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July 31, 2006Got up at 8am and packed the car, then headed over to David and Denise’s to pick up Ed and Nova. I nicked a hotel pillow, in case Nova wants to sleep on the drive to Prince George. When she falls asleep in her car seat, she slumps into these neckbreaking positions that are painful to see. We left a good tip for housekeeping, so I hope that’ll reduce the chances of a hefty theft penalty on next month’s credit card bill…;-)Nova’s pretty bummed at the thought of three days without Ceinwen, so we let them play a bit before setting off about 9am. Ed did the first leg to Swift Current, I drove to Medicine Hat, where we ate lunch in a Subway (not bad…) and then Adam drove to Drumheller. Drumheller’s a pretty rough looking town, and we drove straight through to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. What a fantastic place — it must be one of the best dinosaur museums in the world. There were some terrific exhibits, including a 12x magnified “aquarium” of the sealife that turned into the Burgess Shale, and room after room of dinosaur environments. Spent a few hours there, and by the time we returned to Drumheller all the hotels were full. We ended up squeezing into a double room at the Miner’s Haven B&B. (A bit of a misnomer, as the woman doesn’t do breakfast). Adam and I shared the double, dad took the tiny little single bed, and she gave us a scrap of foam for Nova to sleep on the floor. Ate dinner at a family restaurant up the street. Nova had about three bites of her dino burger and fries before falling asleep. I had the bean soup and Caesar salad, which was much better than in Swift Current. In bed about 10:30. Peter Mansbridge was in the Arctic, reporting on global warming and the sovereignty issue around the Northwest Passage. When it was frozen solid, it was clearly part of Canada, but now that there is channels opening between the ice floes the Americans are claiming it’s international water. |
July 30, 2006Lazy day. I’m due for one — it feels like we’ve been on the go non-stop since our plane landed. Headed over to David and Denise’s, and went out for breakfast at Tomas Cook with Ed, Wade and the girls.Back at the house, I had an afteroon nap, while Adam, David and Wade took the girls swimming. I’m reading a great book on the golden spruce that was cut down in the Charlottes. Unlikely as it sounds, it’s a real page turner and hard to put down… At dinner, I made a tomato bread salad to accompany the burgers and hotdogs David barbequed. Shane joined us for dinner, off the drink after last night’s performance. Nova wanted to sleep over with Ceinwen, so we left her and headed back to our hotel. I’ve been wanting ice cream all day, so Adam went trooping off to the convenience store at 11pm for an ice cream sandwich. My first craving…? |
July 29, 2006Spent an hour this morning going through the wedding photos, culling 180 down to 69. I got a terrific picture of Ceinwen. She usually looks serious in photos, and I’ve captured her with a huge smile on her face. There are lots of other lovely ones as well…Drove over to Lynette’s to pick up Nova. Wendy came along for a visit. Same old Lynette — crazy, unmanagable dog; money woes; complicated relationship; and sundy other types of madness. We had a long visit over a cup of tea, then took both girls back to David and Denise’s. Picked up Ed and headed off to Costco to get our photos developed. While we were waiting for the one-hour photo service, I bought a fleecy for the unseasonably cold July weather and some knickers for Nova as well. Rested up at the hotel, then joined people at the pub. David and Denise have bought Roughriders-Stampeders tickets for all the family and friends who travelled to the wedding (about 35 of us). Joined the stream of people walking to Taylor Stadium. I was surprised at how small town it looked – two freestanding bleachers on either long side, with a little open seating at the end. It looks far more professional on the television. I love the colours at a football game — the electric green of the turf, the brilliant colours of the uniforms. It was a lovely evening. The sun set over the rooftops, the moon climbed into the darkening sky, and freight trains rumbled past in the distance. Everyone got stuck into the beer drinking, while I busied myself remembering how much I’d forgotten about football. Shane cheered loudly for Calgary, heads swiveling at every roared “You suck, Saskatchewan!” There’s nothing he likes better than getting a rise out of people. At half time he went off and bought a Roughriders teeshirt and hat. “I’m incognito!” he bellowed. The game finished about 11pm, and somehow the Roughriders managed to win. They looked the weaker side in the first quarter, but got ahead and stayed there. The Calgary quarterback used to play for Saskatchewan, and they seemed to have his number. By the end they were sacking him for fun. Walking back, I was dead on my feet, and headed straight back to the hotel, leaving everyone else to go on to the pub. |
