we will have to wait

Back in May last year (I didnt find out until I tried to get Evie weighed in June) the health visitors moved from the Doctors Surgery (on a Wednesday afternoon) to the library (on a Monday afternoon and clashing with Tumble Tots).

So yesterday (as Tumble Tots isnt on during the school holidays) I took Evie to the library to get weighed (I wanted to go there anyway to get Evie some more books) and there was a sign up on the door saying that 4 Children (they run the childrens activities) werent there from the 24th December to 2nd January *sigh*

So I shall take her back once she has been moved to the 10.30 session.

I expected tears

As James had been off work for two weeks I expected Evie to cry this morning when she realised that Daddy wasnt here...

...obviously us telling her that he would be at work helped ;o)

Evies first birthday party

This morning Evie went to her very first birthday party ;o)

Evie had a great time

She even ate loads of popcorn (she wouldnt eat the sandwich quarter I gave her mind) but she did eat the chocolate cupcake and crisps and she didnt touch the cucumber stick ether!

our christmas day

As with Evies birthday presents (which she opened only just over a week ago) she loved ripping off the wrapping paper ;o).

Evie even bought James a christmas present, he let Evie open it for him but she took so long that he ended up having a shower so she gave it to him once he was dressed ;o)  He is even wearing a pair of them today ;o)

The presents that I asked my friends for were all hits as well as some extra ones she got too ;o)

Chrisrtmas dinnerwise I cheated like I normally do ;o)

I bought...

a stuffed turkey joint (despite my Mum telling me that it is dead easy to cook a turkey and all you have to do is calculate the time per pound with the weight).

ready prepared duck fat roast potatoes (and I added another lump of duck fat just to ensure that they ended up crispy) ;o)

and the sage & onion stuffing was ready prepared too ;o)

so all I had to do was stick them in the oven and use my kitchen timer app and even James said that dinner turned out ok.

Evie had some roast potato and stuffing but didnt seem to be enamored with it!

merry Christmas

merry christmas everyone ;o)

dont they know that Mums talk to each other

On Monday we had Evies second birthday (she absolutely loved opening her birthday presents).

On Monday afternoon we had Tumble Tots I was hoping that Evie would move upto the 2 to 3 age group in the New Year but the class is full at the moment and we have to wait for someone to drop out or move up to the 3 to 4 group.

Tuesday we went to Lakeside and we saw Father Christmas and had Evies birthday lunch at Wagamamas ;o)

Thursday I took Evie to a soft play place and saw a Mum that I have seen at the library, anyhow her little girl (who is 2 days younger than Evie) goes to Tumble Tots too (but in the morning session) and her little girl has been moved up but Evie has to wait!  Its not even as if she has been going to Tumble Tots longer than Evie either as they have only been living in Chelmsford since August.  I can only assume that she got precedence over the place as she is in the earlier session.  Still I shall keep on pestering them ;o)

And on Friday we met up with my Mum who is here on her holiday ;o)

After doing this I will be wrapping up the Christmas presents, but thankfully not this many! ;o)

45 minutes later

For the past few weeks if we have been at home when Evie has had her lunch then I put her in her cot for her to have a nap (providing she didnt fall asleep in the morning).

On our way home from popping into town this morning Evie fell asleep for about 5 minutes (as it wasnt a very long sleep) I put her in her cot (after she had her lunch) to see if she would go to sleep and continue her nap.

I closed her curtains and her bedroom door and put on her monitor and came downstairs (and she was chattering away) she would go quiet for a couple of minutes and then the chattering would start again.

She still hadnt fallen asleep 45 minutes later so I bought her back downstairs.

I hope this doesnt mean that she doesnt want her naps anymore!

giggling on the sofa

After having her bath last night Evie was sitting on the sofa waiting for In The Night Garden to start, we kept on looking at each other and Evie would giggle ;o)

So I got out my camera (I had left it on black & white for this weeks Project Flickr project) so I also added this photo of Evie giggling ;o)

Messrs Sainsbury & Tesco were listening

Just the other day (after I had finished my popping candy chocolate orange) I said to James that I hope that Mr Sainsbury will have an offer on the chocolate oranges ;o)

Last Friday James mentioned that the local foodbank was having another collection drive (and their last day of being there is today), as this is something I like to support, I popped into Tesco yesterday to pick up a few bits to drop off and saw there was a buy one get one free on chocolate oranges (so I got myself a couple) ;o).

After James got home from work we popped over to Sainsburys and I saw that they had a buy 2 from £3 offer so I bought another couple and then James decided to get one for his Dad (so I got another one as I wasnt going to sacrifice one of my chocolate oranges)

So I now have 5 of them to eat ;o)

ears, hearing, feet not grown feet not grown

Not only has Evie got her Dads ears but she also has his supersonic hearing too (okay it may not be supersonic but he can hear things that I cant hear)...

...whenever we hear a police car siren I tell Evie its because someone has been naughty!  We were walking into town yesterday and Evie started saying naughty repeatedly and what must have been a couple of minutes later I heard the siren too (whatever it was didnt come past us so I couldnt point it out to Evie).

I took Evie yesterday to get her feet measured as we got her last pair of shoes 3 months ago...

...the assistant measured her and her feet are still the same size and the same width (and I saw some really nice ankle boots that I liked for her too :o().

I asked when I should bring her in again and the lady said to come back in a couple of weeks (as she made have had a growth spurt in that time).

Perhaps we can get the ankle boots next time ;o)

very weird

I have been avidly watching Im a Celebrity (please dont tell me who won yet as I will be watching the repeat on ITV2 later ;o)).

Yesterday I decided to buy/download a Westlife album so I had a look on Amazon and found their greatest hits album for £3 or download for £3.99!

Surely the download should have been cheaper!

I ended up downloading it - so I shall have that to listen to when I next reload my player ;o)

which sausage do I choose

After the sausage lady stopped selling sausages I have had to make do with supermaket sausages (they are ok but I would rather support a small local business).

A week ago I saw a sign for venison chili sausages so I bought a packet of 4 of them and they were nice...

...so on Friday I bought some more and also saw that they had some wild boar sausages (I do hope its not just an angry pig with an inferiority complex! ;o)).

They are taking orders for Christmas so I shall try the wild boar ones before making my choice ;o)

if I were the makers of twiglets...

