I took the last of the last year’s holiday entitlement on the first Friday of February to give myself a long weekend.  Thus I decided to go and pick Éowyn up from playbox.  I am waiting outside with the other mothers when the door opened and I was beckoned inside.  Éowyn had been misbehaving all day, culminating it her hitting another child with a wooden piano across the head.  I felt like a child who had been summoned into the Headmaster’s office and sat there mortified at what she had done.  Éowyn can be wilful and determined but this was a step into uncharted territory and something that we obviously need to nip in the bud.

Children’s behaviour is very rarely an isolated change in their personality but more a response to an external situation however trivial that it seems to those around them (probably true of adults too!).  The trick is identifying it and neutralising it, but not allowing the crimes to go unpunished either.  (That is what we are attempting anyhow, we’ll let you know in 20 years if it works.)  So what are the stimuli that are causing Éowyn to behave the way she is.  It is her little sister.  Not directly but the attention that Amélie receives and encouragement she is getting for doing things that Éowyn can easily do is probably the first and foremost reason.  This is not to say that Éowyn does not get any attention but she has to share that attention.  So therefore when she wants the attention and she is not getting the attention she requires immediately then she is naughty: for then she gets the attention.   It might be Mommy or Daddy telling her off but it is attention and more importantly Amélie is not getting any while we are pre-occupied with her.  Knowing the psychology is easy, putting it into practise when you have two screaming kids running around; you need to get the dinner ready; you are not feeling well and the telephone is ringing is a different matter.  So stricter and fairer and more conscious of how we are treating them both is the regime going forward.

The weekend gave a good excuse to have some Daddy and Éowyn time: it snowed.  It was the first dump of snow that the South East of England had seen this winter and although it wasn’t a fall of snow that I recall from my childhood it was certainly enough snow to build a snowman.  Unfortunately Lucinda was at work and since it was cold (not as cold as it has been across Europe, where record lows were being recorded) and I wanted it to be a special time for Éowyn we had to wait until Amélie had a mid morning nap.  This meant that a number of the neighbours had already build their snowmen by the time that we got out and, also the day had warmed and then cooled so that the snow wasn’t as light and fluffy as it had been first thing.  Nevertheless, relatively happy with our snowmen (look at the photos below) and Éowyn thoroughly enjoyed making them (the heads we solely her creations).  It was amusing that the following day the temperature had warmed such that all the lying snow melted and all that was left was a scattering of snow zombies as the snowmen’s features slowly melted during the day then refroze at night.  It then turned bitterly cold for nearly a week and no further melting took place.  We then received a second (smaller) fall of snow that re-coated everything before the temperature has returned to more usual February temperatures and only the carcasses of the snow zombies remain (although I do not give them very more days of survival in these conditions).

Amélie is still resisting the complete transition to bipedal locomotion.  Her attempts are more frequent and she can totter around for quite a while before gravity wins the argument but she still prefers the racing crawl method or shuffles about on her knees.  She is such a lazy tyke.  She gets away with it because she has a big sister that will do things for her and she has such a cheeky grin when she wants to get her own way.  We will have to see what we can do to encourage the full move, but at least it is a step in the right direction (see what I did there?).

Thursday 10th February was Uncle Albert’s funeral.  I had been asked to say a few words (the first time I had been asked to speak at a funeral) and in a strange way I was looking forward to it.  However fate had other ideas.  Éowyn had been under the weather for a couple of days and didn’t really think too much of it as kids are always feeling grotty as their immune systems encounter attacks for the first time and busy themselves creating defences.  However on the Tuesday Lucinda began to feel ill and then on the Wednesday I was knocked for six.  So much so that I went home early from work on Wednesday (I never go home ill) and on the Thursday could only drag myself out of bed to lie on the sofa (and Lucinda the same).  Fortunately I had the wherewithal on the Wednesday night to call Mom to tell her that we wouldn’t be attending (the funeral was at 1000 and that would mean leaving at 0700 and with all the will in the world even if I fell 100 times better there was no way it was going to happen) the fact that we were worse the next day justified that decision.  It was sad that we never managed to say goodbye to Uncle Albert (although I am sure he understood) and hello to a lot of relatives that we don’t see very often.  Uncle Albert’s death has left my Nan as the sole living representative of her generation on either side of our family.

Éowyn has taken a big step forward in growing up.  She decided last Saturday night that she didn’t want to wear a nappy to bed any more.  She has been nappy free in the day for many months but has always wanted the confidence of a nappy on at night.  Not any more.  She said that she didn’t want it so we didn’t put it on her.  We put her potty near her bed so she didn’t have to go too far in the night and prepared ourselves for wet pyjamas and changing the bedclothes.  We need not have fretted she has made the transition effortlessly so far.  She was obviously ready and waited until she knew herself that she was ready and that was it.

To reward this, and to give me an excuse to go and see it too, I took Éowyn to the cinema for the first time.  It is half-term so there are a number of films out aimed at kids (and big kids) and there are special early showtimes too.  When I was a little older than Éowyn is now, one of my favourite shows was The Muppet Show.  I own a number of DVDs of The Muppets and Éowyn has seen some of them so when I heard that the new Muppet movie was out for half term the choice of which film to go and see was made easy.  I think Éowyn was over-awed by the whole cinema experience although overall she seemed to thoroughly enjoy it (probably not as much as her dad did!).  She didn’t think much of popcorn and was frustrated by all the adverts and trails for other films (aren’t we all).  The little Toy Story short before the film was a bonus and she sat as good as gold for the entire length of the film.  I would quite happily take her to see another film again, and knowing my love of the cinema and of ‘children’s movies’ it would be no great hardship.

Anyhow, I will leave you with that (go and see the movie if only for a barbershop quartet rendition of Nirvana’s ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ – you have been warned).

Peace and Love

Baggie

However, that is not the greatest achievement since the last update.  For the greater accomplishment is that my second child can now be truly classed as bipedal.  Yes, last Thursday (19th January 2012) Amélie just decided to stand up in the middle of the floor and walk.  Not just one or two steps but half a dozen.  The encouragement that she received spurred her on.  Within minutes that total was up to 11 and by the end of the day had nudged that total up to 12.  I suppose because she has been cruising for so long her legs have the strength to support her, she has the balance to carry herself but she is just lacking the confidence to continue.  It will come, with encouragement it will not be long before she will leave her crawling days behind her.  She will happily hold your hand and walk for yards and hopefully the more we do this the more this will give her the confidence to strike out on her own.

