New Years Eve

As we rush out of the door to celebrate a "grown up" New Years Eve with Lily for the first time I would be really remiss if I didn't stop and take the time to wish each and every one of you a really Happy and Healthy New Year. I hope this is one that is once again filled with screaming babies and pongy diapers and all the wonderful things that accompany the pitter patter of tiny feet.

Lily's Pet

We don't have any pets and we probably won't have any pets for a really long time! Every now and again Lily asks for a dog or a squirrel or a horse but nothing sticks and I breathe a huge sigh of relief. Don't get me wrong, pets are great, I grew up with every type of animal imaginable but I just don't want any. My dad and Jeanne have a cat that they inherited from Lily's Uncle Mike, his name is Ginger and he is an old fellow of about 900 and other than the fact that he is not allowed inside he lives the life of Riley. My dad has a huge dislike for cats. Now before you get all postal on me, let me tell you that my father would not ever see any harm done to any creature not even a flea, Ok, maybe a flea but that would be it. Ginger is not allowed inside because he leaves occasional "surprises" and since my folks have spent the last 4 years renovating their 400yr old house "surprises" are not welcome. Ginger however has a heated house that he lives in! Actually on this last trip home Ginger was found to be all curled up on a chair in the living room in the middle of the day, he managed a "break-in" when no one was looking. See, his life is just fine. Anyhoo, when Lily first met him all she ever heard was my father yelling, "Ginger, Out" as he tried to sneak in through the door as Lily came into the house and Lily actually thought that that was his name. And so to this day she calls him, Ginger Out. For Christmas one of our friends, who knows this story only to well, bought Lily her very own kitten...........

The Puurfect Pet

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Ginger Out

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Cute....ish

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Rubber Down

For those of you unfamiliar with biker talk, "rubber down" is something bikers say to each other before they ride and it means what is says. In other words keep your tires on the tarmac and don't wreck. I know this stuff cos Jakey used to be a Harley dude, yes, hard to believe looking at him now but it is true.

Anyhoo, now we have to say it to Miss Lil cos our little girl learnt to ride her bike without training wheels yesterday. Huge huh? We are bursting with pride here. She is still a bit wobbley (huge understatement) but she licked it and is so darned proud of herself. I felt a bit bad today when another mother told me she is way to young. I have no idea when this is meant to happen or if there is an appropriate age but I just decided to give it a shot and she went for it. Jacob took her out again this morning and she flew so she graduated to the pavement and really went like the wind. I was a wimp and kept her on the grass yesterday cos I didn't want her to fall and get hurt and scare herself. Oh yeah, I am getting a great workout....pant pant.

Getting psyched up

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OK I am ready mummy

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20 minutes later.....tada

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One of many wrecks. Before she even hit the ground she would yell, I'm OK.

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A Little More Of The Festivities and 10 months today.

Christmas was just so much fun that I am sharing a little bit more. And thanks to Christi from Cherry Blossom Baby I was finally able to figure out how to do this slide show, thank you so much Christi. Oh, and I cannot forget to mention that we have been logged in for 10 whole months today. Yes folks 10 whole flippin months and the end is nowhere in sight but alas this is a happy post so we won't go there today.


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Christmas Day

We all know that Christmas is all about the children but who knew, I mean who really knew, just how much fun they they can bring to it? On Christmas eve we had friends over for dinner and when things had finally calmed down and Miss Lily was snuggled into bed listening to. "twas the night before Christmas" we suddenly realised we had failed to put out Father Christmas' milk and cookies so we raced down the stairs to take care of that little SNAFU we also put some reindeer fodder outside for Rudolph and then it was back to bed for one very excited little one. We thought she would be awake by 5am but were amazed when she slept until just after 7am. Seconds after her little voice arrived at the side of our bed the excitement began. My cousin said we had to wake her cos she wasn't about to miss a second of it. So I ran to her room and banged on the door only to be told she was all ready up and waiting. Please remember as you view these pictures that they were taken very early in the morning and we DO NOT look our best!

Here goes....

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Boinggggggg

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Don't even ask but I was threatened by others that this had better show up!

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It Will Never Be Quiet again

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Christmas Carnage

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Lilys Make - Up

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Lily The Mortician

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The Grossest Gift Ever

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Did He Really Think He Could Escape Humiliation

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Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas, from our home to yours.
We would like to wish all of our family and friends, a truly wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.
With love, Jacob, Dawn and Lily


Our Christmas Angel

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Mummy, look what day it is.

This morning Lily changed the advent calender and squealed with delight, Mummy look what day it is, it's Christmas. I explained that it is in fact Christmas Eve and that Father Christmas will be coming tonight. That my friends was to much for her and she bounced up and down at least 90 times. I think this is going to be a very long day in Lilyland but we are ready and we are just as excited as she is. Thankfully her daddy is not scheduled to work this Christmas and he will be at home the whole time and he is just as giddy as she is and so am I. Here are some photos of some lights that we went to see the other night, they are all at one house and it takes them 7 months to get them ready and raises there electric bill by $4,500.00 for the month (are they nuts?). They look really lovely the family puts out donation boxes to raise money for the University of Miami Sylvester Cancer Center so it is all for a great cause. We go each year to see it.