...I would use Alfonso's description (after tasting one for the first time) of "like someone had taken a pretzel, shoved it up their ass then burnt it" as a testimonial ;o)

Twiglets were won in the Dingo Dollar Challenge (I now fancy some twiglets! ;o))  I even bought some crumpets after seeing that they were one of the treats on offer the other day ;o)

Yes I am still loving watching Im a Celebrity ;o)

Here is Evie in her latest Christmas outfit ;o)

As soon as she sees my camera case she wants to play with it!  The zip broke on it the other day so on Saturday I shall get James to get me another one from Poundland and then Evie can play with my old one ;o)

being busy

Me & Evie have a couple of things to do today...

We have to take back the Very Hungry Caterpillar Calendar (and then decided what to spend our £5 voucher on ;o)).

And we have to pick up a coat that my Mum has ordered online ;o)

Yesterday we went to a new softplay place

and James also knocked this up (we have it attached to the zip of her coat) it could work for pets as well...

the lure of the gift voucher

Yesterday we were in Marks & Spencer buying James present from Evie ;o)

While I was at the counter I saw a sign about their calendars saying "that they had printed the wrong date for fathers day (on calendars bought before the end of October) and you would get a full refund plus a £5 gift voucher as a way of saying sorry"  So knowing that I had bought the very hungry caterpillar family organiser (but wasnt sure when) I rushed home to see if I had one of the wrong calendars.

So I got home (left Evie asleep in her buggy) and quickly opened up the calendar to June and sure enough the date was wrong!

The question was did I really want to keep thecalendar when I could get something else and get a £5 gift voucher in the process...

...the lure of the gift voucher won ;o)

So I texted James to ask him to try and get me another one (or something that I would like) and sure enough they didnt have any very hungry caterpillar (it doesnt even appear on their website now either) so James got me this one instead, so I looked at June and sure enough the date was right ;o)

here is Evie yesterday in a Christmas top with her advent calendar ;o)

hands up

if your looking forward to Christmas ;o)

I knew that there was a reason that we should have got James one

Yesterday (after I had done yesterdays post) I decided to get out our advent calendars...

...so being the good Mum that I am I got Evies calendar and started opening the door for her and let her open it fully (so she could see the picture (of a pine cone) and then I peeled the foil (holding the chocolate in) and gave that to her and she ate it ;o)

And then I did my calendar (found door #1) opened the door, peeled the foil, took out the chocolate took a little bite of the star and Evie was looking at it longingly so I gave it to her (hoping that she would take a little bite) but she popped the whole thing in her mouth!

Today I shall make sure that I eat more of my chocolate ;o)

AND NEXT YEAR I SHALL MAKE SURE THAT I BUY JAMES ONE TOO!

christmas outfit and fisheye lens

The first day of Evies Christmas outfits is here ;o)

Also while doing the big shop this morning I was looking at the "stocking fillers" and found this

the photo from the tv shows the fisheye lens better ;o)

Because the back of my phone has a ridged back then the suckers wouldnt stick to it so I had to use bluetack to stick it on there ;o)

James also got a macro one too ;o)

Evie & Mummy singing Miss Polly

here is the video motion picture of Evie singing Miss Polly

bananas camels and washing

Yesterday me & Evie went to the library for Rhyme Time...

...it was run by someone different a lady called Tracey (she was quite energetic but no April), anyway we learnt two new songs bananas and Alice the Camel ;o)

And when we got home from town I sorted out Evies Christmas clothes and have put them in the wash so that she can wear a Christmas outfit every day in December (like she did last year) ;o)

a second favourite song

As you remember Evies first favourite song was Baa Baa Black Sheep...

...she now has a second favourite song too Miss Polly I will have to video motion picture her singing it with me ;o)

elephants and piggies

At Tumble Tots they change around the circuit every two weeks (just to keep things interesting for the little ones).

Last week and this week it included a plank with stepping stones (far enough away from each other that you have to take "elephant steps").

Last week Evie finally got the hang of taking elephant steps and spent last week doing them on and off around the house ;o)

When we got to Tumble Tots yesterday Evie saw the plank again and started doing her elephant steps around the hall...

...the ladies who run the session were in hysterics and gave Evie a round of applause ;o).

While we were waiting for Tumble Tots to start I had Evie sitting on my lap (and because she had her socks off (to get more grip on the equipment)) we were doing this little piggy they must have heard me doing it because one of the ladies said that they were at a work shop at the weekend...

...and they cant do "this little piggy had roast beef" anymore in case it offends vegetarians! and they should be saying that he had cheese on toast!

I dont hold out much hope this time

Its that time again to apply to be a world book night giver.

As I was successful last year I dont hold out much hope of being a giver again, but I thought I might as well apply anyway ;o)

The books I have gone for are...

Short Stories by Roald Dahl

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronvitch

Confessions of a GP by Dr Benjamin Daniels

I will find out if I was lucky in February...

Evies first ever party invite

Yesterday in the post Evie got her first ever birthday party invite ;o)

It is for one of my ante natal group kiddies ;o)

It is at My Gym and looks like it will be fun...

...the invite contains a release that has to be signed by me or James when we get there!

I shouldnt eat when...

...Im watching Matthew & Joey doing bush tucker trials!

me & Evie were eating grapes, Evie didnt let the gagging and whinging put her off, and it didnt stop me eating them either ;o)

With the "meal" that they made out of eating the bush tucker trial I am not surprised that they both got voted for again ;o)

as good as I remember

Yesterday I put my mp3 player on to charge (on the mains socket rather than through the pc).

When I came it unplug it I saw that it hadnt charged and when I pushed the plug I saw that it wasnt in the wall properly.  Incidentally it showed that it was charged when I went to unplug it this morning and then showed that it wasnt charged after I had unplugged it so it is now plugged into the pc!  And when I ejected it after 10 minutes it showed that it was partially charged ;o)

So I ended up watching some Muppet Show dvd on the portable dvd player (we bought while I was pregnant) after I put Evie to bed.

Evie was being a bit of a nightmare last night...

...I was reading a library book to her last night and she was trying to grab hold of it through the bars so I let her have the book (and then I heard a ripping sound) she had accidentally done a tiny rip in one of the pages so I took the book back off of her telling her that it was naughty to tear pages in books and got one of her books so she could wreck that.