Now usually on Thursday morning I would be at work, however I still had a number of days left over from last year’s entitlement to use by the end of January and therefore, fortunately, I was at home on annual leave for the week. It was good to spend some time at home but it wasn’t the most exciting of times (apart, obviously from Amélie’s first steps!).  Lucinda took some time off too but with Amélie already booked to go to Jo’s and with Éowyn still at playbox myself and Lucinda had time to off together but there was no time to enjoy that for we decided that we would attempt to straighten the house after the Christmas period.  Not that the house needed that much straightening but it was more an opportunity to go through the kid’s toys and either take the ones that they never play with down the local charity shop or put away the ones that they have outgrown.  Then finding space for them all, either in the toy boxes (yes plural), Éowyn’s bedroom or just tidied away.  It felt good to get back some of the house!

We also managed to take advantage of my tastecard (for the first time!) and go for lunch, which was good to spend some time as a couple rather than a mommy and daddy, although there is still that little voice in the back of your head saying, Keep an eye on the time, you have to pick Amélie and Éowyn up.  On the Thursday we also managed to invite friends of ours, Neil and Emma, around for an evening.  So we managed to put the girls to bed early (not that early but early enough for us to enjoy our evening) and to their great credit they went down and we heard not a peep out of them all evening.  It was good catching up with friends especially Neil and Emma who we hadn’t seen in over a year.  It is amazing how quickly time passes us by and if truth be told we have a long list of friends that we have not seen in over a year, something that perhaps we need to rectify in 2012.

We also took advantage of the time off to head up the M40 to West Bromwich and Nanny Fran.  Éowyn gets very excited about seeing her Nanny Fran, so much so that she didn’t take advantage of the 120 mile car journey and sleep but rather stayed awake for the entire journey asking the epitomic question ‘Are we nearly there yet?‘  They start early don’t they?  However this tiredness manifested itself as grumpiness and misbehaviour, so there were a number of trips to the re-instated Thinking Step.

In fact, there has been quite a number of trips to the Thinking Step of late.  After many months without even the threat of a trip to the Thinking Step, Éowyn has been a regular visitor of late.  There are a number of reasons for this, namely: She is doing 3 days a week at school, plus trips to her childminder’s so she is missing her afternoon nap (I know the feeling) and getting tired and when she is tired she gets grumpy and her behaviour get worse; Amélie is getting a lot of attention of late, especially with regards to the encouragement that she is getting with her walking and her increasing vocabulary, so jealousy plays a part; She gets influenced by the behaviour of other children (as all children do) so making sure that she realises that just because her friends do it, it doesn’t mean that she has to (I think that is going to be a battle for many years to come!); and I have been working some long hours so she doesn’t always see me and Lucinda has, obviously, returned to work so she is not always seeing Lucinda either.  Plus she is probably just going through one of those phases where they try to push the boundaries and see what they can get away with, which is going but it puts pressure on us to keep the boundaries well defined.

Despite her frequent forays to the Thinking Step Lucinda treated Éowyn to a special day out last Wednesday.  A Peppa Pig live stage show was enjoying a run at Richmond Theatre and so Lucinda and Éowyn and her friend Christine and her daughter Arabella took the short trip down the A316.  Éowyn was completely enthralled by Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt (a puppet show) in complete contrast to the last live show that she saw which was the In The Night Garden live show, so much so that at the interval she got a little upset that it was over.  I think this is because, unfortunately, between booking the In The Night Garden tickets and actually going Éowyn grew out of the phase and was no longer interested in the antics of Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy (not to mention the hosts of other similarly named characters).  Now, Peppa Pig is a different matter, it is by far her favourite show and with trips to Peppa Pig world and a bed full of cuddly Peppa Pig characters I think it will stay her favourite for a few years to come yet.

Unfortunately I must end this update on a sad note.  My Great Uncle Albert passed away just after 1505 on Friday 27th January 2012 aged 90.  He had been ill for a little while and while the loss of any one is always sad in some ways his passing is a blessing.  Uncle Albert was my materal grandmother’s brother and was an inspiration.  He gave me my first paid job (in the despatch department of Accles and Shelvoke packing slaughter equipment: bolt stunners and cartridges) the summer after my GCSE exams.  He also ignited my interest in genealogy, tracing his own family tree back to 1546.  He also typed (with one finger and a lot of correction fluid) his wartime memories dubbing himself (in his self-depreciating style) Churchill’s Secret Weapon on an old manual typewriter.  The reasoning behind his monicker was that shortly after he completed his training the war in Europe ended.  Then, as he set foot in Asia (he was posted in India) the war in Asia ended.  Obviously, the enemy did not want to engage Albert Wyton in battle. He is now at peace with his wife of 64 years (my Great Auntie Iris), sleep well both, reunited in love.

Peace and Love

Baggie

So what has been happening in the Bagnall household in the first part of 2012.  Well it is a case of getting back into the old routines.  Éowyn now goes to school 3 times a week.  She has only be back at school for one week so it is hard to say exactly how she is coping with this.  Unfortunately, Lucinda’s work days fell mid-week on that week so not only did Dad have to take her to school each day, she was at Jo’s (the childminders) on one of the other days and we had to ask Lucinda’s dad to pick her up on two of the days.  Therefore she has not spent too much time with Lucinda this past week (which is unusual and I think she has missed her Mommy).  Éowyn loved being picked up by her Granddad because Lucinda’s dad has a flat bed truck and so, as three year old, it was one of the most exciting things that could have to have to ride home in the cab of Granddad’s truck (she probably will not think that in 10 years time!) and when we told her that on Friday that Lucinda would pick her up from school, she said, ‘Can Granddad pick me up in his truck?‘ which no doubt delighted Lucinda’s dad but is a bit of a kick in the teeth for Lucinda and me.

The main news though from the Bagnall household is the fact that Amélie has been discharged from the paediatrician.  As you know when she was first born she had severe reflux and wasn’t feeding correctly.  With hindsight it was probably part of the same problem: cow’s milk protein intolerance but at the time both aspects were being treated.  She therefore was given drugs to help lower her stomach acid and relax the stomach to help prevent reflux and she was tried with a variety of artifical milks until we hit upon Neocate (which she is still on).  The reflux went away but was that the drugs or was it the fact that her body wasn’t being poisoned with a chemical it couldn’t handle (the cow’s milk protein!).  The Cow’s milk intolerance is being treated under the supervision of a dietician while the reflux was treated under the supervision of the paediatrician.  As we suspected, it appears that the reflux wasn’t caused by any physical issues with Amélie’s digestive tract and was more than likely due to the intolerance.  However, we are extremely grateful that we were taken seriously and she was fully investigated and now given a clean bill of health.  We just have to hope that she grows out of the Cow’s milk protein intolerance, and we will be testing her for that again soon.  The intolerance has not made her a fussy eater though and she has quite a prodigious appetite, quite often eating more than her sister!

