England, Part 1...

I arrived in England on Thursday evening, very last minute. It's now Tuesday afternoon and Rosie and I have been kept very busy reminiscing with old friends. C has been lovely in giving us somewhere to stay, and driving us about, bless her. It's been great to catch up with her and my special friend T too. T's girls are adorable and growing up so fast. They all doted on little Rosie as she seemed so tiny to them.

I met my Dad for lunch yesterday, followed by a coffee with someone I haven't seen for 17 years! It was great to see her after so long and to catch up on each others lives. I'm meeting another girl I haven't seen since school on Friday as well. C and I visited our old (not in years) friend CR on Sunday. I think she quite liked little Rosie! We tried our best to get some photos of the four of us together but most of them turned out with one of us looking a bit dodgy. Hehe. She gave me a HIM watch, which really touched me. How kind. And thoughtful.

T took me out for a drink one evening and we sat for hours chatting about life, parenting issues, old school memories. We tried to take one photo where both of us looked ok, and it was easier said than done! In the end the only good photo of both myself and T had Rosie balling her eyes out in it!

I have lots more people to meet up with before Sunday and am looking forward to each and every one of them. Unfortunately I just can't fit everyone into one trip. Guess I will just have to come back more regularly! Rosie has been an absolute angel the entire trip and has spent the entire time smiling and giggling. What a little star.

Here are ome of the photos so far...

Spontaneity

Yesterday I spontaneously booked a trip to England to visit some dear old friends. Sometimes we all just need a change of scenery for a few days, don't we? I just needed to get out of the house and clear my head for a bit. So today Rosie and I are packing our suitcase and heading off to the wilds of Kent! It will be good to relax a bit with Rosie, and to spend some quality time with her. Little Barney isn't too pleased about us going; his two favourite people. He spent all evening 'snuggling' with me in my big bed. I think he's going to miss me, and his baby sister.

Well, I have exactly six hours until I need to leave for the airport, so I better get packing. The amount of things one needs to take when travelling with a baby is phenomenal! Thank goodness my friend T is lending me a moses basket, car seat and buggy when I get there, so I at least don't have to take those with me. I'm planning on getting through the airport with just the suitcase (rather large I have to admit - since the small one is never going to fit all Rosie's things) and a baby in a sling. Plus a changing bag of course.

Photos

Happy Valentine's Day

Oh la la, I got a Valentine's Day card in the post this morning! And it wasn't from my husband!
Haha, I was a bit shocked when I opened it, but soon realised that it came from my penpal who is serving a death sentence in America. It made my day (although did make me feel old!) and here is message he wrote inside..

My dear best friend, I know you're getting older, hell I am too,
Just two people older, trying to get through,
You have always been there and your heart is always true,
So I hope you have a nice special Valentines Day, that's my wish for you.

Isn't that sweet? I must admit to negelcting my letters to him whilst I was suffering with high blood pressure during pregnancy. But I'm back on the ball now writing to him regularly. Heres a photo of the two of us when I visited back in February 08, on my way across America.

What a strange weekend. Not in a bad way necessarily. Just different. Marty's parents have been visiting us from England and took the kids out to W5 in Belfast on Friday. Then today Marty took the two littlun's to The Igloo (soft play area - although Rosie didn't do much playing!). This afternoon Granny and Daddy took the three big kids to the cinema.

And then this evening Marty and I went out to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Although it is Valentines Day now so everywhere was pretty packed and we didn't have much choice about where to go. We ended up eating some pub food in the Downshire Hotel, then wandering around Tesco's for a bit of shopping! But after that we found a little place that had some nice soft chairs, so we sat chatting for a couple of hours over a hot chocolate and a latte, about the state of the world, and the 9/11 conspiracy theories. Since coming home though poor Marty has spent a good few hours vomiting. I am hoping he doesn't have food poisoning. It has come on him so quickly.

Marty has started a new blog, so please if you have time visit it, and leave him a little comment to encourage him to keep it up!

With the commencement of our new family blog we all have new blog names, which is bound to confuse everyone. But it was necessary to make sure we don't come up the same in search engines. Marty is named after the 'crackalactic' zebra in Madagascar 2, who is undoubtedly his hero. I am named after a HIM song, Venus Doom. Tarja takes her name from the lead singer of Nightwish. And Badger, well, he just chose that name because he's a wally. Lol. Our names are all a bit daft, but they aren't real so it really doesn't matter eh.


What a strange year it has been. I guess after the excitement of last years travels, 2009 was always going to seem less adventurous. But I never expected it to be the way it has been so far. To start with I never in my wildest dreams imagined a little baby would be added to our family for 2009! I also never expected to lose my best friend the way I did, nor to have such stress and sadness over it all. I never expected to be at the police station writing statements about harassment and stalking. Or receiving emails full of hate and bitterness. I never expected any of that crap. What is going to happen next?

I am finding it so hard as well to see my old friend so sad, but to not be able or allowed to help. On the one hand I should be glad to be away from someone who would just throw away my friendship as if I am a worthless piece of junk as soon as something better comes along. But on the other hand I see that person suffering now and am torn that I can't do anything to make it better. Why do people have to be so complicated? And so foolish. And so damn difficult.

I hope Marty is feeling better by the morning. I can hear him downstairs chucking up. Poor guy. He was white as a sheep when I tucked him into bed on the sofa. I hope it's nothing serious. He is so lovely.

White Sands

As regular readers of my old blog will know, I have been blogging for three years and have decided to start a fresh new blog. It wasn't an easy decision. I love my old blog, but it is still there.

2009 has been a mixed bag of good blessings and stress! We are enjoying every day with our new baby daughter, but the stress of dealing with a certain crazed lady has almost sent me crazy myself! Now with the police involved I have been advised to change my phone number, email addresses and blog address. So here I am, with a fresh new blog, and no worry about what I can and can't write.

This new blog is called 'White Sands' as this was the place on our trip across America that inspired me the most. The most beautiful place on earth that I have ever witnessed. I sat on the white sands desert in New Mexico and watched the sun set. Totally alone. Marty was on a walk with some other tourists, and the kids were playing in a sand dune near by. I felt the most surreal, peaceful, calm moment of my life here, as I watched the sun set across the desert. I would love to submerge my family in this peaceful, calm feeling at home. Since this was the place that our lovely baby girl came from, it seemed apt to name our family blog after it.

The Carlsberg Family blog address came from a friend who once used the Carlsberg advert to describe us. We are probably the best family in the world, in my eyes. Although no where near perfect we are perfect to each other!