In a blink

Summer has arrived and things are in full swing here... We've just had a lovely visit from the ever fabulous Ollie. He has however been struck by the ryanair curse and missed his bus to the out of town airport and is now on a mad dash to still catch the flight...

It was the sonar music festival this past weekend so the city was flooded by norther europeans. The weather did not disappoint.

Sienna all ready for Sonar Kids

Summer means holiday season and regrettably it doesn't look like I"ll be making it home this summer like I had hoped. I really wanted to attend my little cousin's wedding but doesn't even look like the wee one's passport will be renewed in time... ah well. The villa week is coming up and we're well looking forward to getting some relaxation time in. Things have been fairly rough here these days and I think we all deserve a bit of a rest. The villa is actually fully filled up whereas just a few weeks ago I thought we would be low on numbers... May be a bit cozy in the end more like a summer camp with people sharing rooms and beds!

we're kind of on the coping with a half day at a time to get things rolling... even sometimes the thought of a full day makes my chest tight with anxiety... baby steps for all of us.

It's a baby bonanza!

It's been a busy week... seems like March and April this year were indeed fruitful baby making months as we've got joyous news from both seestor and the lovely vero! Both are expecting bundles of joy. For Vero it's her first and seestor her second. Seestor's is due the same day as her first which is just before xmas and Vero at the end of Jan. Lots of waiting to be done between now and then but how excited am I to be able to buy cute tiny baby things again?

Our sleepy bundle of joy is on her second weekend of massive slumber. I swear she's gone from a 1 year old to a 15 year old all at once. Last week she had a 3h nap in the morning and then went back to sleep at 17h in the afternoon until the next morning. We of course were totally freaked out by it so had no rest... we were checking on her every 5 minutes... She was just fine of course. Now today when she does it again and we're not quite sure what to think of it. Perhaps the week at the nursery school is more tiring than we can imagine... that and she's getting more teeth. Ah well I guess we should just enjoy the quiet evening. Watching back to back episodes of american dad is of course part of said quiet evening...

Shoes are a delicate issue...

And even more so when you are forced with the reality of having to buy practical shoes for a 1 year old with tiny feet. She needs something that she can romp around in at school and that the teacher’s don’t go mad with her feet slipping out all the time (such as they are now with her current sandals). So off we trotted on a dubious mission to find a cute and practical pair of small kid’s sandals… dear god it nearly killed us… everything was so bloody garish and the cool pink gladiators that we fell in love with didn’t fit her feet properly so they were taken out of the running…

After more than 4 shops and trying on 12 pairs of shoes we finally compromised and bought her a wee pair of Birkenstock inspired sandals from Zara that would securely hold in her tiny sweaty feet without looking too horribly ugly… I would be lying if I said I didn’t go home and paint the white buckles silver… Fashion is not an option people… neurosis maybe but fashion, is not!

When life gives you tea… drink coffee

Yea well I know it doesn’t make much sense but that’s the way things roll these days. My office houses quite a few avid tea drinkers and we all whimpered a little bit when our ‘proper tea’ supply ran dry a week so so ago. The tea gods must have heard our cries as the very next day our colleague returned from his work related trip to Sri Lanka with armfuls of tea. Oh happy day. The only problem is, that this is “seriously proper tea” and thus requires proper brewing instruments of which we do not have… so there it sits, in it’s regal tea glory on the table un touched. Until one of us scrapes together the incentive to buy a brewing pot from the Chinese shop we’re all stuck drinking coffee… not all bad of course as I’m rocking the soya milk coffee… seriously when life gives you tea, drink coffee.

Miss Bambach has announced her imminent arrival to the continent within the next few weeks. It’s been far too long since we’ve had any new Sally stories or adventures to delight us with so we are most pleased . The villa this year will be really fun as we’ve got two new guests which should indeed spice things up.

My fight for the baby bonus we were due when Sienna was born continues this time with the help of our local ombudsman. Who knew we had one? Lets hope they help us get a favorable resolution to my appeal. It’s been nearly 7 months and we’ve heard absolutely nothing from the government office that is processing the appeal. If we get it we may just be able to get flights to Canada for my cousins wedding or maybe even home for xmas… or we could just blow it all on champagne and cheap women. Just kidding.

It’s a good reminder…

To slow down sometimes and really make an effort to appreciate life. Speaking with miss Andrea last night she told me of the very unexpected death of a dear colleague of hers. He died last week only 34 years old. He took ill after a night out with her and some other friends… he thought he had the flu but by the following week he was not feeling better and then on the Wednesday he had two seizures and the second one proved fatal and he passed away. Death of course is such a natural part of life but it’s all too easy to lose sight of our mortality. I’m so sad for Andrea and her friends and of course for his family. I never knew him but I know Andrea and Mit always spoke favorably of him.

I can but hope that we’re doing our best to enjoy life and all it’s good and bad things. This weekend we did some painting with the wee one on the terrace which I do believe she thoroughly enjoyed… we did two sessions actually and the second one ended with her painting most of herself blue. Then we baked some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Very industrious indeed. Sunday we ventured out to the zoo with Chiara and Nacho. It was such a nice day for the zoo as it wasn’t too hot. The little miss did indeed seem to enjoy it but I’m sure if we return in another 6 months she will enjoy it even more!

