Don't Feel LIke Dancing? Yeah, Right..

Every time I listen to the Scissor Sister's new(ish) album Ta-Tah, I am struck by the catchiness of their first single - 'I Dont Feel Like Dancing'. It makes me smile. Because Dancing is exactly what the song makes you feel like doing. I can't remember a song which has causes me to break into involuntary bum wiggles every time i hear it. Such wit! It has the sensibilities and feel of a great 70s Elton song (who we all know I love and have flagged as one of 10 artists to play at my posthumous benefit concert) with a more modern feel. In fact, the whole album is a toe-tapping delight. Bless the Scissor Sisters. Maybe it will be them and their wiggle-inducing music that help me shed the ga-zillion pounds I have put on with having a baby.

So in going with this rather random blog, ive decided to do a top ten albums released in 2006

(note: limited to those that we own of course)
(note: 'best ofs '- such as Massive Attack, Ultimate Prince ect are left out of consideration as they are not new music.)

My Top 2006 Albums
1. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
2 Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah
3. Artic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's WHat I'm Not
4. The Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out
5. Lily Allen - Alright, Then...
6. The Fratellis - Costello Music
7. Hot Chip - The Warning
8. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
9. Jay-Z - Kingdom Come
10 =Raconteurs (Broken Boy Soldiers)
= Ed Hardcourt - The Beautiful Life

(note: i know, i know - having 'equal placings' is a pathetic way of making a top 11 nad passing if off as the more socially acceptable top 10)

Pending: Augie March, The Killers and JT are all purchases made in the past few weeks naand therefore not warranted the quantity of listening required to gain a place. Though both Dave and I have become a bit obsessed with the Augie March one, so chances are.... hmmm....


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An initiative called Global Cool was launched in London yesterday to try to bring about a slowdown in Global Warming. Its pretty scary the way the planet is going - I mean, London's winter this year beggars belief - and the catastrophic effect that such temperature change is manifesting in new ways every day. Who know what the world will be like when Fred is older. Perhaps polar bears will be strictly found in zoos, perhaps Amsterdam will become a modern Atlantis. Who knows? It's such an important issue, one which I believe everyone needs to address. Global Cool brings Global Warming back to it's grass roots and suggests simple ways we can each tackle lowering CO2 emmissions in our day-to-day life.

The idea is that if we each do a bit, we can all do a lot.

Here's how to be 'Global Cool'

Have a look. THere's much to be done

A Recent Misjudgment

Whilst there is not need to beat myself up over the following, I feel it would be good for me to sheepishly address a misconception I held prior to becoming a mother.

This misconception can be summed up in the term ‘spare time’ For some reason I imagined myself moving into a lovely world of sleeping babies with ample time to pour over cookbooks, maintain two blogs and hey – read all the Booker Prize winners in the course of the next year. Needless to say, none of these are happening with any ease and we’re pretty lucky if dinner is anything other than meat and three veg, if I make a blog entry more than once a week and if I ever read a book again. As Edwina once said – it’s a pretty good day when you manage to get even a load of washing on. But, to be fair, things seem to be on the up a little bit with regards to this. As Fred is getting a little bit older, he is becomgn increasing able to amuse himself. We are now able to put him in a bouncer or on his playstation for 20 minutes without him screaming at the injustice of not being held. Similarly, we have begun to employ some nighttime tactics which have led to him settling himself a number of times (as opposed to being rocked/patted/held to sleep) and enabled us to get something of our evenings back. So I’ve found myself able to cook from a cookbook about every second day this past week, and have managed to get a few (rather impressive) blog posts in. And after almost 2 months of not picking up any book other than a baby manual, I’ve started (and almost demolished) a novel. I randomly bought James Frey’s Million Little Pieces when out shopping on Tottenham Court Rd the other day, pessimistically certain that I would probably not read it for years, and started to flick through it on the bus home. And thank heavens its a page turner otherwise I still might be under the impression that having a baby and reading books is impossible. Whilst I still believe that ticking off the booker prize winners by the end of 200 is slightly beyond my abilities and somewhat misguided goal to make myself, the intention is still there, sans a timeframe.

More misconceptions to be addressed in the near future…..

White Winter

Well, things seem to be on the up in my world. After a pretty exhausting and bewildering first few weeks with little Fred, we seem to be getting a handle on it all. Whilst the sleeping still isnt exactly what we want (we cant seem to get him to go to bed before 10.30 in hte evening) everythign else is falling into place. I am much more active - I feel much better and am able to get out more nad more - last week i managed a 4 hour shopping stint on Oxford st!! The breastfeeding has stopped hurting and each day I get to enjoy Fred becoming a little bit more Fred-like. He kicked a ball yesterday for the first time. Sure, we placed it in front of his feet and he did it unwittingly, but we're not too bothered. Another milestone it is!!

Plus he is smiling more and more (mostly at his favourite toys) and spends hours each day practicing using his voice. Love, lovely, lovely.

