Cousins

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Friday 12th November 2010Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

Remember, remember the Fifth of November, gun powder, treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason, should ever be forgot.

Up until this year I have always enjoyed Bonfire night (latent pyromania?), not for the history nor the idea encapsulated in the actions of Guido Fawkes and the other co-conspirators to blow up the House of Lords on the state opening of Parliament (caught by Lord Thomas Knyvet of Stanwell, coincidentally) but the fact that you get to have a big fire, fireworks and eat a variety of wholesome winter grub. Obviously the lighting of bonfires to mark the start of Winter, giving thanks for the previous year and praying for the coming year is an ancient custom, as with many things hijacked for propaganda along the corridors of history and is just now synonymous with poor old Guy . However I may have to revise my liking of the 5th November after this year.

This 5th November this year was a double celebration as it was also the Feast of Diwali (the Festival of Lights), the most important festival in the Hindu calendar. Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama and his vanquishing of the demon-king Ravana. His nation marked the return of their king by illuminating the kingdom with oil lamps. Again this marked the end of the harvest season and prayers for a good harvest for the coming year.

Both of these festivals now incorporate the use of fireworks which although not an integral part of the either of the original festivals definitely compliment their spirits. Plus they are just great. Well, from a personal point of view, they are. However, when you are a two year old girl asleep in your bed loud unknown noises can be quite unsettling. So it was for poor Éowyn who woke up, disturbed by the bangs of the fireworks. Her little heart was beating nineteen to the dozen, and she was extremely upset. Eventually I managed to calm her back to sleep but it took over an hour and I had to stay with her until she fell back to sleep.

This repeated itself the next night, but this is where being a parent puts you in a quandary. Obviously, Éowyn was upset and so it is important to go into her and reassure her. But then the cuddling to sleep, or even just sitting in the room until she drops off could quickly develop from loving reassurance to a bad habit. So, the third night she woke up (and this time there were no fireworks) I had to resort to bad cop. A quick cuddle and a kiss, then I made her lie down and left then room. She cried for five minutes or so, but then succumbed to the arms of Morpheus. A quick sneak back in and tuck her in and the reliance on a parent to be in the room to fall asleep has thankfully gone away.

I also explained everything to her the next morning and she seemed to understand remarkably well, including repeating the sequence of events back to us. ‘Éowyn go to sleep, fireworks noisy, bang, bang, bang! Éowyn wake up, cry. Daddy kiss and cuddle. Éowyn go back to sleep.’ Myself and Lucinda were astounded when she repeated it back to us.

Tuesday was Lucinda’s mum’s 70th birthday and so Sunday she hosted a party for friends and family. It was a big turnout and Éowyn got to play with her cousins (which she always enjoys) and Amélie got to meet the majority of the remainder of Lucinda’s family that she hasn’t met. There are still a few that haven’t been introduced, but all in good time. There was the obligatory buffet and (being so close to Bonfire night) a fire and fireworks. Éowyn was not fazed by the fireworks (because she could see what was causing the bangs). However she was enthralled by the fire, latent pyromania inherited from her father, something we will definitely have to watch!

Amélie is still unsettled and not sleeping for any length of time, however Tuesday saw a visit from the Health Visitor who has come up with a novel explanation. She seems to think that Amélie’s tongue is a little on the short side. Nothing to be worried about per se, but is probably preventing her from latching on correctly and hence she is probably not getting enough of the hind-milk and at the same time giving her wind. It also explains why Amélie has not put as much weight on as one would expect. She currently tips the scales at 4.68kgs (10lb 4.5oz) which means she has dropped from the 75th centile line that she had been hugging for the last 6 weeks. Again, nothing to worry about but another good reason to switch to bottles (with breast milk or formula) and see how things develop.

The first night we gave her formula in the bottle and she slept for 7 hours. It is too early to say anything and we are not counting our chickens but she could be on to something. At least we know how much she is drinking and I can take on some of the feeds, freeing Lucinda from the three hourly ritual. You will have to stay tuned to see if this is a step to a brave new world. I am off work for a week now and so we will have some time together to attempt to force this paradigm shift.

I will now take my leave and let you look at the new crop of photos.

Peace and love

Baggie

Ready for take off

I want to ride my bicycle

Sleeping, close up

Pinned ya!

