March 2007

I've been meaning to update these pics to the right for years now, wonder if it will happen this year ? Half of me doesn't want to - as i will probably never be this size again! Its also about time i added Sean to the front page as well...... poor second child!

Now where did we get up to last time ? Oh yeah, as far as November! One of the highlights for me last year was going away for 4 days, all by myself to Taiwan. Having been stuck at home for 4 years looking after all the boys, Frosty finally gave in and let me loose for the weekend. When i first suggested i thought i might go and take Joe and Rachel up on their offer to go and see them, he said yes straight away thinking i would never organise it . Two days later he was shaking in his boots wondering how he was going to cope when i said Joe and Rachel say fine, come soon! I spent more time writing instructions for Frosty than packing my suitcase. Even the dinner menu for each day was stuck to the fridge because Cherry and Frosty can not make a decision between them about what to have for tea! With emergency numbers up on the fridge, suggestions for outings and mealtimes under control, i hopped into a taxi, breathed a huge sigh of relief and relaxed for the first time in years! I was so excited to be going on a plane without a pushchair, four thousand wet wipes and a million bags. Instead i was armed with trashy mags, a book and my laptop. Frosty the sweetie gave me his air miles so i traveled in comfort and took full advantage of the business class lounge and the service on the plane. Dinner took a full 2 hours and i ate every course without rushing! It was heaven!

So i arrived smiling and fully relaxed into the arms of my friends Rachel and Joe who thankfully picked me up from the airport seen as i don't speak a word of Chinese and the taxi drivers didn't speak a word of English. It reminded me a lot of moving out to Bangkok 11 years ago. Unlike Singapore which just feels like any city and its easy to get around, Taipei felt different and Asian and i liked the fact that it was a bit mad and hard to get around. Joe and Rachel lived just around the corner from the Taipei 101, which is the highest building in the world, so naturally took a stroll and went to the top. Sent a postcard to my boys from the highest post office in the world, bit cheesey but had to be done.

Tucked up in my bed it felt very strange to not hear any noise, no static from the monitor or rustle of bed sheets when Joe sneaks in like a commando. Wasn't like that in the morning though when the park behind my bedroom came alive at 6am with the sound of the ballroom dancing music over the loud speaker and the grannies practicing their moves, or the little man who went around slapping himself so hard that it actually woke you up! Not that i was asleep anyhow, being so used to waking up at six, my natural alarm clock had already kicked in. Wanting to do something productive i had decided that i would be the first visitor to conquer Elephant mountain that Rachel had written about in her blog. (The Essex Girl who went up a hill...... ....... and came down again sweating like a dinner lady.) My first attempt i made it down to the lobby and then realised i had left my cardie and it was a bit nippy, so i went back upstairs to get it. "back so soon? " said Rachel. Second attempt i made the lobby again and this time it was chucking it down, so i went back upstairs and spent the rest of the morning with my feet up on the sofa drinking coffee and catching up on my invoices! So the gauntlet has been laid. The lobby of the building has to be beaten!

Rachel being a total geek dragged me to a geek fair on the saturday afternoon. Well that's a bit of a fib really, being interested in computers i wasn't really dragged, Joe was the one dragging his feet behind us both. We tried to make it interesting for him by letting him go to the human vending machine (and he also didn't seem to be complaining seen as there were plenty of women dancing on stages in tight clothing). I also went to a night market, found an irish pub, now there's a surprise, stumbled upon a lovely temple and on the Sunday went to church before heading home and back to chaos, tantrums and the usual chores.

Once back, December was just beginning and so began the planning for christmas and New Year. When you have a two year old to drag round with you everywhere, Christmas shopping just becomes a huge nightmare, try carrying a 10kg turkey at the same time as trying to stop a toddler running amok in the fruit section of the supermarket, apples with bite marks in are not particularly nice for other customers. Then there is the question of where do you now store such huge christmas present boxes seen as Joe thinks Father Christmas is coming and snoops in every wardrobe anyhow? Most got wedged under Sean's bed but next year it will be even worse! Joe's school also had lots of christmas activities to fit in, which was all really nice but it was just such a hectic run up that by Christmas eve i was more knacked than usual. Frosty and i were for once organised though and there was no last minute present wrapping and we went over to Karin and Garth's place for a very nice, quiet and relaxed drink and traditional german food for christmas eve. It made a nice change from usually still wrapping presents at 2 in the morning! The kids still not old enough to want to be up at 4am slept till their usual time and so we were up at 7am as usual, inspecting the balcony to see if father Christmas had eaten his mince pie and drank his milk (Frosty suggested that Father Christmas would like a nice big glass of strong whisky, but Joe insisted that Father Christmas would prefer chocolate milk much to Frosty's dismay. Joe also made us leave a whole bag of carrots as he said there were more reindeers than just Rudolf and it wasn't fair to only leave one..... these had to be quickly removed once he was asleep as we needed them for christmas lunch!) The magic reindeer dust bore imprints of Father Christmas's boots which seemed to impress Joe and then it was time to rip off the paper of the Castle of Doom! Oh how much joy have i had playing knights and dragons and goodies and baddies..... its so not my cup of tea!

We had new friends round for Christmas dinner which was really nice. Dom and Theresa and their kids came over along with Simon and Steph and Ed. Christmas turkey was superb according to Frosty and bloody well should have been seen as i lovingly got up at 4 in the morning to turn the oven on. Joe was allowed to eat whatever he wanted for the whole day. I don't think he could quite believe it. On seeing his lovely roast, he said i am not eating that and consumed a lunch of crisps and chocolate money. For dinner he had more crisps, nuts, bit of cheese and more chocolate! After stuffing our faces with masses of roast potatoes and the huge christmas pudding Steph brought, i set the lads on putting together all the new toys whilst i cleaned up. Boys had great fun with the new water play thing and the blowup town and i think the kids enjoyed it too!

A couple of days before New year, Phil, Carole and Emmet came to stay with us. This was great for Joe having someone his own age come and stay. Joe and Emmet had a ball and Seany tagged along behind them. (see Joe's page) New Year's Eve we all went to the British Club along with the Quirkys and Budgie and Susie and a few more friends. We had a good time but the party in the pub was like some dodgy wedding, too many kids running around, tipsy Granny doing her thing on the dance floor and the old randy uncle (played by Budgie) prowling around! Feeling not too bad on New Year's day, well more tired than hung over, though only speaking for myself not Frosty on that one, we managed some enthusiasm for Joe's 4th birthday. Delayed his party till the following saturday as a houseful of kids the morning after was not a prospect neither of us relished!

Birdie x x x