After an incredibly mild winter over here, last nigth felt Fre-e-e-ezing. When I had to get up in the night for Fred I found myself literally diving back under the covers for warmth. At one point I even had to take the little man into bed with me so we could cuddle in warmth. And so I could kiss his little warm head as he nuzzled in.... needless to say, that was so delightful, I didn't end up putting him back in his cot.... not a great habit to get into, but such a beautiful way to spend a cold night. Plus with Dave continuing to sleep (mostly) in the bell tower, the bed is awfully big for just me.

Anyway, the upshot of this was that when we woke up this morning it is has snowed!! Yay - Finally!!!! Last year we had snow just after christmas but is seems to have taken a lot longer for the cold t okick in this year (in fact it has been positively lovely up until now). So I've put up hte heating and snuggled up the little man in his rug and placed him near the warmth. He's sitting there sucking on his dummy, giving bigger and bigger blinks as he puts himself to sleep. I'm going to use this time to make myself a coffee (decaf of course.... breastfeeding basically means im living the life of absitnece I did when pregnant) and put some washing on. And perhaps upload a few more photos onto the Fred site if he doesn't wake up and start commanding my time....

Below is the view from our apartment....

(apologies to the canadian readers who must be like 'Yeah, it's snow... AND?' I'm still and aussie girl and it only snowed a couple of times last year so it's still a little bit exciting.)

Trying to Catch a Fred Smile. Harder Than you would think.

Well, I've been trying to capture a Fred smile to post on the blog, but it's pretty hard work. Particularly as whenever I get the camera out, he gets distracted by that - which means he won't smile as he only smiles when he's focussed on me (of course). So then I'm trying ot take photos on the sly - so aim and focus suffers. Argh. Anyway - below are a few near misses, though none even close to the brilliance of a full-fledged smile. I'll get it though... one of these days.......

Smiles

After a few days of attempting to smile which resulted in debatable but exciting new mouth movements, little Freddy cracked a big one tonight. HUGE, open-mouthed and juicy. And then, to show it wasn't a fluke - did it 3 more times. It was during his bathtime and they were all for me. And im floating on cloud nine.

Its such a simple thing, but so incredible. Cant explain.

Thank god that smiles come early during the development cycle. Imagine having to wait for six months for a smile!! No thank you. Instead, I can look forward to more and more over the coming days.

*sigh*

All is well still. Freddy continues to be an incredibly alert and active little man. He kicks constantly, throws his arms in windmills and has the strongest little neck. He feeds like a baby intent on winning a chubby baby contest and extra rolls on his thighs and chin are starting to appear. He's really beginning to 'coo' and experiment with his voice - but i admit I will sad if his horse noises are totally replaced. His ability to sleep through the night has gone a bit pear-shaped the past few nights, but I'm hoping it is just a phase.

Smiles rock. Give someone you love a big one. It will make their day.

My Family

Random Goings On...

As you may have seen on Fred's blog, we currently have Ginny and Rach staying with us in London. An event which has seen me reclaim some of my sanity and get rid of (I think) the milk/vomit smell that hangs around me like a cloud. It's been really really nice having them here, so wonderful to be sharing Fred with people we love. They have obviously reinforced Dave's and my suspicion that Fred might be the cutest and most marvellous little legend to grace this planet. And on top of the showers, sleep and relaxation that having them here allows me, Ginny even babysat on New Years eve, allowing me my first trip away from Fred to the pub! Which was pretty uneventful (only a few hours and two drinks) but nevertheless reassuring that there is hope of a future social life.

Prior to their arrival, Dave and I had a lovely Christmas with our new family having a simple luch and rather amusing present giving session (as I had had no time to actually get presents for Dave in the previous weeks due to Fred, I resulted in wrapping up household items and sourcing new gifts from the local pharmacy!) There are some piccies below.

Otherwise, we are fine, I am well. I'm still healing from the birth which is taking a little bit longer than expected, but nevertheless coming along. I'm massively unfit (not to mention fat - but that doesn't really bother me) and the walk to the local store leaves me breathless. I'm still nowhere near getting out of my aternity clothes and somewhat angry with myself that I didn't purchase more that were conjusive to breastfeeding. Still breastfeeding which is good although incredibly painful much to my midwife/health visitor's bafflement. We are hoping that it naturally gets easier over the next week or so. We will see.

Fred is still a marvel. He is such a good little boy, we are so blessed. WHilst it is still hard and exhausting we know how lucky we are - he has a huge appitite, feeds equally as well from breast and bottle, I am an absolute milk maching, he is relatively easy to settle, and only gets me up for one feed in the night. Dave and I are trying ot get some sort of routine established which is working quite well and sees Dave doing the last feed of the night (11pm, i express milk into a bottle) so that can go to bed and get a large chunk of sleep until the 4am feed. Mind you, with all these things - sometimes he is crotchety, sometimes I'm up for hours in the night - and he's growing so quickly, who knows what routine he will take to in the future.

Tomorrow Fred turns 4 weeks and he has already changes so much from when he was born. He is a real little character and he has started to develop the chubbiest little cheeks. Too cute