A review

Josh is about to turn 14 weeks and we've just started to arrange his baptism. The days have a semi-rhythmical pattern of feeds and nappy changes to them and even bedtime appears to be settling down. It's as though I'm distanced enough from the birth and the chaos of the first weeks to write something constructive. So here is what we've learned:

1. If your labour is as long and arduous as mine it can really affect the first few weeks of your life together and that can be distressing. We were rocked by it all and it didn't help the breast feeding. All the literature says not to mix bottles and breast until they're at least 6 weeks old. This is I now know, pap. Utter pap. Quite a lot of the government literature is pap I've discovered. I know women who rescued their breast feeding by giving a bottle of formula at night so they could get some sleep. Some even gave it up for a week or two and then resumed it when they felt well enough, expressing all the while to keep their milk flowing. My first lesson I learned was, too late, stuff the rules.
2. From the start of his third week, when Alex went on paternity leave, I went to a mum and baby yoga class. This was a lifeline. Firstly I overcame the challenge of getting there on the bus with a baby, getting him dressed and fed, and generally functioning which made me feel wonderful. The breath of fresh air and the walk was good for him and for me and stopped me going crazy stuck in the house. The company of other mums also going through the same stuff made me feel much less alone. And the exercises we did together made me feel much more confident at handling him, knowing what to expect from him and able to encourage his development. Overall a thumbs up!
3. Sleep deprivation is absolutely the hardest thing to deal with in the whole world; no exaggeration. We were lucky that our big baby physically outgrew his moses basket and at 7 weeks (6 months is the government recommendation) had to move to his nursery. I learned that the mute button can be your best friend. This sounds awful but it is true. Babies are noisy sleepers. We disturbed him and vice versa. Add to that the basic fact that a newborn considers nighttime to be playtime and it becomes very hard going. Josh is fab though. As soon as he started to get interested in the world around him instead of sleeping all day he started sleeping better at night. And again I suppose bottle feeding came in handy here too because he could sustain playtime for longer between naps because bottles fill you up more. I'm still very sad we didn't breast feed but I don't imagine he'd be sleeping 10 hours a night like he does now if we had.
4. Colic can be overcome and medical professionals don't know what the hell they're talking about. Colic is described by the NHS as any unexplained crying. When I asked about colic and said he was crying A LOT they patronisingly said 'well babies do cry'. Colic can be made better (at least Josh's was) and here's what we did: Used probiotic; Changed him and laid him flat using a cushion/pillow; Raised his moses basket mattress at one end with a towel so his head was raised; Did a daily tummy time (it helps their digestion); Kept an eye on nappies for signs of any intolerances; Gave him water where possible; Burped him thoroughly and soothed him as much as possible; Tried Infacol (placebo effect I think) and Colief in his milk which actually worked; finally We changed his feed to Aptamil formula for colic and constipation. I couldn't say which one clinched it, maybe all of them, but at 10 weeks or so he just seemed to stop crying due to colic...
5. Only to be replaced by teething! Teething has made him crabby and I've found it easier to deal with than colic. For a start the cause is clear and by the time teething kicked in a) I was a more experienced mum and b) had discovered the dummy. The dummy was our best friend from about his 2nd week of life. To anyone who says they are unnecessary I say: pooh to you with knows on. We've tried baby Bongela and Anbesol; both recommended but the last two days Calpol had to be used as baby Joshua's cries became more anguished. But for a baby who needs to suck for comfort a dummy is an absolute must-have.
6. That said we have recently decided to cut down use of the dummy to a bare minimum and, proudly, I can report some success. He now uses it on average once a day, gets himself off to sleep for most naps without it and even some nights at least starts without it. The reason was purely because he woud thrash about at night searching for his beloved dummy; driving himself crazy he'd almost break his neck in the search. We're hoping cutting the use of it down will result in a better nights sleep for all of us. In defense of the dummy a speech and language therapist friend told us that non-nutritive sucking is very good for babies. Also, as it was one of the most familliar objects in Josh's life it was the first thing he tried to grab at, which improved his hand eye coordination enormously. Most importantly it helped to calm and soothe him at an age where very few other things could.

