Busy, busy, busy

Where has the week gone? I can't believe it's Thursday already. Jason's driver is picking me up at 5.30am to take me to Heathrow tomorrow and I am so not ready. I just got an email from Nikki in Prague warning me that it's "hot as fuck" (sorry parents!) so I need to rethink some of my clothing plans. I think I'm just going to chuck some stuff in a case and then get whatever else I need at the airport. Heathrow is so well-equipped with shops, it's like a mall, and security is so tight these days that I won't be able to carry much through anyway.

The children have been slightly more calm this week. After doing some reading and asking around among friends I think that Toby's recent craziness is down to not get enough one-to-one time with me, not getting enough priviledges for being older than Rosie, dealing with some of the more aggressive boys at school and the long daylight hours we have here at the moment. The sun comes up around 4am and doesn't set until 10pm. Thankfully today is the longest day and they'll start getting shorter again soon, so that problem will resolve itself.

As for the other things, we've started letting Toby stay up an hour later than Rosie at night so that he and I can have some regular time together once she's asleep and we've been talking about ways to deal with the boys at school. So far 'big boy time' has been a bit of a struggle because Rosie doesn't want to go to sleep. I'll persevere though because I do think it makes sense.

Last night Toby and I were chatting during our one-to-one time and had the following conversation:

Toby: I don't want Daddy to go to work anymore. I want him to be home every day.

Me: Daddy works to make money so that we all have a nice life and you can go to a nice school. One of us has to work or we wouldn't have those things anymore. Wouold you prefer for me to work and Daddy to stay home? We could try it that way.

Toby: No, I want you AND Daddy to stay home.

Me: Well, someone has to go to work to make the money.

Toby: [a long silence then...] I want Rosie to go to work!

I was telling J about this later and he said "Well, if Rosie could get paid for pooping we'd be rich!"

Our little celeb

Toby has made the news! Though he seemed to be using a stage name. I'm comforted by the fact that Toby's friend's name is misspelled too. Aren't they precious.

I'm flying to Prague on Friday and today I did the thing I often do before a trip - freak out and go shopping. I'm really looking forward to seeing Nikki but I must admit that I'm feeling a little nervous about meeting her theatre friends. I feel like I'm going to stick out as the Frumpy Old Mum of the group. So, what's the best way to boost a girl's self esteem? Buy some stuff.

Today I bought the skirt above and some gorgeous sandals. The skirt is a bit Holly Hobbie in the 70s (Google her now, she's come a long way!) but I seem to be getting into the boho, vintage vibe just as it's passing out of fashion. I need to check the weather in Prague but I'm planning to pack jeans, my new skirt, T-shirts, vests and my maxi dress. I'm sure you wanted to know that.

In other news, Toby seems to have gone completely freakin' ape shit. I don't know what has gotten into the boy. He's calling everyone names, being incredibly rude and tonight he actually spat in my face! Thankfully it isn't completely constant and we still get glimpses of the sweet boy we know but he's definitely going through something. I talked to him about it tonight and he said that sometimes he doesn't like Rosie because she scribbles on his drawings so I'm guessing that sibling rivalry is at least part of the problem. I think some of his friends at school are a little on the rambunctious side and Tobes is picking up some bad habits. I would assume that he's passed on a few bad habits too and that this is just all a part of growing up. Completely exhausting.

Living the dream

Today was the Summer Fair at St Margaret's. On Thursday I went to the school to help construct a dragon out of recyclable rubbish with some other moms. The theme of the fair this year was being green and the dragon was the centrepiece. It was a lot of fun and hard work (and I have the blisters to prove it) and the dragon looked fantastic. Toby and another little boy had their photos taken with it for a local newspaper. Something for the scrapbook!

I made Coca Cola cupcakes for the cake stall. (I like to play the American card regularly.) They all sold, which I think is a good sign, but I've learned that the English prefer the familiar. Things like strawberry and jam tarts were the first to sell. Will keep that in mind next year. I worked a shift at the cake stall and it was great to meet some of the mums with children in older grades. St Margaret's is a small school with just one class per year so everyone gets to know everyone else. One of the moms is quickly becoming my role model. She always looks immaculate, has a job in the arts, is a co-chair of the Friends Committee (kind of like PTA) and makes raspberry and strawberry tarts so delicious that they were all purchased by teachers and parents before the fair even opened! What a wonderwoman.

J, though struggling with a bit of Delhi belly, took the children around the various stalls where they won some small toys and sweets. Toby's friends Max, Edward and Thierry were there so Tobes was in heaven. They had their faces painted like Power Rangers and ran around the playground with Rosie trailing behind desperately trying to keep up. Later they came in to see me at the cake stall and purchased a cupcake each. It was so much fun and totally a dream come true for me. Being a part of the school, helping out with the other moms, seeing J with the other parents and the children running around having fun and feeling a part of something positive. It's everything I've ever wanted.

With that in mind I've volunteered to join the board of the Friends Committee. Wonderwoman was encouraging me to go for Chair or Co-Chair with someone else, and I'm sure I would love to take on that role one day, but I'm going for Secretary or even Co-Secretary first. One step at a time!

Butterflies - both real and social

It's amazing how Toby's social life has exploded since he started school. Virtually every afternoon is filled with play dates, parties and school events. This week we went to Max's house on Tuesday so Toby could play with Max and his brother Eddie and I could visit with their mum. Today it was Toby's friend Otto's birthday party. Tomorrow Toby's friend Thierry is coming over for the afternoon and staying for dinner then we have the school fete on Saturday. It's great and I've been surprised and pleased at how quickly we're becoming a part of the school network.

On Monday Toby took his caterpillars to school. Did I mention that we have five again this year? They were already in their cocoons and two of them emerged as lovely butterflies during class. Very good timing. Of the five, one died trying to come out of its cocoon and one had incomplete wings. Not bad, last year we only had three butterflies in total, and it's a nice, gentle way to talk about death and physical imperfections with Toby. Tobes and Thierry are planning to release the butterflies in the front garden tomorrow. They usually stay in one area so hopefully we'll see them again this summer.

Our little comedienne

Here's Rosie doing her impression of Swiper on Dora the Explorer.

"Oh, man"

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So cool!

Check out this article in the NY Times. It's about the Prague Quadrennial which is what Nikki is taking part in next week. It's described as the Olympics of stage design... and my sister is one of the participants!! So very cool. I can't wait to get out there. I've heard that Prague is wonderful but I imagine it'll be extra fun with so many theatre people there. Yay!

Continuing the hair theme...

Someone I used to work with was cleaning out the old work database and found this photo taken sometime in the mid-90s. It's me, Nikki and J in Dallas. My hair was so short! This is how I wore it for most of my 20s. Funny, I thought women were supposed to cut their hair shorter as they got older. I seem to be doing it in reverse. To be honest, I don't think my 36 year old face could handle a haircut that short but then look at Judi Dench. Hmmmm.