Amélie is still not walking unaided, however Nanny Fran bought her a pushchair for Christmas and she can motor along with that at a fair pace.  It is not just in straight lines either, if she wants to turn around or take a sharp left then she swings that pushchair round and tootles off in the new direction.  I think that it is just a matter of confidence and as soon as she realises that she doesn’t need to hold onto something then she’ll be off.  However, for some reason she doesn’t like a doll being in the pushchair and a squashy green ball seems to be her favourite passenger (you can see it in the photos below).  Her vocabulary has also started to increase and I don’t think it will be long before she will start surprising us with words.  She has always been a little chatty and will gurgle and mumble away to herself quite merrily (sometimes at 0300!) but the other day she drank her milk and handed me the bottle saying ‘Here you are,‘ or as close to that for my ears to interpret it that way.  I know my place.

It is strange how the two sisters are quite different in temperament.  Amélie is far more laid back than her older sister but at the same time quite cuddly and will wander over to you give you a kiss and cuddle then go back to whatever it was that she was doing beforehand.  She doesn’t seem quite as intent on sitting down and learning but will quite happily play with you without need of the television.  Éowyn is much more independent (when she knows that you are about) and will rarely give you a spontaneous cuddle but if you are not about she can get a little anxious and is always glad when you are back.  She is always keen to learn and to impress you with what she knows (doesn’t that remind you of anyone?) but will easily waste an afternoon watching a film or just banal television (again, like anyone you know?).  Éowyn does like her home and her home comforts especially when her parents are about.  Lucinda picked Éowyn up from school last week and she said, ‘Are we going home?  I like being at home and when Daddy is there it is the best place in the world!‘  The little sweetie!

I currently have a week off work (using up the remainder of last year’s leave entitlement) and Lucinda has done the same, so it really will be the best place in the world when they get back from school and Jo’s.  It is not all that exciting for Lucinda and me though as we are trying to fit all the new toys into our already crowded house.  There is a lot of consolidation going on and toys that have not seen the light of day or they are too old for are either heading down the charity shop or being boxed up and put in the loft.  To be honest it is probably something that both Lucinda and I should be doing to our own stuff.  Kids first!

Not the most exciting set of photos below but it is January and the year has only just begun.  Hopefully none of you suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia and if you did you managed to survive last Friday unscathed!  If you do suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia (or paraskevideatriaphobia as it is also known), then 2012 is probably a bad year for you as there will be 3 this year, so keep an eye on April and July!

Peace and love

Baggie

What is this based on?  Well apparently the winter solstice 2012 marks the conclusion of a b’ak’tun (the 13th – which is probably why many Westerners have such an easy time believing something bad will happen), a time period in the Mesoamerican long count calendar equivalent to 5,125 years, (in truth the precise end of this b’ak’tun is in dispute as it is not a precise art to deduce when the b’ak’tun began).  So the Maya believed that this would mark the end of the world?  No.  There is no suggestion that they even viewed this more momentously than the turn of a year.  So where has the ‘Mayan 2012′ prophecy industry germinated from?  Probably it says more about our own Western Apocalyptic view of the world, with a Newtonian view of time as an arrow without any understanding of the meaning of time to the Maya or comprehension of their culture.

Maybe I am being a little dismissive.  There is one stele in the relatively obscure provincial town of Tortuguero that mentions (it is the only mention) of the end of the 13th pik (b’ak’tun) unfortunately there is a large chunk of it missing and so anything that anyone infers from the remaining words is open to a large dollop of conjecture.  If you actually read peer-reviewed translations of the stele, you get a completely different picture to most airport paperbacks. ‘[On 13.0.0.0.0] will happen, the witnessing/attending of the display of Bolon Yokté in the great impersonation (envelopment in costume and regalia).‘  For me this is reminiscent of a more contemporary source: ‘Say, say, two thousand, zero, zero party over oops, out of time.  So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s nineteen ninety nine.‘  Now Prince could be a time travelling Maya from the planet Nibiru come to save the world with his purply music (and if anyone sees a book on that in their local shop – that was my idea!) or perhaps you will still need to buy Christmas presents this year.

If you need any more convincing then there are many inscriptions mentioning future events and commemorations that would occur on dates beyond the completion of the 13th b’ak’tun.  On the west panel at the Temple of Inscriptions in Palenque refers to the 21st October 4772 A.D. another at Coba gives an impossible date that is 41 octillion years in the future (this date is 2 quintillion times the current estimate for the age of the universe).  So let us not get dewy-eyed over the infallibility of Maya prophecies and hope that the 1000 or so (I wonder if there are as many as 2012) eschatologists that have written about the 2012 apocalypse have put enough of their savings away to see them into their old age.  Then again, they maybe correct and if they are then there will be no one around to tell me ‘I told you so!’  Win/win for me then.

So what will 2012 bring for this little enclave of the Bagnall family? And what have we taken from 2011?

2011 has been an interesting year (and not in the Chinese curse kind of a way) we have adjusted to being a family of four.  We have learnt all about milk-protein intolerance.  We have survived the terrible twos (for the first time) and we have discovered the beauty of a Merlin Pass and the joys of Peppa Pig and Peppa Pig world.  We are still in the process of adapting to the four of us being in different places at the same time.  Which usually means Lucinda getting up at the crack of dawn to start her shift at the airport, then me getting the girls up and dropping one off at the childminder’s and the other at pre-school before heading into work.  With Lucinda doing the opposite after working her shift to pick them up and get an evening meal ready for when I arrive home (unless it is a late one for me, then Lucinda has to put them to bed).  It is something that countless other families do up and down the country and I, now, struggle to understand the amount of hours I must have wasted when I was single or when it was just Lucinda and me.  The amount that we (have to) manage to squeeze into a day (although we always need more time) is significantly more than before we had kids and it feels like work and chores tend to just get in the way.

