Just a quick post to say that G is 9 months old tomorrow! And no, I'm not back to my pre-pregnancy shape. I only weigh about 2 lbs more but as for my stomach - bleah. Well, let's not linger there.

The last couple of days G has been getting her head around crawling.......FORWARDS!

Already I have had to rescue Adriano's X-Box - in 5 seconds flat she managed to crawl there, turn it on, open the DVD drive, kneel up and lean on it. She is not a frail little girlie, she is a strapping young lass! It was bending under her weight! We are looking for lockable TV cabinets. Urgently.

She's pretty much recovered from her nasty cough and now we're keeping our fingers crossed that she's not caught the 'hand, foot and mouth' virus which one of her little playmates has got.

When we're out she's so much harder work than she used to be, she wants to explore everything and everywhere, and who can blame her? I don't wish she was smaller though, it's tricky but it's also amazing to see her character coming out. She is very determined, and very vocal. And she has started dancing to music.

Oh she has just woken up. Bye.

Big day

Little G has just learnt to clap her hands! It's so cute to watch. Poor thing has a nasty cough so it's nice to see her smiling and looking pleased with herself; she's been a bit quiet and sombre otherwise.

Also this morning I can see one of her bottom teeth has FINALLY broken through her gum. It's been a long time coming!

This last week she has gone from being on her front to sitting up by herself and today she seems to be in the swing of it.

She loves turning the pages of books now, and is starting to feel the touchy-feely bits on the page with her little chubby fingers. Adorable.

Last night Adriano opened up our cupboard-full-of-mess in the lounge and Little G was watching very closely. I don't think I've ever opened up that cupboard in front of her and she looked very interested indeed. Sure enough about ten minutes later she was over there herself and had opened it up and was pulling wires out of it. And she still can't crawl forwards but she certainly gets around somehow.

We came back last night from a weekend away in Brighton with family. My dad-in-law treated us all to 2 nights in a fab hotel with sea views and yummy meals. It was sometimes a bit challenging to be all of us together for so long (lots of strong characters!) but we all had a lovely time. I particularly enjoyed getting to know my 2-and-a-half year old nephew better. In face he fed me some of his broccoli at one meal - a memorable moment and really generous as it's his favourite vegetable! (And possibly mine too, luckily. He wouldn't take no for an answer.)

I also had my first ever manicure, thanks to my sister-in-law. It was fun and relaxing, even if I did think I could have done the polish better myself!

Adriano and I reminded ourselves that we've now been trying to move back down to Brighton for ...oooh about 5 years now... and what on earth was stopping us? We say it's getting jobs. Maybe we should just do it though? And let the rest of it fall in to place? In fact I am applying for a job there right now, and we have vowed to ourselves that we will move there by end of July next year no matter what. We've said that before of course, but this time I really hope we actually do it.

This morning I've been productive and have done some annoying and/or messy jobs such as wash out the compost bin (ewwwww) and changing duvet cover etc

Got to go, G is reversing into the downstairs toilet and the floor's not as clean as it might be.

PS

I'm finding it a huge struggle to assess any of my kids' 'work' at school in my teaching job. I can only just about remember their names, let alone how well they have contributed or whatever (hell, some days I can only just about remember my name. I wish I was joking.). Next term I'm supposed to answer to the senior management team in writing about it all, and I just want to hide under a rock. It's too much. I want to do choirs and all that as well but WHEN? Two days a week teaching kicks my you-know-what as it is.

I just want to provide musical experiences which keep the kids interested and open to music. Why do I have to measure their attainment formally as well? I just don't want to. So there.

what's occuring

Little G is now into turning book pages.

She gets very very upset when you take the baby wipes away from her and if left to her own devices will pull all of them out of the packet faster than you can say 'pooey bottom'. Today she spent a solid twenty minutes exploring the sticker that covers up the opening hole.

Her teeth have not yet made an appearance and she still can't crawl forwards but she does a mean 'downward-facing dog' yoga pose.

I think I am pre-menstrual again. Thrillsville.

Adriano and I keep arguing because I ask him to pick up after himself.

