I enjoy swimming!!!!

So had a busy-ish weekend.  Saturday saw us visiting Carol in Wollerton.  We were supposed to have a BBQ with them, but she had forgot (I love Carol, she told us straight "to be honest I forgot you were coming" I so much prefer that to little white lies)  Anyway being as hospitable as always there were plenty of sandwiches to go round and as is the norm, everyone talked over everyone else in order to get in as much conversation as possible.  Victoria was there with Oliver (3 weeks older than Tom) and Joshua (born in May) I managed a cuddle.

It was obvious they were really busy - Carol has got 7 horses on site and has started up a Dog 'Home away from Home' business, so had 5 extra dogs as well, so we let them get on with it and came home a little earlier than expected.  Not a problem, there was plenty we needed to do at home - dismantling the house etc.  I then spent the evening baby sitting for Mae and Lucy and for the first time ever, when I arrived both girls were in bed and I didn't hear a peep from them - didn't know what to do with myself.

Sunday, we decided to take Tom swimming in the morning to tire him out for a afternoon nap so we could get more dismantling done.  Got to the pool, found it deeper than usual, told the staff who then asked us how deep it should be.  He then adjusted the depth with everyone still in the pool - very high tec.  As soon as the pool was at 0.8 meters and Tom could reach the floor he had confidence and decided that he was going to swim.

He swam for the whole session - whole widths at a time, he giggled when Matt poured a bucket of water over him????!!!!!, he really enjoyed himself.  We were gobsmacked, he generally grizzles and clings to me and it takes all manner of persuasion to get him to try to swim.  I don't know if it had something to do with his new shinkansen armbands that I purchased from Hong Kong ebay recently (his old ones had a puncture and I couldn't resist these ones)  Anyway, we had lots of fun, at one stage I was feeling almost redundant!  Another significant day in the life of Tom, we just have to hope that we manage to find another pool in our new area just as good where he can build upon this.

So today the removers came in, packaged everything up and packed up the van.  They didn't get quite as much done as they thought (shed and greenhouse are still full and there are still some boxes in the house), so are coming back at 7. 15 tomorrow morning to finish up.

The next blog post will be written from Cumbria - who would have thought that I would end up a Northern Lass (I bet you my accent doesn't change a bit, although I'm sure Tom's will!)

Thank you Telford, it's been fun.  Certainly have met lots of lovely people, all of whom I will miss.  Will have to throw myself into community life up there to find new friends - at least I have a ready made friend-maker in Tom.  I really hope our friends here come to visit us up North - it is scenic and a holiday destination after all.

It's really going to happen

Today we exchanged contracts, phew!!!!!!

Busy Weekend

Jen and a Balloon

Happy Jen

We had a busy weekend this weekend.  Saturday we went on the Midlands Translators Walk.  This took place from Caulke Abbey near Ashby de la Zouch.  Now Tom is at an awkward age for walking. He's able to walk a distance, but he needs to want to walk, and he doesn't go at adult pace.  He will either run the whole way or stop and start the whole way.  He won't really be carried either - mainly because he's heavy now.

Bouncy Castles are Fab

Hannah and Tom 

Matt really wanted Tom to come so he could show him off to the group.  Luckily I have a second cousin, Heather in Ashby that I haven't seen for 17 years, so we decided to go and for me and Tom to go and visit Heather whilst Matt did the walking.

Rachel, 'Juicy' Lucy and Me

First of all we went to Wolverhampton to pick up Roz and Alan and then headed to Ashby.  Today was the best day we've had in ages, when the sun was out it was hot - hurray.  We got to the abbey in good time and had a picnic outside which was lovely.  Matt and co then set off on the walk whilst Tom and I went to Ashby to see Heather.  We had a good afternoon, there were some stilted moments, but on the whole it was good and of course Tom stole the show.  Philip and his girlfriend Gemma arrived for about 15 minutes, wound Tom up big time and then left (apparently they are well known for doing that)  Anyway it was good to see them, Heather was looking very well and in good spirits and Ian enjoying his early retirement.

