T Minus 9 Months... ...and Counting - pregnancy, babies and more

The Ghost of Film Reels Past

2010-09-13T16:34:00.001+01:00

Olivia recently got Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on DVD and really loved it. F and I decided that she might just be old enough to behave herself at the cinema so thought we would give it a go and take her to Toy Story 3 when it was on.

In the event she was actually an angel and very well behaved. Daddy treated her to a modest bag of Pic and Mix (the automatic route to her heart) and she watched the film either sitting on the plastic booster seats that cinemas have these days or sitting on my lap.

Expensive business though as I must have been out well over £25 for tickets, snacks and drinks etc. Just imagine how much it will set us back when Gracie is old enough to come along!

Apols for the photo, but clearly light levels were low...

One Fine Day

2010-09-10T16:20:00.002+01:00

Recently some friends came up to visit for the day on their way home from a holiday up north to their home down south - the bonus of us living in the Midlands (Hello Family E!).

We had planned to go to a kids theme park about 15 miles away but due travel chaos with the road there being closed and a ropey weather forecast we decided to invite them to spend the day at our favourite National Trust property with great adventure playground. The idea was that at least we could get there and if the weather was rubbish we were close enough to just take them back to our house.

In the end the weather was fine, my Mum, sister and her kids came along, and we all had a great time. Well, all of us apart from little G, who is just slightly older than Olivia, and who unfortunately ran in to a table very early in the proceedings and gave himself a ferocious black eye. Hope he felt better soon!

My girls like nothing better than a playground and a picnic (cheap dates :) so they were in heaven.

Here is the rowdy rabble.

Getting Late in the Game to Show Any Pride or Shame

2010-08-21T16:03:00.005+01:00

Ok...so clearly we have become the most rubbish bloggers ever. I blame Twitter, but then that is a different story. So...we now need to play some serious catch up!

Let's start with out holiday.

We had a great time at Centerparcs Elvedon and then at a family holiday cottage in Suffolk. Here are a few glimpses at the fun that the girls had...

All the things that she said

2010-08-02T10:19:00.001+01:00

Things you need to know: we were at a friends' BBQ on Saturday. To the best of my knowledge, no one had discussed matters lavatorial. Olivia's birthday is in January.

"Daddy," announced Olivia, "For my birthday, I want a poo..."

Do You See a Face You Hardly Recognise?

2010-07-18T17:13:00.000+01:00

Here is today's pizza art from Miss O clown pizza faces. Slight cheating as the mini pizzas were shop brought but couldn't muster the energy to wrestle with dough today.

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Born to Run

2010-07-17T20:18:00.000+01:00

Today was adventure day and so (determined to wring every last cent out of the National Trust membership) we went off to Wimpole Hall and farm (www.wimpole.org). This was a fairly good compromise as Mummy got to indulge her costume drama disposition

and love of beautiful gardens while the girls indulged their love of running around like mad things.

Later the girls got to go and see the rare breed farm and play in the play area.

They even got to try their hand at milking (although luckily this was on a machine mock-up so no animals were harmed in the making of this blog).

And the Fluttering of Wings

2010-07-09T16:47:00.000+01:00

Today was the end of year Disney themed party at the girls' Toddler music group. The room was decorated with paintings of scenes from Peter Pan, the leaders were all dressed as Pan, Wendy, Pirates etc. and we took a duo of Tinkerbells! Rare moment of being still and cute captured for posterity.

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We'll Stay and Be Happy. With Those Who Have Loved Us Today …

2010-07-04T10:54:00.001+01:00

A friend pointed out the following article,'Children, a Bundle of Joy?':

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/childre%20n-a-bundle-of-joy-2017935.html

and it got me thinking ( and blogging).

I love my kids loads but for the highly strung, like myself, it is quite stressful as toddlers do run you ragged. However nice the kids are, and of course ours are taught their manners, respect for others etc., at the end of the day they are inquisitive little monkeys who will always be found poking something or eating something just to see what happens.

We have some friends whose kids are kept on such a tight leash (metaphorically!) that they hardly have an opportunity to be kids. But allowing them to be kids brings in unpredictability, which some parents don't cope well with. I guess it is about striking the balance.

Yes, sometimes I miss my Caribbean holidays. I definitely miss having the money to afford them! I miss having lazy weekends because me and F's tag-team approach to lie-ins isn't really the same. I miss being to be spontaneous and just go out at the drop of a hat, although we are very lucky that we have my ultra-ace Mum who kindly does allow us to have some semblance of a social life.

Having said this the new life is different, that difference does not have to be a negative variance. It is fulfilling to guide little people grow to their potential. Although the responsibility not to break them is anxiety-inducing, raising children is rewarding.

Nothing beats the last snuggles at night and the first excited hugs in the morning (although perhaps if they could be 2 hours later :). Seeing your child learn to walk and talk and be independent is endlessly fascinating. I hope that as they grow my girls will remain close friends with each other and me.

As an adult I find being part of a close family very rewarding. Although I know there are times when she cheerfully could have killed me during my childhood/adolescence, I now have a very close relationship with my Mum - I value her opinion and experience on all sorts of things, miss her if I don't talk to her or see her most days and I hope my kids will feel the same about me.

So, am I happier or less happy with kids? I would say on balance that I am happier with my life now which has a number of things bound up in it - man I love, kids I love, house I love, job I love, close extended family I love.

Discuss...

So Hold On

2010-07-03T14:09:00.000+01:00

Here are the girls having fun at the local adventure playground. It is part of a National Trust property so our membership means we can go whenever we like. We are very lucky to have somewhere like this on our doorstep.

The girls, with infinite sense of adventure, absolutely love the mini zip wire!!!

Have some video as well which I will get around to uploading later.

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Wrapped Up in Time

2010-06-26T14:31:00.001+01:00

Olivia has been desperate to make a den since they made one at nursery. Here is our impromptu washing drier and blanket construction.

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A Truth Universally Acknowledged

2010-06-19T18:34:00.000+01:00

Mummy, blogger and more recently Tweeter, my latest enterprise while the kids are asleep is Tweeting the whole of my favourite (and conveniently out of copyright!) book 'Pride and Prejudice' in the original. This could take some time but then I like a challenge!!! Further evidence that one's brain doesn't turn to custard when one has children!

More here :
http://twitter.com/MrsDarcyDaily

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I've Heard it Said When They Go to Sea

2010-06-19T18:20:00.000+01:00

When we went to see Nana and Grandpa F we also visited the beach. Olivia had been a few summers ago elsewhere but Gracie had never been. Now that she is a little bit older Olivia fancied a go at making sandcastles, having seen them on 'Charlie and Lola' and 'Peppa Pig'.

Gracie had a go as well, rather less sucessfully.

The girls regularly go swimming at the local indoor pool and couldn't wait to have a go at 'sea bathing' (oh look, I've gone all Jane Austen - more of that later.

Here they are enjoying the little seaside pool which means you can enjoy a swim even when the tide is out!

Gracie roared with laughter while Daddy swung her in and out of the water.

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With Your Make-up and Your Teddy Bear

2010-06-18T20:27:00.000+01:00

For some weeks Olivia has been nagging me to let her be a clown. The effect below was rather improvised with just the contents of my make-up bag, but Olivia seemed happy. Here is her moment of clown-faced glory!

House

2010-06-16T18:07:00.000+01:00

Haven't got around to posting these yet as I am a bit rubbish - here are the girls playing in the wendy house their Nana made for them. They had a picnic in it when we went to visit F's folks the other week.

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Sick inside

2010-06-09T10:17:00.005+01:00

Well, it seems like I spoke too soon, and the jabs aren't to blame. Grace was very fractious at bedtime last night, but we put that down to the kerfuffle over Olivia's chutney-juggling incident. When I went to bed after posting last night's blog, Grace was already in our bed, not that I'd heard her crying.

At around two-ish, I woke to discover Grace had Technicolor yawned in our bed. There's nothing quite like picking up pieces of half-digested carrot in the small hours. For the second night in a row, we had to strip our bed and attempt to find a clean bottom sheet that fits our non-standard sized bed.

