Phoenix Loves... Uncle Daniel.

Those of you with good memories will know that the past month or so has seen me on a hectic world tour, visiting various friends and family here (London) there (Sweden) and everywhere! Well recently it's been my turn to be visited, something I like as it means I get to stay at home - my favourite place.

With our life in London slowly drawing to a close, my uncle Daniel came over from Sweden to stay with us, and to make things even better he brought along his friend who had never been to London - his name was Andreas.

Me, mum and dad had been a little bit ill when they came so I'm afraid we couldn't party as much as we wanted to, but armed with something called an Oyster card, Daniel and Andreas hit London town to enjoy their holiday. Uncle Daniel said that he'd been 'walking on clouds' at work the days before coming to visit us so I guess he must like London!

On the Friday dad had something special in store for the two of them as he (and a few friends) took them to something known as the Medieval Banquet. Mum said they were having a boy's night out which basically meant no girls were allowed and they could be as loud and annoying as they liked! But hang on a minute, I'm a boy, why wasn't I invited?

Here are some pictures of boys being boys...



From left to right, dad, King Wayne, godfather Tom, Prince Jonn, Uncle Daniel and Andreas the Court Jester!

As mum was still ill the rest of our weekend was spent relaxing at home whilst uncle Daniel and Andreas went and explored  London a little bit more. The best thing was when they were back at the house and we could all relax, and yours truly could get lots of cuddles with my uncle. Whilst I loved this, uncle Daniel is really, really tall so my head felt a bit funny when he stood up to hold me. Dad says this is called vertigo but all I know is that I wanted to 'go' back down! Here's me and my uncle at a more comfortable height...

Back on my sofa where I belong.

One last thing to say is that I have a new favourite toy! Whilst in London uncle Daniel bought me the coolest Nemo toy in town. Me and mum now play with him everyday - he's great fun but a little bit scary too as he keeps appearing from nowhere and kissing me all over! Thanks uncle Daniel for Nemo - you're the best. I can't wait to hang out with you and Andreas lots more when we live in Sweden - who knows, maybe they'll even be a few more little gifts for me!

For all of you who don't know Nemo, here he is...

I've found Nemo!



Thanks again uncle Daniel and Andreas - see you soon!

Phoenix Love x

Phoenix Loves... Easter holidays.

Last week brought my very first Easter, and a holiday that we'd all been looking forward to for a long time. To me, Easter seems to be a time when people are allowed to eat as much chocolate as their tummies will allow and also a time when there are pictures of bunnies and eggs everywhere. I think dad said there is some religious meaning behind it but I can't even say religious let alone try to get my head around what its all about! Maybe one day.

For our Easter break we went to a place called Bognor Regis on the South coast, where farmor and farfar had borrowed a big house by the sea for lots of us to stay in. There was me, mum, dad, auntie Sophie, auntie Kate, uncle Jon, my cousin Harry, farmor, farfar and their foster children Sydney and Daniel. Now that's a lot of people, and four kids so as you can imagine it was very noisy! Luckily mum and dad were able to bag a room in the quiet side of the house so I could still get my beauty sleep.



Our little home for the week.



On the Tuesday we went to a place called Butlins where farmor and farfar once took dad and my aunties when they were kids. Now I was a little bit too young for Butlins but let me tell you it looked like tons of fun! There were loads of colours and funny noises coming from everywhere. Harry, Sydney and Daniel looked like they were having a great time - as did mum and dad too! Mum went on a scary looking ride with Sydney and dad went for a swim. I can't wait to join them some day soon.

The best part of the day was when me and dad won something called 'the Derby' race. For this everyone had to throw balls into lots of holes which then made their horse run faster. Uncle Jon won the first race but me and dad got the second one - dad threw the balls and I cheered him on from inside my Baby Björn carrier. Woohoo!



Serious stuff.

Me in my Baby Björn with my dad.

The rest of the week was spent relaxing and enjoying eachother's company. As we'll be off to Sweden in the summer, this was a good chance for me to hang out with dad's family and get to know everyone better. We'll still see them when we're in Sweden but maybe not as much as we'd like, so this holiday was great.

Relaxing with mum and dad in our holiday home.

You have to wear sunglasses when you're on holiday, it's kind of the law.

Mum and dad have asked me to say a big thank you to dad's auntie Liz and uncle Tony as they took everyone for a really nice meal and gave me a lovely bath duckie for Easter which helps to tell if my bath water is too hot. Thanks Liz and Tony!

Thanks to auntie Kate and uncle Jon for some of the pictures I've used on the blog - taken by Jon. If anyone ever needs a great photographer let dad know as Jon is great and he's a nice man too, who always has time to make us kids laugh!

Finally, thanks farmor and farfar too for a great holiday - it made me smile lots, just like this...

Can't wait for the next Barker holiday.

Lots of love, Phoenix x x x




Phoenix Loves... Weddings.

Ok, so we arrived back from Sweden and I was just settling down into dad's seat on the sofa to watch some TV when I was told we were off on our travels again, and in just one sleep's time! Dad said there's no rest for the wicked, but I was on my best behaviour in Sweden, so why couldn't I stay home and rest a little?!

