Rehearsal time

I've got rehearsals for the Basil Brush show this week and I didn't realise. I didn't twig that it was March tomorrow (How blonde am I).I thought that was next week....doh!

So Wednesday and Thursday nights they've booked me a hotel in Maidstone - rehearsing 9-1 on Thursday and all day Friday.....

So what to do with the munchkin....My mother is being amazing - she's staying in the hotel with me and Oscar on Weds night and then for the half day on Thursday will amuse herself while I rehearse. Then we'll all drive back to London, I'll get to look after Oz all afternoon, put him to bed and then drive back up to Maidstone and have a night all by myself in a hotel!

I know Poppy did this recently and I'm actually really looking forward to it in a sick "I'm an evil mother" sort of way. A whole night to myself! In a hotel! No baby, no nappies, no night-time wakeup call.....

I have a £10 dinner allowance too (woo hoo! The BBC are so generous). Probably won't stretch to room service but still.....a night off.....

Don't know how DH will cope! He never wakes up when Oz does in the night - even with screaming....so maybe Oscar will have to sleep through!

BTW - he did sleep through again last night! Yay Oz!

Ok so I'm feeling such a mixture of guilt and excitement about the rest of the week! What do you think?

I'm S-A-Double-Lizzy

I've stolen this from the lovely Aimee's site -

GIZOOGLE

It's very funny. You type in a URL and it translates it - snoop styley....

I put in my acting webpage and got such funny translations as:

Original: Click here to see full CV including television, theatre and radio.

Gizoogled: Cliznick here ta see fizzull CV includ'n televizzle theatre n radio wizzle

I also gizoogled the blog - the caption below under Oscar in the bath now reads

How skanky is mah baby boy? He's sizzuch a wanna be gangsta baby

It's very funny - try it - thank you AimeeRoo!

Oscar in the bath

How cute is my baby boy?
(those aren't my hands by the way - I'm not THAT hairy - they belong to Dear Husband...)

He's such a water baby!

Well kind of a dull day really - nothing much to report...had a lie in this morning (thank you DH) cos Oz was up for an hour in the night....and I really thought we'd cracked it...ah well.

Went to the supermarket on my own which is something I haven't done for ages.....got a couple of DVDs out to watch. I'm so boring and suburban. Read my Basil Brush script - it's very funny - very mean to Peter Andre - totally takes the piss....I'm really looking forward to rehearsals on the 3rd March - next week! Eek! Better learn my lines....

Oz is just having his massage at the moment (DH's job) so I'm typing quickly as DH likes to use the puter in the evening. Though he has got Sky Captain to watch so I may get back and write some more dribble...

If not - speak tomorrow when I may have something interesting to say...then again....

OOO! I'm a chubby girl

I'm so excited. I'm officially now a member of the Chubby Girl Brigade!!! I have been accepted into their hallowed presence.

Looky here!

Jerilyn has written me a beautiful intro and thank you to her...I'm totally honoured! Though she's going to hate me when she reads what I wrote about Colin Firth on the comments. It's true - I met him - I didn't like him - he's quite obnoxious in my humble (non-sueable) opinion.

I don't get why women find him so attractive anyway. My mother is totally obsessed with him - every time he's in a play in London she's there - front row - drooling.....

Now give me a man like Josh Lucas.....

And yet another..... 

Another angle of my new hair 

This made me laugh

Remember further down, that I'm 9 in my head Ok?

This made me laugh

Your Girl Parts Are Named: Tinkleflower

Get your own Girl Parts name

So did this

http://users.pandora.be/stefdirrix/flash/queen.htm

Tee hee!

And here it is....

What do YOU think????

I LOVE IT!

This was taken by the receptionist in the salon - I'll take some more (well DH will when he gets home) so you can see it once I've messed around with it....

Haircut part one

Today I'm getting all my hair cut off. I've got very long blonde hair and have had it long long long for as long long long as I can remember. In the 80's when it was very stylish to have long straight hair I was in fashion. Then a couple of years ago when the straight look was in, I was ok - the rest of the time I'm like a 60's throwback. Think Joni Mitchell. Flat straight hair. BORING

Now Oscar is using it to swing on and I keep finding it in his nappy as he grabs handfuls and shoves them in his mouth.

