life with nelly

Closing down....

2010-02-01T06:43:00.001-08:00

This blog has reached the end of a long line...Last year was hard and I only really updated sporadically...Need to consider the blog ...why , what etc....

ciao...

moving along slowly ...............

2009-10-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

have taken some time in the last few weeks....getting back into routine, enjoying the fantastic autumn we are having and thinking about how to move this blog on ...but life does go on...so we have to keep on ...there have been really hard times when I want to pick up the phone and talk about something that Nelly has done or tell about the fab Halloween party I am organising tomorrow for ....wait for it...47 children ...but I cannot. Nelly and I have spent a few days with my sister this week over half term, sorting things out... visiting and revisiting the house...looking at things, evoking memories...strange little things that my Mum kept ...a diary for at least 47 years, things that my sister and I made when were were kids ...the obligatory photo albums...an autograph book with some lovely line drawings she had when she was twelve that captured my 11 year old niece's attention ....

we sorted and cleared and arranged to pass things onto charities that could really use 8 pyrex bowls, baking trays, cake tins and more china than you would know what to do with ....

We still have lots of things to clear and do but every day it gets easier - we visited the grave and nelly placed a lavendar bag she had taken from Grandma's bedroom on the grave...little reminders everywhere ....

a goodbye.....

2009-09-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

...a very sad and hard post to write - it has been sitting in my drafts for a few weeks now, verys sadly and suddenly my mother died on September 13th...she had been undergoing chemo for secondary cancer in the liver after an op to remove a tumour from her small intestine..She had been well, recovered from the op , ans started the chemo in the middle of August. She was well up until a week before she died, when she became very ill. Thnking it was the effects of the chemo - no energy, sickness and diarrohea she was admitted to hospital on Thursday 10th. She was not in pain but jest very sisk and uncomfortable. She was a very brave lady in her sickness and laughed, joked and bossed my sister and I around in the last days! She had the chance to see special people on the Saturday her brother, sister, friends nieces and Rob and Nelly and to see pictures of my sisters children who were at a wedding that day - one as a bridesmaid..IF you can say this her death was a good one..She was not in pain, she was a regular church attendee and her vicar was with us during the final day. We are all missing a very special, warm and chatty person in our lives - our phone bill will be reduced enormously...Her funeral was attended by well over 350 people, the sun came out and we all said our goodbyes and shared happpy memories...

It has taken me a few weeks to compose this post ...Clare and I have each other, Rob and Stuart and between us we have three beautiful girls who knew a wonderful Grandma...She will be missed enormously by us all......

Winning moments

2009-09-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the village flower and produce show we entered a few categories though most of our veg harvest has been and gone. I managed to pull together a respectable looking trug with some potatoes, herb beans, onions shallots a mini beetroot, chillies corn and spinach ! For this I received a hugly commended certificate !! Nelly and I picked some wild flowers (aka weeds from the garden !!) and arranged in a yoghurt pot - for a third prize ! And my last years jar of apple date and ginger picked up a third too ! Hurrah

the delicious carrot cake that took hours to make , sat sadly on its plate prizeless but we demolished it afterwards with lots of tea and coffee !

A good day was had by all and the children ran riot under the tables as the very serious prize winning speeches were made !

Roll on 2010!!!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Nearing the end of the holidays

2009-08-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

So in all I think the sun has shone for about five maybe six days - am I bring generous??!! We are now counting down to back to school nelly was called for her pre school booster injections yesterday these are now her final ones until she is 12 !!! Can you imagine that! She was really Brave taking off her cardigan to offer the nurse her arm ! First one was easy second took a little time ! She got a big sticker and she then looked after me at the opticians! I got a sticker , another trip to the hospital and a £281 bill for new glasses and a years ban from lenses !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Lack of blog updates !

2009-08-18T00:11:00.000-07:00

The holidays are here and we have been doing a lot of weather watching whilst trying to keep the small ones amused during the rain ! There have been bike rides walks in the woods we did resort to a soft play on two occasions when rain was just too miserable !

Nelly and I spent the weekend before last with grandma who taught her how to look through the Argos catalogue!!!!! Gggrrhh and how to turn down pages of things she wants !! Oh no !

Grandma gave nelly some holiday money and we are busy working out what to spend it on I am trying to teach her how to understand what £20 will buy and another doll is not really worth it as she has 4 already ! So far we have bought one of those things that you put in crocs and a packet of Cath Kidston tissues !!she has a tissue obsession going on and is drawn to packets of brightly coloured tissues like a magpie !

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

some more festival pics....

2009-07-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

Rob looking nervous about his whole camping / festival experience ! he just needed a beer!

charming little touches ...

Gabs on tour with another festival hat

Uncle Johnny....getting in the mood for the festival toilets!

Sean gets his own festival hat!

Nelly waiting to try those loos and boy did she make use of them!

holidays and festival

2009-07-21T04:35:00.000-07:00

We did a festival last weekend...our first trip camping and first festival - a great adventure if you like mud, good music , delicious food and

A Fabulous festival hat - for the bargain price of £30...

Nelly and James and the big God brotherly and God Sisterly love in!

Mud Mud and more mud...

We love camping Nelly honest!

Loads for the kids to do - great sticking and gluing....molding and making ...

parties...fetes...christenings....sports days...all in a summer

2009-06-22T05:41:00.001-07:00

A traditional Punch and Judy at a local fete....I am amazed that some of the act is still allowed ...throwing babies out of the window and wife beating...!! not very PC!

Nelly gets christened ...looks like her Big Baby came long for the ride!

Making Tipis in the garden

Nelly before her wonderful running victory at sports day

Acting the monkey in the village church at a friend's christening...

summer is definitely here...lots of outdoor events and so far we are having the summer they predicted - albeit a few weekends of rain!

The village fete at the beginning of the month was beset with rain and I still managed to drag around a rather ugly doll and collared people into spending 50p guessing its name...

the following day we had Nelly's christening and the rain came down horizontally! Rob had been weather watching for weeks and had decided to organise a large garden tent and a magician in case of bad weathere but the sun finally came out and the event passed successfully = all very country living with bunting, white tablecloths , flowers from the garden!!! still waiting on perfect pictures from a friend!

Nelly had her first sports day...she ran like a gazelle and won her first running race - then gave up and decided not to particiapte in the sack race and walking with a bean bag on the head! strictly real sportsd for her!

Summer is here

2009-06-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

So the sun has been shining quite a lot ! Nelly had her christening at the beginning of june on a really rainy weekend.... for weeks the forecast had been for rain that day and it did rain right up to about half an hour before we got to the church and then the sun came out and shone all afternoon !!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

half term ...the SUN is shining !

2009-06-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Three little monkeys climbing at the castle...

Nelly all loved up with her favourite baby Annabelle!

How moody can you get !

we are packing the winter clithes away and getting out the fake tan,,,. the Bank holiday weekend saw lots of gardening and buying bedding plants with papa when he came to stay...Nelly and I spent part of the half term week with my Mum and sister - we took the train which was so mcu easier than driving solo with a grumpy three year old with attitude! she loved spending time with Grandma and her big girl cousins

If you go down to the woods today

2009-05-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Nelly and I have found some great woods maintained by woodland trust - and often go for walks there on the way back from swimming lessons .... But apparently if you go down there after dark you would be sure of a big surprise !!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

For gods sake

2009-05-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

...... " nelly ? What did you just say ??"

...... " for gods sake mummy that is what you say "

...... Ooops time to zip up !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Our phone bill

2009-05-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

A picture of things to come I fear as nelly is really getting to grips with all things phone ! Do you think that you can still buy those locks that parents used when we were kids to stop them racking up a huge phone bill !! Somehow I don't think so .... Oh well better save up now !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Nelly and her bike...

2009-05-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

forgot to mention that Nelly also got a brand new bike instead of a chocolate egg from Papa! She chose the Angelina Ballerina variety! It is pink with tassles and has a basket on the front and seat on the back for baby - needless to say she loves it and it would be the last thing on my wish list but hey! so Easter Sunday we took it out to the village playground for a practise in the carpark ....She loved it.....since then it has started squaking and has been back to the shop twice - She heard me saying for £65 it is really not acceptable and has been repeating it!

lazy lazy me....

2009-04-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

Ziggy the Labradoodle out for a walk...Swanage Easter hols

Nelly with James and Finn at mudeford Bay...

Spider orchid .. ( I think )! Swanage

Nelly with her friends playground Souldern Easter Holidays ..

Nelly and the big girls on day out at blenheim palace

scootering at Blenheim ...

no updates for ages then all you get is a photostream.....ooops

Easter ( egg hunts, grandma staying, trips out..) .....Bikes ( Nelly got a new one from her Papa....she loves it , my back hates it ) ,...Blenheim Palace.( sunny days - ice creams, friends, mazes and train trips...) ...bournemouth....( Beach, Boys - James and Finn - Swanage, sandcastles and collecting yet more shells for the collection! )

A BIG REUNION

2009-03-31T03:11:00.000-07:00

for the first time this year we attended the Cach reunion - an amazing event with who knows how many families attending from all over the country, that have adopted children from China ...I have just taken on the role of joint co-ordinator ofr our region and thought I ought to attend!

