party!

I couldn't leave 2012 on such a negative note so here's a wee party tune to get you in the mood for however you might be seeing in the new year.  I'll be watching some good old Scottish telly (once EastEnders is finished) and eating plenty of snacks before the new regime starts tomorrow.  I might even treat myself to half a glass of sparkling wine.  Rock and roll!  Hope you have a good one, whatever you're up to.

goodbye 2012

2012 has been incredible.  I have loved spending time with Dulcie, getting to know her and watching her grow up, get stronger and become a happy little girl who makes me laugh every single day.  Other than that, though, 2012 has been incredible in the worst of ways.  Yes, you probably were made suspicious by that uncharacteristically positive-sounding opening statement, weren't you?  I was hoping I would be able to fashion some sort of positive response to the year, one full of lies if needs be, but this morning has been so typically 2012 (never try to get out of jury duty over the festive period even if you do have multiple valid reasons that can't be argued with) that I can't bring myself to say that this year has been anything other than utter shit.  Although I did enjoy the Olympics, naturally!  Wouldn't it be great if I could look forward to leaving 2012 behind and live in hope that 2013 would be better?  Well, I can't.  I am dreading 2013 and what it has lined up for me.  I already know 2013 is going to be even harder, even worse, even scarier and most probably with even more bad news.

So, resolutions...  Well, with everything that is going on, it seems churlish to make my usual faffy resolutions about crafting etc. (but I will in a moment) so my official resolution for 2013 is going to be a biggie:

I resolve to do everything I can to stay alive for as long as possible.

My time as a primary teacher taught me that goals need to be manageable and measurable, so I am going to break this resolution down into three parts:

i) I will eat healthily;

ii) I will continue to stay as active as I can for as long as I can;

iii) I will do my best to find a way to think more positively about my health and my "future" (e.g. by not putting quotation marks around the word "future").

And that will be it for my official resolutions, but of course I do have some other little ideas bobbing around my noggin, so I will have in mind at all times to make stuff and, more specifically, to make stuff that I enjoy making.  I'm also planning to keep blogging about whatever the heck I want (even if that is 99% baby) and to stop thinking about who might be reading so that I can be more honest/open about the bad stuff.  I think possibly I need another outlet to let off some steam!  Graham and I are also talking about making a wee list of things we'd like to do this year.  So far the list extends to seeing a 3D film, so you can see we're keeping it low-key and baby-achievable.

You should know that nowadays I despise people who are happy and healthy, but I will wish you all a good 2013 anyway.  Being on the list of people I hate won't do you any harm and may even be a positive thing to aim for.  Good luck with that.

I forgot to show you this

I bought this gorgeous vase in a French charity shop this October and never quite got around to photographing/sharing it before now.  Oh, I do love her.  The common consensus seems to be that she's intended for growing a hyacinth.  Once I lay my hands on a bulb, I will give it a go, but don't get your hopes up as my fingers are decidedly not green.

She's much nicer in real life, naturally.  I'm not sure whether my camera is dying or whether I am getting even worse at taking pictures, but nothing is turning out how I want these days.  Perhaps it's time for an upgrade.

one year on

It's exactly one year to the day since Dulcie finally (finally!) came home from hospital to live with us.  I realise I haven't really shared any pictures of her this month, so here are some snaps of her December.

There's lots of standing going on (she even walked a couple of steps on her own last night) and lots of exploring.  That's why there are also lots of bumps and bruises!

This morning she woke up and gave me a massive grin, revealing... two front teeth!  Or two hints of front teeth at least.

She's making good progress with her talking.  I don't think strangers could understand her, but those of us in the know can make out a few signature words like "again" (and again and again and again) and "cat" and "tree".  She also mimics sounds now and again and has been roaring like a lion, squeaking like a mouse and too-whit-too-wooing like an owl today.

She's loving all her toys and is absolutely obsessed with her books.  She walks to the bookshelves and pulls down what she wants you to read to her.  She waves her hands when it's time to turn the page.

