A quiet but enjoyable weekend populated by films (Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind - inventive, convoluted and enjoyable, Highwaymen - dumb unimaginative switch-off stuff, and Kill Bill Vol. II - surprisingly entertaining (based on Roj's account of Vol. I, anyway)).

Took Jody swimming on Saturday morning as planned, but her normal pool wasn't open til 2 and the alternative was freezing cold. She didn't enjoy it at all (apart from a couple of trips down a very impressive water-slide) so we left quite quickly to stop her shivering. We did a spot of shopping on the return trip including purchasing a bed-side. Now that Jody can climb at least grade 7b, she has no difficulty whatsoever in clambering in and out of her cot. I should say into, because when she climbs out of it, she gets to the point where she's hanging off the top and can't reach the floor nor find a footing. At this point she drops to the floor quite dramatically. All this is in daylight with a helping hand to stop the fall, so goodness knows what the outcome if she decides to clamber out in the middle of the night when we're more than an arm's reach away. Hence we are considering turning her cotbed into a bed so that she can happily climb out without hurting herself. Unfortunately this is only the theory. In reality we're wondering whether she'll be able to fall out of the 40cm-or-so gap left at one end of the bed-side (we can't put it in the middle because the 15-cm gaps at either end become a risk for strangulation - they have to be at least 25cm), and even if she made it to the floor without injury, would she then leave her bedroom and climb the stairs (risking an even nastier fall) rather than pop in to see her parents? Oh the dilemnas of parenting a hyperactive baby! (In actual fact we've decided to seal her sleeping bag so she can't wriggle out of that, and hope to postpone the cot-conversion for a couple of months).

After the therefore pointless shopping trip we retired for an afternoon of naps (me and Jody) and unsuccessful Christmas shopping (Roj). I did something very unusual later by going out into town and leaving Roj and Jody at home. It was a very novel experience to be able to use shop stairs instead of waiting endlessly by crowded lifts. If it hadn't been Christmas Shopping time I might even have enjoyed it. Certainly managed to get about twice as much done as when carting a buggy around.

Sunday was a very quiet day. Did quite a bit of clearing up in the morning until Camilla popped round with a very welcome Starbucks & assorted muffins (most of which Jody consumed or dropped on the floor). Spent a very pleasant hour catching up and swapping plans for new things happening next year (lots for both of us, we hope). I shelved ideas for shopping in the afternoon and instead settled down in front of the DVD player and fought off sleep. Then made enough Shepherd's Pie for about 15 in the evening (how do people cook from scratch every night when it takes me 2 hours to do a simple one-course meal?) If only I had a freezer ...

Had to skip the gym yet again this morning to go to my midwife appointment. I've swapped midwife groups so I'm now in the care of the people who run the BBC (Bloomsbury Birthing Centre) in UCLH. I prefer the options there than at my official catchment hospital of St Mary's which has no alternative to conventional hospital birth. Today I thought I'd be going along to discuss my birthing options but when I got there they took my blood pressure, updated my notes and sent me on my way. They still need authorisation, apparently, to treat me out of my catchment area, so there's little point in making any concrete plans. Pointless exercise (I discussed this whole issue on the phone 6 weeks ago and don't see why they couldn't have dealt with organisation issues then). Anyway ... will be seeing them again in mid-Jan at which point I hope they will happily agree to midwife me and listen to my plans for birth. Which I won't bore you with right now.

Meanwhile we've also received a time slot for the wooden floors. Unfortunately it's not - as hoped - before Christmas because the job is big enough that they need a whole week to complete it, and the first full free week they have begins 17 January. Still ... the time will fly by I'm sure, and it will be the last thing done before we can call the place complete (apart from rug-purchasing).

Afternoons are becoming difficult. If anyone has any ideas on where to take a hyperactive youngster when she wakes up in the afternoon, it's already getting dark and the parks close within 30 minutes, I'd much appreciate it. Apparently the most popular pastime is play dates, but at 17 months toddlers really aren't very sociable, and still aren't aware enough of danger to be allowed the run of someone's else's house (they get to know danger spots in their own houses much quicker). Apart from which most of our mum friends, like us, have quite small flats with barely enough room for one toddler to wreak havoc, let alone two.

Instead of going to the gym on Monday I decided to spend the day working on my little paying project that finally came through last week. Jody is more than happy to play on her own for quite a while now, and I made sure that I broke off at times to keep her from getting lonely. In the end I got more than a full day's work done - despite going for a walk in the afternoon with Rachel and Amy (9 mths) - including hours done in the evening and during her naptime. Very constructive!

