Sunday 25 May 2008

Newsflash

I am pleased to announce that Baby JoJo slept from 9pm or so till...wait for it...6.15am!!! So much sleep for us both! Are we on our way to dropping the night feed? In a way, I will almost miss it...
I am sorry to announce however that he has caught yet another cold and is snuffling and snorting away as I type. Poor baby!

Team Work

We have been blessed with a wonderful balcony, but recently it has been overtaken by the girls. So we spent an enjoyable morning yesterday putting things to right and sweeping up all their dirt, sorry sausages and mash I think it is meant to be... With our imminent departure in mind, we also happily threw loads of things away. I love decluttering! Afterwards, we celebrated with lunch outside.
I then showed the girls their area - mud and dirt is NOT and I repeat NOT to spread further than the long plant pot on the right. LissaLou negotiated to include a pretty pink geranium in her area, but I drew the line at the rose bush! Within minutes, mud and dirt was spread all over their area. I can live with that!

Speaking of decluttering, I don't know if I mentioned that Bertie has been laughing at my most recent method - dropping dishes and smashing them into smithereens! Evs, you would be welcome to join in this activity! LissaLou is following in my footsteps and dropped a glass bowl of ice cream last week. You will be glad to know the ice cream was more or less finished (wouldn't want to waste some delicious Carte D'Or!) and that brings us down to 5 bowls...

A Very Sad Turn Of Events

Wednesday we headed off to the Heath for a fun morning playing with one of CassCass' little friends. Unfortunately, minutes after they arrived, CassCass fell down the (tiny) slide and we realised amongst all her tears that her mouth was covered with blood. So we bombed it off to A&E at Whittington Hospital - I shall sing their praises as we waited but 10 minutes, were seen by lovely staff who were so child friendly, and they also had a lovely children's waiting room that CassCass was very reluctant to leave! Then we waited 1 and a half hours at the dentist for further examination. Finally we were sent to another health centre, where nobody was in and they didn't even have the courtesy to leave a message saying so.
The outcome was CassCass chipped two teeth and the front top one has gone up into her gum - ouch. She is on antibiotics to avoid infection (bright yellow stuff - is that healthy??) and they will keep an eye on her to make sure it doesn't affect the positioning of her adult teeth. Hopefully it might get pushed back out again though. She is having difficulty eating - she even refused ice cream! - but that is getting better now. Poor girl! Here is Mum's photo of the aftermath - I haven't succeeded in getting one yet.

Moving Things Along

I have achieved a few more things on my planning list, here goes...

I contacted the council and have written to give notice for our flat. We have to clear EVERYTHING out, that includes the carpets and floorboards! Otherwise we get a £275 fine. Nice.
I have also written to the home insurance and council tax people. Strangely enough, they have exactly the same address but a different postcode. Why is that?
Bertie contacted the shipping people and for 5 cubit m3 to be taken over, it would come to the grand total of....£3269!!! 10 cubit m3 would be a mere ££5849. Thanks to Dad who worked out what 5 cubit m3 was, and the result is, no, we are definitely not shipping! So I will have to start thinking very carefully about what we REALLY need to take...
I have cancelled various accounts and cards we don't use, nice to simplify life a bit.
Baby JoJo's UK passport form has been sent off AGAIN. Watch this space to see if it finally meets the approval of Her Majesty's Identification and Passport Services.
Half term this week and lots more appointments happening. It is good to see my list turning fluorescent pink bit by bit!

Back At Kenwood

The day began badly, with a police tent situated next to our flat and police and forensics swarming all over our estate, following shooting early that morning. The victim has been hospitalised and we hope it isn't fatal.

After such happenings, it was refreshing to head out to the beauty of Kenwood. This time the rhodedendrons were out in force for our friends to see and were much admired by us all. It was quite...challenging keeping an eye on our very active girls (2 four year olds, 1 two year old and one 18 month old) so we were very thankful to have the Grandmas with us to watch over Baby JoJo and the buggies, as we kept running off in various directions - mostly after CassCass, who is struggling with the concept of obedience. Very exhausting for me, but presumably good exercise!

We began with a nice cuppa and cake to give us strength for the afternoon ahead, whilst the girls chalked the stones (it was a beautiful day, but the torrential rain since has no doubt washed them all away!)
Whilst the Grandmas study the latest Royal wedding in Hello
We then moved on to our picnic spot

Baby JoJo was happy to kick around on the mat "Catch me if you can!"
So cute! Gorgeous girls!

The afternoon included a bit of nature studyBefore heading off for some rolling down the hill (we did this when we were this big too!)Closer... ...uh oh, too close!
The day of course finished with ice creams before we headed home. Thanks to the very kind bus driver who waited for us to run along the road and get our entire party on.

Saturday 24 May 2008

Another Trip To The Farm

Farms are great places to take small children; this time we met up with some friends just off the M1, very convenient as they came south and we went north. It was pretty chilly and a bit rainy, but we enjoyed the day greatly. Here is the gang:
Next stop was the playpark where there was great merriment and exertion - and that was just the dads!This farm was much more hands on, and whilst we missed the sheepdog and bunny demos, the girls got to groom a pony, feed a lamb and milk a cow. Unfortunately, CassCass was so terrified by the noise, she didn't manage the cow and eventually didn't even want to be in the same barn as the animals! The look of concentration was justified - these lambs sucked so ferociously that if you eased up for a second, the bottle was gone!
CassCass lost her bottle approximately one second after this photo!Can you see the milk?!A few of the animals - baby lambs all piled up on each other, so cute!