Here we are at nearly 10:30 the next morning, and I'm off work looking after Olivia, while Grandma has a very unwell Grace. Grace has already chundered at Grandma's and she's running a very high temperature.

I'm pretty sure we can rule out Liv's immunisations as the cause of the problem.

And You're Sick To Your Stomach

2010-06-08T22:19:00.005+01:00

The other day I happened to see a Tweet from Papa Bradstein. "Anyone who says dawn is beautiful isn't watching it with their baby, who's been up since 3:30." it said. My sympathies, I thought. Thankfully, we've not had any such nocturnal adventures for a while.

D'oh!

Last night, I went to bed just before midnight and was surprised to find K___ still awake and surfing the web on her iPhone. An hour later, we were still both awake. A few minutes after that, Olivia walked in and projectile vomited over herself, K___, our bed and the floor.

Let's rewind a bit.

Yesterday, Olivia went to the doctor to have her three year, four month booster injections. These are the last immunisations she'll require until she's 15, when she'll have the BCG injection, and follow on from earlier injections babies have at two, three and four months. There are two injections given, one in each arm. The first is for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio (known as the dTaP/IPV or DTaP/IPV vaccine) the second measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).

When I went to pick the girls up from their grandma's house, Liv was hamming up how much pain she was in. Grandma revealed she'd been fine five minutes previously. Nevertheless, she started getting all teary about her injections and the fact that the plasters were coming loose. Grandma gave me a leaflet with the possible side effects from the immunisations on it, and I shoved it into my pocket and forgot about it.

In the aftermath of Liv's Exorcist-impression, I definitely got the long straw, getting to comfort Liv and take her to brush her teeth, while poor K___ was left to strip herself and the bed and attempt to clean up the mess on the carpet. On one of my many trips downstairs to get clean cloths or bowls or chemical products or whathaveyou, I grabbed the leaflet from my study and had a look. Vomiting is listed, but it's not one of the more common reactions for the MMR immunisation. However, for the dTaP/IPV or DTaP/IPV vaccine, vomiting is common, affecting between 1-10% of children.

Eventually, I put myself bed downstairs, while Liv slept in our bed with K___. After all the excitement, I couldn't get to sleep and I distinctly remember 03:00 rolling round.

Today, Liv has been off her food, eating just a few mouthfuls of plain biscuit. She was made sandwiches for tea, but didn't want them in the end. Her main nutrition today has been from 4 cups of milk. After putting the kids down, I went downstairs and started checking my email. I was only at it a few seconds when a huge commotion upstairs pulled me away.

Liv had vomited again, this time all over her bedroom.

I'm off to bed as soon as I've posted this. I hope I get to stay there tonight. I blame Papa Bradstein!

Not Just the Taste, the Touch , the Smell

2010-05-31T17:06:00.000+01:00

When we got home from our adventure Olivia and Mummy set about making pizza for dinner. Olivia decided that it stood to reason that you couldn't just make boring, ordinary pizza ... Tiger pizza was where it was at! Here is her handy work, complete with sweetcorn whiskers:

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That Everything Could Be Explained With Mathematics

2010-05-31T16:58:00.000+01:00

Today's adventure was a visit to Woolsthorpe Manor, home of Sir Isaac Newton. The National Trust have done a recreation of the interior with period furniture and there is an interactive science exhibit and a barn activities for kids. Olivia enjoyed dressing up in seventeenth century clothing:

Here is Daddy M alongside THE apple tree:

Only Me and the Sea

2010-05-29T18:32:00.000+01:00

Today we went to The Deep, http://www.thedeep.co.uk/. They pitch themselves as one of the best aquariums ( or actually 'submarium') in the world and I would have to say that it was an amazing place and we had a great day out.

Here is Gracie enjoying her ' adventure' ( as our family days are always called). We were in the Twilight exhibition (stuff that generates light, not bites you on the neck):

Here is what she was entranced by:

I've Touched the Treasures of the Earth

2010-05-15T08:25:00.000+01:00

Ladies and gentlemen...may I introduce a piece which is, by the architect's own admission, 'the best thing I've ever made in my whole life'.

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I Thought It Was Confetti In Your Hair

2010-05-14T18:14:00.001+01:00

...turned out to just be yogurt...

Line Us Up Like Fairground Ducks

2010-05-12T10:12:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I became Mummy to a few extra toddlers...of the feathered variety!

While we were all getting breakfast ready in the morning I was chatting away to F but stopped mid- sentence, amazed to see a mother duck and about 6 ducklings walk past the patio doors. We have seen both ducks and drakes in the garden before which always greatly amuses Olivia and Grace. Well spring has sprung and now there are babies!

Anyway, we didn't think too much of this until we got hone about 12 hours later to find two very anxious ducklings wandering around in circles, calling for their Mummy who was no where to be seen. Not really sure what was best to do, we called the RSPCA for advice and they asked us to call again in 2 hours if there was still no sign of Mummy Duck. The hours past and it became clear that she had abandoned them and so we called the RSPCA.

Obviously as it was getting on into the evening by this point they couldn't come that night but asked us to put the ducks in a box and put them somewhere safe such as a shed. Having only a tiny courtyard garden we don't have outdoor storage and so we did what any good host does with a houseguest and invited them in to the dining room. The RSPCA had recommended just putting water down. Olivia and Grace were obviously in bed by this point and were none the wiser about the new additions to the family.

They seemed very happy in their new home overnight and this morning the girls took great delight in peeping in to the box. Olivia ran straight in to nursery this morning and told her teacher straight away.

The RSPCA have just collected them and taken them off to a wildlife centre about 30 miles away. I think the girls will be sorry to see them go but 2 toddlers are enough for any Mummy!

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Older than Me

2010-05-02T09:42:00.000+01:00

Mummy: Olivia, go to your room
Olivia: It's not fair, you are mean

Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is 3 not 13...

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Dreaming of a Spark

2010-05-02T08:52:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we all went off to the park. Olivia and Mummy were roller-skating...only Olivia got bored after 0.4 seconds (a new family record). Mummy lasted about 5 more minutes before being overcome by the indignity of a 35 year old woman skating by herself, given that this was a park in the East Midlands of the UK and not Central Park or Venice beach.

Anyway the lack of skates speeded up our trip to the park no end and the girls had a lovely time.

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From a Careless Mistake That She Can't Wash Away

2010-04-23T18:55:00.000+01:00

Warning: not for the squeamish!

In the spirit of full disclosure and to note 'The Numerous Joys of Parenthood' no. 1324...this is what happens when your tiny toddler poos in the bath. The girls were playing when Gracie suddenly threw a pea out of the bath. I momentarily wondered where she had got it until I leaned in to look in the bath and realised that where she got it was yesterdays tea. Bath and bath toys bleached, children scrubbed and we started bath time all over again!

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And the Wax Paper Bag of Yesterday's Bread

2010-04-20T22:17:00.000+01:00

Mummy and Olivia have a new hobby...pitta bread art! This was prompted by Olivia seeing a pitta bread tortoise on 'Big Cook, Little Cook' on CBeebies and making me re-create it faithfully for her lunch.

She didn't eat it.

Then yesterday she announced that what she wanted for her lunch was chicken. I pointed out that she didn't eat meat but she just gave me a withering look and declared 'no Mummy, chicken made of pitta bread!'

And she ate it all!!

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The Children Playing Will Grow Up and Leave Home

2010-04-11T19:15:00.000+01:00

A reflection on time passing...

June 2008

April 2010

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It Used to Rain Dreary and Grey Most every Day But Not Any More

2010-04-11T19:01:00.000+01:00

The Sunday trip out was to a local reservoir. Here are the girls enjoying a rather bracing bit of sunshine.

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Tales From the Engine Room

2010-04-07T08:06:00.001+01:00

Now that Gracie is getting bigger and more confident the girls have a pretty nice time playing together. Olivia is quite patient with her and generally shares toys nicely.