July 28, 2006Today’s the big wedding day… Adam and Nova ate breakfast in the hotel cafe, but I was tired of eating restaurant food (it’s amazing how quickly that happens) and ventured out with Wendy to find yogurt and a banana.Wedding preparations were well in hand, and there were only a couple of little things we could help with. Headed back to the hotel mid-afternoon to get dressed. Happily, my purple dress still zips easily… I’d meant to buy some sort of clever transparent bra in London as the dress is quite low cut, but never got round to it. I was pleased to see that Drew’s girlfriend Andrea was showing some cleavage as well. I wouldn’t even think about it back home, but North Americans are a lot more prudish than Europeans… The wedding was at Wascana Centre, which is a lovely spot. They had the ceremony outside, and then moved indoors for the rest of the celebration. Nova and Ceinwen were both flower girls. Nova came out first and (assisted by David) handed a flower to each immediate family member. Next, Ceinwen came along and collected them into a bouquet, which she presented to Denise. They’d written their own vows, Denise’s sister and I gave readings, and a justice of the peace conducted the service. My favourite part was the family vows involving Ceinwen, which acknowledged the new family that was being formed. After champagne and canapes, we sat down to dinner. Like so many weddings, the dancing never really got going. David and Denise did the traditional first dances, and the kids into it, but most of the adults stayed safely on the sidelines. Nova and Ceinwen headed off about 10:30 (they’re spending the night at Lynette’s), and I left shortly after with Greg and Wendy. Adam stayed on to the end, and helped clear up, load cars, drive people home etc. |
July 27, 2006Woke up at 1am, then slept through until 4am, by which time the three of us were all awake…At 5am Adam took Nova off to explore the hotel, and Ed and I got up not long after. Nova and Adam had a quick dip in the pool, then we all met up for breakfast at the oddly named BotaniCa Restaurant in the lobby. Ed’s breakfast came with “Texas toast”, enormous wedges of bread toasted on the outside and “raw” in the middle. Nova ordered pancakes from the children’s menu, and was presented with three enormous pancakes the size of her head. She managed to make a good-sized dent in them. Divided the driving between us. Dad did the first hour, I took us on to Swift Current. It was 1pm by the time we arrived, and we decided to stop for lunch. There was a nice looking place called John’s Country Cafe, but it turned out they were “out of lunch”. Ended up at the Akropol Family Restaurant, which served up some of the worst food I’ve ever eaten. My Greek salad consisted of shredded lettuce swimming in Italian dressing with a mountain of grated pizza cheese on top, with one little piece of tomato and one olive as garnish. Even the tap water was undrinkable… Adam drove us the rest of the way, and I hung out in the back with Nova feeling queasy. I’d forgotten how prone I was to car sickness in my last pregnancy… Spent an hour at David and Denise’s, then checked into our room at the Quality Inn. Nice enough place, and we’re just down the hall from Greg and Wendy and Drew and Andrea. Went out for a big family dinner at Alfredo’s Italian restaurant, which oddly had an extensive Mexican menu. The salad that came with my meal pretty much filled me up, and I didn’t make much of a dent in my enormous burrito platter. Nova was pretty exhausted, and flaked out on my lap. It was about 5am London time by this point… Got a ride back to the hotel with Shane Brittens, and put her to bed. |
July 26, 2006Went to the see the GP today to arrange a dating scan/Down’s test for when we get back from Canada. There are two hospitals in Haringey that offer the double test, and they are both so oversubscribed that it might not be possible to have the test done in time (it has to be done in the 11th to 13th week). Given I’m only eight weeks pregnant, people must be pretty quick off the mark in booking the damn things. The GP wrote to both hospitals to increase my chances of getting an appointment. (I scheduled the test at a private clinic (£150) as well to cover my bets.) I had to take Nova to the appointment with me, and I wondered if she’d pick up on what we were talking about, but she was oblivious. She was much more interested about the wart on her foot the doctor diagnosed. I’d thought it was a sliver, then a callous, and tried various squeezing, soaking, and filing measures, none of which had made any difference… It was the usual panic round home… Adam trying to cram work in until the last minute, me struggling with an ever expanding to-do list… Getting ready too early… Instead of being reassuring, you forget what you’ve already done and are anxious you’ve forgotten to do it. The taxi came at 1:15, and we set off ten minutes later. Check-in was straightforward. I put on my DVT socks when we got on the plane and got stuck into my 6x750ml bottles of water. The man across the aisle was quite interesting – he was a big, blonde bruiser of a guy, who reminded me a bit of Landyn. The first time I looked over he was reading Virgil’s Aenid. Later in the flight, I noticed him poring over a glossy cookbook. And later on, he spent an hour creating an intricate pencil drawing in his notebook. The Lion King was one of the films featured, which was great for Nova. Dinner was execrable –- I could hear the stewardesses half way up the plane apologizing to people for only having beef. If everyone up front always eat all the chicken – and they do – why do they stock so many beef dinners? Interestingly (to me anyway) I was seated on the iron bladdered side of the plane. Whenever I got up, there was always a loo free on my side, while there’d be two or three people waiting on the other. Our flight was staffed by really old (and cranky) stewardesses – I doubt if one of them would see sixty again. Adam said it was equal opportunities, but I don’t know how the twenty to fifty-year-olds are supposed to get a start in the profession…;-) I napped for about fifteen minutes the whole journey, but at least Nova managed a few hours. No problems clearing passports and customs. Dad was waiting for us, and took us back to the room he’d booked at the Radisson. We lasted about an hour before flaking out for the night… |
