Posts Tagged "London"

The Week According to Sam- Week Seven

Posted by cafebebemama on Jan 17, 2012 in Motherhood, Week According to Sam | 3 comments

The Cafe Bebe family started off with a BIG ADVENTURE on Monday 9 January with our first trip as a family of four to London. I was presenting at a PR Training at 11am in Soho so at 10:15 when we were still in North London, it became crystal clear that I was not going to make it if I didn’t hop out at the nearest tube stop and scuttle into London on my own and meet up with Mark and the kids later. Out I ran, at Hendon Central, and managed to make it into Soho by just before 11am. Mark was left with Ella and Sam and as I exited the car, Sam must have sensed something as he chose that moment to start shrieking. He did that for the remainder of the 45 minute drive into London. I believe Mark lost his mind somewhere around Abbey Road.

Bless him, he coped though. I was really proud of Mark’s skills as he managed to get all three of them to Oxford Street about 3 hours later and we reunited and I gave Sam a right proper cuddle. We enjoyed a leisurely break in Debenham’s cafe where Sam was put to rights and then we hoofed it up to Regent’s Park so Ella could have a little play before we returned to our car park to head home. It was a great adventure which tested us more than we would have liked but we all survived. I’m looking forward to my first adventure into London with just Sam! Anyone want to meet us?

The rest of the week was pretty tame and wound up with a visit to our local surgery to the Health Visitor for Sam’s 6 week check (even though he was 7 weeks). I was less than impressed with the Health Visitor but Sam appears to be fine for the time being. The only thing that worried me was his weight. He’s put on a good deal of weight since his last weigh-in on 13 December. He weighed 8lbs 2oz on the 13 of December and on the 13 of January he weighed 9lbs 11oz. However, on the “centile” charts, he’s dropped well below the “50th centile” where he had been on the 13th December. Of course, I know these charts are just estimates and based on what others weighed in comparison but you never want to hear that your child isn’t “measuring up”. We’ve increased Sam’s feeds as he was draining his bottles and I know I shouldn’t worry because he’s growing and happy and healthy. But still…I do.

We had a bit of a sad weekend as we had to bid farewell to Mark’s twin sister, Julie, and her family on Sunday. They head back down to Australia and the hard part about that is that we don’t know when we’ll see them again. Julie’s daughter is 17 now and she’ll be finishing her final year in secondary school which means they won’t be able to come back during the summer and may not be able to come back for Christmas next year. There’s no way we can afford 3 1/2 fares to Australia unless we win the lottery so we’ll have to settle for Skype in the meantime. I feel badly that Ella and Sam will miss out on knowing their cousins and being loved and spoiled by their Auntie Julie but one day maybe…

Here’s the week according to Sam- week seven, in pictures:

Sam’s in there! I promise! I was wearing Sam in the Baby Bjorn carrier which meant that Ella could claim back her Xplory for a ride. London’s hard work for a 3 1/2 year old! We were enjoying a play break at Regent’s Park…what a great day!

Co-sleeping is a rather wonderful thing, you know?

We spent some quality time in the old Moses Basket this week. Here Sam’s getting to know the toy bar over the Moses Basket and spending a bit of time on his own. Such a big boy!

And he even managed to drift off for a few minutes in the darn Moses Basket! A miracle!

I’m also attempting to get Sam to snuggle up with various items. Here we have Penguin. I even “wore” Penguin for 1/2 a day to impart my “smell” onto it with the thought that Sam would attach to it then. Fat chance!

Multi-tasking Daddy…carrying Sam along with the laundry. You’ve gotta love Daddy’s creativeness!

We’ll miss you Auntie Julie! Thank you for such lovely cuddles, making me smile and giving me something to stare at (your lovely hair). Come back soon!

Guess what we managed to get put together this weekend?? After 7 weeks of Sam’s life, his cot is FINALLY assembled! We are now transitioning to Sam’s “big boy” bed. Wish us luck with that one!

Ella does London without a Pushchair

Posted by cafebebemama on Oct 3, 2011 in Little Miss Adventures, Motherhood, Travelling Adventures | 8 comments

On Saturday, the Cafe Bebe Family braved ridiculously unseasonable temps (29 degrees in Peterborough while we were waiting for our train) to venture down to London for an over-night excursion. We were going to be attending a blogger event for the Lego-Duplo Experts (of which we are a part) at Westfield Shopping Centre in West London on Sunday. Lego-Duplo was kind enough to put us up for the night in London which we thoroughly enjoyed (thank you Lego-Duplo).