Tuesday we went off to Kenwood House to meet up with Sophie and Florence (9 mths) and Kate and Jack (21 mths). Unfortunately Jack was teething badly and didn't enjoy much of the morning, so I ended up pushing Kate's buggy while she carried him. Found my air supply tangibly compromised when trying to walk up hills carrying Jody - obviously the constriction has started. It was a really nice morning though (helped by the yummy café up there) - and good to see the girls on fine form. Florence is the spitting image of her dad which is quite funny to see. Jody looks a lot like Roj but her colouring sometimes sways the balance - with Florence there's no mistaking the heritage.

We got back at about 1 with Jody snoozing in the car, and put her straight to sleep. Then later it was off to UCLH for my 20-week scan. Some time ago Roj and I decided that if able, we would find out the sex this time round. There are a number of reasons - it'll be nice to be able to tell Jody about her baby brother or baby sister rather than just asking her to expect a little baby. And unlike the first time around, this pregnancy is not about the pregnancy ... it's about the baby at the other end. We're impatient to meet it and know it, so finding out what it is is a big step in that direction. Roj was late for the scan so when he walked in I joked about already knowing. When I backed down the sonographer laughed and said she thought I'd seen already because she'd got such a good shot of it earlier on. It was then that we knew it was a little boy, borne out by the views she then showed us. Jody's having a little brother!

Obviously we'd have also been excited to give Jody a little sister, but having one of each is absolutely brilliant (Roj thinks it's doubly wonderful as he won't have to put up with me urging him for a third!) We're both really excited about it and are finding it much easier to bond with the baby now we know what he is. Roj also managed to feel just how actively he was kicking my belly on Monday night for the first time - looks like we breed hyperactive babies!

Wednesday was normal - off to Swimming Nature in the morning where Jody was on admirable dunking form (she's worked out when she's going under now, and holds her breath before she's dunked). Then sleep and various chores in the afternoon.

Thursday we all went off to the Venture studios in Primrose Hill for these freebie photos. I found the session quite stressful although Roj enjoyed it - mainly because the noise levels were too high what with background music and the photographer shouting for Jody's attention - so Jody was getting quite het up. I have no idea whether she managed to get any decent shots but we're going along for our viewing session next Thursday morning and I guess we'll find out then.

Today's been normal too - toddler group in the morning followed by naptime and a walk in Regent's Park in new wellies where Jody proved the impracticality of her off-white fleece jacket by landing face-first in the mud!

Roj and I are off to the sports centre tomorrow morning to take Jody for a swim, followed by a Christmas-card creative session in the afternoon. Sunday Camilla might come round for a coffee in the morning, but otherwise we're yet to make any solid plans. I guess we'll have to revert to Christmas shopping with it now being less than a month away. Which'll be fun with a buggy and an impatient tot I'm sure. Gah.

Nice weekend. The christening was quite enjoyable - not nearly as many unspoken restrictions on the activities of toddlers as there are at weddings - and it was good to see St. Paul's for the first time in ages (ever?)

Quick buffet lunch at Strada afterwards but Jody was very restless and approaching nap time so we left promptly with a hot Starbucks and watched Shrek II back at home (which Jody - who had refused to nap - was very amused by)

Later watched Swimming Pool which was weird and a bit flimsy but quite watchable.

On Sunday we went to Jungle Gym again to give Jody an hour of exercise out of the cold and rain. She was excellently behaved as usual except for her cries of 'fooo, foooo' (it being near snack time). Back via helium balloon shop and then Paddington Green where we met up with Pat, Adam and Milo (2 yrs) and a bunch of their other friends for birthday celebrations with fizzy wine and cake. Again, we were encroaching on Jody's naptime though, so we left fairly promptly and spent the afternoon grouting the parts of the shower that had cracked (Roj) and snoozing on the sofa (me). Then another mediocre but watchable film - Out of Time - in the evening.

I ran on Saturday morning having woken at 5:30am, and got a bit spooked running through Regent's Park in early morning darkness - not that murderers tend to hang out at 6:30am, but there's no surpressing my imagination! Still ... it meant that I did a very quick circuit so there was some recompense!

Ran again this morning, but my legs refused to work and my bump felt very uncomfortable so I ended up cutting it short and walking half of it which was a bit disappointing. Forgot to book the creche on Friday though, so there are unlikely to be any slots available for the gym this morning. Not going on Thursday either, due to Venture photo session, so this week looks like a running week. Snore.

Lots of other stuff going on though. Tomorrow am meeting Kate and Sophie with their bairns up at Kenwood House for walks and coffee, then we have the 20wk scan in the late afternoon. Wednesday is swimming as usual, then Thursday we have this family photo session which I won a £125 voucher for - which will only take an hour this time. And I will make a start on Christmas shopping this week ... honest!