I think this summarises most major points but we learn new things daily. If asked would I do it again the answer is an emphatic 'yes'!

The start of the adventure

Was he really this small?

Getting out and about #1

Getting out and about #2

Al feeding

Bath time

Asleep in our bed

Xmas with dad, uncles Dave and Nathan, aunties Claire and Laura

What a good grip

Discovering the Christmas tree

On Christmas day

with Great Nan, Nan and Grandad

Godmother Danielle gets a hug too

Laughing with dad

Posing for mum

The fun part 2

There's more...
This week me and mum had arranged to go shopping for baby bedding. We went to Mothercare at Shirley Retail Park and my two mum's were very good to Bean, very good indeed! Bless him, the little chap's being spoilt to death and he's not even out... To say thankyou I took us for lunch at Mortons in Dickens Heath as it's on the way home and we had a very pleasant day together.

Mum, Fran and me

 Then, yesterday, lovely Laura came by for me at 3pm to take me to an unnamed location... Intriguing! Her sat nav said Knowle was the destination, and I suspected there was some kind of baby shower awaiting me but had no idea what to expect. Final destination was, it turned out, the Heron's Nest pub in Knowle where around 15 of my friends and my mum were waiting for me alongside the brains behind the operation, Danielle. It was such a surprise and so wonderful to see everyone together! Friends who aren't normally thrown together getting along like a house on fire; that really floats my particular boat!

Claire and the cake 'assembled' by Danielle

Teresa playing 'Stick the dummy on the baby'

  

The baby



And the winner is..!

The group

There was Danielle Sumner and Susie Emerton, Ruth Gallagher, Vicky Gilhoully, Laura with Emma, ben and mum Gill, Danielle and mum Wendy, my mum (of course :)), Pauline Weaver, Teresa Salter with Sian, Catherine Shelley, Claire Davies, and if I've forgotton anyone then my hugest apologies. I was shaking for a few minutes then after catching up with people, some of whom I hadn't seen in YEARS, I settled down to opening presents! Oh my goodness were our friends generous! Danielle's mum had made flower arrangements for the table and helped Danielle set up, Laura had had the brainwave of games and Danielle had pulled the whole thing together. And all the guests had driven through the wilds of Warwickshire to come together and spol little Bean rotten. He now has more outfits than me! And impressively there was a smattering of clothes across the ages newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months and 6-9 months so they bought SMART. Mum bought everyone's drink to say thank you. Emma, who hadn't been feeling well for days, rallied and was at her most charming. Everyone contributed. I must say I am massively grateful to all my lovely friends... words aren't enough.

At church yesterday the vicar Jane gave me communion and said a blessing on the child within, a personal touch of hers that is just eautiful. She blessed him and I thought 'he truly is blessed'. It's a bank holiday Monday today and yesterday afternoon Alex put the icing on the cake by building his cot. So Bean has a bed and a wardrobe! I'm starting to pinch myself and think this long-dreamed of baby is going to be a reality soon. Happy days.

What an amazing few weeks

It's been an incredible time. We've had worldwide concern for our welfare, seen the worst and best of humanity, and enjoyed ourselves immensely with some of the best friends we could wish for.
Two weeks ago I began the week expecting a normal-ish week and then the riots happened. Birmingham city centre became a scary place for a few days and I'm very grateful that for two days I was allowed to work from home. But apart from feeling a little exposed and vulnerable and there being a weird a sense of aggression and the occasional riot van I didn't witness anything except the fear of the unknown. Work allowed me to stay and work at home and so I actually really only heard the reports and watched the news with increasing alarm, thinking of my friends at work in the city centre. The weirdest thing was being there in the morning. The shop where I buy my breakfast sometimes was full of business owners also there to pick up food whose shops had been attacked. They were normal people, just having a really rubbish week and I felt so sorry for them. The sandwich shop where I buy my lunch was all boarded up after being looted; another independent retailer. My friend who lived in the city centre had been forced to walk home from work along Broad St and through a massive gang of lads ripping into every shop they could get their hands on. It was the proximity of it all and the feeling of being 8 months pregnant and very exposed. The weirdest thing actually was on a lunch break or when being evacuated we saw these 'youths' and you would normally have just walked past them unthinking, but there they were grinning and laughing about yesterday's axploits, bold as brass. I was furious with them for holding a whole city to ransom. A city, by the way, already struggling with enough financial problems. Talk about kicking a chap when he's already down.