July 25, 2006Last day of work… spent it sifting through the mountain of essential and only slightly less essential things to do, handover, or ignore… Went to a colleague’s leaving do. It was a sour little affair, made worse by the fact J is not leaving by choice. She’s someone I used to line manage at my former agency, and has alienated so many people, that even though J has been been at the agency twelve years, only four people turned up to send her off. It was a little awkward leaving (I could hardly slip away unnoticed) for my second commitment of the evening — the associate director’s picnic in Lincoln’s Field — which was much more convivial. Got home at 9pm, minutes before Dave arrived. He’s just back from India, and will houses sit for us while we are in Canada. Stayed up far too late doing nothing whatsoever to get ready for tomorrow’s trip… |
July 24, 2006Had an awful night’s sleep, fretting about work, and all the stuff to do before we leave for Canada. Today’s scan as well… it’s an almost identical scenario to the pregnancy that went wrong when we were in Canada for Wade’s wedding… I was exhausted in the morning, and my neck stiff from yesterday’s Ninja assault. By the time I got to work, I had a migraine halo, but managed to get past it, and put in a day’s work. Endless meetings, but I managed to get the one essential piece of work done before leaving for my scan. I had the last appointment of the day, and they were running late. Everything looks okay… Dr Mark was being very positive, and although he’s kind of annoying, it was a nice change to the usual line I get from EPDU doctors. I could tell he didn’t think the flying was such a hot idea… The main risk is of developing blood clots in the placenta. Dr Mark prescribed DVT socks, lots of water, and regular walks up and down the aisles. |
July 23, 2006Went for a massage this morning, that Adam had arranged for a treat. I told Setsuko that I was pregnant, and she found a sitting position that was an alternative to lying on my stomach. Maybe I’m feeling more sensitive than usual, but I found her massage too hard. I probably should have said something, but Setsuko’s English isn’t great, and she has such an anxious, eager manner, that I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Adam took Nova swimming while I was out. When the got to the pool, she announced that now she was five, she wouldn’t be needing water wings any more. Apparently, she managed pretty well without them. Nova spent the afternoon at Ruby’s watching the Lemony Snicket movie, and stayed through dinner. We did all the packing while she was out. I don’t think I’ve ever packed more than about two hours before the plane was due to leave. It’s quite strange to see the bags sitting there all ready to go. |
July 22, 2006Ruby came marching in about 6am, wanting us to put on Cartoon Network. Nova’s “not so sure about Cartoon Network”… She’s not much for TV, actually — she’ll watch for a little while, but then gets bored. Doron and family came over for muffins. Ollie was on reasonable form, which made for a pleasant enough visit, though he managed to tear the wings off her castle fairy (no small feat) and snap her Polly Pocket bride in half. Cooked dinner at Nick and Jane’s tonight — our standard gift to new parents. We arrived to discover that we’d left the chicken at home, so Adam hotfooted it down to Bethnal Green Road for more… Nova was very into their new baby Frea (pronounced Frayah), who was born on dad’s birthday. She read all her birthday cards to her, held her, and helped Jane with the bath and nappy changing (a bright yellow poo made quite an impression). Dinner was chicken cooked in sherry and vinegar, new potatoes and peas, and baked peaches with amaretti biscuits and ice cream. It was a really nice meal (if I do say so myself) and much appreciated. Home about 11pm… |
July 21, 2006Miscarriage dreams… those intense kind of dreams where you’re sure you’re awake… Woke up early feeling groggy and disoriented, and it took long time to feel properly awake. Today is Nova’s last day of school, and they broke up at noon. Etta came back for lunch — the half day had caught her mum on the hop… Ruby slept over tonight. At least that was the idea… She kept getting up and playing as soon as we closed the door. Nova was beside herself with anxiety about it — she’s not much for naughty behaviour. The heat wasn’t helping them settle — it’s hot, hot, hot — more like Madrid than London… |
July 20, 2006Happy birthday, Wendy! Met Shenda at Piccadilly, and browsed around Fortnums buying food treats to take to Canada and books at the big Waterstones. Burdened with shopping, we decided to head back to Highgate. Shenda fancied a pub lunch, so we ate at the Angel (I’ve decided to forgive them for banning me from their art exhibit because three month old Nova in her chest sling “could cost them their liquor licence”.) Shared the tomato bruschetta and the melted goat’s cheese pot. According to Shenda, they don’t give you half the food warnings in Canada that they do in the UK, and she wasn’t told anything about avoiding goat’s cheese during her pregnancies. Walked to the Heath for a dip in the women’s bathing pond, a gloriously refreshing treat on a hot summer’s afternoon. I don’t know why, but I always experience an instant of panic lowering myself into lakes — some primeval response… Made a simple supper: grilled Thai chicken, tomato salad, green salad, and strawberries and basil sorbet for dessert (definitely the dessert of the season round here). It is so hot, that the potted plants are dying and the lawn is a baked yellow colour. I don’t even want to look at my veggie garden since the hosepipe ban was introduced… My abdomen feels “off” somehow, which bothers me, even though I keep reminding myself that stomach upset has never been a precursor to my pregnancies going wrong… |