Gracie is the more confident of the two and if she wants something she grabs it and holds on till Olivia let's go...it is generally Olivia who comes whinging that Gracie has taken something off her. Olivia looks out for Gracie and either tells her not to do something or tells me if she is doing something dangerous.

Olivia has also recently taken on a role of interpreting for Grace but I am not sure how accurate this is as half the time she hasn't even spoken when Olivia gives a translation. The translation is usually along the lines of 'Gracie wants milk'. Mummy uses her detective powers to read between the lines and translate this as 'Olivia wants milk'!

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From the Safety of His Living Room Chair

2010-04-06T21:50:00.000+01:00

We finally have a sofa bed in the playroom so Mummy and Daddy can both go in there with the girls without one of us having to sit on the floor. The first one they tried to deliver wouldn't go up the stairs. This one is actually miles bigger but the arms came off so it actually fitted upstairs!

We got rid of the double bed when we made the spare room in to a playroom so it also means that we can have people to stay again.

F's mother has never seen our house as caring for her own elderly mother confined her to their home town. Nana passed away a month or so ago. This will be a very big change for my MIL to adjust to but we are hoping that one positive thing is that she will be able to come and visit.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone, sitting on the new sofa!

Sit Quietly and Listen to the Breeze

2010-04-03T13:34:00.002+01:00

Amazingly, for the second time in as many weeks, the girls being still and cute!

You're Freckled Like a Speckled Egg

2010-04-02T13:25:00.000+01:00

Here is what Olivia got up today, in preparation for the tradition extended Easter Egg hunt being hosted on Sunday. Mummy was on standby as her sous chef and may have helped a little...

The Memory of Water

2010-04-01T17:40:00.000+01:00

Realised I have never done an update on Pottygate, the attempt to get Olivia dry at night. Well, out of 9 days we managed one dry night and that was with me getting her up twice. The rest of the time seemed to mainly involved a LOT of laundry.

I started giving her last milk (she only drinks milk or water so she has quite a lot during the day) at about 4.30 and got her to go on the potty at 7 before she got in bed. Think she must be like some sort of camel, storing milk in her legs or something as she still manages to produce a HUGE amount of urine over night! The problem is that she is a REALLY heavy sleeper and will copiously wet the bed and be soaked through to the skin and be happily fast asleep throughout. It was only because I was going in and checking her that I realised she was wet as she wasn't waiting up in distress or anything 'cause she wasn't waking up at all! There was also a very narrow window of opportunity to catch her before she wet as she wouldn't go if you got her up before 10.30 but yet was wet by 11pm. Even if you managed to catch her dry in this slot the chances were that she would be wet by about 5am anyway.

Have decided that she probably isn't ready just yet so we are giving it a break and will try again in a little while and for now she is back in pull ups at night.

I Let the Genie Out of the Box

2010-03-31T21:09:00.001+01:00

Gracie is getting ready for Ascot Ladies' Day a little early!

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She'll Empty the Sand from her Shoes

2010-03-30T20:12:00.000+01:00

Gracie takes matters into her own hands...

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Easter Here Again

2010-03-29T21:09:00.000+01:00

Here is the cake Olivia made at nursery today.

And you made a big mistake alright

2010-03-29T06:30:00.002+01:00

Olivia just said 'I like submarines'. I was surprised that she had developed an interest in underwater engineering until she followed up with 'they taste really nice and they have lots of vitamins'... Turns out she meant tangerines!

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Step We Gaily On

2010-03-25T21:33:00.001Z

Here are the little ladies being still and cute for a change!

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No One Leaves You When They Live In Your Heart And Mind

2010-03-14T09:57:00.003Z

My grandmother passed away on Friday at the age of 94.

Since a diagnosis of throat cancer at Christmas, there has been a steady decline in her health. Both times we've been able to go and see her, I've been very conscious that there was a good chance it would be the last time. In truth, I've watched the gradual decline of a highly intelligent and vivacious woman over the past ten years. First her eyesight deteriorated to the point where she could no longer read, then an attack of shingles took her lower still. Gradually, she began to lose her memory, to the point where she was like a goldfish, repeating the same thing every three seconds. Whether it was - as she herself claimed - the shingles that ruined her memory or just the normal run of ageing, we will never know, but she gradually went from a good-humoured and benevolent woman who at eighty years of age would regularly go on five mile hikes in the country, who was informed about the world and its goings on and as independent as it is possible to be to, for the past few years, the frail (and often petulant and selfish) child who depended on my mother to minister to her most basic needs.

I am very conscious that when we would go and see her, we were seeing her at her best. Seeing me, my wife and kids was a treat for her that would lift her spirits and there were flashes of her real self in there. I knew that she found these visits very welcome but also exhausting, and some of her worst behaviour would come after she'd had a visit. My mother would bear the brunt of this petulance, and I know she found it draining.

Given the drawn-out timescale of her final decline, I find myself not really sure how I feel. I remarked to my brothers that I've learned that I'm not good at pre-empting how I will feel about things. I thought I knew how I would feel when I got married. I thought I knew how I would feel when my first child was born. I didn't. It appears I've been fitted with a b-movie brain that scripts everything far too simplistically.

I'm glad it's over and my grandmother is no longer suffering; any sadness is for me and my family, not her. For the past two and a half weeks, she's been on morphine and not eating and we all knew that the end was imminent. From what my mother tells us, we don't think my grandmother was particularly aware of what was happening, but there's not really anyway to cast suffering in a good light. When my brothers and I spoke last night after getting the news, we remarked on how we'd already said most of the things to say. The grieving has been going on for a long time; for years we'd opined that it would be no bad thing if our grandmother were to die, such was her quality of life. With how it's been since Christmas, it's just been a waiting game.

I do feel sad, of course, but so far it's a quiet, reflective sadness. I have no faith to cling to. My grandmother has not gone to a better place; her consciousness has ceased to exist with the cessation of biochemical activity in her brain. What is left is simply meat; it might look like my grandmother, but it is not her. I tell the children that Great Nana has gone to be part of the universe, and in a simplistic sense this is true; the molecules which comprised her body will be broken down and will go on to interact with others and may even become part of another living being, but this is not any sort of continuation of her existence.

I don't find myself feeling nihilistic though. Nana always said that for whatever she'd done for her children, she would be repaid if they did the same for their children. Although I'm one generation removed from her, I cannot but pass on at least some of her wisdom and generosity because it is a part of me too. As reflected in the title for this entry, how we live on is in the hearts and minds of those who remain - I would add 'and in our DNA' too, though that's more prosaic - and this is where I know I will be able to find my hope and my comfort.

OYJ - 5th May 1915 - 12th March 2010

Dry Land

2010-03-12T21:13:00.002Z

Have put Olivia to bed without her nappy for the first time. We been talking to her about it for the last few days as she has been asking to wear knickers to bed like her older cousin does. She didn't give me any trouble when I gave her a tiny cup of milk at tea time and told her she wasn't getting any at bed time. She also went on the potty just before getting in bed, which she has refused to do in the past. I will get her up when I go to bed and put her on the potty and then leave the potty next to her bed in case she needs it in the night. I have a waterproof pad on the bed just in case and we have reassured her that Mummy and Daddy will not be cross if there are any little accidents. Watch this space and see if it is wet or dry tomorrow!

A Different Point of View in Every Speech I Make

2010-03-04T21:03:00.001Z

Gracie is still finding her voice and is making a wide variety of sounds. Everything is called 'gar' at the moment for some reason. We are trying to resist the temptation to interpret for her straight away and get what she wants and are trying instead to emphasize what things are called and encourage her speech as much as possible. Needless to say she thinks we are very silly people indeed and cannot understand why we don't just give her the thing she is waving and shouting about!

Dream Coins for the Fountain

2010-02-18T18:43:00.001Z

If only she were always so easily pleased... no 1547.

Olivia just said to Daddy 'Mummy gave me fifty pounds'. Daddy got all excited at the prospect of a lottery win or other bonus causing Mummy to dish out the crispy money willy-nilly...

