2012: Week 52 and a Half

This post is just for the last three days of 2012. For new posts in 2013, please go to my Project 365 Website for 2013.

Saturday 29 December

Jon took this picture while Daisy wasn't looking this morning. I love it!

Sunday 30 December

We left Mum & Dad's today and travelled to the Cotswolds to spend New Year with Jon's friends. Daisy enjoyed spending time with Teddy and Matilda, and playing with Teddy's puzzles, but mostly she enjoyed watching the Timmy Time DVD that Jen got her for Christmas ;-).

Monday 31 December

My Facebook status today read: "I feel quite sad to be leaving 2012 behind. As well as being a great year for Britain, it's been a great year for me - I've got engaged, bought a house, lost 2 stone, planned a wedding... I suppose next year I'll have to be content with getting married, going on honeymoon, building a house and moving into it :-)."

I hope you've enjoyed this year's pictures.  Even though I hate remembering to take my camera with me everywhere and I often forget to take photos for days at a time, I'm going to continue doing Project 365 in 2013. Glutton for punishment...

2012: Week 52

Saturday 22 December

I didn't take this photo today, but the gingerbread house was made today ;). Jon's niece Eloise made it with Jon's Mum. When we broke into it on Boxing Day, it was a bit like the floodgates opened for me. I'd been as good as I possibly could be on the food front until then, but the gingerbread house tasted so delicious I couldn't stop eating it :).

Sunday 23 December

 

We went to the pantomime in Ipswich this afternoon, then to Jon's sister's for Chinese takeaway (after I'd weighed in at the fat club round the corner - half a pound off!). Here's Finn showing off his six-pack :).

Monday 24 December

The dog's happy - for the time being. Enjoy it while you can, Angus - there'll be children here tomorrow, who'll want to pull your tail and poke you...

Tuesday 25 December

Merry Christmas! Here we are about to tuck in to Jon's braised pork which had been in the making since Saturday. It was delicious!

Wednesday 26 December

Jessica arrived yesterday with a new face painting kit. When everyone had had their face painted, she started on Grandad's bald patch...

Thursday 27 December

We picked up Daisy on the way to Nanna & Grandpa's today, then opened presents this afternoon. Jon and I got her a scooter which she enjoyed pushing round the not-very-big conservatory, but her favourite present was a set of water flutes that you play with in the bath - the more water you put in them, the higher the note they play. Will get a photo soon.

Friday 28 December

Auntie Katherine gave Daisy these slipper socks which, if a bit big, were a hit!

2013: Week 50

Saturday 8 December

We went to Ben & Kate's in South London today for Jon's annual University Friends' Pre-Christmas Fish Pie Night. The fact that we didn't have Daisy made the trip so much less stressful :). Here are the other kids settling down to some Rapunzel before bed.

Sunday 9 December

We left South London early this morning to get back in time to hear our banns being read at the local church. Daisy came back this afternoon and almost immediately had a fairly long, protracted tantrum. When she finally calmed down, she was lovely and cuddly, if a bit red-eyed...

Monday 10 December

Doing her 'pretties' in the mirror :).

Tuesday 11 December

I went upstairs to the loo this morning and when I came back down, Daisy wasn't in the lounge. I found her hiding here. This picture makes me laugh so much :).

Wednesday 12 December

Daisy's discovered 'Mummy's biscuits', which are my Slimming World bars with marshmallows on them. She must have eaten well today as she got to have one as a treat.

Thursday 13 December

When we got back from nursery today Daisy said 'I want a cuppa tea in my Peppa cup, please!' Seeing as she asked so nicely... it was half milk, half water and a 3-second dunk of the tea bag. She drank it all, though!

Friday 14 December

Daisy's discovered a new hiding place - under the dining table. Looks cute until we're in a hurry and I have to crawl under there to drag her out :).

2012: Week 48

Saturday 24 November

Phew! It's been a funny old week. We arrived at our friends' house in Southampton last night, after setting off from home at 19:00, Daisy's bedtime, in the hopes that she'd go straight to sleep in the car. She didn't. Instead, she was sick within 15 minutes of setting off. Seeing as we were still so close to home, we went back and Jon gave Daisy a bath while I did what I could to clean up the car seat, then we tried again at 20:00. We made it to Southampton in one piece this time, and transferred Daisy from the car seat to her Peppa bed without too much difficulty. Today it was pretty miserable weather all day but there were plenty of toys for Daisy to play with. This was her favourite.

