Babygroup

After 2 years of co-ordingating ‘Babygroup’, I was delighted to have the best turn-out ever for my last week of orgnanising it.

A Noisy Kind of HypnoBirth

You’d have thought a certified HypnoBirthing Instructor would have the perfect, calm gentle birth… Well, the birth of my second child, was fantastically quick, but I have to confess I yelled ‘F*@K!’ as Daisy shot into the world…

Things that go bump in the night

 2.30 am and I wake up sweltering and thirsty (one too many Red Stripes may have had something to do with that!) I stumble off down the stairs in the dark to go and get a drink of water, when BANG! scuttle, scuttle, something leaps out of my way and hits the glass door hard.

Home is where the heart is

Our first 6 months had flown here in Jamaica, and as the Caribbean summer starts to swelter, many of the expat wives take off for the cooler climes of home. Suddenly, it was our turn, I packed up my baby boy and set off for the airport…

Babymoon to Ocho Rios

A luxury guest-house, a weekend away, a chance to go horse riding on the beach… I heard the term ‘Babymoon’ somewhere and decided now B (our baby boy) was a robust 7 weeks old, it was time to get out of Kingston. H (my husband) explained to me later, as we lay in our gorgeous king-size bed with B kicking and chortling between us, that a Babymoon was when a kind person, usually Granny, babysits the baby for the first time and the parents get away together for a romantic break. Not so easy when Grannies are 10,000km away!

Joining the Expat Bubble

Last week, a bunch of my new girlfriends threw me a surprise baby shower! I felt very touched to be made such a fuss of after so little time here, and it certainly makes the impending arrival of the baby tornado seem a little less intimidating. (Due date in 4 days!) So how have I come to meet so many lovely people so fast? Some of it is about being in the ‘expat bubble’…

Day Trip to Fort Clarence

With two Irish colleagues visiting Kingston for two days on business, I had to make sure they saw a bit more of Jamaica than the offices and hotels of New Kingston. So, on their last day, I sped them out to Fort Clarence for a sunny swim and a fry up Friday fishy lunch!

“Dat gonna be a Jamaican baby?”

With just 5 weeks of my pregnancy to go, my big belly is getting me alot of attention. People ask me on the street “Dat gonna be a Jamaican baby?” and then beam at me when I say I’m having it here. Lots of expats go home to their native countries to give birth, but I have chosen to stay; a decision that has it’s pros and cons!

Coronation Market – revisited with a local!

If you read my post Downton Kingston, you’ll know my first trip with my husband to Coronation Market was a fairly adrenalin-filled adventure, where we bought nothing, kept madly smiling and moving on and felt pretty much like target practice! Well, I’m delighted to say that I’ve just been there for a second time, this time with a local, and had a totally different experience. Certainly pays to follow someone about who knows what they are doing!

On one of my frequent trips to the supermarket, I had to stop myself from buying a fighter fish in a jar. For sale, bizarrely, at the pharmacy counter; these beautiful purple fish with long fins and tails, are living in small jars, gazing out at the world, or more likely their own reflection. I asked the lady behind the counter if they’d need a bigger tank, or would they be happy to keep living in a jar, and she just shrugged and said they live fine in a jar. Am beginning to know how that feels!