And then she started really crying and didnt want her book so we tried giving her back the library book and she was still crying (I think that she was just over tired)...

present shopping

As we have just under a month until Evies second birthday (not to mention Christmas also) I thought that I had better get a wriggle on to buy her presents....

There were two things that I wanted to get her...

This that was out of stock (but is in stock now typically so I shall get it in the week) and this (which I did manage to get) and while I was in there I also got her this (as she loves lions that go ra ra ra ;o))

good interruptions

I was doing the washing up and Evie came in the kitchen making high pitched eating noises having her hand puppet Lima eating her tummy ;o)

So we sat on the kitchen floor with Lima eating Evie and then me too ;o)

they are in cahoots

You remember Evies nocturnal activities on Saturday morning, it seems that the other Mums have had similar goings on too!

We think that they are all in contact with each other (must check the sms messages on my phone to see if Evie has been texting the others) ;o)

Or perhaps she has set up her own facebook account (she cant be using mine as I dont have one!)

form filling

This morning I finally got around to filling out the form for Evies swimming lessons...

...I now just have to remember to drop it into the Leisure Centre ;o)

I recognise a few of them

The new line up for Im a Celebrity has been announced ;o)

The ones I recognise are:

Steve Interesting Davis (Spitting Image has a lot to answer for ;o)) I think that he will be my favourite ;o)

Vincent Simone (my second favourite if Steve gets booted out)

David Emanuel (only because his name was being said a lot in the run up to Princess Dianas wedding)

Laila Morse (she will probably win and I can see her really getting stuck in too as she doesnt strike me as someone who will shy away)

It will be great when it starts again and I am looking forward to the Bush Tucker Trials ;o)

Evie & Mummy singing

Evie now sings baa baa black sheep with me (well parts of it anyway ;o)) ;o)

Heres a link to the video motion picture.

I finally had a chance to listen to the Mark Kermode Film review podcast and my e-mail didnt get read out :o(

quarter to three

That was the time that Evie woke up yesterday morning!

I was already awake so Im guessing that my "Mummy senses" were in full swing ;o)

We tried to stroke Evies back to get her to drop off again but she wasnt having any of it, so James took her downstairs and ended up playing with her and reading books with her ;o)

He ended up bringing her back up at 5.30 am and she was lying on our bed and I could see that she was falling asleep so I put her back in her cot and she fell asleep ;o)  Me & James tried to get back to sleep too.

We ended up waking her up just before 7 am so that we could go out and then she fell asleep at 10 am and slept through to 12.30 pm.

 I was getting well tired by 2 pm and had a two hour nap and left James to look after Evie again ;o)

James ended up having his nap at 5 pm and he was then up at 2 am (so he tells me).

Evie fell asleep properly at 8pm and luckily slept through until 7 am ;o)

I still have the Mark Kermode podcast to listen to to see if my e-mail was read out so will do that tomorrow before Evie waked up ;o)

except for Monday

Because of me & Evie both being ill we have ended up staying in all week...

...except for Monday when we had Tumble Tots.

Evie has been ok about staying in so far, if she does start kicking off today then we shall go out for a quick stroll around the block ;o)

one of three things

When Evie normally doesnt like something she cries for about a minute and then generally stops...

...but not yesterday, we had full blown hysterics!

So I told James that I thought she was either tired, had my cold or was becoming more of a drama queen!

This morning she has a cough and a runny nose :o(

And on Monday she was holding my hand loads (she is not normally clingy at all) while we were at Tumble Tots which also pointed towards possibly getting a cold.

shared and halved

This morning Evie and I are sharing an orange & cranberry bagel...

...I give to Evie almost half of one and then eat the rest myself (in theory anyway) what actually happens is is that I start eating my half and she keeps putting her hand out because what I am eating is much nicer and then I end up with what she doesnt want to eat ;o)

Which is very much what being a Mum is all about ;o)

e-mailing the bbc

Last night I was listening to Mark Kermodes Film Review podcast and as part of the podcast extra (they do a segment before and after the show) Simon read out an e-mail from an Australian bloke living in LA asking if anyone was as behind as he was (he was listening to 6 months worth).

It reminded me that after Evie was born that I was way to tired to listen to anything and then dug out my player (around this time last year) and when it came time to reload my player I had 86 to listen to!

I will try and listen online to the podcast next week and will let you know if it does get read out ;o)

it wasnt a good Friday feeling

On Friday I woke up with a sore throat, by the end of the day I was sneezing like a goodun :o(

Because yesterday I wanted to get some food bits in town (and as well meaning as James is he is bound to get something that I didnt want) so I dosed myself up on paracetamol so that I wouldnt feel so bad...

...I did manage to treat myself to my second gingerbread latte of the year ;o)

While James popped popped out on a wild goose chase (to get some laptop memory) I really wanted to go to sleep that afternoon so I got Eve to fall asleep on the floor (her choice not mine ;o)) and when he got home I went up for a snooze for three hours (and even left James to give Evie her afternoon snack and her dinner).

I ended up just having a toasted bagel for my lunch so I neednt have gone out yesterday afterall!

Today Im still not feeling great hopefully I will feel a bit better tomorrow as we have Tumble Tots to go to.

happy halloween

Happy Halloween everyone ;o)

guess the nursery rhyme

After Evie had her lunch (orzo pasta salad if you are interested) yesterday and I was finishing my Venti Skinny Ethiopian Pumpkin Spice Latte (I blurt it out to the barista parrot fashion ;o)) I was singing nursery rhymes to Evie

It then occurred that I could take photos of her and everyone can try to guess what I am singing ;o) Its a lot less painful than hearing me singing and surprisingly enough Evie does tend to enjoy it ;o)

There are five in all and some are easier than others ;o)

Nursery Rhyme #1

Nursery Rhyme #2

Nursery Rhyme #3

Nursery Rhyme #4

Nursery Rhyme #5

expressing what she likes

Now that Evie is talking more and is more in control of her arm movements she is able to tell me what songs she likes ;o)

Yesterday she was running her hand up her arm for Hickory Dickory Dock I even elongate the wee for when the clock strikes three as Evie loves being tickled ;o)

Evie also likes following me about so recently I have been getting her to carry my fruit packets into the lounge and then James will open it for her and she can start eating it ;o)

Yesterday James wanted a half finished bottle of drink (I had gone out to make a cup of earl grey tea and get some grapes) so as Evie had followed me out I gave her the bottle to take back to James and then a minute later she was back with the empty bottle and by then I had washed the grapes so Evie carried them back in also ;o).

a staying in day I think

listening to the wind howling I think that we are going to stay in today...