We have also learned that no two children are the same – even (and some might say, especially) sisters.  Éowyn was much more forward than Amélie, crawling and walking much earlier than her younger sister.  Now this could be that Amélie had a bad start, for her milk protein intolerance wasn’t diagnosed very early (although much earlier than some – thanks once again to Kate our Health Visitor) and those first few months must have been agony for our little one.  For when every meal that you have is causing you so much pain that it prevents you from sleeping however the urge to eat overwhelms the memory that food will cause you pain, the last thing you feel like doing is exploring this evil place.  Then once this condition is recognised and now you can enjoy your food, Mum and Dad have the kitchen ripped out, followed by the flooring in the lounge and dining room so there is nowhere for you to practise your crawling.  Plus, what is the point in wasting valuable energy for all you have to do is cry and an attentive big sister will go and find something to entertain you.

Amélie is far more laid back than her sister and has never been as clingy as Éowyn was, and to some extent still is.  Whether this is because Éowyn had our undivided attention as she was exploring the world, while Amélie has always had to share us.  Or whether it is just as parents, we are more laid back with the experience of three or so years under our belts and subconsciously that relaxation is felt by our youngest.  Or maybe it is just in the genes perhaps we will see as she develops over the coming year.

The other major lesson learned in 2011 was how to diet.  Lucinda joined Slimming World and as a dutiful husband I agreed to support her with her dieting and so did the same regime.  However, the competitive side of my nature took over (which has actually been good for both of us) and we have lost nearly 6 stone (84lbs/ 38kgs) between us!  That is impressive in anyone’s book.  It has meant that we have both had to buy new wardrobes (clothes – not actual wardrobes that would just be silly).  So if you haven’t seen us in a while you might not recognise our new svelte figures.

So what can we expect from 2012?

Obviously, the macro-economic situation is going to dominate the news and global events and one hopes that it doesn’t have a direct affect on one’s own personal economic situation.  But that notwithstanding (and to be honest there is not a lot I can personally do about the possible breakup of the Eurozone and the unravelling of the debt mountain that the world finds itself in) it will (hopefully) be business as usual in the Bagnall household.  Éowyn will move to 3 days a week at pre-school at the start of the year and we may be thinking of introducing Amélie to pre-school at the end of the year.  We will be testing Amélie’s cow’s milk protein intolerance early in the New Year and hopefully she will have grown out of it, or we need to be prepared to accept it for longer (if not life).

Éowyn keeps asking about going on a ‘plane again and so we may pluck up the courage and take two toddlers on a plane.  It is not necessarily the act of taking them on a ‘plane; it is more the paraphernalia that one has to take on such a trip.  It also makes it all very expensive, with 4 tickets, something we are just going to have to get used to I suppose.  Interestingly, this year Lucinda and I will have been married for 5 years, which is traditionally celebrated with a wooden gift however the modern travel anniversary present is airline tickets so maybe it is a sign that we should pay a visit to Heathrow Airport (it is just round the corner after all).

A little personal project I have set up has been given its own website.  Baggies Projects will be a forum for me to explore a couple of things that I have been meaning to do for some time.  Now I am not saying that there will be useful insights, or even far reaching conclusions that will change your life when you read this new website.  That is not what it is about.  It is simply a channel (project zero if you like) for me to explore some of things that often crop up and are never allowed to bear fruit.  Some may develop and warrant a website all of their own, others may wither and die a forlorn (but public) death but at least they will all be given the same opportunity to flower.  Hopefully it may even inspire some of you to do the same.  Then again, Strictly-come-X-factor-in-the-jungle is on.

If, for any reason, either this website or Baggies Projects have inspired you to start your own website then may I recommend WP hosting as a medium for your projects.  They offer a simple one-stop shop for all your website needs.  Register your domain, WordPress install and hosting in one simple place.  Think it is too complicated then they can help too, either directly or with many self help tutorials on their support pages.  So go on, it’s 2012 what are you waiting for?  If I can do it…

So all it leaves me to do, it wish you all a Happy New Year and paraphrasing a traditional Irish Blessing: ‘May the 2012 bring the warmth of a home and hearth to you, the cheer and goodwill of friends to you and the hope of a childlike heart to you.‘

Peace and Love

The Bagnall Family

Happy New Year from the Bagnalls

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the Bagnall household since the last update so forgive the length of this installment.  It has also been fun for Éowyn for the first time has understood the basic ideas of Christmas (i.e. that Santa rides around the world on a sleigh giving good children presents) and so the magic of Christmas has been re-ignited for Lucinda and myself.  Now correct me if I am wrong but I was under the impression that most children believe that Santa has a list of children under two headings: naughty and nice, and that in a Big-Brother style surveillance operation that he is spying on them and that only the children on the latter list will receive presents.  Therefore one would hope that in the build up to Christmas those said children would be doing their utmost to stay on the latter list or indeed hope that Santa has a short term memory problem and move from the former to the latter in time for the big day.  Éowyn has to be different.  For months she has been very well behaved, unfortunately in the last couple of weeks her behaviour has made a turn for the worst (although not to the extent of the bad days of the terrible twos when she would spent large percentages of the time on the thinking step).

The last day of Éowyn’s school term was the obligatory Carol Concert (our first as parents – although there were very little ‘carols’ per se, more Christmas songs).  I took the day off work and we were joined at the school by Nanny and Granddad.  Éowyn was dressed as a sheep (the head came off half way during the concert) and delighted us by singing her heart out to every song.  We were obviously very proud parents and filmed it for prosperity.  When she returns in January we will be taking full advantage of the free nursery hours given by the UK government (currently 15 hours per week) and upping her days from 2 to 3.  She also left school with a traditional gift – a heavy cold.  Indeed in the spirit of giving she has passed it on to all of us, including her little sister – more of which later.

Christmas week started with Amélie at Jo’s and Lucinda, myself and Éowyn heading on a mystery tour.  We had not told Éowyn that we had pre-booked for her to see Father Christmas at Peppa Pig World (Paulton’s Park).  As she was a she a little heavy with cold she slept for the entire journey down the M3 and only woke as we entered Paulton’s Park.  The Paulton’s Park Christmas world is excellent with a trip through a sleeping child’s imagination through to the North Pole to visit Santa.  The path is lined with animatronic creatures (from yetis to white tigers to sleeping polar bears to dwarfs and reindeer and a whole host of woodland creatures along the way).  Considering that Peppa Pig World was fully open and the cost was the same as just going to Paulton’s Park it was excellent value.  However it was bitingly cold when we first got there and as the warm air gradually crept in, it brought rain.  Conscious of her cold we placated her with a few of the rides before curtailing the trip short and heading back home to the warmth of the moor.