But the week drew to a close. On the Friday I received messages of support from colleagues in London and India, and all the family in Spain had sent texts, even Laura holidaying in Boston with Luis and Eric had seen something was afoot. And how can you feel too upset with so many people caring about you?
That said on the Thursday night me and Alex were eating our dinner when the next door neighbour's house was broken into and riot vans and policemen turned up. I go for months without seeing policemen and in Birmingham I can honestly say I've always felt very safe. To suddenly discover your neighbour's house has been attacked while you're innocently tucking into your shepherd's pie is bizarre and not a little unsettling. I felt just as sorry for the neighbours (who were in at the time and ran for their lives out the back door)  as I did for the policeman who came and sat on our sofa and looked half dead with tiredness. The poor guy had workd 60 out of the last 70 odd hours and was on his last legs. He was awfully nice. Yet another victim of the looters. I had a nightmare that night about our house being attacked and Alex ending up dead, but otherwise have remained relatively sensible (if at times slightly highly strung).

That sunday I went to church with Emma. The sermons are always highly relevant to topical concerns at St Nicolas and Rev John talked about the looters' need for respect and forgiveness and forced me to take a good look at my own reactions. Had my anger (justifiable or not) been a Christian reaction? Probably not. No, I'd say not. Last night, 2 weeks after the service I said to Emma it was my turn to write the prayers and did she have anything she thought I should say and she said "Ask him to help the rioters never happen again and for us all to love each other". So in and amongst the sadness and confusion there is at least one 6 year old who's learned something valuable. Bless her.

After the riots came the fun...

Time flying by

Wow we were 25 weeks pregnant in the last post and are now rapidly approaching 32 weeks; all I can say is time really has flown!

In chronological order, then, Me and Al went out with the Billesley Players for a meal the following week to congratulate ourselves on a job well done. but Sheila, the director of the next play in November had a sad announcement. There are simply not enough male members in the group to do the next play so it was cancelled. I wasn't going to be in it anyway but it's a sad situation for the group. It's not that men haven't joined but they've all either left after one or two plays or they've walked out half way through the rehearsals process; which is always a nightmare. Girls have joined and stayed but boys just don't seem to care enough about the community aspect to not bother about letting the rest of us down. Of course, Sheila could have directed a play with just girls in it but at the end of the day she has to direct a play she likes and she couldn't find anything appropriate.  I think it was a bit of a shock for the group and the problem will take some thinking over...

We had a couple of weeks after this of just normal life. We went to work, I went to church, we rested, we cooked; it was nice! This in itself deserves  a mention as it's been all go for months and to have a couple of weekends where the biggest plan involved going to the pub was amazing. I think Alex is enjoying the bonus of having a designated driver, and to be honest I really don't miss the drinks - there are some great non alcoholic beers out there; I'm quite partial to a Cobra. Then we celebrated Sam from thatre's wedding and Emma's birthday on the same day and for one day it was busy busy again.

The following weekend I went to see We will Rock You (click on the link to see the tour's official photographs) with mum and dad. I'm still not convinced they recognised half the songs but we had a great time which is all that counts! It was at the Birmingham Hippodrome and it was brilliant. I mean, don't go if you want something with a super clever storyline, or even a plot that holds together all that well; but it has great one liners, witty characters (Scaramouche, for want of a better word, rocks!) and of course stellar music. We finished on a real high, on our feet crooning to Bohemian Rhapsody, arms in the air and generally high as kites! I had to sit down for the last minute or two as all the excitement had worn me out but I still gave Scaramouch a standing ovation, along with the rest of the audience. The only weker point was Galileo who seemed to much of a sweetiepie to be the rock star super hero that we were meant to believe him to be. Maybe it was because I read in the programme that he'd starred in Grease musical on stage as Danny Zucho - or maybe it was because he actually still looked like him with the white T shirt. He wasn't a Freddie Mercury at all - but then who on earth could claim to be?

