A Matter of Choice

To me, a summer holiday usually means beaches, pools, and wall to wall sunshine, this year I'm doing things a little backwards as I'm leaving all of that behind and going back to England for 3 weeks.  Apart from travelling with a 14 month old baby and without the help and company of AJ I am really looking forward to it. I've been here for 8 months now and although it has flown by it does seem an age since I saw my friends and family. It's not going to be a relaxing break as I have so much packed into the time I am there, but when was holidaying with a baby ever relaxing anyway! I can't wait to catch up with my friends and family, and for them to see how much Leo has grown, he is almost walking and is developing a real little personality now, so different from when we left last November. Also (and  I know this sounds very shallow) as importantly I am so looking forward to shopping! I cannot wait to hit Primark, Asda and Matalan, and even shops I used rarely...

We are now officially Cyprus residents! We have our "pink slips" which for some reason are actually yellow, (I'm guessing that they used to e pink?) and that now enables us to claim child benefit and get medical cards so we can get reduced or free health care and prescriptions as a Cypriot would. Contrary to what I had been led to believe it was a very painless process, although that may be due to having a screaming baby while they were processing our application. At our appointment with immigration Leo was due for a nap and wasn't best pleased about it, he was so loud and so upset that the very nice lady dealing with our application said we could leave our paperwork and just come back later for our forms! I'm quite pleased we have sorted it all out just before my UK trip as when I return to Cyprus I really will be coming home. Not only that but it means I have completed the first item on my  101 list

After several weeks of reading posts for the Writing Workshop I thought I'd give it a go. I chose the prompt Storm.  It's a bit of a cheat as I did write this some time ago..... Bang goes the gate,  There goes the crate, flying down the lane. Crash, Smash, Oh No! Now it's the window pane. Lying in bed listening to the horrible wind, the horrible whistling wooshing wind,  The wind that damages everything.  Clang goes the dustbin lid against the trees,  it's not just a normal little breeze. The trees fall down like a domino rally,  and the whistling wind down the alley. The howling wind goes on all night,  and then, Oh no! Out goes the light. The banging and clanging soon will stop,  and everyone will have a busy job. The moaning, groaning horrible wind, that rips of tiles and everything. The howling wind goes on all night, it's enough to give everyone a fright. Crash, smash, a tree lands on my house,  I...

I've seen this meme on a lot of blogs recently and thought I'd give it a go..... Where were you five years ago? A long way from here, in more ways than one! We were living in our first house brought together in Walderslade, Kent having been married for almost one year. I was working in a dull but bearable office job and we were just kind of bumbling along, no immediate plans for a baby or to move house, and certainly no idea that we would EVER move abroad! It seems like a lifetime ago. Where do you want  to be in five years time? Still in Cyprus, and still in this area but possibly in a different property, although I love this apartment and I would desperately miss our lovely view I feel it will be too small as Leo grows up. We have no plans to have another but "never say never" and if we did it would definitely be too small. AJ would love to have a villa built but  I cannot see that happening within 5 years! What I woul...

I first came across this idea over at Toddler Awesome since then I've seen it around several times and after finding the  Day Zero Project  I thought I'd do my own. The Challenge Complete 1001 pre set tasks in a period of 1001 days. The Criteria Tasks must be specific (i.e no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part). I'm in the process of creating my list, you can see it  here.   Any other ideas for me?

One day Leo will sleep through the night, and get up later than 6am One day he'll learn how to speak and ask for things rather than randomly screeching while I try to guess what he wants. One day he will know how to sit down so will not shout whilst holding onto the sofa because he has dropped his toy. One day he will walk and we can go out exploring without him eating sand, twigs, drinking sea water trying to crawl over gravel etc. etc. One day I will not be saying "No" a million times a day to him. One day I will not be worrying about him climbing on furniture, destroying things or throwing toys over the balcony. One day I will not watch Cbeebies or "Wheels on the bus" constantly.  But, one day I'll be worrying about something else just as much or maybe more so. One day I'll wonder what happened to my funny little chatty toddling man and have forgotten the broken sleep and early mornings. One day he will not want to sit on my lap for cuddles or l...

 This photo was taken on the last "proper holiday" that AJ and I took, before the arrival of Leo. It was taken from a cliff side restaurant at my all time favourite beach - Konnos Bay in Cyprus. Funnily enough I was there again last week, You see our last holiday was an unusual one, we had come to see the progress of our new apartment and explore what would be our new village. This was in July 2008 almost two years ago to the day. Yesterday we took Leo to meet some friends at a local pool, it is on an apartment complex but is open to non-residents. It is also where we stayed back in 2008. It's a very surreal feeling still to go back (and we regularly do - it's a lovely pool for babies!) and sit among the holiday makers and to know that we are not cramming in the sun and the cocktails in a panic before our 2 weeks are up.  (or was that just me back then!) Are we on a permanent holiday? Of course we're not... AJ works long hours and is usually knackered...