Back to my roots

About every 4-5 years the constant highlighting makes my hair very blonde. When I start to feel too much like a Barbie doll I have it all dyed back to my natural colour. Today was that day. Not that my natural colour is so dark, but it's just more me. Now I can start the process all over again!

International Day

"The Team" - Toby, Thierry, Edward and Max



Jack, Solar, Toby, Thierry, Edward and Max



Rosie Rae



Rosie Rae running rampant


This was Creative Week at St Margaret's culminating in International Day today. The children did special art projects all week and then had a feast day today when the parents brought in food representing the different cultures at the school.

Earlier in the week J and I were up at midnight shredding magazines for the class to use for a project and last night I was up at midnight making cornbread and biscuits for the feast today. I made a couple of key lime pies too and it was all eaten by the end of the afternoon.

Today the children went to school in various types of national dress. Toby wore Dyllin's Dallas Cowboys Troy Aikman jersey that Jon sent him (and that we'll give back for baby Ian), jeans and a baseball cap. Rosie and I both wore UT Longhorn T-shirts for the special day. It was a lovely afternoon, surprisingly sunny though rain had been predicted for the whole day.

There are a real mix of cultures at Toby's school but you can tell which ones really value their food because the Jamaican and Chinese contingent were out in full force and provided some amazing dishes. All kinds of noodles, chicken, rice and things like homemade eggrolls and fried plantain. The children ate very well. I must say that the Americans were under-represented and I'm already making plans for my own table next year with chicken wings, biscuits, maybe chili...

It was a good opportunity to see Toby in his own environment. He has a nice little group of boys that he calls his 'team' and they ran wild around the playground. Rosie tried to keep up but settled in the end with another little girl of the same age. It was also good to talk to some other parents and chat with Toby's teacher. I really like the school. I'm so glad we made the right choice.

Hi Papa and Nana!

Hi Papa & Nana

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End of halfterm. Thank God.

Look at that sweet face. Who would think that such an angelic boy could drive an adult woman slowly insane? It's Friday and Toby is back at school on Monday. Here's a quick recap of our halfterm:

Monday - Bank holiday so J was off work. Went into town. Had a lovely lunch at the National Portrait Gallery restaurant overlooking Trafalgar Square then walked around the galleries. When we left it was pouring with rain so we ran around the square to Waterstone's and looked at books for a while. Decided to get a coffee at Costa and bumped into Ken Livingston, Mayor of London. He was there for Africa Day which was going on in Trafalgar Square. Lovely man. So charming.

Tuesday - Had the new carpet put down so I took the kids off into Lewisham to run errands while J stayed to oversee the work. I generally don't like Lewisham. It seems there's always a 'violent crime' sign up when we go there. This time it wasn't so bad. We went to a little cafe in the shopping centre, more what the English would call a caff and the Americans would call a greasy spoon. Lewisham is one of those places that has seen better days and is now full of immigrants and the elderly. I think we were the only people both under 60 and speaking English which was interesting. Rosie started playing with another little girl whose mother was wearing a jilbab and veil. Obviously a common site in London but it struck me that day how accustomed to the various cultural differences I've become and that the children don't notice them at all.

Wednesday - Went to Canary Wharf for lunch with Elizabeth and Mary Catherine. That's MC in the photo with Tobes and many thanks to Elizabeth for sending me the pic. I still can't find the camera and it's driving me crazy. After lunch we went to the bookstore and then Tobes entertained us with a Power Rangers show on the little stage in the Jubilee Centre. I think he entertained quite a few people judging from the smiles.

Thursday - In the morning we went to Costa and saw Marija and James. The boys jumped around the coffee house playing Power Rangers and begging Matteas for marshmallows. After we got home Toby's friend from school, Max, and his little brother Eddie came over for lunch and to play. Their Mum had a baby girl last week so I had the boys for the afternoon to give her some peace and quiet. They were fantastic and played together really well, though they did adopt a no girls policy which almost broke Rosie's heart. I managed to entertain her though. Poor little thing.

Friday - Today we got up early and headed out to see the new Shrek 3 movie. We bought our sweets and drinks, went into the designated cinema... to find the new Pirates movies playing. I went out to ask the ticket guy where Shrek was and he looked at my tickets and pointed out that they were for next month! I had bought them online and really screwed up at some point in the process. So we headed over to Starbucks, walked around the mall a bit, Rosie gagged on a gum drop and threw up so I had to buy her a new top and change her clothes. After that it was time to go home. This afternoon we made Dora the Explorer fairy cakes and watched Night at the Museum. And that is the end of halfterm!!

Power up!

Just looking into some Power Rangers stuff for Toby's birthday presents. He wants a duvet set but I can't find any that are 100% cotton. So frustrating. I ended up on the official Power Rangers shopping website and found this little tidbit:

"The Brachio Morpher is worn on the wrist and used by the Black Ranger to transform. Turn the Dino Activator key for chomping action and to hear the Brachio Zord roar! You can also attach the interchangeable Zord Callers from the Thundersaurus Morpher (sold separately)."

Uh huh. Well now, who doesn't need a Zord Caller?

Our boy

We were playing 20 Questions with Tobes at dinner tonight. Here are a few of my favourite excerpts:

Toby: Does it have four legs?

K: Yes.

J: Is it a horse?

K: Similiar to a horse.

J: Is it a mule?

K: No.

J: Is it an ass?

Tobes: Dad! It can't be someone's ass!

*****

J: OK, I'm thinking of a person.

K: Are they male?

J: Yes.

Tobes: I know! It must be a postman then.

****

J: Is it an insect?

K: Yes.

Tobes: Does it have lots of legs?

K: Yes.

J: Does it turn into something else?

K: Yes.

Tobes: It must be a Power Ranger!

Good things

I've lost the camera. Arrrghh!! So annoying. I've looked all over the flat and can't find it. Knowing me it'll probably turn up in the freezer or the fireplace. Really hope to find it soon.

It's halfterm here which means that Tobes has a week off school. His nursery didn't always stop for halfterms so this is a relatively new thing for us. The weather isn't great so my plans to spend a lot of time in the park will need to be adapted. We're planning to have lunch one afternoon at Canary Wharf with Elizabeth and Mary Catherine and we'll probably go to the movies at least once. I'm sure there will be an exhibition worth seeing and the museums do lots of special events during halfterm. It'll be nice to have Tobes home a whole week.

Once school starts up again we're going to be very busy. I'm going in to help cut up paper for Creative Week, then we have International Day when I'm making "American food" for our contribution (buttermilk biscuits, BBQ chicken wings and Stars & Stripes cookies), then it's the Summer Fair and I'm going to help out at the cake stall. So much fun! I just love all of this stuff.

I've also booked the flight and hotel to meet up with Nikki in Prague next month. I spent ages trying to find a hotel that had some character, was in a good location and didn't cost the earth. I think I found the perfect place. It's a very old little hotel in the Old Town near Wenceslas Square. Some of the rooms still have the original carved wooden ceilings AND there's a strip joint in the basement. You can't beat that for character!

