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Finally after plenty of nagging and a trip from the plasterers we finally kicked off with 'Project Nursery' - this did infact entail having 3 rooms completely redecorated and having lived in 1970's decor for the last 18 months I was delighted to be choosing light coloured paint from Farrow & Ball!  Soon I was negotiating my way around skirting boards, door handles, coving and electric sockets.  Michael had banned me from driving as I'd scraped the new car twice within two weeks both at speeds of under 5mph - he labelled me a maternity liability!!  My mother was then seconded in as my co driver and how she put up with me in my pregant state I had no idea but between us we managed to be Michael's DIY gofer!

My great friend Arabella Pope came to stay for the weekend and managed to steer me around Kingston John Lewis curtain department and finally sorted me & Michael out as we couldn't seem to agree on anything suitable.  Arabella is a freelance cook in London and we were treated to the most scrummy meal that she cooked for us - I was resembling a beached whale and seemed to have lost the enthusiam to lift a saucepan so it was a bit of a luxury having someone cook for us especially someone as talented as her.  I did however have a bit of a funny turn in John Lewis but with a week still to go before the baby was due I thought nothing of it....silly me!!

Lily Grace Wynne arrived in the morning of 17th November and I think I must have been blessed with a pretty short labour of only 6 hours.  She is adorable but I'm still getting to grips with having a REAL baby about the place.  I'm quite good at the mucking out but the feeding regime is taking a little longer to sort out.  As she was early I wasn't quite prepared for her arrival (I've only know about it for 9 months!!) but I've since got the pushchair off to a T - it was a shakey start and when Michael waved me off on our maiden voyage - a walk down the lane to my parents house I had a total out of body experience......I was pushing a pushchair, with a baby in;  AND IT WAS MINE!!!  I was slightly concerned as it wasn't as comfortable ride as I would have liked but having reached my parents house I realised that Michael had sent us out on flats - he hadn't pumped up the tyres!!  We are now in the full swing of sterilizers, nappies, puke and changing baby clothes...it's a joy!  I was delighted that Auntie Arabella has already given her a pony complete with stable even though it's a stuffed one it's a start and Michael has yet to buy her a tennis racquet so I could be winning already!!!!

Poor Buggy had to take 5 days off for Maternity leave and I have to say didn't complain at spending more time eating grass!!  She has since resumed her routine and has now started jumping and has been keeping Michael busy although he's not been too keen on riding in the rain of which there's been loads.  The other animal keeping Michael busy is Maurice Mole......in our back garden.  I think he's invincible and has been laughing at our attempts to evict him.  Michael has tried smoking him out - he must have been wearing a mask and we've now resorted to a sonic noise contraption.... I think Maurice is wearing headphones as he popped up 4 new mole hills today - any Mole experts out there with any tips get in touch!!!

We're off to Olympia to get into the Christmas Spirit with Lily next week so will report back from there.

Until next time.......

The weather for the Lycetts Young Event Horse finals was absolutely fabulous...I remember watching last year when it was pouring down, windy and freezing so it made a nice change to sit out in the sun to watch.  I was parked by the showjumping while Michael videoed all the 4 year olds going cross country which he later posted on the website.  He's really enjoyed making the cross country videos and have we've had requests for next year so if you see a man in bushes with a video camera that's Michael!  There was a great atmosphere at the final this year and lots of people turned out to watch the sports future stars.  For the first time I went to watch the In Hand classes as Kate Maitland was showing her two homebred 3yr olds who'd never left the farm before.  They were very well behaved all considered if a little vocal!

With my foreign travel ban now firmly in place we headed to Broadway in Gloucestershire, an event I've never been to.  We passed the racing mecca of Jack Daws Castle on the way there and found the event nestled on the side of a lovely village.  It was a very well run event and an excellent viewing course.  The showjumping arena reminded me of the village fete as there seemed to be lots of locals turning out to watch the event.  Michael again was videoing the course as well as watching a couple of lovely young horses he's had his eye on.

Pau CCI**** is always an event I like to go to but sadly this year it was definately a no go.  I know it's a long way to get to but there are quite good travel links with Pau having a local airport and Toulouse, Bordeaux & Biarritz all within shouting distance.  The Brucie Bonus this year was they were showing it live on the Internet so who needs to fly all that way!!   Saying that my parents always go to Pau they stay in a little hotel that has and excellent restaurant (one of the best in Pau) so they were my eyes and ears for the week!  Last year when we went it was almost Bikini weather so the sight of all the brolley's made me feel slightly better that'd we'd not gone.  The live coverage on FEI TV was brilliant although the coverage on Pau's own website was slow to say the least and drove me mad.  Michael connected the laptop into the TV and I had the best spot on the sofa to watch while Millie had her own screen from the laptop on the floor to watch - her favourite was the cross country...couldn't drag her away!!

Buggy has arrived and doesn't seem to have forgotten what she learnt when she was here in the summer so Michael is able to start her off pretty much where he left off with her which is encouraging so there'll be more updates from her corner when she starts jumping which shouldn't be too long.

I'm relieved the season is now finally over as I've not ridden at one event and seem to have been pregnant forever.....but the finishing line is now in sight with just two weeks to go!  I've been nagging to get the Nursery decorated and finished in time but I can see that going out of the window as the plasterers aren't arriving until next week!  We've nowhere to put all the baby's stuff that's been ordered and arriving at a scary rate of knots and the shed is bulging at the seams.  Putting the pram up is an art I'm going to have to master, I've been failing miserably on that score and god knows what the bottle feeding steamer does..... it's like The Krypton Factor! 

Until next time...........hopefully bump free!