This weeks  Gallery  prompt is Emotions . They have also joined forces with the Writing workshop at  Sleep is for the weak  something which as yet I've not been brave enough to attempt! For years I've wanted to swim with dolphins, I can't remember when I first realised it was something you could do, it was certainly before going to the Caribbean for a holiday rather than the "Med" seemed like an option open to "normal" people   We went to Mexico for our honeymoon in 2004 and one of the organised trips you could go on was so swim with the dolphins. It was an amazing experience. The part I was most looking forward to was the bit where the dolphins pull you through the water whilst you are holding onto their fins, everyone lines up on the floating platform and one by one you enter the water so the dolphins can take you the middle of the water.  Once everyone is in the centre they have a play, the trainers get them to jump and swim amongst everyone, ...

Dear Weather, I know I've given you a hard time for years, you've been too cold, too wet, too windy and generally rubbish and unpredictable to me for years in the UK. I don't mean to complain now but I'm really  trying to get used to this hot sunny stuff which I've found out means it's summer. I'm really hot, but it's all good honest and I'd rather it this way, just maybe could you share it about a bit and send some to England, there's more than enough here and perhaps we could share? from a slightly sweaty Emma Dear Leo, Well done little man for learning to say "ta" it's adorable and very polite, especially as you are doing it unprompted when given things now. I think you are going to be walking soon too as you are really starting to get the hang of "cruising" along the sofa! From your loving Mummy. Dear AJ, Thank you, for working so hard to look after us and for wanting to move to Cyprus. I admire you for be...

This weeks Gallery prompt from  Tara  is  Creatures.  This is Ellie our dog that we had to sadly find a new home for last October just before we moved, being mainly black she did not do well in the heat, especially as she always insisted on sunbathing until you could hardly touch her coat! Ellie came to us from a dog disliking  friend of mine who had been persuaded to re-home her by her kids in a moment of weakness, it turned out that the kids were also non-fussed about her and eventually they all decided she had to go. I have grown up with dogs and AJ had always wanted one so she was a welcome addition to our family in 2003. She is a lovely friendly mad thing, always nicknamed "The Puppy" despite being about 10 years old due to her excitement and energy for everything. I've been asked since if I know how she is doing in her new home, she has gone to a friend of a friend up in Cambridge, apart from hearing that she settled in well I have...

We live on the east coast of Cyprus, in Derynia almost on the  Green line  which divides the Republic of Cyprus (South) from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. I don't wish to enter into the politics of the island, the invasion in 1974 is still very recent to most Cypriots and I don't know enough about it to be able to get involved in any kind of debate. (You can read more about it  here , should you wish to know more) Our apartment overlooks  Varosha , the 'Ghost town' of Cyprus, I've had many a walk with the little dude around the village since arriving here, not so much now - it's just too hot to go out walking with him strapped into his buggy now. Here are some photos from my springtime walks - note the lovely greenery, long gone now with the arrival of the hot summer. One of the UN checkpoints, as far as you can go in Derynia. 75% of the village is in the buffer zone.  Looking into the buffer zone, note the b...

The thing I miss the most I didn't even use in the UK. For years I had planned and pictured life with a baby and a big part of that picture was Mother and baby groups and various activities. Don't get me wrong I am not the "pushy mother" type - I'm just the organised mother type who likes a but of structure to my week! When Leo was born I looked up all that was available, most things at the time he was too young for, and then at 6 months we moved. I could have gone to "Baby bounce and Rhyme time", Music groups, baby sing and sign, Mother and baby meets, baby sensory....the list is endless. After hours of trawling the internet I eventually found one, yep just one baby group here.Jingle Jangles - a music group for 6months to 3 years. I joined in March and loved it, problem is at 35 euro a month for an hour a week now we have more month than money (more musing about that later!) it's an activity I cannot justify doing. It is a great group and I met ...

Happy father's day Dadad! (in case you are wondering that's how Leo says it, I haven't got a typing problem!) This year is AJ's second father's day, last year Leo was only a few weeks old. My present to him was a "Daddy Cool" t-shirt and a phot keyring with this picture in it.  This year I was brave (well, I was talked into it by a friend) and let Leo loose with some paints and we created a card and a desk sign for him. It was very successful actually, no paint was eaten, and we ended up not that  covered in it, well apart from a couple of purple highlights in Leo's hair.  Here is the finished result....

Today would have been my brother Scott's 34th birthday, I never met him as he was born on 18th June 1976 too early and only lived for 3 hours. As a young child I moaned at my mother for the fact I was an only child and was the only one of my friends not to have a brother or sister, I can't imagine that must have been easy for her to hear. I was still young when she told me about Scott and some years later she had his birth certificate framed and displayed alongside our family photos so he is still a part of our family. I told my Mum that everything happens for a reason (very philosophical of me at a young age!) and that had he survived I wouldn't be here. There would only be 16 months between us and as she didn't fall pregnant easily with me I think that she would have left a longer gap before really  trying for number 2 (especially having one myself now!) I don't doubt that given the choice she would have had more than one child but the second child would have ...

