A (mostly) lovely Christmas

We had a very pleasant Christmas Day, starting with a light breakfast (we didn't want to spoil our appetites), and then decamped to the lounge to open the mountain of presents waiting for us. As you can see, Tom was (and still is) very pleased with his desk and chair, and immediately set about creating masterpieces from the various drawing-based presents from Grannie and Grandpa. His early works have more than a hint of Jackson Pollock about them, albeit in wax crayon (that the artist tried to eat on a number of occasions). As we expected, Tom was also very impressed by the vast quantities of paper and cardboard floating around the lounge, but did his best to tidy it away. Bless him. In any case, the occasion wore him out, and we had to put him down for his first morning nap for ages: not a bad thing, as he wasn't hanging around the kitchen while Christmas lunch was prepared. We had roast rib of beef (rare), served with roast spuds, various veggies and Yorkshire puddings. The beef was as good as I've had - it just goes to show: you should always get your meat from a good butcher, not your local supermarket. Tom didn't really touch the beef, but wolfed down industrial quantities of veg and a good chunk of Yorkshire pud. Instead of Christmas pud, Mum & Dad had brought a fruit sponge with spiced fruit. We all enjoyed it, including the lad.

We didn't do a great deal after lunch - tried to make Tom a snowman in the back garden, but the low, low temperatures meant that the snow was too powdery, so we tried him again on his sledge - still tears and grumbling, so we brought his walker and his bus out, which seemed to be more acceptable.
Despite not stuffing ourselves at lunchtime, we didn't fancy a big tea, so we just grazed on a cold buffet, which seemed to do the trick. A few hours later, though, everything went badly wrong. Mum & Dad first came down with a stomach bug, then me and finally Nik. We all felt ghastly for pretty much all of Boxing Day, hardly eating anything and staying in bed for extended periods. Fortunately, Tom didn't come down with it and stayed healthy and cheerful all day. I think this helped us all, as it's hard to feel too bad with his smiling face in front of you. We were all in bed pretty early, keen to put a horrible day behind us.

Happily, we all awoke on the 27th feeling much better, albeit rather hungry. Mum & Dad decided to stay an extra day, having written off the day before. We left Nik behind at home and took His Nibs to Attingham Park for some fresh air. We had a third attempt at fun on the sledge, with great success. We towed him round one of the woodland walks, which he loved, giggling and laughing all way (see photo). We would have made it all the way back to the house on the sledge, but a highly excited 5 month old cocker spaniel puppy tried to give him a kiss, which caused total meltdown. I carried him to the café, where we each had a coffee and Tom had an early lunch, which he ate pretty well. We drove home, with Mum trying to keep Tom awake in the back of the car. I'm not sure what was going on, but it produced peals of laughter.

Mum & Dad set off back to London the following morning. I think they had a good time with Tom - he certainly enjoyed having them here and was on cracking form almost all the time - charming and very entertaining. Then, when Nik was doing cakey things in the kitchen, I took Tom for a trip to Asda. He refused point blank to walk there, but walked all the way back (apparently the first time ever). This did take an absurdly long time though - he had to admire himself in every Asda window and then stopped to do his version of Riverdance in every single puddle (at least 100). I reckon the whole trip took a good 30 minutes, but he so enjoyed it.
Following his afternoon nap, we decided to get some "fresh air" and headed out to The Clock Tower for a swift half. We enjoyed our drinks while Tom went up and down a short flight of steps about 50 times - very good practice.

Tom was back in nursery yesterday morning, during which time Nik caked and I translated, then we collected him at 1.00pm and headed straight up the road to Chester for our evening with the Cameron, Lisa & the girls. Tom now knows Maggie and Tamsin quite well, so we didn't get the usual couple of hours of shyness. M & T played so nicely with Tom, especially given that he's a fair bit younger than either of them. He managed to climb two long flights of stairs up to their room, where he had a wonderful time galloping round with them and playing with their (vast number of) toys. All 8 of us sat down for dinner together at about 6.00, whereupon we were delighted to see Tom wolf down a huge dinner of beef & bean chilli, rice, sour cream, nachos and Cameron's home-made bread and butter pudding. We thought he'd burst. In the end, he had quite a late night, and slept right through until morning with only 1 short wake-up. Result.
This morning we all headed out to a very well-stocked farm shop-cum-café, where we all had bacon/sausage sandwiches, and Tom then charged round the shop like a loony and then charged round outside, until he fell over and covered himself in mud.
We set off home around noon, stopping only at Waitrose in Newport for some cordial for Nik. I think I may be been got by a mobile speed camera on the Whitchurch by-pass, so I'll have my eye on the post for the next couple of weeks.
So, Boxing Day apart, we've all had a lovely festive period. And we still have a few celebrations to go, as we're off to Haddenham to exchange pressies and meet our new niece.

Winter Wonderland

So the snow is still here, the coldest spell I can remember, we are definitely going to have a White Christmas as it is forecasted to drop down to -18 tonight! Good icicles don't you think?

We've had a good week, on Monday I took Tom swimming with Rachel and Mae at their club. Didn't go too well, Tom pretty much grizzled through the afternoon - he was wearing his wet suit so was nice and toasty, just not enjoying the water (now we have finished Waterbabies we really should make the effort to take him swimming regularly or all the good work will vanish). The evening saw us at Shifnal Cottage, the new Indian Restaurant set up by Abdul of East End Balti. We turned up at 5.30 with Tom. He was as good as gold, in fact he ate us out of house and home. He loved the Chicken Tikka Masala and gobbled up a whole plate of rice with it. Infact, I had trouble eating my dinner as he was demanding help putting his rice on his spoon! Good to see him with a good appetite.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Tom was in nursery as usual and I prepared for Christmas, did the big shop and tried to get some cooking and cleaning done.

Thursday we met up with Sammie, Jen and Sophie at Jungleland as usual so the kids could run off some energy - Tom was really lovely, quite content to play by himself, and very happy. By the time he woke up Grannie and Grandpa had arrived. Surprisingly he woke up in a good mood, wasn't shy at all and got straight into playing and showing off. In fact he was a joy all day, in such a good mood. Unfortunately he spoilt it in the evening as he refused his dinner which was a shame, so he went to bed hungry. Sammie, surprised us at 5.00, she came round with a sledge for Tom. I had told her that we were unable to find one, somehow she found one, bought it and then delivered it, refusing to take any money for it - how kind.