To life. Live it.



The painting lady

Dodging Photocalls

On Thursday night we slipped off into the night for a rare evening together. Tucked in at home was the wee one under the careful watch of her godmother... In store for us was an interesting evening at a club/restaurant on the beach that we sometimes send our BL clients to... It was an evening sponsored by Laurent Perrier which of course caused my left eyebrow to raise in curiosite... We arrived to the entrance and were met with a photocall... I think my whole body kind of froze as I took in the fact that we were being queued up to pass through and of course be photographed... I think Alfredo quickly sensed my mild panic... I couldn't quite imagine the relevance of being photographed as we were surely not of interests to the photogs... Funny, but just a little too embarassing for me who doesn't go out much any more to handle! Fredu did a quick negotiation with the staff and they quickly ushered us around the back so as to avoid the photos... very sneaky sneakerson if you ask me.... It was a nice night and even nicer to spend some adult time together... we do however need a bit of practise at the whole 'us'time together as we struggled a bit to talk about something that was not Sienna related... we'll get there eventually.

The approximately 6 glasses of champers that I suspect I imbibed were in hindsight not the best idea but they seemed like it at the time. Friday morning however sealed the deal on that argument as when faced with an unexpected 3h meeting where I had to sit through a host of presentations from the different departments within my company... loosing the will to live was a real problem for me that day...

Back to reality this morning and a nice tranquilo morning with the furry little one and the not at all furry little one oh and did i mention the chaoticly messy house? Business as usual!

I really get the point...

That my blog is abandoned when Fredu mentions to me just that last night.

It's pretty sad really as I think it kind of reflects me as a whole right now... I'm not too busy I think I'm just disconnected which makes writing all that much more taxing.

I had a wonderful five days away time in London to myself which I thought would be a bit hard on my heart strings as the longest I've even been away from Sienna was one night and that was because I was in hospital. Don't get me wrong I know I have to have my own life or I will quickly end up one of those mum's that I loathe... Nothing like some time with my girlies to help sort things out... Miss Andrea is going through a rough time with her job these days and thus I was more keen to be around to try and support her than jet around and catch up with everyone. I'm sad I didn't get to see Sureshee but I am happy that I did get to have a mid-day cocktail on Tuesday with Miss Andrea at our happy place (Charlotte St Hotel). How good was the cocktail? Man, it was damn good.

It's funny as for a few minutes there while I was back in London I missed it, I thought fleetingly I could move back there and really thrive. But then I thought of the horror of transporting my new chapter of life there... that thought quickly vanished. Barcelona it will be for us for the foreseeable future, and that's not a bad thing.

Fredu kept the wee one busy while I was away and the lucky tot managed to go to the F1 race that was being held here as her daddy had connections from long ago when he worked doing photography for the circut... then as if to add insult to injury to her uncle bryan who would have killed to be there... they rounded off the day at the Barca match. Pretty lucky tot... wonder if she'll remember any of it?

Remember and do... those are my new goals... sharpen focus... complete things. Lazyness is the enemy.

Beware of ninja-like sashimi snatchers...

I would never have thought it but certain parties are swifter than we think... We had a lovely sushi lunch with uncle Eric this afternoon and while the three adults at the table were busy chatting away we failed to notice the ninja-like swiftness with which a certain someone swiped an entire piece of Sashimi Salmon and chomped it down with her four humble teeth with such great haste that we really didn't notice at all. When we finally got to the end of our chat we looked down to see a bare bed of rice and no salmon. Swift little sushi eating ninja baby... wonder if that would fit on a T shirt. I seriously made Alfredo check 5 times to see if she had just tossed it on the floor or if it feel to the foot rest of her pram in which she was sat... Nope, she full on ate it. Amazing!

I'm guessing she didn't even need to use the "look over there"distraction technique... This wasn't taken during the sushi dining incident but it's pretty funny as she was pointing out a pidgeon... or was it a car? I can quite recall but whatever it was it was apparently very imporatant.

This morning the girls watched with great curiosity as the rain lashed down outside our bedroom window. I snapped this pic as it was too sweet to miss.The two lone pieces of washing that got done before our machine called it quits swung damply on the line outside... if they can fix the beast we shall have a full week of washing to catch up with.
Storm watchers. (and thank god although they look grim and prison-like the bars on the window are a nice safety feature when you live on the 5th floor!)

We've had a very rainy year thus far but I snapped this picture on the street down from mine the other day just after it stopped raining. Although taken with my meagre camrea phone it turned out okay...

After the rain...

We tried out the beach for the first time this year on Thursday and I joined the gang at the beach after I finished work. I'm starting to get the idea of just how sweet my working hours are here... finishing every day at 16h will be VERY nice once it's full on summer.

It took about 1h for her to brave climbing down off of her safe refuge (on top of me) but once she got into it, it was all about the sand. Needless to say we managed to bring half the beach home with us... just how we did, I'm not quite sure.