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OUCH

Yesterday afternoon I received a phonecall from the nurse at Lily's school saying that she had had a very minor accident in the playground. She put Lily on the phone so that I could talk to her and in a very quiet and teary voice she sort of explained what had happened. I then spoke to the nusre who really gave me a better idea of what had happened and what it comes down to is this: Lily was running and she used her face for a brake when she hit the fence. It isn't very bad is what they said and she bashed her lip and split it so it is swollen and bruised so is her cheek. We are icing her and she is fine. My poor little pumpkin cried and she never cries but it was probably from the blood cos she hates blood. I went and picked her up and she had one fat lip but other than that she was just fine. I never did find the bruise on the cheek that they mentioned. She does have a loose tooth but I am really hoping it will re-set itself but if it doesn't it doesn't. I have been down that path with her before and frankly I want her to keep her teeth until they fall out naturally but we had a very close call at 17 months that involved a trip to the emergency room and the dentist on call managed to save them so if at 4 1/2 she loses one now I can deal with it! So here is Lily with her Mike Tyson lip.


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Master Baker

One of our favourite Christmas treats in England to eat are Mince Pies. Lily had her first one a couple of weeks ago and loved it and wanted them now here too. Lily loves to particpate in baking anything even if the pastry comes out of a box which this time it did since we were very short on time (I know the shame of it all but I had to admit to this since the box is plainly visible in the photo, next time I will be more careful!). We just wanted to eat them and the fastest way to get there was fine with all of us.


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Oooppsie...she got a little over zealous with this one and it hit the deck!

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Yikes....look at the precision with the knife.

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They turned out fine and Lily has eaten more than anyone which is surprising because mince pies are not very sweet and are quite a mature taste but she tasted them in England and loved them and couldn't wait to make them here.

Lily Has A New Toy

A couple of days after we returned from England my cousin Andrea flew over to join us for Christmas. She has stayed with us many times and whenever we go over there Lily sees her and is used to spending time with her but this time for reasons best known to Lily's 4 year old brain she truly believes that Andrea is her plaything. Thankfully Andrea loves her to bits and is only to willing to entertain her and finds it a welcome break from the stresses of the I.C.U where she is normally found working.

Lily's New Toy

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I'm Sure Lily is Dishing Out Orders

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A Night Of The Performing Arts....Sort Of

Last night was Lily's holiday show at school and even if I do say so myself it was wonderful. I am not quite sure how she didn't explode from excitement but she didn't. The theme for the evening was, "an evening at home waiting for Santa" and all of the the kiddos were dressed in their P.J.s and sang Christmas songs. Not one of them forgot even one word and they were just plain adorable.

The Stage

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A very Blurred Christmas Lily (sorry)

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Ho HO HO

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Jingle Bells

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Double Trouble

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Lily's First Gingerbread House

First off: a disclaimer. If I have made any nonsense comments on any of your blogs in the last few days I truly apologise. It hit me this morning as I was attempting to to type that the meds that I am taking are rather strong and really need a warning that say: Do NOT leave comments on other peoples blogs!

Okay dokey artichokey back to the post of the day. This is the first time Lily has ever decorated a Gingerbread house and she loved doing and had so much fun with it. She is such a little perfectionist that it took much longer than I had anticipated and is all perfectly matched. I am really surprised that she wants to eat it but she does and I keep putting off the moment when she destroys it. I keep trying to tell her that you aren't really meant to and after all this time it will be stale and disgusting but I think all those sweeties all beckoning for her mouth so she is going to have to learn the hard way, yet again.....snicker snicker.


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This One is A Bit Yucky But Rather Funny

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The Show Must Go On

Other than being as deaf as a haddock, I can say I am feeling pretty good now. I think I caught my dads deafness not that he would say he is deaf if you ask him! He just thinks the volume on the telly doesnt work properly.......yeah right daddy. Hopefully anyday now my hearing will return and my family will stop having so much fun at my expense! Here are just a few more shots of our trip and the final one is Lily greeting Jacob at the airport which I think is so lovely.

Without a single doubt the best part of the trip was seeing all of my family and seeing Lily spend time with her Nanny and Grandpa. She loves them so much and will follow them to the ends of the earth. She marches along behind my dad going nowhere in particular chattering away just happy as a clam to be with him and him with her and if Nanny says lets go somewhere she is there. Having some cold weather and Christmas traditions just warmed my heart. It is hard living in Miami to find either of those things and it was worth every second. My cousin arrived yesterday to spend Christmas with us so we are really giddy.....one of us in particular, you can guess who that might be!

Lily working in Nannys garden Centre

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A Carousel ride that Nanny took her too

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La Lechuza. Lily actually thought that after she had sung this she had put this passenger to sleep. The man sitting opposite nearly died laughing!

