A Year in Pictures: Week 47

Saturday 19 November


A rare opportunity for a family photo :).


Sunday 20 November


Daisy loves Auntie Jen xx.


Monday 21 November


Daisy and I went to Ipswich today to stay with Jon's Mum for the week while we have our bathroom refitted (we decided to go the whole hog and get that done too) and Jon stayed in a hotel near work. Here's a 'before' shot of the bathroom. I know, you're all jealous of the red suite...


Tuesday 22 November


I love this picture of Brenda and Daisy watching In The Night Garden :).


Wednesday 23 November


Jon's niece and nephew, Jess and Finn, came to visit this morning. Daisy loved having people to play with!


Thursday 24 November


Daisy had a tooth come through today but it didn't seem to bother her at all. She was more interested in looking at the 'goggie' out the window...


Friday 25 November


Just realised I haven't posted a photo of the finished kitchen, which is a good job as I've run out of photos for this week :). We're really pleased with it - it's still not the biggest kitchen in the world but we've made good use of the space we've got. A million times better than what it replaced!

Fifteen Months

Headline news this month is that Daisy has mastered walking unaided! She's motoring round the place now and loves her new-found freedom - at least, she would if the stairgate didn't confine her to the lounge :).

She hasn't added all that many new words this month, as she's been concentrating on walking, but she has learned home, drink (sounds like 'diss'), teeth (also sounds like 'diss', so you have to know the context), keys (sounds like 'diss'... you're getting the idea about context, right?) tea, pea, toast and thank you (sounds more like 'agu' but she's started saying it after being given something and without being prompted, so that's good), and she recognises and will attempt to repeat quite a lot of words, including 'I love you' which sounds like 'awuwu'. She's also learned that a parrot says 'caw caw'. Well, according to Mummy it does, anyway.

She's still quite clingy when I'm around but not available, i.e. if she can hear me in another room, but that soon passes. She got another tooth today; her eleventh - four at the front on the top row, three on the bottom including the new one, and one molar on each side, top and bottom.

Breadsticks are so last season, and have been unceremoniously dumped in favour of oatcakes, and she loves homemade burgers. She's not keen on trying new foods, particularly fruit, so I'm still spoon-feeding her pureed fruit, but we'll keep persevering with things like blueberries, bananas and grapes.

Here's Daisy demonstrating toast and please, and giving kisses :).

A Year in Pictures: Week 46

Saturday 12 November


Happy Birthday Jon! As ever, Daisy wasn't interested in posing for the camera...


Sunday 13 November


... Not even my birthday could persuade her to smile :).


Monday 14 November


I took photos of her today in a reindeer outfit for this year's Christmas card. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but here's a teaser...


Tuesday 15 November


Until she was about a year old, Daisy didn't have a bedtime blanket or similar teddy, but over the past few months 'Blankie' has emerged as the go-to toy for an easy bedtime routine, to such an extent that when we forgot to take it with us to Manchester in early October, it made for quite a stressful bedtime. We bought another one from the same store, but apparently it just wasn't the same (think Huggsy, Joey's bedtime penguin pal from Friends). These days when we say 'Is it time to go to bed?' she says 'Aggie, Aggie, Aggie!' In fact, if we say 'Shall we go and find Aggie?' she knows it's bedtime.


Wednesday 16 November


Mum made this beautiful cardigan for Daisy before she was born, and I tried it on her today. It's still a bit big round the shoulders, but I love it!


Thursday 17 November


Nanna and Grandpa (also known as Nanna and Apa) arrived yesterday and Mum took this lovely shot of Daisy. She often sits in her chair and contemplates life.


Friday 18 November


Jen, Sandra, Robert and Laraine all arrived today, and Jen babysat this evening while the rest of us went to watch the Classical Spectacular at the Albert Hall. I love this sign at the train station - only in Britain would you find a revised timetable to account for leaves falling on the track...

A Year in Pictures: Week 45

Saturday 5 November


We went into London today to see Keri, Carla and Juliet who were visiting for the weekend. Jen also came down from York so it was lovely to see her too. Juliet was so well behaved and so beautiful!


Sunday 6 November


Having had such a long and exciting day yesterday, Daisy spent much of today asleep :).


Monday 7 November


Keri, Carla and Juliet came to stay overnight before going back to Heathrow in the morning. Typically, I couldn't get a good photo of the two of them looking in the same direction, but I love the expression on Juliet's face on this one :).


Tuesday 8 November


Daisy weighs 19.5 lbs so is half a pound away from a forward-facing car seat, but we borrowed this one from next-door so we could put Juliet in Daisy's seat for the trip to the airport. Daisy loved facing forwards, but I had a moment when I realised she's no longer a baby :(.


Wednesday 9 November


As ever, I took as many photos as I could and the best one has Daisy behind a milk bottle...


Thursday 10 November


Busy week. Just having a rest :).


Friday 11 November


No caption necessary.

A Year in Pictures: Week 44

Saturday 29 October


We're having a new kitchen fitted on Monday, so before she and Dad left, Mum and I spent some time yesterday afternoon clearing out all the cupboards and setting up the dining room as a makeshift kitchen. Here's the 'before' shot of the kitchen...


Sunday 30 October


And here's the dining room, which is now packed to the gills, but we have access to the microwave, toaster and kettle, and we've borrowed a George-style grill and a camping stove. I made enough soup to last a week, and I have sausage casserole and chilli portions in the freezer, so we should be OK...


Monday 31 October


This is the kitchen at the end of day one. It's going to be a long week.


Tuesday 1 November


So peaceful :).


Wednesday 2 November


And so cheeky!


Thursday 3 November


Daisy got her walking award today at Gymbabes! They get a certificate when they can walk four steps or more. Daisy's been practising all week, then when we got to Gymbabes she spent all her time crawling :). I kept asking her to walk to me, but she just kept saying 'No'. The class organiser said parents quite often come in saying their child is now walking and they then don't, probably because it's a noisy and unfamiliar environment. But Daisy eventually did walk towards me, so she got her certificate!


Friday 4 November


Under-floor heating down, floor half-tiled. It's taken a lot longer than originally thought this week because once the wood cladding was taken off the walls, it revealed an unholy mess of stuff that needed sorting out before progress could be made, plus the electrics took much longer to do, so we won't have a sink back until probably Wednesday. So my long week has now turned into a long two weeks...

A Year in Pictures: Week 43

Saturday 22 October


Daisy had spinach sauce with her pasta today. I cleaned one of her hands then took the bowl into the kitchen and when I got back she'd used her other hand to rub her eye...


Sunday 23 October


This is our stair 'balustrade'. Apparently the woman who lived here before was over the moon when her husband cut squares out of the wood to make this stepped design (there was another one in the space at the bottom but I forgot to take a 'before' picture). I was not so impressed, so I asked Dad if he would like a project when they visit this week...


Monday 24 October


Apa's here!


Tuesday 25 October


This is the balustrade after Dad worked on it all day. Marked improvement already :).


Wednesday 26 October


I went to Southampton today while Daisy stayed with Nanna (and didn't miss me at all, apparently) and visited this lovely lady, Harriett, while I was there. She's nearly 3 weeks old and so beautiful :). She has two older sisters, 4 and 2, but they weren't interested in having their photos taken so I just had to make do with this little bundle of gorgeousness.


Thursday 27 October


Woohoo, aren't Dads great??!!


Friday 28 October


I know Mum hates having her photo taken, but I love this one of Daisy and her Nanna.