La Vida Pica

Mes 13!

dancing to Latin music... birthday party!!...walk to Moses... Maz... Torsten... blowing at bedtime... Brompton with Daddy (new helmet) to Ronnie's... walk home on Mami's back... Nedua... tooth number NINE!... London by train and car... Grandpa Luna and Bernice... Mediterranean restaurant... Regents Park... Colombian Consulate... Old Down with Grandpa Luna... Mami and Daddy get married!... Party with Grandpa Luna, Bernice, Kate, Thirza, Nedua, Torsten, Janosch, Dave and Di... tooth number TEN!... Daddy takes Elsie on playdate to JNT's playground... Daddy takes Elsie to new playground (a slide!)... blowing on food... pointing in books... Nedua... Tesco and Mundy Playing Fields... playdate at Janosch's playground with JN... walk to Anchor, around there... scrumping for apples with Daddy... waterproofs out back... bike ride to Moses and postbox... Granny Kate, Nuccia and Jill... to town to see Nedua, library, Mundy Playing Fields... Maz... lots of WALKING... indicated potty when pooed?... long walk along streamside... waterproofs out back... video chat with Grandpa Luna... tooth number ELEVEN (teething)... walk to One Stop... giggle fit at Tomas playing with string... walk to postbox in night time... quicker steps... fork skills!... copying sighing... moved box out of way to walk... Granny Kate... walk around streamside... Nedua... tooth number TWELVE breaking through... figures out how to turn on oven... FinniChat... night time walk around the stream... Uncle Andrew and Auntie Paula come over to play... park: swings during few minutes when sun was finally out after days!... getting quite independently-spirited!... a walk at night... 8 Freight bike seat!... Riddiford, vet, garden shop... to Rishi's to play (RRP)... walking at Friendly Farmer, sitting in highchair, totally absorbed in eating... road trip to Louth and Gayton le Marsh... went from 7.30 until 4.30p without breastfeeding!... Hans... scared at bedtime at strange place... Great Grandma and Great Uncle Christopher... Chunk, Rose and Arabella... Granddad and Grandma Yeomans.... Kimberley, Jamie, Jake, Libby (Auntie and cousins)...

Las fotos

And then we were married...

Not because of some moral obligation (religious or otherwise) regarding living together or having a child together...

Not because we believe the state needs to sanction our relationship...

But because we love each other and a wedding ceremony and the rings symbolising our love and commitment are public and romantic ways to show this...

WHEN: Wednesday 28 October 2009

WHERE: Yate Registry Office, South Gloucestershire

WHY: To celebrate 1000 days together

WHAT: A little ceremony followed by a reception in friends' house, with delicious homemade food

Photos coming soon (just waiting to get all sets in so we can put up the best of the best!)...

And then she was one...

Been awhile since I did a "day in the life" so thought I would try to jot some things down on the day...

The night before the big day, Elsie was asleep by 18.40

Woke, cuddled her back to sleep
Fed 2022

HER BIRTHDAY

Fed 0040
Fed 0500

Played behind curtain ("Where's Elsie?")

Sang the sunshine song to her, sang her "Happy Birthday"

Played with my phone
Potty at 0600 (nothing, oh dear), dressed her

Woke Daddy before 7 to start fire

We go downstairs and put her cards and gifts on the floor for her to explore

She reads Granddad and Grandma's card (nice sparkly elephant)

Opens Auntie Naomi's beautiful jumper/sweater
Opens Auntie Kirsty's box and discovers an amazing Elsie Maribel box and two lovely books

Finds Naomi's book about colours

We find Kirsty's homemade card

I read Funnybones (Kirsty's book) out loud to Elsie: she starts laughing like crazy when I say "Miaow... Woof... Miaow... Woof!" 

We try Elsie on the potty again (where is her morning poo!??) and have a lot of fun memorising the Cumbrian sheep counting song from Kirsty's poetry book

Daddy busy getting sweet potatoes ready for breakfast

0745 feed sleep
0830 awake: eats sweet potatoes, her first egg yolk

Card from Keith in the post

Try the potty again (nothing!), Howard cleans the house, Elsie plays, I put laundry away

Feed at 11

Sleeps 1130 til after 1 (she pees on the potty afterwards; still no poo!)

