No big news yet, another happy weekend at the Challis-Palace. On Saturday we popped back to Ikea to get some photo frames and found a cat mask too, so Fidget can really be either a cat or a bear at Halloween. We picked up a new digibox with hard disk recorder, which is very exciting so there is no chance now I will miss any strictly!!! On Sunday our neighbours came round for Sunday lunch, M cooked a chicken with roast veg, mash, red cabbage, runner beans and gravy (though the gravy was tasty, he is intending to work on the look of the gravy next time as lumpy wasn't the word!!). It was really tasty and lovely to have our neighbours round with their two girls I and Y. Fidget plays really nicely with them. I and Y like dressing up, so in the morning I had toured round the house pulling together some bits and pieces that would interest them all, including hats, bags, a tiara, masks, and some princess dresses with potential. During this process I pulled out a dress that M had brought Fidget back from China, she wanted it on and it looked lovely on her...

On Monday, M was off work again (still on his 4 day week), we didn't get up to much, but did pick the rest of the chillies that I had grown this year to pickle them.

I am fairly proud of the haul...

During the afternoon, M managed to get some video of Fidget singing...

After getting her t-shirt damp, Fidget didn't waste a chance to get her Chinese princess dress back on...

End of a really nice long weekend. I am on maternity leave now, so today M was off work (he is staying 4 days for a short while), so it has been really nice.


Just to catch up, I had my hair cut recently and haven't posted any pictures, so here...

I am very pleased with it, was keen to get my hair tidied up before the wee-wa-wa arrives. Been doing lots of other preparation including getting a Halloween costume ready for Fidget. Hopefully we'll be able to make N's Halloween party, and if we do Fidget will be dressed as a cat, or maybe it is a bear?! I'll leave you to decide!

she thought it was funny anyway! On Saturday morning we got ready and went out to Ikea, I had hoped to get a rug for the back, but the colour wasn't right. But we did pick up the mask and ears (the cape is from the dressing up box), plus a fluffy mouse, a soft toy for wa-wa and a few other bits.

(BTW, the stripey t-shirt she is wearing she always refers to as belonging to Uncle A - she digs his style!)

At mothercare we got Fidget a new swimsuit, which is just soooo pretty and some new wellies. M worked hard in the garden for the rest of the day. He also used the leftover batter from the breakfast pancakes to make us toad in the hole for lunch, which was yummy.

He also fixed our hot water pump, so hurray we have hot water again!! Fidget got her tools out to see if she could help.

Whilst putting some stuff into the loft and getting down some baby stuff, we found a space hopper which M cleaned up, it is still a bit big for Fidget but she likes the idea!

Sunday was spent out in the garden also, M dug up all the potatoes and onions, he weeded the whole garden and we have now got most of the beds covered with weed membrane so we wont need to worry about it over the winter. I did my best to help by preparing the onions for storage, sorting out the potatoes and storing the garlic. M made us a nice lunch to all eat together, in the evening he cooked a tonne of mashed potato (ones that wouldn't store) so we can freeze it. He was pretty worn out by the end of the weekend but I really do appreciate it, and I think Fidget enjoyed running around helping him out with his various jobs.

Thanks M, you are a superstar.

As I said, today is M's usual non working day and I was at home too. We went to the supermarket first thing and then onto the swimming pool, unfortunately we were a bit late and couldn't get into to pool when we arrived as lessons were about to start. So we had lunch there which was really nice, Fidget played in the play area and then Fidget and M went in for a swim (my ear infection keeping me on the sidelines).

Fidget was poooped out so fell asleep on the way home. Later in the afternoon when she woke up we all made some biscuits in preparation for tomorrow's mummie's afternoon...

there was just time to try them out before bedtime and we all agreed they were super...

TeamChallis has ended our roaming for the summer, we are now confined to Bristol to await the arrival of the new team member. So this weekend we were at home. First thing on Saturday we nipped out to the shops to get Fidget some new shoes. She has the same high instep as her Daddy and her Mummy's big feet as she is now a size 7. The high instep means that all the pretty mary-janes cause her feet to bulge out, and she couldn't get her feet into boots, so we were left with only 1 type of shoe that is a pretty toxic shade of pink, so we went for that, but somewhat reluctantly. Fidget didn't seem to mind and was tearing around the shop. We bought a few other things that I need for my hospital bag etc. then went back home.


M got stuck-in in the garden, our aim this weekend was to harvest as much as possible, then get beds weeded and covered up so we don't need to worry about them over the winter. Fidget gave a hand with digging up the potatoes.
The garden is looking pretty with some of the flowers I grew from seed (dahlias and cosmos) looking lovely.

We got up the onions, all the garlic and a shedload of potatoes.

In the greenhouse we are getting lovely tomatoes (little cherry ones - yellow, orange and red), plus a variety of peppers including jalapenos (the dark green ones), and also cape gooseberries. I haven't grown cape gooseberries before, and this year bought a plant on a whim, but it has done well and is producing a good amount of fruit.

We also dug up all the beetroot, some of which was huge. M needed a barrow to put it all in. We decided to make some beetroot and apple relish with it, along with some pickled beetroot. So M and Fidget picked some of the cooking apples...

It was a really nice day for pottering around...

Finally we uncovered the brassica bed to find that the red cabbage that I thought had been attacked and done for by various beasties actually had some good heads...

woo hoo!