Hello 900!

This is officially my 900th blog entry. Would would have thought? Who on earth really keeps track of these things anyway? Clearly I do. Only 100 more and I'll be at 1k.

London is calling and I'm jetting off next month for the wedding of the year (Mitt's) my sari is on the way from my seestor who lives in sarilandia... I'm so excited. I've not been back to visit the London peeps in far too long. Primark and Topshop here I come. I must represent as seestor can't come this year.

Some of us are developing quite the little personality and a temper to boot... good thing she looks so darned cute as she can get away with it. Is is some sort of reflection on me when her first spanish word has turned out to be patata? What could this mean? He he .


Looking funky on the terrace


Oh we are quite cool aren't we?


Pinkie in the park


On the run - with maria biscut of course. Bitchin shoes!

I can’t quite believe it’s been 7 years ago already today…

since my dad died… It seems a lifetime ago that day when I sat in the office of my new job in London working away… I got an email from my aunt telling me to ring my sister urgently… it was all a big blur of rush from that moment onwards until I touched down back in Toronto at midnight that same day.

I think a small part of me still can’t quite believe that he’s gone. But the feeling that he’s coming back somehow has of course faded… but he’s certainly ever present in my life since the wee one seems to have a lot of his genes in her… she sparkles something of him in her smile which is quite divine really. A nice genetic surprise if you will. I often think wistfully of certain things that he would have just loved to have seen or experienced… bitter sweet really but such is death in most cases. I do miss him so.

My grandfather on the other hand is alive and kicking and tomorrow will celebrate his 90th birthday. Again I’m sad that I cannot be there to celebrate with him but we shall be there in spirit. What an achievement!

Time and life is just rushing by at a great pace. Work seems to be taking up the lion’s share of energy lately and the Easter holidays will be so well appreciated once they start for me on Friday. A four day weekend will be a great luxury even if it is rainy.

May is just around the corner although we’ve just started April. I’ve got my passage booked to spend a few days in London from the 7th to the 12th. Mit is having the wedding of the year that weekend and I’m most honored to be invited to attend. Not sure yet if the rest of my brood will be going but if it’s just me it’s not all bad either as I’ve not been back for a proper visit for well over a year and a half now so I’m well over due.

Sometimes I'm quite certain there's a jertain in the curtain...

And sometimes I'm subtly reminded that Sienna really is my daughter... While walking through the rainy streets this afternoon she was insisting on going into every shoe shop we passed. The girl spends a lot of time playing with all my shoes and she just loves to take them all down off the shelf. A few days ago Fredu found a pair of sandals that I thought weren't hideously kid-like and we bought them for her. I can't even explain how thrilled she is at the concept of her new shoes. I know they're fab and all but I think it's more the case that it's that her toes are free and there are no socks involved. Although my mother thinks that it's not unheard of for children to wear socks with sandals... I'm not of that mindset... call me a novice but people please. Fashion is not an option it's an obligation* right?

*Bargains are of course imperative if you are to follow this mantra


The sandals...

And since we purchased said sandals she has been obsessed with wearing them around the house. She'll find them, crawl up to your lap and motion for you to put them on her. Lucky they have a zip up the back as well as the velcro strap so it's never really a battle... Now I'm certain her feet will grow 2 sizes before it's warm enough to wear them... Murphy's law no?

At long last the wee ones teeth are finally starting to come in... How many babies have been walking for a couple of months already and are just now start getting teeth? I know I know everyone is different. We got her this amber teething necklace which apparently helps the inflamation. It's funny as I've now looked it up online and the prices for them are insane. We got ours for 6Euros... they seem to sell for 40 -60 in the states? Odd? And btw don't fret they don't chew on them it's simply the contact against their skin that releases some mild succinic acid, which naturally does the whole anti-inflamatory thing. Don't ask... but it seems to work. Looks pretty funky too.


The amber necklace

Ooh lots of fun an giggles were had

The girlies decended into London last week to help me celebrate my 33rd Birthday. Oh how brilliant it was to have some well needed girlie chats and giggles. We went shopping, ate out... went to the cinema too (something I've not done in god knows how long). They even baked me a fabulous birthday cake!

Work seems to be just insanely busy and thus blogging and all other life things seem to be have put on hold... The recovery from surgery is going well although I do hobble around a bit... the scar should heal nicely, not sure it will be so good for the bikini season that is rapidly approaching, but hey... one thing at a time!



The cake chefs!!!



The happy birthday girl!!!



Sienna with her aunties sipping mojitos in the sun!


Bad ass rock chick baby


Naughty Naughty Ninga Turles in the display case at the movie theatre...


A rare moment with just the two of us at the beach on the morning of my birthday before I went off to work.

And just when you thought it couldn't possibly get more exciting...


it did.

Sunday afternoon saw me checking into the hospital by the sea... by 11pm I was being operated on for appendicitis. Not a nice thing. But luckily it didn't rupture and the procedure went well.