Friday we took the opportunity to try out the sledge. Ma

tt, Bob and I enjoyed it a lot, but Tom wasn't that keen. We managed to get him on it and he liked sliding down, but very much hated any walking / standing on snow, which meant he had to have lots of hugs and we had to carry him everywhere. Lunchtime found us in 'our club' at The Shropshire. Tom cheered up, had a good lunch and entertained us and others. He seemed more confident outside, so we tried sledging again - he was more receptive, but unfortunately there was a lot of powdered snow, which meant he got sprayed in it, which didn't go down at all well, (not even watching Grandpa fall off the sledge into the snow cheered him up) so we brought him home to bed.

I like the snow (if I have a belly full of food!)

So Tom has had an up and down week. He spent most of it ill, but with nothing obvious. It was really strange, he certainly wasn't himself and refused to eat, unless it was something sweet, when he would eat and eat and eat! What do I do, give him lots of sweet things, or try to starve him into eating something good? He wouldn't even eat anything normal at nursery, so something was definitely up. I ended up calling the Doctor for advice, he said to give him the food he wanted so he had 'fuel' to fight whatever was wrong, and to call back in 2 day's time if he still wasn't eating, so that is what I did.

We had a turning point on Thursday, where suddenly he perked up and wanted to eat me out of house and home. We went to Jungleland as always for Breastfeeding group where he ate some sausages (yes you read right - sausages), a fruit bar, a satsuma, a sandwich and a huge tea cake - definitely on the mend I think, although he was still grizzly and cried at the slightest thing!

Friday we went round to see Sammie, Jen and Sophie and once again Tom ate them out of house and home - this time with chicken nuggets, he ate 7 - yes SEVEN of them along with some toast, but ignored the beans and scrambled eggs. He then demolished a whole bowl of fruit and some chocolate. Sammie now doesn't believe me when I say I have the baby that doesn't eat - she just says that obviously I don't feed him!

We've just come back from lunch at The Malthouse in Ironbridge - Matt Young Translation's Family Christmas Do. Once again Tom ate and ate and ate - demolishing his garlic bread along with some more sausages and eating half my winter berry crumble and custard. He is certainly making up for last week (although I have a feeling that he is now eating meat and not eating vegetables - he has refused every vegetable I've given him this week!) He didn't seem to mind the cold and snow after lunch either, something to do with a nice warm belly full of food. Took us an hour to get home, mainly to do with drivers that shouldn't be attempting to drive in this weather (snow)- why does everyone drive so slowly and then suddenly stop for no reason - no wonder the roads jam, thankfully we have 4 wheel drive so didn't have too much trouble negotiating the roads!

We were going to Haddenham tomorrow to see Amber and exchange Christmas pressies, but don't think we will be going now, likelihood of getting stuck is too high. Not sure what we are going to do with Tom this afternoon either, he doesn't like staying in but in this weather there really is very little that you can do - other than Jungleland or Quackers.

Oh, and the separation anxiety is back - such a pain, Tom is crying quite a bit at the moment. Let's hope it is a short phase, it is hard work - even trying to get the laundry in the washing machine is a bit of a trauma at the moment!

First snog

We've had quite an eventful weekend. Friday saw Grandpa Young arriving for a night on his way back from Crewe. He and Tom became quite good chums once Tom warmed up to him (we have trouble with shyness at the moment). He even managed to play with him in bed on Saturday morning which was good - he wouldn't do that for my parents last time they were here.

Tom took his Grandpa to the park on Saturday morning and even managed to convince him to have a go on the see-saw, very cute!

Bob caught the lunchtime train home (well it was supposed to be lunchtime, but it was very very late), Tom had an early nap so by 1.30 he was up again and we were on our way to The Swan at Forton where we had a private room with the other NCT families and our Christmas do. We arranged it so that we were split into girls and boys and staggered our courses, so boys had starters whilst girls looked after children, then vice versa - worked out quite well, all children had a cry at some stage, but on the whole were well behaved which meant we all had a good time.

Came home, Tom had some toast (he'd been grazing all afternoon), then bath and bed, then we lounged on the sofas before bed. We had the worst night in ages with Tom, he kept waking up crying, not sure how many times, but think it was about 4 times. We are so out of practise, that it took until the last time he woke up to think that maybe he needed some medicine. So we got the Calprofen out, gave it to him, and that was it! Phew, was only 1.30 by then, so we were still able to get enough sleep.

Rachel M called me first thing on Sunday morning to see if we were still going to the Craft fairat the Greenwood Centre, I had told her about it and then forgot (the owner puts my card in her wedding packs and wanted to meet Rachel to talk about a classical music evening) Seemed a good idea so we went along. Was quite quiet as it isn't well known, but it meant that Rachel could meet Polly and chat. We then looked round the fair which was tiny, but Mae and Tom had

fun, they found a ramp which they ran up and down (well Mae ran up it and then Tom followed), they then decided to have a good snog, well Mae decided to snog Tom and Tom didn't refuse - was sooooooo cute!

We've all had stomach upsets this weekend, manifesting themselves in different ways in each of us. I had stomach cramps yesterday, Tom has had funny nappies and became quite distressed before bed today and Matt has had a bad day today! Tom was inconsolable at bed time, think he was thankful to be put to bed. We will see how tonight goes...

Tom's ok and welcome cousin Amber

So, it wasn't an ear infection, he still wasn't 100% on Monday but about 80%, he had a full day at nursery as Matt and I had decided that the house needed a deep clean and the only way to do that was to put Tom in nursery. We both expected nursery to call us asking us to remove our sick child, but they didn't. Instead we both spent 8 hours cleaning, scrubbing and tidying. The house looks much better as a result, but we still didn't get everything done that we wanted to. I guess we will have to keep on at it in the evenings. The big challenge now is to keep the place tidy, are we able to do it? It's tough, we are both very very messy.

Oh, forgot to mention earlier that Matt and I became Uncle and Aunt again on Friday. Amber Rose (see pic) was born quite quickly on Friday morning. She and Clare are doing well, and were back home on Friday afternoon! Sounds like she is a chilled out baby - sleeping well already!

Spent yesterday modelling cats for an order for the weekend and finishing off our Christmas cake, which is royal iced (see pic). OMG, doing proper royal icing (ie not a snow effect) is not easy, my cake looks like a 5 year old did it. I decided yesterday to paint the top to go with the decoration, it all went wrong, too dark and then the bristles from my paint brush decided to fall out. A mini disaster, don't think this one will make my website, but it was good practice, at least I now know to say NO to royal icing.

Cakes, cakes, cakes

I have made a number of cakes since I last wrote on the blog. Here is a selection. The Dog House cake was for a local Dog Creche celebrating its first birthday - this cake made it into the Shropshire Star, our local daily newspaper.

