ramblingwrights

2011-09-15T20:20:00.003+01:00

Hopefully I'll post in my own name this time!

Just wanted to upload a pic giving a flavour of Philip's tough (not) afternoon at school today. The school joined with 3 other primary schools for an afternoon of dressing up, games and mini-presentations at the local park, with parents welcome to come and watch. The sun came out after a freezing morning and it was all very pleasant.

2011-09-08T09:30:00.002+01:00

Charlie's first day at school today. He's been very excited and even managed to get mixed up at the end of last term and get as far as the classroom thinking it was his first day. Was very upset when he found out he'd made a mistake.

But today all went smoothly. We were there in plenty of time and he knew exactly where he was going from taking Philip last year. It took me a long time to find the peg with his name on it during which he hung onto my hand wishing I'd hurry up and hoping it was realy there and not all a big mistake. Then we found it (with its accompanying dog picture) and were able to go and settle him in the classroom. We hopped from this to that - home corner, farm ... and when I decided he was settled enough and left he was playing with the russian dolls.

Hope he has a good day and has lots to tell me about tonight.

2011-07-21T18:47:00.002+01:00

Philip's first post

hello]wot?]too-day i been thinking about mony
now you can get $5.45]bye

2010-11-21T19:52:00.002Z

Long time between posts again - been happily busy. But this evening the kids are taking time to settle and Ed has bought himself a new laptop so I've got time free on the computer.

The big event recently has been Philip starting school. I was pretty worried how it was going to go - he'd had his ups and downs at the nursery behaviour wise and some concern about lack of engagement.

And it's gone brillantly (so far at least!). Hats off to those reception teachers, they somehow manage to keep 30 kids enough on task to feel like they're really achieving as well as having a fun time (mostly).

2010-03-11T09:54:00.002Z

Can't believe how long it's been since I wrote on here - have some posts got lost?!

Have been busy tidying so our house is now finally in a state to put on the market. Now it's keeping it tidy which is the challenge.

Philip has had some wobbles settling into full time nursery school - stropping at teachers and getting into ruts and not engaging with other children - but that all seems resolved now.

Wish Charlie would sleep better, or at least let me do so - our bed is just so much more attractive than his!!

2009-09-23T20:32:00.000+01:00

Liked this article about how perhaps a simpler life would be easier...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/richard_morrison/article6844624.ece

Have had a complicated couple of weeks with both children getting bugs and needing keeping away from the rest of the world. Nice spending time with them but rather thwarts what semblance of order I was just bringing to my work. We'll see what next week brings.

2009-06-29T21:17:00.002+01:00

Have now got my new work laptop so I am working towards working from a mobile office based on the bike. I've played this game before with a car when I used to do site work, but there you have lots more space for drawings, reports etc. as well as heating and the ability to nip off to the supermarket or cafe when you feel like it.

The current bike is the office folding one, a Brompton. When I arrive at meetings the first impression is partly made by my appearance and what I say, but also to the cycling fraternity by the bike I arrive on, and the cycling accesories I choose. Is it a 5 gear model? I was asked today. Must find out the answer to that one.

So over the next few months I'll be building up my cycling work image. I need clothes that cope with cycling a few miles and then don't look too scruffy in a meeting. Bags that unhitch from the bike easily and can carry relevant papers and the computer as well as lunch. I need greater fitness so I don't let the side down on site visits, and better skill at going up escalators, folding my bike smoothly and leaping onto trains at the last minute. Lycra is out, this is about the anyone can do this, casually effortless urban look. Watch this space!

2009-06-14T13:16:00.002+01:00

Am loving my new job so far. Why didn't I change earlier? (apart from the stress and it's better to get a redundancy package ...) Much more in tune with what I want to be doing with such skills as I have. Sure there'll be ups and downs along the way but for now it's great. Get cycling and walking everyone!

Charlie's at that stage where he's gaining loads of words every day. Very rewarding. It sort of began around Easter but now he's got a big enough vocabulary to be able to say something vaguely relevant in most situations. Animals and attempts at colours (best established by reference to the Bob the Builder characters), "naughty", "no dark yet", recognising his favourite numbers (3 and 8) all come out and sometimes jumble together. It'll be his 2nd birthday next month.

Philip absolutely loves nursery school. It's all so exciting he needs lots of space to wind down through playing at home at the weekends. Which is a bit tricky to juggle with Charlie wanting to be on the go all the time, but makes for relaxing Saturday mornings when Ed takes C shopping while I "look after" Philip. He just gets on and entertains himself. And would probably do so for most of the weekend if it weren't for his little brother crashing into his train of thought.

2009-04-18T21:13:00.003+01:00

Just have to share another of Philip's great uses of the English language ... (refering to pushing a CD into the slot) ... Mummy, I'll put it wrong in and then you put it right in.

Not much else to report on the job hunting front as everyone still on holiday so not had much time. Did do a Birkman analysis last night though - loads of questions (nearly 300 multiple choice). By the end you just don't care what answers you're putting any more.

2009-03-25T08:53:00.002Z

The redundancy process has moved forward and I'm now on the "at risk" list. My first response was one of relief that at least I now knew - others had to wait the whole week whilst colleagues were called in not knowing who was next. And that knowing, the ball was now in my court to act. I had a few things I wanted to get finished off and not let colleagues down on, so I returned to my desk and tried to juggle making progress with digesting the news and talking to collegues about it.

I've now lost motivation to finish things off and just have 2 aims: 1) To have a meeting with HR and my director (planned for this pm) to understand what "pool" of people I was in and how the scoring process worked for my situation. 2) To do everything I can to get my professional exams paperwork signed off and submitted.

All rubbish stuff. Will be glad when its over. At least I've got a lot to keep me positive.

2009-03-24T21:31:00.001Z

Yesterday - Monday 23rd March - was the day when Philip was twice as old as Charlie.

2009-01-19T20:12:00.003Z

Along with probably just about everywhere in the UK and probably lots of other places around the world, my company is talking about redundancies. We're in a consultation period where they first work out the process and then decide what "roles" they've got too many of and then talk to the at risk list (that's my own term) before sending people out the door.

We had a bit of a chat about it in our team huddles this morning and there'll be lots of various types of communications over the next few weeks. I'm not too worried about it all at the moment in my usual que sera sera way (plus rail is one of those areas thats looking pretty positive so I'm about as well positioned as I can be) but thought I'd record some of my thinking here as the weeks go by.

There's a whole staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon which I'm not sure whether to attend. I don't think I'll really learn anything or be able to influence anything but on the other hand I wouldn't want to look like I didn't care about the whole process. Part of me thinks there's nothing I can change, the other part thinks if there's an opportunity to be involved in a process you should participate fully. We'll see.

It must be very difficult to be the people who are having to decide what "shape" the business needs to be after this process. You can't afford to keep everyone but you want to be in as good a shape as possible when work picks up again. And the very people that currently have nothing to do will be likely to be the ones you want working on postponed projects in say 18 months time. This is when our leadership really needs to get it right and I don't envy them. Crystal ball anyone?

2008-11-24T21:03:00.002Z

Thought it was about time Charlie got a look in on here. He's been a bit grotty the last couple of weeks dealing with a cold, but also over the last month or so he's really started to communicate what he wants and be very clear about what he doesn't want. He has a few sounds which pass for words amongst those who know him well - dark, row, row (as in row, row, row the boat), yes, no, uh-oh, etc. - and some very clear body language. He's started having the odd tantrum, perhaps more so for feeling under the weather - less pure anger than Philip's used to be, but he needs a large safe area as he suddenly gets up from the floor and moves around the room very quickly to launch himself somewhere else. I got caught out in the kitchen the other day and first he banged into the table and then a couple of moments later pulled a chair down on top of himself!

2008-11-07T22:08:00.002Z

Day 4 of the school settling process and the first tears. Not because I was going but because I came to take Philip home and he didn't want to go. I probably could have been less confrontational but we've both got iron wills so we're getting pretty used to resolving conflict, Philip and I. And with Charlie wanting to mess with everything I was feeling under pressure to get them both out of there.

So it came to pass that I marched out of the classroom with Philip under my arm while the class teacher carried Charlie. I let Philip's tantrum run it's course in the foyer, with kind support from the receptionists. Bit of a public display from the Wright's! Luckily Charlie sat good as gold in the buggy while Philip's storm blew over. He only wanted time to finish his milk in peace poor love.

Hopefully we're up to full sessions next week so P won't have to leave when others are still happily playing. It's the childminder taking him and picking him up so he's less likely to dig his heels in. And may be one day I'll learn to take the easier route, although then maybe I just wouldn't be me :-)

2008-11-05T12:13:00.002Z

Day 2 at preschool for Philip and no tears so far. Today, after the drop off rush had settled, I left him for what was supposed to be an hour but ended up being rather more as after a nice chat to other Mums I was in the Head's office (scary) filling out forms.

Philip seemed to settle fine. He went straight outside to play as soon as he was allowed and stayed there all the time. When I went to pick him up he'd been happily digging and exploring the garden with a teacher called Angela.

The kids have half an hour at the beginning and end of the session where they have to stay in their classroom - the end half hour being circle time - but the rest of the time they can choose to play in another classroom (there are 3) or outside. I think Philip will learn to recognise 9.30 on the clock as being the time he's allowed out quite quickly!

Plan for tomorrow is same again but this time I have Charlie in tow, so the parents room will be more chaotic. Philip seems to like nursery school but he says he doesn't like all the people. It must be a bit scary getting used to a new environment with so many new people. Hopefully he'll find his feet playing with the other kids soon - they all seem really friendly.

Forgot to mention, yesterday when trying to find out a bit more about Philip's interests, his teacher started talking about steam coming out of the chimney on the train. Philip said "It's called a funnel"! And today when asked his name by another adult he said "Bing Bong" and laughed. And then after a pause "It's Philip really". Cheeky monkey.

