Wimpole Hall on BH Monday

Leon loved the model train.

Tractor Heaven

Chocolate fudge mmmmmm.
Last flurry of snow on the shire horse ride from the farm back to the entrance.

I'm dreaming of a white Easter

Good friday was spent doing chores and relaxing, Saturday, the usual shopping followed by a very nice birthday party for Elizabeth who was 3 - that went very quickly! The party was organised by Sarah's Mum at a playbarn in the village down the road from where Sarah and James live, similar to Planet Zoom in Ely - soft play. Leon had a fabulous time, much cake was eaten and fun was had.

Sunday morning as Leon was waking up at his usual unearthly 6.30am ish the snow had started falling. By about 8am everything was covered in a thick white blanket. After breakfast (somewhat later) we took Leon out in the garden for his first experience of snow - he did see snow from the window last winter but as he must have been about 8 weeks old, I doubt it really registered.

He seemed to like it :)

All the while we were in the snow, a roast was roasting and we all sat down to roast beef and yorkshire pud about midday. Then we retired to the living room to put Leon's Easter present together, a hotwheels set which as you can see, went down very well.

The house is finally empty

I borrowed/hired the work van over the weekend to do the final push on clearing out the house (cost me £39 in mileage, but it's a huge van, so that's pretty good value). The house itself was almost empty and I'd moved most of our stuff out of the garage, but it still took 3 or 4 runs to move:
(a) the old kitchen units in the garage which were standing in for proper shelving
(b) the contents of the shed, which we'd conveniently forgotten about
(c) all the plants in pots from the garden
(d) some bed bases, sofa and a huge mirror.
Mike helped us move the units and pots, which was great, thanks Mike!
Glad it's done. We'll have to go back to do a final clean, but it's now totally empty :)

16 months!

It took until just before 4pm today for Leon to sign his mothers' day card and give to to me, closely followed by his wellies. He's out in the garden being pushed around in the wheel barrow by Toby, so I can have some peace :)

Yesterday was pretty busy, in the morning a baby booty sale where we picked up some bargains, some for Leon, some for Newbie, like 1tog growbags for £3 each, summer outfits - multiple for a tenner, Babydan play pen and tent for £30 - over £100 new and a bed guard for a tenner among other things. It's amazing what goes at these sales. Still no cooker or garage or water/sand thing for the garden but maybe at the NCT sale is the end of the month. I'd like to have plenty of outdoor play stuff for Leon so during the summer, he gets to do what he loves - be outdoors in the garden which should make the becoming a brother not such a big deal. I hope I'll be able to spend time with him while newbie sleeps. I'm looking forward to Newbie's arrival not to mention being curious to whether they will be two peas in a pod or very different and all possibilities in between.

Liz has agreed to lend me her hard body carrycot that fits both our Silver Cross chassis, this will make newbie's sleeps in the garden/downstairs/out and about very manageable. I'm getting a toddler seat that will sit on top to perch Leon on top of the pram. He'll want to walk most of the time anyway but this will give him pride of place on top, closest to me which I think he'll like.

So much planning to do, so much will need to be improvised depending on how Leon reacts to Newbie and depending on what type of baby Newbie is - laid back like Leon or...not.

So far I plan to give Leon his own room until Newbie is sleeping through/Leon wants Newbie in with him, then they can share. Our bedroom is between the two so Leon shouldn't be disturbed too much. We will keep Newbie downstairs at first until we go to bed but I hope to start a routine with sleep training, like we did with Leon by about 6 weeks. This will mean they are both in bed by 7pm and Newbie will get a top up feed at 11pm when we go to bed so with any luck they will both go through. This is of course, just a plan. Who knows what will work, I'm optimistic... I have to be!