...especially as we dont have anything that we need to do anyway!

Still I shall play it by ear and will see if the wind calms down and we can always pop out later on.

nowt on

Because it is half term this week all of the pre school childrens activities are off!

As it is at the library they have cut some of the tots tales session - instead of there being three on a Tuesday (as there still was before the summer holidays had started) they had been cut down to just one with that being at 10.15 as it is it is too early for me to be able to get into town for and the Tuesday early session always gets filled up early so I would have to get there 9.30 ish.

And yes I have completed the survey (I did it while I was in there in the week getting some more books for Evie)

So this week we have no Tumble Tots or Tots Tales but I am going to try and book Evie some swimming lessons (because the classes run for a whole term I will try to book it for after Christmas but it does say that for some classes they have a waiting list).

black sheep

As you know Evie is now saying more words...

...yesterday she started saying black sheep as in Baa Baa Black Sheep, me & James must have ended up singing it to her 20 times at least ;o)

Its funny really of all the songs that I sing to her that she likes that one as I would say that it was one of the more boring ones.

abrazar

Yesterday lunchtime (whilst James was taking Evie for her mid lunch stroll) a little Spanish girl (her parents were sitting at the table next to me)  came up to me and had her hands on her head like rabbit ears so I asked her if she was singing Little Peter Rabbit?

So I was singing it and doing all of the actions and she kept coming back and because I was talking to her she was playing where I was sitting ;o)

And then she put her head on me like she wanted to give me a cuddle ;o)  So I said to her look your Mummy is over there ;o)

But she still kept on coming over to me and her Mum was laughing saying that she didnt want to be with her and I said that we should swap ;o).

The little girl Lucia (pronounced Lukia) is a few months older than Evie, she and her parents then left and they waved goodbye to us.

fruit of choice

After  I had my dinner last night; I had a chicken and leek crispbake, kale and potatoes (Evie wasnt too impressed with the kale I can tell you, she pulled it out of her mouth again when I gave her a piece to try!).

I gave Evie a choice of fruit we could have; either mango, grapes or blueberries and Evie said blueberries ;o)

Tonight I will give her the choice of either mango or grapes and we can have more blueberries towards the end of the week ;o)

guess the smear

Me James & Evie were having a coffee in town this afternoon (before coming home to have some lunch)...

James must have been bored with mine & Evies company because he asked what I think the smear was on the window?

I looked at the smear and decided that my the colour of it it must be the sticky chocolate brownie swirl and James thinks that is the carrot cake.

As an asside as I have been typing this post and Evie was going shhh shhh shhh shhh...

...and James asked what she was doing so I said that she was singing "Im a scary spider" ;o)

grupdate

Yesterday I tried eating grapes again...

Luckily I didnt feel sick while eating them which was what was happening before and Evie even enjoyed eating them too - she was a bit hesitant at first but was soon coming back for more of them ;o)

I just have to make sure now that I dont buy them everyday ;o)

Trying grapes again

Yesterday while in Sainsburys I was well miffed to see that they didn't have any blueberries left so I ended up getting some raspberries instead which Evie loved eating.

So today I tried again in marks and spencers to get some they did have them but they were at just over £3 a packet so I decided to try myself on grapes again (esprcially as they were on offer).

I just hope that I dont start feeling sick while eating them (as I graped myself out whilst I was pregnant).

bokeh and Evie feeding her lima

This weeks Project Flickr is bokeh as with all of my photos its always hit and miss as to if it comes out well...

...yesterday I was giving Evie her dinner (or rather her finger foods before her dinner) and I decided to give the bokeh another shot ;o)

And it actually came out well ;o)

Evie had a cut up slice of pear for her dessert and she held out the fork so that she could feed lima (hes a hand puppet) so I got the camera out again ;o)

a few minutes

Evie normally has a nap in the day of between half an hour and two hours...

...not yesterday though!

We were coming back from town and Evie fell asleep (it was just before lunchtime) a few minutes later we were home,so James got her out and was carrying her upstairs and she woke up.

So she had her lunch - we tried her on some super noodles James made her up half a packet but used the whole packet of seasoning in it!  She didnt eat much more than a few spoonfuls.  James knows that if I had done it for her then I wouldnt have added any of the seasoning.

So I ended up doing her some rice but she didnt eat too much of that either but at least with the two things combined she didnt do too badly.

And then she had her yoghurt.

So I expected her to fall back asleep after her lunch but no she didnt.

It was then coming up for her dinner time and I thought she will probably fall asleep while eating her dinner (which is what she tends to do if she hasnt had her nap) but no she had her dinner and her bath...

...by this tinme I thought ok she is definitely going to keep going until bedtime and she ended up falling asleep on the floor at 8pm (her bedtime is normally 9pm) and she was so sleepy that we just changed her nappy and didnt bother doing her bedtime cup of milk.

She has slept straight through (so far) so not having her milk last night hasnt left her hungry ;o)

she doesnt like jumpers

Ever since the Christmas things have come out (in August for those of you not in blighty) I have been on the lookout for clothes for Evie (might as well take advantage of the fact that she wont refuse to wear something because it looks lame to the full ;o).

All of the shops that have got Christmas clothes in have really nice looking jumpers but Evie doesnt like jumpers so I have been on the lookout for long sleeved t-shits and dresses.

I have managed to get her a few bits so far but am still on prowl for other bits ;o)

I am still working my way through seven months of podcasts and have just started listening to bump club it is interesting and would have been good to listen to when I was pregnant.

Evie has also been saying sets of words...

She can now say "no more" for when she has had enough to eat - I make sure that I take away her food when she says it so that she knows to say it only when she has had enough!  Not sure if its sinking in yet with her though!

She can also say "scuse me" for excuse me and I get her to say it when she has sneezed ;o)

And she also says "oh dea" for oh dear when she has dropped something ;o)

We get a lot of "oh dea"'s ;o)

didnt want to sit with me

I took Evie with me to the library yesterday for Tots Tales and she kept on walking to the book rack to get books out and then the lady running it came to sit down so Evie decided to sit on the rug at the front (and not with me :o().

