Grandad Andrew...

... came for a flying visit after picking up a large piles of sticks (I'm sure they have a more technical term) from Cumbria for the straw bale house.

Della was excited to see him and went for a walk in town. The most exciting thing about this was that she got to sit on his shoulders to walk home.

We called off at the park on the way home. At that time Della was not 100% back to her walking self, she still needed two hands to help her hips (this isn't the case now - more walking news to follow soon).

Rained off

Last weekend we went to take Della to a soft play park. This is an indoor play area with slides, ball pools and lots of fun things for little ones. It was raining which meant the place was full of 5 year olds venting their frustration at not being able to play outside. Not a place for Della just yet. Then we went to the park, it was raining too much so we sat in the car for a while.

But the rain did not stop so we headed for a farm shop and bought a sack of potatoes.

It continued to not stop raining so we went to Asda for tea. Della spotted a little girl on the table opposite. This made her very happy as other children are one of her favourite things to look at.  She then played happily watching people walk by in the window.

She also ate a chunk of galaxy chocolate

The Olympic Torch

The torch came to town on Tuesday. Luckily there was a slight reprieve from the rain so we decided to keep Della up a little later and go see it. Town was busy but we picked a spot on Stonegate - this was very lucky in reflection as the street was too small for all the promotional vans and buses to go up so in the spirit of the olympics we just saw a young lad running with the torch. Della used her pocket money to buy her very own torch from a chinese man. She loved it and has played with it everyday since.

this is too boring - where is the torch

A little blury but you can see it 

She also had an ice cream.

We then raced the torch round to Cliffords Tower. We won and got to see it again, carried by an old chap who had to stop running and start walking.

Then Della did her own run with her torch...

Henry, meet Della

In very exciting news our friend Millie visited today. She came a long with Rich, Asta (3) and Henry (4 month).

After we had drunk tea and caught up she went to do some work with Simon. Della likes to look in one of my knitting books because there are lots of cute babies in it, She always, gently, touches their face and eyes. So when she saw a little baby in the flesh she was quite giddy and made some of her unmistakable squeals. She enjoyed washing him with her cloth and touching his head. She did not enjoy sharing her toys, especially Gordon.

Here we are at Simon's office playing:

Henry does some lounging

I want to steal him!

Fathers day

Della seems to be dealing with her limp quite well - not quite leaps and bounds yet - but she is improving.

For fathers day Della wanted to make her Daddy a card. She remembers doing this last year with this photo:

So this year she used this photo:

I'm worried this could become a tradition...

Then in thanks for all the love, care and giggles she gets from her Daddy she decided to take him out for dinner. Last year it was Asda, in a promotion this year we went to Sainsbury's. You never know next year we might make it to Waitrose!

We all ordered adult food and Della managed a jacket potato with beans. She mainly spent her time staring at people.

A wobble and a limp

Since her birthday party Della has not really enjoyed being on her feet as much as normal. So much so that I took her to see the doctor at the beginning of last week to get her checked out. It turned out that she has Reactive Arthritis. This is a condition left over from a bad virus (which she had been suffering with for a few weeks). It is in her hips and means that although sitting down is fine she finds it painful and uncomfortable to stand and walk. The doctor prescribed ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and it should go away. It is only a temporary condition.

It had been gradually getting worse over the weekend so I took her back to the doctor and they sent us to the hospital to get checked out. They wanted to check there was no infection in the joint so needed to take some blood. To do this they put a special cream on to numb the skin, wait 45 minutes then prod around til they get some. Della wasn't keen on this, as nobody would be. Although very randomly she started to laugh half way through it - think she got confused!!

Bandages on hands, ready for blood collection

Mammy, what is this funny cream on my feet??

They also needed to collect a urine sample. At first they put a 'bag' on. That didn't worked to asked me to try and do it. Have you ever tried to catch the wee wee of a one year old while on a hospital room all alone. Three wee wee's down my jeans, three hours later and a visit from Daddy and we eventually got enough!

Even Della needed some sugar to get her through the day! 

After all the tests and examinations the doctor was happy to let us go home and said to come back in a week if she still wasn't walking. This was a huge relief. Spending half a day on the children's ward isn't that pleasant if I'm honest. All a bit scary too. Fingers crossed she will be back to herself soon.

I'm football crazy...

I'm football mad.

Well, our house is anyway. I think tonight is the first night we haven't watched any football since the whole thing began and I've found myself thinking 'oh it's Saturday, what time is Match of the Day on tonight?' I should at least pretend to not enjoy it, then I could put all this football watching in the bank for when I want to watch something. Anyway...

Della enjoyed leaving the dining room for the first England game and for the second time only in her whole life she had supper in the living room so she could watch the telly! She got excited when the first goal went in - mainly because we shouted and that made her shout.

I also got excited because it meant I could claim £4 in the office sweepstake as I had 25.00 to 29.59 for the first England goal to be scored. Bonus.

Della does art

On Wednesday Della brought home her first painting from nursery, it's good...

... but then I am her mother.

More Walking

Nearly there...

New food and drinking cups

Now Della is one years old she can eat anything. This means beans! She loves them - although she trumps like an old man after having them!

Then in a Browne family tradition Della demanded a KitKat. This is also a new favourite food!!

Della is also getting better to drinking milk from a cup - thanks to the Elmer cup frmo Gran Helen. Daddy has to drink it too though...

A package from New York

When Della recieved a card through the door to tell her a package was waiting for her at the post office she quickly collected her ID with proof of address and popped to collect it.

It was a large box - this was exciting. She had never been inside a box properly. Daddy helped her...




Inside the box it said...

Cousin Bluet wasn't wrong. Duplo (from the original Lego) is the way forward. Maga blocks are out of the window now!

Presents ahoy!

Della would like to wish everyone a huge thank you for all her presents. She got way too many for such a little girl. Like all good parents we have packed some away to bring out at intermittent periods and to make her think we are the best parents in the world when we bring her a new toy.  

Birthday cards were her favourite thing to open and play with at the start...

It took  while but Della eventually got the hang of ripping paper and finding exciting things inside...

Then she got excited by actual things she was meant to play with 

Put food in this...

Take this out of the box...

Della celebrates

Not only did the queen celebrate 60 years on the thrown last week, Della also celebrated 1 year on the earth.

The day started with a little drizzle/ rain and we were all mildly worried that we would have to pop all the food for the BBQ in the oven instead. However, just after lunch time the sunshine came out, the BBQ was lit and friends started arriving. All in all about 40 people passed through the door and it was a lovely day - even if Della did stay in bed for the first hour of the celebrations!

Here are a few highlights:

Veg BBQ - smoke in eyes!

Meat BBQ

I made a cow print cake for Della - she can say Moo.

Della plays with Henry and Isaac

Blowing out the candles

Cutting the cake

Ethan enjoys a beer with granda

Old school wibbly, wobbly jelly

Mmm... Jelly is my favourite

Della got a swing from Gran Anne and Granda