after a day's rest to recover from all the dramas of driving up and down the nigerian highways, we had a blessing service courtesy of our grandpa. my grandpa is a meticulous man, and so everything was planned to a perfect "T". it brought memories of their wedding back to mummy and daddy as they remembered grandpa turning up to the first meeting with his own wedding folder filled with his planning documents. that certainly kicked mummy's butt into gear!

overnight the house was transformed to a mini reception area with beautiful tables and chairs ready for our guests. there is a small chapel in the house which is where the ceremony was held. as with any day when something very important is about to happen and mummy really needs us to cooperate, we chose not to. well, i say we. really it was just my little big sis. from the bathing to dressing to sitting still in the service she just acted like she had a million ants in her pants.

i've never seen mummy as intense as she did that day. she was the bottle of coke and my little big sister was shaking and shaking and shaking her up. she was fortunate that 1) there were so many people around 2) it was our day and 3)that they were all granny's and grandpas. on any other ordinary day they'd all have been queuing up with furrowed brows to give her a tap on the bottom.  All mummy could do was give her some intense gazes that said "you just wait till this is over!".

morayo-hope's behaviour reminded mummy of a story her daddy (sekuru) used to tell her about when he was a child. in their day when visitors came they had to politely leave the room and go out to play. however, there was one visitor who always seemed to arrive around food time. they would ignore their mothers cues for them to leave. they'd go on to say "oh, so you are back again?" their mum would give them a strong look and wink in the direction of the door. they would ignore that and continue to taunt the visitor, then just as the guest was about to leave they'd jump up, make their excuses and run off , not returning till it was dark.

i might have to try that some time.....let me just go and skype my sekuru (grandpa) for tips!in the meantime, these are some more pics from the blessing which ended with much merriment and dancing at the reception. those pics will follow on the next post!

what mummy wore:

jacket - topshop (old)

trousers, tshirt & shoes - zara (old)

what m-h wore:

dress & shoes- zara kids

what i wore:

trousers with suspenders - h&m

shirt - little rocha at debenhams

shoes - zara kids

ciao,

judah iyanu

mummy and little big sis have been in cold war mode all week. this has meant the whole "let'supdate the world about our trip to lagos before the end of the week" plan has gone down the pan with their once loving relationship. so...as mummy gets on with searching google for any books addressing "how to love them when they are being very unloveable" ,i figured i better man up and finish this job that these 2 clearly aren't up to. so much for women and multi tasking eh? anyhoo, i figured i need to tell you about my experience of lagos. well, when we arrived at grandpa's house i was quickly introduced to my nanny. yes, that's right, i had my own nanny for the holiday. ok - so she was for morayo-hope too but she loved me...can you blame her? with this little smile? i had her at "tata!".

her name was judith, a petite girl with fair skin and big eyes.  she was wearing a t-shirt that said"chop my money" and mummy immediately decided she was cool. we hit it off instantly and before long i was like putty in her hands. she introduced me to the joys of being carried around on the back african stylee, and soon all i really needed mummy for was my milk. mummy was struggling to adjust to this life of having someone knock on the door at 8 and taking over the care of the children for the rest of the day!she didn't even have to bath us. judith would stay till we went to bed.

 she enjoyed coming to ode-remo with us on boxing day to my grandad's hometown. we also went to a big family gathering called kemule day in sagamu to celebrate the descendants of my great great great grandmother.. as you can probably tell, her name was kemule, she was mother to iya eleni, who was mother to iya ode, who was mother to George Adetola who is dad to kola…MY DAD…and yes there were a lot of people.

these pictures were taken at my grandpa’s house in Ode-Remo

morayo-hope was given a coconut from one of the trees there. we even saw a peacock but it kept disappearing into the bushes so we didn't really get a good picture of it.

we also took judith with us to all the restaurants & hotels we got to go to in lagos. she thought we were angels sent from above. she was an orphan and had stopped school due to lack of funds. she was now approaching 20 and nannying was her job, although nowhere near as well paid or regarded as nannies are in the west. the opportunity to go out opened her eyes to a whole new world & mummy had to stop the messiah complex that threatened to creep in.

