Ana the robot and the last photo of 'the bump'

We got a new bin, Ana got a new robot costume!! Tim cut face and arm holes in it and Ana had a wonderful time running round the house in it : )

This is also the last photo we have of Rose as a bump - the one we'd planned to take closer to the delivery date never quite made it, as Rose decided it was time to come, whatever the midwives had said!

"Oh dear, all dirty!"

These were the precious words of our daughter heralding the fact that she had fallen over in a very deep and muddy puddle.

She was down on the floodplain having a great time with Daddy when he called to ask me if I wanted to join them. In the background, I could clearly hear her demise into the recieving puddle.

Here is a picture of her covered in mud. The trousers were once pink. The boots were once full of air instead of water, and prior to being covered in dirt, the grin was once not quite so wide!

Cooking the dinner, stirring the pot...

... time for a taste if it isn't too hot!

Ana emulates her parents' curious culinary creations in her own little kitchen. A bit of this, a bit of that, and suddenly "soup" is ready. But be careful, it's "bit hot", so you need to "blow, blow!".

She did start off her cooking with Mummy's best Le Creuset pots (courtesy of Daddy who thought they were unbreakable), until she found them, and replaced them with some lovely (old) metal ones instead...

And the soup has never been the same since...

Mummy's Shoes

Ana ADORES shoes.

It must be genetic.

Spotty shoes, slippers, boots and, of course, Mummy's shoes; yes, Mummy's shoes are wonderful!

You know those rainy afternoons when you just HAVE to get out of the house? We've found a trip to the shoe shop is a splendid excursion. Recently we haven't had to buy new shoes, (Daddy sighs with relief!) but trying them on, and having one's feet measured is certainly worth the trip.

The Geese are Flying

Autumn really was setting in this morning.
The air was crisp, the geese were flying and the leaves beginning to turn and fall.

Early Morning Walk on the Floodplain

Early this morning Ana and I (Tim) went for a cold October walk on the floodplain by our house. Ana wanted to go through this gate, but Daddy said "no". We went through the open gate to the right instead.

A veritable lesson in flora and fauna followed, with sightings of swans, sheep eating grass, dogs, geese, and other wonders.

And still back in time for breakfast (well, second breakfast!)

Our jammy little girl

Ana has developed a distinct liking for Tim's wild blueberry jam (no sugar, just grape juice to sweeten if you were worried!). The problem with this jam is in the eating of it, or rather the smushing of it all over her face, hands, clothes, table... it even gets in her hair!

Its getting rather chilly!

After a summer sojourn in the cupboard, the Alpaca Hat was rediscovered (much to Ana's delight) in preparation for the snow, ice, fog, rain and sleet of the coming months. And it still fits (very snugly).

Um, Tim, open your eyes....

So, we're not quite sure what happened here... Tim was actually taking this photo... You wouldn't have thought that he could take himself by surprise!

We'll blame the London smoggy air which made my allergies AWFUL (except of course, when we were in the posh restaurant being served yummy food by amazing waiters with passable fake french accents...)

Oh, this is on one of those new bridges crossing the Thames after our trip on the London Eye - possibly our last outing before the new baby arrives!

Today, I shall be ... mischievous!

Here is our little cherub... life is such fun!

Sitting in a sunbeam

This tousled look can be found each morning before Mummy puts the hairbrush to work.

Dancing on the quilt

Ana's Nana has pulled off a masterpiece of patchwork quilting - from tiny shards (or is that swatches?) of cloth she has produced a lovely blanket.

Here is Ana showing her appreciation by dancing on it and going "ohhhh".

She likes nice looking things. (This is why she likes her Daddy...) (Lara - Stop laughing.)

Story Time with Great Nana

Story Time is a wonderful time.

Calm descends upon the house for a moment or two as we loose ourselves in yet another gripping tale of 1 apple shared by 2 bears, chased by 3 canaries and 4 dogs... but to be fair, some of the books are really excellent.