We decided to attend for the day on Saturday when most of the event happens including seminars and lots of activities for the children. Nelly was quite overwhelmed in the first instance, we arrived and had coffee with a family from our small group in oxfordshire and then moved into the main area where there was a Lion Dance . We walked into a sea of faces and there must have been well over 300 families - Nelly was completely awe struck - I think until now she has not really registered that she and her other friends - Nina, Molly Lola Lucille etc are all from China but coming face to face with so many girls and boys of all ages was quite big for her. Especially as she has really started taking on board the whole ' I am adopted ' thing....So we moved carefully through the day - bumping into old friends and seeing people who were in China at the same time as us ...There were lots of things to buy - Chinese artefacts, great bookstall, charity stalls, clothing etc . Once she had spent the morning with Rob in the circus skills and craft rooms she was well away and she had an afternoon of Tumbletots and nail painting ahead of her ! I managed to attend two seminars, one When is the time right to take your daughter back to china - http://www.ocdf.org/tours/ and one by the guy that made Chinese School ....

We got home at about 7 30 and Nelly proclaimed that she wanted to go back to the China place again next week!

school ........................

2009-03-18T15:57:00.000-07:00

last week we visited our village school ....they had an open day so potential pupils could go along...Nelly will not be going until Sept 2010 but we thought it would be good to go along and see the Big School, as she calls it , ! (Pictures above are actually taken at Bletchley park in Milton keynes but the pic fits the theme!)

we were very impressed but we have nothing to compare it to but it is only a ten minute walk away and has a good Ofsted ...nelly had a great time, she loved being there and wandering around seeing all the classrooms. At one point Rob had to find her - she was keen to set off with the boys she knew in the reception class on their Nature Walk!

http://www.croughtonallsaints.ik.org/p_Home.ikml

Scoop of the day

2009-03-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

With belts tightened. Seeds planted and budgets being squeezed rob allowed himself one bit of shopping today ! He popped out to local market town and found himself pootling around the antique cellar in search of something to store boots and shoes when coming in from the garden .... Instead he came home with this large wooden scoop and with the threat of going back tomorrow to buy a rocking chair ! Well it is fab and dates back to 1900 china looks great in our bathroom PLUS POINTS for negotiating it down to £22 bargain !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

2009-03-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

its my party and i'll drive a tractor if I want to .....

Nelly enjoying her cake at her party ...

A more subtle cake on the day ...

balloons anyone...

Getting a new chicken...

2009-02-24T03:52:00.000-08:00

So after our difficult day with Hector last Friday I spoke with my good fellow chicken owning friend Sara - she called with sympathy re the demise of Hector and told me she was off to get new ones herdelf as she was now down two chicks...anyway while over collecting Charlie, Lola and Fifi she asked about introducing a new one...and apparently it is best to do it sooner rather than later ...so we will be off to buy Dora tomorrow afternoon! how exciting!

Hector RIP August 2008-February 2009

2009-02-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

Two chickens

2009-02-21T02:31:00.000-08:00

Sad day in our house yesterday one of the chickens took ill !

Slow to come out in the morning she then clearly had breathing problems so after consultation with fellow chicken owners thought she may have something stuck in her gullet (it happened apparently to a neighbour who after calling out the DEFRA vet with a case of suspected bird flu - she was diagnosed with something lodged in the throat ) so the remedy was cod liver oil to attempt to move said blockage. I substituted cod liver for extra virgin and dosed with a syringe . She moved a bit but we then had to go out for the day. I was fully expecting to find her dead on arrival back home but she had moved about 100 yards into the vegetable patch . After administering some more oil and more gullet massage and about a syringe full of water she coughed a chicken cough and flapped her wings and keeled over . Whether I dealt the final blow we will never know but if we had left her she would have died of dehydration and starvation anyway. All v sad , we then had to explain to nelly all about death she was very upset and went through a whole range of emotions - sadness at the shock, grief at the loss and then curiosity - whether she really understands I am not sure but we have now been there although at great pains to stress that not all ill people / things die the same day .

So here is to hector wherever she may have gone that she carries on laying fab double yokers in her next life !

Hector August 2008 - Feb 2009
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

a love of the keyboard!

2009-02-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

our delightful long suffering delilah - she puts up with a lot these days in the form of a near three year old carrying her around or poking at her with a fluffy pencil ....she looks contented enough here though!

nelly loves the piano - whenever we go to Rob's father's house she is on there straight away, Rob plays the keyboard with her sometimes and she loves it ...guessing piano needs to come down here soon and the piano lessons started!

Two years with nelly ...... All that snow

2009-02-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

So we have had an amazing winter in one week, after celebrating two years wit nelly with our group we had the snow ! At the beginning of the week London had it rally bad then the Midlands was hit on thursday and we were snowed into the village for the best part of two days ! A great sense of village community came over the village as everyone headed to a field for sledgingl snow boarding and even one person on skis ! Our second visit to the 'piste' was more successful with nelly but we had to borrow a sledge !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Making use and mend !!

2009-01-29T00:14:00.000-08:00

In these credit crunching times I have made a sort of resolution ! Having looked in both mine and nelly's wardrobe we have decided that we have plenty of clothes and we should not buy anything until things are truly needed ! Or in nelly's case until she has grown out of them - she has obviously taken this to heart and last night decided she wanted to wear a pair of pyjamas aged 12 -18 months !! She looks hilarious
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

On the mend

2009-01-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

How quickly young skin heals , it is only a week ago and the chin injury has already healed ! We even managed her swimming lesson this week .
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

First trip to a&e

2009-01-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

So today just 14 days before the second anniversary of meeting nelly we did a trip to a and e ! Leaving this foggy frosty morning for our village toddler group Nelly managed to propel herself from the front door down 4 steps and landed on a foot scraping doormat and bang a massive gash to her chin she looked like she had two little mouths . After 3 hours we left with her chin all steri stripped up , she also buy her tongue but that stopped bleeding after about ten minutes . She was so brave she cried for about 40 minutes but soon calmed down after huge amounts of calpol ! Amazing how vulnerable they seem but. Being that almost three year old they really take it all in and listen to every word the doctor said. After a quick lunch. We managed a trip to the vets for the cats annual injections so two medical trips in one day in the feezing fog !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Chicken number 2 ....

2009-01-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

Has started laying ! Hurrah !! Having had the chickens since the end of August and number one chick Hector laying since end September !! I have been seriously concerned that number 2 chick Zaza was not laying ....... But yesterday there were two eggs collected and then this morning I heard Zaza making that laying noise low pitched throaty warbling underneath the pampas grass and then found two eggs under there !!!! Nelly was beside herself and screamed with excitement ....... Now that only leaves kiki who I have serious doubts about . Anyway two laying one to go so we are now up to about a dozen eggs a week !! Anyone for cake ... Quiche ... Omelettes ..... Egg custards !!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

These wonderful creatures .......

2009-01-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

These alpacas are currently residing in my friends garden - well next to the garden - they are amazingly expressive animals with the cutest faces . Only managed to capture them on phone camera so not great photo Nelly loved them too even more than my friends goats !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Our Second Xmas with Nelly

2009-01-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

Oh No not a good Xmas Day look! the calpol wore off....

I love my Peppa Pig book...

Nelly at a village party getting her Santa gift ...

Next to our ridiculously large and v minimal tree....

cannot quite believe that xmas and new year are all over and done with for a second time with Nelly....when I look back I can still so distinctly remember the last Christmas without her and the waiting to go to China...we met a little baby and now we have a fully paid up toddler ( although I noticed in one book recently that when they hit 3 they are then classified as pre-schoolers! ) ....can you believe that Nelly will go to school next year! where has the time gone!

Xmas was quiet for us - Nelly and I had a whole week of illness...streaming colds, temperatures and hacking coughs ...we both visited the GP and were told to rest becaue it is viral and there is nothing you can do ! How you rest with a sick toddler is beyond me but hey we spluttered our way through crib services, and braved a village Xmas party dosed up on Cold and Flu remedy ( for me ) and Calpol for nelly...and made it through my 45th birthday and Christmas day.

By New Year we are fully recovered and now dreading her return to nursery and playgroup to pick up the latest viral infections! We dose up daily on Satsumas and kiwi fruits to keep up the Vit C!

NEw Year's resolutions.....just wanting to keep happy and healthy and carry on enjoying living ...getting fit always makes it on to theagenda ...eating and drinking less...reading more books...taking up Mandarin classes again and starting Mandarin classes for Nelly ...and always drinking more water!..seeing old friends mnore and enjoying all the new friends we have made...

Christmas ...here it is again

2008-12-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

the crib came to the house for one night - signalling the beginning of Christmas!