I've not much experience with hospitals thank goodness but this was enough to let me know that I'm really not so into them. I'm back home now and waiting for my work laptop to arrive so I can get back onto things in the real world.

I think the worst thing other than not being able to hold the wee bub would be the massive headache that I'm dealing with today... the painkillers they give you sure do work on the wound but seem to somehow don't seem to help the headache?

Best get busy getting better so I can enjoy the time with Joey and Andrea who arrive to help me celebrate my birthday!

No more drama please and thank you.

Time is slipping by

faster than money through my bank account these days. Before you know it, spring will be here and summer is of course just around the corner.

It's been pretty hectic times here since my mum left. I think we're always in a bit of a daze when she goes as we just love having her here so much we're kind of left numb when she goes. All part of life though I suppose.

I just finished reading a book mum gave me at xmas. It's got a terrible cover and everyone in my office was convinced I was reading some sort of romance novel when they saw it on my desk... but it was really so good. It was called Beach Music by Pat Conroy and it was quite the story. The old man on the bus next to me on the way home last night was looking rather puzzled as he saw a few tears roll down my cheek as I flpped through the last pages of the book. What a great read! I really would never have picked it up on my own accord but since it came reccomended by mum I couldn't refuse. Now I'm onto the last book Andrea gave me for xmas called Savage Garden by Mark Mills. It's kind of a challenge to get in to right now as I was so pulled into the last book it's hard to move on... seems to be a re-occuring theme of this post.

Other long un-resolved issues are wrapping up but with them come more issues and more stress. Not quite sure why it is that just when we seem to be getting our feet on the ground that something pops up to set us back... I guess we'll learn to live by simply bobing at the surface for a while. Sigh.

The girls are coming from London for a visit in a few weeks and all the weekend and overtime I've been doing lately will be used up on a day off while they're here. I can't wait. Perhaps some girlie time will help get through all of this.

Lilli has voiced a bark of complaint that ever since Sienna has come along her blog presense has been severely diminished... She just wanted her adoring public to know that she was still really cute and that really, she's the start of the show.... so on that note... over to you Lilli Martini!

Two words

Pony Tails!

It’s been one year already

And on this very day one year ago the little miss Sienna Ellice entered into this world. I’m amazed at how quickly time flies and how much and how little my life has changed. I always thought that having a child would mean total upheaval… that the milestones of sleeping through the night, rolling over, sitting and now walking would be monumental and earth shattering. I think the thing is, is that they all happen at such a natural progression that I never felt the rush of a monumentus feeling at these accomplishments. I do however treasure every day and hope that I will sooner rather than later master the art of divine patience that you need to be a good parent. It is truly the biggest task especially when you’re a person like me. But who better to help you learn that a 10kilo bundle of smiles, giggles and love?

Some people say that you get magic ‘I forget the whole birth’ hormones… I don’t think I ever got those… I seem to have erased from my mind the whole 9 months leading up to that Saturday morning that I hobbled down the 120 steps and out into the street between contractions on the way to the hospital. I remember the cab ride, the checking in and the subsequent monitoring of my contractions. I watched in awe and horror as the measuring unit which previously I had only seen measure contractions at a 60 at the highest was now spiking at 98 and man did it hurt. I remember walking to the delivery room and waiting while Alfredo fiddled with his scrubs as he was so excited he could hardly get them on. I remember thinking, ‘why am I not in a wheel chair’? I remember how that when they finally let me push that the pain went away… and I remember looking up at the big white clock on the delivery room hall and seeing that it was 9h15 when she was born. Her birth certificate says 9h45 but I know that she was actually bon 30 minutes earlier… not that it matters really but I remember! Then from that point on I’ve worn a veil of surrealness of being a parent. I find it quite baffling really as I keep waiting for that veil to lift and finally feel a sigh of relief and think to myself- this is real, this isn’t Sarah playing the part of a person who is a mother… may take me a while yet but I’m ever optimistic and that says a lot coming from a certified fatalist.

Mum arrived safely yesterday and poor her, was greeted by a fleet of sickies… All three of us seem to have terrible colds and fever. I can’t imagine that there is a bug that is going around that I have not yet caught. I had I think 3 flus in January and am starting off Feb. with what I hope to be a single cold and not a whole flock of them… hack hack cough cough

Happy birthday my little boobitu (although we try not to call you that)

And then....

Finally some things actually get done! It's only taken a year but we've got Sienna's Baptism planned. It will be on the 8th. Mum is flying in... Mami and Papi are coming from Italy and we still don't know if Alfredo's parents and sisters are coming from Paris... but the impressive thing is that it will be done. It only took a whole year! Shame on us.

Well in the spirit of getting things done, I managed to go for a run today with Eric after work. My sweet chickadee fixed my bike for me so I cycled to the gym (I can't believe I still know where it is) and we went for a jog along the beach and then for a chilly swim in the outdoor swimming pool. It was heated of course but still chilly. Brr. It's only 21h but I'm seriously ready for some zzz's already!

Miss Joey and Mr Pierre have some big exciting moves on their horizons! I'm so excited to be able to visit them in Scotland in March once they make their big move up north!