The week has been, as predicted, normal. Gym on Monday, Storytime on Tuesday, a fab swimming lesson on Wednesday followed by walk in the park with friends Rachel and Amy (8 months). Yesterday was a hectic morning. I decided to go to Sainsbury's on the way back from the gym. Unfortunately Finchley road was one huge traffic jam (both ways) so it took me 30 minutes to make the 5 minute trip from gym to supermarket. The schedule was tight already so being late in the supermarket meant that Jody was already hungry and whingy. I zipped round - forgot loads of things on my list so zipped round again - and finally left. Course it was also pissing down all day so both of us were getting soaked as we went from house to car, car to gym etc. We got back and just about managed the rigmarole of unloading the car outside the house, then off to find a car-parking spot (which on this occasion took me 20 minutes), and back to the house with still hungry whingy toddler to get shopping upstairs in the lift and into the flat. It's enough of a trial with the lift - goodness knows if we lived in a walk-up.

Fortunately Jody decided to sleep for nearly 3 hours in the afternoon so I was able to relax for a bit and catch up on a couple of things. By the evening I was actually feeling quite refreshed.

Had some lovely deliveries this week - a fab t-shirt for Jody from Jennifer and Ethan in NY, and a box of Dr. Seuss CDs and a Kent Haruf book along with a record-breakingly long letter from Yi Shun. Makes my week to get letters and parcels - it feels like Christmas already!

Talking of which, have I made any Christmas shopping progress this week? Not a sausage. I've made a mental list but they're no good unless you transform them into reality are they? Next week maybe.

We're going to a christening tomorrow (our first) in St. Paul's Cathedral Chapel. I don't know the couple very well (colleague of Roj's from work), but am quite looking forward to going along. Lunch at Strada afterwards.

We've also got a 2-year-old's party on Sunday although it just entails cake and games in the park for a couple of hours. Perfect.

Meanwhile I'm definitely going running again (although it took me 3 minutes extra to get round my loop on Wednesday and I had to force myself not to abandon early) and getting lots of work done. I finally have a paying project to get my teeth into, and apart from having zero time to do it, I'm actually quite enjoying it. Hopefully will make good progress this weekend so it doesn't hang over my head for the weeks to come.

Our favourite toddler group today, followed by some shopping for aforementioned christening present. Waterstones methinks.

Jody was sick on Thursday evening so I took her back to the doctors on Friday afternoon. They checked her over thoroughly but again couldn't find anything that could be causing it. Had got myself concerned that she'd swallowed something she shouldn't have that was preventing things from going down, but they ruled out that possibility. Anyway, since then she's made an obvious recovery. Her evening appetite (somewhat reduced) has returned, and likewise for her afternoon milk. Best of all her bodily functions are all back to normal and that includes no puking. So we're off to the gym again tomorrow and hope she doesn't catch something new in the creche!

The builders, miraculously, finished all their work in one day so we now have what is alleged to be a completed bathroom. Unfortunately we're still getting cracked grout in the shower and there is a teeny weeny leak which will be nigh on impossible to fix. The stinky drain is somewhat less stinky, but not perfect ... and we're starting to think we might have to settle for that. The thought of having the workmen back week in week out until they find a viable solution is too much to bear.

Friday's toddler group was fab as usual. Have found out that friend Jane is due around the same time as me, so no doubt we will be sharing niggles as time goes on. Jody is getting to know all the actions to all the nursery rhymes and has me in stitches performing them. She definitely loves the group too.

Yesterday Roj was out adventure racing with his friend Will so Jody and I had a normal-ish day. Park in the morning (and returning some of the unsuccessful purchases of the week), and then to John Lewis to measure feet in the afternoon (which we abandoned, it being around a half-hour wait and there being a handy foot-measuring device available which we commandeered for a few seconds). It has been a gorgeous sunny weekend but unbelievably cold. I wrapped Jody up in most of the layers she owns but having no gloves had to contend with little blue ice-cube fingers after about an hour on Saturday. Don't know how you're supposed to cope when she is more than likely to pull them off as soon as you've put them on her.

Today we took Roj to Jungle Gym for him to romp around a bit - playing cold avoidance even though it's been sunny once again.

This week is a normal week. No more puking (fingers crossed), so gym on Monday and Thursday as usual (the less I have to run around Regent's Park - the only viable alternative - the better). And in the interim doing the normal mum/toddler stuff around Marylebone Village and maybe even making a start on Christmas shopping. If I'm organised.