Arrangements for Toby's birthday bash continue. I sent off the booking form for the Power Ranger appearance today and a big box was delivered last week with all of the invitations, napkins, plates, etc. (I love Party Pieces if you're looking for that kind of thing.)

Lots of good things to look forward to. I think it's going to be a lovely summer. Now, if I could just find that bloody camera.

Hope this works

This is a short video of the children dancing to a singing Mother's Day card that Mom and Dad sent me. I emailed it to them but they couldn't get it to work. Hopefully they'll be able to see it here...

Toby & Rosie Dancing

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Fun Sunday

Had a fantastic time yesterday. Jenny & Kieran came down with Jack and Kate and the boys went off to watch the rugby while the girls had an afternoon out in town. It was Toby and Jack's first time to go to a big sporting event and they had a great time. It was the Heineken Cup and London beat Leicester. Hooray! (Can you tell that I know nothing about rugby??)

While the guys were off watching sports the girls went to lunch at The Texas Embassy and Rosie had her first taste of Tex-Mex. After her most recent allergy appointment we've been able to explore some new tastes and add some of the forbidden foods into her diet. So far she's been fine and it's a huge relief and pleasure to me to be able to introduce Rosie to new tastes. She loved her chicken taco, beans and rice but she especially loved the sopapillas with lots of honey.

After lunch we went over to the Hayward Gallery to see the Antony Gormley exhibition. We had been planning to go see Kylie at the V&A (could you possibly get more girly than that) but the Gormley statues on top of the buildings in central London are so mesmerising that we decided to go and see the whole exhibition. It was fantastic. Elizabeth had told me about the statues, 30 of them, placed on rooftops throughout London all facing the Hayward. Standing in the rooftop sculpture garden at the gallery we could only count about 20 of them, some on nearby buildings and some quite far off in the distance. Quite an amazing and haunting image.

The other highlight of the exhibition was Blind Light. The artist describes it best:

'Architecture is supposed to be the location of security and certainty about where you are. It is supposed to protect you from the weather, from darkness, from uncertainty. Blind Light undermines all of that. You enter this interior space that is the equivalent of being on top of a mountain or at the bottom of the sea. It is very important for me that inside it you find the outside. Also you become the immersed figure in an endless ground, literally the subject of the work.’

It was extraordinary. You walk into a big glass box full of cold white mist with only about 18 inches of visibility. I was carrying Rosie so I stayed close to the perimeter for fear of getting lost in the middle and not being able to find my way out! People were lining up around the piece for their turn and as we worked our way around we would get up close to the glass and be able to see people outside but just one step back would make them invisible again. Rosie loved it and I think people were surprised to see such a sweet little face smiling out at them from the mist. People in the queue were putting their hands on the glass for Rosie to touch and she was laughing and reaching out into the mist. When we finally made our way out again Rosie turned around and started shouting "Again! Again!". Definitely a big hit with her. There are some good links on the Hayward site with images and videos. Nikki would love it so we'll definitely go again next month.

After our days out we all met up for coffee and the train ride home. After a dinner of toast and cheese Jenny & Kieran left for the drive back to Cambridge and the children finally crawled into bed after 10.00. That could be why we all overslept this morning and jumped out of bed 45 minutes before Toby had to be at school. I'm hoping for a slightly calmer morning tomorrow.

Filming, Shopping, Planning

So, I did the second half of filming for the TV show yesterday. Needless to say the slim patch is no miracle diet aid. They did some individual interviews and hopefully I'll be on TV and won't look like a total doofus.

I was paid in cash after filming and went straight to Oxford Street and spent the lot! I had lunch at the 5th floor restaurant of Waterstone's at Piccadilly then hit the shops. I bought the cute little dress above at Top Shop and a few other bits and pieces for J and the babies. It's so interesting being in Top Shop midweek when you see all the silver-haired sugar daddies with their sweet young things grabbing everything in sight. The Kate Moss collection was like a tangled mass of hair extensions and fake tan as girls came close to punching each other over the hotpants. It was something to see.

Today I finally booked a hall for Toby's party, ordered the napkins, invites, etc and even found a company that can provide entertainment AND a Power Ranger (Andrew, you're off the hook). I also booked the carpet layer to come and do the carpets, got a quote for a storage unit and moved the bedroom furniture around to accomodate Toby's new bed. The children like to sleep together but their rooms are too small for a double bed so we bough a trundle that pops up to make a full size bed. That way they can sleep together and we can put the trundle away during the day. It's been a busy day but we still managed to go to the park after school. It seems to be a Friday tradition because virtually every child in Toby's class was there too.

And speaking of Toby's class, I got the class list today in order to do the party invitations. It's such an interesting mix of children. From the very British - Hermione, Hugo and Archie. To the more exotic foreign families - Habeebah, Solar, Kouros. And the straightforward traditional names - Edward, Emily and Hannah. Going to be nice to get to know them all.

My Super Babies

Tobes at Costa

Rosie and James at Costa

Toby, James and Rosie playing in the cubbyhole under the stairs at Costa.

Busy but not much happening here at the moment. Lots of organising going on. Toby's birthday party is in July and we've decided to throw a bash since it's his fifth and his first year at big school. We're inviting the whole class plus all of his other friends so we're looking at about 35 - 40 children plus siblings in one space. I'm going to hire a hall and some kind of entertainment. I'm trying to find a Power Ranger to come to the party (that's the theme, of course) but they're really expensive. What I really need is to get a friend to dress up for us. I can think of loads of Americans in the States who would do it, Jon would be brilliant at it, but no one here. (Andrew, are you reading this??)


The party is going to be fancy dress as your favourite super hero and Toby is going to be a red Power Ranger. I've seen a little pink Power Ranger costume that I'm very tempted to buy for Rosie but I don't know if she'd wear it. She has very firm ideas about these things.


And speaking of Rosie, please bear with me for a moment and just let me get this out... Today at Rosie's music class Rosie walked over to the piano and started pushing down the keys. Most children in the class do this at some point but everyone stopped to listen to Rosie because she was almost making a little tune. After class the teacher showed Rosie how the keys made different sounds and taught Rosie to make a bird sound (very high notes) and an elephant sound (low notes) then said that Rosie was a natural! I was so proud. We left class and I rang J on my mobile and told him we had to buy a piano. One of J's grandfathers was a pianist so maybe Rosie has inherited that talent. I know I'm being silly since she's only 18 months old but still...