Oh yes and there is that minor thing which is not so minor which is the wee madam's first birthday that is coming up on the 2nd of Feb. Man oh man this time last year I was fit to be tied as the waiting was driving me mad! I was thinking that as I was jogging down the beach tonight... boy sure couldn't have been doing this at the same time last year!

I now have no reason...

to feel bad about my new downstairs neighbour. I met him in person for the first time last night and he was most disagreeable. Now I don't feel as bad as loathing him and his loud annoying music and video game playing. I also won't feel so bad when the day comes where I snap and go downstairs and scream bloody murder to him when he's got his kareoke machine on repeat at 3am singing some terrible catalan rock song. I won't feel bad at all. In fact, I may just feel kind of good. Ha I said it.

Sienna's school had a xmas recital that they all practised for but sadly she missed as she was dragged off the great white north with her mother... But they do have the cutest picture ever of the recital online. So sweet!


See it's not all evil

Where I sit here at my new but not so new any more job…

My desk faces the window which looks out onto a busy road. On the other side of the road is a block of flats above the street level shops. It’s sort of a mini-apartment complex. Although it doesn’t look to swish from it’s 50’s style architecture, I know all too well that in this part of town the owners/tenants are not hurting for money. All day long there is a flurry of cleaning that goes on in all the flats. Their dutiful South American house cleaners seem to work endlessly cleaning and cleaning. The strange thing is, is that the key cleaning task seems to be the windows. The little portly ladies seem to work endlessly away to keep all their windows clean. What kills me is how they all teeter precariously on tall ladders with the windows open. I’m terrified one day one will slip and go tumbling out the window 5 floors down to the busy foot path below. Perhaps I should keep myself busier with what they pay me to do rather than looking out the window…

Believe it or not

I managed to stay up to watch a movie last night… I did of course fall asleep around 10 minutes before it ended but let’s not be so pedantic… I’d of course seen it before. It was the movie called The Holiday. It’s a totally pinkie Hollywood movie… but I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved it even though it was the second time I’ve seen it. The first time was in the theatre with mum which in its self is a rarity. We saw it together a few years back when I went home for xmas. Perhaps that is the root of my fondness for it… I don’t know what it is about it but I did indeed notice that I had a smile on my face throughout . If you need a smile or two do indeed see it. Alfredo who is the king of pinkie romance films gives it the thumbs up too if it helps.

The wee one is getting into all sorts of mischief now as she is on the brink of full-on walking… not long now till we shed a few pounds chasing after her wherever she goes. Mum bought her this really cute monkey back pack with a tail that acts as a lead of sorts. Perhaps it seems cruel to have a child in one of these but I’m thinking that the city life we lead will certainly call for some sort of child (don’t bolt off into traffic sort of device). Perhaps we can hook on the dog too and we're all sorted (evil laugh). Hello? Child services? me? Bad mother? Que no!

Just when we feared it was all over for dear old pute pute...

Mama bear pulled out a massive geek miracle from her behind. Yup I sucessfully de-bug our pc problem. Our CPU was cranked out to 100%. I mean wtf? Want to know how to fix it? I know you don't but you're going to learn...

1) install a process explorer then you can see what exactly is causing the 100% CPU usage.

2) Once the offending process is located then track it down and kill it...

3) in my case it was a massive spooling back log which was repared by looking up the file name that was causing the blockage and following the instructions on how to delete the offending processes from within the system 32 folder (spooling file if you must know)

4) dance for joy around the living room as you don't actually need to wipe your whole computer again like feared!

5) Feel really really smug as you're not such a mug

6) Go to bed feeling smug still but exhausted as you've got to get up to go to work at 6h30 am the next day...

One day on two days off... one day on then one day off

No I've not started work as an air hostess but you might think that I have. The odd days that the holidays fall on this year make for strange work days.

In the interim I'm trying desperately not to go apeshit bollistic on my new downstairs neighbour who has a penchant for VERY VERY loud music. I am certainly very light on the patience level for things like this... flash back to about 5 years ago to when we lived in the Loft and our friendly coke dealer neighbours decided to crank their music for 48h straight... The cops of course would do nothing as we lived in Dalston and of course the noise complaint arm of the council went bankrupt... If post traumatic stress disorder for this type of thing I would swear that I have it badly! I fear for my neighbour as he may just end up bearing he brunt of my little condition.

Another two lesson's I've learned lately are

1) Babies have jet lag for longer than you can ever imagine
2) Only the very rich and the very poor have more than two children... well maybe the middle class do too but they very soon become poor paying daycare fees for places that serve freshly squeezed orange juice. (I know KJ I'm evil I'm evil)

Just because it's really really funny...

I must clarify just what a power plate is.... and now you know why never to stand on one with a full bladder... never!

Some important life lessons I've learned since I last blogged

1) Never step onto a power plate machine to show your mum how cool it is when you have a full bladder. NEVER!

2) Traveling via Frankfurt to Toronto is NEVER a good idea especially with a 10 month old baby. Go via Amsterdam or don't go at all!

