Finding a new groove

Monkey models her new wet weather suit!

Wow, I am seriously tired this evening. I'm sitting at my kitchen table, a cat skulking around my feet, and my belly full with warming chicken casserole (sadly a ready-meal though, it's been one of those days). Although we are more-or-less unpacked there are still some random boxes sitting around, and in the den all of our books, CDs and LPs are waiting patiently for the delivery of some shelves from Ikea. Today I must have emptied about a dozen large boxes and stacked the contents up neatly. I finally found a GP who would register us as new patients (don't get me started on that one), and I had a stroke of good fortune at the florist, who gave us 5 extra beautiful yellow roses for free because they had opened up a bit too much for her to keep them on display. I just love having flowers around the house.

This has been my first week at home alone with the Monkey while DH goes to work. It's been much better than I had imagined, and we seem to be finding a new 'groove' here beside the seaside. The days, however, feel really long. DH has been getting up shortly after 5am to get the 6am fast train service, and the babe has been waking up early also. I am NOT a morning person and I really struggle with being up before 7.30am. Because her waking has been so unpredictable I have found it hard to get back off to sleep when DH leaves. There has been no Squirreling for me (that's how DH refers to my late-evening blogging/ Twittering activities), and we've been heading up to bed after catching up on the evening's Masterchef episode. Our bed (the same bed we had at the old house) has somehow been transformed into the most wonderfully sleep-inducing bed ever. As soon as our heads hit the pillow we are out. Perhaps it's the Feng Shui, or the sea air, or just the fact that we are both exhausted!

I've taken Monkey to a new toddler group this week and it was fantastic, far, far nicer than the one we went to last week. This one just felt right, I chatted with other mums, there were babies being breast-fed, and at least one toddler (mine!). Monkey settled in after a short while and even sat at the table with the other children at snack time. They looked so sweet! It's on a Wednesday which isn't the best day for me as I will be heading out to work in the afternoon, but we will definitely be going again.

This weekend we are busy with visitors so there will be lots of cooking, I hope. I've almost run out of chilli jam and have a new preserving pan now so there will be a new batch coming soon. I also want to get back into breadmaking and don't even ask me where my knitting needles are! Hope you all have a lovely weekend, I'm sure we will.