This weekend I helped out at a children’s festival run in Cardiff by a well know supermarket (www.cardiff-festival.com/tcf_e.htm). The festival was great with heaps of demonstrations and activities, and we saw lots of cool things from clowns to dancing sheep.

I was helping out in the ‘Sing and Sign’ tent, which is one of the classes Sophie and I went to before the summer (www.singandsign.com). We loved it – it’s a bit like sign language for the deaf, but with babies in mind, and it’s made much more fun by singing along with the signs. Sophie loved the music and playing the instruments, so much so that it was a job to prise the maracas and tambourine out of her hands at times. We made loads of great friends at the class and all the mums would saunter along to a local coffee shop afterwards for coffee and cake.

Sophie is already enthusiastically signing for ‘milk’ whenever she wants the white stuff and we are eagerly teaching her lots of new signs, including a sign for our house rabbits Dorothy and Todd. It’s exiting that she is able to communicate with us even though she can’t talk yet, although she often chats away to herself in her own Sophie language, maybe now we will understand some of what she is saying and get an insight in to that mischievous mind of hers.

Shake that maraca

After 5 years of hard slog I have finally graduated with an MBA. I felt very proud in my gown and mortarboard, especially as my parents, husband and Sophie were there to see me. Sophie seemed to enjoy the sense of occasion and was very well behaved during the ceremony, although rumour has it a bag of corn snacks did help to keep her quiet.

It was definitely hard work doing an MBA whilst working and being pregnant at the same time… but I survived. Sometimes it felt like I rarely saw Andy as I was permanently studying. The poor thing spent more time with his X box that he did with me (trying to amuse himself whilst I had my nose in a book). Needless to say I’m looking forward to having some spare time again. Is that possible with a 1 year old?!

Next stop PHD??????

Celebrating with Sophie and Dad