So I'm going to Sassoons - spending a fortune - and getting it short short. I want a complete change.

I may cry. I hope I won't. I think it's going to look different and I'll be a whole new me!

I'll post a pic when I get back. I'm excited and scared!

Wednesday = Weigh in

Weds is my Weightwatchers day...now last week I lost 10.5lbs due to gastric flu. This week I put on 7. Which is ok really because I'm thinking that I lost 3.5lbs over 2 weeks which is on target. But I'm still a bit peeved.

I'm with Zoe at the moment in that I really really want a pizza. Papa Johns are evil and put a menu through my door which I made the mistake of drooling over and now all I want to eat are garlic cheesesticks.

Both my boys are in bed and it's only 8.30. DH came home with a splitting headache so went to bed at the same time as Oz.

Talking of the munchkin -he slept through again last night! Yay baby! Went down at 7.30, we woke him as we do at 11pm to feed him, he woke up at 6.45. Not bad eh? Now ideally I want him to sleep till 7.30/8ish. But hell - he's doing so well - up until this week he would wake at least twice. And when I was breastfeeding I'd be feeding him at least twice and getting very broken sleep.

Now I keep waking up and listening for him but I get back to sleep quickly.

So I don't know whether to go to bed myself now and snuggle my sleeping man....or stay up and watch whatever I want to on TV.....hmmm.....

Bed is calling with a good book (I'm soooooo dull now I'm a mother)

Sleep tight all out there.....dream of pizza

What Age Do I Act?

I stole this off my sister's blog....

You Are 9 Years Old

9 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

It's pretty accurate. I once convinced my friend's 5 year old daughter that I was really 7, just big for my age. She believed me because whenever I went round to visit my friend, I'd always end up in the daughter's room playing barbies.....

You do it and tell me your age!

The downside of dieting

I'm a comfort eater. And even though I'm doing the all new Weightwatchers diet which has lots of helpful tips with their 10 winning habits one of which IS comfort eating, I'm still craving carbs at the moment.

It sucks being on a diet. And I know that technically I could have whatever I want as long as I count the points, it's not the same as being able to dive headfirst into a fresh white loaf of bread and smother it in butter. Which is what I really want to do. I think I have PMT.

I also seem to be a sucker for advertising. If I see a certain food advertised, or even read about it or hear someone talk about it, I immediately want it. I was reading the wonderful Chubby Girl Brigade and the writer is talking about a shopping trip - now I always say if i lived in the States I would be enormous as they have the BEST food. Reading about her impulse buys made me want tater tots. Now I haven't a bloody clue what these things are. But I want them. Now.

I have an impulse control problem! Good job I don't live in the US....

Ok - Oscar is winging. He's in his crib and should be asleep by now.....I'll go cuddle him a bit.

This post was getting pointless anyway!

A good day for me....

but a bad day for a friend of mine. S has a baby girl about 3 weeks older than Oscar and was also pregnant - 12 weeks pregnant, with her second. She went for her nuchal scan today only to be told the baby had died at 8 weeks. She'd had spotting, just like I had when pregnant with Oz, and had had a scan at 7 weeks and all had seemed well.

I feel awful for her. Although this baby wasn't planned she was really happy about it. I saw her last week and she was so excited to find out what sex it was. And I'm due to see her tomorrow. We meet every Wednesday. I don't know what to say to her - just hug her I suppose. In a way it's a blessing that she has her daughter - she won't have time to dwell and hide away.

We had a really nice day today. Apart from hearing the bad news. Oz had his swimming lesson this morning - he's still not a great kicker. He lies on his back in the water and tries to eat his feet.....

Then I had a conference call with my old boss about doing some research work for him from home to earn some money. And also to start working on organising a conference for 2006 for him too - again working from home.

Then my friend L and I went out to lunch - noodles yummmm- Oscar was an angel and slept all the way through lunch and a wander round the shops - woke up when we got home in time for his feed.