The next week was my 28 week blood teast and with it the midwife measured the bump and plotted Bean's size on a graph. He is apparently just slightly over the average size but I'm not taking it with more than a pinch of salt. Those graphs are based on average sizes and basically until he's out we're not going to know. And, as Alex puts it, a few ounces either side won't make too much difference; it's still going to hurt. Thanks hon!

That Saturday me Danielle Laura and Claire went to the IMAX in Birmingham to see Harry Potter in 3d. If you want to get a feeling for what it was like basically click on the link above to see the trailer and you'll get about 2%. The 3d film was spectacular, a proper roller coaster, the 3d element wasn't gimmicky it was really cleverly done. The first image of Hogwarts from the air shorouded in mist and dementors would have been great on any cinema screen. But in 3d you actually float through the sky and through the dementors, like they're just THERE! OK it was my first 3d experience and it's probably not worth it for many films but go and see Harry Potter at the IMAX (Thinktank, Millennium Point, Bham, Midlands, UK - ok?) if you see it at all because it's brilliant!

The next day we awoke with plans to take a leisurely shopping trip for baby items. But the best laid plans of mice and men as they say... The old freezer had broken so we had to defrost it and rescue what food we could before heading out to choose and buy a new one. That said in one day we did well; we bought a travel cot and monitor, changing mats and a few other bits from Mothercare, and a normal cot from John Lewis. In fact John Lewis took so long serving us they knocked 30% off the price which was good! Finally Alex went off to collect the freezer, he took the old freezer into the garden, unpacked and turned the doors over on the new one, and got the kitchen back to normal while I cooked. Restful it was not; but it was damn useful.

The next Tuesday me and Alex attended our Parent Education class at the Womens Hospital. We learned about the labour itself; types of pain relief; what to expect and the likely order of things; the differences between the delivery suite, birth centre and a home birth; we got a tour of the delivery suite (a normal hospital room where all types of pain relief and doctors are available) and birth centre (a more relaxing environment that can be used with more flexibility); and got to ask as many questions as we liked. We also did a tiny intro to breathing and massage. It was really useful and made us feel loads more prepared and involved.

So now we approach 32 weeks and I feel like we're getting 'there' - wherever there is. It feels good. Four weeks and 2 days left at work and then it'll be Bean time proper! Bring it on!

News!

We are excited to annouce the impending arrival of a baby Harris in October! Approaching our next scan on May 23rd. For the time being we're referring to the lil' one as the Bean, being as we're not sure if it's a boy or girl... We have been able to share our news by word of mouth for the most part so now we're ready to share the news online. Wish us luck!

¡Estamos muy felices al poder anunciar la llegada esperada de un bebe Harris en Octubre! Tendremos el proximos scan el 23 de Mayo. Por el momento llamamos al bebe como Bean, ya que no sabemos si es niño o niña... Hemos podido compartir nuestra noticia de boca en boca, pues ahora es la hora para comparirlo por el blog. ¡Deseamos suerte!

The Bean



Reunion, Birthday Picnic and Barbeque

Hello all, another instalment in the happy world of Gemma and Alex. And it really is happy at the moment, with my birthday, Easter day, easter week holiday booked off, the Royal wedding holiday and bank holiday Monday to boot! We've been aiming for this week off for months, it's as good as the Christmas holidays!

The weekend before the holiday I actually met up with Lisa, Danielle St Leon and Danielle Sumner, all friends from Blue Coat. Lisa and Danielle I get to catch up with regularly, they are two of my best friends in all the world. But it was a good chance to catch up with Danielle Sumner, aka Ruck as she was when we all went to school together. We'd also hoped to see Susie but unfortunately she couldn't make it. Anyway the three of us and Danielle's little girl had a lovely meal together and a good old catch up.