Last weekend St Margaret's held an auction evening to raise money for the new playground. Local businesses and parents donated items and services and then parents could bid on them. I thought I might be able to get a bargain and give some money to the school so I went along with a bit of cash and the promise to be back home in a couple of hours. Four hours and sixty pounds later I rolled in full of red wine and high spirits. The whole evening was not what I had expected at all. Rather than bargains parents were paying well over the odds for items because it was for a good cause. Things like twenty pound grocery vouchers were going for double or more! I ended up paying fifteen pounds over the asking price for a memory foam pillow. There was wine and bread and some lovely cheeses donated by the local deli and everyone was getting quite sloshed by the end of the evening. Not quite how I imagine PTA meetings going in Texas.


And I've made a new friend. Her little boy is in Toby's class and they live on Quentin Road. We went over to their place for tea after school today and it was lovely. She has what I consider to be a very English home - beautiful things though well worn, with no pretentions, no design other than comfort. I loved her kitchen. It's all made from mismatched reclaimed pine units painted cream years ago and now rubbed around the edges. It's the kind of kitchen that's warm in the winter, full of sunlight in the summer and is perfect for a cozy cup of tea in the evening. Lovely.

Snapshot of my life

I was bathing the children tonight and trying to get Toby to clean his willy. He's at the age when he needs to start retracting his foreskin and cleaning underneath, which he hates. I can understand that it might be scary or uncomfortable but it's got to be done because he keeps getting infections and an itchy willy. Toby and I were starting to argue about it and then he decided that he was bursting to wee. I lifted him out of the bath and while he was weeing I got Rosie out and dried her off.

Once Tobes finished his wee we went back to trying to clean his willy with me offering to do it (which was met with a very loud "NO!"). So I was standing there trying to encourage Tobes to pull back his foreskin and Rosie was pottering around the bathroom naked. Toby finally got frustrated and started shouting at me and I started shouting back that "WE NEED TO CLEAN YOUR WILLY". Our neighbors just love us. It was at this point that Rosie, without pausing in her play, dropped two corn-studded poops on the bathroom floor. I just managed to swoop her up before she stepped in it.

Thankfully, the poos broke the tension and Toby and I started laughing then he managed to clean his willy while I cleaned Rosie and the floor. Oh the glamour of motherhood.

Satan's saleslady

Almost forgot to post about my experience with a saleslady at John Lewis yesterday. I've been looking for a decent sports bra and I had picked up a couple from the rack plus some everyday bras that looked nice and was headed into the changing room. As the attendant started counting up the items the saleslady asked me if I was looking for anything in particular. When I said what I wanted she looked at my chest, obviously sizing up my boobs, and said "None of these are supportive enough for you. You don't want to get more saggy do you?" I was shocked into silence and just stood there with my mouth open.

She then looked at my stomach and said "Oh, and you need maternity bras!". I tried to laugh it off and explained that I wasn't pregnant. Instead of apologising or backtracking or quickly changing the subject she actually pointed at my stomach and said "Oh, I thought you were." Holy shit.

I didn't know whether to come home and drown my sorrows in four pints of ice cream or drive straight to the gym and spend four hours on the treadmill. I told J the whole sad story as we were getting in the car and then swore that I would never eat again, would live on water and would consider taking up smoking.

I do feel better today but what a way to make a girl feel like crap.

This and that

Had a very nice weekend. It was a long weekend here which was especially good since J didn't get back from Palm Beach until Saturday lunchtime. We went out for lunch every day, did some shopping, took the children swimming and had a lovely time. Tobes is settling into school well but has been more tired than usual so we've been taking it easy. It's a big change for him.

The weather has been cold and wet most days, which I don't really mind. It's cozy and great baking weather. I'm sure I'll be wishing for the wind and rain once the hot days of summer do arrive.

The big news this week is that Dad has retired! His job has been getting him down for some time but it was still a surprise when I received his email saying "I am now retired!". I think he and Mom are really going to enjoy their retirement. I'm hoping it means they might come over more often. So much easier to fly the two of them here than take the four of us there. We'll see.

Rosie had her music class at the conservatoire this morning. I was a bit disappointed with the first class but I think the teacher was just new and a little nervous. It was much better today. Rosie's favourite bit was when the children were given different coloured scarves and danced around to Mozart while the teacher blew bubbles above them. A bit poncey, but the children loved it. I've signed Tobes up for the Saturday theatre class. His friend Elliott is in it and it sounds fantastic. We'll see how he gets on. Jude Law is actually from Blackheath so perhaps we'll have a little movie star in the house, though I hope Toby is sensible enough not to sleep with the nanny.

And it's official, I'm turning into my mother. I read back over a few entries on the blog the other night and found so many malaprops that it made me blush. My favourite is when I called the hotel in Budapest the Kandinsky... it's the Kempinsky. I thought about going back to correct them but decided to keep the mistakes as a record of my decline. Ah well, it had to happen one day.

Bag tagged

I've been bag tagged by Elizabeth so here is my handbag and it's contents at this very moment:

I have so many lovely bags but I seem to come back again and again to my knackered Kangol bag. It has such handy pockets which hold my phone, library and gym cards and pens from Sopwell House and the Kandinski in Budapest.

Other items are:

A small hairbrush
Compact mirror
Lip balm
Lip gloss
Lipstick
Depuffing eye gel (?!)
Sunglasses
Japanese soap leaves - I'm fanatical about handwashing.
Hand cream
Moleskine book full of lists, a tube map, receipts, a Munchkin cooking school flyer (must remember to post off that booking form)
Wallet with money, bank cards, drivers licence, etc
Keys - car, house, one unidentified and a key chain from Rainforest Cafe with my name on it that Dad bought me when we all went there years ago.
Hairband
Mints from Cafe Rouge
Homeopathic teething remedy
Battery from my pedometer
Empty pillbox

Now, I tag Nikki and Annelouise because I bet they have some interesting things in their bags!

So excited!

I've been a bit down because we were planning to go to Texas this month but can't get permission to take Tobes out of school. I got some great news today. Nikki is coming to London at the end of June!! She's going to be in Prague for Scenofest '07 where she's showing one of her stage designs and I'm planning to meet her there for a few days. I thought that would be it but, after spending a few days in Croatia, she's coming to London for a week. Yay!!!!

We had such a great time last year (that's me, Nikki and Rosie melting in Budapest in the photo) and Toby is really excited about showing Nikki St Margaret's. There was talk this morning of taking Nikki as Toby's show and tell item but he decided that she's probably too big. Can't wait.

Damn young 'uns

OK, I do not consider myself a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination but I must admit that I've been looking forward to the launch of the Kate Moss collection at Top Shop. It came out yesterday with a special 8 - midnight shopping preview frenzy the night before. Now, I am far too old to go down to Oxford Street and elbow a bunch of teenagers and stylists out of the way for the sake of a pansy print tunic dress (at least without Nikki to protect me) but I did get up early yesterday morning in order to buy a few things online. Almost everything was already sold out!

When I tried to buy a few things that were available the website crashed. Talk about frustrating. I tried again today and everything I wanted is already gone. The teenagers and stylists have cleaned it all out. Grrrr. So instead I channeled my shopping energy into buying myself a gorgeous Lipsy maxi dress for the summer. Whew! For a minute there I thought I wasn't going to spend any money.

