Afternoon Activities

Emilia is not a big *napper*. She usually naps three times a day, once in the morning and twice in the afternoon but her naps are very short, about 20-35 minutes each. This means that I don't really have a lot of time to do things while she is sleeping and also that I need to entertain her for long stretches of time. So, I need to come up with fun things to do.

Her favourite activities are watching Peppa Pig, reading, and cuddling in bed with mummy. 

Here are two pictures of Emilia reading and playing with the rooster, while watching Peppa. 

 

Afternoon Tea Series: Bake a Boo

Earlier on today I met with my London girls for our third Afternoon Tea. You may remember my previous posts on Betty Blythe and Bea's of Bloomsbury. I love this series, I have always been a tea drinker (and lover!) and absolutely adore the whole concept of Afternoon Tea, it's one of my favourite British traditions. As you would expect, there are loads of places in London where you can enjoy an Afternoon Tea, some are grand, others are more low key. My girlfriends and I have decided to explore what London has to offer together and so far we have loved all our picks.

This month I chose a very sweet place in West Hampstead called Bake a Boo, isn't this such a cute name for a shop?! This little tea room is simply darling and the girls and I had a very lovely afternoon chatting and devouring the mouth-watering sandwiches, scones and strawberries dipped in chocolate. Magical, sweet, lovely and pink are the adjectives I would use to describe this place. 

As usual, here are a few pictures for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Limited Edition Bugaboos

About a year ago, this time of the year, Rob and I started looking into pram's options. As you may remember, we knew we wanted a Bugaboo Cameleon, we just had to decide the colour, and it wasn't easy. In the end we opted for a limited edition jade green. Sometimes I wonder whether we made the right choice or not and if we should have gone with something more neutral, say sand or cream. However, I must say, it is nice not to see many jade green Bugaboos around, especially in a city where 90% of the prams are Bugaboos. Last year there weren't many choices. This year, instead, the options are much nicer, I think. If we were expecting a baby now I would definitely go for the Sahara limited edition Cameleon.

I simply love the neutral and honeyed beige tones. And the details, such as the inside quilt and the leather handles are very stylish. Definitely a winner. 

Also, if money wasn't an issue, I would have loved to buy the Bee special edition in navy and neon yellow too. So cool, and so now with the neon accents.

Well, I'll never get the chance to get any of these puppies. So, this is for all the expecting parents out there...and if you are pregnant now, check out this dress from Madderson London, I wish they had it last year, it is simply gorgeous.

Asking too much?

I am very relaxed about Emilia's performance these days. I am not that kind of mother who checks what she should be doing and what she shouldn't be doing every week. I do admit, I receive monthly emails from babycentre and I do have a week by week booklet on my bedside table but I must say, I am rather bored with them. I was more into checking what was happening inside my belly during pregnancy as I was eager to know what was going on with my body, what to expect and how the baby was developing but with baby I have learned that you can't really generalise and shouldn't be focused on these *guidelines*. Every baby is different. I am sure Emilia is worse at certain things and perhaps better at others but really, who cares? I certainly didn't feel prouder when people were amazed at the fact that she could hold her head strong when she was as little as three months, and I certainly don't love her less if she fails to grab things or sit down unaided. In this, I am just a different kind of mum, I suppose.

One thing, however, that does make me proud is that Emilia seems to be more attracted to books than toys. I grew up with the concept that two things are worth spending money on in life: books and travels which I consider the real-time education! Only traveling you get to experience and understand the world. And that's how you learn history, geography, art, just to mention a few....

In her short life Emilia has already been traveling a little bit. She had her first short flight to Italy when she was three months old and she is going to experience the joy (!?) of a long flight to the US in just a few days. I am also thinking to bring her with me on a work trip to Barcelona in May...let's see if this materialises (am I asking too much to a little baby?). And she will travel and explore the world as much as possible, I will certainly encourage her to do so, with us first, and then on her own. 

As for books, she has one in particular she loves. It's one of those fluffy books with lots of creatures, bright colours and different textures. Simple stuff for babies, basically. However, when my mum was here, we moved to a complete different dimension. My mum bought four educational books that I find very useful. Perhaps it is asking too much (again!) to a five month old baby but she certainly seems interested and follows our instructions and hands while we explain and show how to button, zip, tie and snap! 

These books will come handy in a year or so!

Given the popularity of books with Emilia I am always on the hunt for something cool and new for her. I recently spotted the new Orla Kiely books for children and, you know me, I love everything Orla Kiely related and had to have one. There are four books in the series: Numbers, Creatures, Shapes and Colours. I bought the Numbers one but I predict all the others will be in the house soon! Of course, the book is great. I love the colours, the patterns and Emilia really enjoys it too. Who doesn't love Orla?!

 

 

 

 

Is this bow too big?

Another obsession of mine, together with polka-dots, has always been bows. I love them, they are cute and always add some sweetness and fun to any outfit.