Rose, Abi and Martin

We headed back to Caulke Abbey and arrived back just as Matt and co arrived back.  We then took Roz and Alan home.  They invited us in for a BBQ, it was a lovely night so we said yes and had a great time playing in their garden.  Tom and Alan played really nicely together (Alan is 8 so quite an age difference).  We had such a good time that we didn't get home until 9pm - a very late night for Mr Tom!

Cheeky Monkey

Sophie

Sunday - the day of the party.  I stupidly decided to do the catering myself again - and rather than the usual sandwiches and processed party food decided to do something slightly different, so made 2 big lasagnas, over 150 mini pasties of various flavours and some quiches.  I do like to make life difficult for myself.  Anyway, I did it.  The food in our kitchen looked mega - thought I had over catered big time, but when we got to the venue it didn't look that much at all, and in fact I judged it just about right.

Olly dragging 4 others around the hall

Not sure how many people came, but at a guess about 60, was good to see everyone in one roof having a good time (even though we were all stuck inside and it was a gorgeous day outside).  Most people turned up and the bouncy castle kept the little ones entertained without much intervention from the adults - not too many tears or fights.  It almost felt like our wedding, so many people to get round and speak to and not enough time (especially when trying to man the bar and sort food out as well)  Luckily Jude and Craig came down to help - really don't know what we would have done without them - felt really bad as it was the first time we met Craig, and a) we took him away from the Tour de France b) put him in a room of screaming children who he didn't know and c) made him do all the washing up.  Sorry Craig, but THANK YOU so much, it would have been a disaster without them.

Tired after so much bouncing

I think everyone had fun, I do know that it was all over too quickly.  I will be very sorry to leave all my friends in Telford, I have met some really lovely people some of whom I have really connected with, they have made motherhood so much easier for me.  I really hope I keep in touch with them and they some to visit us up North.  I just hope I manage to make some new friends in Cumbria / Yorkshire who are as good.  (I feel some cake bribery coming on)

Came home and collapsed, not been sleeping very well recently due to hay fever.

TRAUMA
At 9.30 on Sunday evening, Tom started grizzling in bed, quite out of character for him.  He wasn't crying properly, just grizzling.  After a couple of minutes Matt decided to go up and check on him.  He found him sat on the floor (very strange, he never gets out of bed), Matt put the light on and had the shock of his life, Tom's face and arms were completely covered in blood.  Matt shouted immediately for me to come up, I ran up and couldn't believe what I saw.  Basically his face looked like a badly done Spiderman face painting.  His whole face was red, his arms were red and his hands were red.  It didn't take long to realise that it was a nose bleed.  We took him dripping blood into the bathroom and tried to stem the flow.  I phoned Shropdoc who were pretty much useless.  Anyhow, after a while it calmed down and we were able to clean him up a little.  We sat him down, Matt read him a story and we put him back to bed.  We didn't hear from him again.  It was very traumatic for Matt and I, less so (thankfully) for Tom.  We now tell him not to pick his nose in bed and have put his sponge wedge back in his bed as we aren't too sure if he picked his nose or fell out of bed onto his nose.  I'm just grateful he didn't see his face!

Old Bike new Bike

So we had a calm weekend this weekend, no running around, probably the last calm weekend for a while as next weekend we have a translators' walk to do on the Saturday and are having a goodbye party at a local village hall on Sunday and the following weekend is our last weekend (if the solicitors get their act together!)

Saturday was forecasted wet so we decided to do our favourite wet weather activity and get the train to the pub in Codsall.  As it wasn't raining in the morning we stopped off at Shifnal Park for some bike practise.  We took both bikes.  Tom did try to ride his new orange bike around the race track but it was too difficult although he gave it a good try.  He did zoom round on his red bike though and I mean zoom - he really is fast on it and completely fearless (something I don't say often about Tom!)

