Back at work two days a week (Thursdays and Fridays).
's all right. Nothing really much to write home about. Quite refreshing to not have to constantly worry where Madam's got to and what she'll put in her mouth next. I don't half miss her all day though.

What a difference a year makes.



One of the first pics of Verity. I love the bug eyed look she has.

( pics from today under the cut )

I promised you lot my birth story once Nushie was asleep, didn't I.

( Well, here goes. )

Date:	2008-07-22 08:31
Subject:	Happy birthday Nushie!
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished

Today, as of 7.25 this evening, I am the mother of a one-year-old.

There's a pile of presents for her in the other room, but the girl in question isn't up yet. This may have something to do with the fact that she only had a half an hour nap yesterday (because some evil woman banged into the buggy when we were in Tescos, and woke her up, and after that there was no way she was going back to sleep because she had things to do).

If my little darling does sleep today, I might get round to posting my birth story - as I've been meaning to do for the last year. But don't hold your breath - Nushie is currently like the Duracell Bunny in the way she can keep going and going and going and going.

Happy birthday, tode

All the love in the world.
Us xxxxxxxxxxx

I braved Mamma Mia tonight at the local cinema (think jerky curtain and possibly the most un-surround sound imaginable). Went with one of my mummy friends, and a couple of her mates.

And I'm in no way an Abba fan. When they're played at weddings I usually roll my eyes and head outside.

It's... not half bad really. Not half good though, either. Just very, VERY silly.
And the sight of Colin Firth in full length Spandex is worth the entry price alone.

Had band practice last night. Yet again our drummer didn't turn up, and we were also minus the tuba player. Which meant that it was hard to practice properly, so in the end we gave up and went into the pub instead.

Over several drinks I got adequately loosened up enough to sing. And gods was it liberating.
I treated the others to a rendition of Three Jolly Rogues Of Lynne. Lovely to just let rip again and use my voice. I do love to sing, and I've missed it since the Inntinn days.
There are times when I do wonder how Punjabi this Punjabi band is going to be - we seem to be disappearing into the realms of folk quite considerably now, despite the 6 Punjabi tunes that remain at the core of the band. But if there's no drummer it's really hard to get the feel of it all. Plus we really aren't Punjabi, so music that is more from our backgrounds just settles better.

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In other news, Nushie had another bad teething episode this evening. There was one in the week when one of her top front teeth made an appearance, so I'm guessing that tonight's screeching was its pair. Bless her - she goes bright red-faced, and screams, and tears run down her face, and she's totally inconsulable. And there are times when you have to put her down to do things (like run her bath), and she just stays in the middle of the room, on hands and knees, and screeches her little heart out.
Today, though, realising finally that was what was going on (she got her bottom two front teeth at 8 months, and then nothing else until this week, so I'm not really practiced at this) she got given her first dose of Calpol - which, at 11 1/2 months, is pretty good going. It did work, in the end, but it was hard work getting her there. She eventually calmed down enough in the bath to stick foam letters in my mouth for me to spit out across the room (latest game), so we'll employ that trick in future.

This entry brought to you by the fact that I'm currently lying trapped on my bed by a sleeping Nushie, and can't even reach my book. We were going to meet Nick at the pub, and there's a desperately needed cup of tea with my name on it downstairs waiting for me. But I'm stuck. Hey ho, though, that's motherhood.

The rules and Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Sunday. Monday.

( And finally, pics from Tuesday )

The rules and Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Sunday.

( Roll up, roll up for Monday's pics )

The rules and Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday.


( here be pics from Sunday )

The rules and Wednesday. Thursday. Friday.

( Saturday's pics )

The rules and Wednesday. Thursday.

( Here be Friday )

Rules and Wednesday

( Thursday's photos )

Swiped a photo meme from r_scribbles

Was going to do this next week, but then I found myself looking for things I could snap today, so thought "sod it" and went and got the camera.

THE RULES...

1. You must take between 6 and 8 new photographs per day.
2. Your WITL must be consecutive. No skipping days.
3. You must post your photographs at the end of that day, sometime after the last picture is taken.
4. Each photograph must have the time taken beneath and a title, with no other explanation.