July 19, 2006Meeting madness at work… Feeling shitty, no time to eat anything but meeting biscuits. Didn’t get down to any actually work until about 4:30, and I had to leave at 5pm… Freddy and Beulah had arrived to babysit by the time I got home. Dropped of my back, knocked back a bowl of gazpacho, and headed out again. It was a class outing to see Juliet Stevenson (a class mum — and one of Britain’s greatest actresses) in Chekhov’s The Seagull at the National. She was certainly a cut above the rest of the cast. It was very good (and very different to last night’s performance), though the ending was rather abrupt. The curtain more or less dropped, and there was an awkward silence before the audience started clapping enthusiastically… |
July 18, 2006A bit of excitement at work today. Our webmaster was escorted from the premises and is now on “special leave”… He’s not in my team (an ongoing bone of contention) but it will have implications for our work. I was late meeting Shenda and her friend Deb, but it turned out they were later, having taken a bus, and not anticipating it might take a good hour to travel the three miles from their hotel… I was hungry and faint by the time they arrived, and we opted for the nearest restaurant, which was Chowki. They do a nice, modern thali — the service is quick, and the food is good. Went to see Juliet Lewis in Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love. I thought it was a great play, though Juliet Lewis didn’t do much with her part — she seemed to be yelling all of her lines. Actually, I never like her roles much… On the positive side, Martin Henderson (the male lead) was a bit of alright, as mum would have said… |
July 17, 2006Had a solid morning of meetings, then took the afternoon off and went to meet my friend Shenda at the Tate Modern, who’s visiting from Toronto for a few days. She’s looking great as ever, and it’s wonderful to see her. We started with lunch at the top floor restaurant. I ordered a Meyer lemon and artichoke salad, which the waitress warned would be very small. She wasn’t kidding, and I was glad we’d taken her suggestion and ordered the foccaccia bread sampler. Checked out the Kandinsky exhibition. I’m no art buff, and happily admit I’ve never seen the point of Kandinsky. His paintings just look like a random bunch of doodles and scribbles with nothing connecting them. We enjoyed the permanent collection better. Made a steak salad for Adam’s and my dinner, which we ate on the new balcony table. Early night… |
July 16, 2006Happy 30th anniversary, Greg and Wendy! Made a trout salad for dinner, which I was completely unable to eat. The smell of the trout nearly made me sick. I had a problem with fish in my last pregnancy, at least in the first few months. I’ve made a start on the packing. I don’t want to repeat the situation we have every trip, where we stay up half the night, packing and stuff hours before the flight leaves. It’s all about avoiding stress… Nova’s got a funny little game going at the moment. My childhood teddy (a moth eaten koala called Flip) has migrated into the stuffed toy heap in her bedroom. Every morning when she comes in for a cuddle, she has some bad behaviour of his to report. “Guess what Flip did last night.” “What?” I ask. “He scratched baby Lola and ripped her dress.” “Oh dear, why did he do that?” “They were fighting because they both wanted to sleep with me in my bed,” she said. She then asks me to have a word with Flip. I hold him up in front of me and say something like, “Now Flip, Nova tells me you’ve been fighting with the other toys and dolls again. It’s not nice to scratch. Nova loves both you and Lola, and you have to share her,” etc… |
July 15, 2006Happy birthday, Landyn! After breakfast, I headed into town for a Thai food seminar and lunch with David Thompson, an Australian chef whose one of the world’s foremost experts on Thai cuisine. It was organised by the Slow Food group I belong to. I hadn’t been to one of their events before — it was attended by a lot of rather well turned out women, and a few sixty-somethings. The talk was very interesting, and we had the chance to taste loads of different spices, vegetables and seasonings. After the seminar, an elaborate lunch was served, based around a celebration noodle dish. There was delicious wine as well, but I had to pass on that. Predictably, I slopped a streak of oily brown sauce down the front of my teeshirt. I whipped it off in the downstairs loo and gave it a good scrubbing, and it soon dried in the broiling afternoon heat. Walked through Hyde Park, then along Oxford Street checking out the sales for shoes to wear with my wedding dress, but didn’t find anything. |
