A Matter of Choice

After my miserable post last week  I thought I'd better join in with Reasons to stop being a moany old bag be Cheerful again! Actually writing that post and reading all the supportive comments made me feel a huge amount better so I'm very glad I wrote it.  It's actually given me my first reason to be cheerful in a roundabout way.... 1. Blogging - I just love it! I love the friends I've made through it and will continue to argue that they ARE friends even though we've not met in real life.  I am in more contact with them than most of my my real life friends in Cyprus, and certainly those in the UK! I love the fact that by writing my blog I'm creating a record of our life along the way too, and it's nice to look back over the last couple of years at things I would have forgotten otherwise. 2. Water - yes, quite a random reason you might think but not only am I constantly drinking it by the bucket, I'm loving the swimming pool right now!  Either havin...

This weeks Gallery prompt got me thinking.... 'The Everyday'   What do we do everyday?   We get up everyday usually before 7am for Leo and I,    Aaron works everyday till the end of the summer season,  We eat,   We clean - (oh hang on we're talking EVERY day, so maybe not!)  We watch tv/ use the laptop  We see my Mum and Dad. There are lots of things we do sometimes... Swim, paint, visit friends, bake, go to the beach, go shopping and go to nursery school (but not on the 'end-week' as Leo calls it) But then I realised the thing we do EVERY day.... 'The Everyday' We build a track, often first thing in the morning and hopefully at the moment with help from Daddy, as getting on and off the floor is proving to be quite tricky at the moment!  Removing the element of discomfort from crawling around the floor with a 7 month baby bump I do quite enjoy making the tracks and get quite a worrying sense of achievement ...

I saw this idea over on Real Housewife of Suffolk County' s blog and couldn't resist joining in.

I don't normally join in with the popular Saturday Caption day link up, mainly as I cam never come up with any witting captions for the great photos that everyone uses. But this week not only is it being hosted by my friend Jenny , I also managed to take this fantastic photo! Leave your caption in the comments below and then click the badge to see the other entries....

One of the presents Leo got for his birthday was a great little number puzzle, there are two parts to it, the first is very simple and Leo did it with no problems - numbers on one side and pictures on the other. The second is simple maths, for example    3 + 2 = 5  and   9 - 3 = 6  The addition was not too bad but   he was a bit confused by the subtraction as he wanted to count up the pictures and then match the total number and he got quite annoyed when I tried to explain,  so in a fit of inspiration  (as he didn't want to put it away either)   I opened a pack of dolly mixtures and showed him with the sweets..... If you Mummy has 7 sweets and she eats 2, then how many are left? He thought it was hilarious that I ate them and counted what was left, came up with the right answer and matched the puzzle piece.  I got him to do the next one and he ate the sweets this time,  laughing his head off all the while - and getting them...

There is a great prompt for this weeks Gallery, one designed to make us all think a bit more, although immediately several photos popped into my head , it wasn't a hard choice though as I'd already used the one  of the best inflatable in the world   on here last year! One evening not long after Aaron and I had got together we were sat in the pub and 'Father Figure'  by George Michael was played, it's a really random moment that sticks in my mind but I remember we were both just sitting there singing to ourselves and happened to look up just as the lyric 'I will be your Father figure, put your tiny hand in mine '  was sung,   Aaron reached over and I placed my hand on his, it was a moment of great timing..... either that or he was reaching for his drink and I misread it of course! Eight years ago Aaron took my hand and lovingly slipped a gold wedding ring onto my finger. (well, he tried to but it didn't really 'slip' and involved me...

