Birthday + Christmas = STRESS!!

It has been a long stressful week. My mom was meant to get here early in the morning on Saturday the 20th but because of severe snow storms in Canada and the States was delayed 24 hours in Chicago and finally made it on Sunday morning. She was pretty tired so we spent most of Sunday at home playing with Annie and napping!

Monday the 22nd was Annie's birthday and it was a wonderful day. I was busy all day long getting everything ready and was on my feet most of the day, but I would do it all over again for my baby girl. She is a year old and was spoiled rotten. We had a big party for her and she took great joy in demolishing her cake and eating every inch of icing off of it. She was awake until almost 10:30 at night (sooo close to her exact birthday -10:37pm) and crashed out when we put her to bed.

I had to work Tuesday so Andy, Annie and Nana hung out all day and played. We had our first mad dash to A&E too (ER for those of you over the pond). Just before bedtime we noticed a rash on her neck and assumed she was too hot so we stripped her off to just one layer. We then noticed the rash was down her back and tummy too. We decided to get her in the bath to try and cool her down but within 10 minutes it had spread up on to her face and down on her legs. She was scratching like crazy and Mummy went in to panic-mode! My first thought was allergies (my mom was thinking measles - there has been a recent outbreak in my area). So Andy and I bundled her up, loaded her in the car and drove to the hospital, by which time her face was covered in red blotches. We only had to wait about 20 minutes and were sent straight in. The doctor checked her over thoroughly and decided that it wasn't an allergic reaction or measles. It was something called Nettle Rash which can be caused by about a million different things. She had some new pyjamas from my mom which she slept in Monday night and was in all day Tuesday. I was naughty and didn't wash them before putting her in them (bad Mummy!) and I think it was the perfumes and starches in the material that caused the reaction. But there's no way to know for certain what caused it. She was given some medicine and was absolutely fine the next morning (phew!). It was the first time she has ever been sick (besides the 1 cold she had in September) and I was a mess! hehe...I'm such a softie when it comes to my girl.

Christmas Eve was spent at home. Annie had to have her next round of immunisations in the morning but they didn't seem to affect her and she spent most of the day playing and laughing with Nana and Nanny while Andy and I snuck out to have some time to ourselves.

Christmas Day started out absolutely lovely. We opened presents and had french toast. Annie didn't like the french toast but LOVED the Canadian maple syrup! Then we went to the cemetry to lay a wreath for Andy's dad and on to Rachel's for Christmas lunch. We spent the afternoon with Rach and her sister and then went home to meet up with Andy's Nan and Mum. As usual it ended up in an argument (I swear the women in Andy's family cannot spend more than 10 minutes in a room together without arguing). They were shouting and bitching at each other in front of Annie and I was tired of dealing with it. I shouted back at them that I was tired of this happening everytime we all got together and if they couldn't stop arguing they could both leave. Nan went off in a huff after calling me a "dirty liar" and Sue eventually left after I refused to speak to her. Everything is fine with Sue now, but Nan has still not spoken to either of us and I have a feeling it may be a very long time before we see her again. She comes round every Tuesday to visit with Annie and she didn't come today, so I am guessing she is still angry. That is fine. I know the way I spoke to her was wrong, but I won't apologise for what I said. I will not have Annie raised around arguing. Simple as that.

My mom left early in the morning on Friday and we then went on to Andy's Uncle Ian and Aunt Trish's house north of Manchester. We spent the day visiting with them and then stayed the night. The heating was turned off before bed and it was incredibly cold in the room. Annie woke up at 2am screaming and was absolutely freezing. I ended up bringing her into bed with me while Andy slept sitting up to keep Annie from rolling out of bed. We all dozed off and on but it was nearly 6am before Annie finally settled again. We were exhausted. We then hit major traffic heading home and an hour and half drive turned in to over 4 hours!

Now we are just trying to get Annie back on schedule and caught up on all the sleep she has missed in the last week. It was nice having my mom here for Christmas and Annie's birthday, even if it was just a quick visit. We've booked our tickets to Canada for 11 - 24th February. I'm not sure how much of a holiday it will be as we have loads of paperwork to get sorted for Andy in readiness for our permanent move over there, but hopefully we'll find some time to just relax.

I think I've blathered on for long enough. That's it for now!

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

Bits and Bobs...

Again, I have neglected this blog. But if you have been reading long enough you would know by now than I am bone idle when it comes to things like this. :)

We have another buyer on the flat. He came to view last week and put an offer in later in the afternoon. It was considerably less than our original asking price but not too far off our current price. So I guess that is good. The sale price doesn't allow us to go back to Canada straight away. But our buyer is a landlord and has agreed to give us first refusal when it comes to renting it. So it looks like the deal with close/complete at some point in January, but we will continue living in it as tenants rather than owners. It will allow us to save until we are able to move to Canada. The earliest we'll be able to get back will be July (6 month tenancy agreements) but I think realistically it will probably be around September or October. It's a little longer than we were hoping, but at least Canada is still on the cards.

