Nelly recovered in time to set off to Italy!
She basically had 4 days of not eating then became more like herself on Tuesday ready to fly off to Italy on Wednesday!
She is busy charming all of Rob's family that meet her and loves playing with her new cousin ( probably 4th removed but hey she does not have many so she enjoys every cousin she can get! ) He is one year older than her but she still lets him know exactly who is boss!
Since arriving we have done nothing but eat Yesterday was her birthday and we went to a local park in the morning and in the afternoon visited a lovely Friulan town called Cividale http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cividale_del_Friuli and bought some Gubana ( local cake ) http://www.taccuinistorici.it/newsbrowser.php?news_id=726&news_dove=1 then back for more eating with two of Rob's cousins.
Despite having left Stansted in glorious sunshine we arrived into Ronchi aiport into fog and cloud! TOday is very foggy so we have planned to do a morning of shopping in Udine - well Nelly and I need shoes and handbags so Italy really is the place!
Tomorrow we are spending the day in Slovenia - it is a beautiful country and there is a market with lots of horses to see, so Nelly will be in her element. Tomorrow evening we will all go to a typical Friulan restaurant for more eating!!! Sunday looks to be good so we may head to a beach so nelly can see the sea and spend the day with Rob's uncle and aunt .....
Obvioulsy pictures to follow of Nelly's first trip o Italy ! She loves saying Ciao Ciao to everyone! !!!
Thursday 28 February 2008
Monday 25 February 2008
Nelly feeling gloomy at nursery
poor little thing they called to say she was feeling sad and not being her usual vibrant self! I think she was very very tired as last night she did not go to sleep until about 10 and then she slept with us and had the most awful night terrors, crying, screaming, thrashing around in the bed and then getting up an running to the door and asking to be taken downstairs - so at 3 in the morning we were in the sitting room in the dark with a sleeping toddler on my chest. Managed to get her back to bed but she slept fitfully for the rest of the night and woke at 7 ...
She has just managed to eat a whole rice cake with butter and has been playing outside in the drive and has gone for a walk to the shops with Rob , am planning on giving her an early lunch of chicken pie with lots of warming easy to eat mashed potatoes and then bundling her into the car for a drive listening to her favourite story on the CD for a long recuperative sleep !!!!!
She has just managed to eat a whole rice cake with butter and has been playing outside in the drive and has gone for a walk to the shops with Rob , am planning on giving her an early lunch of chicken pie with lots of warming easy to eat mashed potatoes and then bundling her into the car for a drive listening to her favourite story on the CD for a long recuperative sleep !!!!!
Thursday 21 February 2008
on a committee!!!!!!!!!
hey you know you have made it in the country when you get asked to join a committee! and I am now the secretary of the local mother and toddler group! really it all boils down to getting together and drinking lots of wine and scoff crisps and nuts round at someone's house! so it was that I attended my first committee meeting last week after rushing back from a meeting in London.
Last week was also half term for this area so no playgroups or classes to go to - Nelly still managed Nursery on Monday and then also went to two different Soft Play places on Wednesday and Thursday! She had a great time but Friday she hit a low coming down with a really high temperature, we manged to get it down with the usual drug combo. Having been exposed to a friends little girl two weeks ago who has since had the chicken pox I have been sitting watching and dreaming of her little body covered with spots!! We also toyed with the idea that it could be ear ache as she kept pulling at her ears and we did the usual bad thing of checking out all the symptoms on the web and diagnosing the problem ourselves!
Obviously all really stressful as we are flying off to Italy on Wednesday and the last thing we want is a sick one on a plane! She woke on Saturday and was much brighter, came out to the local farmers market with me but when we got home she managed to bite her tongue quite badly! So a combination of post fever blues and a stinging tongue has meant a weekend of miserable nights and Nelly trying to eat but spitting out most of the food due to the pain! One good thing is that she seems to have completely given up the dummy ! as this also pained her !
This morning she woke in a better mood - managed to eat a digestive biscuit with butter and loads of raisins, before I took her off to the doctors for them to look at her ears and she really was a changed child - running around the surgery playing with toys - they had a good look at the ears and nothing worng ...I dropped her at nursery this morning and all seemed OK but they just called to say she is not herself so I am off to pick her up ! ...