Several years ago I was in the park walking our dog in a little world of my own kicking through the autumn leaves, it was a nice day for the time of year, not too cold, sun shining, nothing wrong with it at all - the kind that us Brits actually get all excited about as it's not raining and nature looks beautiful.  But for no real reason I stopped in the park and it just struck me as grey, I could see the gorgeous reds, yellows, browns and greens all around me but it suddenly lost all its appeal, it just seemed as someone had thrown a sheet over me and I couldn't quite breathe properly. I feel a bit like that now, although I can actually come up with a list of reasons which may or may not make it better now!  and it's not a sheet - it's a suffocatingly hot electric blanket which won't turn down! As a rule I don't like to moan on my blog, I don't know who reads it and I've upset friends in the UK before who have felt sad for me and I feel bad enough a...

As you may know Aaron and I are HUGE fancy dress fans, we've annoyed many of our friends in the past by instigating fancy dress parties (often for no reason at all!)  or convincing everyone to go out dressed in random outfits.  From getting engaged in costume to some fantastic parties  and weekends away   we never like to pass up a chance to dress up! Back in the UK we had amassed a huge collection of costumes but unfortunately decided get rid of them all before moving out to Cyprus. To be fair we've not has much of an opportunity to wear any of them but it's much harder to get hold of things to make outfits here.    So I was really excited when I was offered an outfit from All Fancy Dress.com, I eagerly surfed my way through my favourite types of costumes - (Fairytale, Burlesque, Greek Goddess etc)  and then realised I no longer had anywhere to wear it! So, instead I headed to the children's section (after convincin...

This weeks Flashback Friday theme, is Dad. In the last week not only has it been Father's Day but also my Dad's birthday. On his 60th birthday as part of his present I 'gave' him '60 memories' - things that particularly stuck in my head from childhood to date.   It took me quite a while to do as but it was very well received, some were a bit random but it got quite difficult towards the end!  Here are a selection of them....       Riding my bike thinking you were holding onto the back and then realising that I had done it on my own.       Teaching me how to play Chess, Backgammon, Othello and Draughts – and letting me think I was good at them!    Always trying to change channel on the TV whilst you were asleep only to have you open your eyes as I pick up the remote.      Trying (and succeeding I once I believe) to convince you we had parked the car on a different level ...

Today you can find me over at VegemiteVix - a brilliant blog written by an expat Kiwi living in the UK. She is running a new series of guest posts called 'Moving Stories' I'll let her explain in her own words... I've  decided to start a new series here on the blog, called Moving Stories. In it I’m going to feature interviews with some of my favourite expats, and I’m going to share a series of posts on how to Move Worlds Without Losing Your Mind. Keep an eye out for it if expat life could be in your future, or if you just want to dream about the possibilities. To see my story, and others in the series pop ove r to VegemiteVix.com

Compared to many I grew up in a very small family, as far as I knew there were the three of us (Mum, Dad, and me), two sets of Grandparents and an Aunt and Uncle.  There were more scattered about but for various reasons we (or I at least) didn't see them at the time.    In contrast to that, Aaron grew up with the complete opposite,  with his parents, brother and sister along with more Aunt's, Uncles and Cousins than I could ever keep track of -  His Dad was one of eight siblings!  Being the only child in my family compared to Aaron who had his brother and sister and a whole heap of cousins which he was very close to, I have no idea what it is like growing up with other kids around to play and fight with, and I'm a little bit nervous about having 2 boys of my own when I hear of the stories from Aaron's childhood! I remember as a child going to my friends house, she had two brothers and a sister and the noise scared the life out of me!  I w...

Although I'm not generally a fan of instruction manuals when I get something new  -  you try and figure it out, fail miserably, swear it at and eventually read the book when you are really stuck,  I often thought how useful it would be if babies and toddlers were all born with some instructions. It turns out that I actually like to have instructions, at least the have a look at when you get stuck and many time I've resorted to Google for answers or advice  (before I started blogging and found twitter that is!) Now, I know all babies are not the same so everything I've learned with Leo will probably be completely useless when it comes to baby No.2.  So I was very pleased to receive a set of three 'What to expect' books What To Expect  - When You Are Expecting What To Expect - The First Year What To Expect - The Second Year When I was expecting Leo and in the days before I was surgically attached to my laptop I read a huge heap of 'baby b...

