Saturday 26th June

I cannot believe it's nearly the end of the month and we've been in India for two weeks! Where does the time go?!

Abigail woke up at the later time of 7 a.m today, which is great! The curtains worked!! We got up and washed and dressed and then kept each other company until Dylan came through at 8.30. I gave him breakfast and then he watched a bit of television before we all went down to the swimming pool. Alex was at the pool with Issac, which was great but it was really hot so we only stayed about half an hour before coming home again.

Dylan was exhausted (probably from the heat) and at 11 a.m he started asking me for lunch so I went and cooked him some potatoes and vegetables which he ate with cheese and olives … an interesting combination! I actually found the olives that we used to buy in UK in our compound supermarket. In UK they cost 80 pence, here they cost £2.50 so I try to only give him a few at a time!

At midday both babies went for a lie down. Dylan didn't actually sleep; he just laid in bed very quietly for a while. At 2 p.m the driver picked us up and we all went to Ambience Mall. First we went for lunch and then we took DJ to 'Fun City' where all the arcades and rides are. I took Dylan on a ride where you sit in a basket for what looks like a hot air balloon and they spin round and round and you go up and down. He LOVED it and his face was a picture! When it finished, he was saying 'again, again!' but we decided to take him to the indoor play area instead. He really enjoys himself there and the women who work there recognise us now as we've been quite a few times within the space of two weeks.

While DJ played in the play area, Pen watched him and I had a wonder around all the baby shops. It's very cleverly laid out actually … the play area is in the middle of the second floor and is surrounded by Mothercare, Obaibei, Pumpkin Patch and a whole selection of other baby shops/toy shops. It's ideal because it's so hard to go into toy shops with little ones (as anyone with children knows). Abigail had fallen asleep in her pushchair straight after lunch and slept for about 2 hours so I had the opportunity to have a really good look around. I found some Milton sterilising tablets which I was very happy about (as I use them to sterilise all the fruit and vegetables that I buy before we eat them). I also bought DJ a new swim nappy in Mothercare. That was it really. I had a look at lots of really nice stuff … children's bedroom furniture and toys, but as Pen said, there's no point in buying anything until our cargo arrives and we see exactly what we need. One thing I know that we will need is wardrobes for the children's clothes. There are no wardrobes in either of DJ or Abi's bedrooms and there's only a small one each for Pen and I but although I have been looking at different shops and pricing things up, I haven't found any that I really like yet (and that are reasonably priced).

Anyway, after the mall we came straight home and we all went down to the swimming pool. Issac was there with a little friend so it was nice for Dylan to have other children to play with although DJ was in a very strange mood and kept running out of the pool and into the changing rooms. In the end, we decided it would be better to come home.

Both children were so tired that we actually managed to get them both to bed by 8 p.m! And then I have to confess, I lost all willpower and went down to the compound shop and bought Pepsi and crisps and I sat watching English TV and eating junk food. Once in a while, you just need to veg out and I don't feel guilty about it at all!!! :)

Overall it was a really lovely day!