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Well that's all of my Christmas shopping done, delivered and dusted - but not quite all wrapped :- - boo :-(. I'm just planning my Christmas day menu - light lunch for 6 (including Luca) and a main Christmas Dinner for the 3 of us. I'm really not a natural in the kitchen so I'm glad that this year I'm getting to practice cooking without having guests - Gary and Luca are my gorgeous fluffy guinea pigs - complain if they dare!!!!!;-). To be honest Markies will have a big stake in the dinner!!! (Good old M & S :-))

Now I did actually take 2 video's of Luca the other day, just as he woke up after his nap – he was bouncing in his cot-bed which was ultra cute - however, much to my annoyance I can't find them on the camera :- A blog is always more interesting if you have an up to date photo or video (I apologise for obviously mucking this up!!).
This is Luca eating his macaroni cheese this evening - he's had a busy day at Granny Jo's with Gary and Isis too.

This year is great as I've no idea what Gary's getting me and I've managed to keep my trap buttoned regarding his present - so we'll both have some nice surprises (hopefully!!!).

Luca and I went to Hoodles on Wednesday - Hoodles is a kid’s play barn with a great soft play area, all indoors. The facilities are great and they do fancy coffees and tasty sandwiches, soups and paninis - so it's all good. Luca was really shy and clingy at first but once he got going he was fine - I think I'm going to start taking him to these kind of places more regularly ... see if I can get rid of this "shy" phase he seems to be going through.

My Wednesday's off aren't really "off" as such, because this is the day that Luca's not a nursery and I cook, clean and tidy up too whilst entertaining, feeding and cleaning a toddler (I don't find this easy - I really don't know how people cope with more than one at a time ..... Jo you are a goddess in my eyes!). One day hopefully we'll be able to afford to have Luca in nursery on Wednesdays then I can really have a proper day off with some 'me' time as well as all the cooking, cleaning and chores. He really does love his nursery so I don't feel guilty at all about him being there - in fact, he rarely wants to leave the nursery when I come to pick him up in the evenings - so far I only have 2 victories over the nursery .. .1) he eats fruit at home (at least 2 portions per day) and ... 2) he sleeps for at least 2hrs after lunch :-)

Oh and Ian - for you to know my middle name Gary would have to marry me and I doubt that's going to happen as he's just not the marrying type :-) ... so you'll just have to keep guessing. Without going into too much detail ... my middle name has much to answer for ... in fact I think it's the main reason why myself and Gary got back together again!!!

Today I’ve had to order a new car seat for Luca as the strap/harness on our current one keeps getting jammed – Gary can normally force it to work but I can’t and I’m worried about going out with Luca on my own and on the return leg of my trip I become stranded because of the darn harness. The seat’s done well though, as it was a hand me down from my sister … so no complaints there. However, the new one is pretty pricey as it’s an Isofix model – this means it’s extra safe and secure due to the fact that it’s actually anchored to some special Isofix fittings within my car's back seats, rather than the seat belt which is a bit hit or miss really – not the most secure and really flipping difficult to put in and out of the car. I got it online - £35 cheaper than going to get the same one from Halfords – it should arrive on Tuesday ……. Tuesday’s going to be a very busy day hey Jo - ;-)*?

Reading Gary's blog from a few days ago .... his speciality meal was frozen Yorkshire puddings and mayonnaise (I kid you not!!!) - how the hell could I resist him?/*........ but his best and most memorable meal was one he cooked on my birthday (about 6 years ago now) - it was under- cooked pork chops served on un-drained slices of boiled potato and not forgetting coleslaw on top of the chops :-) .... how spoilt was I?:-)* .... and just look at us today :-)