This is it

I was reading through a note from Toby's school about upcoming dates to remember - the bake sale, international day, sports day, parents' evening, etc, etc - when it hit me. I've been waiting my whole life to get to this point. Since I was six years old and carried My Friend Mandy everywhere with me and cried my eyes out when Darla Bannister dropped my Baby That-a-Way on the swings. Since I was 10 and would put pillows under my T-shirt and walk around holding my back pretending to be pregnant. Since I was 12 and making up stories with Megan Vance about us, our husbands, our children, houses and cars.

[For the record, in those stories my name was Chastity Massengill, Chas for short, after Cher's daughter and a douche commercial. Why the douche commercial, you ask? I thought the name sounded classy. And my husband was named Landon... Landon Massengill. Can't remember the names of the children but I'm sure they were something equally pretentious.]

I'm not just dreaming about babies. I'm not waiting for a family. It's all here, it's all happening now. It was a shock to realise it and my very next thought was that I better cherish every second of it because before I know it time will pass and this era of PTA meetings, school uniforms and rosy-cheeked children will be gone.

Maybe we should have another baby.

Teething pain

Poor Rosie. She's really suffering at the moment with her teething. With Tobes his teeth just seemed to appear. Apart from the occasional use of Bonjela, he never had any problems. Not so with Miss Rosie Rae.

It started with on overproduction of mucous and a cough. I took her to the doctor many times but since she wasn't running a fever they just said to let it run its course. The English docs are big on non-intervention, building up the immune system and riding things out. I grew up getting a penicillin shot if I sneezed funny. I don't know if things have changed in the States too but here it's very hands-off.

OK, so Rosie wasn't running a fever. Perhaps she wasn't ill. Could it be allergies? The doctors didn't want to prescribe anything because Rosie is so young. "You don't want to give a baby a lot of drugs and if it is allergies she'll probably outgrow them eventually." Okaaay. Hmmmm. So what I'm hearing is that instead of giving her medication to make her more comfortable we'll just let her be miserable for a year or so until she outgrows it. It is an understatement to say that I was not thrilled with that answer.

Next step, the homeopath. I've dabbled in homeopathy over the last year or so. Someone recommended arnica before my cesarean with Rosie. I was dubious but was very surprised at the positive results. When Toby had terrible gastroenteritis last year and the GP took the usual 'let it run its course' approach I decided to talk to the Neal's Yard homeopath and the remedy worked within two hours and Toby slept through the night for the first time in weeks. So I'm a convert and now have my own little homeopathy kit at home but this time Rosie needed professional help.

After an hour talking to the homeopath (appointments with our doctor are limited to 10 minutes each!) I was told that it was probably related to teething rather than an allergy and Rosie was prescribed a couple of remedies. Within a day her symptoms improved but, as I'm discovering with homeopathy, it seems to bring a condition to its head and at the moment Rosie is drooling like a tap and has developed an unsightly rash on her chin. Poor little thing is falling apart. I turned to my home kit to deal with her other symptoms and added some Calpol for good measure and things seem under control now. Rosie is more comfortable than she was and will hopefully be back to normal as soon as those teeth break through.

Spring has sprung

Milk break this afternoon

This is how I found them in bed last night. God, they're lovely.

Rosie doing her own version of street theatre. She likes to get in the window at Starbucks and wave at people walking by.

Beautiful morning. Our street is so full of wisteria, jasmine and honeysuckle that it smells wonderful. The big lavender bush at our front door is starting to give off its scent now too. I can even smell it laying in bed at night with the window open. You'd hardly believe we were in London. Such a beautiful time of year in England. It always seems to be at its best in the changing seasons, spring and autumn. Summers seem to get hotter and more uncomfortable every year. Winter is still lovely but it doesn't compare to springtime. Everything is blooming and so green.


Toby started having lunches at school yesterday, or what they call school dinners here. This really confused me at first. Isn't dinner the evening meal? I asked around and it seems that a dinner is a hot meal regardless of when it's served. Most people have one hot meal a day and call it dinner whether it's at noon or 7.30pm. OK, fine. So Toby has started having school dinners and it's gone very well. Yesterday they had fish, chips and peas and today it was lasagne and fresh garlic bread. His school is taking part in the Jamie Oliver school dinners scheme so nothing is fried (it's all either baked, grilled or steamed) and all fruits and vegetables are prepared fresh at the school. I'm very relieved to know that Tobes is getting a healthy lunch. I peaked around the door today and saw him tucking into his lasagne and talking to his friends. So sweet.


J took Tobes to school this morning so Rosie and I got on with some chores around the flat. The first one was emptying the nappy pail. It was way overfull, as usual, and there was a big ball of dirty nappies jammed in the opening of the bucket. I was trying to pry them out when one of the nappies exploded and spewed everywhere. Have you ever seen the stuffing of a dirty nappy? They're full of some kind of gel that turns into little blobs when they get wet. These little blobs were all over the nappy pail, the floor, my trousers and feet, along with a fair amount of poop. Rosie ran in to see what was going on and I could hear her shouting over and over again, "Yuck! Oh, christ! Yuck! Oh, christ!" as she ran back out of the room. She's like a little parrot. I've got to start watching what I say. Toby just looks at me and says "Mom, don't say 'shit'. It's rude." Not sure if that's better or worse.

Lazy Sunday spent watching other people sweat

I thought it was 10,000 runners but apparently it was 35,000! When Rosie and I left the flat this morning it was surprisingly quiet. Apart from the fact that there wasn't a single parking place available on our street and half a dozen helicopters flying around, it seemed like a normal peaceful Sunday morning. By the time we turned off of Quentin Road we could see the police out in their dayglo jackets and the roadblocks up. The whole village was closed off but still fairly quiet. It was nice to walk down the middle of the road knowing that no crazy bus drivers would run us down.

We headed straight to Costa and the guys working there said it had been busy but not too crazy. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces drinking coffee which did feel strange as I often know every single person in the cafe. As Rosie and I left Marija walked up. Perfect timing. We walked down into the action to find J, Andy and the boys. The children ran around and we watched them take down the hot air balloons then wandered over to Montpellier's for tea and coffee. Afterwards the children ran around the heath some more then we headed over to Zero Degrees for lunch.

The afternoon has been even more lazy though J did go out and replace the spare tire on the car. We've had two flat tires in the last six weeks. Did you know that you can cause a flat by regularly hitting the curb? I did not know that. How on earth am I going to parallel park now?!

London Marathon

No, I am not running in it. Heaven forbid! But it is today and it starts right here in Blackheath. Our little village will be overrun by 10,000 runners and their family and friends this morning. J and Tobes have gone down to watch the start and Rosie and I are about to go down and enjoy the stalls and entertainment that's set up for the race. If you see the start on TV then look out for a little boy in a red jacket. Probably sitting on his father's shoulders and shouting "Power Rangers Mystic FORCE!"

