| Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 |
| 7:48 pm |
Grump
I know many people won't believe it but V was a grump today. She got her 12 month jabs this morning. I figured she'd take a good long nap at nursery as her jabs tend to make her sleepy. How much nap did she get today? None. Nada. Zilch, Zero. Instead of taking more than her usual nap, she took none. The nursery staff said they tried (which I don't doubt). I picked her up at 6, she fussed as I put her in the car and it appeared she had been fussing at nursery as someone was holding her rather than her usual playing at the end of the day. She slept most of the way home but wouldn't be put down for a nap when we got home because she was *so* hungry. She fussed as I was getting her dinner ready (one handed because I couldn't put her down). She fussed (loudly and thoroughly enough that she didn't notice the spoon I was holding out to her) between bites because I wasn't feeding her fast enough, but I couldn't go faster because the food was too hot. Once she took the edge off of the hunger, the real fussing began because she was so tired that she just couldn't cooperate. I managed to get an ok amount of food into her then took her into the living room once she started just swinging full force at the spoonfuls. We read a couple books and then it was snack, bottle and bed time as she was still being grumpy and somewhat uncoordinated between books and the other little bits of playing that she wanted to do. She was in full fuss as I tried to change her nappy and get her into her sleeper. I was somewhat surprised that she allowed me to brush her teeth (well as well as it usually goes) and then only fussed for a few minutes once I put her in her cot. She was in full fuss as soon as I tried putting her down so we didn't get our normal tuck in routine. I am so thankful that she isn't like this everyday. The jabs just made her over tired. In the past she's been at home after them where it is so much easier to settle in for a nap. She always naps better here than at nursery. Poor thing. She had a rough day. |
| Monday, November 23rd, 2009 |
| 10:27 pm |
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| Saturday, November 14th, 2009 |
| 6:52 pm |
The weekend
I was somewhat productive today. I went to a 'nearly new' sale in the hopes of filling out Valerie's wardrobe a bit. She's about to outgrow most of her 9-12 month clothes. We didn't have enough 12-18 month clothes, so I bought some more. The sale wasn't nearly as good for clothes as the NCT ones, but this one had lots of toys. I came home with a different shape sorter as the one I had ordered was smaller than I had thought it would be and she can fit some of the pieces in her mouth. I also bought her another wood puzzle where you fit the shapes (animals this time) into the wood base and another puzzle that doesn't have a base, but large simple puzzle pieces. I've been wanting a few new books for her as well and found a couple that she might like. We spent some time this morning going through pictures in one of her old books and I think she tried to say 'bear'. I couldn't resist getting her this: http://superbackpack.com/Mega-Bloks-Block-Buddies-My-Magical/M/B000WXPXHK.htm when I saw it. It has a queen rather than the king shown otherwise it has all the figures, but none of the extra building blocks. That's fine as we have other building blocks. I mainly wanted this because she has a little duplo guy that she absolutely loves. I wanted her to have a few more figurines and she really took to these when I gave it to her. She likes that you can put a figure in the tower on the right and it 'disappears' (the room spins in where you cannot see the figure because of the back wall) when you switch the lever. She had me make the figurine disappear several times and then would take the figure out and hand it to me to do it again. It's time to go through her old toys and work on getting rid of them. Tomorrow we are meeting up with the mums and dads from the antenatal group (and their now one-year-old daughters). One family cannot come because their daughter is sick. She's been somewhat poorly from the start where eating has caused her pain and she's had reflux and allergies. It sounds like it has been acting up again and she's been refusing solid food and for a while was refusing milk and they feared that they would have to hospitalize her and tube feed her. It sounds like she started taking milk again at the hospital but she also gets very distressed when they spend much time away from home (it sounds like most of the time she wasn't at home, she was at the hospital, so I understand her distress). I hope she does better soon and am so thankful that Valerie is healthy. |
| Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 |
| 10:03 pm |
Fireworks
I went to my first (and last) Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night) celebration. It was a day early, but they had fireworks at work (well work hired someone in) and put on a decent show. I also tried out my camera's 'firework' setting. I think the camera worked alright for that, but my timing was bad as there was quite a delay between pushing the button and the click of the picture...looking at some of the images it seems like it took two pictures to put in one frame. One picture when I pushed the button and one when I heard the click as some pictures have both the firework and some lights from the edge of the sidewalk. The camera definitely wouldn't be facing the same way for both. If any turn out, I may post some. |
| Friday, October 30th, 2009 |
| 1:09 pm |
