Cousins

A quick update

Sunday 1st August 2010Monday 6th September 2010Baggie

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!

My serious face

My happy face

Special Cheebies

Daddy’s shoes!

Not amused!

Concerned looks!

A lady that lunches

Look what I made

Wheee!

Seesaw

Margery Daw

Here comes Finley!

Heatwave!

Monday 12th July 2010Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

And so, after the excitement of a trip abroad and a couple of weeks of the family being together, life settles back to the usual rhythm relatively (and disappointingly) quickly. Work is in full flow for the changeover to HD and the foray into channel launch with associated studio and transmission build. Interesting times lie ahead. As do weeks of longs hours spent away from the family. Myself and Lucinda sat down last night and realised that we only have one day off together between now and September. So bubba nº2 better not come too early.

The weather has been fantastic over the last month with Wimbledon fortnight completed unaffected by rain, but somehow we are never satisfied. It is the summer after all but I suppose although this weather is nice when you are on holiday, when you are trying to work it is another matter. However, this is nothing; when I met up with Sanjiv in Italy he told me that he was glad to be in Italy away from the oppressive heat that they were experiencing in Delhi with temperatures over 45°C. When we were in Italy we were disappointed that the weather was so poor and that it wasn’t hot enough for us to relax by the hotel pool. After a couple of weeks of true summer weather Lucinda especially, can now appreciate the climate in Tuscany. Being heavily pregnant is no fun in hot weather and Lucinda has been suffering with night time temperatures not dropping below 20°C and with no breeze to circulate the air preventing her from getting a god night’s sleep.

Éowyn has been taking full advantage of the fine weather though to play in the garden and splash around in her new paddling pool. We are paranoid about keeping her topped up with sun tan lotion though. She is so fair skinned and both myself and Lucinda burn very easily. At least Éowyn doesn’t mind it and really enjoys wearing her hat. She really enjoys going around Nanny and Granddad’s because their garden is so big and they have a trampoline! Whenever she goes round she makes a bee line for the trampoline dragging anyone that will go with her. Fortunately when her cousins are there they will happily take her there for as they enjoy it too.

Éowyn definitely knows her own mind and will not be easily dissuaded. She has started to use the tears (doesn’t get very far with daddy) and throwing whatever she has in her hands to the ground. It is funny when she hasn’t got anything in her hands to throw for she looks for something to pick up just so that she can throw it to the ground in feigned anger.

On the whole though we are very lucky. She isn’t a naughty child and is quite content to play and learn. As I mentioned in my last update, she is able to count to 10, name her colours, name a wide circle of people, recognise my car and Lucinda’s car, recognise animals and make the sound they make. She has also started to sing a number of the nursery rhymes that we sing to her. (I do use the word ‘sing’ loosely!) When I say sing she kind of mumbles parts of the rhymes and shouts out the words she knows. In fairness to her in the right tune and to the right beat. A little like when you are singing along to a song that you like but don’t quite know the words to apart from maybe the first line of the chorus. Or, for the more religious of you, when an unfamiliar hymn is sung and you join in with the Hallelujahs at the end.

Éowyn has also showed how good a big sister she will be. One of Lucinda’s friends Vereena had her second child Olivia just about a month ago. Lucinda has been to see her a couple of times since we have been back from Italy and has taken Éowyn with her. We were unsure how she would be around a little child but, as with everything with Éowyn , we need not have worried. Vereena sat Éowyn on her settee with a cushion on her lap and placed little Olivia on the cushion. Éowyn was enthralled and kept pointing at Olivia’s eyes and ears and head and calling out the names. When Vereena took Olivia off Éowyn and gave Éowyn as biscuit, Éowyn threw it to the ground in disgust, picked up the cushion, sat back on the settee, placed the cushion on her lap, pointed at Olivia and shouted ‘Baby’. No one was going to have a munch while she was in the room. The second time she went round she wasn’t as possessive but was very helpful. Vereena gave Olivia a bottle and Éowyn wandered off and came back with the Infacol. How she knew what it was for or where it was, we have no idea. Very clever our little one. Then when Vereena was changing Olivia’s nappy Éowyn went a fetched 3 nappies for her. Hopefully she will be this helpful when her sibling arrives.

Anyhow, I have waffled enough I’m not sure how easy it will be for me to update the site over the next month or so, but I will aim for at least one update. Therefore I am placating you with another large group of photos. Enjoy and …

Peace and Love

Baggie

Bouncing with my cousins

Atishoo, Atishoo

We all fall down

Is it a plane?

Of course it is, we are next to Heathrow!

Maddie!

Focus into the distance

Maybe I’ll try baseball

Me and Mommy

Waybuloos!

I gotcha!

Baby!

Looking cute

Éowyn and Georgia

Hand in hand

Hmmm, Ice Cream!

Waterpark on a hot day!

Caroline and Georgia

13 Babies!

Monday 10th May 2010Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

Another new update, this new discipline seems to be working. How long will it last?

So from the excitement of Nanny Fran’s birthday and a stop over in West Bromwich life has settled back to the norm. This means that work is hectic for me and on my days off Lucinda is working, so unfortunately we are not seeing a lot of each other. Éowyn though is seeing both of us on our days off, just not at the same time!

Work has been busy for me for two reasons: a) that we were gearing up for the end of the EPL season (and other end of seasons for ESPN) and b) we are in the middle of a huge recruitment drive that has seen over 1800 c.v.s pass through our (electronic) door. After eliminating 90% via their c.v. (and apparently you are not allowed to use the David Brent philosophy of avoiding employing unlucky people by throwing half the c.v.’s in the bin without reading them – shame) we then get the lucky ones into the office to interview. This is obviously necessary but is quite a strain on the usual workload but nevertheless it is comforting to be part of a company that is expanding especially in the economic uncertainty that pervades western society. Now, nepotism is rife in the TV industry (as much as in many others) but unfortunately there are laws against child labour else I am sure that Éowyn would be a strong candidate for a number of the roles.:

VT/MCR: she is very good at pressing buttons; can put many electronic devices into modes that are not mentioned in the manual only for her to hand it back to daddy saying (O-oh!) so that he can fix it, and more importantly, can ensure that the correct feed is on her monitor (Cbeebies on the telly).

Sound Assistant: excellent at checking microphones by blabbling into them and can count to 2.

The big news of the fortnight though is that the ‘bird has flown’. After a month of feeding our expectant mother duck, she began to hiss at us on Friday. This we took that the eggs were beginning to hatch so we respected her privacy and did not encroach in her space. Then Sunday morning she waddled across the lawn, tapped on the back door to show her 13 (yes 13!) ducklings. We put a tray of water and another of duck feed that we have done for the last few weeks and she ate eagerly. I assume that while the duckling were hatching she did not stray from the nest and so must have been starving. The ducklings moved as one mass following their mother but (and quite rightly) keeping their distance from us.

Then Monday morning we woke to find mother duck and her 13 ducklings (yes, all of them are still alive) were in next door’s garden, obviously heading for the stream. So in a co-ordinated effort, next door opened their garden gate and neighbours positioned themselves either end of the service road behind our houses to warn any motorists of the precious convoy. Down the family waddled to the stream and off they swam. Now they are in the big wide world but I think we will still keep half an eye our for them.

Now we can actually get into our garden and mow the lawn and trim the weeds. It was a good excuse for the last month, and as you can see from the photos below it is amazing how quickly the garden can look a mess if it is neglected, but now there is no excuse. So this afternoon we will get the lawn looking respectable.

I will use that cue to bid you adieu and leave you with some new photos including some of our adopted family.

Peace and love

Baggie