Lucky Laila!

What an exciting week it's been... Daddy taught Laila how to reach out for his hands - and she's showing signs of loving the camera already... who'd have thought it! 

As our house renovation nears completion, Laila's Nanna and Grandad have generously kitted out her ENTIRE NURSERY courtesy of Mamas and Papas - what a lucky girl! It's due to be delivered in a few weeks so our carpenter needs to finish off the skirting boards so the carpeter can lay the carpet... then it's over to me to get my interior design hat on and decide how I'm going to decorate the room, and I am utterly excited... Laila loves bright colours so Babba Grandad has painted her walls a fresh lemon colour, and my parents have bought her some funky bedding to match, along with a co-ordinating cot mobile, arch, curtains and lamp - this is going to be one of the most fun rooms to decorate!

We went swimming yesterday and I can't believe how much my girl loves it - she's such a splasher! She gets excited as soon as we get in the changing rooms. Although it still wipes the majority of a day out, I'm getting used to the whole swimming regime now; we go every Friday, usually with Tina and Mickey (who was born a week after Laila) so they have a splash around together i.e. see who can drench their mummy the most. They both do a good job of that...


We also went to see the work nursery this week, which means (a) it can't be that long before I go back to work (eek!) and (b) I'm going to have to face leaving my baby doll with someone else one day... Putting those two things to the back of my head, the nursery was great. Expensive, but great. It's only very small with just 33 places, however it's within my office building and was incredibly impressive - the manager put aside over an hour to give me a tour, an overview of the seasonal menu (sounded delicious!), preschool activities etc. I also discovered the 'Ecole Française de Bristol' around the corner from us and they take children from 2½ years of age so, who knows, maybe little Laila will be tri-lingual!

I've finally caved in to the blogging fad!

Today, it suddenly occurred to me that since Laila was born, life is whizzing by at a rate of knots. I don't have the time to keep a diary but jotting down a few notes on my laptop will be quick so I've decided to start blogging to capture life purely for me to look back on - I have the memory of a fish so I can't rely on that!

Time is a scarce resource recently; I try to grab a power nap here and there while Laila sleeps but still forget to eat when it's just the two of us... I'm snacking on a nutritious combination of a turkey burger in a pitta as I type - seems like quick and easy is the order of the day.

Speaking of diet, today marks the beginning of my Davina regime - bought Davina McCall's postnatal workout DVD a couple of weeks ago but haven't had the chance to press 'play' yet! I'm determined to get that yummy mummy figure back, especially with my forthcoming housewarming when everyone will be coming to our place for the first time since the renovations have come to an end. I've also said yes to a champagne cruise to Amsterdam in November, when Laila will be 8 months old, for extra motivation to shed those baby pounds! How I'll be able to leave her is another matter but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...

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I've just been to collect the post from the box outside and amongst all of Daddy's post was Sainsbury's "Little Ones" magazine, with Laila's first public appearance in the media! Friends will know I have dabbled with TV and magazines here and there for fun, so it's only natural that little Laila will get a taste too! When asked "whether or not I'd recommend controlled crying" as part of Sainsbury's Big Debate, here's my reason for being entirely against it...

Anyway, my main job for today is trawling through our last major shop to decide what I want to keep and return - sounds like a minor, but when there are about 15 large shopping bags full of house stuff, Laila stuff and a few for Mummy and Daddy, it's a mission!