The lady doing it did tickle Evie for open shut them and held her hands for row row your boat, but she did miss out on being picked up for the grand old duke of york, the wheels on the bus and down in the jungle (which are the bits that she enjoys most) but she did seem to enjoy herself anyway ;o)

While I was there one of the other Mums told me that there was a photo of me in last weeks Essex Chronicle so I asked her "it isnt Chelmsfords most wanted is it?" and she said no and that I was looking at a wooden arch ;o)

Then I remembered the Sensations festival that was on a couple of weekends ago and I was holding Evie while having a go at using a "laser harp" not sure what it was called ;o)

Typically I missed out on buying the paper by one day but I did manage to get a couple of photos of the article from the libraries copy ;o)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambernectar/10202282345/in/photostream/

click on the flickr link if you want to read the article ;o)

first Christmas bits and downloads for Evie

Last night I finally listened to the last of my 95 Steve Wright podcasts ;o)...

...so I was then able to start listening on my fancy schmancy new player ;o)

So this morning I set about putting songs and podcasts on my old player for Evie - I think that I will put them on tonight for her when she is having her bath ;o)  I did think about putting them on when she is having her breakfast but they would be a bit of a distraction!

Yesterday I was using the facilities in Mothercare and decided to look at their clothes whilst we were in there ;o)

I found this dress which she can wear for her birthday and Christmas and her this Christmas top ;o)

I even mentioned to the shop assistant that last year I managed to dress Evie in a Christmas outfit every day throughout December ;o)

counting higher than her age

On Sunday evening James was in the kitchen with Evie and he came out and said "you wont believe this but I think that Evie just counted to two" ;o)

And she then came into the lounge (where I was tidying her toys for the millionth time) and she counted to two for me too;o)

Its funny really because last week I was telling Evie to do something and I started to count to three...

So I said one and then Evie piped up and said two herself ;o)

I was so proud of her saying two after I had said one that I didnt hurry her along.

I did a video motion picture yesterday of Evie counting ;o)

spending points

On Friday I mentioned that I may be able to get a new music player.

James had decided to let his Mum try the shuffle player (he did manage to get it charging again) as she will be going into hospital soon for some surgery (she is expected to be staying in for a week).

I was talking to James about it and he said that I should treat myself (as I hardly ever treat myself), so as Evie was refusing to go to have her nap yesterday afternoon I decided to take Evie out in her buggy and walk down to Argos so that I could get my new player and I got a case for it too ;o).  And I managed to spend my Nectar points so didnt cost a penny ;o)

And I will call it my Christmas present ;o)

Evie eventually had her nap as we were looking around in Next I was very disappointed with their Christmas clothes as they were just jumpers and Evie makes a real fuss if I try to put a jumper on her! ;o)

I will give the player that I am using at the moment to Evie (as the buttons can be locked) once I have finished listening to the 95 Steve Wright podcasts ;o)

I am currently loading the new player with the unlistened to bits ;o)

chocolate advents

This morning we were in Sainsburys doing our shopping and I had a look down the seasonal aisle (as I usually do) and I saw that they had their advent calendars out and even better there was an offer 2 for £5 (for the more decent ones) ;o)

So I got myself this one and Evie this one ;o)  I even let her chose which one she wanted ;o)

no more bottle

We usually give Evie her bedtime milk in a bottle, last night we tried giving it to her in a sippy cup...

...I was worried that she was going to throw a wobbly, but she was ok and seemed to like drinking her milk out of it ;o)

She did spill a little bit in her cot but it wasnt a lot.

Yesterday I dug out my old mp3 player so that we could load it up with stuff for Evie to listen to, but because I havent used it since 2008 we couldnt get it to charge up yesterday, so James has taken it to work with him to see if leaving it charging all day will help.

Im hoping that I can get a new device out of this and let Evie have my old one (as you can lock the buttons on it).

I would get it from Argos so that we can use our nectar points (so no actual cash will be involved ;o)).

ordering Mummys Christmas present

For the last couple of days I have been compiling Evies present wish list (its especially hard finding stuff around £15 as there is also her birthday too).

As luck would have it we were walking past Boots and their gift guide was out so I nabbed a copy so that I could have a gander when James takes Evie out for her mid lunch walk ;o)

So I was looking through the guide and most of the categories now say "find more online" I tend to look online for stuff now anyway but its not very fair on those people who dont have or refuse to use the internet!

Anyhow I saw that Philosophy have their Christmas products out so I saw one that I liked the sound of the sweet fluffy cupcake bubble bath and decided on our way home that I would pop in store to order it (on the off chance that it would be in stock).

Last year they werent in stock until the beginning of December and I was well miffed to say the least.

Anyway so I go in store find the Christmas aisles and see that they dont have any philosophy products and then I find the order forms fill out all of my details and go and find a till...

...while I was queuing I spied some Cadburys Sceam Eggs on sale 2 for £1 so I picked up a couple - finally I got to the till told the cashier that I would like to place an order for a store pick up (fully expecting him to tell me that they werent in stock yet) and he told me that they were in stock - yay ;o)

So I told James on my way home that I have ordered my Christmas present from Evie ;o)

booking 2nd birthday bash

Because of Eves birthday being so close to Christmas I like to book her birthday lunch early...

...me & James were umming and ahhing about where to book...

...we finally decided on Wagamama after our lovely meal in Bath and it was my second favourite meal while we were away ;o).

As James has booked off the week of Evies birthday we have booked the lunch to have in the week ;o)

And unlike Frankie & Bennys last year they didnt try to push us to have their Christmas menu!

Sleeping on the floor

Evie is sleeping on the floor, she found it preferable to sleeping on me!

spooky ordering

For the past week I have been on the lookout for Halloween clothes for Evie ;o)

So I have looked in the supermarkets but could only find trick or treat outfits, so I decided to look at the Marks & Spencer site online and found this and this, so I went into our local store on Friday to buy them but because they have such a small range in there they didnt have them in stock.

So I decided to order them online the hello kitty top was out of stock (and still is) but I did manage to get her the skeleton one ;o)

I picked it up this afternoon so come Halloween Evie is going to look well spooky ;o)

back to the library

Yesterday me & Evie went back to the library after the Summer break...

...I was worried that now she is walking that she would go running off, but no...