Then I pointed out that what I had *actually* given Olivia was a very old and somewhat manky looking 2 pence coin.

Oh well, hopefully she will think her pocket money is really generous when she is a bit older?

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There's So Much Fun to be Had

2010-02-16T18:55:00.000Z

Here are the girls at the local play barn. Never had stuff like play barns when I was little - bah humbug!

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The Light at the End of the Bottle

2010-02-14T18:19:00.001Z

OGGOB sucessful! Gracie had had all her milk from sippy cups today and so we chucked all the bottles away. F says he will not miss having to take them all apart to stack the dishwasher and then having to put them all back together again afterwards! It feels a bit like an end of era moment really, my last baby is no longer a baby.

On another note her 'talking' seems to be coming on nicely and she is babbling away to herself and us a lot. Not much in the way of words apart from Mumma, Dadda and her current favourite 'there' but I think it won't be long now.

A friend of mine recently said that you spend the first few years of your child's life teaching them to walk and talk and then the next few trying to get them to sit down and shut up! I'm still enjoying stage one at the moment and not in any hurry for stage two just yet.

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And If the Bottle's No Solution...

2010-02-13T19:32:00.000Z

'Operation get Gracie off bottles' commenced in earnest today. She only had one bottle and that was my fault as had forgot to tell F about OGGOB! The rest of the day she had her milk in a sippy cup and did really well. We have been trying her over the last weeks but today was the first day she got the hang of drinking it all down rather than sipping it and then dropping the cup and going off to play.

This is six months earlier than we got a Olivia off bottles but I guess a lot of that is down to there being sippy cups around a lot as O still has her milk in one as she is pretty careless with open cups. G has shown a lot of interest in the cups recently and so we thought she might be ready and it looks like she is going for it. Now if I could only get Olivia out of night time nappies...

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Only Me and the Sea

2010-02-07T16:35:00.000Z

Mummy M is not one for pets. Never been into fluffy boney things. I also have one (some might say two, or possible even three!) people to clean up after and at least one of them cannot control their bowels so I am not big on introducing anything else that might poop on the floor into our happy household.

That said, every child should probably have a pet. So I have given in to the pitiful moans of 'I want a puppy', 'I want a kitten' etc. and settled on the ideal low maintenance pet... Goldfish!

Now anyone who has fish is probably laughing right now as it turns out you need a lot of assorted stuff and things and a degree in chemistry to keep even basic cold water fish! Oh well the local pet store has done good trade out of family M this weekend. And we haven't even got the fish yet as you have to set it all up and then leave it a week - who knew!

Anyway, watch this space and see if it soon contains fish.

It's as Sweet as Can Be

2010-02-07T06:32:00.002Z

Here is what Mummy and Olivia got up to yesterday afternoon.

Photograph a Feeling

2010-01-25T10:04:00.002Z

In an effort to stay vaguely on track with the blog, here's a few photos covering the last month or so, starting with one of Grace giving Daddy some of his Christmas presents.

It's something of a tradition that on New Year's Day the extended familiy goes for a long walk somewhere. This year, we decided to trek along our local canal. As you can see from the photos, it was pretty cold and the canal was generally iced over. Olivia and Grace's cousins spent most of their time attempting to make it crack by throwing stones (for which they were admonished) or smaller pieces of ice at the surface, but didn't succeed.

In fact, the most successful at breaking the ice were a group of five swans who had found a patch of open water near a bridge, and who, cruelly convinced the nice people must be throwing them food rather than throwing stones, went clambering up onto the edge of the ice sheet only for it to crack ominously and suddenly drop them back in the icy water once more.

In early January, Mummy and Daddy took a trip down to London sans children. They were left to fend for themselves. Or possibly went to their grandparents. One of the two. Whichever it was, the privations were clearly great, since they had to sleep two to an inflatable Upsy Daisy bed. It's a hard life being small. On the other hand, Mummy and Daddy had a lovely time.

On the 16th of January, Olivia had her third birthday, and her first proper birthday party with friends from nursery school (she goes two mornings a week) and toddler group, games (pass the parcel and musical statues) and a slap up feed. I managed to get her to stand still for a nano-second to show off her party dress. This is about the only shot out of fifteen I took that doesn't look utterly ridiculous.

Kudos to K___ for the amazing cake she came up with for the party. No wonder Hansel and Gretel were tempted!

Who can say what it means?

2010-01-09T00:25:00.001Z

Olivia: "Daddy, the wee wee is payment to the toilet to take the poo away..."

Happy Christmas

2009-12-23T22:23:00.002Z

We know. Before you even think it, we know, but there's no time for recriminations now. Let's start the new year with some better intentions and see how that actually pans out.

For now, have a fantastic Christmas everyone.

Dangerous Colours and Shapes

2009-11-10T11:31:00.000Z

Olivia went off to bonfire night with the extended family. Was very cold and started late so Gracie stayed at home with Mummy.

Number One

2009-10-27T11:12:00.000Z

Gracie's first birthday.

The cake(s)

Big sister helps Gracie open her presents

Home Truths Tear in a Home

2009-09-27T16:29:00.004+01:00

According to the BBC today parents who offer each other reciprocal childcare could soon be forced to register as childminders, with all the associated bureaucracy. I have friends who I did NCT classes with who both work full time and have an arrangement that one of them will look after both children one day per week and the other will look after both another day per week. Under the new proposals these friends will be forced to either abandon this relationship or register as childminders.

With formal childcare costs being prohibitive to some families, many now rely on grandparents, other relations and friends to care for their kids while they work. Ending such relationships could mean some parents being forced to give up working and lose much needed income. How can forcing working parents, who are trying to improve things for their families, further towards the poverty line benefit their children?

Has Become Nothing More Than Dirt in Some Dirty Town

2009-09-26T16:25:00.000+01:00

The numerous joys of motherhood no. 4298...

You take your toddler to visit your very house-proud Mother-in-Law. Your toddler poops on the floor.

They Just Move to the Other Side

2009-09-20T21:56:00.005+01:00

Having been in and out of the doctors/hospital for about 4 weeks my Grandma had emergency surgery on Monday evening for a twisted bowel. They had warned us that she was pretty weak and that they would only do life-saving surgery. She spent the rest of the week with a million tubes and wires doing pretty much everything for her. On Thursday evening they took her off the ventilator and warned us that her organs were failing and that they would not recusitate her if crashed. She lasted 4 hours and then stopped breathing in her sleep at just after midnight on Thursday night.

I am glad that things ended how they did as I couldn't bear the thought of her breathing on her own but still having to be fed by tube etc. More than anything she valued her independence and the prognosis meant she would never be independent again. She will, however, be very much missed.

The last time I saw her, on Wednesday evening, I stroked her hand and told her about what the children had been up to. She couldn't answer as she was barely conscious and was on a ventilator but she opened her eyes really wide as I told her about the kids recent antics. I will prefer to remember her not in a hospital connected to wires and machines but a few weeks ago, sitting in my Mum's front room watching the children play and talking to Olivia. Olivia and Grace won't remember her but I am glad she got to meet them.

Even Though She's Only Very Small She'll Leave You in No Doubt at All

2009-09-16T20:37:00.004+01:00

The numerous joys of motherhood no. 4297...

Yesterday Olivia wouldn't nap in the afternoon while she was with Grandma. By the time I got home from work she wanted to go to sleep in her buggy...at 5pm. As her bedtime is 6.30 I didn't think this was a great idea and put it to her that she just needed to have her tea and then we would go home to bed. I got her out of the buggy, where she had parked herself, and took her dummy out...

Que much wailing and gnashing of teeth...

A clear 45+ minutes of screaming ensued with lots of trying to whack me etc.

The joys of motherhood? ...the words 'go away Mummy, I DON'T LOVE YOU!'

A Voice Now Past

2009-09-15T20:46:00.001+01:00

Anyone who knows me will know that when my girls are teenagers I will be making them watch Dirty Dancing... A LOT! This was the soundtrack of my own teenage years and I can't wait to share it with my darling daughters.