July 14, 2006Went for my seven-week scan this morning. We haven’t been in the EPDU (Early Pregnancy Diagnostic Unit) for a couple of years, and there’s definitely been some money spent. The hall was freshly painted, the carpet relatively clean, and the padding in the seats still intact. They’d even replaced the dead potted plants with a couple of live ones. I think it sends a bad message when a hospital can’t even keep a potted plant alive… They seem to be running a tighter ship as well, and they called me in within fifteen minutes of my appointment time. There were three people in the room: a male doctor who reminded me of Michael J Fox, a female scanner, and another guy who looked like an expectant father left over from the previous appointment who turned out to be some kind of medical student. He was bigger and older than the doctor, and was radiating embarrassment. We had a preliminary chat, but the doctor didn’t have my notes, and hadn’t read the form I’d filled in either. I went behind the curtain and assumed the position, and they all crowded round the business end for the scan. The two men were chatting away in medicalese, ignoring me completely, but the woman gave me a thumbs-up behind their head to let me know that they’d found the fetus. There was no point in asking them anything — I probably know more about recurrent miscarriage than he does… We got what we wanted (a confirmation scan) and I know the drill… Returning home from Evelyn’s, Nova reported: “Evelyn loves fighting and I hate it.” “Why were you fighting?” I asked. “We wanted to play two different games.” “So how did you sort that out?” Nova replied, “Well, I said, ‘Let’s play your game first,’ but Evelyn yelled, ‘No, I want to play your game first!’ and we had a fight about that,” Nova told me. We had friends round for dinner tonight — Alicia and Paul, and Steve and Jane. I kept the menu simple: chips, salsa and margaritas (mine was fake); pork wraps; strawberries and lime-basil sorbet. It was good fun, they all got quite drunk and entertaining… To bed at 12:30… |
July 13, 2006Last night, Adam dropped my computer off with a local IT guy to upgrade my operating system, and install new versions of software. Paul returned it this morning, and spent a half an hour getting remote printing set up as well. Since we’ve installed our wireless network, I’ve had no end of printing problems, but that should all be behind me now… Our Moroccan chairs arrived today, so that’s the outdoor seating sorted… Just in time for our three week holiday…;-) Dropped Nova at Pete and Pasc’s this evening so we could go to a party for Gerry’s company, Unity PR. Aside from Jane and Gerry we didn’t know a soul. Adam’s a great mingler, but personally, I find alcohol a big help with that kind of small talk. We met some interesting people, and Jane introduced me to a few others as her “old school friend” (we went to high school in Prince George together). Coincidentally, Adam met an old school friend as well, someone from university. He’s the employment lawyer that Gerry hired when the situation with his old company got ugly. We offered to give their girls a ride home – it was like herding cats, but we eventually got them rounded up. We had fun on the way home – Elsie cracking jokes about how much white wine she’d drunk, and Ray filling us in on how much Adam’s lawyer friend charged. |
July 12, 2006Adam arrived at school to discover that Nova was going on a class field trip to a farm that morning, which we’d completely forgotten about. Fortunately, living so close to the school, we were able to dash to the shops to buy her a disposable drink, take her lunch home to repack it in disposable containers, and get it all back to her in the ten minutes before the bus left. Adam always blames me for these sort of screw-ups. He credits himself a pretty active dad – and he is – but thinks I’m a washout of a mum in terms of keeping track of letters from the school, playdates, appointments etc, especially compared to all the supermums at our school. But very few of the other mums have jobs, and nearly all of them have more home help than we do. Anyway, we’re both working, and I don’t see why it should be my responsibility any more than his… Worked at home, spending most of the day in interminable phone meetings. Our Moroccan tables arrived at last, about a month later than promised. They look great, but are heavy as lead. Fortunately the delivery guy was happy to help Adam shift them into position, the big one on the patio, the smaller on the balcony. Went for a family dinner at Strada, pizza and salad for Adam and me, gorgonzola pasta for Nova. I was happily stealing bites from her plate, until I remembered that I’m not supposed to be eating blue cheese. I tried to get a straight answer from the doctor on cooked blue cheese the last time I was pregnant, but all the midwife would say is, “it’s best for you to avoid it.” Nova described Adam as having “mouse hair”, and I know what she means. It’s at the length now just past bristly, where the hairs lie flat against his head like a little pelt… |
July 11, 2006Fay came round for breakfast again. Adam headed off to work early, so I took both girls in. My diary was stuffed full of meetings, and I worked quite late. There are only a handful more working days until we leave for Canada. Made stirfry with snapper fillets for dinner and watched Murderball, a documentary about the intense rivalry between the Canadian and American wheelchair rugby teams. Something I hadn’t realised, is that even when a man is paralysed from the neck down he can still get erections and have an active sex life. I guess it makes sense – it’s a blood flow thing – but it hadn’t occurred to me… A lot of the athletes in the film had girlfriends, and they discussed how their sex lives in enough detail to give you some idea of what they got up to… We’ve started planning how we’ll divide up our time in Canada. We’re going to be covering a lot of territory, but I want it to feel like a holiday, not an endurance test. I don’t want to return home more exhausted than when we left… |
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July 10, 2006
Fay came round for breakfast (we’re taking her to school for the next couple of days while Pasc is in France). She wanted to read Nova one of her new books — she’s always loved mothering her, although as they get older the developmental difference between them is less and less. Went downstairs to find Nova patiently listening to Fay read a book she can read perfectly well herself.
