There's going to be a bit of a blogging hiatus at Bod for tea. The move has finally taken over and I need to focus on unpacking boxes, finding toys, putting together things that were taken apart, replacing things that didn't make it in one piece and getting some sort of order and routine into our new life. In the meantime, be good and don't eat all the chocolate biscuits. As Arnie was so fond of saying, I'll be back.

Blogging's taken a back seat to recently. No apologies. No excuses. No time! But I made myself find the time this week to express some heartfelt gratitudes and cheerfulness in the middle of all the chaos.

1. Friends. I am grateful beyond words for the glorious, funny, caring, gorgeous and downright fantabulous mummy friends that I've made during this wild three year ride. We've bumped together, birthed together (almost literally in one case!) and raised our toddlers together. We've celebrated and commiserated. They were there for me when I cried and despaired with shoulders to cry on and heartfelt advice. I hope that I was able to do the same for them. I will miss them more than I can say.

2. The Interweb. What would I have done without this amazing invention? Thanks to the interwebicle I've ordered DD's birthday card and present to be delivered when we return home, filled an online basket with all the groceries and other household items we'll need for someone to drop right at my door, kept in touch with friends and family, vented my spleen and given wings to my creative side through this little blog and made some absolutely wonderful bloggy friends who I hope to someday meet in the 'real' world.

3. Birthday parties. There's nothing like a few birthday parties to distract a little from the fact that all her real (i.e. not ) toys have disappeared. Phew! (And goody bags are fab for keeping until the twelve hour *gulp* plane ride home.)

Yes this is exactly how I'll look on my new bike

4. Spinning. Bike, not top. Yes we've bought a spinning bike!!!!! In a nail biting finish on Ebay we were the lucky bidders on an ex-gym model which I will be jumping on as soon as it's delivered. Ok, so perhaps I'm overdoing the enthusiasm a teensy bit and I'll probably only work up to it some time in November, but it's a start non?


Grateful? Cheerful? Link up over at the lovely Michelle's Reasons to be Cheerful and Maxabella's Grateful for...






Images: vichie81 & photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Well that fateful day has been and gone. The packers arrived yesterday morning to throw our things pack all our worldly possessions nice and carefully into crates and lose them ship them back to the UK. The last few days have been a whirlwind of 'do I really want this?' and 'oh, I wondered where that went', and 'put that back in the box!'. And so it is with some experience that I share some top tips for moving house (and country) with a toddler.

Top tip #1: Make a list of everything that's going in the shipment, and mark the rooms that they came from. It's a pain in the arse but if the worst happened and it all got lost at sea you'll be grateful you did when the claims adjuster doesn't believe you had 5 pairs of Jimmy Choos in a crate next to a bug zapper. Highlight the brands of items that are precious to you and include serial numbers where possible. It also makes it easier when you're unpacking the boxes at the other end as you can check off the items and make sure nothing's missing. Our list ran to 33 pages. Seriously.

Top tip #2: Make some home-made toys that you can leave behind when you finally move. We've been remarkably lucky with DD and she hasn't been too upset that all her toys have disappeared into boxes in preparation for the packers arrival (see top tip #3). I credit the 'new' play house and Maisy figures that I made from a cardboard box. She loves it and I don't need to try and squash it into a case when we leave. I was inspired by the lovely Lorraine over at ikatbag who is seriously talented with cardboard in ways I cannot ever hope to be. (You could just borrow toys from friends too - but this is much more fun!)

Top tip #3: Buy some cardboard boxes from IKEA, collect together small less-valuable items and pack them yourself. Nothing that needs bubble-wrap y'all, that's what packers are for, but things like stationery, small toys, kitchen utensils etc. Mark clearly on the outside what's in the box. When it arrives at the other end all these bits and bobs won't be floating around a large box with your garden furniture and you can just pop them on a shelf until there's time to re-home them. Also makes it easier to see the wood for the trees in your looks-like-a-bomb's-hit-it-apartment.

Top tip #4: Read all your customs paperwork carefully and make sure you know what you can and can't ship home. We can't have any liquids in our shipment back to the UK. None. All those toiletries I stock-piled because I can't get them here? Yep, in my case or in the bin. If you know you're moving and friends or family are coming to visit before you leave, get them to squirrel a few things into their case for you.

Top tip #5: Collect together your little one's favourite DVDs, take them out of the boxes and put them in a slip case. You can ship the boxes to save weight in your case and they're all in one place when you need to whip 'em out. DD watched DVDs for two days straight while we were trying to get ready for the movers. No, I'm not proud of it, but it was necessary.

Top tip #6: It's kinda scary if you're little and all your most treasured friends and possessions suddenly disappear. If you're little one is old enough explain to them what it happening. Nana came out for a visit not long ago so I used that as a starter for 10, drew a picture of our apartment here and our house in the UK with a wavy blue sea between them and an aeroplane in the sky above. I sat her down and the conversation went something like this...

Me: Do you remember where Nana went?
DD: On aero-plane.
Me: That's right. Nana went on an aeroplane to England.
DD: Ingand.
Me: Yes. Tomorrow a lot of our toys and books are going to go to visit Nana on an aeroplane too.
DD: (looks nonplussed)
Me: And then we're going to go on an aeroplane and visit Nana too! Won't that be fun?!
DD: esss.