Valerie's birthday
was a rather quiet one. The alarm went off at 7 as per usual. Also at that time we could hear V being a bit chatty in her bedroom. She's been really good about not fussing right when she wakes up and entertains herself anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple hours (thank you so much for Saturday morning, Sweetie! She started being chatty around 7:30, but I didn't get out of bed until after 9) although she may have been dozing during that couple hours. We got up, got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. Thursday was the first time we've tried her with Wheatabix although they've tried it with her at nursery (with mixed results). She ate better than she had been when we were feeding her the baby fruity cereal so that was a plus. She was really in a good mood Thursday morning and more smiley than she has been in a few mornings. We opened the package from Uncle Marc and Aunt Tiffany, which we could tell was clothes from the customs sticker, to see if there was anything she would want to wear today. The clothes are quite cute, but they are a bit big on her right now. This is a good thing as we have lots of clothes for her that she's just about to grow out of, so we're set for the moment but don't have very much for her to wear in a couple months. Time to hit a nearly new sale! She had fun playing with the clothes, and especially the tags, while Mommy fixed a couple sandwiches for Mommy and Daddy to take to work. We dropped Daddy off at work and went to nursery where she fussed when I tried to put her down. That was the first fuss of the day. I went to work and had a hard time getting things accomplished. I meant to leave a bit early to get Valerie and have more playing time with her, but one thing led to another and I ended up leaving around the usual time. It sounds like Valerie had a good day at nursery. She napped for over an hour and ate most of her food. It also sounds like she had fun. They gave her a birthday card which she drew in. They had written on the front and left the inside blank for that purpose. When we got home we fed her dinner right away so she wouldn't get fussy like she does if we wait and she ate well. We then lit one candle on a cake and sang Happy Birthday to her. She had brought back up a small amount of dinner and didn't seem at all interested in the cake. She must have had more than enough of the main course. Either we have a strange daughter, or I chose well in gifts for her. The first thing she opened was one of those wood puzzles that only has 5 pieces (in different shapes) with little handles on them. She was much more interested in playing with that than the paper I had wrapped it in. She played with that puzzle for most of the evening. She did open her other gifts (a new book and a pull along giraffe) but didn't spend quite so much time with them. Eventually she did have some fun playing with the paper, but the puzzle was a hit. Towards the end of the night she even was trying to get the puzzle pieces back onto the base (but not in the right slots yet). I'm glad she likes it so much. Pictures and probably video (if there is anything really good) to be posted soonish. |
| Monday, October 26th, 2009 |
| 8:58 pm |
Dark
It was pitch black when I left work today. I was very not happy about this. The change was most noticeable because of the time change on Sunday. It seems like I'm not used to driving in the dark anymore. The days in the summer are so long that you usually don't have to drive after dark and last winter I didn't work so most of the time I was out was during daylight. I'm really not going to like the commute home now. Part of it is on this very narrow twisty road where a coworker says she knows a couple people who have lost wing mirrors on this road. I was behind a bus on it the other day and the bus was wider than the lane most of the time. There is no shoulder, just grass and the speed limit on this road is 60mph...not that I ever do that but the traffic going the other way is moving fast too. I had just been getting more comfortable driving on this road in the daylight. Unfortunately it is the quickest way to get from our house to the nursery as the other routes involve lots and lots of heavy traffic. I didn't take it today because I wanted to see what one of the other routes was like at that time of the evening, but I think I will try that road tomorrow. |
| Friday, October 23rd, 2009 |
| 9:14 pm |
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| Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 |
| 9:53 pm |
V pictures
Look at all those teeth! (and I have at least two more coming in)    Here I am on my first bike ride. Too bad I couldn't touch the handles or pedals. Perhaps next time.  Momma knows where my tickle spot is:  Oh, wait, the camera's on me!  Here I am standing all on my own. I pushed myself up off of Momma.  Say, 'Yay Valerie'!   I heard a rumor that she took a couple steps at nursery yesterday. |
| Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 |
| 11:32 am |
V Videos
Here a couple videos taken earlier this week. The slightly yellow colour of our walls throws off the colour of the video a bit. She's been pushing herself off of me when I sit on the floor to standing. She's been doing that more and more. We managed to get a picture last night, but I haven't gotten it up yet. |
| Saturday, October 17th, 2009 |
| 2:51 pm |
V