Last week was also half term for this area so no playgroups or classes to go to - Nelly still managed Nursery on Monday and then also went to two different Soft Play places on Wednesday and Thursday! She had a great time but Friday she hit a low coming down with a really high temperature, we manged to get it down with the usual drug combo. Having been exposed to a friends little girl two weeks ago who has since had the chicken pox I have been sitting watching and dreaming of her little body covered with spots!! We also toyed with the idea that it could be ear ache as she kept pulling at her ears and we did the usual bad thing of checking out all the symptoms on the web and diagnosing the problem ourselves!
Obviously all really stressful as we are flying off to Italy on Wednesday and the last thing we want is a sick one on a plane! She woke on Saturday and was much brighter, came out to the local farmers market with me but when we got home she managed to bite her tongue quite badly! So a combination of post fever blues and a stinging tongue has meant a weekend of miserable nights and Nelly trying to eat but spitting out most of the food due to the pain! One good thing is that she seems to have completely given up the dummy ! as this also pained her !
This morning she woke in a better mood - managed to eat a digestive biscuit with butter and loads of raisins, before I took her off to the doctors for them to look at her ears and she really was a changed child - running around the surgery playing with toys - they had a good look at the ears and nothing worng ...I dropped her at nursery this morning and all seemed OK but they just called to say she is not herself so I am off to pick her up ! ...
Monday 18 February 2008
post half term onslaught
Last week we had visitors.....the sun shone all week and Nelly was in her element with older children around her the whole week! every time they left she shouted MORE! and as if by magic they arrived! Sunday our neighbours in London popped in on the way home , Monday Simone and Bram came from Devon....lots of gravel removals in the drive, buggy pushing, they played really well together , so well that I found them at the end of the drive one morning with their buggies on the way to the shops!!!!!!!!!! Yikes we need electric gates! Clare arrived with her girls on the Tuesday afternoon and we had a lovely afternoon visiting the donkeys again then running up and down the lanes by the horses....the weather was so amazing that we had no need to go anywhere except local walks...
Simone and Bram ...
My favourite Aunt !! well my only one but hey still a favourite!
Clare and the girls
picking snowdrops!
we got our new work surface!!!! IT ROCKS!
CORIAN is king!
Simone and Bram ...
My favourite Aunt !! well my only one but hey still a favourite!
Clare and the girls
picking snowdrops!
we got our new work surface!!!! IT ROCKS!
CORIAN is king!
Sunday 10 February 2008
CNY a glorious weekend
Happy Chinese New Year ...
Preferring my Halloween outfit to my CNY dress ( see below!)
Three months in the country and I am on a pony!
Chinatown Saturday 9th..
Not sure about the new frock they bought me..!
Could really get into this riding thing though!!well the weather has been amazing...Friday, Saturday adn SUnday all bright sunshine and mild temperatures! as it was CNY we headed into London on Saturday afternoon for some Dim Sum at a place that we have been to on a number of occasions in the last year and they are always so lovely to Nelly, we followed that by meeting our good friends Lisa and Karen in Selfridges for a spot of wonder room http://thewonderroom.selfridges.com/gazing and a drink in one of the bars, while Nelly ran up an down the banquette.
Nearly been here three months now and we got Nelly on a pony this afternoon! Hurrah! She looked good and very confident . Our friends from ST J Farm Road popped in this afternoon on their way back from Yorkshire for a couple of hours , Nelly was so excited to see K and R they played and played, running around, pushing buggies and generally causing mayhem and then all had a ride on the ponies at the end of the lane!
Wednesday 6 February 2008
February ...Gōngxǐ fācái
been home over a year with Nelly now, wow how time flies...I was digging out some old clothes to give to a friend last week and it is amazing that some of the things were so tiny ..had a crisis of computer week before last so hence the lack of any sort of updates here ...but Dell delivered in super fast time after making the order just under a week ago . The new one is lovely and shiny and very attractive to small people's hands!