We salute you Patrick.

I'll leave him to have the final word.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y97bWP33d8I

They Put Us on a Transport to the Stars

2009-09-13T19:21:00.002+01:00

Update on the buggy....

EVERYONE hated it, it was difficult to push, difficult to steer, just difficult...then my Dad pointed out that all the tyres were totally flat! Never occurred to me that they would need pumping up straight out of the box! Anyway it is now fine to push and steer. Daddy M looooovvvvvvveeees it as you can adjust the handlebar up and down which is doing wonders for his back. The only down side of this adjustment is that the handlebar has a little give in it as it is not one solid piece of metal but effectively hinged to allow it to be adjusted. I have never tried a P&T Sport but I imagine this is probably the case with them as well. The only bad thing we have found is something totally personal to us - the mudguards are exactly the height to catch on the stairs when my mum takes it up to her front door - not a huge issue. I really like the colour - enough pink to make it a little girlie but not as in your face as the pink camo P&T. We have cow print buggy snuggles from last winter which will look super cute on it when it starts to get really chilly. Miraculously it hasn't rained all week so we haven't had a go with the rain cover yet but I like the fact that it is an elasticated front and not those silly fiddly poppers on the P&T. The back seat could do with a recline but that is the only functionality it is missing.

All things considered I think this was a good choice and I don't think that I could have justified the cost of a new P&T. I am going to Ebay what is left of the old P&T and see what I can get for it to offset some of the cost of the oBaby.

A Collection

2009-09-06T23:06:00.004+01:00

Here's a selection of snaps from my phone from the last few months. Quality is pretty deplorable, I'm afraid. Sorry!

The first is Liv posing with one of the lions at Harlaxton Manor (see main post here). Harlaxton is owned by the University of Evansville, so is normally full of American students, but every so often, they open it up to the hoi polloi, and we enjoyed roaming the grounds and making friends with the local swan.

Liv has been pestering us to let her take Teddy to the park in the buggy my mother bought for her. Normally, Teddy wears PJs, as he pretty much stays in Liv's bed, but he had to get dressed for the overcast weather. Liv was quite good about pushing him, which was a nice change from how she is with her bike, where she normally rides it for a grand total of a hundred yards or so, then says, "Daddy, you carry it."

A few weeks ago, I had both girls with me. Liv brought her bike and Grace was strapped to my front in a Baby Bjorn carrier). Predictably enough, Liv demanded I carry her bike after just enough to make it really inconvenient to take it back home. Hey ho - we got to the park and everything was fine for three quarters of an hour, when I noticed that Liv was flagging and that it was time we went back for lunch anyway.

After Olivia threw a massive screaming fit in the playground when I said we were going home, I ended up carrying a kicking and screaming child in one hand, a bike in the other and poor Grace still stuck on my front. It was an extremely uncomfortable journey, not made any better by the looks from the people we passed. Most rolled their eyes as if to say, "Terrible Twos, huh?" but a few seemed to be looking at me suspiciously as though I must have done something awful to my distraught child, doubtless not helped by the fact that having been punched, gouged and kicked repeatedly by the demon slung over my shoulder, I lost my rag and bawled her out in the street, which didn't exactly make me look like a candidate for parent of the year. In my defence, testicles are extremely delicate and having a child rake its fingernails down your cheek really fucking hurts. I would also like to add this is unusual behaviour for Liv, lest anyone be too concerned.

Teddy seemed to command more respect, and she dutifully pushed him most of the way to and from the park. Maybe he should come every time...

Here's a picture of Liv and Grace on the fire engine in the park (Teddy out of shot) Mummy's hand in shot). Grace can't really join in too much apart from the swings yet, but she does like to try. I think she was operating the gear stick....

Here's Liv in her new motor, a beautiful yellow and red number, powered by a V6 Flintstone-style engine.Mummy picked it up for a few quid on eBay (we try not to buy plastic toys new if we can avoid it). She loves pushing it round and round the stone circle outside the French windows. She'll be a natural at roundabouts when she's older.

Finally, a shot of Grace with her Auntie A__, demonstrating that she can stand completely unaided for about thirty seconds, as long as she doesn't realise she's doing it...

Wide Awake, Sometimes Sleeping

2009-09-06T22:24:00.000+01:00

When you are 10 months life can just be too exciting.

Travel With Me and We'll See..

2009-09-05T21:37:00.004+01:00

The Phil and Teds is falling apart and so I have finally bitten the bullet and got my hand in mypocket for a new buggy. The fact that Olivia walks a lot of the time and may only want a buggy for another year or so meant that I couldn't justify the cost of another P&T. I have been going round and round in circles wandering what to do until I came across the OBaby XI.

http://www.obaby.co.uk/product_details.php?category_id=150&item_id=1395

As far as we can see the main difference between this and a P&T is...oh...about £200!

Went off this morning to a local baby tat superstore to see it in real life and messed about with one there. Haven't road tested it yet but watch this space to see if it lives up to expectation. Certainly has a few nice features the P&T doesn't.

I Will Stare from the Window.

2009-09-04T21:12:00.000+01:00

Don't think there was anything particular to look at but they seemed engrossed nevertheless.

Carrying a Message

2009-09-03T21:14:00.000+01:00

I spotted this sign when we went to visit Chatsworth the other week. I know how they feel :)

No More Than a Baby Feeding Swans on the River

2009-09-01T21:05:00.000+01:00

The other week we went along to an open day at one of our local manor houses. We all enjoyed a walk around the house and a stroll in the grounds. Olivia made a new friend...

Full of Love and Comfortable in Themselves

2009-09-01T20:57:00.000+01:00

Here are the girls enjoying themselves in the park. They go most weekends but the novelty still has not worn off, particularly with Gracie who, danger baby that she is, loves going high.

We have been to these places for barely a moment

2009-08-21T21:12:00.000+01:00

Grace continues to change so quickly. She is really steady on her feet and normally coasts round the furniture holding on with just one hand. She still gets down on to the floor and crawls when she meets an open space so the next step is for her to walk hands free. I think she will probably just get up and do it one day.

The girls get on so well. Olivia loves to give Gracie bear hugs and do stuff like wrap her up in a blanket and roll her around the floor and Gracie just laughs like a drain and thinks that 99.9% of everything Olivia does is hilarious. My job now is to try and get Olivia to recognise the other 0.01% and stop putting Grace in to a headlock! Olivia really loves her little sister and very earnestly told me the other day 'Mummy, Gracie is my favourite toy.' I pointed out that Grace is a baby and not a toy and she thought a bit more and then announced 'Gracie is my best friend and Daddy is your best friend'. She is so super cute!

Olivia is very clever and also very opinionated. She certainly tells you what she does and doesn't want to do. Anyone would think she was two and a half or something! This evening she screamed hysterically for about 25 minutes due to a combination of not having a daytime nap and being by Mummy told to stop swinging on Grandma's cupboard doors. She was a small slice of hell for a good while.

Thing is that being a parent can be hard but the good stuff outweighs the bad. When Olivia smiles naturally, not the silly screwed-up eyes smile she does when someone puts a camera on her, but the natural smile when she genuinely thinks something is funny, she melts my heart.

We've Been Taken on a Very Long Ride

2009-08-08T20:49:00.006+01:00

Here is Olivia on her bike. She is still rubbish, doesn't peddle and wants to get off after about 10 seconds but she does seem to enjoy it while she is there.

Stories That I Never Told

2009-08-02T23:39:00.006+01:00

Well, apologies to anyone who's been checking back to see whether we've updated the site and has concluded we've all carked it from Swine Flu.

We're still sorting out the new kitchen - though it is the very last few bits now. It has taken inordinately longer than we anticipated, and we anticipated it would take longer than the builders said it would. Things have not been helped by our flooring supplier falling victim to the recession, necessitating a refund and starting that side of things off again from scratch...