You must post these rules at your first entry, then link back to it for the other six days so that people will know wtf you're doing.

Your post must say "A Week in the Life of [your name/username], Volume [whatever day you're on]."

( And here we go with Wednesday )

My dad came over yesterday and installed our stair gate for us.
This was starting to be urgently needed, as Nushie has learnt to open doors, and a closed one just won't keep her contained for very long - and I'm loathe to use the play pen (yes, I have one. Get over it. My parenting choices.) unless its for real emergencies like having to nip upstairs to get a nappy or go to the loo or whip washing off the line because it's raining, etc.

Seeing as Nushie's absolute favourite thing in the whole world at the moment are stairs, and she wantst to climb them all day every day, I was expecting a full-on "you're murdering me, Mummy" screech when she realised she couldn't climb them any more.

So, after her nap, I brought her downstairs and let her go on the floor. Off she trots, all excited, towards the stairs. I followed, camera in hand, to document the face falling and the general grumpiness I thought would occur.

Nushie gets nearer and nearer to the stair gate, and her face gets even more excited, which I thought was odd. Until she got there, and used the bars to pull herself up to standing, bent her knees, and bounced up and down.
She's not bothered that we've blocked off the stairs in the slightest. Because we've provided her with further provision for standing up. Which is really exciting too.
So much for knowing my daughter well!

I just turned up my first ever crush on Facebook.
I was about 12, I think.

In other news, happy birthday to me, I am 32.

Verity bought me a new baking dish to make up for the one she broke. Thoughtful child.

Poor little Nushie has come down with suspected chicken pox :(

We knew she'd been in contact with it, as my friend C texted me the day after I'd brought madam round to play with her son A, to say that he'd got it.
At which point I just thought, if she's got it, she's got it - nowt I can do about it now. And then promptly forgot all about it.
Then at the end of the week I started to notice a rash on her legs, and thought "uh oh...".

Yesterday she was starting to get a few spots on her back and chest, and today her scalp has loads of them - and the ones on her chest are starting to look nasty and angry.

Nushie herself seems remarkably unbothered by it all. Apart from the odd scratch of her head (we trimmed her nails down as far as we dared), she's been her normal cheerful self1. She's perhaps sleeping a bit more, but that's to be expected if her body is fighting it off. She's shown no real sign of being poorly in the slightest - no temperature, no grizzling or anything.
From what I remember, it's the bit before the rash appears with chicken pox that is the grotty bit, and the most infectious - I think mostly once the rash is around, apart from the itching, you generally feel ok.
I don't really remember it much - I was seven when I had it.

I offered to host a pox party this afternoon, but I think everyone was too scared - babies still feel a bit new for getting things like this, even if most of our acquaintance is reaching 10-11 months now.
I'm terribly worried for the little boy down the road though - he was attempting to snog her on Friday (much to the amusement of me and my mate H, his childminder), and if he hasn't had it yet he definitely will have now!

1. We assume she's inherited her perpetual cheerfulness from Nick's mum - who is known by many for being enthusiastic all the time - although it has been pointed out to me by my friends that I share similar traits...

Why is it impossible to buy just one fitted cot sheet in most places?
They don't seem to sell them separately - you have to buy them as part of a "bedding bale", which costs around 20 quid. And even then you just get the one - along with two flat sheets (really useful if you're using sleeping bags /sarcasm), quilt covers, pillow cases, fleece blankets, etc.
So you end up paying through the nose for a pile of things you don't really need, just so you can get a new cot sheet.

**************************

Spent most of today in the park, having missed Buttercups due to Madam's monster sleep in - she didn't surface until 11, when I decided she'd really gone beyond the pale and went in and forcibly woke her up. So we ended up in the park with my mate H, her son H, and her two childminding charges L & O. Very pleasant. Madam went roaming everywhere, played with H, went on the swings (her favourite), etc.
Then D & G turned up, just as H et al were about to leave, so we had a nice chat and they bought me an ice cream. Must remember that Madam has decided she doesn't like blackberry flavour - all the more for me!