...she did have a little walk about and came back to me, and there was one point where she was struggling to get away from me, by this time there were loads of people coming in so I kept hold of her.

In the main I was sitting on the floor and Evie was sitting between my legs ;o).

postcard photos

This weeks Project Flickr project is postcards (more specifically pictures that would look good on them)

I really wanted to find a dog poop so I could call it TOWIE but thanks to considerate dog owners they are a rarity ;o)

Anyway so I found some suitable rubbish and took a photo of that instead ;o)

I also did this one of a leaf falling from a tree

Feeding dolly

Sometimes (well most of the time now) when Evie is eating her meal she will stop halfway through and wont want to eat anymore - she ether knocks my hand away or will try and tip over her bowl/plate (I keep telling her that it is naughty doing that but still).

Anyway so I get out one of her toys (dolly in this case) and offer dolly a spoon of food and then offer some to Evie and then she starts eating again and then wants to feed dolly too ;o)

Poor dolly is now in need of a wash and I checked her label yesterday and it says to handwash her - James just used the washing up sponge to remove some of the muck ;o)

I thought that I had a stomach bug

Yesterday me & Evie were supposed to meet up with my 2 friends and my friend Emmas Mum for lunch, but after I had my breakfast I had stomach pains and felt like I was going to be sick...

...I thought that I had a stomach bug.

So I let my freinds know that we wouldnt make it.

Luckily by later in the afternoon my stomach pains had gone but the sick feeling remained and luckily they didnt materialise into anything.

I didnt eat any lunch but did have some dinner as I was feeling hungry and was ok ;o)

I have no idea what it was and hope that Evie doesnt "catch" it...

week two

The second week started off with our last session at Gymbabes on the Monday and on the Wednesday we did our first session at Tumble Tots...

...as they both tire Evie out we didnt do anything for the rest of the day...

On Monday morning we also took Evie back to the shoe shop to get her feet measured and yes they have grown and she is now a size 4 ;o)  So we bought her some new shoes.

Tuesday (because it wasnt raining) we took Evie to Hylands Parks Adventure Castle...

I must have been banging on about it too much because James first words were "is this it?"

Evie enjoyed going there but couldnt go down the slides because they were too wet from all of the rain on the Monday.

We only probably stayed for 45 minutes before Evie just wanted to be carried so we left.

Thursday we went to Lakeside we needed to get Evie some new pajamas (I have bagged up all of her summer stuff and she didnt have many pairs of long sleeved ones).

We ended up getting her these and these (I even bought them in the next size up which is a very "Mummy" thing to do ;o)

As James had told his Mum that we needed pajamas for Evie he said to let her buy her some too (I certainly wasnt going to refuse ;o)).

We looked in BHS and they didnt have anything in Evies size so it was back to M&S ;o)  where they got Evie some more ;o)

the rest of day three and day four and coming home

When we were pounding he streets finding an "acceptable" restaurant we passed Wagamama, as Evie loves eating rice, she is always saying "rice a rice" ;o) We decided to go there for our dinner that night ;o)

We didnt like the way that the tables were set out in long rows but as we were there early we had two clear tables between us and two girls who were on our row.

The high chair for Evie was an interesting concept too (it was one that was clamped to the table).

Because Evie doesnt tend to like big chunks of meat I got her this partly because I thought that the butternut squash in panko breadcrumbs would look a bit like chips...

...she ate the rice and some of the butternut squash and she ate the sweetcorn and some of my courgettes too ;o)

I had a really nice main course too but I cant remember what James had!

Evie had more ice cream for dessert and I had some apple gyoza dumplings and James had a trio of frozen yoghurts (you can see that I only remember the important bits ;o)).

When we were on our bus tour we passed Royal Victoria Park I really wanted to take Evie there before we went home.

We checked how far it was on my loan phone and it said that to walk there would take 25 minutes, so after breakfast off we went.

As she was moaning and groaning being in her buggy James gave her her toy giraffe to hold and her reins, halfway to the park I realised that she had dropped her reins (James hadnt bothered to clip them to the buggy as she likes to dangle them over the side!) so he retraced our route and found them.

We got to the park and luckily there wasnt too many people there, Evie had a great time running about and going down slides ;o)

Then just as we were about to leave I noticed that the giraffe was missing!  We retraced our route back and couldnt see it anywhere (I was even looking in bins and on benches and fences).

I told James that if his Mum asks where it is that we should just tell her the truth that Evie lost it on our way to the park, he said that his Mum would be really funny about it so we were looking in every shop we passed (she didnt let us have the bag from the shop it came from) to see if we could replace it.  We eventually found one so crisis was averted ;o)

As James really enjoyed Garfunkels we went there again for our lunch, the previous time as part of Evies lunch we chose to get salad so this time we went for the corn on the cob cobette, as I didnt think that Evie would be able to bite the corn off I decided to eat it myself!  She was watching me eat it so I had about half of it and left it to cool down so that Evie could try it.  She really loved biting the corn off ;o)

Another place that we passed was Jamies Italian and we decided to go there for our last night blow out meal ;o)  James told his Mum & Dad that I wanted to go there and they came along too.

I went for the Jimmys Farm Italian Sausage and Funky chips ;o)  James had some sort of salad (see if it I just dont take a lot of notice ;o)).  Evie had happy fish fingers - as usual she ate mainly the chips I think that she possibly had one of her fish fingers ;o).

Dessert wise we (or rather James) decided that Evie had had enough ice cream and that she should have fresh fruit (it was half an unripe banana half an apple and half an orange) I think that she ate some of the apple ;o)

I had lemon meringue pie and James had the special of rice pudding with berry compot.

Earlier in the week the owner of the apartment asked me what time she should come around on our last time to give us back our deposit so we told her 9.30 am, so just before 9.30 James took all of our luggage and Evies buggy down to the car so that we could set off after we handed back our keys.

We thought that she might have a quick inspection first but she just handed us back our deposit minus £5 for the parking permit so that was good ;o)

We had a few stops on our way home and got back home in the afternoon ;o)

more of day two and day three

I cant believe that I forgot to mention that we went to the Roman Baths!

We went there after we had our lunch,

Because of all of the stairs we had to leave Evies buggy at the back of the entrance room (where you buy the tickets) they provided carriers to carry babies on your back, we let Evie walk about ;o)

They also provided an audio tour Evie grabbed hold of James one and wouldn't let him listen to it (I did offer him to use my one but he didnt want to listen to it).