2008-11-04T12:39:00.002Z

Philip's first day at preschool. There were soooo many toys and different people to play with. We learnt which picture was ours so we could find our name and do "self registration" (move it to a different place), then find our peg and hang our coat up and later find our snack! Then we went into our classroom and checked our the different things to do - first the cooking corner, then building blocks, then lego type stuff, then looking at the musical instruments, then playdough, sand and finally settled on water play for a bit. Until we noticed the other kids had gone outside so off we went again. We were only allowed to stay for an hour today so we'll be back for more tomorrow and hopefully we'll eat our snack before the other kids have eaten it all this time. Philip coped really well but definitely found so much new stuff tiring. The plan is I leave him for a bit and go and have a coffee tomorrow.

2008-09-27T15:10:00.002+01:00

As part of a VSO Global Exchange we have 2 young men staying with us for the next couple of months. One, called Sabat, is from East London and is fasting for Ramadan at the moment. The other is Herbert from Limpopo, South Africa. They are part of a team of 18 18-25 year olds taking part in 3 months voluntary work here in the UK and then 3 months in Venda, South Africa. They arrived last Saturday so they're just settling in at the moment, but we've had some pretty interesting conversations already. Philip and I went to the welcome party last night and Philip loved the dancing, singing and multi-cultural games of peek-a-boo! As well as the chocolate cake. We trying not to bore them with our stories of South Africa but it does bring back good memories. Herb makes paper from recycled paper and banana leaves and having seen what is sold over here is looking to see if he can develop his market.

Charlie is toddling inside and out with confidence now, and thanks to a bit of training from grandfather can climb steps quite fast. He's been a bit ill this week so we've had a quieter week around the house. He seems much better but still sleeping more than usual and a bit more fussy about his food, but that could be just because he's growing up too.

2008-08-22T20:58:00.002+01:00

Probably about time I recorded that Charlie started toddling (3 or 4 steps at a time) on Tuesday night. Wouldn't say that walking is the preferred mode of getting places yet, but he's quite chuffed with himself when he shows off his new skill.

Holiday (now a week ago) went really well. A week in a basic cabin at a holiday park in Holland near the coast, and then a week at SAGGA camp SE of the M25. Philip most excited that we went on a boat that fitted our car on too. Ball pool was brilliant evening entertainment for both kids as had few other occupants. There are advantages to being no.2 for Charlie as he gets to try stuff much younger than his brother did. I hardly slept a wink worrying about Charlie rolling off the bunk. Will ask for bed guards next time!

Holiday park had excellent childrens play area, no vehicles allowed up near the cabins and a heated open air toddler pool so was brilliantly kiddie friendly. Quiet at night, and in general very civilised. Our neighbours were amused to see Philip sitting out in his buggy in his pyjamas several nights running as we persuded him bed was the place to be.

The way Hollands infrastructure is arranged around the bike is brilliant. Hired bikes with child seats one day and pootled around. It was definitely the way to visit the nearby larger historic town as no cars were allowed anywhere near the centre. Loved looking at all the different types of bikes related technology - child trailers which are then in town buggies, recumbent bikes etc.

Introduced P & C to the concept of beach one lovely sunny day, and then got totally soaked in trying to go and have some time there on the last day.

Day trip to Amsterdam on double decker yellow train. V hot boat trip.

Magic of seeing Philip at the mini town near the Hague. He just ran around following the different trains. And at the end got his own mini chocolate from the factory. We were pround of ourselves for spotting the little Scout campsite. Charlie was just brilliant and hung out in the backpack taking it all in!

And the general bits and pieces of relaxing at the site. We took Philip's bike and several mornings he'd ride himself down to the reception (the lady with the questions) with me tagging behind and once I'd finished purchasing laundry tokens or whatever, he'd have a bit of a play on the slides and then the (big person sized) rabbit would appear. The rabbit paraded round site on a golf cart collecting children to join in the laid on activities and Philip would try his hardest to keep up on his bike. Good morning exercise. We also went to the swimming pool and Philip had a great time on the slide and seemed to really grow in confidence in the water. I kept my sun hat on to other users amusement!

All to quickly the week was over and it was time for the long drive south to Calais. Bit of time for shopping French style for various treats and then across the channel to Cudham.

Philip soon latched onto Alex as a playmate and within 24hrs they were happily running off to play together for large portions of the day. Charlie took a bit longer to settle into camp life but by the end was absolutely loving playing with all the other kids. Its very hard to describe what we did and just how much we all got out of it, but the mixture of local visits and site work worked well as ever. Philip and Alex shovelling concrete with plastic spades, and helping grandfather saw were a couple of the work highlights.

2008-07-27T21:22:00.003+01:00

With help from the Miller side of the family this weekend we have been investing "sweat equity" (as those in development work like to call it) in our house. Listing the myriad of things achieved during a weekend of hard graft would take too long but the main achievement has been to make our back garden path buggy and small child friendly. There is no longer lots of gravel for Philip and his friends to distribute to innappropriate places. And you can wheel a buggy with a sleeping child in it up into the garden rather than having to carry it over non-adjacent paving slabs. It's not rocket science but it's a job well done that makes us feel proud. And we had fun and lots of nice meals together, including a BBQ on Saturday evening. The weather was lovely.

2008-07-20T20:49:00.004+01:00

Hoorah, it's holiday time for Ed. He's done his leaving speeches, been to lots of parties and now the weeks stretch ahead full of opportunity. Of course, not all those hoped for things will fit in in the end, but we have time away in Holland and at camp to look forward to and a lot less stress for a bit. For those of you we haven't mentioned it to before, Ed starts as head of maths at a school down the road from September.

Charlie (now 1!) is enjoying investigating everything, and getting much better at pulling himself up and reaching things higher up. He can also stand on his own for a few seconds, which I found very exciting and Philip just looked at me! He's loved investigating things that roll this weekend. He's also done his first bit of scribbling. And he loves playing with the fridge magnets, holding himself up using the ridge that forms the handle for the freezer, reaching up to get the magnets and then stooping down to pick up dropped magnets. He needs an eye keeping nearly all the time.

Philip seems quite stressy at the moment. Gorgeous sometimes and completely unreasonable at others. Often throws a fit just when you arrive somewhere - nursery or a toddler group - but these places are very understanding and have seen it all before. Sometimes amazingly articulate; sometimes reverting to baby babble. It must be all very confusing being a toddler. We'll be pleased when it settles down again a bit for him.

My work has picked up a bit with the addition of a bit of work for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. Sworn to secrecy!

2008-07-08T19:46:00.002+01:00

Philip got his first swimming badge on Saturday. So cute, he just loves his number 1 duck and has taken it to bed with him tonight. Hope we don't lose it.

Philip's nursery school place has been switched to a morning place so hopefully that's the end of that saga. Ed went to an open evening (first parent's meeting!) so we're pretty briefed on how it works, what they get up to and what it helps if he can do for himself (principally put his coat on). There's 3 classes, haven't come across anyone we know in our class yet. Got a bit of a bad behaviour report from nursery today, aparently he's been arguing back about whether it's a good idea to run around inside (can't really blame him but it's a rule for everyone's safety) and whether it's ok to hit (would you do that to Charlie? yes! he said). Humm. Looks like he's getting a bit big for his boots in the toddler room. Hopefully the weather'll cheer up and he'll be less trouble outside.

Took the day off work today as there's a bit of a lull in the workload and started filling in the forms for my professional engineering exams (CEng via IHT for those in the know). The whole prospect terrifies me having had one failure. Anyway I got on fairly well today and cleaned the cooker in between to keep myself sane (??!?). If things are quiet at work tomorrow maybe I'll get a bit further. Mid-August deadline if I want to get into this round.

Managed to watch the last 2 sets of the wimbledon final on Sunday. Great stuff. Much more interesting than men's tennis used to be. And a great aid to tackling the ironing pile.

2008-06-29T19:20:00.002+01:00

Charlie is enjoying standing up and moving himself from one support to the next (cruising). And discovering the disadvantage of getting up higher is there's further to fall. He has some handsome bruises from a disagreement with a dining chair!

Philip has a place at the local maintained (i.e. free) nursery school from November (after his 3rd birthday). Everyone says it's lovely, and it's less than 5 minutes walk away, so we were quite keen for him to take up a place if offered. It's an afternoon place which isn't ideal as he's still sleeping some afternoons at the moment, and it's not his sharpest time, but he'll probably be more on the go by then. The really daft thing about these nursery places is they're only 2 1/2 hours which means you have to find childcare to fit around it if you're working. Luckily, it looks like the childminder that has Charlie can take Philip too and take him to nursery and back. She has another toddler a bit younger than Philip too so she's going to be busy :-)

Still battling with Philip with the sharing thing. Had a lovely time with the boys this evening though all bashing musical instruments together. Ed reckons I don't have to make even more noise than them but I was enjoying myself!

2008-06-16T20:19:00.005+01:00

The beginning of week 2 of "the return to work". Which is of course a misleading phrase. All I am doing is swopping some of the work of worrying about nappies and child entertainment for drawings, reports and talking about trains in an office. The hope is that it's a swop we can all cope with.

Charlie continues to seem very settled with the childminder and arrives home cheeky as ever, if somewhat overtired. This evening he gave big hugs to everyone. Philip seems to enjoy nursery and arrives home very talkative and assertive, and also tired. Ed and I make a big effort not to appear harrased, to listen to and read stories and sometimes have energy left over to cook dinner.

