The eve before new years eve!

Rather a long title, but I am writing this on New Years Eve and Emma, Lee and Poppy came round for a meal yesterday, the eve before new years eve! I cooked shepherds pie with cheesy mash which everybody said was lovely, not that I could taste much, my taste buds are still no good nearly 7 years after chemotherapy, I wonder if they will ever return? Poppy had a good go at feeding herself, how much of it she actually ate I really don`t know, but she insists on doing it herself, very independant my granddaughter! Her little cheek was very red, indicating the possible new tooth which we think may be on its way! She loves jaffa cakes but only ate half and then pushed it away in favour of a satsuma, or "O" as Poppy calls them, not being able to get her mouth around the word orange!

Once again she was playing the bauble game, grabbing a bauble off the christmas tree, giving me a cheeky grin and then running off across the room so that I will chase her and tickle her. Its funny and she giggles away, but to be honest I shall now be glad when the christmas tree and other decorations are down! After the 5th or 6th chase across the room Gray saw that I was worn out and decided to chase her in my stead, but she still looked to me the next time she pinched a bauble off the tree, I obviously tickle better! Grandad has a tendency to throw her in the air and blow raspberries on her tummy which she thinks is funny, but not quite as funny as lying on her back on the floor being tickled!

I found a Peppa Pig band set at the charity shop just before christmas, it was still in the box and had obviously never been used to I managed to grab hold of it before anybody else could. Emma brought it down yesterday and Poppy stood anxiously by watching while Mummy got out the drum and the cymbals, the trumpet and the tambourine. She obviously was not quick enough getting them out because Poppy started to pull at them, saying "mine, mine"!!! (A word she has recently learnt from her cousin Ruby!) She seems to be learning new words all the time now, if you hand her something she likes to eat she will say "nice".She makes us laugh everyday, thank God for Poppy.

Happy New Year all. xxxx

Meringues for tea.

Emma, Lee and Poppy came for tea yesterday. We also invited Jill and Andy, our good friends and neighbours. Poppy has a cold once more, having caught it from almost everybody else as it has been doing the rounds and the whole family has had it, so they were a bit late arriving for their tea as Poppy had just woken up, had been coughing and had been sick all over the place. She was okay when she was here, though she did not eat a great deal, she did manage a satsuma though, which she loves, or an "o" as she calls it! I had made meringues which I filled with cream and cream puffs filled with jam and cream which all went down very well. I did do savoury too ofcourse! Poppy was playing her game of taking the baubles off the christmas tree while looking and me with a cheeky grin on her face, I then have to chase her and tickle her! Little monkey!! Funnily enough she soon managed to find one of the chocolates I put on the tree and tried to eat it while it was still wrapped in foil! Strangely she did not want it when Grandad unwrapped it for her! Emma, Lee and Poppy went home about 7.30 after she was dressed in her pyjamas and finished a bottle of milk, she was tired and ready for bed, just had her inhaler to take when she got home.

Christmas Day 2011.

Just after 11am the family arrived as they usually do to open presents together. Paper everywhere, but then thats normal on Christmas Day, I expect everybodys house looked the same! Poppy had some lovely things, a beautiful thick cardigan from her Aunty and Uncle, Rach and Ste, from Next ofcourse, Rachels favourite shop! A panda from Jill which does something when you put batteries in, though I am not sure what! She liked the farm set we bought for her and was pressing the buttons and the Soo puppet for a special cuddle and a kiss. Peppa Pig also got a kiss and cuddle, Poppy could only just about get her arms around her, but she got a pat on the back too! Em had not had chance to open all her presents at home with rushing around doing everything so after dinner she continued helping Poppy to open all her gifts and it took her until about tea time! She liked the Aquadoodle mat she had from Mommy and Daddy, she likes to draw and drawing with a pen filled with plain water seems like a good idea when you think of the damage a crayon or felt pen could do to the wallpaper! Dinner was lovely, cooked by Emma, Poppy ate some and spread some across the tray of her high chair and her face, hands and anywhere else she could wipe it! Pudding had to wait until much later as everybody was full! Poppy was worn out after her early morning get up and her busy day, she is one lucky little girl with all the lovely gifts she received, infact she was so tired she fell asleep on Daddy for an hour or so while watching The Gruffalo which she found fascinating. A very nice day was had by all, Em worked very hard to make everything special, thanks Em. xx

Its Christmas!

This was Poppy yesterday when she came to visit her Grandma and Grandad with Mummy, the hat is a little big but I`m sure you will agree she looks so sweet in it!

Pops and snowman video.

Poppy and the snowman!

Visits, visits, visits

Its certainly been a very busy day today, one way or another! First of all I had a phone call this morning saying I had won second prize of a Christmas hamper from a local butchers! What a nice surprise, so thats the bacon, gammon, pork pies etc., sorted for Christmas. It came in the form of a voucher which a kind lady dropped off to my house late this morning so we have to pop along to the butchers to fetch it later in the week, we don`t want to go too early as we have to get it all in the fridge somewhere!