Meanwhile, Howard starts the scones, goes to the chippy for our quick lunch, then takes over with Elsie's nap, while I add the spices to the pumpkin topping and to the applesauce

(She has having a very late nap... Will she wake in time for the party??)

She has fish and chips and then does video chat with Grandpa Luna

We wait for guests to arrive (not til 2)

Mel and Andrew, Elisabeth, Di, Nedua, Janosch, Torsten, Kate, Elizabeth

Elsie has a wonderful time with everyone (despite a bit of hitting on J's part). She sits on Granny Kate's lap, plays with her new drum, stacking rings, looks at all her new books, eats pumpkin and apple toppings

JNT stay longer: we eat Kate's lovely cucumber, apple, cheese dish

Feeds in between at 15.45

Then finally: a poo on the potty! (We had been missing two poos a day for a few days in a row, so this was lovely!)

Lots of fun in the shower

Feeds at 18.30

We look through a book at bedtime and I do lots of animal noises and she is just laughing up a storm. Quite a giggly mood.

Howard puts her to bed at 1900.

So, yes, apologies for all the potty photos! And I also missed out in the narrative on all the pressies... but they are all in the photos.

It was a strangely rushed day in some ways (but in no way anything like the amazing day Finn got last weekend! we really seriously have no idea how they had the energy for that! but Finn is SO LUCKY! Sarah and Keith and co are so creative and zesty!)...

But Elsie was brilliant, shiny, relaxed, darling... I just would watch her and be so proud of this beautiful human being that I am helping to raise. We can't believe she was a tiny baby -- the photos seem unreal now -- She is just Elsie Maribel, as she is now, as if she has always been this. And next year, we will think the same as then. It is so exciting... So much to look forward to. So much fun, so much life and living and loving and laughter and .... It's overwhelming. The best. 

Fotos nuevas then aqui

One year ago today...

One year ago today...
a baby was big inside my belly.

One year ago today...
I had no idea who was inside my belly, not even the gender (despite all the dreams that she was a girl...).

One year ago today...
my Listening Partner watched me cry as I said over and over, "I can't believe how lucky I am."

One year ago today...
I danced and danced to "Mr Blue Sky" and Franz Ferdinand songs... which seemed to do the job...

Birthdays are a celebration of somebody's new life, of the birthed person. But the birth of a new person is also the beginning of a new life for the mother and the father. But these days are fixed in the cultural calendar, not personalised as a birthday is.

Elsie Maribel: Semana 52

library by bus... lots of little steps... four steps!... a cold... family walk to Zair Pottery, see the fish... walk to One Stop... lots more little steps then suddenly SHE'S WALKING across the room towards the planets on my laptop screensaver!!... still has a cold though... giggling into her mug of Rooibus tea... bus to Wotten-under-Edge so mami can go to her first film in over a year (part of her 39th birthday celebration)... see lots of animals: pheasants, ducks, etc. ... Maz... swings... Ronnie's for mami's birthday lunch by 8 Freight... Auntie Thirza... swings with a funny dad... Pankej... cold again... video chat with Grandpa Luna... Auntie Rosy comes by with pressie for Elsie's birthday... nighttime walk to the orchard... still has a cold (very mild, just snuffly while on the breast)...

Las fotos de esta semana

And for some VIDEOS:

Elsie Maribel: Semana 51

bus to town to do some charity shopping... Old Down with Granny Kate... Janosch and Nedua come by... Elsie starts sounding like Rishi (very loud Da-Da-Da-Da-Da... not directed at anybody)... taking some steps... Rishi, Rosemary and Pankej... 8 freight to Moses... dancing to The Specials!... swings, where she meets a girl born 21/10/04!... sniffed something for the first time... Granddad Yeomans visits!... step here and there... giggly day in Birmingham (bus, train, tram, walk along canals, train, bus)...