My beautiful Annie-bean will celebrate her first birthday on Monday and I can't believe it. While I love how independent and social she has become, I sometimes miss my tiny little baby. She is so much fun to be around now I laugh so many times a day as she learns how to make silly faces or she tests me to see how far she can push. She has perfected her "innocent angel" face and turns it on when she is caught doing something naughty. Her current favourite thing to do is to take the pebbles out of the pot plant and stick them in her mouth (they are too big for her to swallow, but still - naughty). It makes me howl with laughter how she looks at me with her innocent angel face when I tell her no and the entire time is still slowly reaching towards the plant. I think I may have to leave the discipline to Andy as I crumble when she turns those big eyes on me. :)

We have planned a party for Annie for Monday night and I am starting to wonder how we are going to cram 20 people into our little flat. It's only for an hour or two so we'll manage. Luckily most of them are smokers so they'll probably be a handful of people outside at any given time. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. :)

My mom is coming over for Christmas this year and should (current snow storm permitting) arrive tomorrow morning. It'll be nice to have her here for Christmas and for Annie's first birthday, especially as I can put her to work on Monday getting ready for the party! It's just a quick visit, but it's long enough to squeeze in a birthday party and Christmas morning.

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

A New Start

I had a call from my doctor yesterday. About a week ago I had routine blood work done to test my blood glucose, hormone and cholesterol levels. My blood glucose and hormone levels are fine, but my cholesterol level is at 7.8mmg which is too close to being classed as VERY high cholesterol. I have a history of heart disease in my family and I need to sort myself out. I have put on a lot of weight since I had Annie and it's time to grow up and start taking care of myself....both for me and for my family. Andy needs to grow old with his wife and Anya needs her mummy to always be there for her. Unless I cut out all the crap food and start taking care of myself that isn't going to happen.

So I'm joining a gym that is close to work and offers a 30 minute circuit. It is just round the corner from work, so I have no excuse not to go. I also have to sort out my diet and start eating more fruit and veg and drinking more water. I'll get myself in shape...if only for my baby girl and my hubby.

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

House Sale Has Fallen Through

Yep, we're right back to square one. We went in to our solicitor to sign contracts on Wednesday and he rang our buyer's solicitor while we were there. Her solicitor said that there was going to be a delay as our buyer's mother is ill and she was unable to make any decisions then. We still signed everything but left the office confused and worried about how long the delay was going to be. Then our estate agents rang yesterday to tell us that our buyer had withdrawn as she wanted to remain at her parent's house to take care of her dad. We were absolutely gutted. I can't believe after all this time she has withdrawn. Our lives are back on hold again now.

It is so frustrating living in limbo like this and not knowing what is happening and when or if we'll get back to Canada. I would love to be in Canada, but for me, Canada is not the issue. This move represented a new start for Andy, Anya and me, both as a family and financially. But as that is no longer an option right now, plans have had to change. We are still selling, but we are going to sell it to a Homebuyer's Association. They will give us well below market value but it should be enough to pay off the mortgage. Unfortunately it won't be enough to pay off the loan and the other debts we have built over the years. So after we sell we are going to have to move into rented for 6 months or more to try to save some money. Hopefully at the end of that time we will be able to reduce our loan amount significantly, if not entirely and will then move back to Canada, possibly taking a small debt with us.

Andy will have to fly to Canada in March in order to validate his visa and apply for his permanent resident status. I don't know whether it will be 2 weeks or a month but it is our only option at the moment.

So everything is still on hold for a couple of months, but we'll make the best of it. We'll sell while we still can before the market completely bottoms out and then will just wait in rented until we are able to clear debts and emigrate. Not the ideal solution, but the only one available to us at the moment.

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

Short Break in the Lakes

Andy, Anya and I spent three days in the Lake District this past week and it was absolutely beautiful. It was so nice to have time with my family without thinking about work, or the move or anything else like that. It rained quite a bit while we were there, but it didn't really cause too many problems. It didn't really start raining hard until we were on the M6 on the way home (I white-knuckled it all the way home).

We spent some time in Kendall and Keswick as well as Windermere and Bowness-on-Windermere. We also went to Hill Top Farm which was Beatrix Potter's home and where she wrote most of her books. I absolutely adore Beatrix Potter and it was so nice to visit her home and gardens and see where she got the ideas for her books.

Annie was as good as gold while we were away too. She was sleep deprived but still stayed fairly happy the entire time. She also was measured and fitted for her first shoes at Clarks. They are absolutely adorable and they keep her socks on too!!

I've put all my pictures up on Facebook. Click the link on the right to view all of them.

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

Finally!!! We're Canada Bound!

Well we finally negotiated a sale on our flat today! We are so excited! It was a very long wait, but finally we are on our way. The selling process takes a little longer over here (usually 6 weeks) but this means we will be back in Canada in time for Christmas and well before Andy's visa expires. We are aiming for completion by the end of October. We will then stay with a friend for a couple of weeks so we can save some extra money and will have time to close our bank accounts and get money transferred back to our Canadian account. We will probably be back around the 24th or 25th of November...just two months away! I can't wait!