Nelly and the Tree....

we are full of colds and coughs.....Xmas tree up....cards written only just mailed ....most presents bought ( not wrapped ) and stuff done but Nelly and I have been knocked over by horrid colds and coughs...so no food ordere or bought for the day itself..but it will all come together

That test

2008-12-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

Was all about blogging on the go ! How cool now I can update whilst we are in the car, on train etc I am sure it is something most bloggers have been doing for a while but I am a little late to the party ....... now to see if I can upload a picture !
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Testing

2008-12-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

test
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

two years ago we got this.....

2008-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

Rob reminded me this morning it was two years ago that we first heard about a certain littlegirl - the one who is sleeping soundly upstairs , who has the most wicked sense of humour you can imagine and who on Saturday will be a ' Purple Angel' in her playgroup nativity! ....has she changed - can you see the moneky behind those eyes...can you see the mischief she gets up to , the gorgeous things she comes out with, the wonderful hugs she gives every day ...I can....! WHAT AN AMAZING DAY IT WAS....

We have a child
called Bai Xiao En born on Feb 28th 2006 and is at the Dianbai SWI in Guangdong....we do not have a photo yet should have one next week so will post that as soon as....The SWI is on tyhe coast about 150 miles south of Hong Kong...more to follow ...............

She loves the seaside....

2008-11-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

we decided to brave the elements and head off to Cornwall for a long weekend to see our great friends Frank and kate - we would go more often but the thought of the long drive is really off putting with a near 3 year old! so we set off at 6 30 pm and Nelly plugged herself into the DVD - watched Pooh Bear's big adventure for a while, chomped on sandwiches and bsicuits and then fell asleep at about 8 15! It was long even for us and as we came off the M5 at exeter we stoppped for more provisions and coffee to keep us going and I got into the wrong car in the service station car park! we laughed hysterically for about half an hour !it passed the time - finally arriving in Penzance at about 10 50pm....

Nelly, as I think I have said before is from South China and the town where she spent the first year of her life is right on the coast; everytime I see her at the sea I feel her amazing affinity for the place...she runs to the sea whatever the weather shouting BEACH.... we bought a bucket and spade in a shop in Sennen in November - ( the shopkeeper thought it was his lucky day! )

We spent a good couple of hours in total on four different beaches over the weekend!

A Year in the Country.....!

2008-11-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

A year ago we were packing up and moving from the Smoke - to the Country! so glad that we sold our house when we did!

Amazing that a year has flown by ....has it been worth it ? yes - the quality of life is better, the air is better, less evidence of crime( although I am sure it is here..) friendly people, but also we are only an hour away from Marylebone on the train, an hour on a Sunday and we can be in Selfridges ...the schools are better,... children can get a place at a pre-school without any problems...but we do miss the people...can all our friends move into the village please!

Nelly loves it here and I don't think she really remembers her time in London as she was only 20 months when we moved her; she remembers her friends but not London the place...and as long as she can alsway maintain her commection with London then I hope she will not hate us too much for moving out!

In time for the one year anniversary of being here we have just laid the stair carpet and that is the last thing to do in the house! ( garden not touched yet but the design done..and the conservatory still to be repaired ...)

The front door now....

the van packing us up last year

Nelly and I saying goodbye to St Julians Farm Road

Remember Remember the 5th of November....

2008-11-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

one week after Trick or treat and bang - we had another big friday night! the village bonfire..Last year we were still in London and we went along to the Streatham common fireworks Nelly was fine with them but it seems lots of little ones do not like them...All Friday Nelly was looking forward to the Bonshower and the Crack Bang Pop - fireworks..! She was a tad reticent at the beginning but soon warmed up after a sausage and a juice and seeing lots of friends from the village! we enjoyed it too! The mulled wine went down well !

enjoying the Crack Bang Pop ....!

Bit wary at the start of the evening .....

this was a couple of weeks ago in a Dim Sum restaurant in Milton Keynes - Nelly getting the hang of ordering!

Halloween... Half term ... and some exciting times across the pond

2008-11-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

Nelly has been going through a big clingy phase and not wanting to go to nursery and pre-school...so a week of half term was a great respite for us all - no wailing in the car on the way and no tears ....instead a house full of cousins and friends popping in to keep Nelly entertained...! After a week off she has gone back and today when I picked her up from her half day in nursery one of the carers said 'It was lovely to have Nelly back again today! '

After a week of older children's company her language has improved enormously...she is really good company ...but as I read on another blog recently it is so difficult to leave behind those early days, thinking about Nelly this time last year when we moved here she still needed us so much she was still a baby....

Halloween - Grandma came to stay and we dressed Nelly up as a spider and put out our pumpkin lanterns at the end of our drive. Apparently in our village they will not come trick or treating unless you place a pumpkin outside - which is great so we could regulate the amount of time we would have to man the door and ration the sweets! Nell was both scared by some of the childrens' masks but excited and wanted more children to come to the door for sweets - nevertheless she woke at 3 having a nightmare! I think it was the blood dripping Edvard Munch mask that did it for her...!We will wait and see what she thinks of Bonfire Night on Friday in the village with all those bangs and flashes!

As I type Rob and I are tuning in to US election coverage -and thinking back to that night in May 1997 when we were on the verge of electing Blair after years of Thatcher - remembering that excitement and thinking how exciting and momentous this night will be for the US and the world...

Blenheim Palace...

Nelly and her cousins with my sister...

Nelly and her favourite Beth!

Three cousins....

2008-10-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

the wait in china these days for a referral for those waiting is LONG...to put it in perspective for those not in the china adoption community our papers went to china end of August 2005 and we got referral end November 2006 - so 15 months wait ...In the last 21 months since we came home with Nelly they have only managed to clear 5 months of paperwork ...the wait is getting longer and longer...numerous explanations and theories - many to do with the number of children in institutions, lower abandonment figures, the trend towards domestic adoptions within China etc etc ...whatever the explanation it would seem that there will be fewer and fewer little ones from China and for those waiting it seems will only get harder and harder...I just hope that the theories and explanations are true ...

some recent pictures

2008-10-24T04:57:00.000-07:00

My good friend Gill came over from the States and it was the first time she and Scott had met Nelly , we met up in Kensington High Street on an amazingly warm Saturday afternoon in late September and spent an hour or so in Kensington Gardens and then went for something to eat in Wagamamas ...it was lovely to catch up with old friends that we chat to on Skype..

All I want for Christmas ......

2008-10-23T04:47:00.000-07:00

and birthday ( december 24th ....so not that far apart! ) ...and maybe for next years Christmas and birthday too.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

are a pair of these beautiful boots........

growing up....

2008-10-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

my little girl can hold real grudges!

Saturday evening we went along to a fundraising evening at her pre-school...a Bingo night! not our usual Saturday night out ( well we don't go out anymore! but hey.....) but as I am on the committee I thought I should attend ( I made sure that a friend was going to be there...) anyway we passed up Strictly and hotfooted it down the the village hall...They had arranged for Sam - Nelly's key worker - to spend the evening in the other room with loads of toys, books, drawing etc and juice and crisps! to keep the children amused while we played BINGO!!Nelly did well but got tired and we ducked out early....Yesterday afternoon when I picked up N from preschool Sam said that she had been really off with her all morning and Nelly had told Mary ( another worker ) that it was because Mummy Daddy put me in a room with Sam on Saturday night!

some new pictures .................

2008-10-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

With Rob between contracts! resting at home ....he has been buying art for the walls!

We found this fab site degreeart.com run by two women who trawl the final degree shows and then represent up and coming new artitsts.. being a distance from London now and having a small child makes doing the degree shows difficult!

ANyway we ahve broken with our usual very abstract works and gone for something a bit more daring, and interesting....

This is by a woman called Kate Marshall - not surprisingly titled Blue Stocking!

These two are by Ruth Holloway and are from a study of hers on womens legs! They are on satin and the image itself is drawn and then overstitched in different colours... this is on our bedroom ...
This is called suncatcher ....................

moving from the cot to a big girls bed....

2008-10-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

so one of the final milestones of Nelly moving on from baby to big girl is the move to a bed! We had planned on doing this after our summer holiday but with the whole crying and waking in the middle of the night scenes we had in the summer we decided against it ...SO two weeks ago we dug out the bits to turn the cot into a bed...well we had most of them but the most important bits - the screws had gone missing! Fortunately for us Mothercare provide a service for dippy parents who lose things two years after they have bought them!

I have decided to buy Nelly one of those funny Kidsleep Wake Up bunny clocks to encourage her to stay in bed in the morning when she wakes as for the last two days she has been waking as usual at 5 50am drinking some milk and then falling asleep in our bed until 8am!

Any other tips on making the transition would be appreciated !

we got eggs

2008-09-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

this says it all!!

Thank You Chick Chicks .....!!

Just cute pictures!

2008-09-14T05:16:00.000-07:00

She is really good company just now and after our reunion picnic in the park we headed to the nearest Pizza Express to eat before heading back home - where she insisted on eating with large knife and fork!

