February Fun

Oh what a lovely weekend we have had! Xavi had to work on Saturday morning as usual but we decided to meet him around 11:30 down in Barceloneta beach for some tapas. This was perfect timing for me and noodle as it gave us a chance to do our breakfast thing and get dressed and for me to change 5 times before eventually deciding of something pretty to wear that didn’t huge my post baby belly! We opted for dresses and tights today! We met xavi and then later a friend or our Jimi came down as well. We had some lovely tapas and I treated myself to a cheeky little glass of wine. Although Emmeline got very cranky as she was tired and started to cry rather loudly. So I put her in her pram and took her for a walk along the beach hoping that would relax her and she would fall asleep. Well No, it didn’t. If anything, it irritated her even more that I have the nerve to put her in the pram instead of picking her up which is what she clearly would have preferred! So to teach me a lesson, noodle decided to scream even louder and harder. Yaay. I looked down and gently talked to her to try to relax her and mostly jsut so that I wouldn’t have to look at the people who were looking in our direction. I put my shawl wrap over the pram to block out the sun as she seemed to increase the level of her screaming every time the sun hit her face. We walked and walked, she screamed and screamed, people looked at me as if to say ‘how can you just leave her’. Eventually I couldn’t stand it any longer and picked her up. she stopped crying immediately. However I realised that her behaviour was due to the fact that she was sick and when she is sick she doesn’t want to be left alone. I went back to the table and the boys paid and off we went. I decided to not risk putting Emmeline back in the pram so I carried her while xavi pushed the pram. She nodded off and I have to say that I do love it when she falls asleep in my arms! The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling at home!

Sunday came and we then decided to catch a bus up to Montjuic and go for a walk. It was a lovely day and Emmeline was playing nice even though she was still sick. We took a lovely walk past the Olympic stadium and the museum and I got some nice photos of Emmeline on daddy’s shoulders and then biting the hell out of daddy’s ears! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

We decided that instead of catching the bus back, we would simply walk home! It took us a total of about 1.5 – 2 hours, but it was a lovely walk and this is a great city to walk around. I will never get bored of it! The added bonus is that Emmeline had a 1 hour nap in her pram! We met Jimi for a few tapas in a great little restaurant jsut around the corner from the flat and I munched on some lovely potatoes with allioli, yummy! Once again, we spent our afternoon relaxing at home.

A wonderful weekend! Now all we need is for little Emmeline to get better!

Beachtime fun!

I love living in Spain! It is winter and I should be bundled up inside because it should be freezing right? NOPE! Today me and my little noodle Emmeline went to the beach!

We had Emmeline’s 6 month vaccinations today and as the hospital is across the road from the hospital, I decided to take Emmeline for her first ever excursion to the beach! I grew up in Durban, South Africa and was always on the beach or in the swimming pool and Xavi was the same. Actually xavi more as he swam for the state, so he is a real water baby as well. And so we are hoping that our little miss enjoys the water and the beach as much as us! Anyway, I miss the beach! Although I only live a 15 minute metro ride away from the beach, I don't go nearly as often as I would like to go. My dream is to live in a nice house super close to the beach one day!

I headed for a spot that was close to the water and off we went. I lowered the pram onto the sand and pushed . . . except that although I pushed, the pram didn’t move. Hmmmm. I pushed more using my knee to ‘nudge’ the pram forwards as well, but still no joy. We weren’t going anywhere like this. By now I started to feel like a bit of a moron and was sure that the thousands (well maybe not so many) of people walking past were looking at me and just going ‘oh look, the first time mother who doesn’t know what to do! Of course she can’t push her 3 wheel pram in the sand. Idiot.’ Eventually I realised that I would need to turn around and drag the pram whilst walking backwards, trying to look cool and not fall over. Alright then, let’s go, it will be totally worth it to show little noodle the beach!

Somehow or another I managed to not fall over at all, phew! I propped Emmeline on the blanket and laughed out loud as I watched her face totally mesmerised by the waves and doing her best impression of a puppy with his head out the window every time the breeze blew in her face! Priceless! I buried her feet in the sand and then filled her hands with sand; she sat in silent awe every now and then just giggling! Her face lit up when the pigeons walked past but it was still the wind that tickled her the most! And me, proud mommy, sat taking a hundred photos from every angle, getting sand in my face, my socks and my pants without a care in the world (until the walk to the metro) taking photos of my little princess.