Various things

Toby's first week at school went very well overall. He never got upset about going and came home everyday talking about all of the things he did with his friend Thierry. The only cloud is that there's a little girl in the class who isn't very nice to Toby and keeps calling him a fat-head. I actually saw her being mean to Toby one day when I went to pick him up. She seems to be a very unhappy child and was using phrases that I would guess are said to her at home like "Look what you've done! Can't you do anything right!", etc, etc. It's really upsetting Toby so I'm going to talk to his teacher about it on Monday. I'm not too worried about it but it is unfortunate that it started his first week of big school. My main concern is that it taints his feelings towards St Margaret's. We'll see.

I got the date for the second lot of filming for the TV programme. I start using the patches on Monday and will let you know if they are the miracle answer to weight loss. I'm guessing not. I keep meaning to tell you about the first day of filming. I'm just in a small part of the programme and so do my own hair and make-up. I turned up all ready but did take my make-up bag and hairbrush so that I could freshen up once I got there. The funny thing is that there were eight of us filming that day and not a single woman brushed her hair, powdered her nose or even looked in a mirror as far as I noticed before we started filming (except for me, of course). Now, if that was in Texas the place would've been covered with cosmetics and I would guess at least once straightening iron or set of hot rollers. The cultural differences never cease to amaze me.

Now that Toby is settling into school I've been looking forward to having more time with Rosie. We decided to take her out of Monkey Music and put her into a class at the conservatoire here in Blackheath. Monkey Music only goes up to age 4 but, with the conservatoire, she can keep going until adulthood if she wants. I've put Toby down for an instrument class at the conservatoire where the children learn the basics of seven different instruments over a year. It's to help them decide what they enjoy and what they would like to take further. Toby loves music so I'm hoping he does decide to learn an instrument one day. There's a long waiting list for the class though so it'll probably be next year before he starts.

We're having a lovely weekend. Yesterday I took the children into the city to have lunch with J. We visited his office and then went over to Borough Market to do some browsing and shopping. There's a salt seller that I've always wanted to try. He sells Noirmoutier salt harvested from marshes in France. You can get plain fleurs de sel or sea salt mixed with various spices and herbs. I bought some sea salt mixed with herbes de Provence and used it on some duck breasts for lunch today. It's delicious. We also bought some English asparagus and some of the most beautiful prosciutto di Parma sliced so thin that you can see through it. You can see why I love the market so much.

Today we've been hanging out in the village, going to Costa, the library and J has taken Toby to the heath twice. I think we'll have some very tired children tonight.

Introducing Ian

I swear my ovaries actually lurched when I first looked at these photos. Isn't he beautiful!

Just reminiscing

Just looking through old photos and found this. It's Toby's first day at nursery over two years ago. It's funny to think that I wasn't even pregnant with Rosie yet, though it was only a few weeks later that I discovered she was on the way. Seeing this photo and its similarity with the one taken yesterday makes me think about all the times in the future I'll be standing next to one of the children as they do something for the first time.

Toby's first day at big school

Toby had his first morning at St Margaret's today. He was very brave and he had a good time. J was home this morning for the big event. I made pancakes "like Nana's", one of Toby's favourites, and we had a fairly calm morning. Well, at least by our standards.

We all walked to school together, stopping for the occasional photo opportunity. Tobes looks so handsome in his uniform. When we got close Toby could see the older children playing football in the tennis court and he developed a death grip on Rosie's stroller. Once we got inside the school gates and found his friend from nursery, Thierry, Tobes was fine. He went happily into the classroom and was all smiles when I picked him up at noon.

He does a week of mornings, then a week of mornings plus lunch, then starts full days of 8.55 - 3.30. When I was waiting for him today I saw some of the children eating lunch in the hall. It was so sweet. The tables are laid with the cutlery and cups, everything in its proper place. The children go to a kitchen window for plates of hot food and there are pitchers of water on each table so they can help themselves. It all seems so grown up.

Amazingly, J and I didn't cry this morning. I think it's going to take a while to sink in that this is a big step for our family. J and I talked about it a little bit as we walked into the village. I've loved having babies. It's been the happiest time in my life so far and there's a part of me that would like to have another baby to prolong the experience. But then, we've been very lucky so far and things are so nice right now.... hmmm, maybe I should start thinking about what I want to do next.

End of an era

Today was the last day of Toby's half term. His last day before starting his formal education at the end of which he'll be a young man. God, it makes me want to grip the desk and take deep breaths just thinking about it. We've gotten to this point so quickly. It seems like only a few days ago I was laying in a hospital bed with my new baby boy tucked under my arm. I still remember the smell of him, his tiny hands and hairy ears. I can't believe he's starting school tomorrow.

I had loads of chores to do today but decided to cancel them all and just have a nice day with the children. We went to Cafe Rouge for lunch and Tobes had a citron presse. He loves them because he says it's like making a potion. His potion always contains an awful lot of syrup. Afterwards we flew kites on the heath, bought ice cream and just goofed around for a few hours. When we got home I finished putting labels in Toby's school uniforms and got everything ready.

J is going in to work later so we can all take Toby to school on his first day. I did ask Tobes who he wanted to take him to school and he said all of us so we'll all be trooping down at 8.45 tomorrow morning. This is going to be a big change for me too. No more rolling up an hour late to nursery because we had a bad night or long morning. Nope, I'm going to have to start setting an alarm which is something I haven't done regularly in over five years! Big changes for all of us. We're moving away from having 'babies' to having 'children' now. Ahhhh. Big sigh.

My fifteen minutes continues...

For those of you in the UK, the May edition of Practical Parenting magazine has a small photo of the four of us and a quote from me (page 24) about how old the children were when we started taking them to the cinema. Not terribly exciting but fun to see ourselves in print again.

Springtime

Yesterday was the last day of Toby's half term so we went into town. I was thinking a casual day at the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. They have events for children during half term and good cafes for lunch. Our plans changed when, on the train, Toby said that he would actually prefer to see the dinosaurs. So we got off the train at Charing Cross and hopped in a taxi to South Kensington and the Natural History Museum. We got there fifteen minutes after they opened and there was already a line at the door. It's a very popular place when school is out.

We were lucky though and managed to get tickets to the most popular exhibit, Dino Jaws, which ended today. We also got one of the adventure packs that include binoculars, games, activities and a hat for little explorers. The exhibition was all about what dinosaurs ate and had lots of animatronic dinosaurs and loads of info about dinosaur poo. One of Toby's favourite displays was a big pile of dinosaur poo that even smelled bad. He thought it was so funny. They had some coprolites that children could touch too and that made Toby laugh as well. Ah, four year old boys and their sense of humour.