The audio tour was one where every exhibit has a number and you key in that number to listen to the commentary.

On the way around Evie was making so much noise that we decided to hurry through so I had given up listening about half way through!

At the end of the tour we did get to sample some of the it was hot and I had two cups of it ;o)  Some people were filling up drinking water bottles (I wish that I had thought to do that) ;o)

Day three was more of a relaxing day and we did some shopping...

We decided to take Evie to the park for a run around (there was one at the bottom of the street where we were staying) unfortuntely Evie got stung by some stinging nettles, we or rather James managed to calm her down by rubbing some sudocrem on her hand and then some alcohol gel to cool the sting down.

We went to Garfunkels for lunch and James Mum & Dad came to join us too.

They bought her a toy giraffe which she absolutely loves playing with...

When I was still working I used to love going into Molton Brown and I ended up treating myself to this - I joked with the saleswoman that I was only allowed to look NOT buy and she was saying that she should give me a large bag that I could heave out ;o)

We also saw a Hawkins Bazaar (we thought that they had gone out of business) it was ever so noisy in there so I let James have a look in there first while I waited outside with Evie who was asleep I told him to look for some water drums (I had seen them in the one in Chelmsford way before Evie was on the scene).  He came out and said that he couldnt see any and that I should go in myself, the salesman in there even managed to talk me into buying this too (so I have put it away for Evie to play with when she is a bit older).

off now to do Evies breakfast - so watch out for the next installment ;o)

first official tumble tots session

Last Monday Evie had her last Gymbabes session as she is now walking.

As she was clearly quite steady on her feet (she was running around like a lunatic) they said that she could move upto Tumble Tots.

Last week we did Tumble Tots as our make up session (as we were away for the first session of the new term) she enjoyed herself and didnt seem to miss the toys but we were in a different location so it will probably be a different reaction this time as she is used to having them to play with!).

We will get her Gymbabes completion Certificate today too (and it will be her first ever certificate well apart from her birth certificate anyway) ;o)

week one days one and two

We set off two weeks ago just before 9 am and luckily Evie fell asleep as soon as we got going...

...we had several stops (mostly comfort breaks) and Evie doesnt like being strapped in for too long either.

We had decided to rent an appartment so Evie could have more room to run about...

...when we were about an hour outside of Bath I phoned the owner (as requested) so that she could greet us when we arrived ;o)

After James gad heaved all of our luggage up the stairs we decided to go for an explore around the city.

As James was in one of his unhelpful moods (every cafe we saw he didnt want to go in there) and as by this time it was coming upto Evies dinner time I decided that we could go into Pizza Hut for something to eat.

The meal was horrible and the staff were very unhelpful!

I was worried to say the least that the rest of the eating establishments were going to be so bad...

After our horrible dinner I looked on my loan phone for the nearest Starbucks and found that there was one in the high street...

James was then a little happier and we found a supermarket and bought a few bits to keep us going.

James Mum & Dad came to Bath too (although they traveled up by train and stayed in a hotel).

The next day we did a couple of sightseeing bus tours then went off and had lunch at Giraffe (as it was near to where the bus tour ended).

I ordered for Evie the sausage mash and beans (because she has sausage and mash at home) and all she wanted to eat was my chips that came with my burger!

Before doing the bus tours we went to Sally Lunns House and I had the bun with cinnamon butter ;o).

That evening James brother & Sister in Law and their three kids came to meet up with us as they live just outside of the City.

Every restaurant we walked past someone (not me or James mind) didnt fancy it and we ended up going to Cafe Rouge.

Hee hee out of all the kids Evie was the best behaved...

...she did better with eating her dinner (because we got her something with chips and got the beans substituted for vegetables).

And she ate all of her dessert of ice cream strawberries and strawberry sauce (James was worried that Evie would be climbing the walls having something sugary that close to dinner time).

the next part coming to a pc near you soon ;o)

back to normality tomorrow

James goes back to work tomorrow after having 2 weeks off...

...I think that secretly he is looking forward to the rest ;o)

So I can go back to blogging and things ;o)

back from Bath

On Friday we got back from spending a few days in Bath...

...we had a great time and Evie really enjoyed herself too ;o)

Will blog more about it later ;o)

the pc wants a holiday too

The pc has been envious at my phone for having a few days away the last we heard it was toxing on one of these breaks ;o)

Anyway the pc is packing its cases and and is making its way to Stansted to see where it can take a flight to (after I have finished this post).

So no blogging from me for a few days (as James is now off work for a couple of weeks).

Got to go now as the PC is huffing and puffing saying that it has duty free to buy!

walkabout bargain spotting

Me & Evie did our usual walkabout following her lunch and an "I dont want to eat this yoghurt I want to go for a walk tantrum"!

We went to La Senza where Evie nabbed another couple of draw tabs (I did return them before we left to go home ;o)), I am now getting quite chatty with the girls in there ;o)

We then went into the Body Shop and I saw that they are having a 3 for 2 on their toiletries ;o)  So I had a look at their shower gels to decide which 3 I was going to buy ;o)

We then went into Boots where Evie decided that she didnt want the draw tags anymore but wanted this instead! I quickly put it back and told her that she couldnt take stuff that had to be paid for.

I got her back in her buggy and we went back into The Body Shop and I bought 3 shower gels coconut shower cream, cocoa butter creamy body wash and mango shower gel ;o)

eee eye eee eye but no oh

Yesterday whilst changing Evies nappy I was singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm...

Because she loves it when I make a roar sound I sang that "he had a lion with a roar roar here and a roar roar there" next thing I know Evie was singing "e-i-e-i with a roar roar here"

I definitely wasnt hearing things because James heard it too ;o)

Yesterday (being a bank holiday) we took Evie to another soft play place it was absolutely huge and had a gated place for the under 5's to play...

I was even crawling through the stuff with Evie and helping her up the bits that were too steep for her :o)

We then did a bit of shopping and I saw that in Gap they had 30% off everything and ended up getting Evie this dress and some tights.

on the inside again

When Prisoner Cell Block H was originally showed in 1986 I watched religiously (I even got James into it too ;o)).

Anyway I was looking through the tv guide yesterday and saw a she Wentworth Prison and it is described as an Updated PCBH.

