
We even had a chance to hook up with Oxford-based Maria and Modou at the cafe in the park!
Seb with his spirit guide Babush and "Big Ben" - who though 15 months younger is the same height and weighs more than our skinny-minny.
Riding yet another train; this one in Battersea Park. Seb declared his favourite moment in London was going over London Bridge in a mini-cab and singing "London Bridge is falling down".
Big Ben was protective of Sophie and when she wandered off, he would bring her back. He'll be a great big brother come November.
We even had a chance to hook up with Oxford-based Maria and Modou at the cafe in the park!
Flying solo with 2 under 5s
Seb was glued to the tv screen.
Sophie learnt what candy was and wanted more!
Tip No. 1 - keep them caged as much as possible
Tip No. 2 - give them candy and treats and whatever they want as long as they please stay in the seat/go to bed on time/ be quiet (or at least quieter), etc.
Tip No 3 - pack too many (way too many) diapers. As I found out, hotels know that they have you over a barrel and proceed to whip you. Sophie has/d diarrhea; I packed just enough nappies for the journey. But when that was extended by a day, I was getting desperate. Price of taxi to nearest 7/11 - $50. No thanks. So I stuffed Seb's night-time undies with a face cloth (terry cloth nappy, right?) and held my nose as I shelled out $11.50 for 2 - yes TWO - disposables. Some how, we made do with those.
Seeking some advice: how many candies or cookies are too many in a day? I mean, usually, it maxes out at 2 "bis", as we call them, in the afternoon and no or maybe 1 candy/day (though M threw that to the wind by introducing 1 tic tac for every time Seb emptied his bladder in the toilet and not his undies - but that's another post).
But when you are 4 1/2 and are got up at 6:45 and jump in a taxi (for 90 mins... - thank goodness the bladder was strong that time), struggle through lines and security, run to your plane b/c it turns out that you have to be bused the aircraft, are on the tarmac for 90 mins..., then fly across the Atlantic for 7 hours and 13 mins (that countdown clock they now have can lead me to desperation), then find our (heavy) bags) and struggle through US immigration (b/c the only route we could get back was via Newark...), then line up for customer service b/c we have missed our connecting flight, then take Air Train to a shuttle bus (that takes 45 mins to come), check in to the less than grand Newark Holiday Inn, and eat some mediocre pizza before curling up and falling asleep on the restaurant's booster seat, are 28 Jelly Tots and 12 tic tacs too many? I say not.
Back in the Big Smoke
So we're back in the big city after a number of wonderful summer holiday moments and some moments that I could have missed, thanks all the same. 10 days of travelling solo with 2 kids under 5 was just enough, too.
Back at the house, M has whacked and bashed his way through the back space and made it all flat. Now there are 2 flattened areas of dirt to cover over; any bets on how long they will stay that way! Mind you, I passed some raised tomato beds in someone's front yard; they looked awfully good...
Spent the morning unpacking, laundry etc, as well as rummaging through contents of fridge and larder to get it in some sense of order - and dealing with the poopy diapers that I had left to fester in the diaper pail - whoops. Better left unmentioned and unsmelt!
I was plagued with a head cold my whole trip. One flight in particular was really painful. Now I have clogged ears and everything is muffled, so I'm debating going to get it checked out b/c 3 days is long enough. But as we don't have a GP, I'll have to sit in a clinic for hours waiting to be seen.
Back at the house, M has whacked and bashed his way through the back space and made it all flat. Now there are 2 flattened areas of dirt to cover over; any bets on how long they will stay that way! Mind you, I passed some raised tomato beds in someone's front yard; they looked awfully good...
Spent the morning unpacking, laundry etc, as well as rummaging through contents of fridge and larder to get it in some sense of order - and dealing with the poopy diapers that I had left to fester in the diaper pail - whoops. Better left unmentioned and unsmelt!
I was plagued with a head cold my whole trip. One flight in particular was really painful. Now I have clogged ears and everything is muffled, so I'm debating going to get it checked out b/c 3 days is long enough. But as we don't have a GP, I'll have to sit in a clinic for hours waiting to be seen.
The big leagues
My consultancy work must have hit the big leagues; I just went out and bought a heavy duty (25 pages+) stapler! That's how many big fat wasteful documents I print out...
But seriously, I am trying to desperately wrap up the project that I started in May. I have a 5 week over 9 week contract that I am late starting. And I was contacted last week to do a few more days on a project that I started in 2006. Yikes!
So much of a good thing. Hope the children don't suffer (mine or the world's).
But seriously, I am trying to desperately wrap up the project that I started in May. I have a 5 week over 9 week contract that I am late starting. And I was contacted last week to do a few more days on a project that I started in 2006. Yikes!
So much of a good thing. Hope the children don't suffer (mine or the world's).
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