We then took him out on the orange bike around some streets - he did well.  I guess there is a lot to remember - keeping feet on pedals, keeping the momentum going, steering, braking with hands and not feet etc.  He's come a long way in a week.  Last Sunday we took him out and he was just pumping the pedals, now he pedals properly.  We have put the stabilisers on it though as he was having real difficulty with the mechanics of pedalling.  We are hoping they won't be on for long.

We then got the train to Codsall for a pub lunch, the sun was still out so we sat outside and watched the trains go by.  Then the train back to Shifnal and back home in the car where Tom fell asleep - fab, I transferred him to his bed and then lay on the sofa and 40 winks myself.

Sunday was supposed to be a bright day.  It didn't rain, but I wouldn't say it was bright or, for that matter, warm!  Anyway, we decided to take Tom's new bike to Attingham Park for more practice.  He did well, but seems to want to keep on stopping, which of course is not the best way to cycle.  We really need to find a nice flat paved area for him to practise on, but neither of us can think of any.  Anyhow, he has come in leaps and bounds in a week, so hopefully it won't take him long to 'get it'.  

Here's a video of Tom on his old bike doing the race track and on his new bike.  Enjoy.

I should know better...but it was fun!

The Girlies

Me and Sammie

Friday night Sammie arranged a girlie night out for me and the breast feeding girls.  Mongolian BBQ followed by karaoke in a pub.  I don't do karaoke, I can't sing and am easily embarrassed.  Sammie knew this.  Stupid of me really to tell her this - it meant that my wine glass was constantly topped up at the restaurant and then I have no idea what on earth I was given to drink at the pub - it all went down very easily and before I knew it I couldn't wait to get on the karaoke.  I feel so sorry for everyone in the pub, I was singing songs I didn't know - how bad is that?  So wrong notes, wrong tune, but right words I guess.  I think the DJ said something along the lines of "I've never heard it sung like that before" etc.  Don't worry I didn't do any solos, but I remember belting it out as loudly as I could and being sorry when a tune was over.  Get this, I didn't get home until 2.45am!

Me and Heena

Me and Basia

It really was a fab night out, I had such a good time, but boy did I suffer for it the next day - I haven't been hungover since way before I had Tom - it's not fun!  However, I think I did very well this weekend for someone who couldn't even face water on Saturday morning.  Matt was very tolerant of me as well, didn't moan once at me and didn't even tell me it was my own fault.  Mind you he's not at his best either with a snotty cold.

Me and Sarah

Sammie and Sarah

What do you expect - we are all breast feeding mummies!

As I said - we love our boobies!

I've seen the Queen!

Patriotic Tom 

Today The Queen visited Shropshire, for a special Jubilee pageant at RAF Cosford.  As we were in Japan for the Jubilee I thought we had better go to give Tom a chance to say he did something special for it.  Tickets were through a lottery and free of charge, we applied and won (I think everyone won though, didn't hear of anyone who didn't get any)

We waited until the morning to decide whether to go or not as the weather has been so so bad in recent days.  It dawned with blue sky and the forecast was favourable, so I made up a picnic and packed a bag full of wet weather clothes and sun hats etc - it was bursting at the seams.  Matt was going to come as well but he is full of cold so thought better of it.

Now I had looked on the website for the event - it was very very vague, said the pageant was at 1.40, doors opened at 8.00 and activities started at 9.00, but no mention of what the activities were.  I'm one of those people who hates going somewhere and not knowing what is going to happen.  It didn't get any better - we couldn't find anyone selling programmes when we got there and when we saw someone  with one, we asked to look in it to get an idea of what was happening.  Even in the programme there was no information - argghhhhh.  I ended up cornering some military personnel and asking them what was happening - they were as much in the dark as everyone else, but at least knew where the procession was going to take place - you would think that a basic need of people visiting would be to be able to tell them what was happening and where!  Oh hum rant over!

