We had our 28 week scan last Monday. Tiger is in good shape, putting on fat and moving around a lot. Looks like i've got around 10-12 weeks left to go. I can't imagine getting too much bigger but apparently I will. I have now put on 12kg and it is pretty much all tummy! Tanc is worried I am going to explode. I think Tiger looks like Tanc already.

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. A sure sign of old age... We have our 28 week scan on Monday to see how Tiger is doing, which is exciting. I've definitely got a lot bigger in the last couple of weeks. And Tiger is moving around constantly which I hope is a good sign!

We had a great weekend last. Went to Tarifa on Saturday, stopping to look at a villa on the way. What an experience! We didn't like the house at all; too dark and the rooms to small which is how the Spanish seem to design their houses. It's obviously to keep cool but I think I would commit suicide if I had to live in a house like this one! The owner showed us round his summer home for all the family and we ducked and weaved between the antlers and the bull heads and between the clutter and overstuffed furniture. Interesting but we couldn't wait to get out of there!

In Tarifa we lunched at El Arte de Vida, a cool cafe/hotel on the beach (where we took you, Lois and Amanda). Always windy in Tarifa but still great. Walked on the beach after lunch, trying not to get decapitated by the kite surf ropes and trying not to step in dog shit (an extremely distasteful habit of the Spanish!).

View to Atlas Mountains in Africa

We got back home in the evening in time to get dolled up as we went to a dinner and show of Cabaret at the Puente Romano. Fabulous night. Met new Spanish people who took us out clubbing afterwards to Suite. I felt extremely conspicuous squeezed into my cocktail dress with the ankle straps on my Gucci stilettos getting tighter by the hour! Nevertheless had a great time and fell into bed at 3am. Tanc managed to hand out and receive several very useful business cards so the event was a huge success all round.

Have started painting in my art class which is very exciting. Is fun playing with techniques for applying the paint. He is teaching me oils which is his medium and is the medium I have least experience with.

Is Semana Santa next week (Easter) and I am trying to book us a trip to Tangiers on the ferry (to do some serious shopping!) Fantastico!

Wow it's been ages since I've been on the blog. We've had a great week in Meribel, France, a night in Geneva and I have really grown outwards!

Tanc had a wonderful time skiing and really improved his 'style'. He went off early each morning (with a hangover) and came back in the evening. We stayed in a chalet in a little village called Les Allues which was 15 minutes by telecabine into Meribel village and the 'pistes'. We were joined by our friend Bob, his kids and their partners and Tanc's old friend Henry. There were also 4 other couples in the chalet who we just met. Co-incidentally there were 2 other pregnant girls which gave me some company and plenty to chat about. One girl was even due on the same day as me! And we are both starting ante-natal classes on our husbands birthday's and we both honeymooned in Port Douglas last year! How weird is that! But no we are not destined to be life long friends. I think the wife thought Tanc was a bad influence on her hubby! I enjoyed myself indulging in a massage, facial, seaweed wrap, french manicure and plenty of walking and exploring (oh and i bought some expensive French baby clothes for Tiger!)

Meribel Pistes

Meribel Village

Les Allues

Bob and family

The Alpine area in between France and Switzerland is very beautiful. Lake Annecy looks like a gorgeous place to have a holiday house, very relaxing and great fun summer or winter. We adored Geneva; the lake is fantastic, and the city itself quite glamourous.

Lake Annecy

Lake Geneva

We are now back in the swing of things. My 24 week scan showed that all is well with Tiger. And you'll be glad to hear that i have put on 10kg since becoming pregnant! Apparently you are meant to put the most wait on in the last trimester. Great! Tiger is extremely active, preferring 6am for her main aerobic session of the day! Tanc is pleased because we think she looks like him already! Oh god!

My 25 week body, enjoying the morning sunshine on our terrace

I'm straight back in to my art class and Spanish classes (which i'm finding difficult after being away 2 weeks. I had just got used to speaking French!)