I know he is jealous of me being able to look after G most of the time. I feel for him. For my part I am exhausted from looking after her and keeping the house running. I would rather be in my role than his, and I am very grateful to him for working so hard for us. Also, I am very tired.

Our house is very cold.

I have work tomorrow and the next day. I am not managing to feel any joy about that whatsoever.

G has had one of those days where she doesn't smile or laugh as much as usual and when that happens I always think she doesn't love me anymore. Psycho mum!

I keep unsubscribing from various emails and they don't seem to take any notice.

I liked being outside today even though it was cold and rainy and the piles of leaves have largely turned to sludge. I got my gloves out for the first time this year.

I have been doing a bit of baby-signing with G. She hasn't signed back yet but I'm hoping she will at some point. I've been doing 'finished', 'bird', 'plane', 'food', 'milk', 'home', 'bubbles' and 'drink'. Can't think of any others right now.

G made friends with about ten old ladies today in a cafe. A couple of them thought she was a boy even though she was wearing tights, a skirt, and a pink jumper. *sigh* It'll be good when her hair grows a bit more although she's got more than a lot of babies her age.

This morning I found out that a friend of mine is pregnant with her 2nd baby. Also this morning there was a 6-week old baby at the playgroup I took G to. Both things made me feel broody even though I'm tired (did I mention that already?) and I don't want to feel sick til week 16 again.

I heard this last week that a teacher I used to work with was recently killed in a car accident. That gave me a lot to think about. The friend who told me about it has worked in the room next door to him for 10 years. Today my friend had to clear out his room. She says she feels lost.

Today is my father-in-law's birthday; his first without his wife. He is keeping himself madly busy, presumably to fend off the inevitable wall of grief. When it hits him we'll be there, but in the meantime it can be a little hard to watch. Adriano and his family are all experiencing that dreaded list of 'firsts' that come after a loved one's death. Christmas will no doubt be very poignant; thankfully we have G to help us through. I suspect she'll go mad for the present wrappings and make us all smile and laugh.

Frustration at Fabulous Funky Wedding

I want to give proper time to this post but am chasing my tail with errands today.

Went to Pete and Emma's wonderful wedding at the weekend in Totnes. Crazily we left the house at 4am so that most of the drive LittleG would still be asleep. She was soooo excited and happy when I got her out of her cot at that time of night! She was awake for about an hour with the intrigue of it all and then fell asleep for 2 hours: perfect. It was so cute to stop at the services for breakfast with G still in her sleepsuit and sleeping bag. Awww.

The hotel was lovely, I recommend it. I enjoyed Totnes - have been before but ages ago. But my god I was SHATTERED because although on the whole G is sleeping much better, she had a cold and teething which caused her to wake up 3 or 4 times before the 4am excitement, and I barely slept in the car (Adriano will insist otherwise). Adriano was v tired too after the short night and all that driving. I am still learning to drive so couldn't share that with him.

I loved the ceremony, Emma looked gorgeous in her halterneck green dress with to-die-for shoes (wish I had taken a pic) and funky pink short hair (a true offbeat bride). Loved Pete's waistcoat and tie colour combo and frock coat thingy. LittleG growled, yes growled, with gusto at an important point in the proceedings but luckily only those around us noticed.

LittleG completely skipped her second nap of the day as everything around was so exciting. My back ached from carrying her around and my head spun from so little sleep and from concentrating on keeping the plates spinning with regard to her needs. But it was gorgeous to be there, and to chat to people I'd met on Emma's hen day, and meet family members I'd heard about...

On the tables at the meal there was a great little booklet whose pages represented Emma and Pete in various ways: colouring in pages, poems, music compositions, photos,... loved the idea.

I was gutted that by the time the ukelele band (yes! I told you it was a cool wedding) came along, I just couldn't find my mojo and I just popped in to have a look before slinking back to our room.

In the old days (I won't say 'good old days' because life has never been better than now) I would have taken a ton of photos and been really proud of them, but sadly my efforts this time were a bit distracted (and LittleG-centred) to say the least.

Got to go, G has just ripped half a page out of Adriano's book 'Manhood' by Steve Biddulph. Oops, sorry Adriano.