Valerie just (well a half hour ago) stood on her own for like 10 seconds! She wasn't holding anything (other than her two Duplo blocks) and she wasn't leaning against anything! A couple days ago she showed me that she could put the two duplo blocks (they just have one big bump that fits into the bottom of the other) together! Man she's growing fast! Current Mood: proud |
| Thursday, October 15th, 2009 |
| 9:42 pm |
A new bird
I've seen another new (to me) bird. They are relatively common around but I've not seen one where I knew what it was, but the blue patches on the wings really give them away. I've seen them a few times since moving to the new house, but for some reason thought I was seeing the Green Woodpecker, but I got a good look at the one earlier this week and it is really a Jay : http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/j/jay/index.asp |
| 1:08 pm |
Trap
I've fallen into the same trap that many of my friends have. It is so easy to post short updates in Facebook that I find myself mentioning little things there and not here in LJ. This is bad because I know my parents don't read my facebook... not that there is really anything interesting going on in my life. Well, I have strep throat... the doctors called it Tonsilitis, but then they don't know if it is strep that is causing it. They gave me antibiotics which I've been on for 24 hours now and I feel better. I will be getting more food today than yesterday simply because it doesn't hurt nearly so much to swallow. In V news, she definitely has a favorite book. I wonder if we weren't doing her any favors by reading books with stories. There is this little (probably about 3 inches square) board book that she just loves. It is on a strap that goes around the binding and out to a hook to be hooked on a pram. She will take this book and hand it to me repeatedly to read to her. It just has a few simple pictures of various things and all the text is 'Hello lion, hello pig...' under each picture. It ends with 'hello, you' on a page with a mirror that she likes getting up close to look into. One of the first days this caught her attention, I must have read it 20 times. She'll also pull it away from you while you're reading it to look at the pictures, close the book and get frustrated if she can't get it back open again. It is quite cute, but unfortunately I have the book memorized already. We have a walker for V (as seen in previous pictures and videos). It plays different tunes when you press the buttons. She used to wiggle a bit when she heard music, but a couple days ago we got the first of what I would really call dancing. It included picking up her feet and really moving to the tune. |
| Monday, October 12th, 2009 |
| 9:41 pm |
Castles
Yesterday I went to Hedingham Castle. It is one I've heard about before, but never got around to going to until today. It doesn't help that it is closed on Saturdays and I thought it was closed on Sundays until recently. It is closed from the end of October until April or so, so this was my chance. It really is an impressive castle, especially when you find out that it was built in the 12th Century. It has outlived a Tudor(?) castle that was built on its front lawn. Granted the Tudor castle was made of brick and not 12 foot thick stone walls, but still. Hedingham Castle:  More pictures in the gallery: http://betahelix.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=116They hold weddings at this castle. I believe the receptions are held in the Banqueting hall. I was thinking this would be a neat place for a smallish event. It would have to be outdoors (for the most part) except for the feast in this hall. Since I was out, I looked at the atlas to see if there were any other castles nearby. I found that there was a castle in Claire called Claire Castle (oddly enough). I've learned to be wary of what is termed a castle on the atlas. According to that (and other sources) Cambridge has a castle, but in reality Cambridge has a large mound that used to hold a wooden castle. Claire castle was also listed as a 'country park' which made me think there wouldn't be anything there, but I figured 'what the heck, I might as well check it out'. It was only about 4 miles out of the way. I parked the car and started walking into the park, which was quite wooded. Once I got to where it was cleared, sure enough I could see a large mound and thought, yep. Wooden motte with nothing left to see, but I could just make out a bit of stone at the top. There is a bit of Claire castle left, but only part of one wall of the keep and a small part of the bailey wall. Pictures in the gallery http://betahelix.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=117. I did get a bit of exercise out of it as I walked to the top of the mound. From there I couldn't really get any good pictures of the exterior of the wall and with the trees around it, I couldn't get decent pictures from the base of the hill. A couple other pictures taken on the day...just because: The view over Cambridge from the Gog Magog (isn't that a wonderful name?) hills. Cambridge is built on the fens (a type of wetland) so it is quite flat. This is one of the few hills in the area.  Houses with thatched roofs are really quite common. Here is one that received a new ridge of thatch (the roof thatch must be replaced every 30 years or so depending on how well it is done but the ridge must be redone a bit more frequently...like every 10-15 years) and a bit of roof decoration:  It isn't that easy to see on the small picture (I'm not talking about the scalloped bit near the ridgepole) so here is a link to the larger image http://betahelix.net/gallery/albums/Countries/England/Cambridge/0452ThatchedHouseWithGoat.JPG |
| Sunday, October 11th, 2009 |
| 10:06 pm |
Pictures!
