Babysat again

7 hour sleep today, a new world record Mummy is celebrating (Daddy sleeps through most of the night since his leave is over with the lame excuse "I need to get up in the morning").

Anyways, today Mummy hardly needed the extra sleep as she was off for a second session of pampering & massaging. This time I was babysat by a friend who was dying to do the honours, plus she lived close to the salon. We planned it so I got fed just before Mummy left and then I wouldn't need a bottle. I was pretty well behaved considering, and Mummy's friend coped OK (except a bit of over-zealousness on the nappy-changing front - I got changed 3 times in under 3 hours!).

Speaking of nappies, we opened up my eco-nappies and discovered there were a few items missing in the pack. Mummy left a message, so we'll see if they get back to us tomorrow.

Mummy & Daddy have been having thoughts about our humble abode lately. We only have one room in this flat we are renting, but the trouble is it is bang in the centre of Madrid (Mummy & Daddy are fanatically anti-suburbia), nice, pretty good value, and had the hugest lounge you ever saw. It also has a separate dressing room which is pretty big and should do me at least for a few years. They have been looking at various other flats but none are anywhere near as nice for the same price. And despite the real estate crisis buying is still out of reach. So we look snug in here for the time being.

2 months old

Sunday seems to be Collado Mediano day, to visit Tito, Tita & the girls. This time we went with Abuelo & Abuela in Abuelo's car, so we went to their house first, stopping off at the churro place first to pick up breakfast.

Today I am two months old, so we put a couple of candles on the dessert cake. Actually it should be 1/6th of a candle, but I don't understand fractions yet. Quite a hectic weekend, even for us. Birthmonth, 2 museums, and 2 trips outside Madrid. We're all pretty knackered.

First snow

Not only am I sporting a cool double chin, but also my eyelashes have gone into overdrive. At this rate I'll overtake Primita in a month!

Another Saturday, another trip to the mountains next to Madrid. It snowed this week so this is the first weekend with snow up there. Plus the weather is pretty good. All this means it was packed, full of families with kids and sledges, which we should have predicted. As we didn't, we arrived stupidly late given the circumstances and couldn't park at the mountain pass of Cotos, so the plan of going up to the Laguna de los Pajaros had to be shelved (Daddy really wants me to get to know it, as he finds it is one of the most magical places in the whole sierra of Madrid). Next time we know we have to leave one feed earlier. Before continuing we took a few pictures of me in the snow in my super snow outfit (a present from a friend of Daddy's from Fuengi).

So on to plan B, the mountain pass of Morcuera, to walk down a lovely and completely overlooked path down to Miraflores. Actually the drive from Cotos to Morcuera is also beautiful, especially in autumn. Managed to park, had a quick feed & nappy change, and off down the Miraflores path. Daddy had done it in spring, but this was the first time Mummy or I did it. It's quite amazing, the sierra is packed with families playing in the snow or hunting for mushrooms, and this path was completely empty. All we saw was a family near the car park, a couple of hikers, and a group of cyclists. And amazingly we also bumped into a friend of Tito & Tita, who was equally amazed to see us and had a little chat.

We didn't bother to go down all the way to Miraflores as it was a bit cold and we wanted to do the next feeding back in the car. Did a bit more walking after that, down the Cuerda Larga path (which ends in Morcuera), but soon we got to a very slippery icy & steep stretch so we turned back.

Got a call on the drive back to Madrid, some friends were going to the Reina Sofia museum (it's free Saturday afternoons) to see a photo exhibition by some crazy biker/rocker. So we went straight there without stopping home. Quite an interesting bunch of black and white photos of his life and friends in 80's Madrid. Both he and many of his friends seemed to be diabetics (as were many down & outs in the 80's), and some of his girl friends got very hot and took off all their clothes. They did warn the photos might shock some people...

Had a quick drink & tapa (there is a good non-smoking bar near the museum) and said goodbye. Again it was impossible to park near out street, so off to the Milagrosa again. We are pretty lucky having it just a few blocks away.

Etruscans

My eco nappies have arrived! Well, as eco as a baby can be, they still need plenty of washing machine cycles, but they'll be greener than the disposable ones. To celebrate I spent a good deal of the day crying.

Met up with Daddy (he skipped driving lessons today) at the Caixa Forum, a free museum (La Caixa being a bank, and this is part of it's arts foundation) in the heart of Madrid's "museum triangle". Mummy & Daddy had been there before, but this was a first for me. We went to see a display of Etruscan artifacts and it was pretty impressive (especially their gold jewelry), a really nicely put-together exhibition.