Danielle and Amelia

Danielle Danielle and Lisa

Playtime

 Then that evening me and Danielle went to see mum in her World Song choir concert. It was joyous and loud and invigorating, as ever. Una May the conductor sang beautifully and led the choir and I was proud as punch to watch her. Their website gives a flavour of the style, colour and flamboyance, as well as a little of their repertoire. Go to: www.worldsong.co.uk/

Mum's concert

Then 4 days of work dragged by like nobody's business and finally... we started our holiday with Good Friday. We basically had a relaxing day in the build up to my birthday next day, visited B&Q and chose some wallpaper for our guestroom. The plan was to get the diy underway in our week off for the spare guest room. It's a pretty green design, a bit classy I think, if we can get it up alright!

Saturday I woke up and Alex presented me with my card and my birthday present, the much anticipated Harry Potter dvd, yey! And after a brief visit to Sainsbury's for some picnic ingredients we drove to Cannon Hill Park. We took my parents in the car and met Danielle, then Nathan Laura and kids Emma and Ben, Ben and Lauren, Pete and Vicky, LC and daughter Leah, Claire, Dave, Milly Rob and their neice Holly, Phil Jo and his son Lewis. The sun shone and the food was abundant! The boys kicked/threw/caught a ball/frisbie and the rest of us chilled out and caught up. I opened a few presents and cards and enjoyed the fresh air. The only downer was poor Lisa. Bless her she set off from Coventry but her sat nav played up and she never quite figured out how to get to the park. After two hours of driving around in circles poor Lisa headed home in desperation, I am quite sure vowing never to return to Birmingham!

The picnic

Me, obviously

Danielle and Claire

 Then all of a sudden the storm clouds blew over and for 5 minutes the rain fell. Even though the rain was very brief we decided that as we'd been out for about 4 hours we'd head home for a bbq - that way if more rain fell we could at least shelter in the house! As it happened, it didn't rain at all and we spent a very pleasant evening and then a night at home. Emma and Holly were best friends by the time they parted after hours eating, playing lego and colouring in. The boys crowded around the bbq and got the burgers and sausages cooking and left over picnic food was out on the table and we all chilled out on the lawn until it finally got too cold.

Al and dad

the bbq

 By 11 o'clock I was knackered! Dave, who'd got off a 30 hour flight from New Zealand, slept over, and Vicky was asleep on the sofa until well after I went to bed. The last two up were Pete and Alex, playing darts into the night.

These days I seem to wake up before Alex but go to bed earlier too, and Easter Sunday was no different. I headed off to church where I caught up with Jean and Mike, Sue and many other friends cause the church was packed for Easter. After the service me and Sue ran the tea and coffee and caught up with lots of the congregation. Afterwards I ran over in the car to Nathan and Laura's to sit in the sun with them and their parents while they got their bbq underway to wish them a happy easter while Alex got himself ready for Sunday lunch at his parents. and then we went for food with the Harris', a chat with Nan and a quick nap on the sofa... a gentle day all round rounded up with stacking up all our chocolate eggs :) !

Easter eggs!

Next post... NEWS!