As we would be hoofing it around and about London on Saturday and Sunday, we were trying to keep luggage and accessories to a minimum thanks to my 30 weeks pregnant state and the inferno temperatures. Plus as the London Underground on the weekend can be a nightmare at best, we thought it best to forgo the use of a pushchair for Ella for the first time. In fairness, we don’t use the pushchair very much at all for her anymore. With this independence, Ella has actually become a better listener and generally is more enjoyable whilst out and about. Amazing how that happens! But, I’ve never attempted LONDON sans pushchair. This would be the ultimate test. Train, tube, walking…would it work?

In fact, it worked FAMOUSLY! Ella was OUTSTANDING! Negotiating “hes-ca-lators”, crowds of people, tube platforms and crowded carriages, Ella didn’t miss a beat. And there was virtually no shouting on our behalf! We allowed her a bit of freedom to trot along at her pace without holding hands and she responded by staying close and following directions. I was so very proud of her.

Ella was mostly interested in standing on the tube carriages. She didn’t want to sit next to Mummy, no way! She wanted to stand and hold onto the poles like Daddy. So we let her. And she was fine! Granted, even though it was a weekend, the Tube cars weren’t too crowded so we could afford her this bit of freedom. She was an expert at “minding the gap” by the end of our journey and only needed to be carried (by Daddy mind you) on a handful of occasions. I really was impressed with what Ella was capable of given a bit of freedom and responsibility. Ella was particularly keen to have a “ticket” to go through the barriers on the entrances and exits to the various Tube Stations on the lines. We gave Ella one of the train tickets to use but wouldn’t it be great if there was a “mini-Oyster card” for the littlies?? If any Londoners can tell me if this exists, I WANT ONE!

We have discovered, after a very positive experience in London this weekend that Ella is more than capable of being trusted to be on the Tube and other public transport in and around London. This gives me a lot of confidence for any future ventures (as long as there isn’t a lot of walking on either end of Tube journeys!) and shows me how very much our little miss is growing up! Sniff, I’m one proud Mama, that’s for sure. Now, when can we go back to London?? That might not be until Bebe makes an appearance but we’ll be much more confident about any future excursions, that’s for sure. How about you? Do you let your children negotiate the Tube and other public transport in and around London? Have you experienced any NIGHTMARE situations that have made a big impact on your decisions?

(After all of that independence, within about 10 minutes of sitting on the train for our return journey home on Sunday afternoon, Ella was zonked out on my lap! Independence has its benefits…for parents!)

Saturday is Caption Day #2

Posted by cafebebemama on Sep 24, 2011 in Blogging, Saturday is Caption Day | 20 comments

Saturday is Caption Day at Mammasaurus Blog…what say you about this one?

The Week that Was

Posted by cafebebemama on Feb 19, 2011 in Little Miss Adventures, Motherhood | 4 comments

This week was a very good week indeed! It began with the delivery of my new and extremely gorgeous laptop. You can see how pleased I am to welcome it into my household as I am framed in the screen as well! I have been tappity tap tapping on it all week in my glorious, sunshine-filled (when the sun is shining) kitchen. My life is ever so much more productive now. Sigh…

Monday was also Valentine’s Day and although Hubby does not believe in acknowledging it by caving into consumer pressure, Little Miss and I believe it it. We made some really squidgy gluten-free brownies. The only problem was the silicon heart-shaped pan that we purchased to bake them in. Silicon…shouldn’t need greasing or parchment paper right? WRONG! The heart-shaped gluten-free brownies stayed in the heart-shaped silicon pan and we scraped out individual slices. Pooh to silicon pans but YAY for gluten-free brownies!

Tuesday was a bit of a cranky day for some reason. Maybe it was the weather? Maybe it was the stress of attending our regular playgroup and trying to keep Little Miss from being a bossy boots? Maybe it was just a cranky day! But Little Miss made me laugh when she put her Peppa Pig sunglasses on her Red Ted and pulled out the Fisher-Price Kiddie Camera (that is rubbish, I might add) and staged her own photo shoot. Never mind that the camera is out of battery power, she was in photography mode. My day became slightly less cranky after that.

