Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! The McNeilly's have decorated in baby-proof fashion. I bought a Country Living magazine the other day, featuring a large section on how to cope with holiday stress. I hope no one reading this blog is suffering from holiday stress. The McNeilly's aren't. We are suffering from holiday flu bugs. On Saturday night Maria and I threw up almost simulateously. I did it at Vicky Hasleham's lovely 30th birthday party and Maria did it all over her cot. The 24 hours that followed were not Christmasy. Fortunately, Ed's mom was visiting. You may remember that we had a previous health crisis in October when Ann was visiting. By today (Monday) Maria and I are feeling a bit more like our jovial selves. But Ed threw up this afternoon and has not been out of bed since. Poor Ann has realized that if she wants to escape with her health, she needs to make a speedy get-away!

For people who cannot see the previous slideshow, here is it again except in a smaller form. Hopefully you won't be disappointed!

Happy Thanksgiving

Edward and Maria both had their first real American Thanksgiving this year. We spent a whirlwind week with family and, of course, food. It made me (Beth) quite wistful that we did not live nearer family, especially all Maria's aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents. You may notice in the pictures that Maria often looks sad. Let me explain. In the wake of our arrival, Maria attached herself to my hip. Now, to take a picture, I had to detach her. Subsequently there were tears in many shots. But by the end of the week she had regained some of her customary independence, wandering off to find the dogs or bash the piano keys.

October and November photos

We are nearly off to America, but before we go (and collect a bevy of new photos to post) here is a small collection of shots from the past few months.

(Note to Grandparents: To see the captions, click on the text bubble icon in the bottom left corner of the slideshow. To see a larger version, click on the picture you wish to view as it flashes by.)

The weather outside is frightful

It is jolly cold out. That is why Maria has to wear a coat when she goes outside. And a hat. Maria is smiling in this picture, which masks the truth that she was wailing miserably only moments before. The cause: I put on her sleeves, which she views as betrayal.

Another milestone was reached on Sunday. Maria turned one year old. This is how she looked at her party:

Maria did not have as much fun as the grown-ups, it has to be conceded. She did brighten up a bit towards the end, and despite her grief, she deigned to eat a whole piece of pizza. Because I have been heartless and put in the ugly photo above, I am including this lovely one. This one was taken before her party when she was still a happy little girl.

To Autumn

"SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells." - Keats, To Autumn

A brief update: This had been a beautiful October. Now that Edward is back from his trips to London and Cincinnati, we have been enjoying the leaves and the unusually clement weather. One day we went to the park twice, just because it was so sunny.

Maria is getting close to her first birthday. She walks, climbs and chatters merrily. The only difficulties have arisen recently at night when she wakes up at 2:00am and is ready to play. We're not sure what to do about this. But last night Ed and I came to a complete concensus that somehow, someway this had to stop. So - tonight we are moving her to her own bedroom. This is quite drastic and Ed and I will be very tearful and lonely. Maria will probably be fine.

With the big kids

Maria wore a serious face for this photo, taken on a very enjoyable day spent with the Sydserff family. We walked along the river in Kingston up Thames, where these photos were taken. We aren't sure why Maria looks so earnest, but I believe she feared no one would take her seriously if she smiled. She wanted to lend the occasion gravitas. William, David and Lucy (left to right), on the other hand, opted for a more lively approach.

Granny from Edinburgh

Maria's Granny from Edinburgh came down last week to stay with us while Ed was researching in London. During the week Maria practised her stair-climbing and made it all the way to the top floor! Granny took her to the playing fields across the street and let her walk with her walker. I often call Maria my 'velcro baby' but, when walking was on offer, my usually clingy daughter did not even notice my absence. Old Velcro was off and running.

The nice thing about Grannies and Grandmas is that they sometimes have more patience and more time than Mummies. When babies just want to be rocked as they sleep, Grannies are first pick. As you can see!

The Right Career

Lately Ed and I have been talking a lot about our future careers. Maria also caught the planning spirit and began considering what occupations might appeal to her. Of course she thought immediately of working on a wrecking crew. But we encouraged her to broaden her horizons. She mentioned becoming a professional swing artist....
...but she thought she really was too dependent on her parents for pushing. And of course there was always the professional bunny option...
...but there's not much of a living in that and Maria really doesn't like raw carrots that much. So things looked fairly bleak. But then - as if by fate decreed - Maria picked up the doorstop.
"Eureka!" she cried, "I have found it! I shall become a professional woodcarver." (That's the translation. In Baby it sounded like "doi-doi- isth -nnananaNANANAnadadadaad DA".) But alas, as her parents wouldn't let her have a knife, she had to practise with her teeth (of which she has six).

Grandma's Visit

This weekend we had a visit from Maria's American Grandma. It was lovely to show off all the new tricks we had learned, including *stair-climbing*. September rallied to produce two beautiful autumn days, crisp and clear. We went for walks and shopping and to the park. I loved having my mom around, since she is usually so far away on Samish Island, and Maria loved the cuddles.