Progress and normality

Last Saturday it was mum's birthday, and a glorious day. Sheer summer. We went to Kenilworth and sat in the Queen and Castle, literally opposite the beautiful castle remains. Only trouble was it took so long for the food to arrive that we missed most of the good weather ond only squeezed in a five minute walk before heading back to the car park... Still, mum seemed to enjoy herself and it was a good opportunity to catch up with auntie Shelagh and uncle David who we don't get to see too often. David's always full of stories cause he volunteers for the talking newspaper for the blind in Coventry. I just checked out the newspaper's website and I'm amazed at how much more technologically advanced they've become. Years ago they'd distribute cassettes of magazine-style news and feature stories and interviews. Now you can also download them as a podcast. Uncle David is a driven man. He seizes every opportunity to get a story for the paper. The moment a famous person comes within 50 miles of the city he jumps in his car and uses his charm to get an interview by hook or by crook. This shy man has met everyone from Buzz Aldrin to his holiness the Dalai Lama. It's pretty remarkable actually. As a result the blind community in Coventry benefit from his efforts - It's a gorgeous idea the talking newspaper. And I'm extra fond of it because as a child uncle David got me a few features on the programme, interviewing people or telling stories. It was quite a confidence boost! One time a blind couple wrote in to thank me for my rambling story-telling and sent me a bracelet as a thank you, which I've kep to this day even though it's hopelesly too small for me now. I't's put me touch with people that I'd never have got the chance to meet; like the blind farmer on Kenilworth Rd whose hobby was archery. It's cool.

Last sunday was a normal sunday; church and chilling at home. The weather was still pretty fine, and Alex came home with the usual football injuries but otherwise ok. Mosely Town had lost but he'd scored so overall he was ok! The next day was Uncle Ken's funeral. Uncle Ken Cartwright was a delightful man. He was married to Alex's aunt, one of nan's sisters. Whenever I saw his he had a smile for me, always made a joke, and after decades of living in Birmingham he spoke with a real shropshire accent. He loved his garden and up until the last year he worked on the neighbours' gardens. Twinkly eyes and a smile is what I'll always remember. Alex was particularly fond of his uncle. He recognises that as a child he was very full of beans; the family had to work pretty hard to keep up with him and tried everything they could to tire him out! He has many happy memories of spending days with uncle Ken doing just that; taking him to the hobby shop, or to walk the dog or kick a ball around. The funeral came around and the day was  another glorious one weather wise. We gathered at the crem and it was a sad day obviously but a friendly and warm family occasion in many ways and I was glad to attend with Alex and his parents. In honour of Ken, after the wake, we went home and did our garden and enjoyed the outdoors. With any luck he knew!

Uncle Ken on the left, Nan and uncle Tom at Nan's 95th birthday 3 years ago

On Friday we (Al, Nath, Laura and Phil Blakey) went to the Patrick Kavanagh pub in Mosely for Claire's 30th birthday. As Claire is in the next play alongside me she'd used the evening for some 'shameless self promotion' and put up posters on the walls to help sell tickets. It would be marvellous to sell as many as possible... We had such fun! Half the Billesley Players were there and we all bumped into people we hadn't caught up with in ages. I danced all night and we had a whale of a time!

Everyone!

Birthday girl - Claire - aka Sylvie in the Odd Couple

After a week's effort we've finished the bottom of the garden and it finally looks tidy and something to be proud of. Alex researched plants that grow under connifers and we went out and got some herbs too for that old basin that's been in the garden waiting for us to fill it up. He cut up a new end to the lawn and in the process discovered several massive concrete blocks (aha - no wonder the grass never grew there...). Then we spent yesterday (Saturday) afternoon getting out fresh compost from the composter ( I love that we make our own compost - it's magic! You put crap in at one end and life giving soil comes out at the other!) to bank up the new rockery area and plant it all up. I love looking out of our bedroom window now!

Herbs in the old basin

One half of the new rockery
- wild flower seeds, lavender and daffodils

Researched plants plus mint, rosemary bush and curry plant

Raspberry bushes are growing up! Fruit hopefully this year!

Finally; the play's progress. We had theatre on Thursday and I'm reapplying myself. It was our first rehearsal in a couple of weeks and I felt a little nervous. I'd forgotten large chunks and the scare has really been good for me. Even though everyone else seemed to think it went ok I'm going to be stuck to my script for a few weeks I think. It'm getting into the detail of it now. There are so many elements to research and think through; the intonation, pauses, rhythm, breathing, movements and quirks of every phrase need thinking through and analysing now that I've memorised the broad outline of each conversation. We're getting there!

Feliz Navidad y un prospero ano nuevo

Just a quick message from the Harris household to all friends and family: Happy 2011!

