Street fighter

I spent most of yesterday punching people. Don't know why, just feeling quite pugilistic at the moment.

...even the kitchen sink

I have no comment here, except Mummy appears to think I am either a saucepan to be washed up or salad to be cleaned. Very humiliating.

Bear Hamilton Pullen

A year ago today, my cousin Bear Hamilton Pullen was born stillborn to my Auntie Alice and Uncle Toby. Baby Bea never met her older cousin, but she desperately misses what they would have been; playmates, confidants and closest friends. We would have grown up together and she is sure he would have been the best cousin.

The loss of a baby hits everyone the hardest as you don't just miss what you've lost, but also what would have been. Beatrice, Mummy and Daddy are thinking of Alice and Toby on this hardest of days.

Staring competition

Sometimes Mummy and I have a staring competition. I always win.

Green eyed monster

Daddy's new nickname for me, I can't think why....

A couple from the vaults

Baby Bea forgot to post these back when they were taken a couple of months ago, but found them when she was showing her great grandma all her photos. The first one is very special....all my grandparents!

Fish and chips with my cousins

This morning we went for fish and chips with my lovely cousins Laura and Matthew.

I was particularly impressed by Matt's luxuriant mo'.

Great grandma!

The main event! I met my great grandma Lola for the first time today and got the mother of all cuddles.

As you can see, we're both very happy.

Advance Australia Fair

We've arrived.....and it was worth it! Every one of the thirty five hours (door to door) it took to get here.

Hobart is beautiful, the weather is glorious (almost as if it was summer), I met my great-grandma (and got the biggest of cuddles) and had a fantastic dinner with the rest of my Tassie family in the evening. They are awesome...

Photos to follow soon.

We're still going!

Right, this is proving to be a bit much. I have just been on another 12 hour flight and we still seem to have not yet reached our destination. When we touched down in Sydney airport and Mummy and Daddy got their bags from the carousel, I thought that at last, being actually in Australia this time, we were there, but then they went up to another desk and promptly checked their bags in again. When will this madness end?

So I am now writing this on a third aeroplane (a smaller one this time) going somewhere called Hobart, Tasmania. I have also come to the conclusion that we are in fact not actually going anywhere specific, but that my dear parents have decided to make a radical lifestyle change and now we are destined to roam the world, forever changing flights between far flung destinations.

Oh well, it's not actually been that bad, while admittedly I am a little grumpy now (and who can blame me) I've been pretty comfortable on all the flights and have hardly felt the need to cry (Mummy and Daddy look so grateful I actually have to laugh). We have also managed to confuse every immigration officer we've met given our fantastic technicoloured passport collection; Daddy's on his Australian passport, Mummy's on her Italian passport and I've got my new British one. As one of them said, it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke!

It also turns out that in Hong Kong a baby facing forwards in a sling (like in this photo) is akin to the arrival of a minor celebrity. Daddy took me for a walk and in the space of 5 minutes had three old couples stop him to look at me, one woman wanting a photo of me and a whole group of Japanese teenagers chasing after him. All dreadfully embarrassing of course, but I have to admit I did kind of like the attention.

Hong Kong

Right, we have now arrived in Hong Kong...

Hong Kong??? I thought we were going to Australia?

We were on the plane for 12 hours. 12 hours!! Actually it wasn't too bad, I slept almost all the way and didn't cry once. Mummy and Daddy seem so grateful and keep telling me what a good girl I am.

Anyway it's very nice here. The photo is me asleep in something called a 'transit lounge'. Still doesn't explain what we are doing here or why it took so long to get here.

Something's up

If there is something that Baby Bea is known for, it's her intuition, her natural sense of when things just don't feel right...and with this 'Australia' jaunt it's going totally crazy.

Ok, the signs.

First, Mummy and Daddy did a lot of packing for this trip, and when I say a lot, I mean that about half our possessions went into two massive bags and about 90% of mine went into a collection of smaller ones. Are we moving to this 'Australia'? What's going on?

Second, when we left the house we turned everything off. Even the stereo and Daddy never turns that off (or let's anyone touch it). Also the fridge was cleared out and the heating was turned off. Suspicious behaviour indeed.

Third, we're back on a plane. Now I thought that my recent expedition to Italy made me an expert on flying, but this setup is different. There are blankets and pillows. Mummy and me have our own space. I have my own cot. I can't understand why all this is necessary for a quick flight. Odd.

OK Baby Bea is officially confused. Will post soon when this is all cleared up.

Home again (at least for a while)

Crickey, I'm home! Baby Bea was just getting rather used to her Italian lifestyle; espressos in the morning in bustling little cafes, scooting around Roman streets on her noisy Vespa, big family lunches in front of the fire, a glass of chilled prosecco in the afternoon with just a tiniest scoop of gelato, vigorous political arguments with total strangers on the streets and lively bunga bunga parties in the evening (actually, definitely not the last one), when suddenly I'm being dragged back to the UK on a grey, foggy morning via those twin forms of torture; EasyJet and Luton airport. Hardly a soft landing Mummy...

Mummy: You should be happy it wasn't Ryanair and Stansted darling, we do actually love you a bit.

Apparently however I "shouldn't get too comfortable" as we going somewhere called "Australia" on Thursday. To be frank I have absolutely no idea where this place is, but I can only assume that it can't possibly involve as much travelling and general brouhaha as getting all the way to Italy. I shall prepare myself for a 45 minute car trip, maybe even a brief train journey or a quick ride in a taxi.

