October...

The weather in October has gone significantly downhill with lots of rain and temperatures plunging to 15C or so.  This has not stopped Yasmin from moving straight to standing up and giving that boring crawling thing a miss - we expect her to be walking soon...  Her relationship with Blakeley has reached new heights (or depths depending on your viewpoint) and it is quite common to find him with a very soggy tail!

We were invited to stay with one of Julian’s colleagues at his family holiday home in the mountains of La Rioja region, about an hour higher up than the grape growing area.  This was an excellent weekend with great food and wine, and a good walk, although the weekend was cut a little short by rain on the Sunday.

Meanwhile back in Madrid, work has been very busy with Julian taking on more responsibilities and being elevated to the lofty heights of the MBNA Espana management committee.  What with embassy receptions and long Spanish lunches starting around 3pm for Julian, and the Las Rozas Mothers ‘n’ Toddlers group lazy days for So Young, life is just too tough.

Sadly Blakeley has developed the early stages of diabetes and is now on a strict dietary regime - no more bacon or brie.  We are hoping that this plus some pills will stabilise him or else we will be into two insulin injections a day, which is somewhat difficult to envisage.