Help. I think I’m now addicted to Tim Tams. Why did no-one tell me about this gorgeous biscuit before?! Fuelled by the reviews on nicecupofteaandasitdown.com and the rumours that this previously antipodean only treat had been spotted lurking in UK Tescos, I knew I had to chase down a packet for myself.

I’m impressed.

Think Penguin. Only with much much lighter biscuit and much better chocolate. Much more chocolate for that matter. I don’t think I need to be declared psychic if I predict the remains of the packet aren’t going to hang around for long.

Sorry Akra.

I so want this job.

4am this morning: *THUD* … *SCREAM*!

My poor brain takes a couple of seconds to register that Akra Jr has in fact fallen out of bed. Run into his room to see him standing up in his room looking confused and crying. Miraculously all he seems to require is a quick hug and a kiss where he bumped his head and he goes straight back to sleep.

Me? I stay awake for another half hour feeling really guilty that we didn’t put a bed rail up (the one we bought didn’t fit, then after a day or so we assumed he didn’t need one). Evil mummy.

Well had a great night out last night and managed to get pretty tipsy in the process which is all for the good. Fortunately for me, Akra Jr decided to give me a lie in and played in his room happily until 7.45am when he needed his nappy changing. Still a lovely change from his usual 6.30am though. No headache, but lots of joint aches due to dehydration (I really should have remembered to drink a pint of water before I went to sleep) so was nice to have a gentler introduction to the day! Big thanks to Wintermute for babysitting so I could escape for the evening.

Finally got my T’ai Chi DVD. Looks quite good so far, although a bit american hard sell in the introduction bits which I found annoying. The first couple of exercise sets though were very relaxing and therapeutic so I’m enjoying it. I might get away with breaking it into 15 minute chunks too – it wasn’t made clear whether you were supposed to do all three sections of the first volume in one session or could break it down into the components, so I’m going to assume I can do small chunks and see how it goes.

Suddenly realised last night that Akra Jr’s 2nd birthday isn’t that far away (6th May) and I really ought to get organised for it. I have NO idea what to get for his birthday (I’d hoped we’d have moved by now so I could get a toy for the new garden but that was not meant to be) and people have already started asking me what they should get him, so any ideas I do have will go to other people. ARGH! I wonder if I have to be supermum at this age and bake a fancy cake etc, or if I can get away with going down Tescos on the morning…

And do you know what’s even better about cooking a Sunday Roast? Somebody else gets to clear it up… *grin*.

Well Akra Jr did pretty well considering. The considering being when I went in to check on him at 11ish to find him curled at the bottom of the bed on top of the covers. Being a considerate soul I gently picked him up and laid him underneath the covers with his head on the pillow. Then he woke up. Think we eventually got him off to sleep again at sometime near 1am. Silly Mummy. Won’t be doing that again, he can damn well get cold! He had a very good sleep this lunchtime though, so all is going well. Bless.

I’m currently in the process of cooking a really yummy Roast Pork dinner (with roast tatties, parsnips, peas, apple sauce and gravy … *drool*). I know it may seem rather early, but 5pm is when Akra Jr eats tea so we’re all eating together this evening. I love the process of cooking a roast dinner – it’s relatively easy, just needs planning and timing, and that sort of cookery I do quite well. Best of all you get the sublime cooking smells wafting through the house all Sunday afternoon which really gets the appetite going. I try to cook a roast most Sundays now as we all demolish them pretty quick and it’s always satisfying when everyone enjoys the effort you went to.

Going to be going out this evening, which is quite a change for me. This is mainly because I’m never organised enough to get a babysitter and also because I actually quite enjoy being at home even though I love being out once I’m there. Yes, I know, I’m odd. You knew that already. This time, however, the lure of the pub and seeing Xabkorak, Dathi and hopefully some more Britlore locals won out. Besides, there’s a bacardi & coke (or two … or three…) with my name on it. Wintermute has come to my rescue and is being our designated babysitter for the evening – *CHEER*.

I’ll raise a glass to you Ed in honour of your birthday (any excuse), and I’ll try not to post any drunken blatherings on my return.

MINI HIPPO BATHDAYS TO ED!!!!!!!!!

It was a momentous day for Akra Jr today, as he got his brand new bed built at last. No longer is he my little baby who goes in a cot each night, he now sleeps in a raised bed with drawers, storage space underneath, and very grown up Tweenies duvet and pillow covers (all say “aaaahhhhh”). He’s now officially a little boy.

Well, of course, I say sleep. He hasn’t actually slept in it yet. This lunchtime he got rather overexcited with all the bedroom rearranging and practised his new found independence by climbing out of bed and wandering around the whole of upstairs with his toys. A couple of times he had the decency to look sheepish before he got hauled back to bed again. Once we’d eventually managed to persuade him to stay put for a while, he sat up the entire nap time playing with his toys and throwing his pillow around. This new found freedom thing could prove to be tricky. Then again, he wasn’t standing upright in his cot screaming to be let out, and was happy roaming around unsupervised, so maybe it is an improvement. We’ve since got him a small step so he can get back into the bed again in the hope that when he’s finally tired he will get back in without disturbing us, but that might be us being a bit optimistic. We shall see.

Just put him to bed now. Tucked him under his new covers, and read him a story then sang him our goodnight song (which involves saying goodnight to Akra Jr, teddy, tortoise AND rabbit just to really rub home that it’s sleep time now). He looks so small in that huge bed! Very very cute. However, I can still hear him chatting to teddy, so the bed is still untested. Will let you know tomorrow how much sleep we all had.

Anyone got a spare $20k I could have?

Russia plans cosmic postal service for a mere $20k a stamp

WTF is wrong with Amazon’s dispatch at the moment?! This is the second order that was supposed to have been dispatched in 24hrs and despite having an estimated delivery date of 25th April (which I think they’ve probably missed by now… unless we have some really committed postpersons in our area) while saying dispatch is imminent. Dispatch has been imminent all bloody day. I sent them an email which is supposed to be responded to within 24hrs – if that’s the same 24hrs they use to time dispatch I won’t hold my breath.

Now, I’m a devoted Amazon customer simply because their swiftness of delivery always used to be awesome. Now I’m going to have to find another internet retailer to bleed cash into. *sigh*. And damnit, I need that T’ai Chi DVD to channel some of this stress into, or you’re all going to have to suffer a very ranty blog over the weekend.