10 months today!

Daisy is 10 months old today and celebrated with an outstandingly snotty nose and by spending nearly all day shouting to mummy about the indignity of having it wiped. She's not been having a very good time. We had to resort to the antibiotics on Saturday after two nights of round the clock screaming (Daisy, not me). All in all, Daisy is sad, I'm knackered and Andy is stressed. Argh!

We managed to fit a nice afternoon in on Sunday though. We went out for a late lunch to The Brasserie on Wandsworth Common with Flob, Jules, Chris, Annette and Thomas. Pics above.

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Aquarium

We had a great day at the London Aquarium yesterday. The photos don't show much at all but it was very good. Daisy loved it and chatted excitedly whilst pointing at all the fish. She had her bottle by the shark tank and got her fingers wet in the sting ray patting pool but didn't manage to reach a ray. After the Aquarium we went out for dinner then Andy took Daisy home and I headed off to a bar for a girls night. We had a very good night and Daisy even played the game by sleeping until 8am this morning which negated the effects of my late night. Hurrah!

Today hasn't been so good unfortunately. Daisy has had a cold for a week or so and has developed a horrible hacking cough and is really congested. We were at Cafe Nero after lunch when she started crying awfully and was in such a state that we headed straight for the doctor. She has a virus (like every other baby at the moment it seems) but on top of that has an ear infection. She was coping with the virus so well but the ear infection has just made it all a bit much and she is a very sad little girl. She got antibiotics prescribed but I'm loathe to give them to her so we are seeing how she is in the morning before starting her on the course. She's being very brave about it all, what a little trouper.

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Cotswolds

We had a very nice weekend in the Cotswolds with Andy's parents and brother. We stayed at Lower Mill Estate which is a fabulous newly bulit village designed around water ways and all done in an eco type way. The house we stayed in was amazing, you get so used to old houses here that it's a great change to stay in a modern architecturally designed house. If anyone is planning a weekend away in the Cotswolds, it's a top place to stay: http://www.falcon-house.com/

Daisy really enjoyed having the undivided attention of two grandparents and an uncle for the weekend and I enjoyed the chance to go running, swimming, have spa treatments and get in plenty of reading and sleeping. Andy enjoyed going to the pub lots. We took Daisy swimming both mornings which she loved. She was a little unsure at first but was laughing and swishing about very quickly.

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Quick post

We're just back from a weekend away but first are some photos from last Thursday. We had a visit from Jeff in the morning then in the afternoon met Jodi and Cate and Kingston for the turning on of the Christmas Lights. Cate slept like an angel throughout but Daisy had eyes like saucers at all the goings on.

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Ciao ciao, adeiu, haere ra and goodbye

To London that is. Yep, after eight years for Andy, seven for me and not quite one for Daisy, we've decided the time is right for pastures anew. It's been a huge decision for us and a difficult one to make as we are still really happy in London but the time just seemed right. We sold the house last week and have both resigned from our jobs so it's a done deal.

I found resigning really hard and have been feeling quite down about it. I was looking forwards to returning and taking on new challenges so making the mental leap to becoming 'just' a stay at home mum has been difficult for me. I'm sure I'll get used to it but I'm going to miss work and everyone there hugely. *Sniffle*

So.......where are we off to? We want to try out a different culture for a while and looked at a number of areas including Singapore and Hong Kong but in the end settled on.......Dubai! Neither of us have been there before but it seems to be an exciting, vibrant, fast growing city offering many opportunities and a great lifestyle. We hope so anyway, if it sucks we can always leave. Andy is currently job hunting so fingers crossed.

We are still spending Christmas in New Zealand and fly out 19 December until the end of January. We aren't looking forwards to the next few weeks as we have SO much to do. The movers are coming in on December 13 and 14 and the house sale completes on the 15th. Eeek! The logistics of it all are hard enough to think about, I don't even want to start thinking about how hard it is going to be saying goodbye to all our friends. Woe.

Above is Daisy checking out where her new home will be. We've been preparing her for life on the road by singing 'The Littlest Hobo' theme tune to her. Maybe tomorrow we're gonna settle down, until tomorrow, we'll just keep moving on.

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Look mum, no hands!

I had a good night out with work last night. Followed by a not so good head this morning. We had lunch at The Banana Tree on Northcote Road earlier today. We've just been at Cafe Nero where I took the above photos of Daisy hanging out on the couch. Andy is out with the Guernsey boys tonight whilst I shall be lounging on the couch eating popcorn and watching a movie. Ahhh.

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London after dark

We had a good day out in London yesterday. We had lunch in Soho then Grandma Julia and Daisy went to The National Gallery. Evidently Daisy's favourite picture was Picasso's Little Girl. I wouldn't know as I was busy shopping. Hurrah!

After a busy afternoon we dropped Daisy off to her daddy at his office then headed back in to Soho for dinner at Mildred's. We finished the day off with going to see Billy Elliot at The Victoria Palace Theatre which was very good.

From the top is Daisy trying to apply lip gloss at Starbucks, the Regent Street Christmas lights and Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the background.

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