With all of my Christmas present shopping complete the week leading up to Christmas was not as hectic as it usually is, a novelty for me.  It was as well as it was quite a busy week at work (with a full Premier League schedule in the mid-week before Christmas) as well as squeezing in a funeral of a friend of mine, Mike Royle, who lost his battle with cancer the week before Christmas and a couple of days before his 50th birthday.  My thoughts are with his family.

It has become (or is becoming) a tradition that on Christmas Eve we host Lucinda’s parents and brother Mike and family and it was so this Christmas.  With Lucinda at work all day I was charged with the honour of preparing the house and food while looking after the girls.  Fortunately, Éowyn was coming out of the worst of the cold which was good, however she had passed it on to Amélie and myself.  Not having the chance to feel sorry for myself I dosed myself up and just got on with it.  We were fortunate that it wasn’t ‘man flu’ otherwise we would have been in trouble.  So the first of the great feasts of the yuletide began and the six months of dieting were forgotten.  A good evening was had by all and Éowyn was so worn out that she went to bed after everyone left and was soon asleep.  Amélie however was coughing heavily and didn’t finally fall asleep until 2300.

Christmas morning started with the girls giving Lucinda and me the best Christmas present ever: a lie-in (until 0830)!  Very well received and thank you girls.  So at 0830 Éowyn popped her head around our bedroom doro and said, ‘Mommy, Daddy, Santa has been and he has left me lots of presents.  Am I allowed to open them?‘  That will probably be the last time she asks however we were not cruel but said that we would take the sack of presents downstairs to open them in the lounge.  She was very pleased with her Cicciobello doll but her Woody (from Toy Story) was the number one favourite toy on Christmas day and would later come to Nanny and Granddad’s for Christmas lunch.

Éowyn was very good with her presents, clothes were given short shrift but the toys were looked at and filed for future playtime.  After she had opened all of her presents we allowed her to help Amélie open her presents.  As all siblings throughout history Éowyn found Amélie’s presents far more interesting that her own but that did not last long when we threatened to give Amélie Woody if Éowyn didn’t let Amélie have her presents back.

As I mentioned above, Christmas lunch was around Lucinda’s parents (a short walk to the end of the road) where a feast for 18 had been prepared.  It also gave Éowyn the opportunity to play with her cousins who re as good as gold with a sometimes stroppy but always bossy three year old.  After lunch was mass present opening with five cousins (Amélie was feeling poorly and spent the best part of the day cuddling either Mommy or Daddy).  It was manic and I spend most of the time trying to keep an eye on what present she was opening so that we could thank the correct person later.  Needless to say both we spoilt so a big thank you to everyone who bought them presents.

We left shortly after the present opening to take the girls back home.  Éowyn was ready for bed after such an exciting day but Amélie was beginning to worry us.  Her face looked sallow and she was feeling very sorry for herself and just wanted to be cuddled, which is not like her.  She had not taken that much food over the previous days and her cough was sounding as bad as ever.  We decided that if she was not better in the morning we would take her to the walk-in clinic at the local hospital.  The next day (Boxing day in the UK) is traditionally Sales day and Lucinda had decided that she wanted to go to two of the bigger sales available in Staines, Next and Debenhams.  So with this in mind we retired early.

Lucinda was not prepared for the sales the next morning, and will need to sharpen her elbows if she is going to go next year.  The sale at Next started at 0600 so she arrived in Staines at 0545 (I told you she was getting up early) to be greeted with a queue that stretched half way down the high street.  It took her over 2 hours before she even got into the shop but made good of the time she was there and came back with many of the things that she had gone there for.  She then made it a double whammy and wandered into Debenhams to find the last of the sale items she had wanted (indeed it was the last one left in the store).  So it was after 1100 when she finally arrived home laden with shopping bags. 

Meanwhile I was becoming more concerned with Amélie and struggling with the cold myself.  Amélie however was very lethargic and not her self at all.  She was taking very little liquids and refusing most solids and I was worried that she was becoming dehydrated.  When Lucinda walked in, she could see my concern and with the eyes of someone that has been away for a couple of hours agreed that we should take her to the walk-in clinic.  I stayed at home with Éowyn and Lucinda took Amélie off.  The waiting room at the clinic was almost as bad as the sales.  Every seat was occupied and it was mainly babies so they couldn’t jump the queue by playing the baby card.  When the doctor examined her he was concerned too.  He said that she was borderline dehydrated and realising that Lucinda was very concerned attempted to get Amélie admitted to the local hospital (St. Peter’s where she was born).  However when he ‘phoned the registrar at St. Peter’s and described the symptoms they said that she was not bad enough to be admitted (I am assuming that they must have limited staff over the Christmas break and possibly many admissions, so unless it was life threatening they would not admit any more).  The doctor was very good though and wrote a fast track letter for us with the proviso that unless there was an improvement – not even a worsening but a definite improvement – in the next 24 hours we were to go directly to St. Peter’s armed with his letter.  Well Amélie must have understood, for as she arrived home she began to eat and drink her milk (neocate).  She was not going to be admitted to hospital.

A quick day in the office on the 27th was followed by a visit from Nanny Fran and Aunties Liz and Mary.  More presents were exchanged, although Auntie Liz forgot her’s and so Éowyn’s and Amélie’s (and Lucinda’s and my) Christmas will be extended another couple of weeks.  Do we mind – I don’t think so!

So, the year draws to an end and we are trying to work out where all the extra toys are going to fit in our modest house.  Amélie, thankfully seems to be on the mend;  Éowyn is beside herself with all the new things to play with, and Lucinda and myself are just knackered.  We are proud that we were are getting better at this Christmas thing and were far more organised this year than last (which in turn was far more organised than the year before that, and so on and so forth) but are still a long way from making an excel spreadsheet and ticking all the boxes (does anyone ever manage that?).

Work and family beckon but before I leave you, I trust that you all had good Christmasses and may the Bagnall family be the first to wish you all the best for 2012.

Peace and Love

Baggie

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your Love and Support throughout 2011 and hope that 2012 brings you happiness, or at least the wisdom to appreciate the happiness you already own.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Love from

The Bagnalls

Merry Christmas with Love from Éowyn and Amélie xxx

This will be the last full update before Christmas although the (now annual) Bagnall Christmas message will automatically appear just after noon on Monday 19th December 2011 (already pre-written – aren’t I clever?) and I will try to squeeze in a post-Christmas update (time permitting) before the New Year.