Nursery has been upped to two half days a week - monday am and Friday pm ( in the world of work probably the worst days to ever try and arrange meetings so not sure if I will get much work done ) but last week I had a good time in Milton Keynes Ikea , followed by a swift trip to the largest Asda ever seen before getting back to collect Nelly and being the last parent to collect !!! well I have an excuse she only goes twice a week and I wanted to get my money's worth!
Tomorrow is Chinese New Year - so will probably cheat and head to M&S to collect some Chinese food , as not sure of the best Chinese take away in the local area...and then at the weekend we may head into town to get Dim Sum Gōngxǐ fācái or in cantonese Kung Hei Fat Choi
Some Facts.....
Good luck
Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year. ( No excuse needed )
Talking about death is inappropriate for the first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is considered inauspicious as well.
Buying books is bad luck because the word for "book" is a homonym to the word "lose".
Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional funeral colour. ( bring on the red dress! )
Seriously though there are some dreadful weather conditions in China just now and lots of work being done to get relief to those orphanages that are suffering due to lack of heat and power. One of the organisations is Half the Sky ...http://www.halfthesky.org/ and our group of families is organising to send money directly to our little ones orphanages ........
More of the cute new bob!
Musing over responding to a piece of direct mail to buy a new laptop!!! WHAT !!
Nelly in her latest past time - re- arranging the pillow in the bed ( she only wants a huge square adult size pillow ) and relaxing in bed with a book and her rabbits ...she can be in there for hours , god help when she hits teenage years!
Nursery has been upped to two half days a week - monday am and Friday pm ( in the world of work probably the worst days to ever try and arrange meetings so not sure if I will get much work done ) but last week I had a good time in Milton Keynes Ikea , followed by a swift trip to the largest Asda ever seen before getting back to collect Nelly and being the last parent to collect !!! well I have an excuse she only goes twice a week and I wanted to get my money's worth!
Tomorrow is Chinese New Year - so will probably cheat and head to M&S to collect some Chinese food , as not sure of the best Chinese take away in the local area...and then at the weekend we may head into town to get Dim Sum Gōngxǐ fācái or in cantonese Kung Hei Fat Choi
Some Facts.....
Good luck
Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year.
( hope it is not raining! today they were open all day! )
Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
( Ok let's not worry about the carbon footprint for another night of the year ! )
Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet" year.
( nelly will be pleased about that - !)
It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year. (however, as explained below, cleaning the house after New Year's Day is frowned upon) Good job the £12 per hour cleaners came in today!
Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Asians will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you. ( OOOps have no new slippers will a pair of shoes do! )
The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.
( hope it is not raining! today they were open all day! )
Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
( Ok let's not worry about the carbon footprint for another night of the year ! )
Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet" year.
( nelly will be pleased about that - !)
It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year. (however, as explained below, cleaning the house after New Year's Day is frowned upon) Good job the £12 per hour cleaners came in today!
Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Asians will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you. ( OOOps have no new slippers will a pair of shoes do! )
The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.
Bad luck
Buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck amongst some Chinese. The word "shoes" is a homophone for the word for "rough" in Cantonese, or "evil" in Mandarin.
( Hopefully just for the day !)
Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one's own luck (although modern hygienic concerns take precedence over this tradition)
Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one's own luck (although modern hygienic concerns take precedence over this tradition)
Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year. ( No excuse needed )
Talking about death is inappropriate for the first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is considered inauspicious as well.
Buying books is bad luck because the word for "book" is a homonym to the word "lose".
Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional funeral colour. ( bring on the red dress! )
Seriously though there are some dreadful weather conditions in China just now and lots of work being done to get relief to those orphanages that are suffering due to lack of heat and power. One of the organisations is Half the Sky ...http://www.halfthesky.org/ and our group of families is organising to send money directly to our little ones orphanages ........
More of the cute new bob!
Musing over responding to a piece of direct mail to buy a new laptop!!! WHAT !! 
Nelly after the local CACH Chinese New Year lunch - watch that tummy!
This is also to show my Mum that she does wear the clothes you buy her!!!
Nelly in her latest past time - re- arranging the pillow in the bed ( she only wants a huge square adult size pillow ) and relaxing in bed with a book and her rabbits ...she can be in there for hours , god help when she hits teenage years!
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