Welcome to my 500th blog post! My very first blog post  was way back on 17th September 2009, when I hit publish that day there was no-one to read it and I never imagined that I'd still be going all this time later with nearly 200 readers (that I know of) and more importantly still enjoying every second.    Having missed both my blog anniversaries when I noticed I was coming up to the 500th post I decided it couldn't go unmarked. I thought I'd take a little look back over the last couple of years and share some of my favourite bits with you - as I'm sure you weren't around in the begining (well, except you Mum!)  I started off slowly having no idea what I was doing, and rarely putting photos on my posts. I had no plan and knew nothing about blogging at all. I knew there were thousands of blogs out there but didn't realise there were lots of other 'Mum and expat bloggers'  or that some of them I would come to class as good friends of mine desp...

On Monday , Leo had his first day at school, although not a complete disaster he didn't really enjoy it.  I think the main problem was that he didn't realise I was coming back for him! On Tuesday I made sure I explained before we left and again when we got to school that I was going to work (he understands that better than anything else) and I'd be back in an hour.  He was not happy and although he wanted to go he didn't want me to leave him.   His teacher took him and I gave him a quick kiss and said goodbye,  he was crying but was so sweet as he was also trying not to.  As I left I could hear his little cries and him saying 'I need my Mummy to stay here' Wednesday when I picked him up after 2 hours he seemed much happier, apparently they had given him a biscuit and a banana and that 'made me happy and not crying any more' He was very pleased to see me and showed me the other children, the teacher got them to wave and say bye, and he w...

I never thought of myself as a fan of shopping but as the saying goes 'You don't know what you've got till it's gone!'  One of the unexpected things I now miss about living in England is the shops, and most expats out here would probably say the same thing. Now I think about it, as long I was not having to buy shoes or a particular outfit I loved wandering up and down the high street.  Bookshops, 'gadget' shops, Primark, Wilkinsons and Woolworths (or whatever random shops has been occupying the old store for the last few years!)  and not just the high street shops - supermarkets which sold everything from clothes to toys, DVDs and household goods AND medicine (saving you having to go to a Pharmacy to buy some headache tablets).  The supermarkets here DO sell non-food items but I generally gave up looking at it when I first noticed a plain white baby sleepsuit on sale for €10 euro and promptly went into mourning for Asda multipacks and money off vouchers!...

This week as Leo went to nursery school for the first time I thought this would be a great photo choice for my Flashback Friday.... This was taken on my first day at Primary School, I don't remember that much about it but I do remember the photo being 'staged'  and my parents asking me to go to the end of the drive so it looked like I was going but Mum saying that it was pretend and she would be really taking me in a minute! I asked my Mum about the day and she said I was not impressed!  When the teacher rang the bell for class all the children, including me ran straight over to the teacher but I was the only one to run straight back to my Mum crying! She ended up being the only Mum to have to take their child inside where the head mistress plucked me out of her arms and told her 'You've had her for years, it's our job now' It took a week or so for me to go without a fight, to begin with Mum took me and settled me at my desk, then progressed to sa...

This week despite the soaring heat (it's up in the high 30s now and that's fairly warm even if you are not 7 months pregnant!)  I'm still feeling cheerful.... 1. Leo has started nursery school -  I'm not sure this is something he's very cheerful about as he's had quite a lot of tears about it this week but we are on day 4 now and it's not THAT bad.  Although I obviously feel for him (and think it must be a huge thing for him - suddenly 5 days a week in school an everyone speaking Greek!) it's taken a huge weight off of my mind as I was really worried about him starting in September just after the baby arrives, I think that would have made it so much worse.  It also means I get a chance to rest a little bit before hand!  (she says writing a blog post while he is at school!) 2. I got Leo to wear his armbands in the swimming pool unlike last year where he refused  which means someone hasn't got to constantly hold him in our pool or worry that he m...