In fact today went quite smoothly after a fairly early start. Philip and I were at the nursery on the dot of opening time and I was in work 15 mins early. I spent some of the day doing a computer work station assessment to check I'm sitting correctly at my desk, sorting yet more e-mails accumulated during my years leave and at a team meeting - so not too much technical nitty gritty, resulting in a clearer head than last week. Current project, just for the record, is "as built" drawings for a railway improvement scheme that'll open next week near Hull.

2008-05-20T09:10:00.002+01:00

We always knew that Charlie crawling would present new challenges for Philip in how he related to his baby brother. What I can now see is how Charlie is far from the innocent party any more and that as they sort this out it will lay the foundation for their close brotherly relationship. So after interfering too much the first day as cuddles turned to shoves, I'm trying to leave them to it a bit more now. One child moves onto playing with something else much quicker if it doesn't turn into a competition for mummy's attention!

Philip is progressing well with potty training, has begun recognising letters and connecting them with sounds (the English language is about to get a whole lot more confusing for both of us!) and in the last few days seems to have made a big leap in his social awareness. Whether just because he knows it pleases us, or whether genuine, he is now concerned that other people have a chance to have the same food as him, to get stickers as rewards etc. He also talks a lot about what is naughty and what is silly (and therefore funny) at the moment - which I think will take a long time to really figure out as sometimes it just depends on the context. He still tells me when he's going to be naughty which is quite cute but rather forces one into discipline as you can't give him the excuse he didn't understand!! In a way he's role playing "being a naughty boy" and may find out it has advantages in some situations :-)

Which brings me onto my recent observations of the toddler world. Occasionally at a toddler group I get to watch Philip interacting with his peers across the room. On a Friday there's a gang of them whose Mums spend too much time talking (in their opinion) and so they run round with a football for a bit at the end. Which is great. However, when I started out in this parenting thing I somehow have the impression that children are so sweet and innocent and that if you can teach them to be polite and share, they'll have lots of fun and lots of friends. But (in my sweet innocence) I am beginning to realise that the world of childhood interactions doesn't really work like that. If the Mums aren't watching (or are across the room) then in the short term the fastest, biggest or pushiest boy gets the football. That's life! I'm not going to condone it if Philip knows I'm watching but I think you've got to be realistic that different skills work for different situations and there's not much point shouting (which is very aggresive behaviour in itself) at a child for "playing the game" as he sees it. To a certain extent they've just got to work out their relationships themselves, like Philip and Charlie have to. Complicated stuff.

Off swimming with Charlie now.

2008-05-09T20:23:00.002+01:00

Quick report that Charlie is now crawling forwards after a few weeks of going backwards. The night before last when Ed got in from work I mentioned C was being about as athletic as he could be without actually crawling forwards. Ed held his hands out and encouraged Charlie and he finally went forwards. Not too fast as yet. He also loves standing and holding onto things but isn't pulling himself up yet.

2008-04-24T09:29:00.002+01:00

Yey, I finally have a childcare solution in place! After much searching, turning over options and getting nowhere, we've had to give up on the nursery for Charlie and find him a place at a childminders. There are pros as well as cons of this option anyway so it may turn out to be better. Philip will stay at the nursery for his 2 days a week for now as it's likely to be all change for him in September. But the pre-school doesn't tell us whether he's got a place until May /June! So it's back to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's for me from June. Hopefully with a holiday in August, yet to be negotiated.

Charlie still not quite crawling. Kitchen still not decorated. Philip still not potty trained. But we are managing slowly to fight back the tide of chaos in the house so Charlie won't find so many important pieces of paper to eat when he does start moving. And everything's moving in the right direction.

2008-04-09T15:03:00.003+01:00

Kiddie update - Charlie is just pushing through tooth no 4. The first 2 were the middle bottom ones as you'd expect but the next 2 aren't the opposing teeth on the top, there's a gap in the middle so far. He's also on the starting blocks for crawling which I seem to remember can go on for a while and then you suddenly realise they're half way up the stairs when you weren't watching. He can hold his bottom of the floor and go backwards when he's really keen to go forwards but then finds something else interesting there to play with so doesn't seem too frustrated unless he gets stuck.

Philip's incessant demand is "you read that story". He hasn't sussed that most people would define a story as a whole book - to him it seems to be each page that goes with a picture. Useful in one way as you can bring story reading to a close quicker. But the repeated refrain with each turn of the page can get a bit wearing. He is memorising whole chunks without 100% understanding what they mean and then plays bits out either repeating them as he settles for sleep or while playing with his trains to see if he can get them to make sense. Bits like Duncan crashing into the mine, or Mavis working at the quarry he doesn't really have the experiences to understand yet.

Over Easter we met up with lots of people who helped with the story reading marathon, and we visited lots of different places without staying away from home too much. Philip got a lot out of it all, and especially "helping" with some jobs at Gran and Grandfather's house and seems to have grown up loads. Since last summer we've noticed he gets unsettled when Ed goes back to work, he obviously gets a lot out of the attention 2 parents can give. But he probably needs time to process it all in between!

I've finally reached the point where I'm ready to organise a return to work. I popped into Arup to see what had changed (and what hadn't), thought about a couple of options and went to check with the nursery what days I could arrange. Bit of a blow, they're full in the baby room until October so a radically different Plan B is going to be required. I was thinking of moving Philip this September / Christmas anyway so it seems to make sense to change everything at once. But that depends on what pre-school place he can get which won't be clear until May or maybe June. So I'm still stuck with what ifs and maybes. I know it'll all be all right on the night, and I don't want to be too precious about my little darlings but I do find working out childcare choices very emotionally draining so it'll have to be done in little bits and is likely to take some time to find the right solution.

Phew - long post!

2008-04-09T14:58:00.002+01:00

I've got interested in composting! Last weekend I picked up my father's copy of the Little Book of Composting and finally there's an explanation of some of the science behind it and suggestions I can understand of how to go about it (described in terms of hosting a good party for the organisms required). So what was an obsession of my fathers, is now an interest of mine. Now need to find time to dig out our old compost bin so we can get going with the new ideas.

2008-03-10T09:57:00.002Z

When I was on a school residential once we played a game where you were given a word and you then pelted around the house looking at loads of lists to try and find that word on them. When you found it, you read off the corresponding word and set of hunting for that new one.

This morning I've been playing the grown up version. First, start with an object in the hall. Swimming kit needs hanging up. Down to the cellar, to discover there's no space until other dry washing has been moved...the washing would dry quicker if it could go infront of the radiator .... but the floor's so dirty it needs sweeping first .... upstairs for the dustpan and brush .... etc. It's nice to be able to follow these things through uninterupted while the kids are at nursery but I do get distracted into some bizarre things! Hey ho, time for a coffee break and to ring some more people about kiddie swimming lessons.

2008-03-02T13:16:00.003Z

Me, my boys and a nice newly refurbished train station, what more could a girl want from a half term holiday? Philip's vocabulary now includes coupling rods, ballast and sleepers - poor lad! Thomas the Tank Engine has to take some of the blame too.

Philip was wide eyed with excitement on the train, the morning we took him on the underground (he know these trains say mindthegap) and when in Hamleys looking at the model railway layout. I enjoyed the science museum's play area with lots of water channels and boats and Charlie loved all the people watching.

Whilst on holiday, Charlie took to waking up screaming at 12pm and not wanting to feed. Bit concerning and not too pleasant. The week after 2 little bottom teeth arrived so we're inclined to let him off. Another exciting milestone.

Charlie began having 3 mornings a week in nursery last week, leaving me free to get a few things finished and get myself and the house in a fit state to consider going back to work. This is obviously going to take a while! On the Monday I was quite disciplined and did a few useful jobs, on the Tuesday I sat down and read a book. Plans for this week include some kitchen painting, we'll see. Charlie is finding a bit difficult to settle into nursery, but they're able to distract him when he's upset so we're fairly confident he'll get there. It must be all a bit strange at first, although Philip seemed to settle very quickly.

2008-01-25T20:21:00.001Z

Charlie's latest trick is banging 2 cups together - he loves it and it keeps him entertained for ages. He had a bit of a grizzly day today due to a nasty cough but otherwise is doing great.

Philip was better from his latest bug by the weekend and has managed his 2 days at nursery, trying a new playgroup, his swimming lesson and a toddler group. After all that he seems to be catching up on sleep a bit. He's really coming on with his swimming from a very underconfident time 6 months ago when he wouldn't really get in the water and is now all giggles as we splash about. With his "number suit" (buoyancy jacket which has numbers inside to tell you in which order to take out the floats) he can float about on his own and is beginning to get the idea of propelling himself a bit with his legs.

He's still loving spotting numbers and encouraged by a tell the time with Thomas book can make the 'o clocks. Am not sure how much to encourage this as I don't really want him to know when In the Night Garden is on the telly! Counting is a big game where he knows the numbers in sequence so if he knows how many items there are he can do a reasonable attempt at counting to about 4 or 5 (whereafter he runs out of concentration). However this evening he was counting out fistfulls of books - 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6. "There, 2 books" he annouces having moved about 20 onto his bed! He's so cute when we do the nighttime songs screwing up his eyes tight and joining in with the words in his childish voice.

Me, I'm just beginning to get restless at all this being around the house. Time to start taxing my brain a bit more. First target is to start moving the kitchen forward again (still got bare plaster walls) and then I've got some professional exams to take (again). Urgh.

2008-01-19T14:18:00.000Z

This week I discovered why beetroot isn't high on people's list of weaning foods - red stuff everywhere! Should have taken a photo but decided in the end I'd better minimise the damage and clean up. Charlie enjoys experimenting with bits of finger food like rice cakes so we're having some wonderfully messy mealtimes at the moment.

Another bug in the household with Philip running a temperature. Seem to remember last January was like this. At least I'm not trying to juggle work as well this year.