Got five compliments(!) on the lime green cardigan I wore today. It’s a colour I’d generally run a mile from, but apparently it looks terrific on me…
Adam was out at Robert Plant gig at Somerset House, returning home to report that there was a lot of hair that should have been cut at some time in the last thirty years…
July 9, 2006
Woke up exhausted… and stayed in bed until the muffins were ready. Adam and Nova headed off to Waitrose, and I lazed about finishing my novel.
An afternoon of sports telly. Watched the men’s Wimbledon final — Nadal v Federer, though Federer leaves me cold, and I’m not so crazy about Nadal either. But that Baghdatis might be a reasonable replacement for Agassi. They share a certain quality, a twinkle and a calm that is very appealing.
I let Nova choose what she wanted to cook from the children’s cookbook. I was surprised at what she picked — a kind of mashed potato and lamb mince thing, with peas scattered on top — but she ate it without complaint.
Took her bicycle riding on the parade ground after dinner, and the sight of her pedalling carefully round the fence line brought tears to my eyes…
Italy v France in the World Cup final this evening. Quite an evenly poised match, until Zidane lost it and headbutted an Italian player — an ugly incident. Italy went on to win on penalties, which netted me £32 in the office sweepstake.
July 8, 2006
We got quite a late start this morning considering Nova’s party started at 11am… Good thing we’d done everything the night before, including organising cake knife, matches etc. Headed over to Will and Sara’s, who were in an even worse state than we were. We helped them make the sandwiches, then walked over to the Mallinson with all our party supplies. We had a few minutes to set up before the kids started arriving.
The Mallinson had a couple of teenagers who organised games and race in the soft play area, and the kids had a busy hour of bouncing in the castle and relay races. We were missing about six kids — some whose mums I’d talked to the day before — and I was starting to get paranoid that I’d put the wrong time on the invitations, and that they’d show up just as we were cleaning up, but all but one turned up eventually…
The food part was total mayhem… Sadie and her mum really appreciated the the vegan fairy cake I’d made for Sadie, who has all sorts of allergies. It’s a no brainer to me… why would you invite someone to a party and then serve food they couldn’t eat? But apparently it happens to her all the time…
I’d stuck the princess poster up on the wall, and the kids fascinated by it, especially the boys, oddly enough… Mental note for next year: bring a copy of the class contact list. It would have come it handy for tracking down Ben W’s parents who were forty minutes late picking him up.
Headed back to Will and Sara’s for a well-deserved drink and bit of lunch. I was feeling a bit stomach achy, so once we were home, I spent the afternoon lying around watching Mauresmo win the women’s final.
Fay came over and helped Nova open her presents. We managed to keep enough control over the process to ensure we captured who gave her what. We divided the list this time, so half the kids brought a present for Nova and half for Etta, but she still seems to have got loads.
Sam “biggirlsat” this evening, and we went out to House in Canonbury for a gastropub dinner: raspberry hazelnut salad with smoked duck, and chilli squid with squid ink tagliatelle for me; tomato haloumi salad and fish and chips for Adam. No room for dessert…
July 7, 2006
I had my eyebrows shaped this morning. I was assuming they’d pluck them — it hadn’t even occurred to me that people wax eyebrows. To quote Nova, “I’m not so sure about eyebrow waxing…” Two quick yanks, and it was over in seconds, and they look very nice. Actually, I think it’s less painful than the one hair at a time method.