Today was a gorgeous sunny day and we were all dressed in summer clothes and sandals for a change. I dug out some summer clothes for Rosie that I bought last year in the sales. I try to buy ahead for the kids when I can get a bargain. The problem is trying to guess what size they'll be the following year. I obviously got it wrong this time. Rosie is 17 months old but she is firmly in a size 2 already. The outfit I bought her is 18 mons - 2 years and you can see how small it is on her in the photo. She's going to be a tall girl.

Rosie's communication is really coming along. She's just started two word phrases and can communicate in whole sentences using a combination of words and signing. Tonight is a good example. She is very good at procrastinating going to sleep. She'll ask for more milk, another story, another song, a drink of water, etc, etc. Tonight she asked me to change her nappy by signing. I checked her nappy and told her that it was clean and she didn't need a change. She then signed 'medicine' which is the sign we use for medicine, nappy cream and teething gel. I asked if she needed some medicine and she shook her head no. I asked if she needed some nappy cream and she nodded and then pointed at her nappy and said "bits" which is what we call her vagina (it's an English thing). Of course, I had to check and sure enough she had some nappy rash so I put some cream on the rash and took her back to bed and she finally went to sleep. So nice that she can tell us what's wrong. I'm sure it saves a lot of tantrums and frustration.

Congrats Jon, Angie and Dyl!!

Ian arrived yesterday safe and sound. Angie ended up with a cesarean but Mom said that she's doing well. I've only spoken to Mom so far and have been told that Ian weighs 6lb+, is a very alert and peaceful boy and already has curly hair. Mom has been staying with Dyllin so that Jon can stay at the hospital with Angie and Ian. Can't wait to get all the details!

Ian Black

OK guys, send some positive vibes out Texas way today. My sister-in-law Angie is being induced so baby Ian will be here sometime in the next 24 hours or so!! I'm so excited for them. New babies are just the most wonderful thing in the world. I hope it all goes smoothly and with minimum pain. Can't wait to see photos of the precious little dumplin'. You can tell from his 3D ultrasound that he's a cutie already!

Someone kill me. Now.

Good God, it's the second day of Toby's week off of school and already we're ready to kill each other. Tobes is having a time out in his room right now for pushing Rosie. He's bored out of his mind and so am I. We tried going out on the heath today but the weather is horrible, grey and threatening rain, so we came back home. I seem to have a bug or something and feel totally exhausted and just the thought of going into London makes me feel worse. We talked about going to Bluewater to see a film but Tobes couldn't decided what he wanted to see, I dreaded the half-term crowds and we ended up doing nothing. All my plans for days out have evaporated. All I want to do is lie down with a book and rest but of course that's not going to happen. I think we'll just stay home, bicker and pray for bedtime. Yuck.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Lazy Holidays

A couple of photos taken in the last couple of days. The top one was taken this morning in our home from home - Costa Coffee. The bottom one was taken yesterday of the children playing with friends on the heath.

We're just hanging out and taking it easy. Both of the children have coughs so we're having a home day today and watching Toby's Happy Feet DVD. Well, the DVD is on right now but Toby and Rosie are fighting over a train station and I'm pretending that I don't hear them. Same difference.

Deep in the bowels of PMS

Any guys who read this blog might want to skip this entry. It's going to be a lot of woman talk. Very much Our Bodies, Ourselves kind of stuff. Then again, stick around and you might learn something.

I always thought that as I got older the whole period thing would get easier. It seems logical to me that my hormones would be more unstable as a blossoming 18 year old than they would be as a pretty settled 36 year old. It seems I'm wrong. The older I get the worse my PMS gets. The image that comes to mind these days is someone covered in bees. The natural desire is to swat the bees away, stand up, run, find water and get the damn things off of you. Problem is, if you do that you'll probably get stung about 1000 times and drive yourself mad so you just do your best to sit still, breathe slowly and hope that they eventually go away. This is what I'm like with PMS. It's like tension crawling all over my skin and all I can do is try to stay calm and wait it out.

A good example is the other night when we ordered pizza for dinner. I went to put Rosie down for the night and by the time I went back to the kitchen ALL of the pizza was gone. I thought I might self-combust but decided to give J the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had put some pizza away for me. We had a little conversation that went something like this:


Me: Is there any pizza left?

J: No. I didn't think you wanted any.

Me: OK, I guess I'll have some cereal then.


Of course, in my mind it played out a little differently:


Me: Is there any pizza left?

J: No. I didn't think you wanted any.

Me: OK, I guess I'll have some cereal then... [pause]... since there's no pizza left you selfish greedy BASTARD. You didn't think I wanted any pizza?! For future reference, if there's any pizza in the house then yes I would like a slice. Just one measley slice would do. I don't think that's too much to ask. Did you really even consider for one single second that I would want some pizza? Noooooo. You just considered YOUR need for pizza and didn't spare a thought for anyone else's needs. And you know, that is just the problem with the world today. No one considers anyone else's needs. It's all me, me, me. It starts with pizza and then it's other food and then water and then petrol and then.... and then a bunch of other stuff and the next thing you know it's WAR. And killing and global warming and nuclear weapons and then the whole world is a big fucking fire ball and NO ONE is getting what they need. And then how will you feel mister?? You and your belly full of pizza!

And that is how J eating all of the pizza led to the destruction of the planet and the end of all life as we know it.

Our chocolate bunnies

Easter morning and already Toby has had one time-out in his room and I feel like my head might explode. I guess that's what happens when children start eating chocolate at 7am. Rosie has been enjoying her special dairy-free chocolate egg and some Jelly Babies made with all natural fruit juice (plus loads of sugar). Tobes has been eating chocolate eggs, Jelly Babies and all of the white chocolate bits off of some really sweet ducks and a lamb that J brought home.

We seem to have fallen into an Easter tradition of going to the circus. Last year Jenny, Kieran, Jack and Kate came down and this year we went with Marija, Andy and James. It's Zippo's Circus on the heath and it's a lovely, little circus. All of the performers are in more than one act and even take turns selling popcorn and drinks during intermission. We had a great time.

Yesterday we did a whirlwind tour of Cambridgeshire visiting J's Mum and Dad, J's Nana and then Jenny & Kieran. Barry & Brenda were camping in their motorhome in Godmanchester so we stopped in for a cup of tea and an egghunt that the "Easter Bebe" had organised for Toby. Then we visited Nana at her place in Sawtry. Nana is 92 and looking quite frail though her spirits were up yesterday. She gave Toby a ten pound note for Easter and told him to give Rosie half for her Easter treat. Toby promptly tore the note in half and handed it to Rosie!

We stopped at Burger King for lunch and then went to see Jenny & Kieran at their house. The children played in the garden, the guys read the paper and talked football, Jenny and I peeled potatoes and gossipped in the kitchen then we all watched the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race (Cambridge won!! Hooray!!) and had some gorgeous Moroccan Lamb for dinner in the garden. Lovely day.

Today we're off to Greenwich Park for some Easter festivities. That is, once we get the children cleaned up and dressed. There seems to be chocolate EVERYWHERE.