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

RIP Alan Cashmore

Our family suffered a loss last week. On Wednesday 13 August 2008 my father-in-law passed away at Douglas McMillan hospice. He was diagnosed with lung cancer less than a month ago and, even though we were told to expect the best, he was unable to fight it. The funeral will hopefully be some time this week although we still don't have any formal arrangements made. It came as a complete shock and none of us were ready for it. He was only 61 years old, he should have had years left...not weeks.

This is our only picture of Anya and her grand-dad. It was taken just a few days before he passed away.

Wherever he is, I hope he is at peace. You will be missed Alan.


Lots of love
Summer
xXx

Well Slap My Hands....

I have been a very very naughty blogger. It has been AGES since I was on here last. Oops...so sorry.

So much has happened since I last posted. The biggest news is that we are now Canada-bound. Andy's immigration was approved at the end of June and we received his visa a few weeks ago! We are so excited. So we have been extremely busy for the last few weeks trying to get our flat ready to go on the market. It has been a really tiring month, but we are finally there. As of yesterday, our place is up for sale...and we already have a viewing booked for this coming Saturday! I can't believe how quickly that happened. The flat looks absolutely beautiful though...almost sad to let it go. I know that our main priority is to make sure we get the best price for it that we can, but a part of me would really like to see it go to someone who is going to love it as much as we have. It would be nice to have a young couple in here, starting their family together and filling our home with as much love as we have tried to fill it with. I have absolutely loved being here - it's the first place in a very very long time that has felt like home to me I will be sad to leave.

My maternity leave has come to an end as well. I started back to work at the beginning of July and, although I miss Annie while I'm away, I feel so much more like myself again since going back. I'm only part-time. I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all day while Andy is home with Annie (works well for us...no childcare fees!) As much as I adore my little girl, I needed some adult time away from constantly being in "Mommy mode". She is such a little sweetie. She changes every day and I love watching her laugh and giggle at the smallest things (especially the cats). As much as I like my time away, I almost speed home at the end of every day just to see her.

We've also had some bad news recently too. My father-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer last week and we spent most of last week at the hospital visiting with him while he waited for test results. The results came in on Friday and although it's cancer, they believe he'll respond well to treatment and have given him a high chance of survival. He's at home now waiting for the first round of chemo which should start in a couple weeks. Fingers crossed, he'll make a quick recovery.

I think that's it for now! I promise it won't be 2 months before I update this again!

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

Canadian Invasion...

Well we're back from Canada and we had a great time. Annie is an absolutely amazing flyer and made it virtually stress-free for me. It was great! We spent time with Nana and Papa, Grandpa, Uncle Jeff and Kate as well as Sherrie, Nick and Jorja. It was so much fun hanging out with Sherrie and Jorja, although I still have trouble believing that we are both mums. When I think of the two of us, I still see us as were were 10+ years ago.

It was nice to hang out with my mom and Annie on Mother's Day and especially nice to have time to shower!! :) I also got to meet my brother's girlfriend Kate and she is brilliant! After meeting her, I understand completely why Jeffy is so happy. Hopefully next time we're over, we'll get to spend a little more time together but this was just a quick visit.

I've put all our pictures up. The link is on the right.

Lots of love
Summer
xXx

One Step Closer...

I cannot believe it! It was just 5 weeks ago when we sent off our immigration forms and already things are moving! I received a letter yesterday confirming that I have been approved as Andy's sponsor and that his application for permanent residence has now been forwarded to the Canadian High Commission for processing. I'm amazed how quickly the decision was made. If I'm completely honest, I wasn't worried about Andy being granted a permanent residency visa - I was more concerned about being approved as his sponsor. I am so relieved that hurdle has been overcome. I haven't really allowed myself to get too excited about moving back to Canada just in case we weren't successful. But I can't help it now...I'm excited! I can't wait to get back there so Andy, Anya and I can have a fresh start. I'm still not going to plan anything though...best not get ahead of ourselves. But fingers crossed, we're on our way.

Anya hit a milestone of her own this weekend. Last Tuesday she turned 4 months old and Friday morning she had her first taste of baby cereal and loved it! She has half a bottle when she gets up, followed by cereal and then the rest of her bottle. And she is gobbling it up! My little piggy. She'll only have baby cereal until we get back from Canada and then I'll start introducing her to fruit and vegetables as long as she continues to do well on the cereal. She's changing so much now and is quickly becoming more like a little girl and less like a baby and I'm not entirely sure whether or not I like that. I hate that she's getting so big so quickly, but I love how social she now is. She laughs and chats to me all day long and it makes me smile every time she squeals at me. I am tired and worn out for the bulk of every day and I have never looked worse in my life, but I AM so happy with my little family and wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Lots of love
Summer
xXx