2009

Must try harder

Monday 5th October 2009Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

I had always said that if I was going to start this website/ blog then I would keep it updated regularly. However I feel that I am not living up to that promise at the moment. So, I will apologise to all that regularly read this in an effort to keep up to date with Éowyn’s progress and obviously to enjoy the latest photos. I must try harder!

Thursday brought the year round to October, the month of Éowyn’s birth. This time last year, we were poised on the edge of parenthood not knowing what the future held, or indeed when the momentous day would occur. Éowyn was due on the 5th but as per ‘all good things’ she made us wait, but I will leave the reflections for another post.

Life has settled down into its usual pattern of my shift pattern after the excitement of the summer and so I have been able to enjoy being at home a little more. However, we never seem to rest on our laurels and try to fit things in on my days off and last weekend was no exception to that.

Last Friday we managed a second trip of the year to the cinema due to the generosity of Lucinda’s brother (Mike) and his baby-sitting skills. I am sure that Éowyn was aware that we wanted to go out for it took her a long time to settle herself to sleep. Nevertheless she dropped off and we managed to make it in time for the film we were hoping to see (District 9). This is by far the least number of cinema trips I have made in a year for more that 20 years. I have even been known to see more than two in a day on a number of occasions. We will be fitting at least one more trip in before the turn of the year since Lucinda is eager to see New Moon, the second of the Twilight series after being hooked on the books and I thought I was the geek of the family!

The next day we spent ambling about the home, taking it easy and just playing with Éowyn for we were heading down to Liphook in Hampshire for the evening. Hollycombe is a working steam museum and every September/ October they open into the evening (10pm) so that one can experience the steam fair at night. The greater Cathrall clan headed down there early and we cooked up a barbeque in the car park before heading in as the sun went down. The rides are in remarkable order considering they a close to 100 years old and it is interesting to imagine the wonder the Edwardians must have felt at these rides when they first saw them. It was also interesting to see how much the children were enjoying it and getting the thrills out of the rides even though they are veterans of Thorpe Park et al. It was great fun and Éowyn behaved impeccably, considering it was totally against her routine. We even took her on the carousel and she loved it, sitting there with a big grin on her face. At her usual time she fell asleep in her pushchair and hardly stirred despite the noise and lights of the fairground.

Sunday was a trip to Nanny Fran’s in West Bromwich. It was my sister Elizabeth’s birthday and so it was a good excuse to pay a visit. Also with Éowyn’s birthday around the corner it meant that Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz could take Éowyn and Lucinda around Merry Hill and choose a present for her. I managed to wheedle out of traipsing around the shops by arranging to meet up with my mate Bobby and we sat in the pub putting the world to rights. I think that was a fair compromise. Again Éowyn was in a very cheery mood, despite the previous night’s excitement and entertained her Nanny and Auntie for the best part of the day. It always seems too short when we zoom up to the Black Country for a day but it we wnot be long before Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz will see her again.

This week it was Lucinda’s turn to entertain the NCT girls for their coffee morning and I was off, which is a rare occurance. It was really interesting to see how much Éowyn enjoyed people she knew coming round, and there was a definite delight on her face when her little friends turned up. It was also quite amusing when she went up to Blake and gave him a hug. He just turned to his mum and burst out crying. I don’t think that Éowyn understood why he was so upset and looked at him as if to say, ‘I’m only giving you a hug!’

Before I leave you for this update one little thing that Éowyn has started to do this week is very touching and that is to string words together. The first was on Tuesday of last week when she said ‘Bye Daddy’ as I left for work. Then on Friday when I was at work, she picked up her toy phone, not once but twice, and said ‘Hello Daddy’. Okay, maybe not the oration skills of Winston Churchill or Abraham Lincoln but just as important to me.

Enjoy the photos…

Baggie!

Aaaahhhh!

They went that way!

I’m not doin’ anyfink!

Hollycombe Steam Museum

Me, Daddy and Nanny

On the Carousel

Cup o’ Char

Ooo makes a lovely brew?

Cath Kidston?