I'm quite pleased with the christening cake, I was asked to copy a photo which is difficult as you can't style the cake how you want, AND you can't easily cover up any mistakes.

The Christmas cake is from my college course - very fiddly and difficult - I find sugar flowers very very difficult to do, but practise makes perfect, so I will keep on trying. The cupcakes are mini Christmas cakes I made to celebrate 10 years of BEST (The Breast Feeding Support Volunteers I do Jungleland with) They won the competition for best table decoration!

I have made some others, but don't have the time or patience to put them up! Hopefully this gives you a good idea of what I've been up to.

Ill again!!!

It feels like an age since I last wrote a blog post - don't really know where to begin, I had all these ideas of reporting developmental progress etc, but it looks like Tom is ill again, so that is what is uppermost in my mind!

He was ok today, spent the morning playing with megablocks, building towers (photo is mostly his work, with a little stabilising intervention by me). Jude came round at 11, Tom was mostly grumpy, but I think that was our fault, he hadn't left the house and he doesn't like staying in. With hindsight, we should have gone to Quackers this morning and told Jude to meet us there. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it.

Once Jude had gone, we went to the Golf Club for lunch where he was as good as gold, ate all his lunch, played nicely, didn't grump and even held his Daddy's hand walking back to the car (he's point blank refused to walk on the snow this week)

Got home, Tom went down for his nap whilst we continued catching up on ourselves on the computer (I was quite busy this week with cakes - which means lots of photos to process and uploading to do to flickr, facebook and my website). He didn't sleep for long, and when I got him up, he had bright red cheeks. He was happy enough though, and had a good long play session with his train set - the best to date, he was concentrating really hard (???!!!!), was pushing the trains up the bridge, down the bridge, then around the track, making his own little noises, putting carriages on etc, basically amusing himself which was lovely to see.

He went from that to grizzle, then all he wanted to do was cuddle up to me (a sure sign he is ill). We got him dinner ready, but he wouldn't eat it and had to resort to Ella puree, he wouldn't even eat his banana or drink his milk.

At 5.30 we gave up, gave him some medicine and put him to bed. I've checked in on him and he is fast asleep, lets hope the sleep sorts it out and it isn't another ear infection.

Almost over

So, our week in Ingleton is almost up. We've had had a really nice time, but have only found one house that's both big enough and within our budget, which is slightly disappointing. We were due to look round it again tomorrow, but we've just found out that the owners have suddenly gone away and won't be back until tomorrow evening. For some reason, the estate agents don't have a key, so that's that. We're both annoyed by this. Don't they want to sell their house?

Anyway, we had another beautiful day today (so much for seeing the dales at their worst), so we paid a very quick visit to Ingleton's weekly market (about 3 stalls) and then set off up Ingleborough for a walk. We weren't planning to go all the way to the top, but walked about 1.5 miles uphill to a spot called Crina Bottom, admired the wonderful view and then came down again. We headed to our nearest pub for lunch, where we both had lamb hotpot. It was delicious, but Tom spotted immediately that it contained meat, and therefore refused to even consider putting anywhere near his mouth. He did eat a few lumps of gravy-covered potato and a couple of sandwiches, but still not great.

He's currently down for his afternoon nap, and we're planning to drive the few miles to Ribblehead once he's up. There's a nice pub there where we quite fancy afternoon tea. Plus, the viaduct-dominated scenery's tremendous round there. Last chance for some good photos.

Again, what a difference a few hours makes. We've decided to raise our budget from £250k to £300k, as we discovered a few very nice-looking and spacious properties in Ingleton for about that much. We've arranged 1 viewing tomorrow morning, and maybe 2 more. It means we'll probably need a mortgage for the move, but if that means we get a house that we really like, so be it.

We did have a brief trip up to Ribblehead, where I managed to get a few shots of the viaduct looking mighty impressive in some very dramatic light. We also managed to arrive just as a train was passing over. Thence back to Ingleton, where we tried out the pub that offers the mammoth mixed grill. A nice place with friendly locals, but a very poor whisky selection.

Tom is now having his tea. Again, no meat, but he's eaten a huge amount of veg, so he'll probably get his treat (date slice & yoghurt).

Right, cheerio. Time for Chuggington.



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To the hills...

A lovely day dawned and Tom & I seem to be on the mend from our coughs, so we decided to get out for some fresh air. We drove the 4 miles or so to Clapham, left the car and headed for the path up to Ingleborough Cave. Which was closed for pheasant shooting. Ho hum. Fortunately, I'd had the presence of mind to download the OS Explorer maps for this area onto my iPhone, so we managed to find an alternative route. We let Tom walk the bit around Clapham but, being Tom, he got distracted by anything and everything around him, mainly a cat that followed us up the road. The cat seemed to be called "Daddy", but then again, so is almost everything these days; cars, trees, toast...

The walk was lovely, and once the path levelled out alongside the river, we got His Nibs out of the rucksack for a walk. Total refusal. He remained rooted to the spot and screamed his lungs out. Even raisins wouldn't placate him. We're starting to wonder whether he's outgrown his current shoes and walking hurts his feet, so we'll be putting him in his wellies next time. So, back into the lad lugger for the trip back down from the cave to Clapham, but he still seemed very dissatisfied with things. We thought he'd just got a cob on, until we realised after about 15 minutes that we'd put him back into the rucksack wrong and he was effectively in a half-nelson. Partly his fault if truth be told. He makes it as awkward as he can.

Anyway, we got back to the car without further drama, drove "home" and then wandered into Ingleton for a spot of lunch. Settled on a tea room, which turned out to be not a patch on the one we've already become quite fond of. To make matters worse, Tom refused his sandwiches and then got proper stroppy when we didn't give him any of our lunch. We seem to be going through a difficult eating period just now, and we're hoping that being a bit strict with him now will pay off in the long run. Any thoughts folks?



We're now back in the cottage, while Tom has his afternoon nap and, I hope, thinks about his actions. Ha ha. Nik has discovered that a pub just outside the village stocks 300+ malt whiskies, so a trip is more than likely on the cards.

Well, what a difference a few hours makes. It's now 5.30, and we've just watched Tom eat half a large Christmas sausage, several chunks of sweet potato & carrot, a handful of blueberries and, as a reward, a piece of date slice. This was a great relief to Nik & me, as we did wonder whether this evening would be a battle too. I hope this isn't just a one-off. We made sure that Tom realised we were very pleased with him, so perhaps this will sink in via a sort of osmosis in the end.
Anyway, the day has ended on a far better note than we feared it might. Now looking forward to bath time and more lovely-looking stuff from the award-winning Pearsons of Ingleton (butchers) for our dinner. Snow forecast for tomorrow, so I wonder what we'll all get up to.