Another Reunion...........

2008-09-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

Last summer!

This year
Chaos!
will you all stand still!

Nine little ones with some help from big sisters and mothers holding them down!

We were so lucky in that we were a large group from the Uk in China together....lots of us live ( lived!) in or near to London so we have decided that regular reunions for the girls will be great - we did the first one last September and then one on the anniversary or thereabouts of meeting them all....So yesterday was our second summer reunion! last year we had a bunch of small toddlers and a year on - so much changes - we spent most of the time running around the playground in regents Park chasing them! We had amazing weather and there were nine out of the 13 families there for the day....so we had a big picnic and lots of catching up. Last year we took a group photo and tried again this year - More like herding cats this year!

Controlled Crying

2008-09-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

so the time for Nelly to be rocked to sleep is coming to an end....The Banshee screaming resumed again as we decided that enough was enough of rocking her to sleep and being woken at 2 in the morning and her coming into our bed ..

So Monday evening this week we bit the bullet and armed with copy of Richard Ferbers Sleep problems book ( the one that I was going to give back to my friend as I thought I was not going to need it! HAH!!!!) and the 12 point list of how to do controlled crying we developed our plan and stuck to it...so four nights in she is now sleep ing in her bed all night ( one hiccup at one this morning but we maintained the controlled crying thing of waiting 5 minutes and then going in and going away again - she then realised that we meant business and went off to sleep...) and tonight there was not even a whimper as I turned out the light and left her room...here's crossing all fingers that she is back to being a good sleeper and good at going to bed!!!!!!!!!! Never say Never I say.....

Bagging a Bargain on the Only Summer Day this year ...........

2008-09-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

Nelly and Her Bargain Silver Cross Pram!

Lilly and Nelly - being pursued by some woman in a pinny! Sorry Sara!

I love my new Pram -

Getting into the Bran Tub!
My Bran Tub present!

The sun shone on Saturday and there was an amazing balmy almost Mediterrranean feel to the day...we spent the afternoon with friends at their local village Arts festival and bagged a bargain for Nelly on the White Elephant ( £2 for a Silver Cross Pram - there were three for sale courtesy of a family of triplets ! so enough not to disappoint! ) and she had a great time with her friend Lilly at the Bran Tub digging out presents that mainly consisted of chocolate! Nelly has really enjoyed these fete / fair things this year in the country! we just never would have done things like that in London - it is real Midsommer Murders type event - on the village green / in the churchyard....loads of kids and dogs running around, drinking tea from a hot water Urn and eating home made cakes! playing coconut shy, jousting, Punch and Judy, tombola, local produce, second hand books , crafty bits....better take her back to London next year for some Urban fun !! In London we did have something called the Lambeth Country Show in a local park but that was mainly reggae bands and West Indian foods! with a few sheep thrown in from the local City farm!

Sunday - normal weather resumed and it rained all day - ...................!!!!!!!!!!!

Nelly gets her comeuppance............

2008-08-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

as some of you may know - Nelly can have a tendency to be on the aggressive side...the pinching seems to have stopped but she still can be known to bop / slap her friends on the head when they do something she is not keen on....Last week our friend Claire came over with Lola - they were in china with us last year....Nelly was happily running around with Lola's big brother Freddy (aged 9) and pushed Lola around a little - just for being in her house / garden etc! Bank Holiday Monday at one of the local village ' Fayres' ( note not fete...!! ) she ran around with her friend Jack ( 2 in October ) and then just pushed him over followed by a slap on the head....

Today I was at an all day meeting when my phone rang- call from the nursery...immediate Alarm Bells started ringing in my head - apparently Rob had picked up Nelly bu they had forgotten to get him to sign the accident form as she had been bitten on the finger by another boy..! When I got home she repeated at least 15 times during dinner, colouring and bath time that ' little boy bite my finger Mummy ' ....I reinforced that it was not kind, a bit like hitting or pinching... ' ! Maybe the penny will drop.....

Hector Zaza and Kiki have landed ...

2008-08-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

KIKI, ZAZA and Hector ( left to right!)
Cickens in their Eglu
Nelly and the Eglu!

They have been named as above - I realised when i asked people in my village that I am seriously older then most of them as when I mentioned the names I was met with blank looks - bit like asking a 2 year old these days if they like the Magic roundabout! Anyway as I will be the one to let them in and out and pribably clean them I named them! They are fab...Nelly loves a little walk to the back of the garden to see them and feed them bits and pieces...apparently according to my sister who now has chickens too - they love cabbage! Watch out chicks we are not keen in this house so when the veg box arrives you will be in for a treat!

CALL FOR VOTES..............

2008-08-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

so what shall we call them - we are collecting the chickens tomorrow...Purple Eglu and three chickens....So we need your votes if you are still reading!

Rob favours -

1. Scrambled, Fried and Boiled

He also likes -

2.Tikka, Korma and Masala

I personally like -

3. Hector ZaZa and Kiki ( if anyone here remembers Hectors House ...! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_tVxvnEJko )

Add a comment or email us to let us know - ...Results to be published on Sunday evening...

living the country life...without a car

2008-08-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

I don't but I have a friend coming over with her little girl , she lives in a town in Oxfordshire - about 40 minutes away in the car -she does not drive. We live spitting distance away from Oxfordshire and I could collect her from one of our nearest towns...She looked into it and guess what One bus from Witney to Banbury on a thursday and two on a Saturday! No good when I have her coming over on a Wednesday ! And in thsi world of getting us out of cars and onto public transport I would never see anybody !

Sunny Bomo...

2008-08-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

Despite the weather forecast telling us it was going to pour with rain for the whole week - we had one day of gales and rain and since then glorious sunshine...I think the Meteorological Office are manning a bid to kill off tourism in the UK....the beach is quiet when the sunshines and I guess the businesses are quiet too....! Nelly has realaffinity with the sea and the beach - she adores it. YEsterday she was running and jumping in the waves...making sand castles with James ( 8 ) while Gabs and I sipped Pimms....! WHat a perfect day! But she came from the sea...the orphanage at Dianbai was so close to the beach ,but I'm guessing she did not get there often in the first 11 months of her life! Maybe it is the sound and the smells...and we live in the most landlocked part of the UK!!! poor little sea baby - oh well ...more visits to friends by the sea -of which we have many!

also the Hens they are a coming!

2008-08-11T02:35:00.000-07:00

the hens are coning in two weeks time! hurrah !

tomorrow Nelly and I are off for a wet few days in Bournemouth! we are off on the train again - to stay with the Gabs, Jonny James and Ziggy .....! hurrah a UK beach holiday - I read in the paper yesterday that 9 out of 10 UK childen have never been to a UK beach ! Nelly not doing badly so far ! Bournemouth at least three times, St Ives and various Cornish and North Devon beaches. .. and Anglesey ...rock on British holidays...

sleeping better, new toys in the house , getting the garden designed...

2008-08-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

I am feeling better Nelly is sleeping better - although I now have to sit with her and rock her as they do at nursery! well hopefully this will only be a passing phase.....here's hoping - she still wakes in the night and wants to come into our bed, so am very loathe to take the sides off the cot and convert into bed!

Rob has a brand new toy in the house - A Geneva sound system - looks like one speaker on a stand but does a whole lot more - Ipod, CD , plugs into the projector we bought and we can now watch films on our perfect white walls at 71 inches wide without having to have a nasty plasma in the drawing room!...I approved...

Last Monday our good friend Lesley came over to look at our garden - we rented a house from her and Stephen in oxfordshire in 1995 and have been friends ever since - she is a garden designer and they now live by the sea in Swanage but all her work is in Oxfordshire so we asked her to come and see our garden , I trust her enormously and Rob will trust what she does so I am really looking forward to a amnageable garden with some style... What I really need is trees and hedging which I want to get done in the autumn ...

We had a houseful this weekend = hungarian cousins were over and came for lunch on saturday and our great friends kate and Frank popped in !!! from Cornwall ! I had been moaning about the fact that nobody around here ever pops in and they called on Saturday afternoon to say they were taking their brother to Bristol airport and would come over - so they arrived at about 9 00 Nelly woke at 11 30 to total surprise that Kate was here...we had a lovely Sunday, breakfast and papers, pub lunch, walk through the cornfields and football in the garden...

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE !!!!

Rob's new Toy....

Nelly with Itsa and Kata

Nelly and Gergei...

From a dream sleeper to a banshee at bedtime.....in one week

2008-07-28T03:52:00.000-07:00

Nelly has moved from going to bed perfectly with an easy routine and a Night Night - before closing the door and getting an evening together....to a screaming banshee as soon as I put her into the bed and leave the room. Such a Banshee that she can keep at it for a good hour with me going in, reassuring her, not talking, putting her back down , etc ( controlled crying ) until she then stops screaming for Mummy and starts on Daddy at the top of her voice for another half an hour and literally thwos all of the toys and bed linen out of the cot! ( I now know where that saying comes from! ) .....poor thing is soaked through with sweat and finally falls asleep in Rob's arms or in our bed. Decided along with little sister advice that she really probably needs to kick the afternoon nap habit! So yesterday was a long old day of keeping her awake! success she still wanted to scream at bedtime but I sat with her for ten minutes after story and soothed her until she fell into a deepl sleep and got a full 11 hours! hoping today will be the same. Will try and limit the sleep to only 1/2 an hour or 40 minutes and see what that brings...

holidays, weekends away , work ...

