The new love of my life

This is a post I should have done 2 months ago, but I was waiting for some good photos to come through first. Given as I *still* haven't been sent loads of photos, the ones here will have to do.

I am delighted to introduce to you all my beautiful little nephew Luca James Iakovidis. He was born on the first of May this year, weighing exactly 8 pounds. He is a little Taurus born in the year of the Ox, the same as his Auntie Mimi. In fact, he could have even had the same birthday as me (May 5th) but this way he arrived a bit earlier.







Barbara (his Mum) and Gary (his Dad, my brother) have been doing a marvellous job as first parents. They've even got Luca using Skype to communicate with far-away Auntie Mimi and Uncle Ben, even if it's just yawns and cute looks at this stage.

Little Luca is growing fast.. he's 2 months old already! I simply can't wait to meet him, and hold him in my arms for the first time. We're flying to Oz for a short visit in September, mainly to see this little gentleman and spend as much time as possible with him.

In the meantime I keep photos of him on all the computers I use, and I talk to him every day, even if he can't hear me. I absolutely adore him. It's been quite difficult for me to be so far away from this special little bubba, knowing that I'm missing out on all the little details and watching him grow and change by the day. I know the first thing I'm going to do when I see him is burst into tears. I've given Gary due warning. Then again, anyone who knows me well wouldn't expect anything less :)

Far far far too long between posts

Wow. I can't believe my last blog post was in March. Jeez. Time for a big catch-up then, eh?

Let's start in March, in bullet points; anything more would be silly.

March:
- the baby girls finally got to go home with their Mum and Dad
- saw Jonathan Coulton perform and I got his autograph!
- threw our first dinner party at the flat, with Kat and Andy the lucky recipients of a 3-course meal and loads of booze!
- went to our first 2008 wedding - Chloe & Tim (Chloe went to school with Ben)
- worked on a console game which was different, and fun!
- it snowed in our garden! (And in other parts of London, apparently)
- Saw Avenue Q which, because it had been made out to me to be amazingly funny, ended up inevitably disappointing
- went to the usual spate of lunches, brunches, drinks and movies


April:
- was busy busy busy on a project for the Freemans website - a fashion retail site that I did an expert evaluation, competitor review, user testing, interaction design, client workshopping, prototype testing and wrote a UI Spec for. All in 8 weeks. And not without help, either - I was working with a great team from Flow, our client, and our partner design agency Splendid. You can see the outcome here.
- tried 'Bollywood' dance classes which were fun and energetic, but the sharp wrist-twisting hand movements proved to be painful for my (still recovering) wrist
- went to a climate change meeting which left me feeling hopeful about the future and forever cynical about politicians at the same time


May
- had a long weekend away in the Lake District, a beautifully picturesque part of North England. Ben and I managed a 7-hour mountain hike on the first day, with lots of stile-climbing and lambsie-spotting (it was lambing season). We decided to relax, shop, and wander only on flat land for the second day.
- had a cocktail party (where my lovely bf's talents as a cocktail maker were on show) for my birthday. How old? Don't ask!

- Connie (my cousin) and Antoni became proud parents of little Thomas over in Athens
- sat through my first Eurovision final. It's apparently a rite of passage over here. Well, I've done it, so I never have to do it again. Thank God.
- earned mega gf brownie points cheering on Ben doing a 10k run, in the pouring rain.


June
- sang two hymns at our friends' Maria and Robin's wedding - Amazing Grace and Be Still (for the Presence of the Lord). It was lovely to be asked, and lovely to be singing again.

- had a 10-day holiday with Ben in England, which was bookended by weekends with friends. The first weekend was down in Pagham on the South Coast, at Claire's grandparents' house. The second weekend was in Elveden Forest in a leisure park called CentreParcs. It was literally in the middle of a forest and had a big pool complex with rapids, slides and wave pools, as well as loads of outdoor activities and wildlife to gawk at. In between the two weekends Ben and I drove around South-East England, ticking things like Stonehenge and Windsor Castle off my tourist list. We also saw some beautiful countryside and cathedrals.


July
- hit 3 years with Ben and 3 years in London. Wow! It seems to have gone by so fast! But I know I have changed immeasurably for the better, and I know it was the right decision to move here :) Especially as Ben got me 3 bunches of flowers and took me out for a superb gastronomic meal to mark the occasion ;) He done good.
- Mum came to visit! I unfortunately couldn't get time off work as it was late notice, but we got to spend some nice time together and she got to traipse about London and see some touristy stuff. And of all things, she seemed most taken with Selfridges!
- Ben and I had a long weekend in Athens with my parents, and Gary & Barbara (who were in transit). I also got to meet gorgeous baby Thomas, who is a delight.
- saw West Side Story beautifully performed and relived the fantastic songs we learned when I was a schoolgirl at Fintona
- started reading books again! I'd had a long absence from reading which I was getting worried about but I've thankfully caught the bug again


August
- did my first international travelling for work! Ok, so it was only Hamburg, and only for a day, but still! I've decided I really like the German language and would like to learn it in some capacity. Ja! Fur sure! hehe

So that's the run-down. In ongoing news, the baby girls are growing and becoming more alert and more gorgeous by the day. In less happy news, Ben has had belly trouble for some weeks now which is being investigated. We have two weddings and a Portugal/Spain trip planned for September, but nothing else of a big nature on the horizon. Photos, as ever, to follow (or so the legend goes).

That's it from me. Love to y'all. Iakovidis out.

Ben is an uncle!

Yesterday, Tracy gave birth to two beautiful baby girls - Isabel Rose and Olivia Grace. They are identical twins and they are just gorgeous. They are also in critical care because they are a little premature, given they were mono-amniotic twins (sharing the same amniotic sac - very rare). James and Tracy are thrilled, as you can imagine. And Ben is very excited about being an uncle! And of course me at being an 'auntie'! :)