Spent a couple of hours adding Etta to Nova’s birthday card image, then went down to Archway to get it printed as an A3 poster. Mooched around doing some shopping — extra bits for party bags, etc — while they completed the job. The tattooed, spiky haired teenager who was guillotining my poster asked me if I’d done the artwork myself. When I told him I had, he said, “It’s a great idea! I would have loved this when I was a kid! Well, not with the princesses…” he hastened to add.
It was the school summer fair this evening. Adam was busy with the football tournament, so I took Nova round the various stalls. She really enjoyed herself, went on everything, tried a number of the games, beat the goalie twice at the football game,and ate her bodyweight in popcorn, cakes and sausage sandwiches.
When the Orange class team crashed out of the tournament, we headed home. We could have eaten dinner there, but I’m trying to eat as healthily as possible. Made a sweet and sour chicken salad with grilled fennel. It involved too many pans on the go at once, but was delicious. I thought it was a bit heavy on the dressing, until I realised I’d halved everything but the dressing ingredients.
Spent an hour assembling party bags — playmobil, chocolate, bangles for the girls, matchbox cars for the boys. Stayed up until 1am watching The Deep.
July 6, 2006
I worked from home today to make up for taking Tuesday off. I was distracted by a series of phone meetings, and didn’t get through half the stuff I wanted to before it was time to pick up Nova for ballet. Only one more week of ballet after this one…
Our tables finally arrived from Morocco (via Marrakech, Casablanca, Rotterdam, Southampton and currently Newcastle), but somehow the chairs fell off the order. I looked around and found a supplier in Vauxhall, and both tables and chairs are being delivered next Wednesday. It’s been quite a palaver — I hope they are worth it…
I’m so tired these days, and generally feel a bit blech which I suppose is a good thing… I’m feeling quite fatalistic about this pregnancy — I doubt that anything I’ve done/haven’t done in my previous, unsuccessful pregnancies has made a blind bit of difference, and I’m going to try to avoid getting too hung up about it this time.
July 5, 2006
I seem to have caught the sore throat that Nova and Adam have both had. I didn’t feel that rotten, but took advantage of how bad my voice sounded to call in sick.
Had a quiet day at home, caught up on my “Love Film” dvds — The Station Agent and Touching the Void. Love Film is an online dvd service — you go to their website and select the films you want to watch. The send you a couple, you take as long as you want to watch them, and when you send them back they post you a couple more. It’s a great idea in principle, but in practice I don’t get round to watching them, and the longer you take the more they cost…
Adam was out playing football and hanging out in the pub, so I spent a quiet evening in, and had an early night. “Are you sure I’m five?” Nova asked me at bedtime. “I am sure, sweetie,” I said, “Why do you ask?” “Because I don’t feel any different than when I was four,” she said, looking puzzled.
July 4, 2006
Happy fifth birthday, Nova!
I made a poster of Nova’s birthday card and stuck it to the end of her bed last night, so she would see it when she opened her eyes. I came in at about 7:30 to find her staring intently at it. “Mum, where’s Snow White?” she asked me. “Maybe she’s doing something inside the castle,” I said. “Do you think she’ll be cross that I’m in her window?” she said. I assured her that she wouldn’t be…
Nova opened her presents before breakfast: the songbook and a PixelChicks game from us, books from Greg and Wendy and godfather Dave, an outfit and wizard stick from Margo and Aaron. She’d been hoping for a bicycle, and I could tell she was a little disappointed, but she didn’t say anything.
Once we’d dropped her off at school, we headed back to Toys R Us and exchanged the bike for a bigger one. Waiting at the checkout, the in-store sound system was playing the Clashs’ “Should I Stay or Should I Go” Made me think of the first time I ever heard that song, dancing at The Pit at UBC with Roman one one of those carefree, drunken student nights. How life moves on…
Back home I got busy on the tea party preparations (cut-out sandwiches, pinata stuffing, treasure hunt clues, decorations etc) while Adam tried to assemble the new bike. Apparently, it’s much more complicated than the other (seemingly identical) bike, and turned into a big trauma.
We had to break off to attend the infants’ sports day. Each class was divided into two groups, and each group competed in three races. Nova’s first race was a straight out running. She was so busy looking at us, that she sort of forgot to run, and finished joint last.
Next came the beanbag race, where the kids had to cover the distance with a beanbag balanced on her head. Nova affected this strange, mincing walk with her arms held out like wings, and was left in the dust again. Sophie and Sadie were the best girl runners, though it occurred to me that they are both ten months older than she is, which is still quite a lot at this age. The final race was an obstacle relay that pitted Orange class (us) against Green class –we trounced them, though Nova certainly wasn’t integral to the victory…;-)
A sudden thunderstorm brought sports day to an abrupt end, and we got completely drenched dashing back home. It only lasted half an hour, and I had time to dry everything off and finish my preparations before Adam returned with Nova, Evelyn, Etta and Fay.