2008-07-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

nelly with the fat controller on a day out to Thomas Land...

Nelly loving the sea on the villa balcony...

all happening - where does the time go...
the garden is overgrown with weeds.....the cat cost me £1500 in vet fees and since coning home from holiday with only one Canine tooth left she has managed to bring me at least three mouse presents and one bird!
Unable to add images onto blog at the moment so cannot share images of Nelly in Corfu ...she had a great time, was a star on the aeroplane and loved joining in with Greek dancing one evening at a taverna! Photos to follow...every morning she and I spent an hour or so in the pool doing what she called Proper Swimming ....by the end of the week she was floating around on her ring unaided. She did go under the water once on her own but was not phased...!"

last weekend we spent the weekend in Amsterdam - I had a meeting just outside the city on Friday morning so we thought we would take the opportunity to visit. It rained most of the weekend, we had a lovely time despite that and took in some of the sites....we had planned on the Anne Frank Museum but the queue was so long...The architecture is fab and Rob and I spent most of the time walking around looking through windows ...an amazing place once you leave the Red Light area, I managed some retail therapy ! fab pair of shoes and two tops ....I never shop for myself these days always for Nelly so that was fun...

poorly pussy cat............

2008-06-22T14:43:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely weekend with Nelly's friend Nina and our friends Fiona and Rinus - the girls played nicely together ( well most of the time , with two hair pulling moments by Nelly) the boys drank beers watching Holland playing Russia ( Rinus is Dutch..) and fiona and I talked gardening, plants and cookery books amongst other things! The girls went to bed exhausted after a walk downt to see the ponies and we finally sat down to eat late ( lovely Nigel Slater lamb recipe..) when Delilah came in at about 10 15 and Rob realised she had been injured - not sure cat or fight, but it looked like her jaw had gone, she ran off scared when I tried to look at her but she came back after much coaxing and walking round a soggy garden with a torch calling her name. Took her to the vets in the cage and saw the true damage it turned out toe be a dislocated jaw - very painful looking, the vet exclaimed he had never seen anything like it - at which point we thought the worst but we left her there and he called us an hour later to tell us that she already had metalwork in her jaw. We got her at one year old and obviously she had had surgery at a young age ( we got her from the Cats Protection League ) it seems to have saved her and this morning I collected her with jaw back in place and taken her up to see a specialist Ortho consultant in Northampton where she will stay for a few days and he will assess what needs to be done...! Poor thing I thought she was a goner...had to explain to Nelly why she coud not feed Delilah on Sunday morning and that produced a few tears but...hopefully all will be OK ...

THe rest of the wekend was splashing in the ford again with Nina and Nelly got soaked to the skin by running into the water and promptly slipping face first into the ford! They loved it and we all took loads of video and pics...

nelly splashing in the ford...

2008-06-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

Just getting used to loading video onto the blog and Nelly adores watching herself so hope you enjoy it too!!!

out of the mouths of babes

2008-06-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

One of Nelly's favourite daytime routines is to take the bike out - her on the back and go down a lane that has a ford half way along and we splash through the water on the bike - whatever the weather....after doing this about 16 times ( back and forth!!! ) we carry on to the village playground where the village Mums meet and all the kids run around and play football, bikes, slides etc. There is normally a sprinkling of 2 and 3 year olds in attendance, but Nelly prefers by far to pass the time with the big girls ( 5 and 6 year olds ! )

Last week she was running around with a group of about 4 of them playing chase when one little one asked me Is Nelly Chinese ....I replied, she then asked me if I was Chinese! I explained that Nelly was adopted and what this meant .... a little while later this little one was walking with me and Nelly to see the sheep and lambs in the adjoining field and she very thoughtfully asked - did I think that Nelly's mummy and daddy in China worry about her and did I think they knew where she was now.....My friend Heather ( who was there at the time) then told me that she asked her son Rory ( if he knew that Nelly was Chinese - he said yes of course Louise went to China to have her baby and that is why Nelly is Chinese!!!! Priceless and cute at the same time!

and the sun came out again!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos ....the sun is shining again, Nelly is happily potty trained, attending pre-school and generally being a grown up big girl Nelly and her Papa on his birthday...

Smell those tomatoes

Nelly and Nina on a hot shed roof!

She managed the lot! St James park on a baking Sunday afternoon for an annual reunion with other adoptive parents....

some video ....

2008-05-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Just worked out how to put this on the blog....N loves looking at video of herself so have taken quite a bit recently - she can sit and look at it for ages!!!!! sorry if this is a bit long ...

but the rain came back again...!

2008-05-27T00:49:00.000-07:00

why is it that we only get summer for about one weekend in the year....last year it was at Easter - this year at May Day Bank Holiday, because the week running up to to the Spring Bank Holiday we have had the heating on! and the last two days we have been holed up in the house watching DVDs and keeping Nelly amused!

News from here is that Nelly is now on the way to being potty trained! started two weeks ago ( one of those nice sunny weekends ) and donned pants and dresses and spent the weekend in the garden with strategically placed potties.! All going well....Now she says she is a big girl with knickers and no dummy! Still in a nappy at night time at the moment...but working on that one....

Other news is that Nelly is about to start a pre-school in the next village after the half term holiday ! Another Big Girl moment with a large rucksack on her bag with her packed lunch! She will start with one morning a week and then I will add extra days, she will remain in nursery for two mornings too....so I get three mornings to do work and the cleaning etc !

Had a horrid moment last week when we went to her baby gym class - the lady that runs it asked to have a word with me - I thought it was going to be about taking a potty into the gym ( it was week one of the training ...) but no, one of the other mothers/carers had had a word about Nelly hitting her child! I was feeling particularly sensitive that day and was so so cross and upset not about the hitting but about the fact that the person could not have said something to me directly , I mean better at the time ...and if and when she does do it I discipline her as I do. It turns out that the person in question was a very young Nanny / childminder who basically sits down and lets her child get on with it and does not move an inch for the whole two hours they are there. I stomped around a bit and told the woman who runs it that we would not be coming back ! She then said Oh please come back we love having Nelly here..but as it turns out it will clash with pre-school...so they can make their own minds up about the fact that we have not returned ! !

and the sun still shines

2008-05-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

nelly enjoying ice cream at friends house in London
Rob and Nelly on his new toy! - Daddy's tractor as N calls it ...

Wow we are going fast!

and we have taken the opportunity to start potty training! all going well lots of successes!...no pictures!

you cannot bottle it ....

2008-05-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

spent the last few days in London getting a half head of highlights and cut done, spending time with friends, all lovely seeing and catching up with people but getting home - fresh air....going for a bike ride . hearing the lambs...! you cannot beat it ...

Spring has arrived

2008-05-06T04:38:00.000-07:00

the weather has improved.......the heating is off and the Aga is still pumping out heat!!!!!!!!!! we have to turn it off in the summer. Cousins came to visit ... they lpayed well together ...three buggies helped!

scrapbooking...Running ....Cycling....New Hobby....

2008-04-29T02:23:00.000-07:00

so since moving here in the last week I have done all three ! Running - I am enjoying....decided I needed to get fit so that I am not a slobby 44 year old..so now run with a neighbour each weekend and one day during the week...and have signed up for the Race for Life in June in Chipping Norton

Cycling...did a fantastic 15 mile bike ride yesterday with some people from the village which was great ....may well do a 25 mile ride for charity on May 20th the Larkrise trail through oxon, bucks and northants/.....!

Scrapbooking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what is that all about ...I was invited along to a scrapbooking party , thsi sort of thing......http://www.smilebox.com/scrapbooks/?partner=google&campaign=search_scrapbook&gclid=CJ2ak5L7_5ICFQgKGgod5T0BFg here is an example ...we all had to take photos with us to scrap book - which basically involved cutting sticking and gluing! something that i do with a two year old on wet afternoons! and I can tell you she is more creative! Anyway it was a laugh as my friend and I were the naughty school girls in the class whispering and giggling! and both managed to get away with buying a device that takes the edges off photos ...

wild weather ...the world warms up

2008-04-14T03:12:00.000-07:00

last weekend we went to the sea....

Nelly and I were on the beach on the Saturday evening until 7 15 collecting shells and trying to skim stones...we woke up to snow by the sea, it lasted all of about ten minutes we came back to snow so Nelly was on the beach for two days and then makinbg snowballs when she got home

....

Password protect

2008-04-07T02:10:00.000-07:00

I have been getting random comments on the site and as much as I hate to do this I feel I may have to protect this site with a password so please email me, add a comment to the last post or email me personally to get details of the password ..I will leave it open for a few days so that those who read regularly can have a chance to access password.