Wednesday was decidedly better as my friend Sabina came for the morning with her gorgeous son, and my future godson. Our daughters are the best of friends (and sometimes the worst of enemies) and they go to our village nursery together. Little Miss goes on Mondays on her own, Little Bean goes on Wednesdays on her own and they both go together on Thursdays. So while Little Bean was at nursery on Wednesday, Sabina helped me colour my hair and have a good old natter while Little Miss helped entertain Beanie Boy. We pulled out our Silver Cross Doodle high chair to see how it worked for Beanie Boy and found, quite happily, that it was perfect for him! At 5 months it’s the ideal high chair as it sits him up perfectly. They went home with a new high chair and I had some more space in my lounge and a nice new colour on my hair!

On Thursday I travelled into London for a blogging event. Being the dork that I am I decided to take a self-portait on the train. Not half bad and I had a great day in London, as ever. When I arrived back in Peterborough at 4:15 I was greeted by Hubby and Little Miss in the cafe. They had spent the afternoon together as Hubby took a half-day to be with his girl. Win-win for everyone.

Friday was filled with a lot of work for Mummy and play for Little Miss. I discovered that those last molars that should be coming in are, in fact, coming in. Not only is one molar coming in but THREE molars are coming in. The Calpol came out on Friday and made the day bearable. Ice cream and Daddy’s cuddles also made the day entirely more bearable as well.

It’s been a very good week. How about you?

Cafe Bebe’s Day Out in London

Posted by cafebebemama on Nov 21, 2010 in Motherhood, Travelling Adventures | 4 comments

It started with a dash to the Peterborough Train Station and a slightly crowded train journey to London. Said train ride was made infinitely better thanks to a Caramel Hot Chocolate from the machine that is Starbucks. And a bit of Twitter to make the backward facing journey decidedly more enjoyable.

If you’ll remember back to my Mother & Baby Awards post, I was off to London to attend what I anticipated to be a rather fab evening. In addition to the pish-posh party, I was meeting friends from Fleishman-Hillard for lunch and a client who I am working with on a delightful (if I do say so myself) blog and social media campaign.

I enjoyed a scrummy mussels & frites lunch at Belgos, travelled ALL THE WAY to Hammersmith/Fulham Palace Road and had a BUS RIDE for only the second time in my life! You see, I rarely take the bus in London. I rely on Tube transport most of the time and my own two feet the rest of the time. But I was time constrained so I decided to hop on the 220 bus for a wee ride down Fulham Palace Road. Of course I rode on the top deck. Here was my view:

Exciting stuff no? After a great meeting with my client and a bit of getting turned around on unfamiliar Tube lines, I managed to get myself to my hotel for the evening. I was booked into the Thistle Hyde Park which was the perfect location- adjacent to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and only about a 15 minute walk down from Marble Arch and the start of Oxford Street. Not that I got to enjoy Oxford Street as I only had about 45 minutes to catch my breath, bathe & change in time for the taxi ride to the Mother & Baby Awards.

I was attending the Mother & Baby Awards as a guest of Fleishman-Hillard, Pampers and UNICEF which was exceptionally generous. I must say that after 18 years of putting on an awards “do”, Mother & Baby really know how to throw a party! There were about 50 tables of 8-10 people on each table (you do the maths), funky (rather too loud, to be honest) pop music, loads of wine & champers, a quite yummy dinner and lovely (if somewhat shouted) conversation with my table mates. We were entertained by Jason Manford (oh dear, the scandal) and watch over 20 categories of every baby product known to man and mum win awards. It was a very enjoyable evening even if I did miss my hubby and Little Miss. I even managed to stay up until after 1am! What a night!

I managed to lift my head from the pillow at about 7:15am which figures. The one time where I could have an uninterrupted lie-in in a VERY dark room, I am awake (with a slight headache) from 7:15! I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast and great conversation with my fellow honoured blogger Rosie and a delightful midwife called Nicky who had accompanied Rosie on her journey to Cameroon this past summer. The sun was shining and there was nary a cloud in the sky so I enjoyed a bit of London sunshine and fresh air before schleping back across London to Kings Cross and back home again. When I arrived back in Peterborough, I was greeted by 2 Pudsey Bears who were collecting money for Friday night’s Children in Need appeal. I’m not sure that Pudsey should have been doing this though…

Really Pudsey?

All in all I spent 28 hours away from my family (yes, I counted) but I had a rather fantastic 28 hours with fun, great work and breathing space rolled into one. Cafe Bebe’s day out in London was pretty darn good I have to say.