**************************

Nushie and I went to London on Monday - her on my back with a rigged up sunshade (the pole for the rain cover, with a knotted muslin over the top, a la Reg Gumby) - to visit tosomja, who is due to have her own baby at the end of this month. We visited the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. Cue lots of pointing into glass cases going "I remember that..." at toys of yesteryear.
And we saw the dolls houses that are mentioned in Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes, which was sort of the point of the exercise.
Nushie had a brilliant time though - they've got things for kids to play in. So the sand pit was The! Best! Thing! Ever!, as she got used to the feel of it between her feet, down her back, in her mouth, in her hands as she threw it out, etc. And then there's a sensory room downstairs with lots of coloured lights, fiberoptics, mirrors, and textures, which also kept her busy for ages. There's stuff for older children too, but I was surprised at how much she was able to do already, at not even 11 months. Well worth the visit.

We also passed on our first set of reusable nappies to tosomja, with instructions on how to use them. We'll want them back if we ever have a second one, obviously, but they might as well be used if there's a baby that'll fit them. Which meant that the trip back to 'Nam was considerably lighter.

**************************

And finally I've been forced to pull rank with the ex-editor of Taplas. We had yet another message today to the whole board, saying that the magazine was a mess again, and that I'd missed vital things out and made various gaffes.
I got Nick to word it, as he's better at the ascerbic put-downs than I am, as I tend to get too emotional and he's able to remain cold. I had to stop him from calling the git an "insufferable twat", but most of what he said stayed. We settled on "pigheaded" instead...

**************************

More Nushie pics under the ( cut )

That's it.

We're done with breastfeeding.

I am rather sad, as I'd prefer her to keep on having boobie, as it's the best thing for her to drink, not to mention cheaper.

But she's not interested in the slightest. It's her choice, not mine. She is ten and a half months old, and knows her own mind.

I did want to do a lovely last feed, but it wasn't to be. She was far more interested in a piece of polystyrene on the floor, then bit me three times, pulled off, and crawled off to play.
And this is the pattern of the last week or so. I don't think this is a "nursing strike", despite many helpful people suggesting that it might be. This is her saying that she's ready to move on. And I have to let her.

I checked with the Health Visitor today about what's going on, and whether I should be offering her more calcium now she's stopped, and her reaction was along the lines of "she's not going to be your only child, is she?" and she insinuated that I'll do better with the next one. As did someone else at BFing group.

Which makes me feel a bit like I'm a failure for ONLY managing 10 and a half months. Not a success for having got this far, with an initially tongue-tied child and an unresponsive low supply. I know I should feel like a success, but I still feel like I've failed because I can't keep it going. But it's her, not me, and I shouldn't feel that way. Arrggg.
And if someone pipes up with either "Oh I love breastfeeding" or "I fed my child until X" I feel like I'm going to slap them.

On the plus side, this means I should be able to dance again somewhere around the early autumn. Yay. And wear a bra without blooming clips on it.

**********************

We have signs of definite language comprehension now. When you call her name she looks at you, and when you say "clap clap" she claps her hands. Then looks ridiculously pleased with herself.

**********************

Unfortunately, she also appears to be turning into a little thug. Put her in a room with other babies, particularly those younger than herself, and she'll crawl straight over and poke and prod them, like they're sitting ducks. No amount of "No" (signed and said) works, as she just laughs, and if you pull her off she'll crawl straight back over and do it again. And stick a finger in the other baby's eye.
And I find myself doing the "no" and the removal for the benefit of the other baby's parents rather than her, as she doesn't understand, but I've got to be seen to be doing something.
I had to warn them about it at the leisure centre creche the other day, and when I got back after my swim the creche leader said she was exhausted because she'd been extracting Nushie from situations for the whole hour and a half. Oh dear.

I've started to be quite wary about which babies we spend time with, as those who don't move yet are at risk of being terrorised by my daughter. But put her with those a little older, and she'll think it's wonderful, and chase them. We were over at my friend H's at the weekend, for her son H's first birthday party, and the pair of them were chasing each other around, laughing, and actually playing together. Lovely to see.