Early days

An illustration of what the Bernard Bunch has been up to recently: my household has been invaded by gastro-enteritus. Even my mama got it but is too vain to publish its ramifications! My poor brother Nathan, and poor old Papa suffering up there in thos photos! And whilst they were all doing what they had to to fight the nasty virus, I was doing my Teletubbies Po imitation! Look!!! Don't I look absolutely gorgeous with my first ever poney tail??? Here I am, diligently doing my physiotherapy with good old Claude Hopper. Look at me giving Claude a bit of Welsh rugby training, get a load of those those muscles! (and Claude's are not bad either). I love Claude to bits and pieces, although I did cry a bit when Claude and I started physiotheraping together (and if I may say so, I am not a crybaby normally). Claude has been brilliant at coaxing me into confidence and now I really enjoy my twice-weekly stint with my personal physiotherapist (and to be perfectly honest, I think Mama does too). Thanks a little bit to Claudes dexterity (but mostly to my hard work and talent of course) I am starting to do a wobbly sit! Just like one of those weeblemen Mama had when she was a kid (now THAT was a LOOOOOONG long time ago). In this new sitting position I feel like a whole new world now awaits my discovery!!!!!
Thank you Claude for putting up with my off-the-wall Mama, for looking understanding sometimes when physiotherapy puzzles me and most of all for loving my Mamas little princess the way you do. Oh, and I suppose I kind of admire the way you continue to support French Rugby too! I promise I will get my Mama to get you those tickets to Twickenham one day Claude Hopper!

Now, an even more important person in my life is ..... Fairy Godmother Helen! Helen, my Mamas fellow 'Mother-of-three' buddy who listens to Mama ranting and raving about ... nappies, baking, ironing... and other stuff she has promised Mama she will never tell anyone. In fact the only thing Helen can be faulted for is being Scottish ... but she is very understanding about my Welshness, and most important of all I just love My Godmother to bits. Look at my knowing grin here as I sit on Godmothers knee, mocking all the grown-ups for failing to behave in a grown-up fashion. Helen is truly gorgeous, and my Mama and her get on like a house on fire, mostly I think because they can't understand each other. Oh, and they are both married to a Philippe, and both Philippe's are addicted to sport, which engenders hours of worrying if they will ever roll back home when they go out picking up pizzas or watching badmington. Here's a few more of the snaps which have been validated by my godmother for publication: Thank you Helen! You know your God-daughter loves you heaps and heaps!

And to finish this chapter off, a couple of happy family encounters : my Big Brother William dresses up as a pirate for Carnival, and my Great Auntie Thea comes to visit us in Corbas! It was so very lovely to see you Aunty Thea, the boys love you to BITS AND PIECES and Nathan is still complaining that you aren't sitting with him at the kitchen table reading his vast quantities of Quoti magazines whilst you and Mama delicately sip some nice local, erm, merchandise!