I haven't fed him as much today - I think that was all the puking was.....he'd stuffed himself! He had fish pie today. I've bought some more sweet potatoes too so I can make up a batch of chicken and tato pie for his highness.

So a bittersweet day. I'll be hugging my baby extra tight tonight. Sending sparkle and light out to send the baby that would have been sweetly on it's way to the stars.

*sigh*

Oscar just threw up. Everywhere.....

I think he ate too much - the chicken was maybe too much for his little tummy.

I hope to hell he's not sick. Last week he and I were both struck by a really nasty virus - I think I mentioned I lost 10.5lbs in a week because of it. I'm just praying it's cos he ate a big bowl of chicken followed by a big bowl of applesauce plus his milk feed.....

I'll let you know....right - off to wash my hair as I'm covered.....

A quiet day really.....

Not much to report. Oscar woke 3 times in the night last night (GGRRRRRR) but didn' t feed which I was happy with. But he woke up at 6.45 and was starving. He usually wakes at 8am so it was an early start for me! I'm going to bed early tonight as I'm shattered.

I did aqua-aerobics today (yay me) while Oscar entertained them in the creche with his excellent raspberry blowing antics. Then we came home and he slept for a full 2 hours at lunchtime which gave me time to eat MORE butternut squash chips and watch Raising Helen - a cute movie though it is about parents dying which will probably give me nightmares....what is it with parenthood? Suddenly adverts make me cry like a baby, especially if they are for the NSPCC . Movies that have anything bad happening to children or mothers....I'm so much more emotional these days.

Did not a lot this afternoon. Oscar had his first taste of chicken today and he loved it. Can't believe that in 3 days time he'll be 6 months old!! Half a year....where has it gone.

I'm still waiting to hear from the Basil Brush gang what days I'll be shooting. I'm quite looking forward to it! It's a fun show to work on. I'll post more about it when I am more awake.

Thanks for reading - promise I'll be scintillatingly entertaining when I've had more sleep....

Who's the Boss? (or Oscar's nightime adventures)

Mothers out there will know what I mean by this post. You know when your baby gets something. And you're really excited. On Friday night Oscar woke up in the night, as he is wont to do, but I didn't feed him. He woke up twice but I managed to get him to sleep again without using a bottle. Which I'm really proud of. He's only recently given up breastfeeding and I used to feed him at least once, usually twice, in the night. However now I know how much he's eating with the bottles, I know he doesn't NEED to feed at night and I'm trying to wean him off it.

So I though - Friday night - YES! He got it! Hoorah! So stupid stupid me....last night I didn't even have a bottle ready in the night time warmer....thought he didn't need it...

He woke up at 5am. Which isn't too bad. I rocked him, and shushed him and cuddled him.

He screamed the place down.

I continued to rock and cuddle and even hummed a little (I try not to make any noise at night so he doesn't get stimulated). I was adamant. He's got to learn. He shouldn't feed.

Nope. Scream scream scream.

So there's a bottle in his room and some formula. I combine them and think if he's that starving he'll eat it right up, even though it's cold.

Nope.

It's 6am by this time so I'm stumbling downstairs and nuking his bottle....stumbling back upstairs to where HRH is screaming as if he hasn't been fed for 6 months....

He eats. He laughs his ass off. He really did. He lay in my arms and pissed himself laughing.(literally).

Yeah mum. Who's in charge now eh?

At 7am I admit defeat and wake his dad up who manages to get him back to sleep instantly.

Grrrr.

Thank god it's Sunday though cos DH and I have a sweet deal - Saturday morning he gets the lie in and I make sure Oz doesn't wake him. Sunday morning I get to sleep in....well until 10am usually. Which for me is a BIG deal.

I do dimly remember days when I'd sleep until noon on weekends.....where is the life which once I lived?

ps- the only good thing about being awake for such a bloody long time in the night was that I wrote this post in my head about 6 times.

Course then I forgot it. So don't expect this to be a masterpiece...

THIS WEEK I AM....

Ok I'm going to try and do this every week - I've seen it in Blogs before and it always interested me....

READING:
Just finished The Time Traveller's Wife. God what an amazing book. Now I'm re-reading Adriana Trigani's Big Stone Gap. An old favourite....