One slightly worrying note though: Nik seems to be developing a taste for fine malt whisky.


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Enjoying the Dales

No further news on the house-hunting front, but we're off to see Saturday's promising house again this coming Saturday - it's the only possible one so far. There are a few other very nice looking houses up for sale in the village, but the cheapest is £345,000 - somewhat more than our budget.

Tom and I have been slightly under the weather with coughs, so we haven't done much outdoor stuff yet, but we're both on the mend, so a walk is planned for tomorrow, possibly Clapham up to Ingleborough Cave.

Today we went into Settle for the weekly market. A very nice town is Settle - almost no chain stores on the high street, only handsome little independent shops & cafés.

We stopped in one of these cafés for elevenses and then headed off for a drive through Horton and Ribblehead to Dent, mainly in search of the treacle tart at The Sun Inn, which we enjoyed several times last year. It wasn't on the menu board when we arrived, but they managed to find a couple of pieces lurking in the kitchen, so it was a successful trip. We then drove back to Ingleton along an incredibly narrow, twisty road that required Nik to get out and open & close gates about 5 times. Gorgeous drive though.

Tom had his afternoon "nap", after which we marched him down to to Ingleton Playground in near-darkness. Didn't stop him having a good time, although he did insist on stopping for a swift half on the way home (see photo).



As I write this, we're having the daily battle between Tom and his dinner. He seems to refuse any type of protein, preferring to exist on a diet of carbohydrate and fruit. Things like treacle tart seem acceptable too. Hmmm.


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The hunt is on

We're now in Ingleton, having just started our week of house-hunting. The trip up yesterday was a bit slow (M6 especially), but we made up for that by having lunch in Booth's in Garstang - probably the nicest supermarket we've ever been to. I think we may well stop there on the way back too.

We actually had a viewing yesterday afternoon, and very encouraging it was too. A large 4 bedroomed house with a huge utility, an office, a big enough garden and an integral garage. And within our price range. That's set us off in the right mood. We also spent an hour strolling round the village, and it was heartening to see our nearest pub quite full and lots of walkers around on a cold damp November evening. I reckon a lot of villages of this size would be deserted now.

We're staying in a grade 2 listed ex-magistrates court, which is very comfortable and convenient. Tom settled in straightaway - always a good sign. He also slept right through the night, which was surprising given that he's picked up a nasty cough that seems to get worse whenever we're outside. We need to get him better before we think about lugging him up Ingleborough.

After a good breakfast, we went for a longer stroll round the village to see what houses are up for sale. We were even shown round two new homes still being built; one had a good size garden but was too small, the other was big enough but had a tidy garden.

We stopped at Dalesware, a huge outdoor store on the main road, which Tom charged round like an utter looney for a good 20 minutes, giggling constantly and charming all the staff. He's certainly not letting his cough get him down. We then passed a pub with a menu board outside (see photo) that horrified Wilby & Bertha, until we explained that mammoths weren't actually on the menu.


We then had a very pleasant lunch in one of the many tea rooms in the village, during which we got lots of info on the village schools, activities etc from the ladies inside. All very useful.

So, a very good first day all in all.


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Location:Ingleton

Grotty Ears

We've had a manic week and I'm still catching up with myself which is why there hasn't been a blog entry for a while.

Main news for the week is that Tom has been ill. He wasn't himself on Monday, we were babysitting Hannah and Becca from school, Tom didn't really want to play with them and snuggled into me and fell asleep - not usual behaviour, he normally follows the girls and tries to join in with them.

Got a call from nursery on Tuesday saying that his temperature was 40.7, which is way too high. They didn't discover this until almost home time as they said that he was playing as normal, it was only when he refused to eat his lunch that they thought that he might be ill and discovered his temperature, and gave him a quick dose of Calpol to try to get it down.

I arrived to a naked Tom. Poor thing. Took him home to bed and booked an appointment at the doctors. His temperature was 39.2, so still not great. The nurse called a doctor in for a check over to discover the source of his fever, it was his ears again - both of them were red, inflamed and 'grotty'. Looks like his weak area is going to be his ears. They sent us home with some more banana flavoured penicillin - which he loves.

To our astonishment Tom slept through the night, even though he was a poor old soul when we put him to bed, he was very miserable and had red eyes. He seemed ok when we got him up, but for no reason after half an hour he started to cry again, so we decided to keep him away from nursery. This meant that I got behind with my cakes, but Tom's comfort had to come first. I can't actually remember what we did on Wednesday, but I do know that he wouldn't eat and was miserable when we put him to bed.

Thursday he looked a bit better. I took him to Jungleland, but he didn't really want to play and was happy hanging around me and the babies rather than wanting to play, which was fine. He did manage to eat some chips (not nutritionally sound I know, but something is better than nothing). Came home and put him to bed. He didn't look good when he woke up - back to red eyes and grizzles. We were babysitting for the Gouges in the afternoon, Matt looked after him whilst I went to pick them up from school and then I picked him up and went to their house (easier to babysit them in their house as they have their toys there and Matt is left in peace). I explained to the girls that Tom was ill and they were as good as gold with him, trying to find things to make him feel better.

Thursday evening, Lindsey arrived. Tom perked up as soon as he saw her which was fab, although he still didn't eat much dinner. He managed to stay up until 6pm (longer than he had done) and once again slept through the night. We had a lovely evening with Lindsey - chatting away catching up.

Friday we spent the day with Lindsey - she bought Tom his first ever train set - see pic. It's fantastic, even if it took both Lindsey and me the best part of an hour to put it together! Tom was very pleased with it, with Matt even more so! We went to The Shropshire for lunch - got fantastic service as usual, think we were there for 2.5 hours. It was so good to see her - talked about everything (just as we did when we were lodgers at Vera's) - she's one of those people you can talk too without being judged, fantastic - just hope I didn't bore her - we really shouldn't leave it 2 years before we meet up again! Tom seemed much better and even managed to show her some of his usual cheeky self.

Saturday, Matt was away in Milton Keynes for the ITI AGM, so it was just me and Tom. He wasn't very happy - not sure if he was feeling ill or missing his Dad or both? Took him to the main Telford library to pick up some more books, but he kept falling over (his ears, making him loose his balance?) He wasn't at all happy, so we cut our journey short and came home early. After his nap, Tom was grizzly - he was ok when hugged, then he would get down, do something, burst into tears meaning I had to pick him up for hugs. This went on and on. I was quite relieved when it came to bath time.