I Do It ... I Do It ....

2008-04-07T01:59:00.000-07:00

Nelly's favourite words at the moment - even though she has never done the task before in her life! Independence - she is still so fiercely independent, last week she was putting milk in my tea and lets say it was more milk than tea! ....she has a knack with computers! OOOPs Gabs computer in Bournemouth! walking the dog, pushing the buggy, throwing stones into the sea....at a littlle open farm last week one moment she was next to me , the next she spied a bouncy castle about 250 yards away and whoosh I looked up she had run, taken off boots, coat and waistcoat and was bouncing up and down with a group of 4 year olds!

nelly and her London friends

2008-04-01T02:46:00.000-07:00

Nelly and her boyfriends! having a splashing time...

Fraser, Kamran, Nelly and Met...
Gobbling crisps in the park!
Hugging Hati...Fraser's mummy

Nelly and Nina
Nelly and Nina

we have not been back to South East london since mid January ...so we had a trip last weekend. First a housewarming with our friends Fiona Rinus and Nina and then a day in the park with her boy friends from ST J Farm Road....

Nelly and Nina had a great time standing on a chair doing the washing up and not a single Nelly moment ! At the party we met friends who had just hear about their referral and were so excited with lots and lots of questions! we had a great afternoon drinking tea and eating delicious cakes and sarnies..followed by an evening of champagne and nibbles!

Sunday we met up with Fraser, Kamran and Met - known as Nelly's London boyfriends! N F and M spent the first ten minutes jumping up and down in a puddle! so Rob had to head back to the car to put her back into a pair of dirty leggings as she was so soaked...

London is great to go back to for a few days but the park on Sunday was so packed I felt positively claustrophobic and Nelly runs so fast now that it is impossible to keep tabs one her!

It was lovely to come back to the village and run in the garden ....

happy in her task!

2008-03-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

Nelly is loving nursery, but on those cold days when the sun makes no appearance at all and it drizzles all day we hole ourselves up in the kitchen where it is warm as toast and do things! This particular afternoon she insisted on putting on her pyjama bottoms! As I type she is standing on a chair at the sink washing up!

2008-03-10T04:43:00.000-07:00

Some images from our week in Italy - most of them involve some sort of eating! ...in no particular order but mainly lots of Nelly and various family ...she loved it the best things being Parma Ham and Parmesan Cheese! ....more to follow but needless to say we are still dummyless ( how proud am I of that achievement! )

Nelly feeding her new doll on her birthday ....how large is that baby's head
Cividale..

Nelly and Rob in Cividale on her birthday ..

Nelly and Giacomo enjoying a joke!!!...made up for all the pushing and pinching that went on during the 5 day visit !!!

Happy 2nd birthday Nelly Noo....
Rob's cousin Egidio ( any family resemblance ,....answers on a postcard please!!!)

and Anita with Nelly...on her birthday
Nelly and Giacomo enjoying a joke ...in between chatting in English and Italian and beating each other up!

The Puddu family etc etc out for dinner!
Nelly's birthday cake ....laced as we discovered later with rum!!! no wonder she and Giacomo were gobbling down the strawberries!
Your second birthday!

Rob and Nelly on the Dondolo at severino's house - many an hour spent sitting there in summers gone by and I have only been visiting since 1995!
Lida, Marina and Nelly ...
Lara and Nelly

Rob with his cousin's Gabriella's son Marco with Nelly
Nelly and Daddy ....

Nelly at lunch...

Nelly enjoying the one day of sunshine we had in Zio Severino's garden...

La famiglia Norton in Staranzano
Nelly with Gabriella and Marco

one week without a dummy!!!

2008-03-02T01:47:00.001-08:00

nelly has come of age and given up the dummy! well last week after her tongue biting episode she no longer wanted to suck on the dummy ...opened up a fabulous opportunity to give it up - we have had afew moments where she asks for it but we have got through them - and gone completely cold turkey! Hurrah a 2 year old without a dummy! Big Girl !

Still in Italy , still eating ! At least the sunis shining today as we have had three days of dense fog!
Off mor lunch with Rob's uncle in a while and then visiting ....

ciao di Italia!

2008-02-28T23:51:00.000-08:00

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! !!!

Nelly feeling gloomy at nursery

2008-02-25T03:17:00.000-08:00

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 !!!!!

on a committee!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-21T04:54:00.000-08:00

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 ! ...

post half term onslaught

2008-02-18T01:06:00.000-08:00

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!

CNY a glorious weekend

2008-02-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

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!

February ...Gōngxǐ fācái

2008-02-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

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

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.

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)

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!

2008-01-28T15:46:00.000-08:00

The Reunion of ten little girls who all met a year ago...

Nelly at the reunion...feeling a bit miserable !

so we are into year two with Nelly and rapidly approaching her second birthday - and what does this bring ! a child that is delightful and challenging at the same time! When she is asleep we miss her, when she is at nursery we miss her, when she is here she charms us, every day she comes out with new words . She now wakes without crying out for Mama but plays imaginary games with her toys in the cot, reading them stories and in the evening we have a ritual tucking in ceremony every evening before bathtime ...

Nursery is going well although today she did not eat any lunch..spitting out the Chilli and Rice and refusing the jam tart and custard, I did have to tell them that she has probably never seen or eaten custard in our house ( one of my absolute pet hates! ) , she came home and devoured two bowls of Jerusalem Artichoke soup and we have been feeling the windy side effects for most of the evening! obviously a superior palette!

and it has been a year .............

2008-01-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

so yesterday marked the anniversary of us meeting our little angel...We celebrated with a glass of champagne and some apple juice ( well Nelly had the end of a finger or two of champagne! ) this morning she slept in until 8 and today is the day that we will in future celebrate 'Adoption Day' this is the day that Nelly Grace Xiao'en became our daughter officially ....Today we spent the day as usual with a playgroup in the morning ( less said about that one the better as she was being a minx out for pinching all children in sight!! ) and this afternoon with the sun still shining and no rain ( what!!! ) we headed off for a walk that took rather a long time as she decided to push her buggy most of the way through the village stopping to wave at the people in the nursery! Then home for tea and cake with a candle...

It was lovely and we cannot quite believe how far literally we have all come in a year...she is a joy to us every day ..even when she whinges for England! and we cannot wait to see her and be with her every moring when we wake...

some moments past and present...

January 24th 2007 - adoption day in Guangzhou - enjoying a coffee ..in a sling!

January 23rd 2007 ...Meeting Nelly day - Nelly Grace Xiao'en

January 19th 2008 ...Nelly with her new haircut!

January 24th 2008 out for a walk , splashing in the ford....

January 24th 2008 .....

a year ago in Hong Kong ...

2008-01-20T13:03:00.001-08:00

we were mooching around, taking the Star Ferry, watching the Tai Chi in Kowloon Park ...and this year...We spent the day with ten other families that were all out in China at the same time meeting their little girls. We ate at a fabulous restaurant called Dragon Castle...in wait for it ( for those of you that know London you will fall off your chair ) ...Elephant and Castle! amazingly delicious fabulous food just around the corner from the most hideous monstrosity of a shopping centre painted pink ! all of the girls were gorgeous as ever but Nelly was grim and grizzly due to the fact that she had a late night and it really does not agree with her. Cannot quite believe they have all been here for nearly a year ..this week we will celebrate her adoption day ( Jan 24th ) and will do something to remember her birth parents and make this a special date in our family calendar...Still to decide what will happen as yet but have a few days to plan that ...

Nelly also had a radical haircut yesterday - but still have to download the pics from the camera so once that is done will upload a funky new image of Little Miss N!

this time last year ...

2008-01-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

we were so close to meeting our little precious one! can you believe it - I keep thinking about how far we have come and trying to relive those precious times ...so what where we doing in Jan 14th 2007 a year ago - we went into the West End on a Sunday to buy gifts for the orphanage staff, I remember being in John Lewis buying pen holders and going to a tacky souvenir shop on Oxford Street for fridge magnets..the day before we had done Woolies in West Norwood for stickers and numerous pairs of socks and baby gros for the children in the SWI. and then we headed to friends for a final Sunday evening dinner before becoming a family!

Let's go to Oxford...
Taking the edge off waiting for food in Pizza SloMo Oxford...
How long will those dough balls be!!!

This year January 12th 2008...After torrential rain on Friday and I guess floods down in the valley ; and Nelly's first unaccompanied settling in session at nursery - Saturday was a lovely day and we headed into Oxford for a mooch and lunch. We spent an inordinate amount of time in Pizza non express where Nelly delighted most of the staff and the customers while waiting on our salad nicoise, veneziana and some doughballs!!!

Nelly had her first proper session at nursery this morning - she was really good - did not cry when I left her, apparently cried a bit during the morning but most of the time she was really good...I was the tearful one when I went to pick her up and I thought it was meant to be the Mum crying when they left the child for the first time not when they got them back!! She just looked so sweet and grown up running around to get her gloves and shoes on and hugging Lucy the lovely lady who manages the toddler room..well that is that for another week, hope she is still as enthusiastic next week!

and the world gets smaller............