I'm not too sure what to expect when I get to this Australia place, but apparently it's a bit of a backwater as we are not going to be staying long - our main target is somewhere a bit further along called "Tasmania", which I guess is the main attraction. There we are going to see my Nanna, otherwise known by Daddy as my "great-grandmother". Please don't tell him, but frankly this is also a bit confusing as I already have two grandmothers and, in my eyes, they are both pretty great. Perhaps, in this context "great" means very large? Or maybe it is used like in "Great Britain" and this grandmother used to run an empire that stretched across most of the known world. In fact, given the way that Daddy talks about her, that seems the most sensible solution.

We are also going to see another branch of my family (which I am beginning to realise is rather large and complicated) these ones all seem rather tall and fair judging by the photos. Also Mummy tells me that they speak funny and has suggested that if I don't understand what they are saying I should just stare at them and smile inanely......given this is my default conversational gambit, it shouldn't be to hard to pull off.

Anyway I am going to hop along now, say goodnight and see what tomorrow brings. By the way, the blanket in these photos was knitted for me by my fantastic auntie Pepa, isn't it pretty?

Bella Italia

Baby Bea has been having such a good time in Italy that she has hardly found the time to update her blog.....that plus they seem to be about 10 year behind when it comes to high speed wireless broadband connectivity.

She has been spending a lot of fantastic time with Mummy, Nonna and Nonno, also, very excitingly, she has finally met her other uncle and auntie, Luca and Marida. It's been amazing.

The only thing is that Baby Bea misses her Daddy dreadfully.........

Benvenuti Italia

Baby Bea is molto anticipato as she is currently on her first foreign trip, on her way to Italy to visit Mummy's family. Now she can use her hard won passport in anger!

Posts about this big adventure to follow....

International Bea

Crikey, what a palaver this was....

Normally Baby Bea has the restrained patience and the good nature of a saint. It is unlike her, as anyone who knows her can testify, to break into a howling scream at a moments notice, but getting her UK passport certainly tested hers (and Mummy's) steely resolve.

It all started well, Daddy got the birth certificate and filled in the online application form with relative ease. A seconder was found to certify my identity, our good friend Adam, father of the fabulous Herson boys, Oscar and Dexter (call me...). However it all started to go to pot when Mummy arranged an appointment at the passport office to hurry my application along. A set date and time was agreed and Mummy dutifully turned up with a tired little bundle in tow. Unfortunately there was a queue......a two hour queue. In an airless, crowded, uncomfortable room. Now this is where my good nature was tested to the limit and I have to admit that I may have cried a little (Editor: read 'wailed like the proverbial banshee'). Mummy took this all in good stead, but she was also tested to breaking point when the office finally deigned to allow her the allotted time, only to find that a terribly minor piece of administration had been left out and the office refused to accept my identity. "But she is here in my hands" cried Mummy, "who's baby do you think I would be lugging around town?". All to no avail, the passport lady would not be moved.

A second appointment was then arranged and Mummy for the second time lugged herself and me to the passport office to complete the application. But our story does not end here....

A week later we were informed that the passport was in fact ready and Mummy took a third trip down to the passport office to collect it. She had all the forms of identification that one could possibly imagine, but they refused point blank to provide her with the passport as she is not the one who made out the application. In fact they refused to even tell her if they had it in her possession. "Why?" she exclaimed "would I come down here with my passport, my proof of address, my husband's passport, our marriage certificate and our baby's birth certificate, if not to pick up her passport. Who do you think I am? An incredibly well organised identity thief looking to hack into my daughter's bank account and workplace system?!"

In the end, Daddy trudged down to the office (located, it should be said in the centre of town) with exactly the same identification details to pick up the passport. And do you know what? They didn't ask to see any of them. Apparently his signature was proof enough.

Watertight, our passport system, totally watertight.

Berlusconi is gone!

At first when I heard that Silvio, the bad old man of Italian politics, was gone....I was totally shocked

But then, as the realisation began to dawn, I was pretty happy.....

Bye bye Berlusconi.

Am I some kind of animal?

Honestly, I can't understand why Mummy and Daddy insist I wear these ridiculous costumes...

Talking to Daddy

I think I made my point very eloquently here.....

Working from home....

Sometimes Daddy needs to work from home, which I find rather upsetting as it means that he is missing out on quality Baby Bea time. I, therefore, insist that I am included at all times in this activity to ensure that he is not slacking off and that his work up to the required standard.

In these photos, as you can see, I am coaching him on how to send an email. Frankly, by the end I was basically dictating his responses, which was a little embarrassing.

The Princess Chair

A giant box arrived at 19 Sandwell Mansions the other day and excitingly it was addressed to none other than yours truly, Beatrice Rose Olins. A present from my Uncle Luca and Auntie Marida in Italy. I delegated the job of opening it to Mummy, who found inside what can only be described as a Princess Chair, proportioned to my size (or thereabouts) and befitting my near-regal status.

As you can see, I have very much taken to my new pink chair.

Sleeping

Being Baby Bea is, let me tell you, an exhausting experience. The whirlwind of gallery openings, international conferences, high minded debate and dodging the paparazzi can certainly take its toll. For that reason Baby Bea likes to take the opportunity, when she can, to power nap. To power nap with a vengeance.

Beatrice discovers the world

Hello world, Baby Bea would like to inform you of a remarkable discovery that she has uncovered. Results are still being analysed, but early indications suggest that she is in possession of a couple of unusual appendages at the end of her arms.

Currently it appears that these strange shaped objects have little use apart from being rather pleasing to stuff in one's mouth, but Baby Bea will keep you posted.....