Grace is doing very well. She learned to crawl about three weeks ago and now whizzes across the floor and pulls herself up on the furniture. She has a face and head covered in small bruises from all the tumbles she's taking and despite the same thing happening with Olivia, when K___ took Grace to see the health visitor for a check up, there was a tiny niggle that worried that they might think something was awry.

In the last few days, Grace has started talking. Her first 'word' was 'Dadadadada', which I know almost certainly doesn't mean 'Daddy', but anything and nothing. It was followed a day later by "Nananan" and yesterday, "Mumumum", and that really did appear to be directed at K___.

Olivia continues to do well with her potty training. She's dry all day now, and we've taken off the sides of her bed to allow her to get out and use the potty during the night too. Unfortunately, this means that at the moment we're experiencing quite a lot of night time messing about. In the week that she's had the new bed (with Balamory duvet set, no less) she's come into to our room at least once a night. Here's hoping that stops soon...

Here's some pics from my camera phone last Thursday - apologies that the quality isn't better.

Dry Land

2009-07-11T10:02:00.001+01:00

On Wednesday morning Olivia weed on Mummy's living room carpet. This must have had an impact because she has been dry ever since (including nap time). She is in nappies over night but it seems like we have broken the back of it as far as daytime goes. Yay!

Tries and Fails and Tries Again

2009-06-29T20:46:00.005+01:00

Olivia is trying big girl pants for the first time today. She had just one accident (although she did go back into a nappy for her afternoon nap) all day.

Just now, as we tried* to get the girls to sleep, I listened to an interview with the British Psychologist Richard Wiseman on the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast (Episode 204 circa 54:50). Wiseman is promoting a new book, The 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot about scientifically sound ways to improve your life. It's like a self-help book only with the key difference that it contains claims that are based on proper research and which actually work, rather than some load of woo pulled out of someone's arse. When asked for an example of the kind of thing that's in the book, he mentioned the idea that you shouldn't praise achievement but effort.

Rather than saying, "Well done, you kept your pants dry all day!" we should be saying, "Well done for trying so hard to keep your pants dry today!" The rationale is that if you praise achievement, the next time they will be scared to put themselves in a position where they fail to win the praise, whereas if you praise the effort, they can always try regardless of actual achievement. Essentially, effort is a variable that is within the child's grasp to control, achievement is not. Not only is this the case, but children brought up to believe that it is achievement that is important actually learn to discount effort; "If I can't achieve it by my natural talents, it reflects poorly on me." Clearly this is a very poor message to communicate to a child!

I'm not pretending this is Earth-shattering stuff - in fact, it seems bloody obvious once it's explained - and nor is Wiseman. What he is saying is that it may be easy but it's actually not very well known. It was pure coincidence that it just so happened that I ended up listening to this podcast on the same day Olivia started wearing big girl pants, but it did make me make a mental note to check exactly what I say to her.

In other news, Grace has two teeth, lower central incisors, with her eye teeth and one upper incisor clearly budding in her gum. Oh, and the kitchen is starting to look much better, though it's difficult to imagine how it can all come together in just three more days...

* and largely failed. K___'s still up there at nearly 9o'clock at night. How do the little sods know when you're trying to get them down early? Oh well; they're normally pretty good these days.

In the Kitchen with your Dreams

2009-06-21T20:33:00.004+01:00

The following is by way of lame excuse for the fact we've not posted much recently. We've been gearing up for a bit of major work on the house, specifically the kitchen, including a new extension. K___ has been collaborating with A_____ our next door neighbour, who is a property developer by trade. A______ has got us some amazing discounts and we're getting our new kitchen for a fraction of the retail price.

The old kitchen and utilities are out and stacked up in our dining room awaiting collection after sale on eBay, the new kitchen is stacked up in my study

Here's what it looked like until earlier today, with all the old units stacked in the breakfast room:

In the next one, you can see into the lobby, which opens into the utility room and the stable door to the outside.

As you can see from the final snap, the lobby has been demolished.

We've got about two weeks of this left. We're eating as well as we can using just a microwave and the ground floor looks like nothing on earth, but it's going to be worth it.

Apes Like You and Me

2009-05-22T18:35:00.001+01:00

We were inspired by a story about some new captivity-born penguins on the local news to visit Twycross Zoo on the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border. Twycross actually specialises in primates, and they have many species including Bonobos (the only breeding population in the UK), Chimps (some of whom were in the famous PG Tips adverts), Gorillas, Orangutans, Tamarins and Langurs, as well as a few standard zoo animals.

We knew that the Elephants were due to be fed just a few minutes after we'd got there, so we immediately raced up to the far end of the park. En route, we passed the giraffe enclosure. Olivia knows what giraffes look like - she sees them in books and on television - but when a young female strode out of the 'stable', she was literally shaking with excitement, all sharp intakes of breath and lots of pointing. They are magnificent creatures and I'm sure to see them through a child's eyes is something else.

At this point I have to apologise for the lack of pictures. Unfortunately, when we took out the camera and tried to take our first snap, we realised we were practically out of batteries and it wouldn't extend the lens. It took a while to get back to somewhere that sold new ones, so the pics are all from the tail end of the day (pun intentional).

I think my favourites were the Bonobos. Bonobos are an endangered sub-species of Chimpanzee found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They're smaller than your standard chimp and seem to be (there is some controversy) matriarchal, and possibly because of this, very much more peaceful than chimps and more egalitarian. They're also phenomenally sexually active, with sex being used as a part of all sorts of social rituals. These beautiful creatures share so much of their DNA with humans (at least 98% and possibly as high as 99.4%) that some biologists have argued that they should be classified as a part of the Homo genus, along with us (yet others argue it is us who needs to be reclassified into the Pan genus of Bonobos and Chimpanzees).

It was interesting that when we were in the Bonobo house, Olivia was very interested in the apes yet when we found their close relatives, the common Chimpanzee, she found them intimidating and when a baby poked its finger towards the glass where she was looking, she burst into tears. I was particularly interested in a father and son pair of chimps with alopecia (and not just because I'm bald too). As it's not my pic, I'm only going to link to a photo of the son, Jambo. Although chimps are very heavily muscled compared to us, you can clearly see that we're related.

Olivia particularly loved the penguins. As you can see, their tank has a cut-down side and you can go and watch them swim past underwater. They clearly reacted to Olivia's presence as the rest of the time they weren't going quite so close to the glass. Despite the news story, the new chicks were nowhere to be seen, by the way.

You can barely see it, but there's a leopard languishing on top of the platform in this shot.

Here we are outside some of the monkey cages. I believe that's a pair of Black and White Colobuses in the background.

Like a Star in the Sky

2009-05-16T22:37:00.006+01:00

As I was eating my dinner the other evening, Olivia knelt in front of Grace and grabbed her by the arms before singing nursery rhymes to her. I managed to capture a bit on my phone. It's poor quality and cuts out halfway through, but I thought it was charming anyway.

Warm Wet Circles

2009-05-11T21:52:00.002+01:00

Update on Olivia's potty training... We have kept everything low key but Olivia seems to have decided to potty train herself. Since the weekend we got her started she has started to ask to be taken to the toilet and on average once a day she actually does something while she is there. She is still wetting a lot and we are continuing to keep her in pull up nappy pants. Someone said to me last week 'my mother always used to say that you never see a bride walking down the aisle wearing a nappy'. We are going to continue to leave her to do it in her own time.

The Tower

2009-05-11T17:04:00.002+01:00

Tattershall Castle, near Sleaford in Lincolnshire is a 130 foot high, six-storied Tudor keep owned by the National Trust. It was built in the 1430s by Ralph, 3rd Lord Cromwell on the site of an even earlier castle. After centuries of declining fortunes, in 1911, it was rescued from being sold off to an American syndicate that intended to asset strip it and sell the antiques and features in the States. Lord Curzon, former Viceroy of India, intervened and restored the castle to its current condition.

We popped up there one Sunday and spent a few hours climbing the many stairs and being buzzed by a Spitfire and a Dakota from the nearby Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

In one room, they had volunteers demostrating things like a selection of children's toys and a collection of Tudor haute couture. Olivia chose a Jester's hat, which either means she's into early Marillion (entirely possible) or is one of those people call Mungo at a micro-festival who think they're being weally alternative...