Talking of waving, she has just started waving goodbye and also gives high fives.  Right now she's dancing with her musical toy tortoise, a present from her granma yesterday.  Dancing is another very recent development.

So it's a time of lots of changes, lots of hard work and lots of fun.  And one year on from her coming home, my life and house are in an even worse state of disarray than when she arrived!  Ah well, she's worth it :)

we did it (or had it done for us)

 So how was it?  We had a lovely Christmas Day.  My mum (with her helper, my dad) did absolutely everything for us, which was amazing.  My input in the kitchen extended to putting sprinkles on top of the trifle and that was it.  We were truly spoiled.  Dulcie stayed in her cosy Christmas sleepysuit all day and was very good.  She sat through the whole of Christmas dinner (mmmm!) with no complaints and ate loads in true Christmas style.  Just check out that fat little face.

 We had gone pretty low key on presents, but she still had to open them in installments throughout the day as it was quite a taxing job for her and she wanted to examine each one very closely or wander off and read her books in between.  Her granma is coming to visit later on, so no doubt she'll have as many presents again today!  She really liked the little things we had chosen for her - a handmade decoration, an old book of nursery rhymes, a box of wooden biscuits and a little house-shaped jigsaw.  Graham has also done a song for her which he's getting made into a one-off record, but that didn't arrive in time.  She'll be none the wiser if she receives it in January, I'm sure!

Dulcie didn't want to wear her paper hat and was clearly quite embarrassed by her parents and their lack of street cred.  She posed like the Fonz and hoped her peers wouldn't judge her too harshly for her embarrassing mother.

So it was a great day, all in all.  I got some really lovely presents too and felt thoroughly looked after and well loved all day long.  What we saw of Christmas telly wasn't bad either.  How amazingly over the top was the ending of EastEnders?!  Loved it!

I hope you had a nice Christmas too.  I'd better go and get ready for Xmas Part Deux with the in-laws today.  I say, "Get ready," but my parents seem to be doing most of the hard work again.  Man, I'm spoiled these days, but I'm making the most of it :)

merry christmas

 Here's a festive little elf to wish you all a merry Christmas.  We found this outfit in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago and it was possibly the best £2 I ever spent - worth every penny for the amount of Christmas cheer it's bringing us all today.

And here's a second (very similar) picture just to report the news that Dulcie can now stand unaided, albeit only for the amount of time it takes her to realise she's doing it, panic and fall over.  That's usually about three seconds.  But still, amazing progress!

Gah, Dulcie is so cute and seems to be loving the festive season, not that she has any idea what's going on, of course.  But the tree and the decorations (especially the edible ones which she's surprisingly skilled at identifying) and the parcels and her advent calendar are all the cause of much excitement.  I can't wait to see her open her presents tomorrow morning.

Have a great Christmas if you're reading this, or even if you're not.

From Laura and Dulcie xxx

darkness

Back with another YouTube video post, I'm afraid.  Bad blogging, I know.  Rubbing moisturiser into my face makes my arms feel like they're about to drop off, so I am cutting myself some slack.  Maybe in the new year I will manage to return with some real life and a photo or two.  This is probably about the least festive song you can imagine, but I wanted to listen to it since it is the shortest day/longest night of the year (isn't it?) and once I heard it, it felt kind of relaxing in its un-Christmassyness.  So maybe it will be just what you need.

My parents will be arriving in a few hours to spend Christmas with us.  My mum is essentially bringing Christmas with her, having loaded the car with food, plates etc.  She even phoned this morning to check whether she needed to bring her own trifle bowl.  Meanwhile I have done nothing and my mind is blank.  I feel useless and awful for dragging my parents away from their beautiful festive home to spend Christmas here.  We have the Christmas tree up as well as a few bits of tinsel here and there, but I am not getting a festive vibe from our home at all.  Perhaps it is masked by the mess.  I've been trying to clean and tidy all morning, but I don't think it has made any difference other than making Dulcie even more grumpy.  Thank goodness for my parents and thank goodness that my parents see time with Dulcie as the world's best reward.  Let's pray that my mum works a wee Christmassy miracle when she gets here.  If anyone can, she can!