hello ... (echo) hello ... hello ...

It's been so long I feel a little shy, a little awkward. How do I do this blog thing again?

Lordy what is it about August? I may not be first trimester pregnant this time but besides that there seem to be lots of parallels.
I've been working two jobs - two extremely low-key part-time jobs it has to be said but two jobs none-the-less. My usual extremely low-key part-time job and then an additional temporary low-key part-time job just for a few weeks.
Then, obviously, we've all been sick. Again. This time Stella added a nasty cough to the family flu.
Ergo we had no sleep.
And no sense of humour.
And no time whatsoever to think or write.

Or bake birthday cupcakes for my blog - 2 years old this month!

But some things I have been doing are ...

• trying to finally hang some family photos, a bit of a bitch when you live in a 100 yr old house where the walls are either so soft you can push a nail in with your finger (Obelix-style), or so hard you break and bend 3 nails, gouge out a massive chip of plaster and then discover you'd started in the wrong place anyway ...
• planning our September holidays! Just a week out of town but we've got some beautiful places lined up. Part of the planning is ways and means to keep 1 x 3 yr old and 1 x then-6 month old occupied in the car ...
• shaking off dependency on the corrupt (and ugly) kiddies clothing industry and persuading my Mum to dust off her sewing machine and start sewing for her grand-daughters (ooo they're going to look so cuuuuute!)
• making a photo album called 'Six Months of Stella' for my English Granny which means finally sorting and filing and printing a grazillion photos from the last few months
• adjusting to my oldest getting more and more self-sufficient, she's started playing convoluted and secret imaginary games which involve long whispered dialogues and bizarre props and, more excitingly, don't involve my participation
• adjusting to my youngest no longer being happy to recline in her bendy chair, or hang around strapped to me, the child wants to roll and squirm and move and try to sit - all of which definitely require my participation
• making peace with fact that she's starting to choose porridge over me, and in fact has expressed this desire for real food in quite a vocal and earnest manner (was that her first tantrum?)
•  and finally, finally, starting to get some sleep. Which ironically has left me (almost) as wiped out as no sleep did but the long-term effects are much, much better!

I hope to be back here a whole lot more soon. I miss my blog. Happy birthday old girl.