2008-01-14T09:33:00.000Z

Inspired by other peoples New Year resolutions and relieved by a bit more sleep, I'll try and get some more frequent postings on here. And hopefully some photos soon too (when I've cut Philip's hair!)

Charlie continues to be sunny and relaxed - how long can it last? He's sitting up pretty well now usually clonking down only if he tries to turn his head too fast to watch someone walking past or if he tries to overreach forwards. He grew up so much over the Christmas break it was incredible. No small baby anymore. He was 6 months on Saturday so I feel I can start to broaden his range of food and he tasted his first teeny tiny bit of meat. I've got a baby mincer called a Baby Dan foodmill which is a lovely gadget (if a bit unnecessary as all the best gadgets should be) and worked well on helping me mush up small amounts of left over veg.

Philip wasn't too well last week and so missed nursery on Tuesday, slept a lot and got through plenty of calpol. Thought he was better Thursday and let him skip his lunchtime nap - won't be doing that again in a hurry. He was completely overtired and just yelling. Now he's so much bigger it's difficult to find a place to keep him safe while he calms down. Eventually Ed put him in the buggy and he yelled himself to sleep. He's now stringing sentences together into jumbly stories and has quite a long memory. More difficult to fool! When I took him down to NCT on Thursday he remembered it was the same place where the "scary man" (santa) was over a month ago and started yelling and took ages to settle in.

2007-11-14T07:50:00.000Z

Me: I think Daddy's waving, do you want to wave back?
Philip: Wave forwards Daddy!
Amused me anyway.

2007-10-27T10:32:00.000+01:00

The problem I've always found with diaries is when you're happily busy there's no time to write about it. So there'll be no details of Charlie's first camping trip at 6 weeks old, his first swimming trip with his cousin Sam or Philip's 2nd birthday party - but they were all great fun if a bit exhausting.

However last weekend was an event so significant I have to at least mention it - my brother's wedding. My little brother now officially has another lady in his life to look after him. Good luck to her :-) It was a wonderful event. A bit hectic with 2 kids but I managed to see most ceremony and hear all of the speeches. And then we had a lovely time visiting Glasgow a bit more and wandering back slowly through the Scottish borders.

Off shopping now - meeting Ed and Philip who've gone by train.

2007-08-15T23:15:00.000+01:00

Bit of a difficult week last week as Ed had a virus and by Wednesday it looked like I was getting it too. Looking after 2 kids isn't really possible when you can barely look after yourselves. So we all piled in the car and went to the grandparents in Stoke. Well, actually it wasn't that easy - Ed worked pretty hard all morning so we at least had some clean clothes to take with us and wouldn't come back to too much mouldy stuff in the kitchen and then he had the honour of driving us there, so we were pretty worn out by the time we arrived.

Anyway, I didn't come down too badly with the lurgy which I feel very lucky about, and by Saturday we were well enough to proceed with the plan and head down to near Reading for Ed's cousin's UK wedding celebration (the wedding having been held in the US) which went very well. Charlie turns out to quite enjoy the hubbub of such gatherings for the moment at least and Philip was entertained for the most part by running round the grounds and then a babysitter. We overdid it a bit and he was exhausted by the end of the evening but conked out fairly quickly once back at the hotel.

On the Sunday we visited Ed's granny and then called in on Liz's farewell do in Woking, both of which were very pleasant, before the long drive North, which was less so but we made it eventually.

And so to another week full of promise where I haven't managed to get as much done as I hoped on the days Philip was in nursery. But I have finished Harry Potter.

2007-08-03T21:53:00.000+01:00

Where to start? Have been having a child centred few weeks and feel lucky not to have had to worry about the bad weather going on outside. Now it's picked up a bit we've had some lovely trips out but I can't walk v far and Philip always wants to walk in the opposite direction so it can be a bit wearing for Ed.

Anyway, in general I'm recovering well from being chopped open to extract Charlie and we are starting to get into some sort of a rhythm. Philip found the whole thing very stressful for about 10 days and took every opportunity to tell us about it, but having weathered refusals to eat, bathe, have nappy changed etc. and antics including finding any cup with liquid in it around the house and deliberately and carefully pouring it all over the floor (my fault for leaving cups around, I might finally be cured of that bad habit) he cheered up and is very cute with Charlie at the moment.

Philip is gaining vocab at a rate of knots - one's I can remember from the last few days he's started saying as well as understanding include red as in red car, mouth and carpet. He's tryed eating playdough today (oops!) and in the better weather of the last couple of days we've got out the sand pit and the water play and have been having great fun.

Better go - time for next grub for Charlie. Who's putting on lots of weight and will soon be in the 3-6 month clothes.

2007-07-14T19:17:00.000+01:00

Announcing...

Charlie James W born 12th July weighing 8lbs 15+ oz

Both he and his mother are doing fantastically and should be home in the morning. His big brother is very excited.

2007-07-07T09:46:00.000+01:00

Due date day apparently.

Checks up the hospital Thur pm went fine and I then woke up feeling really grotty Friday morning with a headache which had been highlighted as one of the signs to watch out for. So I phoned in and up we went again to be reassured there was nothing to worry about. Hopefully the headaches are a sign of hormones getting going or something.

Have pretty much given up on trying to look after Philip as well as myself so Philip is having great fun going for walks with different people - my mother, Ed's dad and the Peacocks have all taken him out this week, he's now out shopping with his Dad and there's an outing planned with Ben from up the road for this afternoon.

2007-07-04T18:27:00.000+01:00

Some people blog when they have something to say, other people blog when they have nothing to say ......

No news yet! Next appointment for blood pressure monitoring is tomorrow.

2007-06-20T21:31:00.001+01:00

Just been to see Philip's new cousin / our new nephew. 4 days old and gorgeous. Parents look like they're doing great. Philip seemed to enjoy seeing the new baby so we're pleased, though there's a lot of difference between visiting one and one invading your house!

I've had slightly raised blood pressure and a couple of trips to the hospital for subsequent monitoring when it's happily calmed down so am trying to take things easy. Not the simplest of tasks with a demanding toddler in the house, but a great excuse for lots of sleeping and relaxing baths when opportunity presents. Next midwife appointment not til next Monday so they can't be too concerned.

2007-06-04T09:44:00.000+01:00

Last time I tried to blog our internet connection stopped working for 2 days so I'm hoping that doesn't happen again.

Am on leave now, and Philip is in nursery 2 days a week so time to "catch up" on things, and prepare for the next onslaught :-) Was quite sad to leave work, I mostly enjoy seeing people and having some nice technical problems to try and solve. And the bloke who was most annoying has finally decided to leave next week! I need the break though, I really wasn't much use the last few weeks and have done a lot of sleeping the last few days.

People kept asking if / when I'd be back. Last time I had a very clear plan and more or less stuck to it. This time I really haven't a clue - there are so many variables. So we'll see.

The great progress of the last couple of weeks has been the kitchen. The units are now all installed and lovely, the cooker is wired in electrically as well as for gas and the plastering has been done. Just the decorating - painting, tiling and flooring - to finish off, which requires some more choices and then probably getting some more people in. It'd be nice to get it finished but the timing's all a lot less critcial now. Cooking on a gas hob is great - I'm not sure the last time I had one but it seems like a good 5 years and may well be a lot longer.

2007-04-29T18:48:00.000+01:00

Have been enjoying the lovely weather. Yesterday watching my father-in-law resetting fence posts in the garden, and today up the road at a neighbours with a similar aged lad.

The DIY / get the tradesmen in / help from the inlaws on the kitchen continues with Philip now thinking it's normal to take wallpaper off the wall - what fun he had pretending to be like Daddy and scrapping the wall with a spatula - and that pieces of concreting need a playpen so they don't escape. A gas fitter and plasterer are now nearly lined up. Ed also took some more units and tiles down to find the condition of the wall a bit worse than we'd hoped.

Philip's been teething again although I think we're getting off very lightly with him and teeth. Main indications that somethings wrong are that he stops going down smoothly for his daytime nap and gets really stressed at minor irritations. He had a major paddy on Saturday morning after getting up which at not much past 6am with both of us drawn in wasn't quite how we planned starting our weekend but heh. However, with the help of a bit of calpol, he does largely continue sleeping through the night so long as we're at home, and when busy and on task he's his normal happy self. He seems to get 2 periods of 3 days with each tooth - the first before the tooth breaks through, then a short gap and then more upset as the tooth grows. Must be a painful business though. I've now stopped counting but I think these are teeth 15 and 16 so we're nearly there anyway. Just 2 sets of the bigger back ones to go.

Have been reading a book a friend lent about the stresses of 2 kids. It's not entirely positive. Sounds like a year of near exhaustion before things start to settle with no. 2 - although of course experiences vary. Asked my friend whose eldest is a similar age to Philip and whose no. 2 is a few weeks old whether she thought it was about accurate and she reckoned so but is hopeful things'll get easier after 4 months. Hmmm. Well we'll see.

2007-04-24T21:02:00.000+01:00

Easter hols over and the Jerrams happily married off during a lovely day at East Riddlesden Hall, it's now time to turn our attention back to the kitchen. A bit over 2 weeks left to kitchen fitting week, it's time to work out the minor details like plastering, painting, tiling and how to maintain a usable cooker.

The lovely shiny new range style cooker is currently doing an excellent job as a shelf part way into the kitchen, but in all its swanky dual fuel ness will need a gas and electricity connection before it's much use for what we paid all that money for. And we're not sure how far we'll be able to move it once connected up, and hence whether the painting and tiling behind should really be done beforehand. Potential gas fitter scheduled for a chat on Thursday so hopefully all will be revealed.

Meanwhile I think I've found a hole that needs some concrete putting into it to give us a flat surface to lay the floor so I'm happy!

