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!

Nappy attack

Having just drunk about a pint of water this morning in the space of a couple of hours, the nappy was wet though as were his vest and trousers so it was time for a complete strip. I put the clean nappy on and went off for dry wrap, vest and trousers while he ran round looking cute. Catching him again was the next thing so I thought I'd take pics as he does look rather cute.

Planet Zoom (+ Tob feeling better)

Took Leon and Christine down to Planet Zoom yesterday afternoon to watch him run around. It certainly tired him out, but it wiped me out as well! However I'm feeling much better today, though I still can't really eat properly - a hot cross bun this morning has left me queasy :(

Still, couple of nice shots from Planet Zoom:

Ill

Had to go to the GP today because I was throwing up all night. Apparently it's a virus that's going round. Feeling better today, though I've slept all day and only drunk sips of water. The GP told me to take tomorrow off too, and try to isolate myself from everyone else. That's difficult, but I've kept to myself (mostly asleep on the sofa) and not held leon at all. I hope nobody else gets it.

Toby Two Hats

My, it's been cold this week. Fog, frost, bitter winds. Bit of a shock since the weekend was so mild. It was so cold cycling down to the station that I took to wearing two hats!

Heard it all before?

This is a link to a very good video about the stuff in our lives. I don't feel quite so bad about not going back to work quite so quickly and trying to get stuff 2nd hand or from freecycle, just generally trying to consume less. I can't see this changing globally fast enough but I remain optimistic. However, I do wonder if the only way to break the consumer train is for everyone on the planet to stand up to the governments and corporations perpetuating this in order to 'protect our economy' in other words keep the rich richer.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

I hope I can try to keep away from cheap stuff and get stuff cheap by buying it from someone who's already got fed up with it/doesn't need it anymore/grown out of it etc.

Tractor heaven

I think we have found the ultimate tractor heaven for Leon, I expect he's dreaming about it right now, tucked up in bed. Wimpole Hall near Royston - it's an NT place so free for us and it's got a farm, grounds and...lots of tractors, including Leon size ones. He wasn't too impressed with the bunny rabbits or pigs or sheep or cows, even if they were rare breeds. I liked them! There was a magnificent tractor thing with hay spikes that was doing a very good job of tidying up a load of hay much to Leon's excitement. We walked past some chickens, not really interested, then a bloke sanding a bit of wood, priming it for some varnish. Leon was straight over, the guy offered Leon a feel of the sandpaper, he took it from the bloke and put the block with sand paper straight on to the bit of wood and started sanding! There might be some of my Dad's genes in there and as Ellen puts it, he's been here before.
He's walking fair old distances these days, right round Anglesey Abbey, to the Mill and back on Thursday, and today round Wimpole Hall, the farm and walking back to the carpark. He runs most of the way. Size and physically he's got more in common with a kid 6 months or more older than him; negotiating steps, running and generally trying to get away from us. Most of the 2 year olds I know are only half an inch taller than him.
I intend to visit Wimpole Hall more often and take friends there when they visit as it's fantastic for kids whether they like the animals or the tractors.

Dad here the end of the week

Dad was here from Wednesday to Friday. A good time was had by all; Leon very much enjoyed having his other Grandad here to jump on and have stories read to him. Thursday we spent the day at Anglesey Abbey, they have a brilliant winter garden and Leon walked/ran all the way round and then finally slept mid afternoon, much to our relief so we could have a quiet cuppa.

Cheeky Skallywag

Leon's talking is still coming on well, with 'ready' 'coom (toast)' 'fish' and random things that sound like swearing when forced to have his nappy changed/can't have the telly on type things.

He is running pretty fast and will run away if he knows it's nappy changing time. He has also taken to dragging me, if I'm lucky, by the hand, but end of cardigan or trousers do just as well, to wherever he thinks I should be to best serve him - the back door (to go out in the garden)/telly/kitchen (food or drink). He is very good at ignoring me considering if you ask him to do something he wants to do like fetch a book to read to him or a toy, he will do it no problem.

We have also successfully managed to teach him to come down stairs backwards now. The staircase here at Fieldside is a spiral one and he does it really well, even, with a bit of coaching, getting past the stairgate at the top and turning round. He's up them like a rat up a drainpipe and on one occaision when we weren't paying attention did just go upstairs by himself to visit Nana and Grumps.

Newbie has all his equipment

We had the 20 week scan today and Newbie has all the necessary equipment, including his boy bits. It all went very smoothly and the technican was able to measure everything and check everything while he wriggled and tickled inside. When the aformentioned equipment came on screen we both were delighted. I did think one of each would be nice but when it came down to it we were just really happy.

