Our Holiday – The Journey

For the past week we have been enjoying ourselves in sunny Tenerife, we've had a lovely holiday and Eliza thoroughly enjoyed her first trip abroad.

The holiday began on Sunday 7^th November when we drove down to Birmingham as we were staying in an Airport hotel for the night. We didn’t set off until Eliza had woken from her afternoon nap so it was nearing tea time as we reached Birmingham so we decided to stop off for something to eat on our way. We had planned to call at Ikea but it had just closed when we got there so we headed over to Pizza Hut instead. We ordered two main meals and a starter and received a free kids meal for Eliza which we weren’t expecting so that was a nice surprise. Luckily the restaurant wasn’t too busy so Eliza could have a little wander whilst we were waiting for our food. After our meal we headed straight over to our hotel which was another 15 minutes drive away.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express next to the NEC and were both really impressed with our room. We had a large double bed, sofa and travel cot as well as a Television. We could also leave our car there for the week with no extra charge. We were both a little apprehensive about how Eliza would sleep in a strange place especially as she would be in the same room as us. At home we always put Eliza in her cot and leave her to fall asleep on her own so we thought she might not settle if we were still in the room with her. However, our concerns were completely unnecessary because she went to sleep brilliantly and within 15 minutes we were able to watch television in the same room as she was sleeping.

The following morning we woke at 6am, had breakfast then got a taxi to the airport which was about 10 minutes away. As soon as we got to the check in desk I realised that we had forgotten something, Eliza’s pushchair was still in the boot of the car at the hotel. By this time it was too late to go back and collect it so we had to leave without it.

We boarded our plane at 8am and prepared ourselves for what we thought would be an unbearable journey. To our surprise, Eliza was a little star for the entire flight. She didn’t moan once and she even made friends with the couple who were sat next to us. In my previous post I mentioned that we had packed some presents for Eliza to open during the flight. She was so good that we only had to open three of them so we had loads left for the return journey. The presets she opened were a tiger cub teddy, an “In The Night Garden” sticker book and a small cuddly dog from “Guess with Jess”. She absolutely loved all of them and spent most of the flight giving stickers to the people sat next to us.

Due to tail winds we landed about 30 minutes ahead of schedule which was fantastic.  It only took us about 20 minutes to collect our luggage then we were on our way to the Apartment and ready for our holiday to begin. 

Leaving on a jet plane

Earlier this year Pete's Mum and Dad very kindly offered to take us on holiday to Tenerife with them and after what seems like a very long wait, the day has arrived for us to set off. We don't actually fly today but we are going down to Birmingham to stay in a hotel for the night as we fly quite early tomorrow morning.

I think I speak for both Myself and Pete when i say that we are a little apprehensive about taking Eliza on an Aeroplane as we are convinced she will be bored within 30 minutes and want to get off. In order to try and occupy her for the duration of the flight we decided to get her some new books and toys which we have wrapped up and put in her new Trunki suitcase. We are hoping that the excitement of having presents to open during the journey will make the flight much easier for us. 

We should be setting off within the next hour or so and to be honest I haven't even finished packing yet, I just hope we don't forget anything. At east we have got the most important thing packed, Calpol. Last night Eliza seemed to be really niggly and I was worried that she was coming down with something. She even woke up crying during the night, something that she hasn't done since she began sleeping through at the age of 14 months. Then even more strange, she slept in this morning and didn't wake until I went to check on her at 8am. As soon as I lifted her out of the cot I knew she had a temperature and the thermometer confirmed that it was 38.1 degrees. I knew since the day we booked our holiday that she would end up being ill the day we were supposed to be leaving. She doesn't seem particularly ill though just a bit clingy so I think she is just teething a bit. She always seems to get a temperature when she is teething. Fingers crossed it will have passed by tomorrow so that she can enjoy her first holiday abroad.

I know she will love it once we are there because her Nanna and Grandad will be there. They flew out a week ago so will have settled in already. Eliza will be thrilled to bits when she sees them, I cant wait to see her face it will be priceless. 

Anyway, wish us luck. I think the flight will definitely be an experience but hopefully it will all run smoothly. 