We've also completed our first ebay transaction thanks to Grandfather who undertook the collection and are now the proud owners if not yet the keepers of a double buggy. Philip's been acquiring another couple of teeth - mainly without much fuss - and more vocabulary as well as more determination about the way things should be done around here. Good job someone's organised. He's still a little star at nursery keeping everyone amused with his giggling.

2007-04-11T16:21:00.000+01:00

Its the Easter holidays and what lovely weather we've been having. We spent a lovely few days in the Lake District (wednesday to Easter Sunday) and then a morning with the Pinneys on their canal boat. Despite all the outdoor exposure Philip is still addicted to opening and closing doors but he is now asking to go in the papoose which is much better than the screaming struggles we used to have. We've been working really hard on getting him to say sheep but it's still called a dog (along with all other four legged animals) although he knows to find his sheep cuddly toy when it's named. All birds are ducks and he says duck just in case when he sees water.

Philip really enjoyed the Grisedale adventure playground which is recommended for kids of all ages and splashing in wellies and shorts at the edge of Coniston (though he was a bit frustrated at not being allowed to wander further into the lake). I particularly enjoyed hot chocolate by the lake in Grassmere and a very nice meal in the evening, an ice cream while sitting looking across Windemere with Philip asleep and Ed happily reading the paper while queuing for the car ferry and browsing in Lakeland Plastics in Ambleside. The Lakeland Plastics building is purpose built and they've gone to a lot of trouble to design in features to allow women to shop unharrased. There was a great play area for Philip, sofas and e-mail for Ed and lovely loos with a TV to watch incase you had to queue!

We weren't sure at the beginning of Ed's Easter holidays whether we'd be able to go away, as Philip developed chicken pox. In a way it was good timing as he seems young enough not to have been too iritated and scratched but it did rather throw Ed's holiday plans up in the air. And we weren't sure whether Philip would be better and non infectious in time. I was glad we hadn't booked a foreign holiday.

Also Ed's Grandpa, Peter, sadly died on the Saturday at the beginning of the holidays. All three of us went down to Reading and back in the day yesterday for the funeral and though exhausted by the time we returned we were glad to have been able to celebrate such an interesting and compassionate mans life. He was private secretary to Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill which produced some amusing stories.

2007-03-18T21:15:00.000Z

The kitchen has moved on v fast this week. We got a phone call from the builder early Monday morning (phone calls at breakfast time get the heart racing somewhat as to what bad might have happened to who, so we were relieved it was only him) and by Tuesday evening we had a big hole in the chimney breast (as planned). The plastering work on that is due to be finished on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the paper stripping crew (the other grandparents) became available to come today so after excellent efforts from them we now have dramatically reduced the amount of "wood chip" style paper. This is great timing as it now shows where the plastering has to tie into, and also Gran was able to help me get the kitchen back into some sort of shape.

And this has all been achieved while Ed has been off ill since Thursday. We're hoping he's better enough to manage his classes on Monday without having to run off to the loo. Philip is full of cold but not that unhappy with it but it very confused by this new "door" we have made in the kitchen. Hopefully all will be revealed to him soon.

After this enthusiastic outset we intend to take a bit of a breather with a half dismantled but functioning kitchen before the demolishing of the old and fitting of the new cabinets begins.

2007-03-11T21:25:00.000Z

Hoorah for England winning at the rugby. It's added an extra feel good factor to the household.

The other highlight this weekend was an excellent start to our kitchen project contributed to by guest grandparents. OK we'd started some of the tidying last weekend and we've been mulling over options virtually since we moved into the house, but now not only do we have a builder booked for the heavy work, we also have the first of the cabinets off the wall (as a trial to see what's behind). We're not expecting this to be a quick project but we've hopes of all being back in order before any new baby puts on an appearance. Four months or so should do it.

Philip babbling continues to progress. I can't understand any more of what's being said but in the last few days he's begun warbling away to himself in sentences, nay paragraphs. It might be a bit scary when we can actually understand what he's on about. For now I'm quite blissfully ignorant imagining he may be making some sense.

2007-03-07T18:40:00.000Z

A colleague was chucking a ball around whilst chatting in the office and dropped it so it rolled away. Instinctively I went and picked it up! This is what being a Mum does to you.

Got v stressed at work today and nearly came home but managed to recover myself. Hormones heh! My Chester kerb design seems to have been approved of by the council so soon my work (or the version of it that the contractor decides to install) might be on show for anyone visiting the ampitheatre. The satisfaction of creating things.

2007-03-03T10:18:00.000Z

Last week my office decided to take part in one bin day - where for a day all rubbish goes into one central bin so you realise how much waste you produce. I didn't worry about this too much as I was out the office on the day proposed, so I was quite surprised to find it had turned into one bin week. And apparently it is still continuing - most of our bins have been kidnapped for over 10 days now with only a few returned so far.

One of the postings on our office forum suggests this is a big brother type experiment to see how we as a group deal with what was initially a minor inconvenience to illustrate an environmental point and has now turned into a battle of wills over a scarce resource (the bins). If you look at it that way, it's actually quite amusing. In line with my ethics I now need to redistibute the use of my bin (mine and that of someone near me have been returned for some reason) to those less well off, and campaign for more bins for all who want them! We'll see what next week brings :-) The difficulty is not being labelled as "stroppy pregnant person" but on the other hand it does give an excuse.

Philip meanwhile is ever so pleased with his vocabulary of perhaps 12 words and is using them at every opportunity, sometimes randomly. I think we had 100 repetitions of teddy this morning at about 6. And most people are called Daddy. Other hits are door, duck (which could equally be quack), Tigger and Pooh.

We're finally getting serious about plans to improve the kitchen having booked a builder to come and knock the chimney breast about a bit. We've started a bit of reorganisation in anticipation so Philip has come downstairs the last 2 mornings to find things moved around. A bit of an extreme way to hide the biscuits, but it's worked so far!

2007-02-27T18:52:00.000Z

Things went quiet this morning and I went into the front room to find Philip having cracked how to get into the Pringles tub (or did we leave it a bit open), and with about 12 rammed into his mouth. I couldn't be cross as it's rather our fault for leaving them there but on trying to trim his stash down to something more reasonable they all crumbled and went everywhere which led to quite a tantrum. Mornings are never boring any more!

2007-02-17T11:16:00.000Z

20 week scan yesterday which was nice to see the tiny thing and find no problems. It's amazing the definition they get on those things. It declined to show it's face, prefering to stay tummy down, so no exciting space prawn photos worth sharing, people may be relieved to know.

2007-02-09T13:17:00.000Z

V little snow here by the way, after all the dire warnings. Maybe it's yet to come? Hope all you southerners are coping better than the news seems to be portraying.

2007-02-09T12:38:00.000Z

Time to break blog silence, and let anyone know who doesn't already that I'm pregnant again - due in July (so no jamboree for us)! I haven't blogged for a while cus the early days of pregnancy give me a bit of a sense of humour failure so nothing seems interesting to write about and also it makes me very tired so there's no time. And now I come to log in I discover I have to upgrade to a new google account. Good job Philip has long lunchtime sleeps!

Philip is now very much on his feet and walking - he began on Christmas day - and is very much enjoying the extra independance. Apparently he spends his time at nursery wandering around and giggling to himself. He also sometimes scares and overwhelms himself by trying to go too far or do too much and needs plenty of sleep, which is just fine by me. We've had a few bugs since Christmas which has been a bit grotty, but then Philip suddenly regained his usual charming self and has been great fun since. He's starting to understand what's said to him and making real efforts to communicate back - mamamamama for when he wants something (not necessarily me) and quite a recognisable "door" (yes they're still one of the most important elements in Philip's world). He understands teddy and shoes and heads off to hunt for them if they are mentioned in any context. I just have to be careful there aren't unprotected stairs on the way. There's probably lots of other things he understands and is trying to tell us, we just haven't sussed them all yet.

2006-10-30T20:10:00.000Z

Philip is one today! Happy Birthday to him!

Being the practical people we are we celebrated yesterday. We had to take the present opening slowly as having three toys and their boxes to play with was quite enough for the young man to cope with. And that got us less than half way through. He had virtually no sleep all day he was so excited! We are looking forward to playing with all the toys more carefully over the next few weeks.

I baked a very silly teddy bear cake - only for family viewing.

Enjoyed having an extra hour in the day yesterday after all those days of dreaming of extra hours to sleep!

2006-10-03T20:51:00.000+01:00

Had a very pleasant weekend over at Hugh's last weekend doing a bit of work on his house and garden (in accordance with the family tradition of working weekends on each other's houses) and with a wander along part of the Leeds-Liverpool canal with NW SAGGA. A large crowd of us - and quite a few under 40!

Philip is now pulling himself up to standing and is looking much more toddler than baby like these days. He makes various sounds some of which make a bit of sense - can you have uh oh as your baby's first words? He also "says" no and shakes his head which is quite amusing. Not sure he's clear what it means though. He's just started doing the hand actions to twinkle twinkle little star which is great fun.

2006-09-11T19:53:00.000+01:00

One week back into term and Ed has finished his antibiotics and recovered well from his African lurgy. Philip is crawling at double (escape) speed more often now so we went out shopping for stair gates at the weekend. And more toys! We now have a toy cement mixer that Philip has been allowed to play with on the odd occasion.

Ed's just got back with the take away Chinese - better go.

2006-09-02T19:03:00.000+01:00

So we all waited patiently to find out ... would Philip recognise his Daddy after such along time away? And the answer is .. yes, after a couple of minutes anyway. We had to go and pick Philip up from nursery early as he was yelling the place down so it wasn't really the easiest of circumstances.