The house is sold

For those stalking the blog thinking we've gone a bit quiet, we've sold the house, moved into Ellen and Dan's (this was in order to sell the house, and it worked with such power and might!) We've been here a week now, there are very few boxes still visible and we are living pretty comfortably. Ellen and Dan have what amounts to a 2 bed flat upstairs and we have the same down stairs. Major differences, they have the big bedroom and en suite where we have the big kitchen downstairs - our bedroom was their dining room and Leon's room was the Study. It's extraordinarily generous of them and so far it's working well.
Leon is loving it. He gets lots of attention and can choose between more adoring cuddles than normal. He can now say Nana and Grumps is Da where Toby is Dada I think. I'm Mumumuma mostly. He points at what he wants and says pweee, which may be please but I am aware that would be extraordinarily good so it may be a coincidence. He babbles alot and is very chatty. He can get downstairs backwards with supervision. His eating skills are improving, he can handle a fork better than a spoon as the stuff tends to stay better and now his cold has cleared up, his appetite is through the roof. Still only the 6 teeth so he's doing well to eat all that he does - we still mash stuff a bit but he can stuff a lump of cooked carrot in the size of his cheek and somehow it gets chewed and disappears.
Now that we've sold, we are seriously looking for something to buy. One particular place has caught our fancy right on the outskirts of Ely. We are still doing a few viewings and comparisons but so far, this seems to be the best for us. It's very dated (Mediterranean 80's/90's I'd guess - Dark brown bathroom suite with sauna style walls and roof) but in very good decorative order. It needs a new boiler fairly soon but the rest is all liveable for now. I would want to get rid of the false beams in the living room - 2by4 stained and screwed to the ceiling - fortunately the ceiling is not textured that's a nice thing :) It has a lovely fireplace and gas fire.
Newbie is moving around in my tummy now. With so much going on it's only really last thing at night when I lie down and Newbie starts moving around that Toby and I can think about our next member of the family. End of this month we will know if all is well and if Newbie is a boy or a girl. I'm more aware of being pregnant with the occasional morning sickness and propensity to doze off at any opportunity, not to mention the expanding tummy.
I'm in the office/Leon's bedroom where the PC is. I can hear him purring and occasionally grunting, fast asleep. Better leave him to it.

Album Cover Meme

This lady "don't really like [this self portrait] too much", but figured she'd "submit it anyways". Well I say thanks for an arresting album cover!

I didn't think my band name was too snappy, so I thought I'd do something interesting with it, hope you think it worked.

Album Meme

Instructions:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe article title is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four words of the very last quotation is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4.Use your graphics programme of choice to throw them together, and post the result.

I am rather pleased with the result; the picture is called Walkabout Richmond.