On Sunday, M did a lovely Sunday roast that we all enjoyed, his chicken and roast potatoes were cooked to perfection. We also had our first sweetcorn of the season, which was Fidget's favourite thing and she ate first, we had to remove the cob to prevent her chomping right through the lot!!

I said I would take a picture of Fidget in her new pjs, and here she is...

they are so cute! She also has a pair with a monkey on them and stripey bottoms, which she wore on Monday night. On Wednesday morning when she was back in her ordinary pjs, she woke up, looked down at her top and said "where's monkey?" looking rather disconsolate! So thank you Granny and Grandpa!

On Monday which was daddy day, Fidget did some drawing in his notebook, he was really impressed and labeled the drawings. After each drawing, Fidget told him what they were, and they are quite recognisable as what she told him.

BTW the ice cream boat is from when we were on the beach in Bournemouth. A small boat with a freezer on it pulled up on the shore infront of us with ice cream chimes going, selling ice creams! None of us had seen the like before and it clearly left an impression with Fidget!


Tuesday was mummy day, Fidget tried out her new bear slippers which are really lovely, and wore a new dress also bought by Granny and Grandpa, so thanks Granny and Grandpa!

This is Fidget doing her "cheeeeese" smile!...

Fidget asked to go over to the park, so we went across and took her trike. She is now really confident on the climbing frame and slide, so I just left her to run round and was able to sit on the bench. Unfortunately she then decided that going up the steps was too easy, so she climbed back up the slide, and before I could get to her did a face plant up at the top onto the platform, so another bruise on her forehead!!

She then had a go at riding her trike properly, she is good at steering it now which is a big help when I am pushing! But she was also trying out the peddling, some of the time she was cranking the peddles back and forward which was hard work, but a couple of times she got into a good rhythm and got going round and round.

In the afternoon we went to look after mini-mush for a while and then onto mummies afternoon. It was nice to catch up as it seems like it has been a while. Fidget managed to throw herself headfirst of the side of the armchair, so forehead collected more bumps!

When we got home, Fidget was sleepy as she hadn't napped. She is getting out of napping every day. She usually naps at nursery and on daddy day, I guess as she does much more running about then and gets tired out, but with me she usually doesn't. She perked up with a drink and snack, and then sat on my lap while we sang songs together. It was really lovely, we sang baa baa black sheep, and twinkle twinkle little star and she sang all the words and really enjoyed it. We also did incy wincy spider, I just love watching her do the moves to the song. It was so nice. I hope I can get some video of her singing, I just love it!!

Just back from our second summer holiday, this time we went down to Bournemouth to stay with Granny and Grandpa. Bournemouth of course is not a patch on Hull as a summer destination but we made the best of it!!


We drove down on Monday, and as soon as Fidget arrived she was tearing around shouting "swima-pooool, swima-pooool!". Before bed she got to go in with Daddy and had a great time splashing around.

On Tuesday we all went out to Honeybrook farm which had animals, a farm shop and cool play things. We tried the slide in the barn but it was a bit fast for Fidget...

She wasn't sure about the chickens either...

She enjoyed the main playground...

Particularly a cool slide that came out of a horses bum...

she kept running round and round...

we finished off the morning with a tractor ride...

On Wednesday the afternoon weather was forcast to be very rainy. In the morning Granny and I set out to a shopping centre, and Grandpa and M took Fidget out to the park.

In the afternoon Fidget, Grandpa and M went to visit J in Poole. Granny and I continued shopping. We had quite a spree. The place we went was good as there wasn't too much walking between shops, but we certainly covered some ground. Granny got Fidget some great sticker and reading books. In Gap she bought Fidget a new winter coat which is just fantastic. She also bought several outfits which will be super for the cooler weather, some adorable bear slippers, and the cutest pjs I have ever seen (I have asked M to take a picture tommorrow morning as she wore the ladybird set to bed this evening). I did fairly well, getting some lipstick, a lovely silk top on sale from Monsoon that will be great when breastfeeding and a load of jersey basics from H&M some that I can wear now and after, and some that I will need to wait to wear, but that is not long away!

On Thursday we were supposed to go out to some nearby woods which had an adventure trail and other cool things for Fidget to run about and play on. I got up and toppled sideways to the bathroom as I was so dizzy. M thought I was capering about, but I was quite serious and went back to bed. The dizzyness lasted a good few hours, M tried to fuel me up with fruit juice and ceral bars and breakfast. After a bit more sleep I was able to get up, but we decided to give the day out a miss. I spent the day sat with my feet up. M went out and bought me magasines and cakes which was nice. Fidget had a great day playing with Granny and Grandpa, and of course got in some swimming...

and some painting....

On Friday, TeamChallis headed for the beach. We'd remembered our shade tent this time which was good as it was quite windy. We had a nice picnic lunch...

Fidget wasn't that keen on paddling, but really enjoyed digging in the sand.

On Saturday we went across to Poole park in the afternoon, where Fidget fed the ducks and played on the swings.

This morning was packing up, but we managed to get a final swim in, with M and I both joining Fidget, which she enjoyed...

here she is suggesting I sniff her foot!...

preparing to splash Daddy...

and just generally being pretty happy floating around...

A huge thank you to Granny and Grandpa for taking such good care of us all. It was very relaxing, particularly as both M and I got to have numerous lie-ins and sit downs while Granny and Grandpa ran around after the ever energetic Fidget! We all had a super time - thanks!