Then we headed down to casulty as Ed had a fever on his return from Africa and you have to get these things sorted out. I'd tried to make an appointment for him at the GPs but they'd advised us to go to the hospital as it might need a specialist. So we did the first triage in 10 minutes and they seemed to think there was something worth looking at, then we hung around for a couple of hours (luckily Philip went to sleep) and then Ed went into the assessment cubicle. It then took them over a further 12 hours to get the specialist to see him and decide it was roughly what Ed thought it was in the first place - and most importantly give him the drugs to sort it out. So Ed had to spend his first night back in the UK in a hospital bed!

All that meant we were less organised than we'd hoped and a bit later travelling up to Durham for Helen's (Ed's sister) wedding but once there it all ran wonderfully and we had a great time. Ed had to pace himself a bit and no alcohol as he's on antibiotics, but I had no such restrictions and a baby sitter and very much enjoyed dancing the night away.

Now it's back to tidying the house and getting ready for term. And the weather's suddenly turned lousy. Grrr.

2006-08-20T20:35:00.000+01:00

The crawling development continues - todays fun was crawling up to Daisy (Charlotte and Dave's dog) "stroking" her and then trying to chase after her when she got fed up and walked off. In the middle of a Scout camping field of course.

On our return from there, Biscuit invited us for a drink so we headed round the corner for a very pleasant quick half of Theakston's for me and some grapefruit juice for Philip (no idea why he likes it but he seems to!). While I was getting his buggy from the car ready to go he nearly crawled out the front door!

All is now quiet on that front. We're up to 3 teeth now (bottom 2 and top right). I'm hoping he won't be teething next week as we've got a couple of important social engagements, but we'll see.

Better go and clear round the house so we're ready for the working week. Training course on railway safety tomorrow.

2006-08-10T10:49:00.000+01:00

We have crawling! A bit wobbly but definitely the right idea.

I've also just recieved Philip's first waistcoat ready for his Aunt's wedding!

What an exciting morning.

2006-08-09T17:54:00.000+01:00

In response to Dave's comment, he hasn't crawled forwards yet. He is getting more efficient at going backwards and can push himself back up to sitting from lying on his front by pushing up with his arms. He is however gaining a top tooth after a few unsettled nights.

Was ever so proud of myself yesterday. Not only am I managing to keep the day to day things more or less under control while Ed's away but I also managed to get the car booked in for a MOT (finally), me booked in for a hair cut and make progress with the washing and tidying post camp.

2006-08-06T20:09:00.000+01:00

While Ed has been galavanting in South Africa, Philip and I have had a brief sojourn in Sweden (the krona and rand exchange rate to the pound are remarkably similar - what can be read into that?)

The weather was wonderful and it sounds like it was a good time to be away from work and nursery as everyone was complaining about the heat. We stayed at a Scout campsite and I was able to contribute a bit to the work - finding stones to hold posts steady as concrete was felt too environmentally intrusive, making models of obstacles so that debates as to the best construction methods could be held, learning to use a planer (thing that sands fast) and negotiating the use of elenor's paintbrush (she's 4) for sign painting.

I also had time to swim in the sea nearly every day, including some longer swims to the nearby island, and we had a bit of a cycle ride courtesy of the Gott's who lent us (amy, Philip and I) their tandem and trailer.

Philip came to really enjoy the SAGGA circle and the social mealtimes, learnt to put his toy rings on the spike, enjoyed watching people using large tools like axes, dipped his legs in the sea, ate swedish meatballs, was most at home in the lovely white toilets with great big mirrors in the village down the road, got everyone giggling in the post office in Stromstad and generally had a great time.

Philip and Gran ->

2006-07-30T13:13:00.000+01:00

Greetings from South Africa

A few days of respite from the Explorer Scouts as they wander the dunes and rainforests of St Lucia on the East Coast of South Africa.

The expedition has gone smoothly so far, and the kids have seen lots of animals, learnt a lot of thier game course, visited Swaziland, held snakes twice and made cement casts of hippo, hyena and crocodile footprints. More can be found at:
http://www.scouts.org.uk/news/archive/2006/july/270706.htm

On Tuesday we hed on towards the battlefields and then on to Jo'burg. After a couple of days break we then get our next batch of explorer scouts ... and go around the whole thing again.

2006-06-06T21:40:00.000+01:00

Philip has a new room. His old tiny nursery is now a less excesive study for us (although we have maximised storage with 3 levels of shelving plus 3 bookcases), and the front bedroom is now repapered, painted and fitted out. The process started on Tuesday night and was made possible by Gran and Grandfather's amazing work over a long weekend and Jo's assistance on the Sunday. Hard work but the results are great.

Last weekend was Mad and Rob's wedding which was great. Philip attended his first barn dance and wasn't missing out by shutting his eyes. Luckily he was quiet too and we had an excellent evening. Sunday evening we got the exciting news that Hugh and Jo are engaged and on Sunday we got to see the lovely ring that Hugh chose and bought as a surprise. What a clever lad! And on Monday the student that's off to develop technology education resources for disadvantaged communities in South Africa came down for his briefing.

Feels like we've been busy! Philip is now sitting up independently, spent all yesterday giggling just cos he could and loves things that fall or roll away.

2006-05-06T16:47:00.000+01:00

I love where I live. I've just been for a walk along the canal and seen lots of lovely pink blossom, people out playing cricket and bowls and tennis (different people for each :-)), the ducks splashing around, the trains and the canal boats coming past .... And I now know a sufficient number of people that I often see someone to stop and have a quick chat to.

So how was the "week" at work? Not too bad at all. Philip has been waking up a bit too early so I had to operate on less than ideal sleep, but it wasn't too difficult getting him to nursery on time with all the right stuff - in fact the first day we were waiting outside for a couple of minutes for it to open. Philip has got far too good at sleeping at nursery, but he's also got much better at taking his milk so let's celebrate the successes!

I think I've then got the easy job heading off to arrange for people to meet sewerage tankers to fit / remove noise meters for health and safety assessments and work out how to do risk assessments on railway buffer stops (the risk of overrun and therefore what provision should be made). I have to admit to being pretty worn out by the end of it though.

Philip's painting education has continued, but only by observation as we joined SAGGA NW to paint a toilet block last weekend. We also had fun chopping some bits off trees to let more light into a pond we've been steadily improving. So Philip has spent his first day at a campsite and seemed to really enjoy it, and we enjoyed getting the excercise and the conversation.

2006-05-01T18:26:00.000+01:00

After an exhausting day at the 'office' Claire put Philip down in his cot for a quiet moment and put her head in her hands, exhausted. Suddenly the cries turned to giggles, for Philip interpreted the head-in-hands gesture as the start of a game of peek-a-boo. You just cannot stay worn-out for long...

2006-04-26T23:10:00.000+01:00

So much to write and so little time to write it! A quick post with photo showing how Philip returned from his second day at nursery with paint on his clothes! Apparently he did a respectable job of wielding a paintbrush into the paint and then into his mouth and all over his face. And wasn't impressed when they tried to give him green paint instead of blue!

2006-04-24T10:19:00.000+01:00

Philip has gone off for his first day at nursery. And how do I feel? Just now I feel FREE - I don't have to worry about when the next feed or sleep is and I can get on with exciting things like tidying the house! I've got 3 days of him at nursery and me at home and then next week it's back to work. Only fear I have - that he'll learn that he'll get more attention at nursery if he plays up (fears don't have to be rational!)

We had a lovely couple of weeks Easter holiday. The first 5 days were spent in a mad dash around Southern England to catch up with people who are a bit far to pop down to in a weekend - including 2 sets of Great Grand Parents, one of whom was meeting Philip for the first time. We returned pretty worn out, and with a boy who could now roll over (and then immediately back again).

For the second week of the holidays we hired a lovely cottage over towards the North York Moors near Castle Howard. We dressed Philip up in his walking gear - cute all in one fleece - and took him for walks in the sling, visited National Trust properties, saw a steam train, took one look at the carpark from where you can walk to see the famous wild daffodils and drove on, etc. A proper Yorkshire holiday. Oh yes, and we slept a lot. Well, Ed and I did, in shifts.

We've unfortunately had some nasty colds, and Ed still has a nasty cough he can't shift. Philip lost his voice which was somewhat wierd - you could see infront of you a boy obviously very upset but with no sound coming out. It was convenient timing in some ways as well though, as he didn't wake Daniel Watson (aged 3 months ish) and we were in the same room as him to "hear" him wake.

Philip's also starting with his first tooth. It started appearing on Friday night and is coming through very slowly.

2006-04-03T18:34:00.000+01:00

I couldn't decide which image was cuter - sorry! Anyway here's Philip at just over 5 months old, doesn't time fly.

We've visited the nursery 3 times now and Philip's looked a bit overwhelmed at first but has settled down to play OK. I think the visits have been more about me getting to know the staff and them to know me, than about Philip settling in. He's going to have a lovely Yorkshire accent!

Our garden is looking lovely as the spring bulbs are out and it had a bit of a make over by Ed and his Dad on Saturday. Granny meanwhile looked after Philip and I had an hours uninterrupted peace. Lovely.

2006-03-26T14:18:00.000+01:00

It's a lovely spring day out there, and I'm feeling really pretty good about life. Aunty Helen (Ed's sis) has been to stay with us and we went on a good long shopping trip in Leeds yesterday (my Christmas present from Ed so I didn't even need to feel guilty about the money). It's going to be a long road dragging my fashion sense (such as it is) out of the eighties but we made a start, and it was good fun. Ed's away Scouting for the weekend so Philip came along and was excellently "behaved", chilling out in the buggy. We arrived back in Saltaire just in time to catch the end of the NCT nearly new sale which yielded lots of warm clothes for camping and Philip's first pair of shorts.

