Well, tomorrow the new kitchen is being started so tonight we have to pack up the entire contents of our current one and somehow survive until Tuesday before our new one is unveiled. I’m rather excited about it all!

For some reason, I seem to be giving our current kitchen a last hoorah and doing tons of cooking today. All unintentional. Started off with eggy bread at lunchtime but due to requests for more and only having a small frying pan, I was standing up for well over half an hour with only a few nibbles of my own eggy bread to sustain me. Now this evening, I started out on a “simple” meatballs in a tomato sauce recipe but it’s all been chopping and fry that for 2 mins, the other for another 4 etc and I reckon it’s going to have taken me a good hour in total (currently doing its time in the oven).

Still, at least there’s not much point about being too thorough cleaning up afterwards *grin*.

Li’l Bhaji has just discovered how to turn my computer off. D’you think he’s trying to tell me something?

Sometimes, reading aloud from the local newspaper is a really bad idea. Especially when the article in question is about a much beloved local goat who was poisoned by thugs last week. Doubly especially when one’s 3 year old is in the room and listening.

As soon as I said the words and I heard a little voice saying “but I *love* Daisy May”, I knew I had done the wrong thing. It’s one thing trying to explain death to a three year old, but a malicious killing of a favoured animal? All the local nurseries around here change their walk routes to go past Daisy May – a mild mannered, friendly goat who never did anyone any harm. Small children idolize her.

Sometimes, the world we live in sucks.

The babe stands!

Yes, for some reason, standing requires one’s trousers be left behind…

As you can tell from the first photo, Li’l Bhaji isn’t quite as well as he could be. In fact, he has a nose, eye and ear infection all of which involved a hurried trip to the emergency docs on Sunday. Despite all that, he is still chirpy and has today been learning to climb onto the toy box and get stuck.

Definitely on the road to recovery. At least, I’m now ravenously hungry but it hurts too much to eat most foods. Worse, I’m becoming food obsessed and could murder a Big Mac right now (yes, I know, not the best food to eat when you’re recovering from a nasty bug, but you try telling my cravings that!!)

In other news, I am convinced that Li’l Bhaji signed “change nappy” today on the change table – yesterday he signed “more” but not in context – only after copying the presenter on the Sing and Sign DVD so I didn’t count that. All this after *months* of signing eat/drink/more/all gone at him with no interest and only two viewings of the DVD – perhaps the music combined caught his interest more? Anyway, I’m insanely pleased and Li’l Bhaji looked quite proud of himself too.

Yes, I’m ill AGAIN (this is getting very tedious for you as well as me, I am sure). This time it’s tonsillitis, I’ve hardly been able to eat anything since Monday, have been watching the clock for my next dose of painkiller (safely alternating ibuprofen and paracetamol of course) and Akra has been holding down the fort with the household.

Now if only he wasn’t running the house better than me normally, so I wouldn’t feel quite as easily replaced!!

Li’l Bhaji also seems to have caught the cold from hell and I’m actually finding it quite fascinating just how much snot one baby can generate in just a few minutes. Everything (including my boob as I’m still breastfeeding) is coated in little snail slime trails – highly amusing as well as really disgusting.

I’m a really bad patient which doesn’t help matters. I like to wallow in my illness and gather lots of sympathy, but at the same time I’m hating every minute and just want to be well and get on with the piles of stuff that needs doing. I’d also like, if it’s possible to request this, a break from all the illnesses for a while. I think it’s fair to say the Naan Household has had more than its fair share of the bugs this winter…

I know, I know… it’s been radio silence here again. Can’t believe how busy my life has got recently just with the day to day stuff.

Anyway, Mitchell came to visit us yesterday and I think the kids gave him a run for his money. Akra Jr was certainly very hyper and insisted on showing Mitchell every toy he owned! Plus the gifts that he brought with him were extremely popular. We did manage to get a little catch up conversation in between child interruptions though which was lovely as the last meet up was well over a year and a half ago before we moved to Worcester.

Hopefully there’ll be a shorter gap between now and the next visit.

There’s something rather magical about the first time you give a child chocolate.

Li’l Bhaji went to a birthday party for the first time on Tuesday, and came back with a party bag stuffed with goodies, most of which his big brother half-inched. One thing I managed to rescue though, was a small bag of Cadbury’s buttons.

After he finished his lunch yesterday, I opened the pack and popped one button in his mouth. First reaction was to spit it out. I popped it back in, he spat it back out. Third time of popping it in, it stayed in, then it obviously started to disolve a bit more. Little eyes open wide in surprise and vigorous sucking starts. Little bits of chocolate drool trickle out the corners of the mouth. I love the way a baby can make a single chocolate button last absolutely ages.

He was very miffed when I put away the packet to save the rest for another day…

… but I couldn’t believe it when I found my old school photos on the web: World School Photographs.

I had a “you have won” telephone call yesterday afternoon – nope, I don’t have to sit three hours in a presentation to receive it, I just entered a prize draw on the internet a little while back and I’ve won £200 cash! This winning lark is getting to be a habit!

I intend to spend it completely recklessly too.