See you all in a week. xxx

Colours of Autumn

Oakamoor November 5th 2010

Ooooo I love Sainsurys clothes

I absolutely LOVE Sainsburys children's clothing range so as you can imagine I was very happy when I found out that they currently have an offer on where you get 25% off all clothing. Our nearest Sainsburys is only a few minutes away so I took Eliza down this evening before we collected Pete from work. Now it is near impossible for me to go into Sainsburys and come out empty handed and tonight was no different. I got Eliza a new Hello Kitty long sleeve top which she insisted on holding for the duration of our shopping trip, including when I tried to pay for it. I also got her a new fleece sleep suit and a lovely knitted dress with matching tights. As an added bonus I also managed to find a lovely pair of new boots for myself. My old boots had completely given up on me   and I had been looking out fro some new ones for a while but they were either way too expensive or really poor quality. The ones I found in Sainsburys are similar in style to Ugg boots but at a fraction of the price, they were originally £25 but with the 25% discount I got them for £18.75, a real bargain if you ask me.

Busy Busy Busy

The last few days seem to have been really busy for us, it feels like its been none stop. On Friday morning I looked after my friends baby because she had to work. I was a little nervous about having two toddlers running around the house but it was great fun, Isabel is about 16 months old so Eliza loved having someone to play with. Since we looked after Isabel, Eliza has spent most of her time asking for her its really cute.

Isabel and Eliza

On Saturday morning I took Eliza to her friends first birthday party, It was lovely and Eliza thought it was fantastic having loads of other children to play with. She absolutely adores other kids and especially babies so she was in her element. I bought Eliza a lovely new dress from Sainsburys to wear at the party she looked so beautiful and impressively she managed to keep it clean the whole day.
We were invited over to my parents house for tea on Saturday night, Unfortunately Eliza was grumpy the whole time that we were sat at the dinner table so she cried a lot and hardly ate a thing. It turned out she had a tummy ache the poor little mite. Pete had been invited out that evening so we headed home at around 7ish and got Eliza in to bed. Pete then headed out to Stoke station to catch the train to Birmingham, he was meeting a few of our friends there for a night of rock music and Jack Daniels, looking at the photos my friend posted on Facebook I'd say the JD took its toll.

As you know, the clocks changed on Saturday night, now for most people this is great because they get an extra hour in bed. However, I'm sure those of you with children will agree in saying that the clocks changing is just an annoyance. How on earth are you supposed to explain to an 18 month old that she has to stay in bed for an extra hour in the morning so that mummy can get a lie in. So as expected Eliza was up at 6am on Sunday morning. Pete hadn't actually been in bed for very long by this time so I got up with Eliza and let him sleep. Obviously, Eliza thought it was 7am so she wanted her breakfast straight away then we played for a while and had a shower.

We had been invited to a christening Sunday morning so eventually I had to wake Pete. Even though we had an extra hour to get ready we still managed to be in a rush and only just made it to the church in time.  The christening was lovely and Eliza was pretty well behaved in the church although I did decide to take her out towards the end of the service because she really wanted to run around and burn off some of her energy. After the service we all headed down to a local pub for a buffet lunch, Eliza had great fun with her little friends especially a little boy called James who she absolutely loves. After a while Eliza obviously thought that she needed a little bit more attention from everybody so after running around for a few minutes she proceeded to vomit all over the floor. Now poo I can cope with but I'm always very squeamish when it comes to sick so a big pile of it on the floor was just what I needed. Luckily I managed to handle the situation very well as did Pete. I must say though, the bar man didn't look too impressed when I told him my daughter had been sick on the carpet. I did clean it up though so everything was soon back to normal and Eliza was chasing James around the table again. By the time we left, Eliza was absolutely shattered so we got her straight in to bed for her afternoon nap, Pete also took the opportunity to have a sleep while I tidied the house ready for some visitors.

This is a photo of Eliza in the outfit she wore for the christening it was bought for her by Nanna Lynne and Grandad Ken

At about half three on sunday afternoon a couple of friends came over with their two children, Blake and Vincent who are age 22 months and 9 months. Eliza had fun with both of them although she does tend to get over excited and nobody can get a word in edgeways when she is around because she's always shouting and squealing. After our friends left we put Eliza to bed and had our tea, by 8:30pm I was totally exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open so I snuggled up on the sofa and went to sleep.