As pictured below, there was a woman demonstrating how to spin wool. K___ and I naturally assumed that Olivia was too young to have a go, but the Tudor maiden insisted she would be fine. The first task was to pull loose clumps of wool through a fine-toothed comb to untangle them and to align them in the same direction. It was harder than you might think and when you're informed that girls not much older than Olivia would have been expected to sort several bags of wool a day, you get a reminder of how pampered we are today. You can see the teased wool in the wicker basket.

The next stage is to take your teased fibre and pull it into a longer thread. It's still loose at this stage and would soon fall apart without spinning. Spinning it literally twists the fibres onto themselves so they hold together, with new individual pieces of wool continually wound into the whole along its length. Olivia wound her string onto a small piece of card and brought it home with her.

Olivia was extremely well behaved on the narrow staircases and we were able to investigate the whole castle, right to the top from where you can see Lincoln some ten miles away.

Appeal for Information on the Local News

2009-05-10T21:58:00.002+01:00

And news just in... a little bit of Photoshop silliness from my sister.

Happiness is the Road

2009-05-09T22:02:00.002+01:00

A small rant...When I didn't have children I used to dash across the street in any gap. Now I have kids I am trying to set a good example and cross on proper crossings like a proper grown-up. We are teaching Olivia about road safety and we always play a game where she has to tell me when she sees the green man at crossings before we can cross.

Now on to the rant. What was wrong with crossing that beeped at you when the traffic light when to red and it was safe to cross? With the new generation of silent crossings I can happily stand there for hour in a dream world waiting for the already green man to go green, only to discover that it has gone back to red again. Why can't they beep? Why, oh why?

Memory of Water

2009-05-04T21:10:00.004+01:00

On Saturday we started 'toilet learning' (the right on expression used by our bible, 'What to Expect: the Toddler Years') with Olivia. She is now 27 months and for some time she has been very interested in what is in Grace's nappy, following Mummy to the toilet etc. but has not shown enormous interest in using the potty . While I am not into competitive parenting, the fact that several children her age at her toddler groups have been out of nappies for several months made me wonder whether we shouldn't try moving her along a little. Yesterday we got her some Disney Princess pull up nappy pants with flowers which vanish if she wees the nappy and encouraged her to tell us if she needed a wee.

She didn't seem to mind sitting on the potty and happily sat there while watching an episode of something special or reading a book with Mummy but didn't actually go to the toilet and would wait until you took her off the potty and then wee her nappy. This got a little frustrating and she was obviously picking up on our mood and so today we persevered in reading her potty related story books and have kept everything very low key, telling her that if she wanted to use the potty she could but that it didn't matter if she didn't want to.

Our plan was to leave it another week and try again. This afternoon we were sitting together when she suddenly said 'Mummy, I want to go to do a wee wee on potty'. We had put her in a nappy today as we were not expecting her to show any interest but we quickly stripped her off and popped her on the potty. After a few minutes of sitting there she stood up and said 'look Mummy' and had indeed done a wee wee. We gave her big cuddles and told her she had been very clever. We are still going to leave things pretty low key and see how it goes if we leave her to her own devices for a bit.

She also got to play in her Night Garden play tent, which we had brought her as an incentive to use the potty (she gets to play in it every time she successfully uses the potty). She wanted Grace to play in it with her and so here are the little monkeys.

Not Just the Taste, the Touch, the Smell

2009-05-03T21:03:00.003+01:00

An update on how Grace's weening is getting on... She has got on very well with the finger food and so we are doing very little in the way of spoon feeding and she is self-feeding instead. So far she LOVES sesame rice cakes, with or without organic cream cheese. Broccoli is another firm favourite. pears get wolfed down and she also likes breadsticks a lot. It is amazing how much her hand-eye coordination has come on in the last few weeks. I was cynical when I first heard about baby-led weening but our experience with both kids has certainly been that 6 month old babies can indeed feed themselves.

A Hair Falls Out of Place

2009-04-30T20:58:00.000+01:00

Here is Olivia on a recent trip to the hairdressers. Unlike last time I took her, where she wriggled about in the chair like a sack of snakes, this time she sat very nicely and let the stylist cut her hair. Apols for the quality of photos as they were taken on my mobile.

Thankyou Whoever You Are

2009-04-29T20:45:00.004+01:00

I'd like to say a big hello to our newer readers - welcome to the blog. Also in case you are sitting wondering what the are rambling on about I should also say that all the titles of our posts are song titles or lyrics from the very excellent Marillion. Daddy M and myself met through a mutual friend and a mutual love of this band and so we owe them big. This is just our little way of paying a daily homage.

For those newbies who haven't already come across it then I'll give a big up to a long time reader and fellow blogging Mum (or I guess as she is across the water 'Mom') Lainey Paney. Her blog is entertaining and thought provoking and has at various times made me laugh and cry. Get out there and read her!

Now I need to find some time to get out there myself and read some of the hundreds of other blogging Mummies out there...

There's No Use Trying to Pretend

2009-04-29T20:29:00.003+01:00

Olivia is now 27 months. I have noticed in the last few months that Olivia's imaginative play is really starting to come on. She loves making pretend drinks and snacks for all the family, normally accompanied by the words 'want coffee tea Mummy?'

She has also started to look after her toys like they were babies. At the moment every time Olivia needs a nappy change, Iggle Piggle also has to have a nappy change. She puts him down on the table and I have to pass her a series of imaginary nappy changing items. It is like she is the surgeon and I am the scrub nurse - 'wipes...cream...nappy'. Once Iggle Piggle has had his nappy changed he has a bottle of imaginary milk and then settles down with his imaginary dummy. Olivia likes to put him in Grace's car seat and rock him to sleep.

Olivia is also getting very good at recognising colours and shapes. Mum and I read her books or play games which involve her recognising colours and shapes throughout the day to reinforce what she has learned.

She is also getting very good at remembering the words to songs. She sings Twinkle Twinkle very well, although she thinks it is hilarous to sing it to Gracie along the lines of 'Twinkle Twinkle little baby'. She also does a fine line in half remembering the words to songs and making up the bits she doesn't know - we call it the jazz remix!

Out of this World

2009-04-25T20:47:00.003+01:00

Today I have been exploring the world of blogging Mummies.

Here are a few of the things I have joined:

http://britishmummybloggers.ning.com/
http://mombloggers.ning.com/
http://mumbloggersclub.ning.com/

She Comes with the Sunlight and the Perfect Summer Days

2009-04-22T20:51:00.001+01:00

Today was such a lovely sunny day Olivia decided she wanted to 'have picnic Mummy, picnic with my friends'. So Mummy prepared a host of teeny-tiny goodies and Olivia had a lovely time.

And Making a Mess While You’re Trying to Clean

2009-04-21T20:54:00.000+01:00

This week we started weaning with Grace. Can't believe it but she is 6 months on Sunday. Despite being a wee little dot she is a very hungry baby. She stopped sleeping through the night a few weeks ago. I tried increasing her milk feeds....still hungry. I tried giving her the hungry baby milk...still hungry. The problem is that she wasn't really all that fussed about drinking more milk and so it was an uphill struggle to get her to eat enough to keen her going now she is getting more active. As she was approaching 6 months deciding to wean her wasn't a problem, but what would be an issue was the choice of weaning method.

You may remember that when we weaned Olivia we went with baby-led weaning. The problem we face with Grace is getting enough down her for her to be satisfied. With baby-led weaning you continue the normal milk feeds until the child is eating enough food and then start to reduce the milk as the food intake goes up. Problem was that Grace wasn't that fussed about drinking enough anyway. So, we have decided to do a mixed approach with Grace. She is self-feeding but is also having some spoon feeds of lumpy food. Her first meal was toast, which she really seems to love. She has also tried pasta, breast sticks, rice cakes, carrot, broccoli and banana whole and then various things I have cooked up for her such as sweet potato and lentil.