My mum always complains that I never put headbands on Emilia. Thankfully, we have just received a very big one from Steph. Are you happy now mum? 

 

 

A morning with best friend Juliette

This morning Steph and baby Juliette came to play with us. They arrived around 10.00am with cappuccino and heart-shaped cookies in hand! It was such a nice morning, the girls behaved and Steph and I were able to chat a bit. Here are a couple of pictures from this morning's play date:

 

Emilia and Juliette are just three months apart...they are set to be besties!

Call me romantic

Some people hate Valentine's Day, I *love*it. It's my name day and I have always celebrated it since I was a little girl. This year, of course, everything is special for us thanks to the new entry to our family, and so was Valentine's Day. I didn't have anything too fitting for the occasion in terms of outfits for Emilia, nothing with hearts, but I still wanted to dress her somehow for the festivity, so we picked a red dress. And I think she looks adorable. Unfortunately, both Rob and I had to work today but we were sure to give Emilia some extra love before leaving her with her babysitter. 

At my lunch break I went to Gap Kids and bought a couple of gifs for Emilia, she is one love of my life, after all. Of course, she doesn't understand the concept of gift yet but I still wanted to give her something. At the very least she could play with the wrapping paper! I tried to leave work as soon as I could this evening and when I was walking home, guess whom I bumped into? Rob and baby Emilia, who were carefully choosing a nice bunch of flowers for mummy at the local florist. It was such a nice surprise. Rob was holding Emilia and they were both looking down at the flowers, they were very cute.

Once Emilia fell asleep, Rob and I ordered some sushi and exchanged gifts. I gave him a pack of six bottles of organic beer  from Freedom Brewery (a sort of mini beer tasting experience at home), a Pretty Green t-shirt and a dim sum Afternoon Tea at the Crazy Bear (I thought we may want to have some time alone without baby at some point and this afternoon tea with dumplings instead of scones, biscuits and cucumber sandwiches sounded very cool!). And I received a lovely Paul Smith purse. 

Now, what's not to like about a day of celebration, gifts, and love? 

Festivities

Whether you call it Mardi Gras, Carnevale or Pancake Day, today is a day to celebrate. In Italy all kids (and adults!) dress up and attend parties for Carnevale, in the UK everyone eats pancakes. As an Italian-British-(+American) family we combined the two festivities and had a lovely day.

Emilia dressed up as a ballerina.

 

 

And I was queen for a day.

And for dinner we had lovely pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries. 

Whatever the reason, it is always fun to celebrate!

It's cosy!

As I mentioned before, two weeks ago we moved Emilia to the second bedroom. Sadly, she can't have a proper nursery yet, this is one of the issues of living in a small flat in central London but we felt that the move was necessary and we are doing our best with the space we have.

The transition was painless, Emilia got used to the new environment very easily. For the first two weeks she slept with mum and grandmum; last night was the first night on her own - our baby is all grown up now! For the time being we have decided to keep the bed in the room, so that we can still host family and friends. Of course, from now on, we will be giving up our bedroom and sleep in the guest room with Emilia when we have people over, unless our dear guests are happy to be on baby duty, of course! :)

The second bedroom is much smaller than the master bedroom so it is quite cosy in there now. But I actually like it, I think it is a sweet, colourful place for Emilia. And as you can see, the polka dot obsession continues...

 

The last dance

As I said, Emilia enjoyed two weeks of some quality family time. One thing she absolutely loves is dancing.

Here is a cute video of Emilia dancing with her bisnonna the last night of her stay in London. They are so sweet!

Two weeks of family

When my mum and grandmum booked their trip back in December I was so happy they were able to stay in London for two weeks. I thought it was a long time. Now that the two weeks are over I think that it would have been nice if they could stay three weeks of perhaps four! Of course I am very grateful that they could come and stay all this time but I would have loved if they could stay longer. In fact, I would love to have them around, always. Needless to say, these two weeks have been wonderful. Rob and I were able to sleep (an average of 7-9 hours every night of good, uninterrupted sleep!), stroll, shop, go out for a date lunch, and in general rest and relax. And I went back to work and the transition from full-time mummy to part-time researcher has been painless. However, mum and grandmum are leaving tomorrow and things will have to change now that we are alone, again.

Mum and grandmum made our life easier and Emilia loved spending time and playing with them.

The very first day they arrived we moved Emilia's crib into the second bedroom. Emilia has been sleeping with them since night one, allowing mummy and daddy to rest. She also enjoyed playing in bed with great-grandmum and I love these pictures of the two of them playing together.

Emilia telling bisnonna to get closer to be in the photo

See, that's better. Now they can see you!

Almost every day my mum took Emilia out for a stroll and she took so many pictures of her in the pram. These are my favourite ones. 

Note: Emilia NEVER wears a hat with me, she hates it. My mum can do absolutely anything with her, even let her wear a hat! She is all bundled up :)

 

 

 

I am just so happy she got to spend some quality time with mum and grandmum. Family is the most wonderful thing in the world!