I stopped for a moment and had a look around me. I noticed a lady sitting in a deck chair with giant headphones on listening to music. Normal. I then noticed that she was waxing her legs with a cordless electric waxer . . . not so normal. She then put down the waxer, pulled out a mirror and started to pluck her eyebrows . . . again, not so normal. I watched with fascination wondering who would actually do that. I then looked down at Emmeline with her hands and feet in the sand. I looked back up at crazy lady and thought “hmm, all those hairs that you are ripping out of your body are gently flying away and landing on the sand. Hmm, that would be the same sand that my daughter is currently playing with and has all over her hands and feet, the same hands and feet that she seems to have stuck in her mouth on an almost permanent basis . . .” needless to say, I very quickly dusted off her hands and feet and put her slap bam in the middle of the blanket far away from hairy sand!!

A fun, interesting and slightly gross day!

Short lived excursion

Today I decided that we would have a little excursion to the park! I knew that it would be a cloudless, sunny day and despite it being cold, I thought it would be a good idea to get out and about. So after much faffing about and watching one episode too many of Sex in the City while getting dressed, I eventually managed to get us out of the house around 11:00. I am trying to lose weight, so I thought that as I have not been able to go the gym all week, I would walk to the park with Emmeline in her pram. Great idea as it is a 45 minute DOWNHILL walk – fab! I decided to take the camera with me as I really do need to start to get in the habit of taking more pictures. The problem is that whenever I get the camera out in the middle of the city, I feel more like ‘dorky tourist’ then the desired ‘cool photographer’ image that I was going for! I really must get over that! I don’t know why I am so hung up about this one!

The day was lovely and not as cold as I had imagined. Emmeline drifted off to sleep as I was walking down but unfortunately woke up 20 minutes later when I stopped in a baby shop to look at plate and bowl sets as she will be starting on solids soon. Way overpriced so we quickly left before the shop assistant could come over and spot my cheap skatedness (seriously though, 32 euro’s for the admittedly gorgeous plate, bowl, cup and spoons?).

As we got there, Emmeline very dramatically started to arch her back and wriggle around and screw up her face, ever so subtly trying to say “MOTHER, PICK ME UP NOW!”. I obliged and then had to do the whole baby in one arm whilst trying to push the pram around the gravely park floor with the other hand – not easy or cool! We stopped by the lake and I managed to get a few pictures of us together and both looking at the camera! And standing there in the sun, by the water with the swans waddling around and my daughter in my arms lovingly (or more like curiously) looking up at me, I felt blissfully happy!

We found a nice little spot on the grass and set up camp; blankets, toys, cameras, the works. I felt all mother earth and totally in control of me, my baby and my surroundings! Emmeline happily chewed away on my phone while posing for photos and then it all went downhill.

She started to get irritated so I offered her the chewy keys. That didn’t work. So I went for the backup trick – I touched the button on the keys that played the music. That kept her occupied for about 2 nano seconds. Then the crying began. I started to furiously shake her favourite toy in front of her face and put on my high pitched sing son voice. Didn’t work, the crying got worse. I went for the emergency option and whipped out a boob in the middle of the park and stuck that into her mouth hoping that she was either hungry and the boob would then settle her for a few hours, or if she was tired that she would get sleepy on the boob and I could then put her down to sleep while I played camera camera. NOPE. Not one or the either. She spat out my boob after 3 minutes and screamed even louder.

Damnit, she was tired and couldn’t fall asleep. I started to feel embarrassed, what if people could hear her wailing. I decided ‘stuff them’ I am a mother whose baby is crying. I have every right to sit there and wait for my baby to eventually stop crying without feeling guilty. Then Emmeline decided to up the volume by about 10 decibels. People started to look at me as though I was throttling her. I will admit it; I looked down at Emmeline and just went ‘seriously, you have to do this now don’t you? We were having a perfectly lovely time, and now you are trying to deafen me and half the park and ruining the whole day!’ so I packed everything back up, put her back in the pram and went walking. She kept howling, but mostly only when I would stop pushing her pram to take a photo – demanding little miss! Eventually she fell asleep and I was left with a loud ringing in my eardrums but with a huge sense of relief. Ready to start to journey home. Oh dear, 45 minutes (UPHILL) pushing Emmeline in her pram! It was hard work, but so worth it, especially when I rewarded myself with chocolate when I got home!

All in all a lovely day and thankfully my eardrums have almost returned back to normal!