She seems much happier in the day time and is sleeping better during the night.

Monkeys Trying to be Stars

2009-04-19T20:54:00.002+01:00

Here are my gorgeous girls. A pair of lovelies I am sure you will agree!

I Will Sleep Tonight

2009-04-18T10:50:00.002+01:00

I would just like to note that having been dragged from my bed by screaming toddler at five o'clock this morning, after she was got up by screaming baby at seven, my lovely wife allowed me to go back to sleep until ten to ten.

While this may not sound like a lot to people without young children, think about someone who had restricted themselves to a single drink for several years and unexpectedly getting to drink five pints. I was drunk on sleep!

Thank you, lovely wife!

Did You Cry When They Dragged You Home?

2009-04-18T09:16:00.005+01:00

Have finally got round to sitting down and blogging about an article which I read in the Times the other day:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/melanie_reid/article6101189.ece

The author seems to be suggesting that while we should all have a choice for our delivery, those of us who have home births are big fat-headed idiots, while she is practically perfect in every way...

She starts with a very lazy bit of journalism - pick a cliche and go with it.

"Disgraceful stereotyping it may be, but it is impossible to deny that home births are the preserve of homely, principled types who may then go on to breastfeed their child until it goes to secondary school..."

Why is it impossible to deny? Although I am partial to wearing flipflops for 6 months of the year I also have a pair of killer Gucci heels so high they are like wearing stilts.

"Frankly, it doesn't matter how safe home deliveries are proven to be...
...this is about quashing the entirely whimsical, perverse idea that we should turn our backs on modern medicine's starring role in safe childbirth...."

Modern medicine... hmmmmmmm. MRSA, under resourcing and understaffing are also features of the 'modern' NHS which the author choses to neglect. It also ignores the fact that there are lots of brilliant, modern, highly trained and expert midwives out there. All carry the essentials of childbirth such as recusitation equipment but some are also able to administer antibiotics during labour, Pethedin, perform neonatal checks, deliver breach and VBAC babies etc. Modern medicine can be brought in to the home and is not the preserve of the hospital and this attitude does a disservice to all the community and indepentent midwives out there working hard to give women a choice.

What I particularly don't understand is that the author admits that "researchers have revealed that women in the “low-risk” category who gave birth at home were just as safe as those who did so in hospital." and that "home delivery - if we may steal the expression back from the age of internet shopping - is as lacking in danger for the large majority as giving birth in hospital is" but yet then goes on to suggest,

...How utterly spoilt some women are, how complacent, that they think they can manage without wonderful things like blood transfusions, anaesthetic, surgery, antiseptic techniques and obstetric technology, which, in a century, a blink of an eye for womankind, reduced maternal and infant mortality almost to zero."

This seems to be entirely at odd with her earlier statement that "This is not about encouraging the unnecessary medicalisation of a perfectly natural condition". The above is EXACTLY about the unnecessary medicalisation of a perfectly natural condition! Many women, whether in hospital or at home manage perfectly well without transfusions, anaesthetic and surgery. Why is antiseptic the preserve of hospitals? My midwife washed her hands and used gloves, which come to think if it is more that some hospital staff do!

My rant must come to a premature end there I'm afraid as I currently have a toddler trying to stuff a pair of fairy wings in the DVD player...

He Took Her to a Garden

2009-04-15T21:16:00.001+01:00

On Monday we went to see Nana and Grandpa. Nana has made Olivia a cool play house out of a cardboard box - based in part we presume on the well known fact that no matter what you buy them children will play with the box it came in. She is going to pain it with emulsion and then, next time she comes to visit, Olivia is going to pain flowers on the outside. Here is Great Nana visiting Olivia in her house.

Having talked to Nana about it on the phone the week before, Olivia was very much looking forward to seeing and feeding Nana's fish. Mummy, although not really one for pets, has agreed that Olivia can have a fish to take home next time.

In the afternoon we went along to the playground in the local park and met up with my uncle.

Olivia had a lovely day and very much enjoyed seeing Nana and Grandpa and Great Nana.

Easter Here Again

2009-04-10T22:21:00.004+01:00

This year instead of giving shop brought eggs for Easter we decided to make Easter cakes for all the extended family.

Here is Olivia stirring up the mixture.

Here is Mummy telling Olivia to get her fingers out of it!

Here are the fruits of our labours.

Heading for the Slide

2009-04-09T22:33:00.004+01:00

Today we went to the local National Trust country house, which has an excellent adventure playground. The weather was great once you were out of the wind and as the playground is surrounded by a high wall it was nice and sheltered. Olivia's cousins C_, 11 and H_, 8, were very kind to her and helped her on some of the bigger equipment. Here she is enjoying the slide, with her cousins peeping out at the top. A very big slide for such a tiny girl!

You're Freckled Like a Speckled Egg

2009-04-08T22:30:00.000+01:00

Daddy and baby Grace. Two people, one hairstyle.

Wrapped Up in Time

2009-04-07T21:38:00.006+01:00

I am increasingly aware of how quickly the days turn in to weeks and how Gracie will not stay little for long and I trying to capture every moment to memory or photo. Here she is...just because she is beautiful.

If my heart were a ball It Would Roll Uphill

2009-04-03T21:31:00.002+01:00

Stop...tummy time! Gracie has been spending lots of quality time on her tummy recently. She is now pushing right up on extended arms and is staring to bring her knees up under her. She also rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time today. Not expecting it I didn't get a photo of her actually doing it but I did grab a snap of the look of delight on her face once she had done it.

The ladies in our readership should note her 'Nobody puts baby in the corner' bib!

Do You Remember I Thought it Was Confetti in Our Hair II

2009-03-25T21:19:00.001Z

Grace and Olivia's Auntie A_ went to a fancy dress party the other day. As she works as a theatre technician she always has fun going to fancy dress parties as she has access to a huge props cupboard. Queue baby related hilarity as our girls played dress up, much to the amusement of Mummy and Daddy...

Do You Remember I Thought it Was Confetti in Our Hair

2009-03-24T21:10:00.000Z

At her toddler group the other week Olivia made a cress head. He was very yummy when we had him in our sandwiches.

The Faithful Depiction

2009-03-20T21:56:00.004Z

The other week Uncle E_ came to stay. He had lots of fun playing with the girls and exercised his artistic sensibilities on the Etch A Sketch doing an excellent portrait of Olivia!

What Makes Her Laugh

2009-03-19T20:48:00.000Z

Olivia has now built up a little gang of friends who she sees regularly at play groups. The others are slightly older than her but they play very nicely together. She enjoys playing with older children and is very at home playing with her cousins but I have found the socialisation at play groups useful because unlike her cousins who give in to her if she throws a strop, other kids of two or three will argue with her over a toy and so she has had to learn valuable lessons about sharing and taking turns. Here are Olivia and her chums C_ and E_ enjoying fun on the see saw (or teeter-totter for our American readers).

The Children Playing Will Grow Up and Leave Home

2009-03-17T21:54:00.005Z

Sometimes I look at Grace and realise just how quickly the baby stage slips away. She is already getting really big (although actually she is still following her own special line between the 9th and 25th centiles) and I see changes in her from day to day. She is very engaged with the world now and loves to sit or stand on your lap and 'talk' to you, or kick around on a blanket on the floor playing with toys. She has a very cheeky face and her blue eyes still show no signs of changing colour.

Here she is enjoying a play.

Baby Nothing Else Has Ever Been As Hard As Love

2009-03-16T22:03:00.002Z

We recently found out that my best friend of 20 years is expecting her first baby in August. Having had some very worrying test results initially, all now looks well with the pregnancy and the baby is fine. We know the sex but I'm not sure if that is supposed to be secret so I'm keeping quiet for now! I am very excited that one of my close friends is finally joining me in the baby club!!!! Sending her huge positive vibes...

I also have another friend, the Mum of Olivia's best friend L_, who is also due in August so it looks to be an exciting and busy month!

Actually even sooner than that another old school friend is due to give birth by c-section so good luck to her also.