And so to the young man. The exciting thing is that he's so nearly sitting up that I can now prop him up with a special cushion, rather than having to continually support him. When he succeeds in slumping forwards into his front, he can then bring into play his rolling from front to back (still only done if he really has to). He then lies on his back looking somewhat stunned! Over the last couple of weeks he seems to have had another step up in his awareness of what's going on around him and is getting better at reaching to grab things (and suddenly swiping at things on the table to clear them onto the floor). The veg eating is still going well.

First nursery settling in visit tomorrow - we'll see how he copes with the big boys!

2006-03-11T09:55:00.000Z

Had a coffee morning yesterday to mark Fairtrade fortnight and raise awareness of the fairtrade stuff you can get. The tea and coffee is now much cheaper and nicer and the fairtrade mark guarantees the growers get a fair price. There was a program on the TV last night though about the mark ups that some supermarkets are taking on some products which seems a shame if they are taking advantage of good natured buyers. I still think it's better for us to buy fairtrade goods than not though. As well as coffee and tea, we tried fairtrade chocolate and juice. All pretty good.

After coffee we went for lunch so my guests had just about departed by the time Ed got home from work!

2006-03-05T19:28:00.000Z

Philip and I have been on a couple of exciting adventures this week. In Thursday we met with Liz D at Cadbury World to use my 2 for the price of 1 ticket. In fact is was 3 for the price of 1 since Philip, being under 4, got in free but they then give you all the free chocolate for him. We're considering taking a coach load of babies next time (not very seriously) ! The best bit for me was the chocolate tasting area where they give you a small pot of runny chocolate as you go in. We got to move melted chocolate around and watch hyperactive school children get over excited. One to the point of putting melted chocolate on his teachers face. I'm right back onto chocolate now, Philip having largely outgrown his objection to it second hand.

And on Saturday we joined my parents for my Dad's birthday treat of visiting a community of eco-homes called the Hockerton Housing Project, near Newark. The drive down was great - snow lying at the side of the road but a dry, non-frozen road to drive on. The project was very interesting. We are quite interested in using the principles to build or adapt an energy efficient house if we get the chance at some point. Anyway, we've bought the fact sheets! My Mum did a grand job looking after Philip so I could take part in most of the tour and watch the presentation in peace.

Philip update: He's now having baths in the big bath after he starting having a mad splashing time in his baby bath. We got the giggles (a sign of improved nights sleep) and he got water on his face and started crying poor love. He's done a front to back roll once infront of his Gran so Ed hasn't seen the new trick yet. We'll see if he repeats it. We've started with small quantities of food very gently so he's tried baby rice, carrot and apple so far (separately). It seems to be going well.

The South African rural technology education project had some good applications and we'll be interviewing the shortlisted students the weekend after next. So it's all looking positive there too.

2006-02-26T14:59:00.000Z

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2006-02-25T11:27:00.000Z

It's half term, and we've been doing the usual half term activities - shopping at Ikea, planning house improvements, fiddling on the computer - but with the added twist of Philip being in attendance. Ikea was too busy as it always is in school holidays, but I must say their baby change facilities are lovely. I carried Philip round for a bit on the sling and got various comments - Ed said he loooked like an alien child as you could only see his head. He loved it - so much to look at!

The second swimming lesson saw lots more concentration on the bright floating animals they scatter around the pool, a bit of kicking and plenty of trying to drink the swimming pool water. Then when he did get a good mouthful he wasn't really so impressed.

We're getting lots more gurgles and more reliable sleep (albeit with a settled 2.30am wake up this last week) but no rolling as yet. It's amazing how far he can get his lower half without flipping right over.

2006-02-15T17:27:00.000Z

We've had quite an exciting week (for us). I'm officially one year older than I was last year, and Mum made a yummy cake as usual. We were over in Liverpool last weekend exploring dodgy canalside paths and enjoying Lewis's pancakes. Philip has been on the train twice this week - once to return from the walk and again yesterday to go into my work. I went in to discuss my return which now looks set at about 2.5 days per week from the 1st May. I'll get a formal contract soon, and it'll all be reviewed again 6 months down the line to see how it's working for both parties. Seems like there's plenty of work on though which is good all round.

Philip is ridiculously close to rolling - but he's been looking like it could happen anytime from last Tuesday so we'll see. He's currently practising on his playmat whilst trying to eat his blanket and making strange noises I think I'll define as singing! He's had his first swimming lesson today which went pretty well. I went swimming first and then it was quite good excercise moving him around the pool. I've drunk nearly 3 pints (non alcoholic) since our return home! We didn't do anything spectacular but he didn't get upset which seemed good news from my perspective. Next week maybe we'll get him to kick!

2006-01-27T13:16:00.000Z

At Ed's and my Mum's insistance, I have put Philip on the waiting list for a nursery school today (where he won't go until he's at least 3 years old). I can't understand why politicians are worried that pushy parents get all the best places!

While I'm on the subject of political issues, since the Government seems to want to create a nanny state, I think they should start looking into our traditional nursery rhymes and the messages kids get from them. I've got a CD which has a song about a woman living in a shoe starving and beating her children. Why did we decide to adopt this song as a British custom? Is the moral that we shouldn't live in shoes (which I think Philip will be quick to work out are too small anyway)? Or that if you're unsure what to do with your children you should look up the recipe for broth before giving them a good hiding?

To return to more sane topics, my proposal for a university student to be placed at Stanford Lake (the school Ed used to work in in South Africa) to do technology outreach to rural schools for the summer has been accepted, subject to finding the right candidate. It'll be advertised during February so fingers crossed. The project is a bit of a departure from what Engineers Without Borders (EWB) has done in the past, though it fits very well with their mission statement, so I'm pleased they've been bold enough to take it on.

2006-01-24T08:52:00.000Z

We've all got colds. What fun! Ed's not bad enough to be off work though. Philip couldn't be put down on his back around lunchtime yesterday but when he finally settled he slept for 3 hours during which time I had a snooze too. I was thinking I'd be up a lot more than I was in the night though so not going too bad so far.

The first version of this said Philip was playing happily on his kick-like-mad-and-you'll-get-lots-of-tunes-and-lights-thingy (called a musical garden in the catalogue, it comes with 2 volume settings :-)). But then of course he suddenly became unhappy and I called into play my new toy - a traditional sling. I'm so glad I got this in time for this cold, it takes the hard work out of carrying him round upright. After much research I bought one as modelled by someone famous who looked good on the photo. It's dead simple which was another factor. It came with a cheesy DVD which was great fun to watch and from which I gained the general impression that you hold your baby where you would normally and then move the fabric to keep him there. And it's working very well so far, much less stress on the arms and back and he seems to go off quicker.

2006-01-22T18:33:00.000Z

So after the high drama if the birth and the first few weeks, this is now the diary of a home-all-day Mum. But what I've discovered like many before is that the social diary of Mother and Baby groups and activities is surprisingly hectic. I'm back to the days of having several clashing activities to choose between. The regular items are the 2 NCT classes, which may meet up in different groupings more than once a week. Then there's visting nurseries, baby massage, swimming, immunisations and other medical check ups, going for walks with the lady up the road, shopping and visting other friends all to be fitted in. And plenty to be done when I'm in the house as well. In fact they don't all fit so swimming and baby massage are still on the "will do when have time" list. Maybe this week?

We've been to the first of our antenatal group's Christening's today. Philip didn't like the pub at all (shocking really). Too hot and overexciting we think. He obviously needs more education ....

2005-12-12T15:58:00.000Z

I haven't had time to blog for a while, which I see as a good thing. It shows I now have less time sitting around at silly times of the morning waiting for Philip to be back asleep. He can now go for around 6 hours between night feeds which gives me a block of about 5hrs sleep. Bliss :-)

We did our first night away from home thus weekend up at Granny and Grandpa Wright's, which was very succesful and much more relaxing than we'd dared hope. I had a lie in til 9.30 on the Sunday! And good food as ever.

I've just ordered the turkey for Christmas (so no-one needs to nag me anymore), other than that the only non baby centred thing I've managed has been an e-mail to some graduates building a road in Nigeria with my thoughts on their plans. I was put in contact with them through Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and it strikes me that advice by e-mail is an admirable thing to have ongoing whilst on maternity leave as it can be done at odd hours. The e-mail was largely drafted at 4am - I was so into it I nearly stayed up til morning.

Have met a lady who lives down our road who has a baby just one week older than P. Although her baby was 3.5 weeks premature and mine 2 weeks late so where they're up to is all a bit muddled up. Hoorah for NCT, which is how we met.

2005-11-29T13:20:00.000Z

I had no idea we'd receive so many lovely cards, flowers and presents. I've seen a lot of the postman over the last few weeks! I feel very lucky. We really have some very creative family and friends - the photos show the amazing knitting done by Ed's Granny (Philip's Great Granny), tatted boots by Jacky Bland (to give you a sense of scale they're a bit smaller than his feet) and (to prove the under 60's can make things too) blanket from Amy. Philip also already has his own plate bag (from Ann P). Thanks everyone!

2005-11-29T13:19:00.000Z

I fit in my jeans again. It's great.

2005-11-28T09:39:00.000Z

It's snowing!! And the best thing is I'm off work to enjoy it! Not sure if it'll settle yet ...
Meanwhile P is having his first sleep in a sleeping bag. Gotta start em young.
The staying off chocolate seems to be resulting in a more settled young man. It may be psychological (or however you spell it) but the motivation of not having a screaming boy at 1am works for me. In fact I now see it as a positive thing - I'll be much the fitter for these heathier snacks I'm eating. Might be tricky round Christmas though! Oh well, two grandparents and Uncle Hugh 'll be here to do the late shifts.

2005-11-22T20:47:00.000Z

My boy is so cute ... Ed's quite worried about this change of heart in me. Am I the same woman he married?

It all began on Friday night when he started being awake a bit more (admittedly not the best of timing when he was supposed to be heading to bed) and stretching his limbs a lot. He looks like a balerina, then a conductor, then a professor (thinking face) and makes me laugh!