As I mentioned in the last write up, I have attempted to use the remainder of my 2011 annual leave up by taking this past week off, in an attempt to get into the Christmas spirit and complete (start) the Christmas shopping.  The week started well with the obligatory trip into the loft to get the Christmas tree and decorations down.  We then duly put them up and encouraged Éowyn to help decorate the tree.  Not the most enthusiastic of decorating from our oldest child but I think she will get into it a little more as the years pass.  Amélie on the other hand just wanted to pull the bauble that you had just placed on the tree and throw it across the floor, well it is a fun game!  Éowyn however did let us play Christmas songs (her particular favourite being Mrs Santa Claus by Nat King Cole for some reason) while we bedecked the lounge.  It certainly raised the Christmas spirit and indeed does the tree everytime I walk into the lounge, all that was missing was a flurry of snow (still a disappointing lack of snow in these parts this winter!).

As I was off Lucinda also decided that she would book her week off too (both days!) so that we could have some time together and since the childminder had already been booked for Lucinda’s work days then it meant that there was two days that we could have off together.  However, an invite to a supplier’s lunch on the Tuesday put pay to part of one of those days but at least Lucinda could spend a little time with her mum without the kids, which was good for both of them.

The Wednesday without the kids flew by.  We were worried that we would spend the whole day missing them, but to be honest we just didn’t have the time.  Taking advantage of the fact that we were dropping them off at 0800 we headed to Kingston early (to avoid the lengthy queues to the car parks) in attempt to complete our Christmas shopping.  We may not have completed our Christmas shopping but we certainly put a big dent into it.  Going early meant that there was no queue for the car park and we were ahead of the game before the shops got too crowded.  Definitely the way to Christmas shop, second only to sitting at home surfing the on-line retailers and getting it all delivered to your door (or alternatively their door – even better if the on-line retailer offers a wrapping service!).

It seems that no matter how much you think you know you children they will always do something to surprise you.  Amélie has not slept through the night since she was born.  The latest she will wake up in 0530 and usually once or twice in the night.  This week she slept straight through for four nights in a row.  Yes, not one or two days but four!  Brilliant we thought, she is finally learning to appreciate the magnificence of a good night’s sleep.  Unfortunately we don’t know how long she may have slept on two of those days because we had to wake her up to take her to Jo’s (the childminder).  Nevertheless we were feeling a little pleased with ourselves as we headed to the end of the week.

A trip to West Bromwich to visit Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz was in order to complete the week, especially since we will not see them until after Christmas.  We arrived Friday lunchtime and did not stop.  We paid a visit to see Éowyn and Amélie’s Great-Grandma.  Then the school that Auntie Liz works at were having a Christmas fayre and so we paid Auntie Liz (who was busy face-painting) a visit and had a look around the fayre.  Very disappointing really, except for the roasted chesnuts.  They after putting the kids to bed myself and Lucinda headed to the local supermarket to stock up on supplies that we hadn’t brought up with us.

Sitting in the car on the way back to Nanny Fran’s, Lucinda realised that she hadn’t got her purse.  We headed straight back and retraced our steps from the till to the car.  No luck.  No one had handed the purse in and there was no sign of it either in the shop or in the car park.  We gave our details to security and headed back to Nanny Fran’s.  Obviously Lucinda was extremely upset but fearing the worse we left Nanny Fran’s and headed straight to the Police station to report the incident.  As soon as we had the crime number we began cancelling Credit cards.  It was part way through cancelling the second bank’s cards that we received a phonecall from security, someone had found the purse and handed it in.

All the cards and all the money was still in the purse and Lucinda was delighted to have it back (even with the now useless cards in there).  We had been fearing the worse but the spirit of Christmas still endures in the Black Country and we thank the kind soul for handing it in.  He left his name and number and so there is a thank you card and a little something for him to thank him for his goodwill.  We salute you, sir!

Amélie, however was no so generous.  After lulling us into a false sense of security with her four nights of sleep she brought us down to earth on Friday night.  She awoke just after 0100 and would not go back to sleep.  Nanny Fran popped up about 0500 (when Amélie is awake everyone without a blast zone of 20 blocks is awake – she has the most piercing scream when she wants to let loose!) and took her from us and finally got her to sleep leaving us to get a couple of hours.

On Saturday myself and Lucinda headed into Birmingham to visit the German market while Nanny Fran, Auntie Liz, Éowyn and Amélie went on an adventure of their own.  Again the few hours that we had to ourselves allowed us, not only to visit the Christmas market but to finish off our Christmas shopping without the kids.  Indeed I think we are both now completely ‘Christmas shopping’-ed out, we just have to wrap them now!

But where was the adventure that the other went on.  Well Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz took the girls to visit Father Christmas at Dudley Zoo and Castle.  It was Éowyn’s first visit to Santa this year and she was a little overwhelmed by the experience.  She was overcome by shyness and did not ask Santa for anything (does that mean that she doesn’t get anything? – I am a cruel father!), indeed did not speak to him at all.  Not sure what Amélie thought about it.  It was only afterwards that Éowyn got a little upset because she did not ask Santa for a cicciobello doll, which seems to be the one constant that she asks for.  We are not sure where she discovered the doll or why she particularly wants it but it is a parent’s duty to at least investigate.

After another disturbed night of sleep (it is payback time) and a Sunday lunch we headed back down the M40 and home.  When we finally arrived home Elf was on the telly and if there is one thing more magical than watching a Christmas related feel good film that must be watching a Christmas related feel good film with a three year old that believes every word of it.

For those of you that we won’t see between now and the big day we hope that you have a great time and trust that Santa (Father Christmas/ Saint Nicholas/ Kris Kringle/ Santa Claus/ Ded Moroz etc…) brings you all that you deserve and maybe a little of what you want.

Peace and Christmas Love

Baggie

So, again since this write up comes on the back of a couple of busy couple of weeks at work so you must forgive the brevity of amusing ancedotes and photos.  It has become more of a discipline for me to continue with the updates when I am busy and not let the impetuous slip for as you will notice I have seriously missed the target this year in terms of updates and am currently only averaging 12.85 days between writes ups as opposed to 11.41 days last year and 11.77 days the year before.  OK enough of the geekiness and back to the task in hand. 