This week's prompt from  The Gallery  is Motherhood. It's taken me a couple of days to think about this one and even still I don't feel there are the right words to describe what motherhood means to me, I could come up with many different words but I don't feel I would have done it justice. Looking through my pictures, (and that takes a couple of days!) I was having a hard time deciding, until that is I came across this one. During my pregnancy I had planned to breastfeed, I had a couple of bottles which I planned to use after a while with expressed milk, and had NO formula (hence the  midnight dash to buy formula ) but breast feeding didn't happen. I decided before Leo's birth that I wouldn't beat myself up about it if it wasn't working for us and apart from a slight hormonal wobble I didn't. Obviously breast milk is the "ideal" as it's designed for the purpose but I have a healthy happy little boy who doesn't seem to be dis...

Ok, I'm going public... I have a love of really bad music, not just a bit rubbish but really bad. I even know the songs are bad and in the rare event someone agrees with me and says it's good I have to disagree with them an point out that it is actually terrible but for some reason I  still like it. AJ says I have a bad music gene in me! So imagine my delight on seeing this post by Emily O over at Babyrambles I like three of her five, and I'd never heard of one! (to see her five click here Five songs I shouldn't like but do) So I thought I'd share with the world some of the songs I hate to love, what's quite depressing is the fact that I've been thinking about this for a couple of days - there's a lot of terrible music to choose from don'tcha know. In no particular order Buck Fizz, Making your Mind Up I remember dancing around my front room to this at the time, I was only four though so it was cute rather than worrying, whenever I hea...

Some weeks ago Tara at  Sticky Fingers  started a weekly photo showcase and with my love of pictures I though it would suit me down to the ground.  Here in her words is what it's all about..... The Gallery If you're new to The Gallery, here's the brief: I will give you a prompt, an idea, a notion and you go out and take a photograph using that prompt. Or just use a photo you already have. The prompt could be one word, an object, an idea, a phrase, anything, and you have to post a picture which you feel represents that prompt. Post it on your blog and write about it. That's it. This week's theme is Still life and I thought with my weather obsession this would be perfect. This was taken this afternoon, it's been about this temperature for a while and I love it! It's great to know that it's summer, and it will be summer for months. I know in England we all moan about the weather but I hated it, really hated it.  I'd be so confused on a hot su...

It's been a long week this week, one which started off by my discovery that there was more month than money left in the bank, not great two days before a party! Fortunately we were saved by a good friend of ours and cake ingredients, jelly and beer (well, if you're going to be outnumbered by toddlers you may as well have a drink or three!) were purchased and all was well. The party went very well, the birthday boy seemed to enjoy himself and in fact all the kids seemed to play very nicely. He ate loads of food, and ended up wearing lots too! Then happily crawled around playing with his friends and lots of new toys. It was Sunday that it all went downhill, after a nice family afternoon round the pool Leo woke from a nap feeling very hot and was not  a happy bunny. I ended up being up most of Sunday night with him. He woke about every 10 - 20 minutes, despite being "calpol'ed up to his eyeballs and with a combination of air con and fan near his cot. Monday ...

Now that Leo has turned one I find myself looking back to his first few weeks with us, it was a surreal time, wonderful, tiring, amazing and much more that I could never find words to describe properly. I was told over and over to really cherish the early days as they go so fast, sounds like a cliché but for good reason. So I did. I remember leaving the hospital, walking slowly and painfully down the corridors to the car park, AJ carrying Leo in his black and yellow car seat. I think it was quite a hot day and I was unsure how to dress Leo, all the babies seemed so wrapped up and I felt it was too much but didn't know what to do, a dilemma that stayed with me for most of his first year actually especially arriving in Cyprus where the local babies are often still wearing coats and its over 30degrees. I had planned to breastfeed, however it didn't end up happening (I'm not having the breast versus formula debate now, I may come back to it if the mood take...

Happy Birthday Leonidas, You are one whole year old today! I don't know where that little baby (you were never tiny being born weighing 9lb 9oz) went, you were born with a mop of dark hair which disappeared as you rubbed your head on the cot every night, in fact I used to have to hold your little hands onto your chest to stop you fussing with your head. Your hair came back much lighter and now we spend every day in the sun you are going a lovely shade of blonde. You still have "happy feet" you used to lie on your playmat and kick your feet around with such enthusiasm, this has now been replaced by your foot clapping that you love so much - and making "sand angels" with your feet in the sand. You love to talk, (you definitely got that from me) you say Mum mum a lot but I'm not entirley sure it is directed at me. Your first sound was Daddaddad but you often forget to say that for several days at a time. The saying has stuck and I think your Daddy will b...