GMT already!?

I was a bit thrown this morning, I thought the clocks would go back next weekend. I'd stayed in Lara's room for much of last night to allow Olga to get some decent sleep, and it was my turn to look after Lara this morning. So when Lara woke and was clearly ready for breakfast, I checked the clock in her room and it said 7.30, which meant she'd actually had a good lie-in, as recently she's been wanting breccy between 5.30 and 6.30.
Anyway, I took her up to our room, and checked the radio-controlled clock we have in there and sure enough, it said 6.30. I wasn't convinced until I went back to the nursery and turned the news on and saw the clocks had gone back!
It worked out well in the end though, as we are normally quite slow to get going on Sundays, but even after giving Lara a bath, then her porridge & yoghurt, feeding Mishka, Olga having her shower and taking Mishka for a walk, then coming back and cooking us a nice big fry-up, it was still only "10.30"... This is why I have the time to write these blog posts and update the webalbums with some new photos. Lara and I will be off to the pub for at 1pm to watch the Chelsea v Liverpool game, which is why she's got her Liverpool kit on in the new photos.

Poor Old Mishka

No sooner has Lara recovered from her lurgy (sorry, Baba Luda, I mean illness!) than Mishka decides it's his turn to get some attention. Olga had noticed earlier this week that Mishka was behaving slightly strangely, it seemed like he was trying to lick the air around his head! On Wednesday evening I noticed something nasty in his fur on the side of his head, below his ear. By Thursday evening he was scratching this area a lot, so on Friday we took him to the vets, and either a cut or an insect bite has become infected, and he has a badly affected patch of skin about the size of a £2 coin. The vet shaved this affected area so we can get to it to clean it, and apply some magic gel, and Mishka's also on antibiotics now, but to top it all off, he needs to wear one of those radar dishes as much as possible over the next few days to prevent him from scratching the affected area. He really didn't like it on Friday evening, and we let him sleep without it then, but as of yesterday he's wearing it all the time apart from when we take him on walks. He's off into kennels next Saturday morning until Monday afternoon, so we hope it will have cleared up by then. Imagine the embarrassment he'll feel in front of other dogs if he has to go in looking like this:


It's also taking him some time to get used to getting through doorways and between furniture, and while he's got it on we dont' let Lara play with him in case he accidentally hits her with his "dish".

An Autumn Visitor

Olga had a visitor while I was in Houston, well at least next-door's back garden had a visitor - the first Monkjack deer for sometime. He or she looks very healthy considering it lives in a fairly built-up area. While I was in Houston hunting was a much-discussed topic amongst the menfolk, as deer hunting season starts next month. I tried to find out how they woulsd react to this situation, but I suspect I already know the answer, although they'd have to wait until the deer strayed onto their property before shooting it. Two of the guys I spoke with (both in their 50s) hunt with bow and arrows as well as rifles! Texans, eh!
Anyway, full marks to Olga for shooting this with nothing more harmful than a Canon 10D with a 90mm lens at 1/90th second exposure.

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm NOT ready for my close-up

It was photograph day at the nursery yesterday, when all the kids get their portraits taken. Well, that's the theory. Lara was dressed in a lovely denim dress with a white shirt, we combed her hair (for all the good it did) and dropped her off...
When we came to pick her up, Sam, the nursery assistant who looks after Lara, reported that they just couldn't get Lara to settle in front of them camera, she'd start screaming when they put her down in the portable studio! In the end they just gave up trying and Lara didn't get her photo taken, although Sam reports that she was absolutely fine the rest of the day, it was just this photo session that bothered her. Perhaps she only likes Mum or Dad to take her picture?! We'll need to set up a studio at home and take a nice portrait there instead. Lara needs to get over that or her supermodel career will be over before it begins (between playing in major tennis tournaments and curing cancer).
Sam also reports that only she can feed Lara in nursery, Lara won't let any of the other assistants do it! Are we raising a picky madam!!?

The Light at the End of the Tunnel??

It's probably just a one-off, but we're optimists - Lara slept through the night last night! From being put to bed at around 7.45 we didn't need to go into her room until 6.10 this morning. She did stir several times, she normally needs some attention between 10pm and 11pm, and indeed just as we turned our light out just after 11, she woke and whinged for a few seconds, but then all went quiet again. There was something similar in the around 3.40, which is another favourite time for her to need some soothing, and indeed Olga got up, ready for action, but again, it went quiet after a few seconds. Even when Olga did bring her to bed for her breakfast at 6.15, they stayed in bed until 8am. Now, we know not to expect this to happen every night, but the fact it's happened once means it can happen again. We just need to find out what we did yesterday that was different to other days, and try that thing again.
She did have a lot to eat during the day, or at least more than she's usually been having for the past 6 weeks or so, as her appetite returns after being ill, so we think that may have contributed to a good night's sleep (for everyone!).
She had a good breakfast again this morning of porridge, yoghurt and a biscuit, in her Texas Longhorns tracksuit, and seemed just like her old cheerful self when I left for work.