so, as you would be aware if you follow us on instagram, mummy and i were in zimbabwe for the whole of January. as is always the case when african women go home, the salon was top of her list of extra-curricular priorities. she had a hairstyle in mind, and God help anyone who was going to mess with her plan this year. the main thing for her to consider was whether to do it shortly after arriving, and risk it looking rough around the edges by the time she got back to the UK, or to look like a lost soul for the duration of her trip and come back to Blighty with fresh looking locks. she went for the lost soul / glamourous arrival look. so what is this hairstyle she was pining for ever so desperately? well, she first spotted in on Solange Knowles and since that time has been desperately trying to get someone to recreate it without demanding payment in blood / solid gold bars. 

in 2013, 6 months after my birth we visited nigeria and mummy felt her chance had come. she went to the salon with my aunt who bargained with the ladies and they assured mummy she'd be leaving with waist long braids. they weren't quite. and she paid considerably more than she expected considering they were being done in an african setting. she grinned and bore it. but now it's 2016 & mummy has decided that she will not be settling for less than what she actually really wants anymore. so she arranged for two guys to come and do her hair at home & they were to bring the extensions needed. lets just say they pitched up with some random extensions which they claimed would do the job. mummy humored them & they did some braids which appeared to have an allergy to her shoulder. i mean, they barely passed her chin. she grinned and bore it. then decided she wasn't having it. she undid it 2 days later and 2 different mavericks arrived with plans to do a whole different style, and carrying just 1 tiny pack of extensions. and they needed to be provided with cigarettes on demand in order to work well. see ya. she called the fist guys back and after they realised it wasn't a joke, they re-did her hair.

after it was done, mum was walking like a horse on it's hind legs. i mean seriously, her head was bent backwards and she looked like she might topple backwards at any minute. great as the guys were at at braiding - and they are - mummy says they struggled to "pull" the hair properly and ended up using much more than they needed. "I'll take a few pictures to prove i fulfilled my wish & take them off" she told aunty joy, who collapsed onto the bed. 4 weeks later, she still has them in and has mastered the art of walking "gracefully" with the installation on her head. i find the hair handy to tug when i need her attention. sitting, driving, showering, turning her head are all skills she's had to re-master in the wake of this new style. 

she has realised that sometimes when something keeps eluding you, it may be for the best. after all, solange has people. people who probably carry that hair for her when she's not being photographed. 

don't look at me mum, i am not your people. i will call social services.

ok...there's no getting away from it...we've been awol! mummy has been in "nesting mode"  for the last 5 weeks and been de-cluttering the flat like it was an olympic sport. it all began with her watching "the hoarder next door" on channel 4. she envisioned all the fabulous things she's amassed over the years slowly taking over the flat and us disappearing in an albeit lovely, but suffocating pile of Vogue magazines & boxes of must have shoes..  initially this process consisted of generally moving items from one room to the next. in the end mummy had to call in the big guns and got vacuum packing some of her clothes....(she will not be fitting into any of it anytime soon), and chucking out a whole lot of things we just don't need!

once safety had been restored, mummy moved onto sorting out my room. i have been told i'll be sharing this room with this new baby...i am so unbothered. mummy went into full interior designer mode and has been updating the furniture and coming up with all kinds of exciting room arrangements. daddy just walks into the house and says he's glad to recognize mummy & I, as we are the only thing that seems to remain the same in our house! just today he's come home to find mummy busy changing a mirror from a colour she painted it only last week. we'll share pics with you once the nursery is done...should be very shortly as baby is nearly here!

so...part of the joy of de-cluttering is re-discovering things you haven't seen in a while. that's what mum said as she happily slipped on these heels.... she's currently banned from wearing heels....

she made it as far as the end of her photo shoot before changing into her flats!

mummy wore:

shirt - Reiss

jeans - h&m maternity

shoes - ralph lauren collection

bag - zara

tomorrow we'll be back with pics from mummy's baby shower

xoxo

ok - so there wasn't exactly much to start off with, but the fact remains that the scissors did their justice to the little bit of fluff there was on my head. it was time, mummy said, to face the fact that i was just not going to be one of those babies with a head full of fluffy curly afro hair. instead i was to face my reality and make the most of a bald head - for now. as she was chatting, i really wasn't too bothered. i was watching the fluff falling and thinking of how i could reach it and taste it. i'd never seen anything like it - looked so tasty. however it was as if mummy was reading my mind, for as my little finger reached down to grab the fluff she swooped in like a seagull and grabbed it. she said she's saving a bit for me to see when i'm older. there was only a bit on my head so i guess she's saved it all. 

oh well - here i am on sunday after the haircut, with the biggest bow she could find!

and mummy had a party to go to...with daddy.
naturally, i was kept in the loop.....not. there i was happily chilling out on a frosty saturday, marvelling at the fact that i hadn't been bundled into the car off on another 'urgent' shopping trip.

i should've known something was up as mummy was giving me extra cuddles and generally floating around in her dressing gown. i was eventually bundled into the car later in the evening and dropped off at aunty inge and uncle theo's house. literally. mummy and daddy were working to what is commonly known as 'african timing'(see below) so dashed in, dropped me, and sped off. 

what ensued was a few hours of me screaming down the house as i wondered where my mummy was. in that same time, mummy was chowing down some sea bass and christmas pudding and thinking 'we should do this more often'! 

well, not anytime this side of the oceans love! i ensured i put anybody else off watching me for some time to come - aunty micx and uncle simon were there too. yep, i had them all singing for their supper. so word will spread thick and fast and now i shall make sure mummy stays with me always.mwahahaha.

blouse - reiss

trousers - topshop

shoes (just seen) - topshop

bag - vintage

bracelet - h&m

oh. just heard my mum chatting to aunty micx. seems she wasn't put off - hmm. she and aunty inge really didnt mind??!!  they'd all love to have me over again??! my cuteness really is my weakness.(ok, ok that was cheesy.) time to bring out the big guns, no time for kisses.

**african timing - whatever time you say, our hearing automatically adds 2hrs