Sunday 25 November

Last night Clare and her boyfriend came over for dinner; it was lovely to see them. This morning seemed to be going fine until Daisy walked up to Jon, who was sitting on the sofa, and threw up all over him without warning. A quick change of clothes and a scrub down of the upholstery later and she was fine again, but then about an hour after that she fell asleep while sitting on Jon's lap. That was when I realised something must be wrong; last time she fell asleep on me was last December when she was poorly, and the time before that I was probably still breastfeeding. She slept for about an hour and by the time she woke up, Clare had come back to pick up her car. They stayed for a cup of tea then when they got up to leave I asked Daisy if she would give Clare a cuddle, not really expecting her to want to - let's face it, it's Daisy, plus she was out of sorts - but she did, and she planted this smacker on Clare :). Again, Daisy seemed fine, and had fish fingers for lunch, then promptly threw them back up again on the pavement as I was going to put her in the car to come home. She slept all the way home but was then sick twice more before bedtime. Mum & Dad arrived at about 19:30, right around the time that Jon and I started to feel unwell...

Monday 26 November

Jon and I both had sickness and diarrhoea through the night. Daisy woke up about 7 times, and each time one of us went straight to see her in case she was being sick too. She wasn't, thankfully. Jon had already e-mailed in sick last night and we were so thankful that Mum & Dad were here - we all slept until about 08:00 when Daisy came into our room. By that point I hadn't been sick for about 6 hours and was feeling OK, if a bit fragile and hungry. Jon still felt achy but not sick any more, and Daisy hadn't been sick for over 12 hours by then but was very tired. At about 09:15 I got out of bed and I thought Daisy had said she would come with me, but she didn't look like she was in any hurry to move, so I left her there. I took this photo at about 10:30 and they both finally woke up at 11:00. Then we found out that Clare was off sick with a diarrhoea & vomiting bug too, so it was obviously something we'd passed around at the weekend...

Tuesday 27 November

Jon felt well enough to go back to work today, and I felt fine too. Daisy was a bit perkier as well, but the weather was miserable again so she, Mum, Dad and I just hung out at home.

Wednesday 28 November

We put the Christmas decorations up today - I know, it's still November but I think Mum & Dad were starting to get cabin fever and needed something to do, plus it was easier to do it when there were more people than just me and Daisy here. Besides, it's only a tree and some lights in the window, so it didn't take long. But Mum & Dad being Mum & Dad, they took the opportunity to wash the windows inside and out while the voile curtain was down :). Daisy wanted to help too!

Thursday 29 November

The aforementioned tree. No Daisy photos today - not because it was nursery day, although it was, but because they rang and asked me to pick her up from nursery as she had a temperature and was just sitting in the cosy corner sucking her thumb. I'm not sure if this is related to earlier in the week, or a separate thing, but either way she was really grizzly and VERY tired - I put her down for her nap at 13:30 as usual but instead of getting her up after an hour I let her sleep till she woke up, which was at 16:00. Then just before bed, while we were reading stories on the chair in her room, she threw up on me...

Friday 30 November

So this week has definitely been all about vomit and laundry. I think I've done 12 loads since Monday. Today Daisy was OK - not great, but OK - although as ever she wasn't in the mood for posing for the camera, and she napped for over 2 hours again. Then at bath time she worked herself up into such a frenzy about the fact that she didn't want to brush her teeth that she was sick again, this time on the bath mat (and a little bit on me). After that, though, she was super cute - I think she understood why it was that she'd been sick, and she calmed down really quickly. We read our usual stories then I told her it was time to get into bed and she said 'No, I fall asleep on Mummy.' So I sat there and cradled her for about 10 minutes before finally tearing myself away and putting her to bed :).

Everything on the top floor of this house smells faintly of vomit. Can next week be a bit calmer, please???

2012: Week 47

Saturday 17 November

Today we saw New York in both the daylight and the dark, from the top of the Rockefeller Center and Empire State Building respectively. We also did a tour of Yankee Stadium and a bus tour of famous New York TV and movie sites and had dinner in a lovely French bistro. Here we are at the 'Top of the Rock'.

Sunday 18 November

Today we did a 'Food on Foot' Tour of Hell's Kitchen then did some shopping this afternoon. Not much to take photos of there, so here's a shot of us yesterday at Yankee Stadium.

Monday 19 November

One of my favourite views in the world :).

Tuesday 20 November

My fifth visit to New York, and I finally got to take a horse and carriage ride round Central Park. The weather this weekend was perfect - chilly but not too cold, sunny and bright, and no rain! Jon loved his first trip to the US, and wants to go to Boston or Washington DC next. Not sure when that will be, but we'll make it back eventually!

Wednesday 21 November

Much as we loved our weekend away, it was nice to see Daisy again. She's showing no signs of getting any better at travelling - she was sick in Rob's car this morning on the way home, so it's probably no wonder she looks a bit green in this photo.

Thursday 22 November

I didn't take any photos today, but we went to Southampton to visit friends for the weekend and I have loads of good photos, so here are a couple, and I'll do two more next week. Here's Daisy making music.

Friday 23 November

Beautiful Hattie. Peekaboo!