Happy Easter!!

Conversations with Toby

After a discussion about evolution and how people evolved from apes:

"Mommy, Daddy is quite hairy and he does like bananas. I think there's some gorilla left in him."

**********

Me: "Toby, if you don't behave the Easter Bunny won't bring you that Happy Feet DVD you want."

Toby: "That's OK. If the Easter Bunny doesn't bring it I'll just ask Nana."

**********

When Rosie started crying in the night:

"It's OK, darling. I'm here."

**********

Playing Twenty Questions at dinner tonight:

Me: "Are you thinking of an animal?"

T: "Yes."

Me: "Is it hairy?"

T: "No."

Me: "Does it have four legs?"

T: "No."

Me: "Does it have a tail?"

T: "No."

Many, many questions later...

Me: "I give up what is it?"

T: "A horse, silly!"

Tv debut and my gorgeous boy

Well, I filmed my British TV debut today. It seemed to go very well. There really wasn't much to it. I was in a group with three other women and we had to stand in front of the camera, look at the camera, look away from the camera. Look at each other, look away from each other. Chat with each other, etc, etc. I'm going to be testing a celebrity weight loss plan and I've been very lucky. I was afraid that I would get Beyonce's maple syrup diet or something disgusting like that but we've got the Slim Patch. It's like a nicotine patch and you stick it on your bottom and eat normally. The patch is supposed to release something that makes you lose weight. Sounds like my dream diet!

The other girls were very nice and we've exchanged email addresses to keep in touch over the next six weeks until we go back to film the results. I really can't imagine that this thing is going to work but it sounds good.

Toby also had his last day at nursery. J took him in along with the cakes and presents and I picked him up after filming. They had a leaving party for him this afternoon and when I asked him how it went he said it was really nice but his eyes 'melted a little'. My sweet boy.

Ms Suki sent home a big envelope of his work including his diary which he would write in every Monday. It says things like "At the weekend I played with my sister. At the weekend I went to the park. At the weekend I played with James." It's so sweet to see it in Toby's wobbly writing and to see how his writing has improved since he started. We were also given Toby's nursery report, a copy for us and a copy for St Margaret's. Please bear with me for the next few seconds, I'm so proud that I have to include some excerpts:

"It has been a joy to have Toby at the nursery. He is a popular member of class... he is a caring and happy child. Tobias is helpful and will help the younger children to wash their hands or do up their coat if necessary."

"Tobias likes to pretend he is the teacher and reads a book to all his peers, turning pages one at a time and showing them the pictures." [He does this with Rosie too.]

It also talks about his skills with letters, numbers, sensorial skills and things like cooking, computer work and physical activities. Tobes left with certificates in French, dance, music, swimming, writing and math. I am so incredibly proud of him.

After I picked him up from school we went to Starbucks and went through his folder looking at all of his work. I was reading his school report and Toby said, "Mommy, are you proud? Is that why you're crying?"

Big week

Tomorrow is Toby's last day at nursery. Ever. I know I'm going to cry but I am comforted by the fact that Rosie will be going to the same nursery in about 18 months. The Blackheath Montessori Centre has been so wonderful and Toby's teacher, Ms Suki, is going to be a hard act to follow.

Toby is doing a whole day tomorrow - 9am - 4.30pm - so that they can have a party in the afternoon with all of the children. It's part Easter party and part Toby's leaving party. We've got two Power Rangers cakes to take in. The cake Toby wanted wasn't big enough for everyone so we just bought two of them! We've also got presents for his teachers and we've made some Easter eggs for his classmates. Mom bought us some of those little plastic Easter eggs a few years ago and we've filled them with chocolates and little fluffy chickens for the children. (Note to Mom: Gonna need more eggs.)

Tomorrow I'm also going to film my bit for the TV show! I'm feeling very nervous about it. I don't mind looking silly or goofy but I would hate to look stupid or ugly. Hmmm, I wonder what that says about my psyche... Anyway, I'm heading off bright and early to a studio in some God-foresaken part of London. Wish me luck.

Then we have a four day weekend. Woo hoo!! It's filling up fast though. On Friday we're planning to go to the little circus on the heath with Marija, Andy and James. On Saturday we're going up to Cambridge to see J's family and Jenny & Kieran. Sunday is Easter and I'm doing a traditional lunch then we're going over to Greenwich Park for an Easter egg hunt and other festivities. The Easter bunnny will have made a visit too, of course, and he's been very good this year and found a special allergy-safe chocolate egg for Rosie.

The traditional thing in England is to give these big hollow chocolate eggs. You do get bunnies too and sometimes ducks or lambs but the eggs are the thing. On Good Friday you should have fish which goes back to the time when meat was forbidden food on Fridays though I can't remember why. I'm planning to make a fish pie which should be nice. Hot cross buns are also traditional Easter food as is a cake called a Simnel cake which is decorated with marzipan balls to represent each of the disciples, so it's either 11 or 12 depending on whether or not you count Judas. Most people do not. Then it's roast lamb and all the trimmings on Easter Sunday to represent the Paschal lamb. We're not at all religious but I do like to follow tradition. I'm thinking next year we might celebrate Passover just to even things out.

It's funny but when I think of the "traditional" Easter food of my childhood I think of marshmallow chicks (what are they called??), those candy eggs that are bright colours on the outside and fluffy white sugar on the inside, hollow chocolate bunnies with blue sugar paste eyes and of course lots of boiled chicken eggs. We don't see many real boiled eggs here but we always dye a bunch ourselves using kits that Mom has bought us in the States. (Note to Mom II: Gonna need more egg dye.)

Then Monday is our day of rest. We're thinking Costa for breakfast, Cafe Rouge or Pizza Express for lunch and lots of just hanging around before and after.

Have a lovely Easter!

Fab weekend

Jenny and I had a great, relaxing weekend at Sopwell House. Yesterday we laid by the pool and read the half dozen trashy mags I had picked up on the way. What is going on with old Britney? And Angelina has adopted AGAIN?!

Then we primped and dressed for dinner, stopping for G&Ts in the cocktail bar beforehand. We had a really wonderful three course dinner in the restaurant. I had potted crab with brown shrimp then duck with morels and an amazing baked Alaska for dessert. Afterwards we went to our room, opened a bottle of buck's fizz, painted our nails, tried out some face masks, watched bad TV, talked and laughed a lot. I slept the whole night without having to get out of bed once! It was such a treat after the previous three nights with poorly children. I managed to sleep in until 9am when our huge breakfasts arrived, which we ate in bed.

Today was more active and I actually got in the pool and did some treadmill. I balanced out the exercise with a full afternoon tea with four kinds of sandwiches, homemade scones with jam and clotted cream plus a tiny chocolate eclair and a raspberry tart. Gorgeous.

The journey home was a bit of a nightmare with railway problems every step of the way but I made it back still feeling blissed out from my weekend away. Must do it more often.