Egypt

All my worst fears about the travelling proved totally unfounded - it was no problem at all, James was an angel and slept most of the way and my fabulous pre-sterilized/recyclable bottles did the job perfectly. We arrived safe and sound, unpacked all set for 2 weeks of R&R when we suddenly noticed a rogue spot on Will's chest. Two hearts sank like stones as we realised that all this time Will had been incubating chicken pox, only to unleash it on Day I of the holiday. We nearly turned tail and came home, but eventually decided to brave it out and in the end it was absolutely fine, Will was thrilled to spend every waking hour with Mummy and Daddy while James spent his days at Baby Club, adored by a gaggle of smitten nannies - even the lads at the Surf Club had a cuddle!

Eventually Will recovered (thank God we packed the Calpol) and was finally admitted to Kids Club, leaving Eddie and I 5 precious days to spend doing our own thing; snorkelling out on the reef, reading, swimming and sailing. Thank heavens we went for 2 weeks is all I can say.

THEN we realised we were running very low on formula for James. I'd packed 2 boxes but it was obvious we weren't going to make it and you couldn't buy any at the hotel and even if we could have got some in Hurghada, it would have been something completely different. In the end I decided to call upon the help of Terry, who has been in the same situation and I knew she'd understand and hopefully get some out to us. The days passed and nothing arrived, until eventually we took advantage of some Aptimil 3 that someone had left behind. We didn't know how old it was and it was too advanced for James, but it was all we had and better than nothing. Til we actually left the hotel we kept asking if the parcel had arrived, but it had got stuck in customs and so there was nothing to be done but head for home with literally 2 x 5 oz feeds left. Poor JimBob woofed down each and I know he was still hungry, but we had to try to eek out what we had left. We made it home by the skin of our teeth, by which time James was so hungry he took a full 8ozs - a first. Talk about stress, there is nothing worse than knowing your child is hungry and you can't give them anything more to eat.

BUT, all our trials and tribulations aside, a good time was had by all, the Mark Warner girls could not have been nicer - we're already plotting our skiing trip next year. We got home late last night so had a pair of very fractious, tired boys to deal with today. They're both in bed now so here's hoping we get back onto an even keel soon. In the meantime I must have washed every item of clothing any of us ever possessed and am now off upstairs to slather on more After Sun and relax in a hot bath while Eddie goes out for a curry. E.B on and early bed.