Sunday, he was happier. He spent the morning with his Dad whilst I caught up on cake work, then we went back to The Shropshire for lunch, where he actually ate his sandwiches (first time this week). I then did a much needed admin catch up during his afternoon nap. Tom was initially grumpy when he woke up, but after a dose of Calprofen (he felt hot so I think his temperature had come back) he perked up and played quite nicely. He even managed to eat a decent(ish) dinner before bed and bath.

Here's hoping he continues to get better, although to be honest, he has been very good. You can see he's not well, but he does his best to be happy AND he has slept through every night, can't really complain - it could have been much worse. I've got a busy week next week with two big cakes going out and then we are off to Yorkshire on Saturday for a week in Ingleton.

Oh, almost forgot to report that amongst all this Matt has managed to contract a cold, so both boys are ill!

Boys' day out

Today was a rare day for Tom. No Mummy! Nik was off at the NEC all day for Cake International, so Tom and I were left up to our devices. I tried to think up some manly pursuits for us to do, but as it was Saturday, most of the morning was taken up with Water Babies. This didn't go well today, as Tom was pole-axed by a delinquent older child charging down the corridor like an idiot as we walked to the pool. The kid's Dad didn't even apologise. Probably as a result, the lesson didn't go well; lots of crying and very little joining in with the activities. He perked up afterwards though, especially after a drink and a handful of dried fruit.

As it was a lovely sunny day, we decided to make yet another trip to Attingham Park for a walk and a play in the playground. Tom was fast asleep in the car within a minute of leaving the pool, probably due to the late night he had last night (see below), and I actually had to wake him up when we arrived at Attingham. He seemed a bit out of sorts

(quiet & tired), and wouldn't walk to the playground. Once there, though, all systems go, and he headed straight for the baby swings (always his favourite) and spent a few minutes there. Once I pried him away from there, he actually headed to one the slides and had about 6 goes without any prompting - rare these days, as he's been of them for a while. I then decided that we should have a go together on the bigger swings, which he loved - he sat on my knee and giggled like a loon as we went back and forth. I got cramp in my legs in the end, and got us down. Tom was not impressed at all - walked straight back to the swing and shouted "Dada! Dada!" at the top of his voice while slapping the swing. I think that's the closest we've yet come to a real word. There was certainly no doubt as to what he meant.

We then headed to the cafe, where Tom ate all of his lunch (4 sandwiches) followed by half of my fidget pastie and almost all of my carrot cake, much to the amusement of all the tables roundabout. I couldn't believe how much he ate, or how little I did. Perhaps he's looking after my waistline, bless him.

We then did a mile-long walk through the woods, of which he walked about 50 yards. I didn't take the rucksack with me today, so I ended up lugging him round most of it. Hmmm.

He nodded off in the car on the way home, and he was so deeply asleep that not even opening the car door, unbelting him, taking his shoes off, getting him upstairs and putting him in his cot woke him up. He had about 2 hours in the end. He had a surprisingly good tea given his mammoth lunch, and we then drove down to the station to pick Mummy up from the train. Then bath-bottle-bed as usual.

As alluded to above, Tom had a night out yesterday. We were invited to a bonfire night do in Newport by Lou & Andy, NCT friends. It ended up being a bit of an NCT get-together, as there were 4 of the 7 babies there. The weather wasn't great, but it was a nice do and all the kids enjoyed the fireworks - no tears fro any of them. Tom then ate 5 (five!) cocktail sausages back at Lou & Andy's, and would have had more if we hadn't called a halt there. Little bugger, he won't touch meat at home. Anyway, it was after 9 o'clock when he got to bed, but he stayed cheerful all evening. He's definitely more resilient these days. He wouldn't have managed that even a few weeks ago. The lad's growing up!

A fantastic day with my Guardian Daddy

Another week has gone in a flash and Spain now feels like it was an age ago. However, Tom has been a delight - well behaved, fun, walking without protest and eating well (on some days anyway).

We went to Hoo Farm twice this week (open all week as it is half term) ,he walked most of the way round, no sit down protests, no eating stones - we may have turned a corner.

He had a good time at nursery, he's back in his old room again and happy about it. Chris (his Key Worker) started getting all reflective on me. Tom was his first charge so quite attached to him - he was saying that Tom will be gone before he knows it - apparently they go up to the next room a month before their 2nd birthday, so he only has 2 months left. How did that happen, suddenly he has gone from one of the youngest to one of the oldest. I will be really sorry for him to leave his room - all the staff are brilliant - very happy and chatty and Chris makes me laugh so much (although I'm not sure he knows it!).

I only had one cake to do this week - but it was lots of fun, a Halloween Cake for a boyfriend who has his birthday on Halloween. Really enjoyed making the various decorations, the bats on springs were quite challenging, but got there in the end and the client seemed happy.

Spent most of Thursday baby sitting - looked after Hannah and Becca at 53 for the morning, had the afternoon 'off' and then baby sat for Oliver for the night for Rachel and Errol (had a very useful evening, deleting over 1GB of redundant and duplicate files from the computer)

Saturday Tom and I were on our own for most of the day (hence the second visit to Hoo Farm), but today we drove to Gloucester to meet with Martin. Vanessa and the kids are already in Oz, Martin is flying out at the beginning of December so we demanded we saw him before he left. We had a lovely time, luckily Mum and Dad had visited earlier this year and said that the dock area was worth a visit, so we hunted it out. Found a good outlet centre (I bought some new cutters for my cakes - you can never have enough), had lunch at Pizza Express (Tom behaved impeccably and seemed to take a shine to everything Matt ordered including the chicken on his pizza - he refuses to eat meat at home, so Matt ended up with a vegetarian pizza!) We then walked round the dock area and visited the cathedral (very nice - very big, lovely cloisters and lots of strange sculptures). Had a really good day, we are very sad to say goodbye to Martin, but looking forward to seeing him next in Oz. If you are reading this Martin - keep in touch - we will be expecting lots of skype calls and Facebook updates.

As you can see, Tom enjoyed spending the day with his Guardian parent. We think he is lucky to have such a wonderful person to visit in Australia.

A busy weekend

After getting back from Spain very late on Thursday night (actually Friday morning to be accurate), we had a busy weekend as it was Sammie's wedding on Saturday, which was held in a village near Boston in Lincolnshire. So it was a case of dump everything, change bags and shoot out the door again.

