Sunny day in Baku.

The little man is 10 months old today - every month I'm surprised at how quickly the previous month went and every day he does more and more. Milestones in the last month include two teeth, crawling round in circles (he managed backwards before hitting 9 months, but has yet to work out forwards motion!) and pulling himself up to standing from sitting in his cot. He also ate his first curry (homemade chicken korma without chilli), had some common Azerbaijani fruit which I only tried for the first time in the last couple of years (persimmon and medlar), and moved into his own room. So lots of new things!

This is my last week at work before we're off for Christmas and the New Year. It's been 4 weeks since my last break and I'm exhausted (since returning from maternity leave on 1 September this is the first time I've worked more than 4 weeks in a row!).

It's strange to be in Azerbaijan in the run up to Christmas. They have decorated trees, lights, Father Christmas figures, but being a Muslim country as they celebrate New Year rather than Christmas, so the lights aren't yet on and it doesn't feel very Christmassy. Apart from in our flat that is - we have the tree up have had friends over for mince pies and mulled wine and my Christmas cake is maturing :)