2008-01-08T14:31:00.000-08:00

exhausted after the whole festive weeks - it is quite a relief to be back to normal - getting up, no lights, no pine needles, no leftovers etc etc...just us -

My great friend G and her son James came to stay which was fab and Nelly loved having them here - she played and ran around after him all day long! on waking she wanted to know where James was! some great photos below ...

this week is back to normal - groups etc and N's first session at nursery ! it was only for an hour and we are back there this Friday for a second two hour session ..she should be fine and the carers (?) are lovely , when we were there yesterday there only seemed to be about 8 children in the Benjamin Bunnies room!

and so the world is small... or is it that i am getting older ( answers on the comments section! ) ...since we moved here we have been amazed by the number of coincidences re people knowing people etc living in the area that we have since met, been introduced to or in the case of today have totally randomly bumped into.

I decided that as a novice AGa owner I should go along to one of those Demonstrations entitled A Day in the Life of an Aga ... with Marcia Poole! - It was good! Marcia was as you would imagine - a former Home Economics teacher who now roams the country teaching people how to get the best out of in excess of £5000 worth of cooker! Having inherited an Aga I was as I said before a tad sceptical but have been convinced...anyway after the demo chatting with another woman we both realised we had moved from London in the last month or so...but not only that we had also lived two streets away from each other ! how spooky is that! numbers were swapped and a date to meet is to be arranged....

Nelly and James ........
lets read together!
Yes Nelly this dog really does look like Rolo ...( Grandma's dog! )

Nelly with a photo of her beloved Fraser and Josh in her kitchen just before she kissed it !
Oh so angelic!

Oh so tired !

New Year ... a few days in

2008-01-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

as well as living in the English countryside we also have a whole load of American neighbours! ( apologies to all friends and blog watchers from across the water\! ) about a half a mile out of the village is a US airbase RAF Croughton - a listening station so no planes...so there are a vast number of large and wide cars driving around the narrow country lanes and over the Christmas break when the wind was in the right direction something spooky happened...at 4pm every day - they play what sounds like the last post, followed by the British National Anthem followed by the US National anthem...playing out as loud as you like ...do you think they are all standing to attention...

Quiet country lane ...
more of the same...
Can you see what look like large pumpkins in the background - this is the airbase in the distance..

2007 - a year of new beginnings ............

2008-01-02T03:23:00.000-08:00

That was the year that was ( as the old TV programme used to say ... or was that week! ...) well whatever 2007 for us has been the most wonderful year for us -

January saw us excitedly packing suitcases, making lists, putting together cot bed, buying clothes for a child we had never seen and managing to get through 19 days before flying off to Hong Kong and then train to CHina to meet our amazing, wonderful daughter....

February was our return home and the chance for Nelly to meet all those friends and relatives who had been waiting as long as we had....Rob finished full time work and spent the rest of the year Gardening!!!!!!! he then made it his mission to find us a house out of London . After an evening with friends who live in SOuth Northants - we narrowed our search down to this area...Nelly had her first birthday and started walking!

March - Rob saw Yew Tree House -

April we made an offer, June we put St Julians F Road on the market and July Yew Tree house was ours!

with Nelly we went to lots of playgroups and classes - London opened itself up to me in a way I did not know existed and we met some amazing people who will stay long term friends as where we are now is only an hour from Marylebone on the train...her vocabulary grew every day

Spring - and we spent hours in various parks - Dulwich, Bel Air, Brockwell Regents and Hyde to name them!

the summer passed through a grey cloud of rain, we had lot of worry about not being able to sell the house and being landed with two houses! but...

August we had a week where we got 4 offers on the house ! 3 in one afternoon! we sold to a very understanding family who were happy for a long completion as YT House was in a state renovation! Ceilings came down, new joists were fitted, floorboards ripped up, skirting boards replaced, black rooms banished! fireplaces out , shutters being made, bathrooms ripped apart, new bathrooms in etc etc etc

September - Rob spent a lot of time up at the house project managing builders - a job he said is a lot harder than going to work every day!

October - still not in the house - we carried on with our life in London

November - we did it Pickfords arrived and took all our stuff and we officially moved to the country! - a new round of finding toddler groups, managing to fit in some work , walks to see the horses and donkeys,

December - Nelly met father Xmas at least five times , spent two days in London and were glad to get back to the house to get ready for Xmas in YT HOuse.....

Happy New Year to all who read this ....

and more xmas.pictures from the new camera...........

2007-12-27T15:09:00.000-08:00

Nelly and Lilly ...sharing chocolate!

out on a walk .....boxing day ...
Nelly and her cousins eating lunch boxing day..in her kitchen!

playing in the garden..

Ironing...!!! bring it on!
R relaxing with a book - Christmas Day ...

so what do you think of my new hat??

looking good in my office! more present opening...
Nelly Grace Xiao'en Christmas Day 2007

Top Nelly Christmas moments

2007-12-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

1. Gobbling smoked salmon and a really good stilton on Xmas Day

2. Cooking in her new kitchen

3 Giddy excitement every time people came to visit - especially when her cousins arrived on Boxing Day at 7 30 am!

4. Sleeping through the Carol Service in the local village church...

5. Discovering that the coloured shiny things on the tree were chocolate decorations! oops..

'twas the week before Christmas .....and the day after xmas

2007-12-22T15:39:00.000-08:00

Taken a while to get this post together...what with preparing for the annual festivities & no playgroups, we headed off to London for yet another Xmas party and Nelly did some big time partying - party in the morning, lunch with Nina and Molly and Molly's big brothers (much to Nelly's great joy! ) then playing and bathing with her favourite boys Kambo and Fraser - before a late night running around!

We have been builder-free this week, although there have been some local guys here finishing off the study....I also took the opportunity to get a bit festive with the decorations...with more ivy than I know what to do with on the side of the house, I decided to make a garland for the banister and intertwined it with some lights, it is staring to look a tad dessicated now but it is Boxing Day and I can always top it up for New Year!

With enough space for a tall tree I set off one lunchtime (while Nelly was sleeping) to buy a tree, amazingly enough I found a local farm that sells trees, I got there and the place was deserted except for a few long tall skinny trees! Just what I wanted and ones that nobody else did! ...with nobody around except myself and another prospective tree customer we ended up calling the mobile no. we found and negotiated a bargain price of £10 for each tree! It is a laughable tree but we love it and it has survived the festivities much better than the Norwegian non drop spruce that cost £15 more!

Although we were only four adults and Nelly for Xmas day , so far it has been hectic ...Sunday was lunch for 8 and Nelly, followed by a walk in the fog and the village Carol Service that Nelly slept through , Monday ( my birthday ! - cooked lunch for 6 adults and nelly...Boxing Day my sister and thegirlies arrived at 7 30 in the morning for full on playing again...they all played in the kitchen that Santa brought nelly ...they left today so now we are three again and no more people until new year!

Nelly at Xmas lunch....enjoying goose and cranberry sauce!!

Delilah getting in on the wrapping action on xmas eve

Opening the stocking in Pyjamas on Xmas morning...

Nelly at one of the many Xmas parties with two of her little London friends Met and Fraser
settling down with the SUnday papers ..
With Emma on Mama's birthday lunch

at Daylesford for last minute shopping..
No playgroups the week before Xmas so - one morning of crafts! making photo frames
stockings at the ready - an absolute bargain purchase from Daylesford..

a funky log basket...
The ivy...

the skinny tree that nobody else wanted! except us!!

the builders have gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-12-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

most things are done ( well with the exception of two bathrooms and the fitting the utility room work surface ...! ) -we waved goodbye on Saturday evening and we are here on our own! Feels very bizarre not to be sharing the house with them - even though they spent all of their time , when not working in the annexe bedroom or in the conservatory..!

So the last week before Xmas....on Saturday Nelly and I hit the local farmers market in Brackley - not a patch on Borough ! but managed to stock up on local meat and veg and watch some Morris Men! apparently Brackley is fairly renowned for their Morris Men! N slept through the whole experience!

http://www.thebrackleymorrismen.org.uk/

we then headed off to Banbury to the Majestic to stock up on Xmas wine!

Sunday was one of those lovely crisp winter days - bright sunshine but really cold so we headed off to a place called Daylesford - see the link ! it is called a Farm Shop! but think H Nichols food hall meets the second floor designer rooms for clothes shopping in Selfridges! all set in beautiful COtswold stone buildings....they were selling Xmas trees, they seemed to start at about 7 foot high and the tallest must have been about 15 feet! or more...The wreaths for doors ( well ours is about 18 inches in circumference...) the Daylesford ones to fit those Glos. doors , the wreaths were ate least three feet across!

we pootled around and managed to fill a number of bags including three beautiful oatmeal linen stockings priced st £5.95 each = there had to be a digit missing! as well as some fab Xmas decorations - now we just need to buy the tree for the hall..take a look at the link and if you ever get to Stowe on the Wold then pass by there it is a wonderful experience and a nice eatery!

http://www.daylesfordorganic.com/

will post more pics soon - the study is being painted this week - off to London on Wednesday for two days ...cannot wait to catch up with the South East London crew!