Anyway, the wedding went well, Tom behaved impeccably and the cake made it more or less in one piece - the middle tier was cracked, but I took a comprehensive cake repair kit with me, and by the time I finished, you could hardly see it was there, so I think I got away with it. Lots of lessons to learn for next time.

We stopped off at Belton Park on the way home (where Pride and Prejudice was filmed), where there was an adventure playground and maze. The playground was ok, but the maze was the best thing ever - he ran and giggled his way round like a complete loony.

Got home ok, in fact the journey there and back was remarkably good.

Today we were back to normal, so it was Messy Mondays this morning - AT LAST I got him to do some painting, so we have a orange splattered cardboard plate with some black triangles on it hanging proudly on a kitchen cupboard (it is supposed to be a Halloween pumpkin). This afternoon we went to Hoo Farm - it was a glorious afternoon, blue skies, but freezing cold, so I took the opportunity to dress him up in the winter suit we bought for £2 in Japan. Doesn't he look cute.

That's about it, as we are back to normal we are back to playing with food, I give him things which he initially refuses, so he goes to bed hungry, I give it to him again the following day etc etc, until hunger takes over, he tries it and realises he does actually like it. It worked with sandwiches, so lets hope it works with other things. This week I am going to try to get him to eat egg mayonnaise sandwiches, I'll report back if I win...

A fantastic holiday

Think we are 2 weeks behind now, so this is a quick resume. Granma and Pop Pop came up 2 Sunday's ago for a couple of days and had a good time with Tom, he didn't tire them out as much as normal as he went to nursery as usual, giving them a break from entertaining. Anyway everyone had a good time and Tom was able to point to Granma and Pop Pop individually on request - so he definitely knows who they are which is fab.

Thursday saw us off to San Jose for what has become our regular October holiday - maybe our last as Debi is selling it now she's had the twins (boo hoo!). We had a fantastic time, Tom was on good form, and unlike last year, he slept! In fact he slept more in two nights this holiday than he did during the whole holiday last year. We kept him on English time, whilst we moved to Spanish time, meaning he was up later (a good thing as everything closes down between 2 and 5 for siesta), but better than that, it meant he didn't get up until 8 / 8.30am, meaning we had a lie in every morning - pure bliss!

He liked the sun as before, and was a lot more fun to play with than last year. He spent 3 days on the beach, took a while to get him warmed up, but he enjoyed playing in the sand, filling his bucket with sand, throwing it around and eating it (of course). It was a little harder to get him into the sea, he was ok if we were holding him and his feet were dangling in it, but he didn't like standing up in it, even if he was holding onto both of us. He did, however, like drinking it - kept dangling his hand in the waves and then sucking it - yuck!

He reconquered the Alcazaba in Almeria, was fascinated by the horses and cowboys at Mini Hollywood, and was very good during a walk we did up some mountains behind San Jose.

He absolutely loved the apartment, running round and round, and playing with all Charlie's toys. It was very novel for him to have a whole house on one floor and he took full advantage of it.

Of course he also had the full attention of his father, which went down really well, the played and played and played all holiday together, was really nice for me to take a back seat and watch them both having so much fun with each other.

Oh yes, the word of the holiday was 'Daddy-ya', not sure what it means yet, maybe it will morph into something understandable soon.

Anyway, we all relaxed, slowed down and enjoyed life for the week. It will be a real shame if we don't go back.

A good weekend

Whoops, got behind again!

We had a nice weekend. Saturday morning Tom had his swimming lesson, then we drove to Shrewsbury to do a spot of shopping, Lakeland had a 3 for 2 offer with their bakeware tins including large ones (10 inch and 12 inch) so I took advantage of it. We went for lunch in a pub where Tom was extremely well behaved, eating all his lunch and some of ours as well. We then decided to pop into our favourite furniture shop for a little look around and to see if they had anything we could use as a cake cupboard. £400 later we left the shop! It's arriving today - can't wait, at the moment I have to keep moving the cakes around the house depending on where Jodie or Tom are so they can't destroy them. This will make it a lot easier.

I spent the evening out with the girls from BEST in a bowling alley - Sammie's sort of hen night. Was really nice, first time we've met and been without children, meaning that we could have a conversation without looking out for babies, being interrupted etc. Think we must have had the longest game ever, took us 4 hours to play 3 games with only 4 on each team, ended up having to eat there as all the nearby restaurants had closed by the time we finished. Only just got home before midnight.

Sunday we headed in to Telford for a quick spot of shopping, then Greg's to pick up some lunch and then to the Maxell Gardens for a picnic, they are really pretty at the moment as all the trees are turning red. Tom was on good form and had a good kick around.

Mum and Dad arrived when Tom was still asleep, so he was all shy when he saw them, didn't take long for him to warm up and within half an hour he was gadding around the garden with them, he didn't stop running here and there and generally having a really good time.

Monday Mum and Dad took Tom out to Attingham Park for the day where he wore them out and behaved very well. I used the time to put together my first ever wedding cake - very scary, hope she likes it. Tom came home zonked. He had a snooze and then we had a play whilst Mum and Dad recovered. Matt and I went out for dinner - nice pub in Newport that is under new management and has been completely refitted out. Then home and bed. Tom must have been very worn out, I had to wake him at 7.45 this morning so I could take him to nursery!

Tom is a tyke!

Tom slept through on Sunday night (maybe he really didn't need his dinner). Since then he has eaten very well, so maybe I wasn't being overly mean.

The weather this week has been glorious, so we have taken full advantage of it and spent as much time outside as possible. Tom has enjoyed exploring the autumn landscape, picking up leaves and giving them to me.

On Wednesday I went to collect Tom from nursery and Chris gave me the finger painting you can see opposite. I told him about how I can't get Tom to do anything messy, he was really surprised. Apparently his portfolio is full of paintings that Tom has done for him. He went on to tell me how much he loves playing with anything mucky - play doh, gloop, glue etc, he will go over and play with it even if it's not his planned activity. The little tyke! How come he will do it for Chris and not me?! I get tears if I try to do anything like that, I will keep trying.

Wednesday evening I got the news that Michelle's Mum had died (Seren's Grandmother). I got quite teary, made me think - Seren won't remember her which will be really hard for Michelle. Michelle is an only child and not yet 30, so it must be hitting her really hard. So sad, she wasn't old, just unlucky - she had cancer a couple of years ago, I'm guessing it came back. I have offered my help to Michelle, but she is the type of person to not take it.