I've also got loads of cute outfits for him, now he's into the next size up. Thanks to his Gran and Sainsbury's for several of them, other present givers from as far away as Switzerland for others, and the NCT for having a nearly new sale for the rest so far. And there's more expected from the SAGGA circuit.

Now, why is my mother worried this boy will be spoilt?

2005-11-18T03:47:00.000Z

I confronted one of my worst fears yesterday and went to a mother and baby group. I mean - what do they all have to talk about?

As we walked into the church hall, my first impression was of confident Mums with much bigger youngsters (they turned out to be 12-15 mths old). The co-ordinator got me fixed up with coffee and biscuits pretty quickly and Philip and I sat quietly taking it all in. There were some pretty cool toys on show.

Luckily a bit later there was a structured discussion bit for the 3 of us with smaller babies where I felt much more comfortable. And now I'm getting to know those 2 other Mums, I think I'll brave it again next week.

2005-11-16T17:16:00.000Z

I know I'm supposed to want to lay down my life for the little one, but giving up chocolate? Somethings unsettling him and it may just be life but it may also be something I'm eating and the most likely culprit is chocolate. So I'll try going cold turkey. I'm not sure if I hope that that is the problem (which will mean more sleep) or it's not (so I can carry on eating chocolate).

Have spent some time videoing Philip today. Watching him stretch when waking up is just so cute, and if he's going to change this fast I better keep capturing the moment. He's nearly grown out of newborn size stuff (now 9lb 8oz for them as is interested).

2005-11-15T01:15:00.000Z

Three great things about not being pregnant ....
1) Being able to tie my shoelaces without it taking ages.
2) Eating runny eggs again
3) Being on the road to getting fitter.
Ah, the simple things in life. However, getting back in shape is going to take longer than I first imagined. A 15 min walk round the block was all I could manage after week 1. And cycling and swimming are going to have to wait for a while.

Went on my first solo outing with Phil and the buggy this afternoon. It was very breezy autumnal weather but he was snug as a bug.

2005-11-13T14:05:00.000Z

Peace at last ... though for how long I'm not sure. Ed is snoozing on the sofa, and Phil in his cot so I have time to type up a few thoughts.

So what does it feel like to be a Mum? Busy, obviously. In the first few hours most of what I felt was relief that he was safely delivered to the outside world. We finally got to meet what had been kicking away inside of me, and that I'd been worrying about for 9 months already. And there weren't any immediately obvious problems.

That then turned to determination to look after him. So many things to learn - I'd read about how to pick up a baby, how to change a nappy, how to breastfeed etc. but now was time to put it into practice. We'd arranged things in the nursery with great thought (we had long enough to phaff a bit) and now they were getting altered to the reality.

It was a bit frustrating the first night in hospital as due to the drugs and exhaustion I couldn't pick him up from the cot, so had to buzz for a midwife every time I wanted him moved to where I could reach, or put back into the cot.

Then on day three, the happy hormones just suddenly disappeared and times of doubt set in, especially in the evenings. So now I'm a concerned Mum, worrying he's hungry / tired / hot / sick etc. but not yet competent enough to get the right one sorted out efficiently. We'll get there in the end.

Luckily Phil is doing just fine, and putting on weight ( he was back above his birth weight by day 10).

2005-11-06T20:56:00.000Z

Philip is one week old today! I know everyone says it but it's amazing how he changes from hour to hour. Today we've seen more pushing away from things with his arms, beginning to try and move his head round towards the light and ability to wriggle out of position on the changing mat.

2005-11-05T12:27:00.000Z

PKW has had his debut in print - page 80 of today's Times. TYVM to my parents.

Our cynicism in the marketing departments of Proctor and Gamble has widened. Why do nappies only leak at night-time - thus condemning a babygrow and set of bedding to the laundry when we're at our sleepiest - but seem fine during the day?

The complete set of Thomas the Tank Engine books has arrived! The danger with waiting at home with internet shopping available is that the baby arrives on the same day as the parcels are to be delivered. Slight crisis of priority. Luckily the delivery company successfully delivered on a third attempt.

2005-11-01T22:02:00.000Z

philip kenneth wright has had (today, so far)

6 feeds
5 clean nappies
3 visitors
2 new cuddly toys
and the snuffles

and a message "Gee, well you tell the parents congratulations from The Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas*, and y'all have a nice day"

*overnight playground of Claire's parents

2005-11-01T01:34:00.000Z

Am v. pleased to be home. There were lots of lovely midwives, and some annoying ones too, at the hospital but there's nothing like your own bed and freedom to work to your own (collective) rhythm. On the other hand it was nice having my meals cooked and clean linen constantly available.

Hugh and Jo came to visit this evening when we were feeling very frustrated at the hospital. There didn't seem to be any reason for still being there other than the poor midwives were so overstretched they couldn't fit in the "check out" procedure. So it looked like Ed was going to have another night of his "bachelor lifestyle" (seems to involve food you don't have to spend any time preparing). Then suddenly, a new widwife came on shift, saw that we were getting stroppy, and managed to conjour up a double quick discharge. I was so pleased I nearly gave her our bottle of champage. Only reason we kept it was she refused.

Once home we had coronation chicken Hugh had thoughtfully prepared - yum - and then H & J thoughtfully departed while we occupied ourselves with putting the little one down. I'm now blogging one handed with He Who Shall Be Named in t'other hand.

2005-10-30T21:25:00.000Z

Not much energy to do more than report:

A boy! Born at 17:15 today, 30th October, weighing 8lbs 5.5 oz.

We might have a name decided by tomorrow!

Ed

ps Did I get this to the web without anybody posting a spoiler?

2005-10-29T21:59:00.000+01:00

I trust that having read this far you're prepared for some of the gory details to follow...

24 hours into induction Claire and baby are both doing well. There are signs of labour around the corner but not sufficient that I should be staying after 'visiting hours'.

Will I be woken in the night and summoned?

Will Claire get any sleep?

2005-10-27T22:13:00.000+01:00

A bit of excitement this evening. My long standing loyalty to Cadbury's has paid off and I won a free entry to Cadbury's world on the Happiness Express. Ye-hey.

Otherwise we're just on the wind up to the hospital appointment tommorrow at which I'm likely to be induced. Could be a lengthy process though so I've re-packed my hospital bag. It's been packed for going on a month now, so I needed to remind myself what's in it.

Distractions this week have included:

Playing with the apple peeler / corer / slicer that Helen and Graham got us. It’s a great engineers toy – it’s got loads of adjustable mechanical bits. So you can get it to make curly-wurly bits of carrot, or long threads of potato. Not necessarily useful but definitely more interesting than just slicing fruit and veg.

Ringing loads of people to bug them too.

Being nosey about our new neighbours moving into the newly rennovated next door flats.

Last night we made some marmalade from one of those easy to make tins. Top tip: don’t put the lids in the oven as well as the jars – the rubber bits burn!

Since it finally decided to stop raining today, we went for a lovely walk (or a bit of a waddle in my case) up on Baildon Moor. It was lovely in the afternoon sun.

2005-10-24T17:12:00.000+01:00

Well, I've been up t' hospital this afternoon for an appointment to see a nice greek man. I've been poked around a bit, we've established I'm not ready for action yet, and I have a "failed" written on my "report card". I also have an appointment for Friday when they'll start induction. Ed can see his half term ebbing away. Anyway, all is well with kiddo and me. It's always nice hearing his / her heartbeat.

Maybe Lizzie will have to explain her pineapple juice suggestion. Or maybe it's just a wind up - like the instruction to bring a pineapple to my hen party. On that occasion, the only thing it achieved was making me late while I queued in Tesco (well to be fair it was lazily lying-in that made me late, Tesco just made it worse). This time around, at least I got to enjoy the pineapples.

I strongly disagree with Amy about personality not being developed in the first few weeks. Obviously I have no experience to back this up, which qualifies me, in SAGGA circles, to express my comments. From what I've heard discussed though, habits that show up or are picked up in the early days are evident for a long time.

2005-10-22T22:50:00.000+01:00

So instead of a fantastic half-term getting to know my new baby, so far I have been catching up on paperwork and generally sitting around. It takes quite a substantial amount of creativity to help keep Claire from being bored. Activities must be largely sedentary (not ironing, washing up or hoovering, then - my jobs - nesting so far has been a management role) require a short attention span (even DVDs are best split into 3 sessions) and emotionally banal. We recommend Teacher's TV, which, luckily, is on throughout the night. Luckily Hugh and Jo came around and lightened our day. C said that the time flew while they were here.

Thanks for all the ideas about how to hurry baby along. Now how about things to do while we're waiting...

2005-10-21T11:53:00.000+01:00

Hello,

Today's the day annointed for my first ever blog. Hopefully I'll get better as we go!

Saw the midwife this morning. She said encouraging things about my well formed bump, and there don't seem to be any problems. Since there's still no action evident I have an appointment at the hospital for Monday afternoon when they start mild interference. If this doesn't work then I'll be on the drugs towards the end of the week. The midwife's parting shot was that one thing was certain, the baby would be coming out one way or another - I wouldn't be pregnant for ever!

Thanks for the curry comment. I've tried - I figured it was the perfect excuse for some really good currys. But all it's given me so far is indigestion and a lack of sleep as jnr thrashes about. Walks have been good for getting me out the house. And we've tried a few of the other suggestions too but I'm too shy to talk about those publicly. No pineapple juice yet or scrubbing floors, I think I'll make those todays projects.

2005-10-19T19:52:00.000+01:00

Well, we're two days overdue, and it's no good sitting around doing nothing. There's no sign of domestic hyper-activity - nesting - but lots of chocolate being eaten. Thanks Amy

At least we can enter the blogging world...