The year 2007 that was

I found a sort of year questionnaire on someone else's blog and liked it. I've been looking for a way to reflect 2007 onto this blog, so here goes.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
I was a parent (ok last 2 months of 2006 too) and a god parent.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No, they were all in 2006 - Edit: Not close, in Canada but Jo Stubley had Holly on 1st Nov 2006, her second girl.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
Holland, France and Belgium
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
I would like to be able to generate a bit of an income, I looked into things last year, applied for a few jobs. There is the possibility of the Baby Shop in Ely with Hannah this year.
7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
29th June. This was my Grandma's 81st birthday and the day she met her Great Grandson, Leon.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Setting myself up as some sort of expert in real nappies, making a leaflet and doing talks at the postnatal groups locally. Quite a few mums took it on and I bump into mums who say they've started using them. From that, meeting Hannah who has become a good friend and potentially we will be working together in business, becoming the BabyGroe ambassador, part of providing information to new mums about how to do things simply, cheaply and without too much cost to the environment.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I didn't set my sights on much other than Leon really I never was that ambitious but maybe you could call not looking at doing much else was a failure. I have friends, that I know I shouldn't compare myself to who have done amazing things as well as bring a boy into the world the end of 2006. I wish I could be someone who can generate money rather than just spend it.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, been very lucky.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
A new bike and bike seat for Leon
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Toby's; he's taken on doing most of the cooking and has a relaxed and confident, loving and strong relationship to fatherhood.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
BBC 6music. They went from being the best music station my miles to becoming a poor sibling to radio 2. I did complain but I'm listening more and more to radio 4 now.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Food, house and Leon!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I got a phone call from Phil Jupitus one morning in response to a text I sent about a month before he left 6music, which was a 5 minute chat about why he was leaving 6 among other things. We became MySpace buddies and in response to a whimsical fan letter I emailed him, he made me a really lovely compilation CD and occasionally writes to me.
Being a parent is very exciting so it's been an exciting year. Seeing the scan of Newbie was pretty exciting. Taking Leon on holiday - that's exciting!
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Gogol Bordello, Start Wearing Purple
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier, looking forward to becoming a mother of 2 - Tob and I are doing well as a couple too.
ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter, still fit the same clothes strangely. Although I'm back in 2006's maternity wear. I feel better looking than ever before weirdly.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer, much.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travel, see lots of bands, dance, although everything I've missed out on has been a choice based on not wanting to go back to work in order to be a full time mum.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I could have budgeted better, I'm still bad with money, I'm better than I was but I've made some duff purchases and spent money I shouldn't have.
20. How did you be spend Christmas?
With Dan and Ellen at there's a small family Christmas, just what we wanted.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
I fell in love even more with my son, Leon than I ever thought possible.
22. How many one-night stands?Never been my thing.
23. What was your favourite TV program?
Heroes and How To Look Good Naked.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No
25. What was the best book you read?
I'm going to be really predictable and say the last Harry Potter.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Tough to go for just one. Regina Spektor, Bearsuit, Gogol Bordello, Hawksley Workman and Arcade Fire. I've done a hell of a lot of singing for Leon so in a way I've discovered my own voice again, which isn't a bad thing.
27. What did you want and get?
Ipod - I've always wanted one and I won a 30gb video Ipod early in 2007 thanks to the bad lyrics competition on 6 music; possibly one of the last competitions on the BBC before the hoo hah about rigged stuff put a stop on all BBC competitions.
I use it all the time while walking the streets of Ely. I've been able to consolidate so much good music from what we had on CD to the masses of music on Tob's PC. I don't think I've ever had access to so much music I love and on shuffle it's an amazing bottomless pit of musical delight; a fortnight's worth of music over the past 500+ years, 5000+ tracks and it's still not full!!! Podcasts are great too.
28. What did you want and not get?
A really cushy, quite well paid part time job at Witchford College as Clerk to the Governors I applied for. It would have been perfect.
29. What was your favourite film of this year?
Pan's Labyrinth, and Tristan and Isolde
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I invited a few mums who weren't working that day round for cake, most couldn't make it apart from one new friend I made in September at baby swimming called Nirvana and her daughter, Hannah. We ate cake and took the sprogs to the swings. I was 37.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?Selling our house easily in the Summer would have been nice - being in a new place for Christmas but hey, it wasn't to be.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Jeans, kaftan top and birkies. More mother with baby than fashion obviously. However, there are plenty of women out there who make more effort even with a kid. I was on a tight budget. I like my long red hair. I wore alot of green, which contrasted well with my hair.
33. What kept you sane?
Toby's parents really. Having someone there as mad about Leon as we are and who are willing to give us the precious bits of time off to chill out either alone or as a couple.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Actor, Rufus Sewell, phrooor. Best thing I've seen him in this year, Taming of the Shrew, BBC telly adaptation. Very well done and very sexy.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Locally, the council in Ely's bad planning regarding the centre, shops and so on. I've made my comments known in the local papers.
Internationally, Pakistan - I was really shocked that the world just let the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto happen when she had said it would. Politically, the world is full of major countries on the brink of destruction at the moment, I don't think it's always like this. The rise in religious extremism is a worrying part of this I suppose.
36. Who did you miss?
Kari, in London. My friends in Holland,
37. Who was the best new person you met?
Hannah - an extraordinary woman, an entrepreneur.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
Make sure you've closed the stairgate upstairs before allowing roaming small child onto the landing. They do bounce but I don't recommend letting them roll down stairs.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true
etc
Singing this to Leon is the best form of getting him to chill out under almost any circumstances. I enjoy singing it too, which helps.

Post Xmas cooldown

Well, Christine and I were ill after Xmas. She had it worse than me, so I kept the house ticking over while she got better (we're talking basics here; switching the heating on, cheese toasties when we felt up to it, that sort of thing). In some ways it was nice as I did get to interact with Leon a lot - taking him out in the garden, reading to him and watching baby TV in the morning (with me snoozing under a duvet).

I learnt that he doesn't like Pengu (he comes up and whines until I rouse myself and change channel) possibly because of the noises, not sure exactly. He does like Bob the Builder (especially Lofty the crane) and he's got something going on for one of the Cbeebies presenters!

We got him some Bob the builder wellies and took him out on new year's day with Harriet and Lilly. They were content to be driven around in their prams whereas Leon wanted to play in the puddles - what a boy!



The couch - for sleeping on and playing around next to:



Did I mention Leon likes filling up a box of bricks and tipping it over himself? He thinks it's hilarious! And here's one of him in Woolworths drooling over the diggers :)



He's coming on so much - his coordination's getting better, he's learnt to walk backwards, and he's started crawling all over me if I lie on the floor - it's brill! Last night we were getting him ready for bed, giving me a big cuddle and Christine said 'Leon loves his daddy very much' and he squeeked 'I do!' !!! :)

I love him so much :)