See you soon x

We are going to miss you for the next two weeks Daddy. Be safe and never forget how much we love you, and how glad we will be to have have you home with us again.

Keeping busy

Darling Kay - this has been a fairly hectic few weeks. It seems that winter has arrived in earnest and the rest of 2009 is slipping away faster than I can fill our days. You are getting taller by the day, and your vocabulary is developing at a scary rate. You can count from 1-6, you can complete your Melissa and Doug alphabet jigsaw that Nanna and Granda brought you back from holiday, and you now repeat almost everything that is said to you. Your words are getting clearer too - so it is not just Mummy who understands you while other people think she is mad!!

You brush your own teeth now, drink your milk from a 'big girl cup' (sometimes, other times you tip it over the side of your high chair!), and as we have discovered you can also open the front door yourself and go for a wee walk up the street. We have had to start turning the lock in the door now, but I would think it won't be long until you work out how to unlock it too!

We have our Jo Jingles on Tuesdays and toddler group on Wednesday - both of which you love. We still try to see L&I at least once a week, and you are getting much more confident about being around people you don't know and mixing with other children. You even made your first craft at toddler group - a 'No-mah' (snowman) from cardboard and cottonpuffs!

We have had Nanna and Granda back from Texas for a few weeks now which is lovely. We are going to go up there this week to stay with them for a few days while Daddy is over in DesMoines. Nanna is going to look after you so that I can slip up to Belfast and do some Christmas shopping. When you come along everything takes much longer because you are determined to touch every single thing we walk past. You don't pull them, or try to lift things you aren't supposed to, you just want to touch them to see what they feel like - which is lovely if we aren't pushed for time, but you get royally ticked off if you are hurried along to someone else's agenda!


This weekend you helped me with the crossword in The Times - you were going for the freehand approach and not bothering too much with the clues or getting the letters in the boxes but it made for an interesting afternoon!

Things you love to do!

Darling Kay - Daddy is in the air as I type this, on his way home from London. You are in bed, fast asleep after a busy day of playing, walking and generally expanding your little world and mind! I am sitting here with my feet up, with a cup of tea waiting on Daddy and looking forward to our weekend ahead together. This is his last trip for a few weeks so we will be thoroughly spoiled having him here!!

Your latest favourite thing to do, wee love, is play with my make-up bag. I don't have much in the way of make-up, and don't use it every day (although I am endeavouring to make more of an effort with it and stop looking like a slummy Mummy!!) but you are fascinated by the little pots and brushes and will happily unpack them, put them in the bag, take them out again, roll them around and generally make sure that you have researched every possibility of mischief with them!! Who would have thought such little make-up would stretch so far!!
There are so many other simple things that give you so much pleasure:-

• Dropping little stones that you find outside down the gratings;
• Cheese on toast for lunch, with little cherry tomatoes and cucumber sticks;
• Doing the actions for 'jelly-on-a-plate' while I sing it when you are having your dinner;
• Putting on Mummy's handcream - you are costing me a small fortune in Molton Brown, but you have the most moisturised hands in the land!
• Going round pointing at things and saying 'Am-mah's.....', like 'Am-mah's hat' or 'Am-mah's shoes' when you see something that is yours. In fact it doesn't even have to belong to you, if you like it then it becomes 'Am-mah's!'

The list is endless, and changes everyday, but you are a joy to be with because you fill our lives with love and happiness by giving us the chance to share your wonder and love of life x x

A hint.....

......that Mummy isn't sweeping up as often as someone else thinks she should be!!

Beach, and hats, and stones and coffee!!

Darling Kay, we have had the most lovely weekend together with Daddy! We had lots of rushing about to do on Saturday - we had to pick up the tickets for Daddy's trip to DeMoines in November, and then off to M&S for some lunch and some grocery shopping. The weather was great all weekend - very bright and fresh and dry (for a change!) and you loved being out and about, walking around, getting carried by Daddy, going in the trolley, and just generally taking in the world about you!

On Sunday morning we got up and ready and headed off to Newcastle for the morning. It was another gorgeous, bright day, and we had you all wrapped up in your lovely red coat and warm, fleecy hat! The last day we went to Newcastle was on your first birthday, 6 months ago. That day you were in your pram and quite happy to sit and soak it all in - now you needed to be up and about and moving under your own steam!! We walked along the front, and you picked a wee daisy which you carried about with you, until you discovered some pretty stones on the beach which you decided you would rather have! We have brought 2 home with us for your keepsake box so you can see them when you are bigger and we can remind you of this wonderful day.

Eventually it was too breezy for walking, so we slipped into a wee cafe for some coffee and buns to warm us all up. You were absolutely pooped from all the fresh air and walking, and you were asleep within 10 minutes of getting back into the car. Daddy took some great photos of you this weekend, and it takes my breath away how grown up you are getting! Next time we head to the beach I am pretty sure we will have to bring a change of clothes, because you were showing plenty of interest in the pools and puddles, and very soon you'll be dipping a toe in whether we'd like you to or not I suspect!!

Welcome Home, Daddy!!

Darling Kay, tonight Daddy came home from Poland and you were so happy to see him! While I finished making the dinner you and he managed a quick stroll around to the park to play on the swings and pick up some stones and leaves along the way! You have had such a tiring day today - lots of playing at home, and walking to and from the Post Office, so it's no surprise that you were asleep within 2 minutes of Daddy feeding you and settling you in your cot with Moo. Now it's only one more day until the weekend, and we will all be spending the whole time together - bliss!

All growed up....

Darling Kay, every day it gets harder to get a photo of you which captures who you are right now and what you are doing. As soon as the camera appears you drop whatever it is you are involved in and make a breakneck speed dash to get the camera. As far as you are concerned it looks like the World's Best Toy, even better than Mummy's phone (which you used yesterday to call my dear old colleague Adrienne in Lincoln, Nebraska!) or the remote control (the real one, not the old one we took the batteries out of and which failed to amuse you!)

But every so often something catches your attention and I can get a snap of you which sums up what you are like around the house (apart from the all action shots when you are dashing towards the camera and which come out in a fuzzy blur!)

Today I had to call Nanny and Granda in Tennesse, where they have gone for a few days to celebrate Granda's 65th birthday (at the Grand Old Opry no less!) and while I was doing that you managed to grab the landline phone. I am not sure whether you were trying to work out if it was a remote control, or a mobile, or something in between (since you seldom see us use it!) but it captured your attention for long enough for me to get this wee picture of you. This is how you stand up against the sofa when something on the TV catched your eye, or when you sidle up to someone and look up longingly and say 'Up-pah!', or when you lean against my leg when we are out and someone kneels down to talk to you, and you are trying to decide whether you are going to smile at them or not!!

For those wonderful people who leave such lovely comments about you, this is the little girl that you will see when you make the trip over the pond to Northern Ireland to see us! And for those of you who keep us in your prayers - you know who you are, and you know why - my humble and most sincere thanks and appreciation to you all.