It is very weird to think that yet another year has gone by. For our goddaughter Emma a year constitutes a major percentage of her short life. The children of friends and family are growing up; our jobs change; our skills develop; our house improves and the years pass. We moved here on 10 December 2004 and it feels like a lifetime ago.

So here's to 2011 - may it bring us all surprises and new experiences. May our families strengthen their bonds, and those close to us grow in confidence and strength of purpose. Let 2011 be the best year yet!

Un mensaje rapido del hogar de los Harris a nuestro familia y amigos: ¡Feliz 2011!

Es muy raro pensar que otro año mas está terminado. Para nuestro ahijada Emma un año constituye un porcentaje mayor de su vida corta. Los hijos de amigos y familia se hacen grande; nuestros trabajos cambian; nuestros habilidades desarollan; mejoramos nuestro casa y los años pasan. Mudamos aqui el 10 de Diciembre 2004 y me parece como si pertenecía a otra vida entera.

Asi que brindamos al año 2011 - que nos traiga sorporesas y experiencias nuevas. Que nuestras familias se fortalecen, y que la gente a quien más queremos crecen en felicidad y determinación. ¡Que 2011 sea el mejor año aún!

Then suddenly it's Christmas; Y ahora Navidad

So Christmassy it's untrue!

I went along with Laura, Emma, auntie Vanessa and granny Gill and grandad Richard to the Dudley Canal Trust's Christmas event to see a mini panto of Cinderella. We got to go on a barge through the tunnels to see Cinders, Buttons Griselda and finally Santa himself. And warmed back up again with a cuppa and a mince pie. Needless to say Emma had a ball!

The Collins Family

Look at that!

Then I drove to Coventry to see my mum in her choir's Christmas concert. She's in One Voice which does a mixture of lively and quiet international songs and carols. They sing Polish, German, French, South African, Gospel and just about any song from anywhere in the original language. The concert was very good, as ever, and itwas heart-warming to see mum singing her heart out. There is something really great about singing in a choir - maybe in a few years I'll go back to it because it is a joyous sensation. So here they are in action. Many people will not associate the words 'a shrinking violet' with my mother but due to her short stature and her unwillingness to stand on the front row for more than 5 minutes it was blinking difficult to get any decent footage.

And then the flu came. It was faily inescapable that after everyone in the office and also Alex got the killer bug that I would get it too. For over a week now I've been pathetic; coughing lots and generally sounding a bit like the devil. But I'm recovering, and just in time too because...

It's Christmas!

So excited... I'm getting better, all cosy and warm and the snow outside is making the world very pretty. I'm sorry. I know everyone's having a really tough time because the car won't start; their plane's been cancelled and that evil snow is making them put on 50 layers of clothing each time they need to leave the house but for me it's not been so bad. The buses carried on regardless (thank you Travel West Midlands); the streets were not completely full of annoying people because they'd all stayed at home; I've not had to face a full-on shop at Sainsbury's because we can't drive there; and a few days ago I had the first snowball fight that I can remember having (except when I got pelted in the face by Alan Cartwright at school in about the 3rd year, thank you Alan).

The tree

The hearth

el pesebre

Pads blending in

On Saturday Emma came over to help me make choc chip cookies as a Christmas present for Claire. It was the heaviest snowfall yet and instead of going on to the shops Nath and Laura ended up staying while we made our cookies. Almost 12 hours later they went home. We had the best day! Even in my flu-riddled state I enjoyed the day. We made the cookies obviously; me and Emma played lots of hide and seek, chase the cat and jump on the bed (her 3 favourite games); had dinner; watched a film; played ten pin bowling; and Alex rugby tackled me to the ground mid-snow fight. It was the best day snowed in ever!

Me and Emma mid-fight

 The only inconenience was not being able to get the car out of the drive for a few days, even despite a push from our neighbour Paddy. This could potentially put an end to our hopes for a Christmas in Coventry with my parents so watch this space...

Trying in vain to get the car out

Walking to Al's parents