I haven't done any cakes recently, I haven't taken on any orders in the attempt to get Sammie's wedding cake done. All the tiers are now marzipanned and iced, figures more or less completed - just need to do the eyes, and put the military decorations on Will. Spent all this week making roses for it, next challenge is to put it all together - am a bit scared, but I will need to do it soon, Mum and Dad are coming up on Sunday and their room is currently full of iced cakes.

Muddy puddles

A nice weekend. Saturday was gorgeous weather wise, Matt was still feeling yuck so Tom and I went swimming on our own. He was really good again, only crying when he startled himself, trying to throw a ball into the ball (instead of throwing a ball he threw himself, but only halfway - I caught him, but he got a little upset. Didn't last long)

As it was such a lovely day, when we got home, I ordered Matt outside, so we went to Norbury Junction - where there is a canal and path to walk along. I carried Tom as he was sleepy and not wanting to walk and Matt was having trouble walking himself. Went to the tea room for lunch, sandwiches and a bowl of chips. Tom ate chips and refused anything else. Typical!!!! Other than that he was well behaved. The tea room didn't have any high chairs, I thought I would give Tom the benefit of the doubt and try him in an adult chair to see if he would sit still and not try to climb out. He did us proud, he still wriggled, twisted round to watch the narrow boats pass by (who can blame him), but apart from that was very well behaved. I guess he is growing up...

After lunch we went over to feed the ducks (for the first time ever, I had remembered to bring some old bread out with us) The ducks were excited and came up to see us. Matt and I showed Tom what to do: tear the bread, throw to the ducks. I gave Tom some bread, it went straight into his mouth! We tried again and again, but he decided that the ducks would go hungry as he stuffed the bread into his mouth. Apparently then stale bread is better than sandwiches made with fresh bread and fillings!

There were a lot of muddy puddles on the path by the ducks which Tom decided to explore. Which was fun, until he went SPLAT, face first into a puddle! He got soaked, poor thing. Luckily I had something on me he could change into so he wasn't wet for long. We then went to speak to a lady running a cheese shop on her narrow boat (what a great way to spend your days). She had lots of samples for us to try - this cheered Tom up no end, he ate the lot, and we ended up spending £10 on cheese, including one very fiery Red Leicester.

We returned home after that, Tom had his sleep and I finished off Paul's cake just in time for his birthday party which we went to once Tom was up. We all had a good time, especially Tom who
got to eat lots of very naughty food: basically sugar, salt and fat, not a piece of vegetable or fruit passed his lips naughty boy - just goes to show if you allow them choice, they do go for the bad things.

Came home just before 7, for a quick bath and bed. I was absolutely exhausted as was Matt so we both collapsed on the sofa until 9.30 when we gave up and went to bed.

We ALL had a fab night's sleep. The radio woke me up at 7, took me a while to come too, around 7.30 I went in to get Tom - he was still asleep (the effect of two late nights), he stayed asleep until 7.50 - a record. Today was very very miserable, it rained for most of the day. We escaped the house to visit Focus for some bits for the house and Waitrose for some luxury food items and lunch. Then home, sleep for Tom, catch up on various things for me. Jude and Richard then came round for tea and delivered some goodies from Pat and Bob who had just returned from the USA - yummy jamabalaya mix for us and some T-shirts and a book for Tom - many thanks. Tom then refused his dinner (risotto), so he didn't get any pudding and is going to bed hungry (am I being overly mean?)

That's it for this weekend - except to say that Tom is now saying yes (he's been saying yeah for a while, but this weekend the s has crept in). He also now shakes his head in order to say no (ie no vegetables, no risotto etc etc)

Curry disaster

I was looking forward to today. We had arranged to meet up with one of Tom's little friends and her Mum and Dad for curry at the East End Balti. We had told them about our success when we took Tom a couple of weeks ago, Pat, Daisy's Dad loves curry so we arranged it.

Unfortunately Matt is still quite under the weather, with little appetite so he decided to stay at home (it must be serious!) we went along, and I now wish we had cancelled on account of Matt (problem is that Pat is seldom at home through work). I think I walked into a family row. Olivia (Daisy's half sister who is about 10/11) had bright red eyes and had obviously been crying. Pat was miserable, leaving Jane to try to make conversation. Then Daisy decided to kick off and started to scream - huge loud, ear piercing screams. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife. I tried to make conversation, but just got monosyllabic answers. Pat walked out with Daisy and then sent Olivia in to hasten Jane up. I was left on my own with Tom - it was a complete nightmare. One of the worse meals out I have ever had.

On the plus side, Tom was an absolute angel - ate loads of poppadom and then loads of rice and curry sauce - didn't murmur a word. Came home needing a stiff drink! Remind me not to do that again!

We are seeing them tomorrow as Tom and Daisy go swimming together, I wonder how it will go...

Cake World

Hi there, I said that I would put a pic of one of last week's cake up on the blog, so here it is. It was one that Jude ordered for a friend. The brief was to produce a cake for a lady who loves travelling, is a drama teacher and loves her two tabby cats. Luckily Jude gave me loads of notice so I was able to have lots of sleeps to mull it over and this is what I came up with. These cakes are always easier to do when I have lots of time to think about them.

The other cake I did was a last minute hockey cake, it was ok, but not my best, but then I only had a couple of days to think about and make it. Unfortunately the norm seems to be for people to leave their cake orders to the last minute!

I have decided not to take any more orders until the last week of October. I have my first wedding cake which needs to be finished in 2 weeks time. I want to do a good job, so will spend the next two weeks concentrating on it. I have made the cakes and marzipanned them, just need to ice them and decorate them. Fingers crossed.

Not much to report from this week, a run of the mill week, nothing extraordinary other than Matt has a stinking cold and Tom a little cough. However, it is only two weeks until we go to Spain - can't wait. Oh and Debi, my ex boss gave birth to identical twin boys at 30 weeks, so very small, and one with lots of tubes.

A good weekend

Once again, I have lapsed with the blog, but really don't have that much to report and I was busy with cakes - had three on the go, plus my sugarcraft lessons resumed this week, meaning I lost a night, AND we had a long weekend, so everything had to be done by Thursday. Anyway, I got there, was very proud of one cake, I will put up some pics, once Matt is able to process them.

Not much to report from the rest of the week - did the usual things, nothing remarkable happened. Tom is now able to twirl around whilst dancing which is quite cute. He had a difficult week eating - refused pretty much everything I gave him. I was strict this week, not giving in to him and letting him go hungry.

