Not the update you were expecting

For those of you that are waiting with baited breath this is  not the update you are waiting for.  It is still 5 days before Lucinda’s due date and if Éowyn is anything to go by then we will still be waiting in the second week of October for our new arrival.

The manic stage at work is slowly calming down and so I am able to spend more time at home.  This isn’t as relaxing as it sounds as we are frantically trying to make the house welcoming for a newborn, hence there will be a dearth of photos with this update but let’s face it, you have been spoilt lately.

Keen eyed among you will have noticed a slightly different look to the website, this is because I have moved it to a friend’s server to give me the ability to do a few more fancy things, should I need to.  It may mean that some of your old links will need to be changed as I will not be updating the original after this update.  I have tried to keep the look the same but there are some subtle differences and one big one.  The Flickr link will randomly show one photo every 7 seconds from the Éowyn set in my Flickr account.  OK, I can tell that I have lost my audience.

Éowyn is still showing signs of precociousness.  Her latest skills include reading.  I say ‘reading’, she recognises the dozen words that her nanny has written on flash cards.  These are:  Mum, Dad, Nanny, Granddad, Éowyn, Cat, Dog, Leg, Cake, Cup, Eye and Hat.   Whether the recognition of words is the same as reading is debatable but we do get her to spell them out at the same time.  I took her to feed the ducks this morning (Ducks! Bread!) and pointed out the difference between mommy ducks and daddy ducks and then she referred to them all, correctly, by gender, a keen ornithologist if ever I saw one.  She has also acquired (borrowed) a pair of binoculars (from her childminder) and sat on the sofa watching the telly through them (the wrong way round!).  Another of her favourite skills at the moment is shouting ‘Stop’ when you are approaching a red traffic light, and ‘Go’ when they turn to green.  Talk about having a backseat driver!  My favourite though, is that she has begun to say, “Boing, Boing! Baggies, Baggies!”  I have undone all that hard work!

Congratulations to Neil and Emma on their marriage on the 10th September.  An excellent couple of days (yes couple of days, ceremony on one and big party on the second!).  They entrusted me with taking the photographs I hope that they have enough usable ones!  And congratulations to Jenny and John on the birth of their second child Jacob.  Hopefully they can give us lots of tips as their first child, Leo is only a couple of weeks older than Éowyn so the age gap is about the same.

I will bid my leave of you now, and hopefully the next time you read an update of this website will be to announce our new family member.  Until then…

Peace and Love

Baggie

I've got five minutes…

It literally is only five minutes or so (OK about half an hour) on only my second day off work this month and it is raining.  Therefore the lawn can wait to be mowed and I can take the opportunity to write a quick update.

Since work is full occupying my time at the moment (up to 18 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week – the glamour of television) I am not seeing an awful amount of either Lucinda or Éowyn and so I will have to regale a couple of tales second hand.

Éowyn is definitely growing up fast and seems quite advanced for her age.  She is only just 22 months old but has a vocabulary of at least 75 words and probably over 100.  She can string words together to make simple sentence.  Can recognise colours, shapes, numbers, animals, my car (and other cars of the same model) and Lucinda’s car (and likewise other cars of the same model), count to fourteen (?!) and is beginning to say her a,b,c’s.

Lucinda and Éowyn paid a visit to Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz during my mad build up to the channel launch as she still is having difficulty getting about due to her knee injury and certainly can not drive to come and visit us.  This was a change from Skyping Nanny Fran that we try to do once a week.  I think Éowyn wore Nanny Fran out, keeping her on the go for the entire time she was there.  She also astounded her Nanny with her ability to recognise numbers and to go one stage further.  Éowyn picked up one of her number blcoks and said “Number 9, Nanny.”  Nanny Fran replied that it was and that she was a clever girl.  Éowyn then turned it upside down, and said “No, number 6!”, giggled and ran off.  Now that is true understanding of the shapes of numbers, and humour in tricking people.  Don’t know where she gets that from… whistles innocently…

Éowyn has also begun to start to look for me when I am at work.  Éowyn will say “Daddy, where are you?” and Lucinda will tell her that I am at work and Éowyn will open the front door and go and look for me.  Lucinda is now having to be really careful.   Fortunately we have a green outside our house so she doesn’t run straight into the road but worrying nevertheless.

Lucinda’s parents have been golden, with me working I have been unable to do my share of child minding, they have been looking after Éowyn when Lucinda has been working  or socialising.  Éowyn loves it around their house, they have a big garden and a trampoline.  So she runs them ragged as she doesn’t want to be inside it is always “Outside!” and the point and the forlorn look.

Well my short amount of freetime is up and so I must do something constructive.  Please enjoy the photos below and hopefully I will be able to get another update in before we become a family of four.
Peace and Love

Baggie

A quick update

Time is something I have precious little of the moment.  The push to launch the channel and move to the realm of HD is in its final stages and so I will have little time to spend with my family yet alone update the website.  So I thought I would venture a little catch up while Éowyn catches 40 winks.

Éowyn is still coming on leaps and bounds.  her vocabulary is growing daily.  She can count to 14 (how or why not really sure) but always seems to miss out 7.  Not too worried yet.  She has also begun to identify shapes, circle, square and triangle, however circle is pronounced with a strong Black Country accent for some reason.  Although I still retain the vestiges of an accent, I do not think that I have ever pronounced circle as strongly as she does.  May be it is genetic!  She has also begun to string words together and her favourite phrase seems to be “Mommy, sit down now!”  She can identify my car (and cars of the same model) and Lucinda’s car (and cars of the same model) and recognise them from quite a distance.  Quite often before you do.

She thoroughly enjoys playing with Play-Doh and has to almost every day.  She also enjoys racing against you in the back garden.  A game that she calls “1, 2, 3, go!”  However, if you ever play it with her just bare in mind that it is quite rarely 1, 2, 3, go!  It can be any random number up to 9 (obviously not including 7) before she says “go” and she will be halfway down the garden before she shouts it!

Another new favourite is Skyping her Nanny Fran.  As we do not see Nanny Fran too often we try and Skype her at least once a week.  So much so that Éowyn will pick up out little laptop computer and say “Phone Nanny”.  She gets quite excited and dances and plays in front of the webcam and includes Nanny Fran in playing Play-Doh.  It is a good way for them to keep in touch.

Apologies for the brevity of this entry but I am sure that the photos will more than make up for it.  If possible I will attempt another update in August (although I am not promising anything) then it is September!  The month that our second born is due.  Rest assured there will be plenty of updates then.

Peace and Love

Baggie!