Ants in our pants

...well, actually, in our kitchen.  Eek!

We've had the odd ant running around for a while now,  but today was something else.  The ants have been sprouting wings and today when we got back they were swarming (is that what they do?) all over the floor. They appear to have been nesting under the fridge.  Now we don't mind sharing our home with a few things (slugs for instance have taken up residence under the sink since the cold weather in the winter) and after my experiences with ants in South Africa (think long columns of ants on the kitchen worktops and ants on the patio crawling up your skirts) British ones tend not to bother me. I apologise to ant lovers everywhere, but we had to do something, so the kids and I were banished to picnic in the living room and then to Michelle's (thanks Michelle!) while Chris pulled everything out, cleaned up and put down ant powder.  So our kitchen is now the cleanest its been probably since we moved in, and I haven't done what I was going to do this afternoon, namely pack for Hannah going into hospital tomorrow.  Yep, just what we needed the day before that.

So tomorrow we hopefully take H in for the op on her palate [crosses fingers, prays, etc].  We have to phone the ward at 8am to check there is a bed for her.  I hope there is because we have prepared her as best we can (without scaring her witless) and this is good timing school- and holiday-wise.  All being well she will have the op on Thursday.

In other news Rebekah has started on solids and has taken to eating like she should have been doing it all along.  After weeks of looking longingly at our food she now has her own, and is already on two meals a day.  This means the breast pump has resurfaced (last used in those heady days of engorgement about four months ago), as the method of preparing her meals starts with 'first milk the cow'.  With my boobs rapidly becoming dispensable again I am definitely feeling that my baby is growing up too quickly.