3) Christmas was 100 times more exciting now that we've got little ones in the family again

4) Once you have kids you really rarely want things for yourself

Beyond these somewhat comic realizations much fun and enjoyment was had while the wee one and I were visiting Canada for xmas


My mum and Sienna and Isabella - her grand daughters


Sienna and I on mum's front path. SNOW! (check my to die for trainers says Sienna... and my fab leg-warmers - thank you auntie Kathryn)


Sienna was not too certain about this said snow?

Vero et la petite princesse



Vero's mum sent this very goldie cute xmas outfit from Marseilles for Seinna.


She wasn't quite sure what this whole thing was about... but after a few more photos she pulled out her 'blue steel'


okay not really 'blue steel'but a smile nonetheless!

I've snuck a few quiet seconds...

This sunny but cold Sunday morning. The baby is napping and the boy and the hound are curled up sleeping in bed. I'm so happy to report that I'm feeling well for the first time in days. Thank God! I'm actually looking forward to going to work again tomorrow morning to catch up on all I missed on Friday. Getting up at half six however, that I am not looking forward to...

Poor wee Sienna is on her 4th consecutive week of mega congestion. She is so sweet. Over the past few two days she has taken a liking to being held in my arms as we dance around the living room listening to bootleg smiths tracks that her daddy keeps producing from mysterious places deep within our hard drive. She just cuddles right in and lets me do the dancing. Its such a sweet thing. Eventually she just drifts off to sleep. There is nothing in this world that can substitute that feeling. It doesn't happen very often any more as she is a few days shy of 10 months now and is (when not ill) constantly on the go and not at all interested in cuddle/dancing time with anyone. So for that I am truly blessed.

I had a lovely chat with my mum the other day who told me the best news. She said that after nearly 2 years reprieve from her hellish job that she woke up the other morning and finally felt well rested. No small feat really as she is a terrible sleeper at the best of time... mix that up with constant stress, grieving the loss of your husband... there is no doubt why its taken her so long to finally re-gain balance. I love her so much that it fills me with great joy to know that she is truly well, inside and out. I just can't wait to pass her wee Sienna for a cuddle when we arrive for xmas in just a few short weeks.

Our house is a disaster and for the first time in a long time I really don't care. My priority is enjoying every second at home with all of us together house work can wait. Today since the sun is out I plan to round up the girls and reluctant father to go for a walk and soak up some vitamin d on special today for free from the sunbeams... then stop at out beautiful neighborhood church to say a few prayers and get some divine direction and stuff and such in the hope that by some miracle Alfredo's passport woes which are still tied up in years worth of red tape will be resolved in the next 2 weeks and that he too can come home with us for xmas. There is a lot of praying to be done and we're no holy rollers or anything like that.... but hey, if you've got some spare room on your meditation/prayer or whatever higher being spirit power or enlightening force open, please add his cause on. It would be so lovely to all be together for once at xmas.


Congestion is no match for bath bubbles

Sleep sleep and more sleep



The congestion fest continues here at Casa Montcada... Just to mix it up a bit I got a nice stomach bug on Thursday night which kept me in bed all day Friday. Not so good since I had tons of stuff to do at work, I feel just terrible for not being able to go. The good news however is that it seems to have passed now and I'm slowly feeling like food isn't the enemy anymore.

We have just recently completed watching the first half of Series 6 of the Sopranos... I had no idea that there was a second half. Joey is an angel for having lent this to us! I'm not quite sure what we'll do when we get our hands on the second half, as once we've completed it we'll have to come to terms with the fact that there will never be more :(

Organic vacuums and funky hairdos!

Anyone with a small child and a dog should be quite smug with themselves... You might think we are nuts, which we are but having a naughty Chihuahua has its advantages... Crumbs are a rare sight in our house... and accidental spills- no problem. Lilli is our little organic vaccum. Crib full of cracker crumbs? Remove baby and place in dog a few minutes later, presto, all clean! And if your clever you leave to dog in the play pen for a few minutes and a tiny glimmer of peace will be yours! now if we could only convince her to chase up the dust bunnies...

Its been a long time since I've had a proper Saturday like this... meaning after a full week of work. It does indeed feel nice to spend time with the wee ones and the tostadito one!


AHHHHH!

I'm about a hundred days behind in photos and there are just so many. The wee one is advancing leaps and bounds with all the time she's spending with her new friends at nursery school... she's a little madam now and just so much more interactive with everyone. Her hair is growing like weeds and we may just manage to pull of pig tails for xmas...


Mum went a little overboard with the hair dryer!

Not long now till we jet off to the great white north! The count down begins!

Its been pretty slow on the ground these days...

For anything that does not directly involve my new job that is... waking up at half six every morning is resulting on a very very early bed time these days... by half eight last night I was already zzzing... sad state of affairs really but coupled with the fact that I am still fighting this monster seemingly never-ending cold it makes a bit of sense.

Perhaps the weekend will bring me a bit of reprive and a bit of blogging...