Had a rather apalling night's sleep on Sunday waking to the sound of Jody puking again just before 2am. Cleaned up and stayed with her for an hour while she tried to sleep but she just ended up puking again. Eventually she dozed off but woke me on a regular basis thereafter with every little snuffle or squeak. About 4 hours sleep had, in all.

I decided it was only fair to cancel Monday's gym session (24 hours notice is all very well unless your baby starts puking the night before, so that's twice I will have forfeited my creche fee), but Jody was actually a lot better in the day - keeping all her food down and gaining in energy throughout the day. I kept it quiet though - she spent most of the day either in the buggy or in bed - in the hope that she'd recover.

Yesterday we went along to Storytime at the library which was a vast improvement on prior weeks for the sole reason that I was sitting on a comfortable chair! A bit sleepy though, due to the after effects of Sunday night and worsening by the afternoon when Jody slept for only 45 minutes herself. Took her out into Regent's Park in the afternoon for an enjoyable run around but got ticked off by several people for having her out in the extremely minimal rain. (In retrospect it may not have been a good idea as she puked her dinner up in its entirety and then, after a thankfully sick-free night, puked breakfast up again this morning.)

So we were forced to abandon swimming lessons for the day, cancel the gym session tomorrow morning and bundle her off to get checked over by my unfeasibly boyish doctor. Nothing's wrong outside of the puking though - no temperature, no throat issues (Jody's friend Caitlin has scarlet fever so it was always a possibility), no dehydration, no breathing problems or rashes. All is well it seems, outside of the tummy bug. In fact the unfeasibly young doctor was quite sympathetic and useful on this occasion, and made me feel like I was not wasting his time in the least. Perhaps he was just grateful to have a patient to practise on!?

And today the builders are back. Three of them in total fixing every last thing that we've complained about. If we're very very lucky this will be the last we see of them, but obviously I'm not making any assumptions. 5 times more to fix a small leak will probably be closer to the mark.

I am receiving delivery of a heap of maternity clothes tomorrow. Maternity clothes already! I have sadly waved goodbye to my normal jeans in the last couple of days, but am nowhere near fitting in my maternity jeans from last time around (must have stretched them out of all proportion). Feel utterly self-conscious to be this big already but can't be helped. Not with this appetite for patisserie anyway!

Took Jody to the zoo yesterday, which was a great success. Last time we were around animals (at a farm in S. Wales) she wasn't very interested, but this time she went mad for some of them - particularly the monkeys. And hot dogs at the Honest Sausage on the way back through the park topped the day off nicely!

Jody's finally shaken her most recent cold (by giving all her germs to the grandparents, it seems) and we've had quite a lot of fun this week swimming (Wednesday at her usual lesson and Thursday after my gym session - although the Holmes Place changing rooms are like Siberia), going to toddler group and seeing friends.

Today I took Jody to the park in the morning while Roj was out training for his next adventure race, and then Giraffe for lunch, followed by a fairly lazy afternoon. I'm still taking the opportunity to nap a while when Jody does in an attempt to catch up on last weekend's poor sleep. I guess I'm just going through a tired patch right now.

Jody's been a sweetheart all weekend but is continuing her bad tantrumming habit of headbutting the nearest object (floor, table, daddy) and also threw up quite vigorously this evening over dinner. Not sure why - she doesn't seem ill at all - so I guess we'll just monitor her and see what happens.

Also - in the space of the last couple of months - she's gone from blowing you a kiss when you say goodnight, then turning over to sleep, to screaming blue murder every time you make to leave her bedroom. We've tried nearly everything, but if you stay in there she stays awake even longer because she's checking to see that you're still there. Unfortunately the best line of action is to leave her to angrily scream a bit (go back in if it gets really bad) and wait for her to give in to sleep. It's a bit harrowing and all the worse because we had her in such a good bedtime pattern. Just shows they can change the good habits as well as the bad.

This week will be much as usual. Catching up on the million things I have to do. Complaining to Blockbuster that despite their promises we have received an email from them stating that there is nothing on our list that they can send us (despite having 25 DVDs listed - many of which are first choices from several months ago). Some of the movies are good, granted, but I can't believe they've been out of stock for this long. Something is wrong with their process methinks.

And on Wednesday I'm looking forward to receiving the miscreant plumbers once again, who will - on pain of death - fix the damn shower and the damn stinky drain. And if they dare to spill an ounce of dust outside of the bathrooms ... (mind you, having accepted the quote on the wooden floor, we are anticipating plenty of that to come) ...

p.s. Congratulations to Martin and Anna on the birth of their baby Louisa last night, and also to Paula Radcliffe for winning the NY marathon today. And just in case you thought I'd missed it, to the apalling decision made by the majority of the American voting public last week I can only ask ARE YOU MAD?