As I said, we had a long weekend this week. Lisa and Cameron invited us to a weekend away with some of their friends. Something they've been doing for a number of years. Some friends pulled out, so they asked if we could fill their places. There were 25 including lots of children. I'm not one for meeting lots of unfamiliar people in one go, but with Tom around, I am much better - he is such a great ice breaker. Everyone turned out to be nice, all easy to talk to - a real mix of ages and personalities, but it worked really well and it didn't take long until we felt comfortable around everyone. I did feel as if we didn't pull our weight enough helping with cooking, tidying, cleaning etc - it is quite hard to fit into a routine that others already know, hope they didn't feel as if we were lazy and took advantage of everyone else.

One couple made a huge curry for the Friday night and we had a bbq on the Saturday night. Lots of people brought desserts some of which were awesome, especially an orange cheesecake which Daniel (age 10) had made. All of us are now demanding recipes.

Tom charmed everyone and made himself at home. We were staying in a farm in the middle of nowhere in Mid Wales (near a hamlet called Pandy) - a beautiful location, we had sunshine the whole time which was fantastic. The house had a swimming pool, sauna and squash court, as well as a huge garden, stream and access to lots of good walks. We took advantage of everything. We all went swimming twice (water was almost as warm as at the HLC which was good.) Tom decided that he was now happy to do the 'Holiday Swim' when he clings on to my back, as I do breast stroke, which was fab, so we went up and down the pool many many times (very good exercise for me!)

We went for a short walk behind the house - looking for badger holes, frogs and other wildlife. Unfortunately, Tom got tired, so whilst the girls were making a den, we headed back to the house and Tom had his nap, whilst Matt and I played squash - we were remarkably good considering both of us are rusty. I almost took a game off Matt which made me very happy.

Anyway it was a good weekend, just the tonic I needed - I was a little down last weekend, I think through boredom. Unfortunately we didn't sleep that well (when I say we, I mean Matt and I, Tom was absolutely fine) so we are shattered, looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight.

Oh, for the first time ever, Tom ate substantial pieces of meat - he chomped his way through the best part of a chicken drumstick on Saturday. We will see if he will do it again - I have a feeling he ate well this weekend as he was surrounded by other children eating the same as him.

Nothing to report

Not much to report from the weekend. Weather not that great, we were going to go to the National Sealife Centre in Birmingham, but then remembered that the Pope was in town, so probably not a good day to visit. Tom went swimming on Saturday morning, and we went to Attingham Park Food Fayre on Sunday but apart from that, not much to report.

Tom is being a little naughty with his food again - refusing pretty much anything unless it is drowned in Ella puree - need to put an end to the Ella thing soon, is a bad habit and costly!

He is also continuing to be a little naughty with his walking, sitting down and refusing to walk when he is perfectly capable. Oh hum, just little niggles to keep us on our toes.

Harry Potter's cake is mega

Not much to report today. I finished the Harry Potter cake I've been working on - it is huge, way bigger that I meant it to be. Oh hum, it is mega heavy as well, just hope the client has strong arms. The cake is supposed to feed 70, I think it might feed 140! Lesson learnt for next time to make smaller cakes. I guess it is better to over cater than to under cater. Here's a pic anyway.

Picked up Tom from nursery at 1. He had had a good day but was tired. The manager of the baby room said something nice: that she would love 15 Toms in her room, as he is a joy to be with. How nice.

After his nap, we went to Telford Town Park. We were going to go for a walk in the Japanese Gardens (they are looking really pretty at the moment as the trees are all turning red, brown and orange). Got there to find they had been locked. I asked why at the information point and was told that they were closed due to Health and Safety. When there is heavy rain, the decking gets slippy and it is too dangerous for the public. There wasn't any heavy rain - just a light shower. Phaaaaaaaa! Tom had extra time on the swings as a result, not a problem, but we both enjoy stomping around the gardens.

Stomping in puddles is fun

Not much to say this week. Tom and I went to Messy Mondays, unlike last week, it was packed. However, we bumped into a couple of people and babies that we haven't seen for ages which was good - everyone has grown so much.

We were at a loose end in the afternoon now Hoo Farm is closed. Ended up going to one of the retail parks witha mission to find Tom a waterproof suit he can wear when it is rainy and muddy. I had been told to try Tescos or Asda. Tried both of those and Matalan, but no luck.

Tuesday, Tom went to nursery whilst I set about putting the Harry Potter cake together. Oh my god, think I made the cakes too big, it is huge!!!!! Oh well, hopefully the client will be happy - will be getting more than they expected I think.

The afternoon saw us in Hoo Farm, well it would have done, except it is closed. It is now closed Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays - humpfh!!!! We ended up in Granville instead, and Tom discovered puddles. I got some footage on film.

Good, but tiring weekend

So we had a busy weekend, so much so that we were in bed at 9pm on Sunday evening, completely zonked out!

Saturday started with a swimming lesson for Tom, during which he was very well behaved again, and then off to Wellington to buy ribbons and have lunch (we both had sandwiches which were very average - note to selves - only eat chicken wings there, they are very good).

During Tom's nap we had a 'useful' session, getting those little irritating jobs done. Then we took Tom on a route march around Granville in an attempt to tire him out so that he would sleep through Rachel Z's babysitting stint. He didn't really enjoy himself, but did walk quite a distance.

7pm saw us all glammed up - me in my first long black dress (unfortunately you can't really see it in the photo - it looked better when I was standing up). Rose then took us to RAF Cosford for our Battle of Britain dinner. It was a good do. We felt very young for the night (a good thing these days), and managed to sit on a table with some nice people. Matt won a self help book for organisations?, I didn't win anything and we watched wealthy people bidding silly amounts of money for one off experience days. We had good nosh - most of my favourite food items were on the menu. At one stage we were singing "There'll be blue birds" and "Pack up your troubles" etc. I hit a wall at 11pm and couldn't stop yawning, but Matt managed to keep up the conversation until the taxi arrived to pick us up at midnight. A good evening. Thanks to Pat and Bob.

Sunday saw us in Malvern for "Vanfest" a birthday day out for me from Matt. It was a beautiful day, so the campervans were looking good. Had a good look around the stalls, bought a little fleece for Tom (he needs to grow a bit before he can wear it), had lunch, looked around the Show and Shine vans, where we both fell in love with various vans. We quickly looked around the vans for sale area, but managed to leave without buying one. (£20,000 + for a splitty, £15,000 + for a bay window, £7,000 + for a more modern one). We both have in our minds what we would like, just need to win the lottery now!

Came home, played with Tom, put him to bed, made our dinner, put ourselves to bed. We were shattered.