Sitges or bust... or in my case, Sitges and bust

Well it sounds funny. But no really, it wasn't really funny at all but at the same time not sad either. I ventured off to Sitges on this rainy Wednesday morning. My mission was to return miss Andrea's ring to the shop where she bought it as the stone that it had, had fallen out. Its a very pleasant train ride from my house with just one quick change. It was so nice to just venture off on my own, something that I certainly don't do very often anymore. I arrived and quickly navigated to the shop. Was I surprised to see the - closed from the 9th till the 24th - sign posted on the door? No, not really. Just my luck. But all was not lost as I now know the name of the shop and the name of the street so I can ring the lady when they open again!

I then strolled the 50m down to the sea front which was quite grim as it was not raining there but darn close... snapped the two standard pics for prosperity and within a few minutes boarded the train back to Barna (that's what catalan's call Barcelona).


Cloudy sea front... well the palm trees just before the sea starts


The beach and the lovely church

Its been a long long time... but I finally...

Went out on a Saturday night! I know, I know, it may be hard to believe but I attended mini me's birthday party on Saturday night. It really felt strange being at a bar... I do however have to contest that the cigarette smoke was probably the most difficult thing for me to handle. The four vodka's that I imbibed were of course no problem at all!


Mini me and me!

Spot my dodgy hair re-growth? Thing 10004 of the list of things they don't tell you that happen to you when you have a baby... your hair falls out!!! Not permanently of course but its something like your hair stops falling out like it normally does when you're pregnant and then when you're no longer pregnant your hair growth cycle starts again and the new hair growing pushes out the old one which results in you thinking you're going bald as huge clumps of hair fall out... sigh... makes life interesting I suppose!

Happy Birthday Maria!!!

We were trying to do a nice little portrait to send to my mum who's birthday it is today... shambolic results of course... but funny! I think we need a tripod... But the important thing is that today is my Mum's birthday! She's the grand old age of 58! I can only humbly hope that one day I can be even a tiny bit as good as she is with me, with the wee Sienna... I am truly blessed to have such an amazing mum. It got me thinking that when I'm 58 Sienna will be 27!!!


First take... its like this all the time...


Mildly better... but still chaotic

Frustration thy name is... ME!

I am going crazy today as I can't quite get my head around KLM and Lufthansa's pet in cabin carrier sizes. Both airlines will allow a max height of 20cm (8'') but I can not for the life of me find a single carrier that meets this requirement, they are all taller... some by 1,5cm and others by 4cm but still... a max height is a max height and one does not want to risk experiencing any more stress than need be when traveling internationally with a pet (and a small child)... just writing that makes me think that we are insane for even contemplating this journey... but still, we have to go home for xmas and I don't know anyone who is in the market to mind our dog for 3 weeks while we are in Canada... Calling the airlines has not produced any help... they only have the same info that is detailed on their website to relay to me... I think its quite possible that my head may eject my brain by means of a massive explosion as I can't process the amount of frustration that this is causing me... I guess someone needs to take up yoga or some calming thing...

I appologise in advance if my brain splatters all over your monitor as you read this.

Its was all good...

The wee one seems to love her new school and was so elated and excited from all the days activities! Even though she was shattered she had a hard time settling down last night when she returned home. Its hard to see her there but its so important for her to learn and grow... all parents go through this but I guess until its your sprog you don't quite get that heart wrenching feeling. Don't get me wrong, I am also happy to report that I have also experienced a bit of elation myself as for the first time in ages I've had some time to myself without feeling guilty that I am not with her... not that I've not got other things to keep me busy but a bit of time even to clean the microwave (I know, how sad is that?) is well appreciated.

The job search is finally over, I'm not going to go into too many details until the ink has dried on the signed offer, but its nice to know that we'll soon be back on track. They seem like a very nice company and are even so kindly accommodating our trip to Canada this xmas. Now if we could only find a half decent photography agent for Fredu it might boulster some work his way too... we can but try no?

Someone started their first day at nursery school!

She was all smiles this morning on her way out the door to her first day at nursery school. Its pretty exciting as we're all ramping up for me to return to work and start a new chapter! Lilli dog is over the moon as she thinks we've finally gotten rid of that 'thing' that seems to take up all of our attention... Just wait till 17h when she returns... Lilli will be beside herself.


All smiles with daddy! And look it finally stopped raining!


She's not so sure about it... but I'm sure she will love it! Look at how much space there is!

Happy Hallowe'en!!!

We were due to go to a party... but unfortunately it was canceled at the last moment due to an unforeseen injury of Vero's brother... poor guy! So we took the party on the road and found some more fun!

Soy una gatita (I'm a kitty cat)


A crazy Mexican and two scary vampires!


Daddy and the gatita

The whole gang!


Meaow!


The vampires decorated Sienna's carrito

If you've ever had a cat or a dog...

You simply must read this entry from Super_AP: wogging at its blorst I laughed so hard. I think we should all petition him to write more cat entries! Simply briliant.

It's Hallowe'en and here in Spain its not the most widely observed day... but with so many foreigners there are always some fun things going on... we shall head out with Roy and his twinnies and of course our little miss... She won't of course quite get what s going on but it should make for some fun photos for the blog...

