Time is Flying

It cannot be August 25th already.  Where did August go?  It has been very hectic around here, what with my little part-time job, the real estate (where I have been challenged to do three deals before the end of September ! due to lack of productivity the rest of 2009), the arrival of Annika, and hubby back this coming weekend from the UK for short break, I do not have enough hours in my day.  

Amongst all that I hosted the baby shower at my house last weekend, twenty plus adults and small children, lots of baby gazing and pink presents - that was fun!

If I had my heart's desire it would be to spend every day camped at my daughter's house gazing at my new granddaughter but somehow I don't think I can get away with that.  Next down the list would be at least one real estate deal to take a bit of the pressure off, and I am working my butt off trying to get that!  

A few hours in the garden would be nice, the ground elder is back in full force and I just cannot get out there to tackle it.  I did manage to get into the pool for the first time last weekend but have to say it is not so much fun when you are out there on your lonesome (cue violins....I know, I know ....poor SITH floating around in her pool on her own! )

Plus with all that going on we are seriously considering listing our own house which will entail some touching up and tweaking here and there, I guess I could combine that with the major cleaning and tidying blitz that is required to herald hubby's return....ha!

My mind feels like a butterfly, flitting here and there but never quite settling on any one thing for an acceptable or productive amount of time.  Well actually a combination of butterfly and bee hive, because there is also constant activity and it is very hard to calm everything down.

One day when I am in France, I expect I might yearn for such a hectic life, but I am not yet convinced LOL

Love at first sight

She's adorable - no question.  I cannot believe how smitten I am, we all are.  And how excited.  

My daughter just said the other day how it changes your life, a few weeks ago she was a marketing assistant and suddenly now her whole reason for being is to sustain this precious life, to keep her happy, fed and healthy.

It certainly took me back to those first weeks as a mother, when your whole life is broken down into minutes and hours, how many minutes on each breast, how many hours apart were the feeds, how many hours sleep were you able (or more likely, not able) to get.  Although it is all seared into my memory, it also flashed by in an instant, and that is my greatest wish for the new parents, to enjoy each and every second, no matter how stressful, if will all come to an end far too quickly, and before they know it, they will be looking at their baby with her baby.

She's arrived!

My beautiful baby granddaughter arrived yesterday August 9th, on her due date - bless her! 

She is gorgeous and we are all totally smitten.  In fact, mum, dad, nana uncle spent many a moment just staring at her.

Talking to my daughter about her birth experience obviously brought back many memories. Where did those 28 years go?

                                              Daughter day one

                                             Granddaughter day one

              Another mother and daughter  - starting their journey together

                                                Meet Annika Rose, 8lbs 1oz 

                                                   Blond hair and blue eyes

(Well you can certainly see where the 28 years have gone when you look at the two photos of yours truly LOL)

Back in France!

Yep GWE is back there, very briefly, to pick up our blue blob of a van and take it back to the UK so he has some wheels. One good thing about the blue blog, it is very easy to spot in a car park, unlike my silver Jetta. In fact when we were in the UK recently my son and I were caught trying to get in to someone else's charcoal grey generic car (which we had rented) - whoops - we had to explain sheepishly, it was identical to ours LOL

Anyway GWE reports from France that the weeds have be kept to a minimum since we were last there but not sure if that is a result of all our labours or the amazingly hot temperatures they have had recently. Our great neighbour, who picked him up at the airport (these people are wonderful) says that their thermometer has been registering 40+ degrees! Here is it going to be a wonderful 22 degrees but will get much warmer over the weekend, might have to get into that pool at last.

Also we have managed to acquire a couch in France, it seems we are to be the recipients of anything anyone else in the street no longer has a use for! It is not the greatest couch in the world but we have so much more work to do, it is not worth buying any good stuff yet. Anyway the word is out, that couple at the end of the street are living like squatters, give them your junk. haha

So GWE is just there overnight, out to Fish and Chip night in a nearby village with our friends this evening, before he sets off back to the UK tomorrow.

Aren't you glad you dropped by. It's all happening here!

He's not in Wichita anymore!

Yes GWE (alias hubby) got his "get out of Wichita" ticket (sorry Wichita) and he couldn't be happier. Well he probably could right now, he is back in the UK and probably feeling a little jaded and jet lagged after a very long journey which ended with coach trip down to his parents on the south coast. I had couriered some stuff to him including some UK bank cards, cash and our daughter's wedding dvd. Guess what somehow between Canada and the UK, US Customs (!?) opened it up and now no cash!! What is the world coming to?

Anyway I am trying not to dwell on it (not very successfully as you can see LOL). GWE is now in the UK to start a job in a week. In the meantime he plans to fly over to our house in France and pick up our French "wheels".

The reason for him working in the UK (or wherever) and me here at home in Canada is that we are waiting for teenage son to finish high school before we can then travel together or go to France. No problem - obviously I want our son to finish well and go on to college/uni as he wants to become a commercial pilot. Yes I am in full agreement with this plan, but on sunny holiday weekends like this one, when hubby is somewhere, son is away at a friend's cottage and I am here on my lonesome, the plan doesn't seem so great!!

But on the sunny side of life, it is just one week until my daughter's due date - whoo hoo