2010

Not the update you were expecting

Tuesday 21st September 2010Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

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

Mommy, Daddy and Éowyn

You have a sticker on your nose!

‘nana-nose!

On the slide!

Ducks! Bread!

Ducks! More Bread!

Like my shades?

Lookin’ cool!

Shake my hand

The Bride

The Happy Couple

The Bride with two hangers-on

Another Quick update

Sunday 5th September 2010Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

Another day off, this is becoming a habit! This time the lawn has been mown. It was starting to resemble a jungle for it has been quite a while since it was last cut and August has been good grass growing weather It is no word of a lie that I took the strimmer to it before I even attempted to use the lawnmower! I’m not proud of that but as you know I have not been at home much and I don’t think the neighbours would take too kindly to me mowing at 0100. Plus I am pretty sure that I would not do a good job in total darkness. Admittedly if you look at the lawn now you would probably say that I haven’t done a good job full stop, but at least it is of a respectable length. It is all too grown up for me!

Tuesday, the last day of August, we had our first day off together as a family for the first time since our holiday in Italy at the end of June. Throughout July Lucinda had worked each weekend while I worked each weekday and throughout August, as you know, I have worked. It was really nice to be together as a family and spend some time together as a threesome before the new baby makes its entrance. Hopefully now that the majority of the hard work has been done and the new workload becomes routine we can settle back into a routine of our own.

It has been nice for me to be able to read Éowyn her three (yes three) bedtime stories again. However, gone are the old favourites of ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘The Whale and the Snail’, ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’, and ‘Room on the Broom’ for classics like ‘The Gingerbread Man’. In fact, I am a little perturbed that she seems to favour ‘The Gingerbread Man’ it hasn’t exactly got a happy ending, unless you are the sly old fox. ‘Not my gumdrop buttons!’ At least it is better than reading the ‘In the Night Garden books’, I just can’t compete with Sir Derek Jacobi’s oration of Makka Pakka, Akka Wakka, Mikka Makka Moo, Makka Pakka Appa Yakka, Ikka Akka, Ooo!

Éowyn’s favourite pastime at the moment though is visiting mommy pig at the bottom of Nanny and Granddad’s garden. That sounds strange, but at the back of Lucinda’s parents’ garden there is, what amounts to, a small holding. There are some goats, a sheep and until recently a pig. However, the pig is now a mommy pig and has 7 little piglets. Éowyn is fascinated with them and keeps picking up windfall apples from the garden and running to the pig. When she is there she launches the apple into the pen shouting “PIG! APPLE!” It is hilarious and it is not just with the pig. Lucinda took her round the lake to feed the ducks. There she was standing at the shore throwing the bread into the water shouting “DUCKS! BREAD!” Perhaps my daughter has a future as a zookeeper. Somehow “ÉOWYN! PEAS!” doesn’t quite work.

Éowyn has become much more comfortable on the phone. There was a time that she would be jabbering away but as soon as you put the phone next to her she would clam up. Not any more. She will quite happily chat to you down the phone, and has left messages on Nanny Fran’s answerphone and spoke to me at work telling me that she had drawn on her legs (see photos below).

Time is precious so I will not bore you any longer, enjoy the photos and stay tuned. Lucinda is officially on maternity leave now so the countdown has truly begun.

Peace and Love

Baggie

NOISE!

Do you know what it is yet?

I’ll have what that woman is having

I’ve got leaves!

Hiding

Another leaf

Swing!

The big wheel

Peep-Po

Wheee!

Aaahhh!

Arrrgghhhh!

Daddy, drawn on my legs!

You can’t see me

Hmm, milkshake

I've got five minutes…

Tuesday 24th August 2010Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

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