Bouncing down the bouncy slide

Waiting for The Queen

I guessed to leave home around 10.30 to give us time to get there (delays were expected) and have a picnic before the procession.  I was parked up by 10.50 - no traffic anywhere, I just sailed right on it, and no-one asked for a ticket at any point!  We walked down by some stalls and immediately bumped into someone I know from baby groups.  Carried on and found a bouncy castle area - £2.50 for unlimited play all day - bargain.  I was just sorting Tom out when I saw Rachel Z and Olly already in the bouncy castle area.  Olly and Tom were happy and went off playing immediately.  Great.  There were two bouncy castles - one a regular castle and the other a bouncy slide - Tom loved both even though both were busy and didn't get upset when bumped into or crowded - he really has grown up recently, that would have been his idea of hell 6 months ago and he would have been crying in my arms within minutes.

The Queen on a screen (the nearest we got)

The 'famous' Shropshire Mammoth

Rachel was meeting up with some of her friends, who generously allowed us to tag along.  We had a picnic and then wondered what on earth to do regarding seeing the procession.  In the end we decided it was better to make a base in front of the big screens rather than try to find a space by the fence - the bit by us was very crowded and we didn't know how long the route was or where would be good to see everything.  This also meant that the children would still be able to run around.  This worked but it did mean that we didn't see The Queen or the parade with our own eyes - just through the screens (we did manage to see her hat as she travelled in the car to the marquee though).  The parade was good, although I had no idea what some of the floats / costumes were of.  For example I found out that the first one was of Mt Everest (by watching the news when I got back) I thought it was of an iceberg on a bridge with pirates on it (as you can tell I really had no idea)  Anyway it was a good atmosphere, Tom had a great time and he can say he has seen The Queen - he saw her hat, "orange hat" and that's enough for me and him.

John Deere

Digger

Tom and Olly continued playing for the whole afternoon, they ran and ran and ran - it was after 4pm before we left.  He was asleep in seconds.  I woke him up for dinner, which he ate, then straight to bed - his eyes were horribly red (a mixture of tiredness and sun)  A good day.

Busy Weekend

The Wheelbarrow Train

Right another quickie as I have lots of phone calls to make.  This weekend was a busy one - catching up with old friends.

Saturday Tom and I met up with Helen and Finn for lunch and a play.  Both boys were superbly behaved and acted as if they had known each other all their lives.  It was wonderful to see and meant that Helen and I had quality time to catch up and gossip.  Unfortunately Tom had such a good time that he got really upset when I told him we were going home, which meant that I was unable to get a photo of the two together.

Sunday was spent in Cannock Chase - the morning on The Chase trying to teach Tom how to cycle (he has a new proper bike) but we didn't do very well (the ground was too lumpy).  The afternoon was spent with Rose, Martin and Abi (who was born on the same day as Tom) in their wonderful garden.  Had a really lovely afternoon in the sun (YES THE SUN)

This week I have my last cake order and then my next challenge is to organise a goodbye party - so no let up on being manic!

Weekend house hunting

Sorry I've got behind with this - been mega busy since arriving back from Japan as we found out on arrival back that we need to move out of the house by the end of July - otherwise the sale falls through.

So last weekend we went up to the Ingleton to look at houses to rent.  There were only 5 within a 10 mile radius of where we want to be, so we looked at all of them.  We ended up going for the first one we saw: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-34264054.html.  It is actually in Cumbria - a little hamlet of 3 or 4 houses on the A65, about 6 miles east from the M6, between Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale.  A converted workshop - it has 3 bedrooms, a sunroom (Matt's office) a fully enclosed garden and a huge open plan kitchen diner.  All the bedrooms are double rooms, and the 3rd one is away from the other bedrooms and has an ensuite - making it a perfect guest bedroom for all those who wish to visit us (hint hint).  There is a field with goats, chickens and sheep next door and a footpath behind us.  In short a good base to explore the area.

Ingleton, our preferred village has lost a couple of shops since we were last there which is a little worrying, however, the houses in Kirkby Lonsdale seem to have come down in price meaning we could look there if we wish.  Anyway, we have at least 6 months to explore the area properly and make sure our next decision is the right one.