The princess tea party was pretty good fun. Each girl dressed up as a princess, then had to pick a card (jerryrigged) with the princess they had to find on it. First they coloured in a picture of their princess, then they played stick the star on their princess (blindfolded). Next, they had to perform a song/dance/riddle to get past the wizard (Adam in silly hat and hippy vest, brandishing the new wizard stick) and go through the grass door (a grass skirt decorated with flowers and butterflies hanging across the flat door. Outside, we’d suspended a unicorn pinata from the balcony, and when they opened that there was a clue explaining where it the garden they could find their princess (and little party bag).
After that we served tea — ham sandwiches, hula hoops, fairy cakes. They all played nicely together, aside from Evelyn who kept insisting that she was the guest and should have her way/go first etc. Fay’s a year older, and did a good job of arbitrating the peace, but eventually it blew up into a fight, and Adam lost his temper, effing and blinding and yelling at Evelyn, just as her mum at the door, which was a bit embarrassing. “They’ve had a lovely time,” I assured her, as Evelyn stood their sobbing loudly that she wanted to go home.
Freddy and Beulah stopped by with a new princess dress and a couple of board games for Nova, and Doron dropped round with a gift after she’d gone to bed…
July 3, 2006
Spent the day on an interview panel. There were three posts in another team, and three internal candidates, and we’d all assumed it would be more or less a rubber stamping exercise, but it didn’t turn out that way. Two of the candidates were great, but the third just wasn’t appointable, which meant we had to do all the scoring/formal recording and decide how to handle what was a very awkward situation. Quite an exhausting day…
Did some birthday tea shopping in my lunch break: decorations, little prizes etc. Got home to discover that Simonia is sick — sore throat, headache, cough. She was planning to help us with the tea party tomorrow, but I told her to take the day off.
Made a lamb grapefruit and (verboten) feta salad for dinner — surprisingly delicious combination. Adam spent the evening assembling Nova’s bike while I wrapped her presents. It turns out I’ve bought the wrong sized bike. The one I got is suitable for a three year old, and I can’t believe I ever thought it was big enough. In my defence, they had the display bikes on a sort of plinth, so you couldn’t really judge how high they stood off the ground. Anyway, we decided not to give it to her tomorrow morning, in case we can’t replace it with something equally pink and OTT…
July 2, 2006
Feeling very tired this morning, and a bit queasy as well, which I suppose is a good thing… It settled down after I had my fruit and yogurt, although the sight of our syrup bottle covered in cat hairs (Pete and Pasc borrowed it last week) was quite offputting.
Adam made coffee, but didn’t really fancy it. Not the smell so much as the taste. They tell you to avoid coffee when you are pregnant, as it slightly increases your risk of miscarriage, but I find I can’t get too concerned about all the dietary taboos this time round. I’m pretty sure that nothing I’ve done has made a blind bit of difference to how my pregnancies have turned out…
Nova headed over to Fay’s, and I went off to Toys R Us to buy her a bicycle and pick up a few things for her princess playdate on Tuesday. I spent a lot of time deciding which bike to get — part of me wanted to get her something really practical, but I knew how much she would love the pink, Disney princess, tasselly one, and went for that in the end.
After lunch, I lay out on the balcony reading my book and enjoying the sun, until I recalled the sunbathing is one of the countless things to avoid when pregnant (neural tube defects).
Spent the evening mucking around with Photoshop to make Nova a Disney princess birthday card. I put together a songbook with the lyrics to all her favourite songs as well…
July 1, 2006
Happy Canada Day!
Went for my weekly run with Pasc (so I did get some use out of the new exercise clothes), and at the weigh in I was actually down a bit, though I won’t be trying to lose any more weight for the moment…
After muffins, we went shopping for a dress for Nova for the wedding. We tried on a number in Jigsaw Junior before settling on a simple lavender one. Adam bought a nice summery outfit, and I bought yet another dress, a really lovely floaty one (lavender as well). I’ve been getting into dresses lately…
Gazpacho for lunch — “Mum, this soup is making my mouth very unhappy,” Nova informed me. Went round to Will and Sarah’s mid-afternon to watch the England-Portugal match (inevitable quarter-final performance: a plucky, against-the-odds battle through extra time and excruciating failure in the penalty shootout the English reproduce at every major football tournament).
Everyone was knocking back beer like their throats were on fire, and I had to do the “not drinking for some lame reason” thing, which I always find awkward. Home about 9pm, after a sausage barbeque.