Re the villa that I love, the owners have dropped 200K off their price towards our offer. Nearly there! Stay tuned....

I am very excited because it looks like my wonderful parents, Ros and Tim, are going to come to visit us and help out with the first few weeks after Tiger is born. Yippeee!

Had a very social day Saturday, a birthday party in the afternoon and a birthday party in the night. Extremely tiring for me but fun. Hard keeping the champagne quota down to a glass and the fruit punch down to a couple! Caught up with friends we hadn't seen for ages, Michelle and Mike. I used to work with Michelle and she says that the place is like a morgue now I've left!

Me and Michelle at Roberto's Birthday Party

Clover at Ollie's B'day Party

Theo as Spiderman at Ollie's B'day Party

There has been a major fuckup with our health insurance. It seems that our policy hasn't been upgraded yet as we had thought so all tests we have had to date will not be able to be reimbursed. The Spanish can be so thick! And imagine Spanish insurance companies! Hopefully we can sort it out this week but if not I don't know what we are going to do!

Our internet has been down for over a week so I am behind with my postings. There hasn't been a lot happening; we had a gorgeous, romantic Valentine's Day dinner at home cooked by me. 4 courses of all Tanc's favourites. And there were roses and divine pink champagne galore. I think Tiger is definitely going to be born with a penchant for pink champagne! She is really active now. Tanc has felt many a good kick. She responds to light and sound (as well as adrenalin, caffeine and alcohol funnily enough).

My 21 week body:

My 22 week body:

On Saturday we went to look at a villa in Casares. I fell head over in love with it. Unfortunately it's not looking good as anything in the campo (country area) doesn't value well with the banks so we won't be able to offer them anything like what they want for it. Tanc is going to put a deal to them, as he is Mr Dealmaker and if anyone can, he can, however I'm not hopeful. I am trying to forget about it.

Mr DealMaker

I've had drawing class, Spanish classes (lots of homework) and I'm trying to master my camera still so my brain is really being pushed at the moment. We are off to Meribel to ski (not me I can assure you) on Saturday so in 2 weeks I will have some interesting photos to post!

I would like to raise a toast to my latest nephew, entering the world at 4.03am on 12th February. He is a very bonny baby boy called James Timothy. Congratulations Lindy and Andrew! And great job Lindy!!!

So now I have 3 nephews and a niece! Fantastic!

Here is Baxter, Richard and Claerwen's adorable baby, born on December 19th:

And here is his handsome brother Winter:

Here is their bright little bubble cousin Madeleine, Lindy and Andrew's firstborn. Grandma Ros is giving her some coaching:

Week 20 Body:

I was sick of just wearing leggings but couldn't find any jeans to fit. Finally I found some that are 3 sizes bigger than my normal size and lowrise to fit under the belly!

Looking down to the bottom of our street. We are the last 2 garages on the right, closest to the bottom:

The top of our street. Quite a contrast!




Our neighbours. Apparently this villa used to be owned by Sting and Trudy:

A local:

Monday was supposed to be our 20 wk scan, to measure all Tiger's organs and check for anomalies. Well Tiger was not being co-operative at all so the doctor could only check the spine and the brain. Thankfully these were normal. He suggested coming back the following day after having drunk some juice or something to wake Tiger up. We went back Tuesday after I had half a cup of coffee and a dark chocolate Lindt ball. This did the trick! We went from the sublime to the ridiculous and Tiger wouldn't stop dancing around. We were able to get a good look at all the organs though and all is normal. Yay! And Tiger is actually Princess Tiger!!! We're having a girl!!! We are both very excited and Tanc is secretly delighted. Now I can get on with the nursery and start to purchase a few little girly items, definitely the fun bit of pregnancy.

Here is an eery picture of Tiger's face...

On the weekend we went to dinner at Roberto's new flat in Estepona. I don't think the oven had been used before...

