Random ramblings from the Texan in London.

So, today was a weird day. I put the bratface in the pushchair (which we never do for trips to central London) to take her to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with friends. We got there without incident, and when we got out of the tube station I reached for my phone in my back pocket to see what time it was... only to find that I'd been pickpocketed. Phone, gone. Luckily I'd backed it up just a couple of days ago so I didn't lose any pictures, but still... pain in the butt. All good, I'm being very zen about "stuff" these days, so I borrowed a mate's phone to cancel mine and we headed into the park. A couple of hours in, we found the baby change facilities for fresh baby butts all around. We took it in shifts to visit the grownup bathrooms, and when my turn came around I left Madam with the pushchair and our friends. Duty done, I came back, collected Madam in her wheeled throne and we headed out. I went for my bag, only to realise that it wasn'...

So, right now I should be baking four pies, a few dozen cookies, a carrot cake, and some dinner rolls. That's before prepping all the meat and veg for tomorrow's yearly Thanksgiving bash at ours. What am I doing instead? I'm watching my daughter throw puzzle pieces around the room and cast her eyes around for the next household item to destroy. And enjoying every second of it. It's not like we had a near-death experience last night, but a trip to A&E was close enough to suit me. She's totally fine, she just slept really fitfully, I realised she was burning up, and then she had a weird little episode where she wouldn't look at Himself or me which prompted me to jump in the shower with her, still in my pj's, trying to get her temp down. When that didn't work, the panicky mother in me had us all in the car on the way to the hospital. They checked her ears and throat (and the tongue depressor made her lose everything she'd eaten in the last ...