2012: Week 42

Saturday 13 October

Today was Nanna & Grandpa's Ruby Wedding Anniversary party (their actual anniversary is next Sunday, but they booked to go on holiday on Saturday then realised there would be a clash...). We had a really great time with 60 friends and family members. It was a lunchtime buffet which meant that Daisy didn't nap, plus she woke up an hour earlier than normal this morning so I was half-expecting a meltdown by about 15:30, but she was sooo good all afternoon.  I had lots of compliments about how well-behaved she was, to which my response was 'You didn't see her on Tuesday...'! After today, I'm feeling a lot happier about the prospect of putting Daisy in a bridesmaid's dress. I told her all week that she would be wearing a beautiful dress and by Saturday she was so excited to put it on :).

Sunday 14 October

Today was the first time since Daisy was born that I played the piano at Mum & Dad's. I wasn't very good. But Daisy was great, and she loved it!

Monday 15 October

I finally got this sticker on my book at Slimming World on Monday! Eight months later, I'm two stone lighter :).

Tuesday 16 October

Playing Trapdoor with Dee :).

Wednesday 17 October

Ruby came round to play with Daisy this afternoon. Daisy hasn't stopped talking about it since then. 'Ruby come and see you!'

Thursday 18 October

Daisy's new favourite song is the Hokey Cokey, and she loved dancing round the room with Dee while we sang it this evening before bed.

Friday 19 October

Love my beautiful girl.

2012: Week 40

Saturday 29 September

It didn't come as a surprise to me when Daisy didn't want to try on a bridesmaid's dress the other week, so I've resolved to get her used to wearing dresses over the next couple of months, because she will wear one on the day, like it or not :). I can just imagine her sitting on the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks, saying, 'No dress! No down the aisle!' so I'm determined to get her as used to the idea as possible. Here's one of the dresses I bought her this week - we have a couple already, but not many as it's just so much easier to put her in trousers, and the ones we do have are too big for her, despite saying 12-18 months on the labels. So this is my two-years-and-one-month-old in a 9-12 months dress, playing with her 'water mat' :).

Sunday 30 September

Nanna and Grandpa are here this weekend, and I inadvertently volunteered Dad to do some wallpapering next door (he didn't mind; he likes having little projects to do when he visits. Remember the balustrade?). Daisy wanted to come too as she likes to torment Izzy, the neighbours' dog, but as Izzy was asleep and not interested in being tormented, Daisy got stuck into the decorating...

Monday 1 October

Dad took this beautiful picture of Daisy at the park this afternoon before they left to go home.

Tuesday 2 October

We went to the Children's Centre this morning and Daisy embraced her inner Roger Taylor.

Wednesday 3 October

I love this picture of Daisy and Harry, who came round this afternoon with his Nonna to play in the park with us. It's slightly out of focus, but it looks like the kind of picture you see in a trashy magazine with the caption 'Neither Daisy nor Harry has publicly acknowledged their relationship, but our paparazzo's shot says it all...'

Thursday 4 October

Daisy wouldn't leave this cupboard alone today when she got back from nursery. Turned out she'd put a plastic fried egg in one of the saucepans that live in there and she was trying to get it back.

Friday 5 October

Usually I get Daisy's lunch ready then prepare my own while she's eating hers, which means she's usually finished when mine's ready to eat. Invariably, this is what happens...

2012: Week 38

Saturday 15 September

I took Daisy, Jessica and Eloise to try on bridesmaids' dresses this morning, and we chose some lovely ones for them to wear. Daisy declined to try any on - each time I asked her she just said 'No fanks!' and carried on running round the bridal shop. I really must get her used to wearing dresses before January; I can just see her wearing a beautiful flower girl dress, sitting on the floor in floods of tears, saying 'No down the aisle...' Anyway, after we'd finished there we went to Hollow Trees Farm and fed all sorts of farm animals and pets. Daisy loved it!

Sunday 16 September

Yes, this is my child attempting to lick the playground equipment.

Monday 17 September

We went back to the library today and Daisy had great fun sitting on the doggie. She wasn't all that interested in choosing any books, so I chose some for her, then we went to the coffee shop and she had a babyccino :).

Tuesday 18 September

A post-nap snack and a whole heap of smiles :).

Wednesday 19 September

Every time we get home, while I'm desperately trying to find my keys in the bottom of my bag, Daisy sits here and says 'I hiding in the bushes!'

Thursday 20 September

Aggie and Ellie go with Daisy to nursery every Thursday. She's starting to go for longer periods without them, as she gets used to nursery, but she's not ready to give them up entirely yet :).

Friday 21 September

Daisy wanted to take a picture and I didn't trust her on her own with my camera - and for good reason: the flash popped up and she did her best to rip it off - so we took this photo together.