Lovely weekend in Venice. It was tough leaving Jody for nearly three days, but she had fun with the grandparents and I didn't think about her every second. I did, however, sleep apallingly in our expensive hotel room with added mozzies (I inhaled one mozzie while sleeping on the last night - found it when I blew my nose in the morning - that's vengeance for you!) and with the sound of rushing water on the first night caused by severe flooding.

Before we left England the main piece of advice was "take your wellies." We didn't take this at face value, expecting when people said high tide caused a bit of flooding, that we'd be jumping over puddles from time to time. So on Sunday under what we later discovered to be only 5cm less than the most severe flooding ever, 80% of Venice was underwater. We found this out as we made to leave the hotel after breakfast that morning and discovered a canal outside the front door where the street should have been.

After much musing about what to do, Roj discovered the partially dry back street and we headed off in search of some heavy duty bin bags which we found being freely distributed by the local 5 star hotel (ah, so that's what you pay for). We waded through up to 2 feet of water in places, and watched shop-owners despair at their sinking shops. It was very amusing - we didn't know that this wasn't 'normal', but it was certainly interesting.

In the end we took the no. 1 vaporetto along the Grand Canal (the streets were too crowded for easy wading) taking in sights along the way, then stopped off in a different part of Venice to explore. Eventually (after some barefooting on my behalf) the tide returned to normal and we were able to cross St Mark's Square (the lowest point of the city) by about 5pm after a quick trip up to the top of the Campanile.

Saturday night we had succumbed (through hunger) to a very touristy restaurant under the shadow of the Rialto Bridge so Sunday we were determined to find some quality fare and ended up at a 4* restaurant recommended by our guide book that we'd booked earlier. The bread and wine were amazing but I had one of those nights where I managed to choose badly off the menu and didn't enjoy much of my food at all. Still ... it was nice to soak up the atmosphere. We did more of that afterwards on the obligatory gondola trip which was short but amazing. The sea mist had descended by the time we found a working gondola (it was getting late), and the atmosphere in the desolate canals with only a small light on the bow of the boat and the odd window radiating light was truly amazing. Arguably the best part of the trip and highly recommended.

Monday wasn't nearly as flooded, though we'd purchased temporary plastic-bag wellies just in case. We looked round the Basilica in the morning and then did some more random street-wandering, which is pretty much what we'd done all weekend. We consumed a lot of lovely ice-cream too - pistacchio like you wouldn't believe - which was best food of the whole weekend, in my opinion. We had to get going just after lunch to make it to the airport for our flight and actually I think we were ready to leave by then. We both loved the weekend, but more street-wandering wasn't too appealing. Venice is a surprisingly small city and unless you want to tackle the monuments in depth, you can cover the heart of it in one single weekend. Not being gung-ho tourists we just wanted to go and get a feel for the place and we really managed to do that in the time we were there. It's unlikely we'll go back but for anyone wanting a short city break in a weird and wonderful place (you feel like you're in a stage set the whole time), I highly recommend it. (Also amazing to make comparisons with both parts of Orlando, FL and The Venetian in Las Vegas both of which, we concluded, made admirable immitations without the advantage of Venice's thousands of years of history and culture).

By the time we got back to London on Monday night Jody was tucked up in bed and we didn't have the heart to wake her. I spent most of the night waking up at intervals and wondering whether it was morning yet so I could go and see her. It was lovely to see her little cheeky smile again after being away for so long.

Had some errands to run on Tuesday morning - including looking round a local Montessori nursery school I have my eye on for Jody next spring - and then swimming this morning - so by this afternoon I was utterly exhausted. Luckily Jody's long nap today meant that I could at least partially catch up, so by my gym session tomorrow I'm hoping to feel refreshed (after my holiday - eh?)

Thanks must go to my parents for being stunning babysitters over the weekend - I know they love spending time with Jody but they went to great efforts and made it as comfortable for her as they could. She seems to have picked up a minimum of bad habits and this afternoon was an absolute delight. Perhaps the break has done us both good.

Not sure what or when the next big trip will be. We're wandering about the possibility of hiring a villa in Europe somewhere next summer for a couple of weeks - somewhere with space for babies and toddlers - but whether that ever gets beyond a pipe-dream is yet to be seen.

Meanwhile it's on with normal life and with preparations for Christmas (eek - already!) And maybe I'll even get round to putting up some Venice photos (which I needed image rescue software to access). Lots of things to do (including finally sorting out this flat, hopefully) and quite a bit of correspondence to catch up on too. Busy busy busy ahead.