In this last week all her activities such as CONSTANTLY crawling and climbing she seems to have burned off some puppy fat... I think she is really enjoying exploring the house and trying to drive her parents nuts by touching anything that is possibly dangerous... amazing how they just seem to gravitate towards what they are not allowed to touch...


Chillin' being all independant with her bad self in the hall.

Nursery's Bugaboo and lots and lots of chilly rain

Things have been quite busy here in casa Barcelona lately. We had a lovely visit with Joey just last weekend which helped Sienna refine her love of shopping. She is now touching everything as you go by... Just like her great grandma!

Fredu returned from his work excursion to the south late on Sunday night and there was one very happy camper who awoke to find her daddy had returned... actually the dog was of course VERY happy to see him return too. I sometimes thinks she gets depressed when he's not here as I am a much stronger pack leader (thanks Cesar Milan) than him...

The wee one has finally gotten a place within the nursery near our house. She is booked in to start on Monday. It is going to be much harder for us to let her go than it is for her to be left but we'll work it out I'm sure. She's going to be in good hands with the fransican nuns who run the joint just a few doors down from our house. Now I just need to get cracking on getting back to work and we're all set! It will feel very strange next week having her no here as I will be at home and she will not! I guess I will get a lot of life admin sorted and gym and paint and such so all good and hopefully sooner than not be back working.

Our Bugaboo pram is having some problems with the big round white button that adjusts the seating position. As we got it second hand the warranty has expired... we had the sneaking suspicion that it would cost us a fortune to fix... I wrote an email to Bugaboo Spain and I kid you not they rang me the very next day and have told me they will ship me a replacement part free of charge! I'm absolutely astounded. What fantastic customer service. I'm so interested to see if these new parts really do fix it! Well even if they don't their customer service here is very good!

The rain and grey weather continues here and its darn cold let me tell you! We are all kitted out in our best winter gear already. We need an urgent trip to Ikea to buy a rug as some little people who are now crawling around like crazy are having issues with cold bums!

Maria and the Douglas clan are heading off to Cuba this Friday afternoon. Theyve certainly got the right idea. We shall be with them in spirit... Mojito anyone?

Crisis vs Crunch... an example of how language is so important

Things often get lost in translation but often times information is manipulated by language as well. When Andrea who is of course from London was here she was referring to the current world economical situation as the "Credit Crunch" which I found very interesting as here in Spain it's been labeled an ''Economic Crisis". Its all very well spun by the political leaders of each country. No doubt I'm missing a lot of fundamental understandings of how economies work, but I think its pretty safe to say that they way your leader refers to the current situation shows a lot about who they really are. I wonder what senor Bush refers to it as?

The rain came down in buckets this morning. Poor Lilli may never forgive me for subjecting her to the indecency of having to *gasp* walk in the rain... Sienna was snug in her plastic bubble that protects her pram and she quite honestly enjoyed watching the rain dribble down the plastic that surrounded her...

I'm hoping that Joey doesn't read by blog before she jets off to visit us tomorrow night. I've made her some red velvet cake for her Birthday which was a month ago but hey... any excuse right? I wonder if it will last over night in my fridge. I've instructed Eric to come by to collect his tonight to lower the risk of me eating the one I made for him!

What the devil does it all mean?

I've been having these re-occuring dreams lately and in them surfing is the main subject. I seem to find myself in places with huge waves. The kind like they have in Hawaii... big and blue but surprisingly friendly. The thing is, that I have never surfed before in my life... nor have I been anywhere where surfing of this kind takes place. I am not scared or anxious in the dream just excited to get out there... but in these dreams I have not yet managed to actually get out to surf them. Last night just as I was about to get in and give it a go the surf all of a sudden subsided like a wave pool that you would find in a water park being shut off?

Apparently the dreams don't mean much... I looked up surfing and waves and apparently this is what they represent...

Surfing

To dream that you are surfing, indicates the ups and downs of some emotional situation or relationship. You may feel overwhelmed. One minute you can be in control of your emotions and the next minute you are not.



Waves

To see clear, calm waves in your dream, signifies a calming of emotions. It may also signal an important decision to be made.

To hear waves crashing in your dream, indicates tenderness and relaxation. It also brings about feelings of sensuality and sexuality.

To be honest I'm pretty disapointed as if these dreams are supposed to be about emotions I mean d'huh isn't that what all dreams are about? I'm just going to go back to dreaming about birds that turn into lizards like I had before...

We had...

A lovely weekend with miss Andrea who came to visit. We chatted, had cocktails, jogged, dined, shopped (well she did) and had an all around fab time. It was such a treat to have her here especially since I've been feeling pretty low lately.


Andrea made sure to gansta-ize my baby... it was pretty funny. I'm hoping child services don't haul me up for this...


Her and I sipping wine after her 6k jog and my 4k jog (she's got more beans than I do) much shopping for her ensued.


A civilized shot of ladies that drink wine before lunch (but after jogging so that's okay right?) Sienna stuck with her milk of course.