I've been so bad about posting lately. First, our website was hacked into, then there was the whole moving and finding time for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) covaithe to fix all of our website woes. It appears we are back up and running. I discovered today that it has been 10 days since I took pictures of V. I think that's the longest I've gone. Life has been a bit hectic and my rechargeable batteries have decided that they don't really want to keep a charge. I hope that things will improve picture wise... ( here are the pictures taken before all this mess. ) |
| Monday, September 21st, 2009 |
| 9:47 pm |
Miss V and Helix
I enjoy watching the interactions between Valerie and Helix. She has started really going after him at times and he has been very good with her. He lets her 'pet' him and even hangs around when she's pulling his fur or ears. Here she is trying to sit on him according to covaithe. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GwXK8Tv_sUA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GwXK8Tv_sUA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> |
| 5:35 pm |
A haunting
I think our sewing machine may be haunted. Either that or it was telling me that I'd done too much sewing for one day, which I would agree with. But then, any sewing is too much sewing in my opinion. That being said, yesterday I tore apart the jacket I had sewn together a week ago so that I could use it as a pattern for the lining, cut out the lining and have sewn the jacket back together and have sewn the lining together. Now it is time to sew the lining into the jacket, but definitely wasn't going to do it last night. I don't know who's great idea it was that clothes should have right angles, but the sleeves were not fun. I had to set four yesterday and need to go back and touch up the corners so they look better. I didn't really try sewing all the way into the corners. Otherwise it is time to attach the lining to the jacket and hem it...after I trim it as some of it is quite long. I need to decide if I'm going to put one more pair of gores into it. I figure I will as they will be easy enough to add. |
| Thursday, September 17th, 2009 |
| 8:58 pm |
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| Saturday, September 12th, 2009 |
| 10:36 pm |
Another word
This morning, I touched my finger to the tip of Valerie's nose and said "boop". To which she replied "boop". It was cute :) This morning at fight practice she went after Daddy's sword. We may have a future fighter on our hands. As long as she also does some A&S, I don't mind. |
| Monday, September 7th, 2009 |
| 10:14 pm |
My daughter is gorgeous
and apparently not afraid to tell you so herself. Today at nursery, where she is loved by all, one of the carers told her she was gorgeous. So she said gorgeous. One day last week, while eating dinner, she took a bite and I said 'good bite' so she said 'good bite'. This weekend, Greg walked into her line of sight and she said 'Dada' unprovoked. I'm guessing that Dada is one where she knows the meaning but possibly not so much for the other two. My daughter's beginning to talk! She's growing so fast! |
| Monday, August 31st, 2009 |
| 5:07 pm |
Various things not going quite right.
Yesterday morning, I woke to find our kitchen ceiling was dripping water onto our counter and floor. Thankfully not lots of water, but enough. The maintenance guy was able to put a temporary fix on our leaking pipe (the bathroom is right above our kitchen..eeww) and a plumber will come sometime during the week. Valerie and I went swimming. I think she had fun. Even though we have classes, it seems like I don't know what to do with her to keep her interested in swimming for a whole half hour. She was very interested in watching the other kids at the pool today. When we got home, she took a nap and I worked on making my jacket. I got the jacket cut out and partially assembled then fully disassembled. I need to cut a few inches out of the diameter for it to fit right. I also need to cut down the set in part of the set in sleeves. All in all not too bad for not really knowing what I'm doing. I've cut down the sides a bit now and it should fit better. Now it's time to tackle the sleeves again. This morning when Valerie woke up (at 8! thankfully) I noticed she was quite warm. when I took her temp it was 38.4 (101.something F). Through the day it has remained above 37.5. I rang the NHS advice line and my Mom (of course) to see if it is something we should worry about. She's seemed quite normal except for the fever, so the answer is 'not yet'. We will keep an eye on her and see if anything changes. We have given her Calpol but the nurse at the NHS says they recommend Neurofen for a better reaction so Greg is going to get some now. We have seen the start of tooth 6 and her left cheek was quite red this morning when she first woke up so she may just be teething. |