by the end of the trip, she had become attached to me, and i to her. as judith said a tearful goodbye to us at the airport, mummy said a tearful goodbye to her freedom as she realised that her holiday was well and truly over.  was there really no way we could fit her petite frame in mummy's suitcase? sigh.  naturally i expected things to continue as they had been in lagos. lots of being carried everywhere on mummy's back has become the normal order of things. only downside is she doesn't sing "pakurumo ko jo dada" quite as well as my aunty judith (don't tell her though - she's very competitive!)

ciao!

judah iyanu

we went to Ikenne to spend Christmas with our great grandpa. the drive made mummy think she was going to meet her Lord and Master that day. the driver who took us there was a nutter said mummy. he seemed to be here in the flesh but in reality be on a grand prix circuit in monaco. he was a restless sort of fellow, fast looking with shifty eyes and a toothpick permanently in his mouth. the type of guy that young girls know their dad wont like & therefore must be cool so they have crushes on. this was the guy entrusted with our safe carriage on the already crazy highways of nigeria. mama prayed a hundred prayers.

his speed on the way to Ikenne was quickly hampered by excessive traffic and a lane closure. we drove past a sofa that had fallen off a car rooftop and mama said a quick "thank you Jesus" as she pictured what might have been. as her imagination went into overdrive, we arrived at great-grandpas house. he was the major reason we were in nigeria. mummy and daddy really wanted him to have a chance to see us whilst we are still small. he is 97 and told mummy he plans on being around for 20 more years. ...she is saving for a private jet to fly him to the uk going forward.

there were lots of aunties and uncles for us to meet and it was a fun and lively christmas day! the day was spent eating and drinking, hearing stories from our uncles who grew up with daddy.

my granny's sister, whom i also call granny, got me to try on this 'gele'. I loved it! she said now i looked i a real princess! i felt great,especially when i was given the jewellery to wear too. i was in my element! then grandpa gboyega (my granny's brother), who calls me "little zimba" (because i'm half zimbabwean), gave me his hat to wear and also snuck me some sweeties! unfortunately for me daddy's eagle eyes were on it and as i made for the door to go and eat them, he caught me. he is the real daddy long legs. sigh.

the drive back is what did it for mama though. the driver seemed to be hell bent. just hell bent. he was weaving in and out of traffic, narrowly missing an accident with a yellow minibus / a freight truck / a coach and every other vehicle bigger than us.  mama got worked up to the point of exhaustion & somehow...slept! she was  shocked to wake up still on earth but she swore never to do that journey again. she was at this point reminded that they'd be going back the next day for a separate family gathering. needless to say it was a different driver the next day & for the rest of our stay!

 what i wore:

dress - gap

what mummy wore:

a harrassed look on her face.

xoxo

mummy started her celebrations at midnight, the time she was born. daddy gave her a brand new camera and it was all she could do not to sleep clutching it in bed. she read all about the camera online and got more excited each minute. i, ofcourse, was fast asleep - anticipating all the cake that was to follow the next day.

in the afternoon, mummy joined a few friends for a civilised afternoon tea arranged by my uber fashionable aunty & fellow blogger,  adenike. check out her fab blog here. even though it was just a few of them, they had a whole room to themselves! i was going insane at all the cakes and sandwiches on offer. i didn't know quite what to do with myself, so i ate as much as i could. just as everyone felt they could take no more, a huge chocolate cake was brought in. needless to say nobody could eat it...so it came home, much to daddy's delight.

a photo with the non "african-timers" **cough cough**

in the evening, daddy surprised mummy with dinner at her favourite seafood restaurant, Loch Fyne. it was their first date night in...well, since baby judah came along. mummy resisted ringing in to check if we were still alive at home. if she had rung she'd have heard that i was busy discovering  the  hard way that there is a limit to what my tummy can take. my uncle's clothes can testify to this fact.

if they'd hoped to continue their evening at home then sorry! we were waiting up to greet them when they got home.

as we went to bed mummy announced that we'd be celebrating her birthday throughout March. she says she's sure people celebrated her birth beyond 1st march. sigh. and her stance was validated the next day when she was given some yummy cupcakes by her friend and baker aunty Gabby  of Olivias Sweet Bakes - check her out here.

mummy said only those that supported her stance could eat them....basically her.

dictator?my mum?never...

**our pictures were taken by my uncle taz - see his growing portfolio here**

what i wore:

entire outfit from zara

what mummy wore:

dress - zara (from the sale)

bag - vintage

ring - topshop (old)

xoxo