Christmas is coming...

2007-12-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

the tree is here..........

with its lights on ...! we need a better camera!

we have a cupboard to put all our coats in !

Nelly met Santa for the first time!

the goose is getting fat ... and has been ordered from the local butchers in Brackley for collection on December 23rd!

I bought Xmas cards but still end up needing another 20! I swore last year that I would not send cards in the interest of the environment, but I fear I run the risk of being branded a Bah Humbug ....so they are written and waiting to be posted. Heard a fantastic piece on Woman's Hour this morning about the whole saga of Xmas cards....http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/04/2007_50_wed.shtml check it out ! but this year they will be in the post again!

Nelly has had her first encounter with the big guy with the long white beard and the overstuffed belly! By the end of this week she will be used to the idea and the bribery can commence ( if you do that again Father Christmas will not come !!) as we are off to numerous Xmas parties this week and next...

So the preparations for the Xmas break begin...but the Builders are still here...! they apparently finish on Sunday so I have promised a big meal on Saturday evening for them all ...let's hope they are gone by Xmas ..!!! but Rob says they may be back in January for a week or so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the sun shone, the crib arrived and then came the rain,...

2007-12-05T01:06:00.000-08:00

The crib arrived last night at about 5 30....the house was full of builders so it was plonked on the kitchen window sill...the stable was a tad crowded so the three wise men had to hang around outside!

Nelly thought it was fun to throw all the sheep out onto the floor!

About an hour after the crib arrived a neighbour arrived with two more forgotten sheep!

Rob decided that the three wise men would get a better view from the roof

Monday - a lovely sunny but blustery day so we headed out for a walk a parade of the children from the nursery that Nelly will be going to was out in the village

One of our garden gates...

Our favourite quick walk - down Church Lane to see the horses in the fields..

the fabulous house opposite has a beautiful gateway and a fountain in the drive!

V old tree next to the church..
All Saints Croughton - still not been in but will make it in one day!

Oops here are the children again!

Out on the walk we met a lovely lady with four labradors - three chocolate ones and one black one Nelly was beside herself horses and dogs in one morning!

Taking her buggy for a walk!

One of the fileds with the horses...

Lots of rain this morning but now the sun is shining...!

2007-12-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Some pictures .....because I have been really too lazy to take any recently and decided I need to download some to keep up the interest. Also not taking pics has somehting to do with a 21 month old person in the house who screams MINE as soon as she sees the camera and grabs it from me to take pictures, she holds the camera at arms length and pulls a very scrunched up funny face! I have deleted loads but they were funny!

Today we were at a christening for our good friends little girl Lilly, they live about half an hour away and were the ones responsible for us looking at houses in South Northants...! and a great decision it has been so far too!

I now know why I am mainly only wearing flat shoes these days....today I wore a pair of high heeled pointy black stretchy boots...coming down the stairs in Sara's house carrying Nelly and ooops got the pointy heel caught in the carpet and came tumbling down the stairs, twisted my ankle and the heel came away from the boot! They were about three years old but they were the best ones...! Oh well back to the flat ones - check out the picture of the latest bargain acquired in Tesco in terms of boots!

It was a year ago today that we got this message from BLAS at 8 03 am....

Dear Family

We are glad to inform you that CCAA has finished the new matching and you are lucky to be matched a child. CCAA has already sent the orgininal referrals to DfES the day before yesterday.

We have already got all the referrals for UK families from CCAA and sent them to be translated but unfortunately CCAA has not informed us the child's name to each family because they think it is fair to all the families. We are sorry we are not albe to send the translation to you at the moment. Please let us know your child's name when you receive the original referrals or when you got the name from DfES. We will try to send the translation to you immediately. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a nice weekend!

With Best Wishes

Consulting Department
BLAS

Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the letter that came through telling us her name and where she came from, date of birth etc...We were dancing on air for days! I remember the day so well ....what a wonderful years we have had!

Sara and Lilly before the vicar came towards her with the water!

after the baptism...
Nelly in residence on her snack step in the kitchen....
ONe of Nelly's pics....think the Tesco boots are looking good though - think I should go and buy a second pair !
Nelly munching raisins in church!

OK this is what the blue kitchen really looks like - we got sick of people coming in thinking that we had blue units so last weekend decided to pull off some of the protective plastic/...
Our new kitchen chairs - since putting them out in the kitchen at the stainless steel topped table we , well me in particualr , could start her own power station from the shoocks I have been gettting from things in the kitchen. We think it may be the polypropolene chairs and the friction on the floor...any ideas greatly appreciated - I get shocks odd Nelly, the Aga, juice cartons...!Rob!

Rob looking a tad perplexed! will this ever be finished!

getting into the swing of village life...

2007-11-29T11:54:00.000-08:00

so we have made it...last night at about 6 30 one of the ladies of the village came round to ask if we would like to have the crib for a night ! yes the idea is that the little crib that they have in the church over Xmas is passed around the houses in the village that have children before going 'home' to the church for a service of carol singing and blessing! we then have to take it onto a neighbour's house! Guess it all has something to do with Jesus in the community - maybe having a sleepover!! So the crib will be in residence with us and the Bulgarian Muslim builders next week for one night only!- tune in for pics and updates!

Nelly surpassed herself this week when we headed over to a friend's for lunch- C was one of my former clients before leaving a well known DIY retailer and heading North 'ish - so we met for lunch at her place. Her little boy is 2.5 years old (one of Nelly's favourite ages ) and they played really well running around the house while C and I caught up with HB gossip etc and the best places to go in North Oxon and South Northants ....On two occasions things went quiet! the first one - Nelly was found in the kitchen at the table standing on a chair eating butter from a fork and feeding Seb with the same, but most of it was in his hair! Second occasion - they had been upstairs, N on her way down tripped over the last two steps, cried and on closer inspection what we initially thought was some awful bleeding turned out to be my newest unused, untouched by Nelly hands MAC lipstick!!!!!!!!

Found another playgroup today with some lovely.people ...distinct lack of green.....and lots of 'moved out ofs.'..in evidence!

you know you have REALLY arrived when....

2007-11-27T14:20:00.000-08:00

you leave the front door open for just a minute or two ...as you run around the garden with a 20 month old like a mad thing, dash back in to grab keys and bag and chase off to a new music group you heard of in a village three miles away ....AND your husband calls to let you know he found Robin Red Breast in the house perched on the side of a champagne flute on the kitchen window sill after he got back from a DIY shopping trip!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Xmas everyone!!!!

that would have made a great pic but no....

Aga Saga ........

2007-11-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

OK agas are the essence of country living , about six miles away is the head office of Fired Earth and Aga where you can buy an Aga, and any other thing that you could possibly want for the Aga - well I now have an Aga toaster , Aga thing to keep the hot plate cover clean! , Aga enamel cleaner, and some Bake O Glide that allows you to fry an egg without any fat on the hot plate!! THanks Mum!

It's a whole new world and I was fairly sceptical when we bought the place with an Aga and was heard to say ...Well if it is no good then we can always sell it...But after a week and a half I can say I am a bit of a convert! Yikes does that make me a country person - I will be sporting green before you know it!

No seriously I have roasted a chicken, mastered the art of simmering a number of pans at a time and worked out which oven does what ( after the first disastrous ready meal melt down in the Roasting Oven! ) so today our good friends Lisa and Karen came over for lunch and I managed fabulous roasted squash and carrots with thyme that N could not get enough of...and a roasted veg tart with blue cheese...- it was all Yum Yum Yum....and was fairly easy to do and then leave to keep warm while we did the guided tour!

tune in soon for the ' buying green wellies 'episode!

you know you have arrived in the country when.....

2007-11-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

....

you are the only one wearing sunglasses in November in the winter sun ....

everyone else in the place is wearing some sort of shade of green!!!!! just not in my colour palette!

not seen anyone wearing a Barbour yet...but will report as soon as I have -

you do not drive any sort of 4 x 4 and by God you never will - please feel free to shoot me if we ever get one! I know I said that about a Volvo, but we have a Saab not a Volvo!

you expect the takeaways not to deliver and when they say they do you simply do not believe them and chase off in the dead of night after defrosting the car to collect the ( very acceptable as it happens ) take away curry ....

you have never really noticed people looking at you and your daughter in London and then in one fell swoop in one country pub , one lunchtime a table next to you suddenly starts talking about the one child policy in China in such loud voices ...and then you are in the loo and someone walks in telling her child that ' that little girl is a lovely China Doll' and when you come out of the cubicle she then tells you that your daughter is a lovely China Doll too....!

Oh well we have arrived! bienvenue a la campagne!!!