I had produced a full posting on the weekend's activities but somehow lost the lot! As I can't bring myself to attempt a rewrite I will precis it. The weekend weather was dire. Saturday night saw almost hurricane conditions that left our terrace a wreck. We managed to head out to Liquid Lounge for dinner with Mark from New York, an art dealer who generously gave us most of the art in our casa. Sunday my clever husband cooked a magnificent roast chicken with multitudinous vegetables to cater for the specific additional nutritional needs of his pregnant wife. Delicious!

My 18 Week Body

I started Spanish classes this week. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 - 12. I love it. About time I took the bull (el toro) by the horns and learnt to speak Spanish (in proper sentences). I'm also trying to master all the settings on my new camera, which will take time I realise but I've started. Here is the view from our loungeroom window. It's La Concha.

The fitness regime continues and my husband is starting to look buff. He takes great pleasure in punching himself in front of me to show how hard his muscles are, strangely reminiscent of Tarzan!

It's been absolutely freezing here the last week. We saw a frost for the first time since we've lived in Spain. There was a layer of ice covering my windscreen when I went to go to Spanish class on Thursday morning. And apparently it was snowing in Ronda which is only half an hour from Marbella. I don't like it. I don't have anything really warm that fits!

17 week body







Went to a great French restaurant in Marbella old town, with Ollie and Clover. They are regulars and I can see why. Brilliant atmosphere. Food was typical bistro French, nothing flash but tasty.

We had a great weekend. Went shopping. Husband bought new clothes at the sales in Corte Ingles. Not much point me buying anything although the night before I went into Marbella old town with my friend Sandy and I bought a pair of fluffy snow boots from Charles Jourdan for 48 euro and a retro YSL Rive Gauche cropped black jacket from Deja Vu for 50 euros. So I can't complain! Tanc bought Dior Jeans half price reduced to 220 euros(!) and a beautiful Italian grey cardigan.


Here he is modelling his new purchases. Looks pretty good to me! He loves going shopping with me because I always encourage him to purchase.

We also had friends over for Sunday lunch: Olly, Clover, Clover's mum Ginny, Theo, and another family of 4 little ones. We bought a whole wild lubina (sea bass) from the Marbella market which Tanc cooked deliciously on a bed of layered potatoes with pernod flavoured leek compote. Was a little touch and go for a while as the electricity wouldn't stay on. Brilliant hubby finally located the faulty fuse and the show was able to go on!

By the way, I would like to raise a toast to my new nephew, Baxter. To Baxter!! Welcome to the world! Looking forward to seeing some photos!!

It's a funny thing that you don't realise how bad you've been feeling until you start to feel really good! My sister in law, Claerwen, kept saying that the good hormones should be kicking in soon. Well this week they have. I feel really positive, I love my husband more than ever, I don't baulk at the sight of my reflection and I no longer need a sleep during the day (or every few hours!). In fact I've been busy as a bee all week - a true Stepford wife!

Here's how I'm looking at Week 16...

Happy New Year!!!!


We got back to Spain on Saturday night after spending 2 weeks in the UK. An enjoyable family Christmas was spent at Lois and Norman's in Surrey. We all acquired a lot more 'things' which of course we had to find room for in our suitcases! My wonderful, gorgeous, sexy husband gave me my dream camera (Canon EOS 400D) for Christmas so I had a lot of fun learning what buttons did what. Finally I can put some pictures up on the blog!

We celebrated our 1st year wedding anniversary on 30th December with a romantic dinner at the Chelsea Brasserie. Here's the happy couple on their way to dinner....

I went for my 16 week ante-natal check-up yesterday and all is in good shape. Tiger was in a breach position so I couldn't see his face, his genitals (to confirm that he is a he) or anything else much. My blood pressure is very low again but Ascension, the doctor's wife, assured me that it's nothing to be alarmed about. She even suggested that I have a milky coffee in the mornings to help me with energy. Fantastic as I had been suffering coffee withdrawals!

Not much to see except a cranium and a scapula. I hope the fat starts to go on soon, Tiger's looking undernourished!