Round about lunch time Jill rang to see if I would like to go for a cuppa, I text Em to say where I would be and she texted back to say she may pop up as Poppy had made a present for Jill. I had just finished my tea when Emma and Poppy arrived with a flat oblong shaped parcel but Emma won`t tell me what it is as she said Poppy has made it herself and she has done a similar one for me! Now I am intrigued!! Poppy enjoyed her visit to Jills house, she spent the whole time we were there smiling and attempting to throw the toy for the dog Millie.

We came back to our house and waited for Grandad to come home and then decided to visit Michelle and the boys to take pressies, followed by Sue and her family. I rang to make sure they were in and off we went, Michelles first, the three boys were so pleased to see us and Poppy was the centre of attention! According to Ryan she adores him! She did spend the time hanging on to his finger and making him walk round the house with her! We then headed off to see Sue and her family and again Poppy enjoyed playing with their four children though we did not stay long as it was tea time and the children were just about to have tea when we arrived, we were all hungry too so we just stopped for a short visit on this occassion. Poppy was worn out and fell asleep in the car so we dropped her off at home as Daddy was back from work, she was still asleep when Em got her out of the car, then Em came back with us to fetch her car and Lily.

So a lovely afternoon was had by all, Poppy certainly is very sociable and just loves visiting!

The strange man in a red suit!

Emma, Lee and Poppy arrived about 4.30, they had been to Emilys grave, there was a carol service held in the babies garden for all the babies who lie there. I wanted to go but was not feeling the best, I had been coughing the past few days and the cold would not have helped. Em said she had got so cold that she could not get warm and so she sat in our house for a couple of hours with my "snuggie" wrapped round her drinking a nice hot cup of tea. The service was mercifully short, apparently they only sang Away in a Manger and then gave candles out to all the parents who had lost babies. The garden was full of people, there were not enough candles to go around, obviously more turned up than expected.

Poppy is having a toy kitchen for Christmas, they have been to the toy shop today and she kept going back to the kitchen so they realised she liked it so that is what Santa is bringing for her. Tomorrow they are taking her to the garden centre to see Father Christmas, we popped over there today for lunch, they do a nice carvery, and saw that he has a grotto in the local garden centre, well actually its a shed, but all dressed up for Christmas, he even has an elf outside, rather a tall one admittedly but wearing an elf costume all the same! Father Christmas rings a little bell when he is ready for the next child, and apparently he gives each child lots of time and talks to them nicely. I wonder what Poppy will make of a strange man in a red suit!

Busy, busy, busy, busy!

Had quite a few visitors today, firstly Anne with Helena, and the bump, she is due in May, and I got to see the 20 weeks scan picture too. They don`t know what sex the baby is as yet, they want a surprise. Jill arrived, followed closely by Sarah, so Poppy has enjoyed all the attention, well from Sarah and Jill anyway, she missed Anne and Helena completely, she slept all through their visit! This afternoon we went out to visit Ste and Rach, Rach is lying on the sofa resting and hoping that all has gone well. Poppy enjoyed visiting, especially as Uncle Ste gave her a satsuma which she absolutely loves, she had one at breakfast, one at lunch, took one with her to Stevens house, then she had some of Stevens and lastly two at tea time! She is certainly getting her vitamin C thats for sure! Its lovely that she likes her fruit, and ofcourse good for her. She points at the fruit basket and says "O", she cannot quite manage orange! She had lots of lovely smiles for her Aunty Rach and sat beside her on the sofa to watch the tv as Rachel changed channels to CBBC for her. When baby Jake came on, which she loves, she was chuckling away!
Em has gone late night Christmas shopping so Gray took Poppy round to her Daddy after tea, along ofcourse with Lily. She is very good now, when you tell her she is going home and hold her coat out for her she slides her arms into the sleeves!
It is meant to snow overnight, whether that happens or not we shall see, but at least we bought Poppy some wellies this week, just incase, rainbow striped wellies no less, so at least if it does snow she can go out and walk in it, without getting her feet wet. I wonder what her face will be like when she sees snow, ofcourse it did snow last year but she was too little to realise it, so it will be as though she is seeing it for the first time!

Little devil!!

Worn out, Poppy has had the devil in her today! She thinks it absolutely hilarious to grab a bauble off the christmas tree, smile at me and then walk away as fast as she can, waiting to be chased! Grandad has been busy chasing her and doing a lot of tickling!

Popped out to the retail park this afternoon as we needed to buy a pressie for Poppys new cousin, Florence Rose born a couple of weeks ago, I have been meaning to buy a card and pressie for her every since! We got a nice little pinafore type dress in pink with a lovely matching top, the dress is made of fleece material so should be nice and warm for the winter.  Poppy enjoyed the ride in the trolley, being able to see all the christmas things around in the shop, she was fascinated! And she got a new jigsaw puzzle into the bargain which she held in front of her all the way round and just about managed to let go for it to be scanned at the till before the kind lady handed it back to her!