During the packing day whenever DD asked for one of her toys that was packed I reminded her of the aeroplane/England/Nana scenario. I expected HUGE tears. But none arrived. She simply repeated 'Nana' a couple of times and pottered on her way. Result.

Top tip #7: Go out for a meal when the packers have left. You will likely have been in your soon-to-be-ex- apartment all day without a break and the place will be a mess. Or at the very least empty and echo'y  Tidy up as best you can and then leave. Celebrate the fact that you got through it and have someone else serve you, even if it's just pizza. You deserve it!

Image: nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The plum rains have started here in China and it's likely to rain everyday until we leave. No more play dates in the park then. On the plus side there's been a serious draught here so the rain will be welcomed and at least it's preparing us for the British summer.

It's not sexy or cool like optimism, but it's the truth and I have to own up to it. I'm a pessimist. I expect the worst and hope for just ok. I scare myself witless thinking about all the bad things that could happen. I wasn't always like this. My pessimism feels like a protective blanket, cushioning me from pain. If things aren't as bad as I think they're going to be then I'm pleasantly surprised. But if they are, I'm not shocked. I'm not knocked reeling like I have been in the past.

Watched a fab interview about toddlers and nutrition with Dr Keith Ayoob, a child nutrition expert, today over at Kneebouncers.com. Some great take outs for me, including that you may have to offer your toddler a particular food up to 15 times before they'll decide if they like it (err....try taste it!). Also love that he's in favour of simple foods like hard-boiled eggs and fruit. Yay! (Now just to get DD to try a hard-boiled egg...). Overall, well worth watching, even just to allay my fears that DD is some kind of new breed of non-food-eating child. Enjoy!

It's changed again. Just as I get used to the morning routine we've had for the past few months, DD throws it all up in the air again, just to keep me on my toes! We'd settled into a comfortable pattern for a while - I'd be up at 6am for a shower, a cup of tea and a sneaky surf before anyone else was up, then she would wake around 7am for milk and a story. So far so easy.

But for the past few weeks that 7am wake up's been creeping forward. First I got my shower and tea but no surf. Then no tea. And then Friday morning no shower - heck I wasn't even awake! Five thirty, my darling daughter? Seriously? That's not a civilised time for anyone to be up and about (especially not someone who wakes up so full of beans) so we brought her into bed with us for a family snuggle for an hour until OH's alarm went off. Was it an anomaly? Or is this the new normal? One thing's for sure, nothing's certain with a toddler in the house. And so tonight I'll be going to be early, just in case.

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We started packing this weekend. Well, more sorting out what's going in our suitcases and what's going in our shipment to arrive two months later really. I've discovered that clothes expand of their own volition to exceed the space you have to pack them in. Which is really rather unhelpful. So this week's Sunday Saying is, albeit in a rather loose way, dedicated to moving house.

1. DD - my miracle baby, what better reason to be cheerful and grateful than the fact that we were blessed with your safe, if eventful and earlier than expected, arrival twenty-three months ago? You may be the only child that we can have but how lucky we are that you picked us to join you for this roller-coaster ride.And what a ride! You're full-steam-ahead into your toddler years and grabbing life with both your little hands, as you've always done. I'm sorry that we can't give you a brother or sister but I'll be doing my darnedest to make up for that. I love you my darling.

2. IUI - I'm constantly grateful that someone invented the amazing IUI and IVF processes so that couples such as us with unexplained infertility can have the opportunity to try and conceive a child. Mother Nature is glorious but she's a busy woman and who doesn't need an extra pair of hands around the place sometimes to pick up the slack? Thank you, inventor, whoever and wherever you are. You rock.

3. Perspective - after seven months of striving, hoping, praying, and all manner of medical procedures, we're done. Our move home in four weeks time (yes home!) has necessitated this but it's also a fitting end point. We're starting the next adventure together as a family, and now that I'm finally drug free and hormone neutral after almost two years I am grateful for the perspective to see how amazing that is, how lucky we are, and cheerful about embarking on that adventure without the excess emotional baggage I've been carrying around.

Do you have reasons to be cheerful or grateful this week? Pop 'em down and link up.

Dear apartment

Sorry that you're not looking at your best at the moment. The packing boxes are untidy, I know, and the cupboards are starting to look a bit sad and bare, but fear not, when we leave I'm sure some other lovely people will move in and fill you up with interesting things that you can have a good nosey at. Thanks for being a fab place to live for the last three years.

Yours
Soon to be ex-tenant
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Dear workmen

Did you really have to choose lunchtime to drill untold numbers of holes in walls? Really? Just when DD was down for her nap? You're lucky she didn't wake up. Believe me.

Yours
Clenched fists
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Dear Nana

Thank you SO much for coming to visit us for three whole weeks and for making that time such fun. We're missing you lots already but it won't be long until we're all together again.

Yours
Your DD and mine
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Dear Storksak

Thank you for solving my and meeting all the requirements on my list with the gorgeous Emily. Cold hard cash well spent I reckon. Look forward to getting to know her better as soon as she arrives. Reassured she will be coming to a good home, but she will have to work hard for her keep.

Yours
Excited new owner
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Do you have any Dear So and So... letters this week? Link them up over at .

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net