Now when I am feeding Baby JoJo I am thankful I am not a pig...It's Hamish the Highland Coo! (see here if you don't have this in your library!)Daddy and one worried little girl!
Okay, enough of the animals said CassCass, and off we went to the indoor playpark. Crazeeeee! LissaLou whizzed up and down on the slides, and CassCass even tried them out (including one pretty steep one) before having a meltdown. We mums enjoyed a cuppa before the dads went off from some crazy golf (Bertie lost - evidently all the skills he has honed on the golf course aren't transferable!), leaving us in charge of four children - how glad we were when they returned! I mostly videoed this part of the day but I haven't worked out how to put them on the blog. Don't they take ages for people to download too?


Finally, a trip to the shop, where CassCass appropriately purchased a sheep and a cow, and LissaLou typically purchased a Princess wand and tiara!

2 Months






On 16th May Baby JoJo celebrated two months - already! Time really is flying past! As you can see he is leaving baby Luke far behind.
I do my best to keep him on a three hour feed pattern during the day - it doesn't always happen. He still loves his sleep, and will get as much of it as he can, but you can be sure that he will be awake in the afternoon just when CassCass goes down for her sleep, foiling all my attempts to get some sleep too... He is probably most agitated in the evenings when he rarely sleeps and usually feeds lots. His nights are going well - he only wakes up once as a rule, and the last few nights has slept 6-7 hours in a row. Roll on sleeping through the night! (Which I am still hoping for before we leave for Guadeloupe).

He feeds well but is still such a sicky baby. Never hold him without a cloth!

He loves lying kicking on his mat and sitting in his chair watching the world go by. The girls do a great job of looking after to him, singing him songs and lullabies, chatting to him, showing him things... I love the eye to eye interaction in this photo, as he listens intently to Big Sister's words of wisdom.He had his first set of immunisations this week and caused the nurse great concern as he frothed at the mouth afterwards. Completely normal behaviour I assured her! He has now caught yet another cold, poor boy. Hope it clears up soon. Despite such ailments he is a wonderfully smiley boy, especially if you sing his favourite song "Little Green Frog". I can't reproduce it here, but it requires sticking out your tongue like a frog catching flies!

Back Online!

How exciting, after 10 days, to finally be back online - with the purchase of a replacement modem from ebay, that wonderful source of just about everything! So much has been happening and so many blogs flying around in my head, let me try and catch up...

The timing for going offline was rather funny, as Bertie was just organising a 40 day prayer and fast at church. I excused myself from fasting on grounds of breastfeeding (either that or pregnancy has been my excuse for the past 5 years now!) and he suggested I found something to fast from. I vaguely considered fasting from the internet but concluded I couldn't possibly do that, then...hey presto, down it went! Sometimes God steps in...!

I had to find a way of filling these long evenings feeding Baby JoJo without a computer to entertain, so one night I fished out the instruction manuals for the camera Dad gave me and read through. Can't say I understood all that much, but I did pick up a few things, including how to do black and white - groovy!

I learnt how to take panoramic pictures which the camera then stiches together to produce one long uninterrupted picture but apparently you need software for this - any ideas where to find this?

On two nights I got active and did some pilates - with the girls accompanying me on one occasion. Feel better already!

Monday 19 May 2008

I Ha..Seriously Dislike Modems

Our modem has failed YET AGAIN so no blogging (or internet access for that matter!) until we have replaced it. Rather annoying to have to spend £20 for two more months but I guess it is crucial to our existence! I can't actually find a reasonably priced replacement at the moment so come back in a few days and see if I have been more successful...

Wednesday 14 May 2008

He Drives Me Crazy!

Bertie is a man who really enjoys the simple pleasures in life - his excitement at getting his new (first ever) driver was something to behold! Somehow he got a free upgrade to this rather fine model which will no doubt add yards to his tee off shot and knock shots off his handicap. Here is the man in action on the balcony...

Where Oh Where Has My Baby Gone?

(not to mention his neck!)
Here is Baby JoJo, not yet two months, but already into his 3-6 months outfits! What a big boy he looks!
*outfit courtesy of Kirsty - thank you!

On The Average Day In Our Flat...

...you can see Baby JoJo sleeping in his favourite position I love the way babies' arms are so tiny compared to their body!
He loves his bathtime (but in the interests of decency, no photos I'm afraid!) and on this occasion actually enjoyed getting dried in his Yoda-style towel
CassCass spends hours making lines with her cars, then someone is bound to come and knock them over, much to her dismay
LissaLou getting creative - this may look like paper to you and me but is actually a meal of fish and chips. Mmm. Apparently she informs me when she is older, she will do all the cooking and washing up. I shall hold her to it!
There is always a sister happy to hold her little brother - LissaLou is getting quite a pro at it, CassCass still needs a bit more supervision, especially as she tends to get bored and thrust him at you to take!

Kenwood

The Heath has so many different facets to enjoy, and last Sunday saw us up at Kenwood House, where the rhodedendrons were a stunning sight to see. We picnicked with two friends from our church, and a big thanks to both for their company and their help with the kids.

A game of footie - if only all games had such a stunning backdrop!
Bonding with Baby JoJo Hours of running around after the girls and she still had some energy left!
What a fine couple!
It was yet another beautiful day
Mum let LissaLou loose with the camera and here are some of her pictures of the scenery