Dinner was at Abuelo and Abuela's to steal Abuela's car for the weekend. The adults had a hearty meal but I'm no slouch either - I'm sporting a pretty good double chin lately, can't wait to get weighed next week. Parking at home was a nightmare, luckily we always have plan B - to park at the Milarosa clinic (where I was born) in Abuelo's parking space. Daddy had to go to reception (the gates close after 10) and they let us through no problems.

Court case

Mummy is so important and indispensable that she went into work today for a morning meeting. She took my leftover size 1 nappies (the unused ones) as one of her workmates is expecting in about a month. I stayed at home and Abuela looked after me. Had another bottle feed, though this time it didn't affect my other breast feeds later in the day. After her meeting Mummy came back (with another present for me from her office, a lovely outfit) and Abuelo stopped over for lunch.

The motorbike guy we had a crash with some time ago hasn't stopped pestering and has now said he'll go to court. Our insurance company has decided he was to blame and naturally (especially as he only had the minimum insurance, which wouldn't cover him) he begs to differ.

Oh, and Barak Obama won the elections in the US, so soon the current recession will be over, and the world will be free of war, pollution and poverty. I'd also hope for the end of endless news items on the elections but that might be asking for too much.

Shoe success

Still keeping up the good stretches of sleep, up to 6 hours sometimes. Only that last night I fell asleep at 8 in the evening, so Mummy didn't get much straight kip - normally I do the big doze after 10 or 11ish. A second attempt to get some shoes for Mummy, this time we were successful. Picked up Daddy from the bus again, but soon he was off for another double driving lesson.

Swedish furniture shop

Went to a 4-letter Swedish furniture shop this morning with Tita & Primita (and Mummy of course) as Tita wanted to buy a few things for the house. As it's virtually impossible to leave that shop empty handed we got a few things as well; some cacti (Mummy & Daddy don't seem to have very green fingers, anything more delicate than a desert scrub and they kill it), some pickled fish for Daddy, a set of coffee mugs, a lamp, a new bath curtain and an apron. As you can see, stuff we really couldn't do without. Afternoon was, as most Tuesdays, lunch at Abuelo & Abuela's.

Eyelashes

Mummy noticed about a week ago, but now it's really plain to see, I have a decent pair of eyelashes, no longer so blonde and so thin that you can hardly see them. Not as huge as Primita's, but it's a start.

Did a bit of shopping for Mummy this morning, looking for shoes down Fuencarral. Not much else. Didn't even find any decent shoes. Daddy had a two driving lessons rolled into one today so he didn't get to see me much, poor thing.

Lazy Sunday

Daddy wasn't up for going out for a walk so it was just Mummy & me initially, but in the end Daddy joined us, as he said he didn't want to vegetate the whole day. Not much else really, just stayed at home, Mummy and Daddy reading the Sunday papers. Mummy baked some nut bread while Daddy put up foam on all the balcony doors to keep out the drafts as Autumn is really upon us.

Egypt's Sunken Treasures

Another lazy morning but by 12ish we were itching to go out. Luckily we just received an SMS from one of Mummy's workmates who was down in Olavide in the kiddy park with his son and some friends, so down we went. It was cold so after a bit we went into a bar for a quick drink and tapa, and then off home as it was my turn to eat. After that we headed down to Gran Via to a restaurant that Mummy & Daddy wanted to try out but we were too late - fully booked, so they had to settle for a fastgood (as in healthy fastfood) joint next door. Daddy seemed to hate it, not so much the food but the atmosphere. It was non-smoking so I thought it was fine. Then we dropped Daddy's replacement mobile off at the shop (they finally had asked for it back), but the main mission of the day was to go down to Legazpi to view the Egypt's Sunken Treasures exhibition (on some recent discoveries just off the coast at various sunken cities, spanning from the 8th century BC to the 8th AD). It was OK in my books I guess but Mummy and Daddy have been to the Cairo museum and the British Museum and so weren't that impressed. I mean it was 11 euros, and the Prado is only 9 (and free on Sundays).

A load of Mummy and Daddy's friends descended on us for a small dinner party. Managed to keep to my sleep patterns despite the party next door. Good thing too as I didn't sleep much today.

Lately I've been rediscovering my hands and fingers for when there is no dummy around (or when it drops out). Spent a bit on them today, but in the end, nothing beats a good dummy. Also getting better at babbling.