Fotos de esta semana

Elsie Maribel: Semanas 49-50

22 September – 5 October

8 Freight to get leche... first time clapping hands!... Uncle Andrew... swings... video chat with Uncle Sergio... corn husking (favourite thing in the world!!!)... 8 Freight to Moses, walk to Moses... video chat with Grandpa Luna... 8 Freight to town... Di... Maz... Granny Kate... 8 Freight to allotment and to town and to library... video chat with Grandma Pepper and Grandpa Luna... then... FEVER then rash and in bed for six days... visit to Dr Male for reassurance mid-week...  Maz... really windy weather... video chat with Uncle Sergio... swings... video chat with Grandpa Luna (playing "Where's Elsie?" as she hides behind a blanket)... new bike seat arrived... ride on Daddy's Brompton to see Moses and Uncle Andrew... During this time, Elsie also started doing this cute spooning thing in the middle of the night: she will sit up then lean against my leg and curl herself into my belly space so that I'm spooning her... sooo cute and cuddly! She won't fit there for much longer!... And we also started using the heater in the bedroom when we entered October... gettin' chilly! Birthday month!!

Fotos de los dos semanas

The latest pics...

Here

Elsie Maribel: Semanas 47–48

8–21 September

Old Down with Mel and Andrew... 8 Freight with Daddy to town and see the horses... JNT at their house for lunch and afternoon brainstorming... on Brompton... 8 Freight ride and allotment visit... Bristol Parkway with JNT... bus, train, FERRY, bus, train, bus... LOVED the ferry flag... Spaniards... St Stephen's Cafe... Thornbury Food Fair, stall... RRP... 8 Freight to allotment... swings... cycling with Daddy nearly every day, searching for wood, going to the allotment... RP... swings... bus to the mall (she LOVES the bus)... Farmers' Market with JN... scrumping with Daddy... RRP... library... Elizabeth and Michael's... bike ride... orchard... buses... Streets Alive festival with JNT... ferry... Watershed... JNT's for lunch... 8 Freight with mami on new bicycle "The Jag"... stepped unaided!... bus to Glos Road... La Ruca: Colombian exhibition... new book from Playfull Toys... Granny Kate on the bus!!...

Elsie Maribel: Semanas 44–46

18–24 August

Yate... Granny Kate, Sophie, Rosie and Evie (their house)... Maz... Blend, library... copied Daddy "hot"... in sling with Daddy to see Moses... Nedua... swings with RRP... library... streamside walk... video chat with Grandma Pepper for the first time!!!... Granny Kate and Evie... video chat with Grandma Pepper and Great-Grandma!! Granny Kate, Nuccia, Jill... streamside walk to try to find Duncan (no success, Auntie Rosy!)...

25–31 August

JNT... RR... woods... bus to Mel's and see Andrew and Katherine... back sling to Moses... 8 Freight in the back sling... streamside woods... JN... waved arms to "The Archers" theme song while asleep :)... possible teething (but now I would say no)... litter busting with Daddy in the woods... Big Day Out in Bristol (proper post coming soon)... wings with JN then they stay for dinner...

1–7 September

Granny Kate and Auntie Thirza at The White Hart... video chat with Grandpa Luna (belated birthday)... JNT, Maz, library, waving ladies at Blend... big steps holding just one of Daddy's fingers!... Tomas lays down completely on Elsie... Auntie Thirza... Folk music with JN... jewellery... 8 Freight with Mami following behind on Brompton... Mediaeval Fishponds... Daddy drilling (lots of crying)... escape to RR and meet Lucy and Alex... dancing!... Stroud with JNT in postal van...market, music, park, visit co-housing... spicy beanburger at organic cafe... video chat with Grandpa Luna... Auntie Thirza takes us to Sally and Jo's midwives picnic in St Werburgh's!... 21 babies for the year and Elsie was the oldest... RP... lots of Daddy time when Mami down with mastitis for the day... 8 freight to town and to see Moses... lots of waving!!