The clue to recognising a terrible book is if it has NO author. This is a bad sign. Avoid books where the people who wrote them are ashamed to admit it!

But here Ana is engrossed in a nursery rhyme book with Great Nana. Lovely.

Making Houses!

Yes, astonishingly enough, Ana is already enjoying making houses (albeit with a little help from her parents) out of cushions! Here she is doing one of her many circles through her front and back door.

Taking care of the dolls

Ana has been developing her caring instinct recently, and can now rarely be separated from her 2 dolls: Molly Dolly ("Moi Doi") and Sophie Dolly ("Sophie Doi"). Here she is using her hairbrush to beautify them before an outing.

Woe betide anyone trying to put her to bed without them both!!!

Harvest Time Again!

Yesterday, when we said that we should pick an apple for desert, our little Ana, who has been so patient all season, somehow knew this was her cue. She leapt from her chair and ran through the kitchen to the garden to get her apple! Daddy caught her up to assist in the selection of the perfect specimen.

Concentration

Here is our little artiste completely absorbed in one of her masterpieces. Her style is certainly abstract, with a strong focus on the edges of the paper. Her pencil control is exceptional, so our table only suffers when she means it to, hence why we now have a lovely blue and white spotty plastic cloth covering it temporarily : )

Though this temporary cover may last a good 10 years, it is, none the less, temporary...

Ana and the brocolli

The other week we discovered that Ana is a BIG fan of brocolli! We had tried this a while ago and she disliked it, but gave her some recently and all she could say was 'bocci, bocci, more!'

Crazy Uncle Dom!

Ana has had a whale of a time with Uncle Dom and Aunty Crystal this weekend - they even got up at 6:30 with her and gave us a lie in!!! What joy : )

And the sponsor for this week is...

...from the land of coffee extraordinaire... the one and only giantissimo STARBUCKS!!! Ana rather enjoyed her strawberry milkshake, and, as she was teething and needed her mind taking off this, it worked wonderfully.

Uncle Simon - El Championo!

Ana had a lovely fun day at the tennis - watching Uncle Simon play and having a go herself. The day was definitely topped off by 'SiSi' winning the under 21s men's singles tournament, hurrah!

A piddlingly small cup for such a great achievement...

Does my bum look big in this?

On a beautiful sunny day a few weeks ago Ana was running round the garden in her lovely sunny nappy wrap... too cute not to blog : )

A bit more DIY

Here is our lovely new fence to keep a certain vivacious toddler within the bounds of our garden. A couple of weeks ago when Tim was on holiday he set about toddler-proofing (as much as possible) our patio area. Wonderful Uncle Simon also came along and helped, and a beautiful bay tree was donated by Nana to complete the nicely finished effect. Now we can stand back and admire...

Cornering at speed

Tim was going to title this 'She drives like her Mummy', but I cunningly commandeered the computer mid-blog...

Ana ADORES her pushchair, whether it is empty, or has dolls or teddys in does not seem to matter. And woe betide any other toddler who thinks they may like to push it, Ana's a match for any of them! She loved pushing it round Great-Grandpa's garden, only leaving it to run up and down the ramp to the garden many many times (which she fell off, twice).

Lifting the X-Wing from the swamp

So, Ana's too young to watch Star Wars, but we're hoping that if they make a new film they'll consider her for a role... here she is demonstrating how to lift a spaceship out of the swamp with nought but the force....

Coke Sponsors this Blog...

In order to pay for the ever increasing cost of shoes (not to mention college fees) we've taken to leasing advertising space on our blog to reputable large multinational corporations.

Today's friendly sponsor is the lovable, furry Coca-Cola Drinks Company.

For those people gasping with shock that our toddler is drinking coke, let me reassure you that her grandparents gave her the can, so that's ok.

Don't you think we got the product placement perfect?!

(And no, the can was NOT open...)