I looked at the information on the onscreen guide and it seems to be a direct copy.

I have put it into record and I just hope that it has the warmth of the original...

Yesterday because we had horrible weather we decided to take Evie to a Soft Play place that I had heard about.

We got there and there was an a-board outside and there was a sign on the door saying to ring the buzzer so I rang it and there was no answer...

...I rang it another couple of times and one of those times I kept mu finger on the buzzer for a much longer time (so they knew how I felt).

Anyway this other family turned up and the woman said "oh they are shut" apparently the doors are open downstairs if they are open.  She had rang them earlier that day and there wasnt any answer!

Having looked at their facebook page they were shut yesterday anyway!  They really should have put a sign up saying that they were shut.

Needless to say we wont be going back again as they have a shoddy way of going about things.

We ended up going to the Grove Centre so that Evie could have a walk around as she wasnt very happy about being let out of the car and having to go back in again so quickly :o(

and he thinks that I dont make the most of my phone

Ever since I got my new phone in March James has been moaning that I dont make the most of it...

...I think that I do...

as I do internet searches, blog, upload photos, play games - I have even got upto level 5 on Angry Birds, I look at how far away places are and even looked up what restaurants were near by once!

Anyway the point of this post is that on our way home from town yesterday a woman in her car stopped me to ask where Chestnut Walk is (and that it isnt far from the golf club!  I told her that the only golf club that I know of isnt anywhere near here).

I then saw that she had a smartphone in her hand showing a map so I asked her where her satnav said it was and she said that she didnt know how to work it and drove off.

I looked it up on my phone when I got home and the place she was looking for is in Boreham which is a neighbouring village that is part of Chelmsford.

So I told James and then he said that it was a bad choice of words on his part ;o)

kisses finally

For the past few weeks Evie has been kissing her cuddly toys but not me or James!

Yesterday I was watching Jo Frosts Family SOS and she told the Mum to kiss her Son like he was a 5 year old (he is 14).

So wanting to give Evie a big kiss I told her to come to me and I gave her a kiss and then I said "are you going to give Mummy a kiss" and she did ;o)

She gave James a kiss later on too ;o)

first messages and now contacts

We all remember me not getting all of my text messages...

...well now my contacts keep on disappearing!

So I went onto the three website, and followed the "fix all" and hey presto my contacts came back ;o)

The next day I went to see if my contacts were still there and they had disappeared again!

So yesterday I decided to go into the shop to see if they could fix the problem for me...

I explained what was happening and what I had done to "fix" it and the bloke had a look at my contacts and said "they have all been deleted" except for four that are always on there (for some reason) and then I told him again what I had done to get them back and he then asked who from my text messages is a contact that is missing, so I showed him one that I had received on Friday and told him who the contact was.

He then downloaded a contacts app to see what contacts were on my phone and told me again that there were just four of them and that my phone had deleted them!

And that I should give my phone a couple of days to see how I get on and if I still had a problem then I should go back in and they will send my phone in for repair!

He thought that he had gotten rid of me so while he had gone out to the back I did the "fix all" thing again and hey presto all of my contacts had appeared again...

...so I showed the bloke and he decided that yes my phone was faulty and that it should be sent off to be looked at.

Anyway my phone is now waiting to go to the repair centre and I have a loan phone (as I am on a contract)

returning "aquired" items

When I take Evie into town now I let her have a walk around before we leave to come home...

...she normally leads me to where she wants to go.

On Thursday we went into La Senza (several times I may add ;o)).

They have metal labels on their drawers and they are at just the right height for Evie to nab one.

Anyway she took this label off the first time we went in there, then she had her lunch and when we were having another walk around I returned it to its rightful place and Evie decided to take it again!

I fully intended to put it back on our way home but totally forgot and shall return it this morning (honest) ;o)

She is definitely getting more like me ;o)

the nice chocolate biscuit lady

One of the Mums from our antenatal group invited us all around to hers as the weather wasnt very nice on Friday...

...we were supposed to go to Marsh Farm but it was raining.

She was braver than me I wouldnt want eight kids wrecking my house (although sometimes you wouldnt know the difference anyway!)

My friend had out a bowl of Cadburys Animal biscuits and I was handing them out to the little ones (I wanted to give one to Evie so offered them around to the others too).

The little boy whose house it was kept on pointing to the biscuits while sitting next to me (so after asking his Mum that it was ok) he had three of them and then his Mum said that he couldnt have anymore so I told him that they were all gone, and then he pointed to the kitchen (as if to say "they are in there go and get me some more") so  told him that I didnt know where they were kept.

Anyway when it was time to leave the little boy put his arms up as if to say "can you take me with you" so I told him that his Mummy would miss him and it was much nicer there anyway ;o)

His Mum then said that I was the nice chocolate biscuit lady ;o)

the V pound

I am all for traders getting their share of the V Pound, it actually surprises me when they dont make an effort...

...after all this weekend will be a real money spinner for Chelmsford as a rule ;o)

I shall remind myself of this when I am moaning about all of the festival goers tomorrow!

sharing mummys banana

Evie likes to share my lunch ;o)

And if my banana is ripe enough then I will let her have a bite or three ;o)  If they arent ripe enough then they make her ill!

James takes a banana to work with him too and he normally takes the ripest ones but yesterday (because I said that Evie was sharing them with me) he took one of the less ripe ones so that we could share one today ;o)

What we did on Thursday

On Thursday we had an another eye appointment for Evie...

...Evie was not a happy bunny while we were in there - she started to cry and James took her over to the mirror (that always cheers her up) so that she could look at her reflection ;o)

Anyway Evie is still long sighted and the lady said that it looks like she will have my eyes (poor thing)!

As James had taken the day off we were deciding what to do...

...I suggested Hylands Park so that we could go to the Adventure Castle Play Area but the area it is shut because of the V Festival! :o(

So we ended up going to Krazy Kids - Evie enjoyed herself ;o)

And then we went on to Freeport and we saw some more giraffes ;o)

We even had lunch at Chimichangas ;o)

piggy love

Back in December we bought Evie a harness buddy ;o)

Now that Evie is walking we have finally been able to use it ;o)

Evie walking with James

Evie giving Piggy a kiss (she still wont kiss me or James mind!) ;o)

And Evie holding Piggy ;o)