So with the 25th December less than a month away it is all geared to getting ready for the big day and Éowyn is, probably for the first time fully comprehending the idea of Christmas, i.e that Santa brings you presents not the religious aspect of the year.  We are trying to temper the fact that she will get what ever she wants and the incessant stream of advertising aimed at children is not helping and the phrase ‘I want one of those,’ is heard umpteen times a day.  However, it is giving us the opportunity to use the notion of Santa to our advantage.  ‘If you are not a good girl then Santa will not bring you any pressies‘, although in fairness to Éowyn we have not had to say that to her that much because she has been relatively well behaved.  We haven’t resorted to the tactics of friends of ours who pretend to call Father Christmas whenever their child misbehaves and asks him to take away a present.  We’ll save that for when we need to wheel out the big guns.

We are, however, trying to use the notion of Santa in an attempt to stop Éowyn from sucking her thrumb.  She has always been a thumb sucker.  The nurses in the ICU at St. Peters tried to encourage us to give Éowyn a dummy when she was born (it seems to be one of the factors in preventing cot death) but, much to our relief, Éowyn kept spitting it out and so never had a dummy.  Thus her comfort became her thumb, which is handy in some ways (never gets lost!) but at the age of three we feel that it is high time that she stopped, at least during the day.  So, the power of Santa is being invoked by trying to convince her that only babies suck their thumb so if she is sucking her thumb then Santa will think that she is a baby and therefore only bring her baby presents and not big girl presents.  Will it work?  Watch and wait.

Amélie, obviously, is oblivious to it all.  As indeed she is oblivious to the fact that her parents need more than 3 hours continuous sleep.  Amélie doesn’t seem to understand the notion of a good night’s sleep and the best we can ever expect is to be woken at 0500.  It is starting to get a little tiresome after 14 months!  We had initially hoped to be able to move Amélie into Éowyn’s room earlier this year but until she sleeps through the night we are of the opinion that it is unfair on Éowyn that unfortunately means she is still in with us.  However, now that Lucinda is back at work it is becoming more important to train her, if not to sleep, then not to scream like she is being murdered when she wakes in the small wee hours of the morning. 

In the daytime Amélie is completely different and a little cutie with a very different personality to Éowyn.  She is much more of a mommy’s girl than Éowyn.  Éowyn was, and indeed still is, a daddy’s girl which, considering the amount of work that Lucinda does for her, much be frustrating for mommy.  Amélie has redressed that but it can be equally frustrating for Lucinda as Amélie will follow her around incessantly, hanging onto the back of her legs whenever she has her back towards her.  As if to illustrate this Amélie’s favourite word (not that she has that many at the moment) is ‘mommy‘.  She can also say ‘daddy‘ and what sounds like ‘big sister‘ (much to Éowyn’s delight) among others but it is ‘mommy‘ that she constantly mutters.  However, in the last few days that has been replaced with a new favourite: sneezing!  She sits there pretending to sneeze.  She then looks at you and gives a cheeky grin.  You can start her off by saying ‘Bless you‘ and off she goes.

Amélie still has not taken her first unfettered steps.  She spends a lot of her time on her legs cruising along the furniture but has not yet attempted to let go of the sofa and walk across the room.  If you hold her hands to encourage her to walk she just sits down refusing to entertain the idea.  This is probably down to a number of reasons:  there really is no need at the moment: she is the Usain Bolt of crawling and can cross the room in a blink of the eye; her sister will carry toys for her so she can concentrate on crawling and the wooden floor is more slippery than carpet so probably doesn’t install confidence when taking those first steps.  We’ll see if we can encourage her to make that next stage before Christmas; another of the items on the list for the week off. 

So with that in mind I will leave you with this one thought.  This apparently has been one of the warmest Novembers on record and one of the mildest Autumns on record (for the UK) and apparently the old weather lore states that: ’A warm November is the sign of a bad winter’ (hence the title of this write up) as does the similar pearl of wisdom ‘Flowers bloomin’ in late Autumn a sure sign of a bad winter comin’ (not sure if that second statement is supposed to rhyme but if it is, it is a bad one, if it doesn’t they why does it look like they have tried to make it rhyme?).  I have no empirical data to back up either of these statements, or indeed if they relate to great swathes of the world or just to a small town just outside of Scunthorpe (Winterton, perchance?) but I thought that I would throw it into the public domain and test it this winter.  Obviously it will prove nothing either way but perhaps 30 years of study and a supercomputer (or at least a piece of paper and a propelling pencil) will, so come back to me in 2041 and I will let you know.

Enjoy the photos

Peace and love

Baggie

There is, however, some news from the Bagnall household that may just disperse the melancholy: Amélie has begun to cruise.  She has gone from being the Usain Bolt of crawling to bipedal movement almost overnight.  OK, she had not taken her first unfettered steps but she is pulling herself to two legs at every available opportunity and every opportune object that stays still long enough (even the back of your legs when you are doing the washing up).  This presents itself with more issues, for her reach has now increased itself tenfold.  Those little arms can reach, almost Mr Tickle-like, further than you would believe and always to the one thing that you don’t want her to have.  Hence the lack of photos on this upload as Lucinda’s camera is one of those shiny things that Amélie has become besotted with and it no longer works as it once did.  However, it has given me an idea for a Christmas present for Lucinda.  Shh!

There is a second reason why there are not some many photos as usual and that is because I have not had so many days off work as I have in recent weeks.  It is still manically busy at work so on some days I have left the house before the girls have woke and am back just as they are going to bed.  Then, the days off I do have with them Lucinda is working and so at the moment there has not been the collective family events and thus such photographic opportunities.  My working does have others effects especially on Éowyn.  Last weekend we were chatting and she said, ‘Daddy, do you have to go to work tomorrow?‘ I replied that I did and she wandered off to her table and took out a sheet of A4 paper and her crayons, furiously scribbed away and wandered back.  ‘Here’s a map, Daddy, so you know how to get back home,‘ she said handing me the finished picture.  There was a tear in my eye.

Éowyn has been very good of late.  She has seemingly left her terrible twos far behind and I can not remember the last time she sat on the thinking step or even was threatened with sitting on the thinking step.  Indeed, she has been very thoughtful and polite and is truly a pleasure to be with.  She has also begun to really enjoy going to pre-school (Playbox) and seems to have made many friends this term.  At the end of the last school year we were undecided as to whether we should be sending her there as she didn’t seem to be enjoying it but perserverance has paid off and as of January (when she is entitled to 15 hours of childcare paid for by the government) she will be going there three days a week.

