Nuts about Walnuts!

It's Walnut season in Warsaw at the moment and it's possible to buy big bags of them for not very much.

My impression of walnuts has always been defined by the rather bitter, dried up things that you crack during Christmas in front of a Bond movie on TV, but these are quite different. They're quite soft and really sweet (I guess which comes from being fresh). They're now a staple in most of our meals, although it's tricky encorporating them in cups of tea!

Audrey enjoyed a trip to the Australian and British Embassy this morning, and was coo-ed over by hoards of ladies. She's been really good today after a lengthy bout of colic last night which went on until about midnight..zzzzz.

It all became worthwhile..

when you returned my smile..

Sunday Lunch

On Sunday we went to a farewell lunch for Emma and Jon Baines, friends who are leaving Warsaw soon, hosted by Kathryn and Douglas (Kathryn works at the British Embassy with Emma). Audrey was perfect!! She slept for around 4 hours. What joy! We were able to sit up at the table and eat our lunch, including dessert and tea/coffee, without having to worry about nursing our little princess. She waited until after we had all finished before she demanded her lunch!

Audrey was passed around to be nursed - which, of course, she loved! She does like to be the centre of everyone's attention! (must take after her Dad!) After lunch, the boys went out into the backyard for a game of cricket and we were then entertained by Douglas and Jon (aka Mabel Rankin) who played 3 songs to wrap up the day's events. Audrey was bounced in time on her Dad's knee and fell asleep on the final song - what a perfect end to a perfect day!

Mabel Rankin perform at their 'secret' gig

If you go down to the woods today...

We didn't see any teddy bears, but the three of us enjoyed a lovely trip to Kabaty Forest this afternoon. We travelled there by metro, with Audrey enjoying another go in her harness (thanks for that Robin & Shan).

The weather was nice and as a result the forest was full of parents with babies and children across the full spectrum of sizes and ages. The forest stretches for miles and is a really nice part of Warsaw.

We came back via Tesco (hurrah!) where we bought some overpriced cheddar.

Audrey was so lovely during the day. She really enjoyed the trip and was bright eyed whenever she was awake, and has started coo-ing occasionally!

In the evening we treated her to a bath, where there was a bit of a soap swallowing incident, but fortunately she is too young to call Childline and report her parents.

You can see some more Audrey pictures here

Audrey in the Park

Here's a short clip of Audrey which we took in Lazienki Park yesterday. We took her to see/listen to the Chopin concert which takes place every Sunday afternoon. She was really good and lay on the grass throughout, only joining in with a bit of singing right at the end!

(apologies that this is on YouTube - let me know if you have difficulty accessing it, but unfortunately I couldn't make the video application that comes with the blog program, work this time)

Audrey's Passport Photo

It's now a requirement for children of any age to have a photo on their passport. It used to be that they could be added to their parents documents, but now (presumably as children are growing up faster) they have to have their own passport, I presume just in case the child decides to jet off to sunnier climbs. Although I suppose if that happened they would then be learning to fly before they could walk?

We went into town yesterday to get a photo for Audrey. The difficulty is the regulations for the photo are so strict it's incredible. Top of chin 22mm from the bottom of the picture, no hats, no parents hands, looking straight ahead, no dribble from corner of the mouth (ok I made the last one up). It was certainly a challenge with a baby just 4 weeks old.

In the end we found a really lovely chap who took about 25 pictures of Audrey (eyes closed, mouth open, floppy head etc etc) until we found one that just about did the job. He then set to work on his computerer 'tidying up' the picture and we ended up with one that we hope fits the bill (Amy worries that Audrey's eyes aren't looking straight ahead and look a bit 'shifty').

The man was really good on the drawing program, and I reckon I'm going to set him to work on some of my photos - he could take years off me. It was also amazing as he spent about 20 minutes clearing up tiny specs on the picture for which he charged about 35 zloty - something which an ad agency would have sucked their teeth and charged 500 quid for.

We've just got a multitude of forms to fill in now to accompany the picture!

Sunny Day in Warsaw!

Today was really hot and sunny, not at all like a mid-September day, so we took Audrey out for her first go in her baby harness. We didn't go far, just up to some local markets. She was asleep within minutes which was great!

Trevor cooked fish and chips for tea (something which is definintely hard to find in Poland) I'm not sure if it was quite Harry Ramsden's quality, but still nice (and greasy)

We decided against opening a Northern Rock saving scheme for Audrey.