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An Old Pro at this flying lark

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DADDY......I missed you

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Dickens Of A Good Time

Okay, it appears that I am once again feeling sort of human. Well, as human and normal as I ever feel! Lily and I had so much fun in England it was downright criminal which is probably why I caught the flu for the first time in my life. We crammed every hour of our short trip with something and some family members. Usually it takes a family event to get us all together but we managed to all get together on the Sunday and it was wonderful. Lily has a great time playing with my cousins little children who are the same age as her and I got to see them and of course my brother and my sister. I have to mention here and only because the the 3 of us find it hysterically funny that we all fell ill within hours of seeing each other but with different things and with nothing related. My big brother was quite poorly but I am happy to report is doing well. Anyway here are some of the photos and videos for your perusal.

My Nanny and Grandpa

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When Lily woke up on Saturday morning she was frozen so her cousin Heather wrapped her in a blanket and I made her hot chocolate. Lily and Heather had a sleepover.

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An early traditional Christmas dinner....you should have seen Lilys face when the pudding was on fire!

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Nanny and Grandpa in period costume for a Dickens of a Christmas.

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Lily ready to get this horse drawn contraption moving. She absolutely loved it and so did I.

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My Siblings and I (kind of well and kind of not....but who knew and we all had so much fun who even cares)

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Brass Band.....all these things were taking place in this tiny weiny town where I grew up and it was fabulous....totally fabulous.

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Enough for now. But there is loads more to see but I can't share anymore tonight.

Home Again Home Again Jigetty Jig.

Lily and I are back. We had a fantastic trip and arrived home on Tuesday but I came down with the flu and have gone down hill from there. I kept trying to pretend that nothing was wrong and finally yesterday morning I had to go to the Doctors. Once I am back on track I shall share all the photos and tales of the trip. Words are inadequate to explain just how much fun we had with all of my siblings, cousins, nieces, etc, etc but I will try. Dang....It was chilly.

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Off To The Old Country

Lily and I leave tonight for the old country.This is the quickie trip that I wasnt sure if I should make or not but we followed everyones advice and we are out of here until Tuesday afternoon. I am currently running around like a headless chicken trying to get organised. I detest packing so I have not actually started that little project yet. I went to work this morning, yes, for an hour, actually I stressed myself and worked for 90 minutes and then stopped at Macys on the way home for some winter clothes and now I am blogging. Anything I can possibley do to prolong the agony of actually packing. In about an hour I shall be swearing like a sailor and really sweating about all the things that need to be done in such a short amount of time before we leave for the airport. Lily is at school so I do have some time before she starts with the, can we go to nanny and grandpas yet, questions. She is a pro when it comes to travelling and loves the fact that she has to go to bed on the plane tonight! Lily is the only person I know that likes the food that they serve on board the plane??? Doesn't say much for my cooking now does it!

So I bid you all adieu and we will see you on the flipside.

Decorating The Christmas Tree

We have put up our Christmas tree. Lily helped. I should probably end the story here and let the pictures tell the rest. I am a very sentimental person with certain things, with other things I couldn't care less and I throw things away all the time leaving most people with their mouths hanging open and saying, how could you just throw that away? My Christmas ornaments I hold near and dear to my heart, they all have special meaning and I know where each and everyone came from and each year when I decorate the tree I love looking at them. This year a couple of those special little ornaments went off to ornament heaven thanks to little hands.

If you look at the tree you will see all sorts of oddball things all clumped together in one spot, that folks is Lilys artistic freedom....it makes me hyperventilate every time I look at it and I want to spead everything around but I know that I can't cos that would hurt her little feelings. Ahhhhh......mummyhood.

The Clumpy Bit And The Proud Decorator

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Getting Started

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Lily decorates Daddy

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While We Were Missing

While we were missing this is what we got up to. This weekend we did some tourist things here in Miami and we went on a Duck Boat tour. It was great fun and we had a blast. Lily wore a duck whistle and blew at every possible opportunity.Then we headed down to the beach for lunch and then on to the beach and even though the water was way to cold for us Lily needed to try it so Jacob dipped his feet in too. As you can see it wasn't long before Lily was soaked and stripped down to her knickers and dashing through the surf. It was to cold for me so I stayed on camera duty......what a wimp!


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Hair We Go Again

Almost every morning when Lily gets ready for school she asks for the impossible when it comes to her hairdo. She usually wants some fancy little do involving way more hair than she has. It all stems from the fact that the girls in her pre-k class have lots and lots of hair. She will say, mummy I want two pigtails at the front taken back to one in the back, just like Natalie number 1. Well Natalie number 1 has a mane of wavy hair right down her back not a scrat of stick straight hair barely touching her shoulders! This morning it was much more simple, mummy I want a ponytail. Gulp.....Lilypop, it's not long enough. But instead of saying that to her and breaking her little heart for the millionth time before 8am I gave it a shot and what do you know? It has grown long enough. My little scrat head actually has a pony tail. She was so chuffed she beamed all the way upstairs to show her daddy. And then she beamed all the way to school. It was so cute. It is a sad excuse for a ponytail but don't tell her that she was high on life today. It took many clips to keep the sides in place but that didnt matter one bit! Phew....she is finally running with the big girls.

Little ponytail

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Yes, it's mine, all mine and I am proud!

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