The good thing about this journey was that dad was coming too this time. Nice one dad!

Dad's cousin Fergus was getting married and we'd been invited to the reception, which would be a chance to meet lots of relatives on farfar's side of the family, the Barkers. The reception was deep in the heart of what's known as the countryside, something we don't see much of living in London, in a little barn near Barker's farm where Fergus lives with his new wife, family and a few animals!

The barn was full of people and all the noise made me sleepy so I ended up sleeping through the whole night. Dad says lots of his aunties, uncles and cousins kept coming over hoping I was awake to give them a cuddle, but nope. Always asleep.



Me and Luba will leave the partying to the grown ups...

Dad also told me that farfar was going around telling anyone and everyone that I was the only true heir to the Barker name and that it is now down to me to carry on the name - that's a lot of pressure for an 11 week old baby! Maybe mum and dad will find me a brother sometime to help carry the load...

Dad spent a lot of the night talking to Fergus' brother Duncan, who is also dad's cousin. Duncan used to be in a band called Beautiful People who dad and godfather Tom really like. They did an album of Jimi Hendrix (who?) remixes millions of years ago in the 1990s. You can have a listen here if you're into that kind of thing...


All in all, mum and dad had a really nice evening (helped by a few glasses of wine I think!) and then it was back to farmor and farfar's for the rest of the weekend. Perfect :)

Phoenix Love x x x

Phoenix Loves... Sweden.

Sorry you haven't heard from me in a little while but it's been a super busy few weeks for me, mum and dad.

As mentioned before in my blog, my gammelfarfar sadly passed away and at the end of March me and mum boarded a plane to Sweden to go to his funeral. Before that however I had to go for yet more jabs - I know these are for my own good but why do they have to hurt so much?!

The plus side of the jabs (for mum at least) was that they made me really sleepy and I slept all the way to Sweden. On the plane there were lots of smartly dressed ladies helping mum out, I think they're called air hostesses. Mum said they all thought I was very well behaved and secretly wanted me to wake up so they could have a little cuddle with me!

Fast asleep on the tube to the airport.

We landed in Copenhagen at which point I thought I'd slept enough and wanted to see the sights. We jumped onto a train to Malmö where morfar was waiting to pick us up and take us home, after a quick stop off at his work, where he invents stuff for trains!

Back at the house mormor and morfar had bought me my very own cot to sleep in. It's a little bit bigger than I'm used to, but a growing boy needs a big bed to stretch out in, especially ones who like sleep as much as I do. Thanks mormor and morfar!

I'm the tiny baby-shaped thing in the middle of that huge bed!

That evening mum's friend Jasmine came for dinner, but secretly I think the dinner thing was just an excuse to come and meet me! She gave me a super cool Ramones baby-grow to add to my budding collection of rock outfits. Looking forward to hanging out some more in the summer. Here's me and Jasmine...



You're under arrest! Jasmine is a police officer!

Phoenix is a punk rocker.

The next day we headed off to Småland and whilst the funeral was really sad, I was happy that I got to meet lots of my Swedish relatives. You can meet them all too:

With gammelmormor and gammelmorfar

With mormor

With morfar

With great Uncle Anders - I hear he's got some great dance moves!

Having a cuddle with gammelmorfar

With my Uncle Daniel - he's tall!

With gammelfarmor and my cousin Adrian

With Great Auntie Inga-Lill



With mum's cousin Klara

I slept all through the funeral service, which mum told me was sad but beautiful. Afterwards, lots of gammelfarfar's friends and family gathered at this big house where they had some lunch and shared memories of him. I was told what a well behaved and cute baby I was which was nice. I like compliments! Then mum and gammelfarmor sang one of gammelfarfar's favourite songs and then it was time to go back to mormor and morfar's house.

It's a long car journey - about 3.5 hours, but mum's other cousin Emma kindly gave me a present, which kept me entertained for hours in the car and is now one of my favourite toys - I love Pingu!

Here we are in the car

I also got another lovely gift that my gammelmormor had made. It will take pride of place in my nursery when I have one!

Gammelmormor's handywork!

When we got back home I was exhausted but a bath in mormor's sink sorted me out:


Sooo sleepy...

... that's better.

Finally, some of you may remember that before I arrived mum was absolutely sure I'd be a girl and it took her a little while  to get used to the idea of me being a boy (although she wouldn't swap me for the world!) so she couldn't resist putting me in one of her old dresses! I tried to protest but mum and mormor explained that this was a dress that had in fact also been worn by boys - my uncle and cousins for example! It's what's known as a Christening gown and mum wanted me to try it on to see if it would fit me for my naming ceremony but alas it just about fits me now so I'm "sad" to say it probably won't fit when the time comes (hurrah!). Here I am in a dress!!

Cringe!!



After a busy few days it was off back to Old Blighty, and although I'm going to miss Sweden mum and dad has told me we're in fact moving there in the summer so that's another adventure to look forward to!!

Until next time.

Phoenix Love