Éowyn also has inherited her father’s (and grandfather’s) love of films.  At the moment she is going through the back catalogue of Disney films.  She knows Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast inside out (as indeed Toy Story 3) but her current favourite is Lady and the Tramp.  At least it gives us a rest from Peppa Pig and Dora the Explorer (her current favourite television programmes) and I’d much rather sit down with her and watch a film for at least it is a fixed, defined duration.  Watch the film then do something else, rather than the ending stream of television programming punctuated with endless adverts for toys and games (I want one of those) that she doesn’t need.  All you parents out there are saying welcome to parenthood.  Thanks!

Christmas is rapidly approaching and myself and Lucinda have promised ourselves that we will be more organised this year.  We have to be with two children and are both in employment.  So presents are being bought (internet shopping is a wonderful thing) and days are being booked off to attempt to get ahead of the game for since both of our jobs are shift based, the Christmas period is no different to any other day of the year, we will be in our respective places of work.  There is no two week break for us.  I always remember when I first got my first job in television and some friends were disgusted that we would be expected to work during the Christmas holidays and I replied ‘What do you do on Christmas day?’ ‘Eat, drink and then fall asleep in front of the telly.’  ‘Exactly, someone has to be pressing the buttons at the other end to make it all work.’

So with that in mind I will bid you adieu and once again apologies for the less than usual number of photos below and I promise to do better next time.

Peace and love

Baggie

There are a lot of people that I know that hold the time 11:11 in some kind of esteem, some temporal awe and claim that whenever they look at the clock (a digital one of course) that it displays 11:11.  For me this is nothing more that confirmation bias, you are looking for it so as soon as you see it you remember it and it confirms your theory.  The fact is, because you are holding 11:11 in some form of regard, subconsciously you are looking for 11:11 and the frequency that you are looking at the time will peak in the lead up to 11:11, then once you have seen it the belief is confirmed.  You probably don’t even remember that you looked at the clock at 11:08, 11:09 and three times during 11:10.  How often have you just looked at the time, then someone immediately asks you what the time is and you have to look at the clock again.  Is your memory that bad?

Still quite a cool date though.

So what have we been up to in the last couple of weeks?  Well as the East Coast of the U.S. received it’s first dumping of snow (New York City’s heaviest ever October fall) we were experiencing a mild end of October which continued into the beginning of November.  This was most welcome for my 2nd cousin Charlotte who was married to Paul Eccles on the 4th November at Salmesbury Hall just on the outskirts of Preston (Lancashire).  When we first received the invite I was concerned that the weather could play an unwelcome part in the ceremony but I need not have feared and although the Lancashire countryside can be unforgiving during the winter months it was perhaps a little too early to cause any issues for the wedding party and the rain held off until after the ceremony and most of the photos had been taken.

As Preston is 220 miles away we decided that we would head to Lancashire the day before the wedding and spend two nights away from home.  We had initially thought that we would drive to Nanny Fran’s and spend the previous night in West Bromwich and then head in convoy to Preston.  However we decided that trying to get ourselves and the girls ready while Nanny Fran and Aunties Mary and Liz were also trying to get ready and then drive to Preston was perhaps asking a little too much.  Far easier to concentrate on just getting ready on the morning of the wedding and not then worry about the drive and checking into the hotel and all that entails.

Thus having just come back from a fortnight off work I took another couple of days off for our petit sojourn.  We left the moor a little late (we always do whenever it involves packing with the kids!) and headed north.  The girls were fed and watered and laden with toys to keep them entertained on the journey.  We also gave Éowyn a packed lunch in case she felt hungry along the way.  In true Bagnall style she had eaten most of it before we have even made it to the motorway – that’s my girl!  Fortunately the traffic was light and the girls fell asleep so we were able to make good time.  We arrived in Lancashire in the early afternoon and decided that we would head to Blackpool for a couple of hours before checking into our Preston lodgings.

Blackpool was as tacky and dreary as one would expect for early November and although the weather was kind (I have seen what the Irish sea can do to the promenade at Blackpool) it still felt desolate and depressive.  However as the night closed in and the illuminations were switched on then Blackpool came to life.  We were only in Blackpool for a couple of hours and didn’t really see it at it’s best however we are considering a holiday either to, or near, the Fylde coast for our summer break next year.

Our lodgings for the night was the Preston Central Travelodge and I only mention it for the fact that it ranks in one of my top ten worst car parks.  (Rest assured I don’t actually have a top ten worst car park list and it certainly isn’t laminated!).  The rooms are what you can expect from a £19/night hotel but the car park is veritable challenge.  After negotiating either the ramp (to the 1st floor) or the tight ground floor entrance you are confronted with a forest of metal pillars (all decorated with a variety of paint scuff marks) and 90° turns.  My only regret is that I never actually took a photo to show you, but please be warned that should you ever find yourself in Preston and decide to stay in the night at the local Travelodge and you are driving the car park is something you may not want to negotiate more than once.

Despite the basic nature of the hotel, Éowyn thought it was a fantastic adventure.  This was due in no small part to the fact that our room was on the fourth floor.  This meant that we had to take the lift and for a three year old that enjoys pressing buttons that is the best thing in the world.  She insisted on operating the lift and not only was it fun it was a little educational too with her making sure that she knew what floor we were heading for and whether we were going up or down in the lift and pressing the relevant call button.  We also told her our room number and encouraged her to find it.  It is important to find the education benefits and the game in the mundane, whether you are a three or ninety-three (think Mary Poppins and A Spoonful Of Sugar).

Charlotte and Paul’s wedding was excellent, Salmesbury hall was a beautiful venue.  It is a 14th century manor house on the outskirts of Preston and an ideal one stop venue for the guests with the ceremony and reception all held within the house and plenty of photogenic spots within the grounds, especially with the trees dressed in their autumnal garb.  The hall was closed to the public for the day which was nice to have the venue to the wedding party and we did not see any of the supernatural residents while we were there either.  Both of our girls were very good and before the ceremony Éowyn kept asking where the Princess was (i.e. the bride) and if she was a Princess who was the hansome prince?  They were both very good even through the speeches (although Éowyn did start heckling the groom’s speech with ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!‘ part way through, Amélie just joined in with the clapping).  However the excitement of the day was far too much for them and they only managed to last until the Bride and Groom’s first dance, before we had to make our excuses and head back to that car park!

We headed back the next day, breaking the journey up at Nanny Fran’s before tackling the final four motorways and home.  I was working the next day so there wasn’t any time for relaxation on these days off, time to book some more I feel.

I will leave you now with the photos

Peace and Love

Baggie