Poppy likes the snowman we have standing beside our tree, it is a little bit smaller than she is, so she can stand in front of him and put her arms around him, she has been dancing with him too which is so cute!

Hello Bargey

Poppy arrived with her Mummy and Daddy yesterday for Sunday lunch, roast lamb, roast potatoes, yorkshire pud, carrots and broccoli, and she ate very well which was nice to see as she has been poorly once again recently and when she is poorly she does not eat too much. She has just discovered Jaffa cakes, its amazing how one disappears to quickly when handed to Poppy!

The latest word is hello, she was calling hello to the rabbit on Saturday who was hoping around the garden while Daddy cleaned out the hutch. She said hello when she walked in yesterday, accompanied by a little wave, then when she saw Barney she said "hello Bargey"!!! Cute. I don`t know how many times she said hello while wandering around yesterday, I lost count!

We have put the christmas tree up and next to it are a snowman which stands beside it who is not quite as tall as Poppy, on the other side of the tree is a Father Christmas wearing a woolly hat instead of the usual red hat trimmed with red fur. Poppy liked these very much and carried the Father Christmas around while patting it on the back and saying "aaahhh". When she went up to the snowman and stood in front of him she grabbed his hands and started to dance with him! Well cute! The tree did not get off unscathed, she carefully removed two baubles then walked around gently shaking them and grinning! I think there may be quite a bit of distracting going on!

A few pics of meal time the Poppy way!

Not the easiest week.

Quite a difficult week, Poppy has not been well for a few days and so has been tired and grumpy which is most unlike her. Thankfully the doc gave her antibiotics, steroids and a preventative inhaler and yesterday she was a lot better, still quite tired but then she has been missing her sleep coughing, so she had two long sleeps yesterday, inbetween playing, which seemed to do her good. Hopefully she will be able to sleep through the night again and Mummy and Daddy might get some rest. She arrived yesterday saying "uh oh", where she has got it from we don`t know, maybe Daddy or it could be from a programme on baby tv which has a character called Oh oh! Up until now I have had the travel cot in the lounge for Poppy to sleep in but now she is older, and able to get off the sofa safely, it is time to take the travel cot down, and she can have her naps on the sofa on some nice comfy cushions. I never thought the travel cot was very comfortable for her, the mattress being quite thin, so I think she may sleep more soundly on the sofa cushions. You can tell she was feeling better yesterday as almost every toy from her toy box was spread around the lounge! A piece of one of her jigsaws has disappeared, we looked everywhere for it, so maybe it will be underneath the cot when I take it down, now all I have to do it remember how to fold it up! We had rather a job putting it up in the first place, there is a very strange way to erect the thing, so I just hope that folding it up again will be easier! Today I have had a lie in and I am, as usual on a Friday, worn out! Not the easiest week I must admit, but lovely to see Poppy on the mend, thank God.

The visit to the doctors.

Poppy has been poorly again today, but Em had to go to work and so she brought her to see Grandma this morning, she came back after lunch and was quite concerned about her breathing so managed to get an appointment at the doctors and took her over. Funny how there were no appointments available when she first rang up, but when she rang back ten minutes later, being rather worried, they told her to take her down in half an hour! The doc was concerned as she was still wheezing, even though she had just had her inhaler, Em was concerned that he would send her to hospital again, but he said he would try to manage her condition at home as Em did not fancy another few days in hospital, and who can blame her? He has given her a preventative inhaler, steroids and some antibiotics as it is clear she has a sore throat because she cries when she coughs and her ear is also a little red so he is taking no chances. Hopefully once she has had a couple of doses of all her new medications she will be on the mend.

All she has wanted to do all morning is sleep, and even when she has been awake she has just wanted a cuddle, poor little thing she does go through it, she didn`t have the easiest start in life and seems to be poorly every few weeks.

Get well soon sweetheart. xxxx

Oh dear, poorly Pops.

Poor Poppy has not been well this weekend, when her Mummy fetched her from the childminder on Friday it was to the news that she had been tired and grumpy all day and was obviously coming down with something. As her cousin had chicken pox a couple of weeks ago a close eye has been kept on her tummy to make sure no spots appear, at the moment all is clear. She does have a couple of large teeth trying to break through so it could be a case of teething, with which she is usually not too well, causing cold symptoms and breathing problems, but then just because no spots have appeared since Friday it does not necessarily mean that none will come, I believe the incubation period for chicken pox is quite a long one, we shall just have to wait and see. They came for lunch today, Poppy managed a carrot and a little bit of melon plus a couple of pieces of banana though not much more, but at least she has eaten something. At least what she has eaten is good for her being fruit and veg, which is a good thing. She was rather warm when she left which means she must have a temperature, and whereas normally she will take her calpol to bring down her temperature quite well, she has suddenly decided that she just does not want it and waves it away, causing a very sticky mess in the process! Poor Poppy, she only seems to have a couple of weeks when she is well and then she is back to square one, poorly again. Oh dear, poorly Pops.