Sunday Bunny

Today Maria wore a special bunny coat from Great Grandma Cleo. Here she is, putting on shoes before church.

Morning Glory

Every morning when Maria wakes up, she checks her diary to see what is planned for the day.
Then she makes a pot of tea with Mummy and takes a cup up to Daddy to help him wake up. Getting Daddy up can be quite a big job, but Maria knows that pulling his hair usually works.
After our morning tea, everyone goes downstairs for breakfast. Maria spills some down her front, but that doesn't stop her from playing later. It's all in a day's work.

Blue dungarees

Today Maria is wearing her blue dungarees. They're tough. Cowboys in Australia wear them. Maria's have ruffles and pink flowers, however, so no one will mistake her for an Australian cowboy.


She likes to explore the fire in them and see if she can remove the grate. She can do adventurous things in her dungarees.When sedate tactics fail, she brings in the bulldozer. The grate's days are numbered!

Blackberry picking

The beautiful high English summer is upon us. I would not go so far as to call it hot, but it is still a long way from cold, which is good enough for us. Everything is ripe for harvesting and that includes blackberries. So this evening Maria and I went out to West Cambridge with our dear friend Anna Thompson and picked a big pail full without making so much as a dent in the bush. I won't say exactly where it is because it is the best blackberry patch I know of and it's our secret! Maria seemed to like the berries, as you can see from her pictures.

The Waiting Room Cure

Maria has been running a high temperature for the last few days and generally not seemed too energetic. So yesterday, I took her to the doctor. She had just had a long nap and I gave her a bottle as we waited at the surgery. Towards the end of the bottle, she seemed to revive a little. Then a man walked in and smiled at her. Maria smiled back and sat up. Then she pulled herself up on the back rest and rewarded him with yet another smile. He smiled back and she smiled again. We spoke with the man about babies and growing up, all the while Maria was giving him the full benefit of her sunshiny disposition. When a second man entered the room, Maria was positively beaming and no one could believe me when I said she had a temperature. It was at this point that the doctor called us. I sheepishly wheeled my bouncing baby into the office and was told that whatever illness was causing her temperature, he thought she'd pull through this one.

On her own two feet!

Maria walked with a little children's walker today in the creche at church. Edward was with her and saw her little toddling steps. I came in later to visit and saw the same repeated, so we were sure it was not a fluke. Then we came home and tried on our own walker and indeed, she walks along behind it. Can you believe it? I will try to add a picture.





In the meantime, we have had an exciting July with a long, relaxing visit from Auntie Gigi. One thing we did was to go punting. I stunk at it, Gigi was a natural and Edward really carried the team by providing most of the muscle. Meeps liked it too and enjoyed the opportunity to show off her swimsuit.

This is Maria with her absolutely gorgeous Auntie. Something about the jet-lag disrupted Gigi's usually deft ability with language and during the trip she told me that 'Maria is still in the boathouse' (translation: Maria is in her pushchair) and when asked where she had put the cheese, she answered, "Oh - in the desk." (the refridgerator)

The last thing I will say is a quick story involving Maria's eating habits. She doesn't like to eat from a spoon, unless it is exceptionally yummy. She wants to do it all herself, and that means employing the hand to mouth method. She is very quick at it. But she also thinks that our food looks a lot better than hers. So the other day, Ed was sitting down to soup and a ham and mustard sandwich with Maria on his knee. He was worrying more about the soup than the sandwich and Maria, whose motto seems to be carpe diem, whipped off the top slice of bread and stuffed it into her mouth. Her pleased expression turned into one of pain, however, as she realized that the bread she gobbled was in fact the mustardy slice. Her mummy and daddy just laughed at her, because that's what she gets for being so greedy. Poor little Meeps.

A Picture History of Maria

June, the Month of Holidays

Meet the McNeilly family -
Mary Elizabeth, Edward Joseph and Maria Eleanor.

I am starting this blog following a month-long holiday that has taken the McNeilly family from the Swiss Alps to the Scottish Highlands.
We've eaten cheese and chocloate, gazed at the Eiger and tramped through alpine meadows. We've filled our water bottles from highland burns and trekked across windswept ridges. This may sound idyllic, wending our way for a leisurely month through some of the most spectacular and diverse mountain scenery on God's good earth, and in many ways it was idyllic. However, I ought to include some vital information about the people numbering the McNeilly family. Maria Eleanor is a 7 month old baby and Mary Elizabeth and Edward Joseph are brand new parents. So infuse an element of panic in my description, and you'll get the general idea. Nonetheless, we had the help of Maria's American Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Bryan in Switzerland and following the Highland days, we returned to the welcoming home of Maria's Irish Granny and Grandad. So the month was not fatal, and we have some good pictures.

I should introduce us more formally. Edward and I met at the University of St Andrews in 2004. In 2006 we married and moved to the University Cambridge for Ed's MPhil and my PGCE. In the middle of the year, we found out we were expecting a baby and in October 2007, Maria Eleanor was born. We still live in Cambridge; Edward is now working on his PhD.