But I Don't Want to be a Tin Can Tied to the Bumper of a Wedding Limousine

Last weekend the family M (and Grandmother B) went off to the wedding of my best friend P and his beautiful bride J. Daddy was an usher and had to wear a penguin suit, even Mummy managed to scrub up ok, and Olivia was in her party finest with a pretty dress and black patent shoes. She looked like a little angel.

This is what happens when you party too hard :)

Voice in the Crowd

In a rare moment of cheeky childlessness Mummy and Daddy M prevailed upon the good will and baby sitting powers of both sets of parents in order to go and see Marillion 3 times (or in fact 4 in the case of Daddy M) last week. I like to think that by spending a few evenings away listening to quality music we will return as better parents :) Olivia took the whole thing very well, although I've seen her eyeing up the phone a few times and I'm sure she is going to wait till my back is turned and then phone social services.

For those of you not familiar with the great wonders of Marillion check this and this out.

Today! I Saw Music in the Sky

The day we got back from my Mum's after our holiday we had been invited to a 30th birthday party of the daughter of close friend of my in-laws. They had very kindly invited all three of the boys and us WAGS. We were in that difficult position of trying to establish whether it was appropriate to take mini-me with us. A quick email confirmed that Olivia was free to join us. Normally under such circumstances Olivia would have gone off to spend some quality time with Nana and Grandad, but they were of course invited to the do. Although a friend of mine had volunteered to take Olivia, she has a baby a few weeks older so has her hands more than full , so we were pleased to be able to take Olivia with us.

The party was held in a local private members club where the father of the birthday girl and my father-in-law are regulars. Olivia had a new (well new to her - three quid on Ebay) party dress on and charmed everyone. She will get quit big headed as she was passed around and fussed over.

We had thought that we would go along for politeness sake and have to leave at about 9 to take Olivia home to put her to bed but in reality she was kind enough to give us a late pass. Despite a pretty loud R&B disco she actually went to sleep in her buggy. As she slept soundly Mummy and Daddy had an extra glass or two before wrapping her up warm in a snuggly blanket and wheeling her home in her buggy. What a good girl!!!

A House Full of Music

The week before we went on holiday we took Olivia along to the first big get together of our music friends since she was born. As we are all spread over the country and cannot always see each other all together these meeting are always very much looked forward to. Many of our friends had not yet had an opportunity to meet Olivia so we were hoping that she would be on her best behaviour and would charm them all.

Before we had Olivia we always promised ourselves and our friends that we wouldn't change just because we had a baby. Having a baby was a big decision as it does inevitably mean there has to be changes to your lifestyle. Our next luxury exotic holiday is probably some way off but the joy of having Olivia in our lives more than makes up for it. I think that while there have to be some changes it is perfectly possible to continue to be yourselves and have a social life.

The events was an afternoon into evening house party at the house of my best friend P_ and his fiance. Olivia was a little angel. She was indeed on her best behaviour and didn't scream or puke or leak poo out of the legs of her nappy or any of the other comedic things she does to entertain Mummy and Daddy. She even managed a party trick, which was to wait till Daddy was flying her around above his head like a plane and then dribble right in his open mouth, to the great amusement of all (except perhaps Daddy :) She is still at the age where she doesn't care who is holding her as long as someone is and so she was happily passed around the assembled guests for cuddles and charmed everyone with her cuteness and smiles. As her normal schedule was disrupted she did wake up a few times during the evening but settled back down and slept in her travel cot in an upstairs room while the grown-ups ran a sweepstake on who would win the Eurovision Song Contest and played air guitar .

I hope that the only people inconvenienced by having her there were me and F_. My worry with events like this is that people that don't want to have kids will be congratulating themselves on a wise choice while people who did want kids will be running for the hills!!!! We had great fun and we hope everyone else did. We are looking forward to our next get together while is scheduled for the summer.

Have You Ever Met a Lady, Screaming Angst Potential?

This weekend while F_ was playing music with his band me and Olivia went off to spend time with some of the band WAGs, including my best friend L. Olivia was on top form and behaved very well. When spending time with the child free, especially if they intend to have children at some point, it is always good if she is well behaved as I am aware of not wanting to either put people off or have them patting themselves on the back for not having their own screaming bundle of joy :) We had a civilised lunch, during which Olivia slept soundly in her buggy and she then spent the afternoon playing to her admiring audience and napping in her 'wobble chair' (our name for her vibrating seat). In the evening once she was safely tucked into her moses backet the grown ups nibbled on Marks and Spencer food for the lazy and watched 'The Devil Wears Prada' while enjoying a 'medicinal' glass of wine. It was nice to know that life can continue very much as it ever was even now we have a child.

Here is Miss Olivia enjoying her time at nice Auntie L_'s house.

Having been on such good form all weekend she has decided to be in a big grump now she is home and is having a bit of a grizzle at the moment.