Hello Daddy

Coming through

Peep-Po

http://www.hollycombe.co.uk/

A week off work

Monday 14th September 2009Baggie

As the title suggests I have taken this past week off from work. I had been working so hard in August that I barely saw anyone outside of mediahouse including my wife and child and it was time to right that injustice. It has been a fabulous week spending time with the family and I have loved every moment of it but it has flown by too quickly but at least this site gives me an opportunity to ponder what we did and share it with you. It seems that not only has the week vanished before our eyes but another month has flown by too, or indeed, should I say a year has flown by. It is now September and Lucinda has now been on maternity leave for a whole year, although that will soon be at an end (see later for details).

We had had many thoughts on what to do with this week. Nip down to Devon, travel up to the Lake District but it all involved money and far too long in the car, which kind of defeated the object of a relaxing week for me and time to catch up with the family. It is hard to play with your daughter when you are driving down a motorway and it is difficult to catch up with your wife when you are arguing over directions. So we decided that we would stay at home and take things nice and easy.

That was exactly what we did on Monday, however Tuesday promised to be one of the hottest days of the year (27°C) and so we decided to head down to Brighton for the day. Éowyn loves the sea and we both enjoy a trip to Brighton so it seemed like the right thing to do. We got down there fairly quickly (we had waited until after the rush hour so that, with any luck the M25/ M23 would be clear. Thankfully it was, however you can never be sure with either of those motorways and for once the weatherman had correctly predicted the weather, it was a glorious day. We strolled along the prom (prom, prom?), paddled in the sea, took a walk down the pier and ate fish ‘n’ chips: can you get any closer to a perfect quintessential British day trip to the seaside? Before we left we headed via the studio shop of Sheila Marshall an artist that Lucinda has admired for a couple of years. While on her hen-do Lucinda first saw Sheila’s paintings of cupcakes and sweets and decided that she wanted one. It has taken her over 2 years but we headed back and Lucinda was determined that she wasn’t going to leave Brighton without something by her.

The first of Éowyn’s group of friends (OK, the children of the fellow parents from our NCT group) have just celebrated their first birthday and so the usual coffee morning was turned into a joint first birthday party for the group. As I was off, I was allowed into this inner sanctum of motherhood on the pretence of ‘Official Photographer’ and so if you look on the Flickr pages (link in left hand column) there are a number of photos from the party. I think that they all enjoyed themselves, although it wore them all out and all had either succumb to a nap or left the party completely shattered (some things will not change as they grow older!).

It was another momentous day on Thursday as we took Éowyn to Jo, who will hopefully be our childminder when Lucinda returns to work. Éowyn seemed to enjoy herself, especially since there was a new box of toys to play with, including a drum (no she is not having one at home!). She also seemed at ease with Jo, which bodes well for us. Both myself and Lucinda like Jo and are very happy with how fate has guided us to her. We now have to introduce Éowyn to Jo and gradually leave her with Jo so that she is fully happy to be there when mommy and daddy leave.

This leads nicely onto Lucinda’s work situation. After, what seems like an age and a not too hopeful meeting with her boss she has been given job-share which is exactly what we were hoping for. Her leave of absence has been granted until 21st October, so she gets an extra couple of weeks off and will see Éowyn’s first birthday without having to think too much about work. This will mean that Lucinda will work 2 days on, then have 4 days off and with my shift pattern should hopefully mean that we will only need about 6 days worth of child-minding each month. We realise how lucky we are, now we just have to work out a schedule of dropping her off and picking her up, but that will come.

Our other achievement for the week was to break a habit that we should have broke a while ago, namely rocking Éowyn to sleep. It is just a habit that we have gotten into and never changed, so this work we made a concerted effort to break it and we have. Now we just put her in her cot and leave her to settle herself. It only takes between 10 and 20 minutes, which hopefully will get shorter as she gets used to it. It is quite funny to watch her routine. She picks each of her soft toys up, kind of gives them a hug and then throws them out of the cot. Then after realising that standing up and crying doesn’t get the desired effect (i.e. mom or dad picking her up and cuddling her) she attempts to go to sleep. Not sure if it is just me but on the rare times that I have difficulty dropping off to sleep I attempt various positions to see if that works and Éowyn does the same, however hers are more extreme! I think that she covers every inch of the bed before she finally settles down, but she is learning a new skill and when she realises that it is easier just to fall asleep than to thrown yourself around the cot we might get easier bedtimes.