BLOGGING

• Poppy - my blog guru
• Zoe - fellow UK blog and close personal friend darling...
• Chubby Girl Brigade - Poppy hooked me on this - as a totally chubby girl (despite the diet) I LOVE this blog!

LISTENING

I am listening to Kylie a lot (I'm a gay man stuck in a woman's body). Am intending to get Scissor Sisters this week too. I'm also listening to a lullaby album of Oscar's....."A gentle breeze...from hushabye mountain"...can't get that out of my head!

WATCHING
Desperate Housewives has hit the UK and I'm hooked. Totally. That and ER and OC - I'm a Channel 4 addict.....

EATING
My newest Weightwatchers discovery - butternut squash chips. You peel a squash, cut it into chips, spray them with one-cal oil spray and bake em at gas mark 6 for around 20 minutes (till you can get a fork in easy). They taste like real chips. Absolutely brilliant and NO points!

WEARING
I need to get a new bra....now I've stopped breastfeeding I'm back on to REAL bra's - maternity ones are so blah....but I have no idea what size I am....plus I lost 10lbs in a week last week due to catching my son's stomach flu so I have no idea what fits and what doesn't. So I'm shopping this week....

I only just worked out how to do links without typing the whole URL. Woo Hoo me! I'm getting quite good at this....

The story of Oscar so far

So I can't believe I posted all that and haven't really told you about my boy, my pride and joy.

His name is Oscar Philip. But I'll start at the beginning. I got pregnant by accident....I was on the pill and everything - but I was also on a diet working towards getting pregnant in about a year or so. My body thought different. I lost 5 stone (about 70lbs for you yanks) and obviously kickstarted my fertility!

I really wanted a girl so when we found out on ultrasound that he was a he it took some getting used to! I'm really glad I found out - I'm so bloody impatient I couldn't have waited that long!

Names - he was Pip in the womb so Philip was a front runner. And Oscar...well it started as a joke - the only way I'd ever get one was to give birth to my very own Oscar....and when he was born we ran through all the names and nothing fit. Until we said Oscar and there he was...

I had a rough time with the birth - had Gestational Diabetes so was induced. Ended up with an emergency c-section and Oz spent the first 4 days of his life in special care - he had a pneumothorax - a tiny hole in his lung - which made breathing very hard for him. He was born on the Tuesday and I didn't really get a chance to hold him till the Friday....very hard. He was 9lbs 14oz....and looked so funny in the special care unit surrounded by teeny preemie babies! All the nurses knew which baby he was! He was practically squished against the sides of the incubator!

But that seems like FOREVER ago! Now he's nearly 6 months old and he's amazing. But it's hard. So hard. Harder than I ever ever thought. He doesn't sleep through- never has. He was breastfed until about 2 weeks ago when he took himself off - he wasn't interested anymore. Last night I managed not to feed him at all in the night - he woke up twice and both times I got him back to sleep without a bottle. It's so much harder when you can't just whap a boob in his mouth - you have to warm a bottle, mix a bottle....so now I know he's getting enough food during the day, there's no way he's getting MORE at night. Now I just have to work out how to get the little sod to stay asleep! He's sitting up on his own as you can see from the photo down the bottom. He blows raspberries at me. He smiles at everyone but especially at his daddy. I don't want to bore you completely but I'll post some more pictures.

He's changed my life. I've entered a whole new world (not the Disney one...the real one). The people I see every day are other mums, old people, unemployed people. On the rare instances I get up to town it's like a different place - people bustling, commuting. No prams. People giving me filthy looks for daring to enter the world of work with a baby. So I run over their feet with my buggy. I can't explain how different I feel. How different my thoughts, my dreams and my focuses are. If you're a mum you'll get it.

My friends are all different. I have a set of AMAZING new best friends who all had babies around the same time. And they are my lifeline. No one gets it like they do. No one can reassure me faster or sympathise quicker. Mums are amazing. I appreciate mine SO much more now...

Ok I can go on and on here.....this was meant to be an intro to the boy! This was taken a couple of days ago....

Cute or what

I joined a webring!

< ? Blogging Mommies # >

My husband thinks I'm nuts....

Ok so day 2 of the Blog....and I've put Oscar the incredible screaming baby down for a nap so I'm here typing away.....Dear Hubby wakes up (it's 10.30am lucky bastard) and pokes his sleepy head round the door....

"Blogging again?"

"erm...yes...why?"

"What have you got to write about?".

Charming.

I mean, I know I'm a stay at home mum and my life isn't exactly scintillating but please! I've just started. I've got all sorts of shit to bore you with yet....

So I did a brief intro yesterday - here's a bit more about me....

I was born in 1971 in England but have lived ALL over the place due to my dad's job - he's a diplomat which makes me sound posh but I'm not. Honest. I lived in Moscow when I was 7, Belfast when I was 13 then went to boarding school while the folks lived in South Africa and Australia. Ok that does make me sound posh - boarding school.....

I have one sister. She's amazing if slightly mad....she lives in the US with her wife. Yes. You read that right - she's a very happily married lesbian. She's also a catholic. Don't ask me - I've never got my head round why she converted (yes, she CHOSE to be catholic) and joined a church that damns her.....

Don't get me started on religion....

I went to Leicester Polytechnic and studied performing arts. It was there I met dear hubby who was a Biologist. We were 19. He was my first boyfriend. I was his first girlfriend (all together now...awwwwww).....

We've been together ever since. He was going to be my first ever one night stand but he moved in the next day and that was that. Next year we'll have been married for 10 years. Eek!

Ok - so reading this you'll probably think I'm old, boring and posh.

LET ME CHANGE YOUR MIND. When I'm not feeling knackered. I will be back soon with scintillating wittiness and sparkle.....

Did I mention I'm a nut for anything sparkly....my nickname is Magpie.....

The blog I aspire to

My friend Poppy is amazing. She inspired me to start this blog as hers is totally amazing - go there and be in awe.... www.poppymom.com - If I could be one tenth as witty, I'd consider myself proud....

She's someone I met online and she's my soul sistah! - an example of her generosity...when I was pregnant in May I went to Detroit for my baby shower (my sister lives there - more about her later). Poppy, who lives in St Louis, drove ALL the way to Detroit with her 3 month old daughter and then cooked an entire thanksgiving dinner for my shower. Why? Because I'd always wanted to eat true American thanksgiving so she made it happen in May for me - while juggling her own baby and her own life.

She's truly one of life's angels. And she's also bloody funny so her blog is a joy to read.

I'm hoping I can follow her lead!

LOVE YOU POPPY

I've finally succumbed

HELLO WORLD

Ok...so many people I know are doing these blog things. I resisted...told myself I don't have the time...but then again, I've always wanted to journal my life and never managed to do it on paper...so cyberspace may be the way forward.

I will do my damndest to keep this up to date and regular. So bear with me.

Where the hell do I start!!!

Ok. I'm Sally. I live in London, England. I'm an actor (www.sallyreeve.com - it's hopelessly out of date!). I'm a mother. I've been the former for longer than I can remember, I've been the latter since August and it seems like forever.

I've got a little boy called Oscar and he's amazing. Totally amazing. And exhausting. I'm trying to work out how to attach a picture so bear with me..... He was born on August 24th 2004 and I'll write the birth story here one day....

I've just got a job on the Basil Brush show (http://www.basilbrush.com/)- an English icon is Basil Brush - a cheeky, slightly camp fox...I'm going to be playing an ex-olympic wrestling champion who goes insane. I get all the glamorous jobs.

Ok - for a first post this is going to be it so I can see how it looks.....

Bear with me. I promise to try and be more interesting soon!

Recent Job...I don't normally look like this

As I said, I always get the glamorous jobs.... here I am as Charlotte Apone in The Witches Hammer to be released later this year....More information from the movie website www.amberpictures.co.uk/

This is the poster. You can't see it but they got my name wrong. I love this business. Stephanie Beecham (http://simplystephaniebeacham.com/) is the "star". Remember her from The Colbys? Don't ask me about her....as my mother told me "if you can't say something nice don't say nothing at all". Nuff said.

My son Oscar