There are plenty of new photos on the Flickr site but here are a few of my favourites.

Peace and love

Baggie!

Éowyn and mommy in Brighton

In the sea at Brighton

And for my next trick…

Give me a hug!

Hug for the woof-woof

Peep-po

The first birthday party

The birthday cake

Half the gang

Bubbles!

Teaching daddy to read

Completely worn out

It's been a while

Monday 31st August 2009Sunday 1st January 2017Baggie

Apologies to all the regular readers for the lack of update over the last 3 weeks or so. I have been a tad busy. IMG has won a couple of major contracts, namely Studio and live operations for the newly launched ESPN channel in the UK and the Football League show for the BBC. Two prestigious clients but a lot of work to get them on the air and devise systems to integrate them into our current operations. A lot of hard work but something that I really enjoy. However, with my shift opposite on holiday, it has meant that more of the onus has been on me and in order to fully define the technical solution I have been doing long hours and extra days. Hence the lack of time for updates (on this website anyway, myself and a colleague Jay Versluis have created one to impart information to our freelance staff. If you are at all interested you will find it here).

Unfortunately this means that I have not seen that much of Lucinda or Éowyn either, in fact on some days neither of them were awake while I was in the house!

The month started with Éowyn’s nine month check up at the Health Centre. Just a general check up to ensure that she is developing both physically and mentally. The health visitor seemed quite happy with her development, her weight is in the 50th centile and her height in just above the 98th centile. She can do all the things that they would expect a 9-month old should do: grasp small objects, pass them from one hand to the other, clap, crawl, etc. Without appearing to be boastful parents we did not have too much worries regarding her development, she appears to be quite precocious.

The next stage in her development is the fact that she has outgrown her first car seat. After some consideration we opted for the Maxi Cosi Axiss due to the fact that it rotates on its base. It will save our backs lifting her in at an angle, especially as she gets heavier. She was unsure of it at first because it faces forward, she has always travelled backwards, and it is a different experience looking out the windscreen. No doubt she will get used to it rather quickly.

To add to the lack of contact I have had with my wife and child this month, they left me for a week. Not in that sense. Lucinda’s parents took their grandchildren (and Lucinda) on holiday with their friends Mike and Sue (and their grand-daughter). Mike and Sue have a holiday home, made from a 2 converted train carriages, in Selsey, the most southerly point in West Sussex. Éowyn had a fantastic time, as did her cousins. Éowyn is now of an age that she can play with the older children. Obviously she can not do all the things that they can but she can interact with them and they enjoy teaching her things.

Éowyn also played in the sea for the first time. It was not the first time that she had seen the sea. When we stayed in Devon in May we had a day trip to Padstow and introduced her to the sea then, but as she was dressed in one of her posh dresses that day she didn’t get her feet wet. Down at Selsey it was a different matter as the holiday home was just a short walk from the beach. So Lucinda dressed Éowyn in her swimming costume and took her down to the sea. She loved being in the sea, crawling on the sand after the outgoing tide and when she reached the sea, splashing and giggling. She was enjoying herself so much that when Lucinda thought that she should take her in, the tantrums started and she hit Lucinda so hard that it made her nose bleed.

That wasn’t her first tantrum that happened a couple of days before the trip to Selsey. Lucinda was tecting on her mobile phone when Éowyn decided that she wanted it. Obviously, Lucinda didn’t let her have it and waterworks and lungs were turned on full effect. We just looked at her in shock and little disbelief, which in a way was the right thing to do as we did not react to it and it soon stopped. However, I think that it is only the precursor to another stage of development. How we are looking forward to that one… not!

There has probably been a lot more incidences that I should retell but I think after a month of silence the only things that you are interested in are the new photos. So who am I to carry on…

Peace and love

Baggie!