Grandpa Badger’s children

Great Uncle David and Great Auntie Sally

Whizz Bang

Firestarter

Bang Whizz

The clocks go back

Tuesday 2nd November 2010Wednesday 3rd November 2010Baggie

The last Sunday of October always heralds the advent of winter, the annual flip back to Greenwich Mean Time and darker nights. It can be no later than it was this year, Halloween, but it still doesn’t sweeten the fact that end of another year is hurtling into view. The end of British Summer Time usually means an extra hour in bed, but as anyone with small children will confirm the juvenile circadian rhythm is oblivious to the precepts of the human construct of hours, minutes and seconds, especially for anyone under the age of 13!.

Quite possibly, some of you may have noticed that October 2010 contained 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays and you may have received an e-mail or a well-meaning associate may have informed you that this combination only occurs once in 823 years. If you still have it, take a peek at your 2004 calendar or indeed wait until you receive your 2021 calendar you will find that the Octobers of those years also have 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. Indeed any month that has 31 days has three consecutive days that occur five times that month. Don’t believe me? Check your calendar out. ‘Ah!’ I hear you cry, ‘But not Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays!’ Look at January 2010 I cry back! It is not as rare as you think. Coincidentally October 2004 was the month that Lucinda and I met, but enough of these temporal tidbits and horometrical hypothesizing and back to the matter in hand.

I have now been back at work for a fortnight and although it is difficult spending all day at work then coming back home and helping look after the kids and the house, I think that Lucinda has had the harder task. Looking after two small children on your own is not easy and work, though manic, is not in the same league as looking after two small children. At least I get to have adult conversations (most of the time) and don’t have think and do everything for others, OK at least I don’t have to feed them!

Michaelmas half term, is traditionally the time of the great Puncknowle family holiday and this year was no different, except that the Bagnalls were not there. Unfortunately as I have only just returned to work and the latest addition is not a month old we decided not to go (at least there would be another bedroom available for others). However this meant that there was no close family support for Lucinda, something that did concern me.

A solution did present itself though. My sister had already taken the week of half term off as holiday and with my mom still not back at work a trip to Nanny Fran for my girls beckoned. This meant that Lucinda had some support, my mom and sister got to spend some time with the kids and I could spend a week concentrating on work trying to catch up with thousands of e-mails I had received whilst off on paternity leave. I think that it all helped and by both of us recharging our batteries (in different ways) it makes the challenge of raising two children seem a little easier.

It helps too that Amélie, is increasingly sleeping between feeds, especially at night. Not every feed and not every night but enough for us (and by that I mainly mean Lucinda) to be able to grab 2 to 3 hours of sleep between feeds. Hopefully this can only get better.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this last weekend was Halloween. Éowyn, being the popular child that she is, was invited to two Halloween parties. Hence she needed an outfit, please see below for her Pumpkin outfit! Amélie had to have one too, but I think she is a little young to appreciate it!

Éowyn’s speech is extremely well-developed, she strings quite complex sentences together and apes whatever she hears. You have to be conscious of this, especially if cursing but with any colloquialisms, because Éowyn will repeat it a couple of days later, much to your horror. She is also very adept at reading. OK, I say reading she recognises some words (17 on her flash cards – and a number in books) but she will pick up books and point to the words and read them out. Whether this is reading, or just excellent recall is debatable but nevertheless she will pick books up, point at the words she knows and read them aloud. She will turn the pages, and either recall the story that you have previously read to her, or make one up using the pictures. Sometimes the story that she retells is completely different to that in the book, but they always make sense and with regards to some of the ‘In the Night Garden’ books her stories are quite often far better.

OK, it has been a while so I will stop there and let you enjoy the photos.

Peace and love

Baggie

Amélie asleep

Jump!

I’ll help Nanny Fran

Nanny, Granddad and the Bagnall kids

Granddad and Éowyn

A family of sticker noses!

Call me: ‘The Pumpkin’

Amélie’s halloween costume

A kiss for my sis

Éowyn and Arabella

Through Autumn’s golden gown we used to kick our way

You have fallen for my trap

King me!

Timber!

Oops!

Happy 2nd Birthday

Tuesday 26th October 2010Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

A little belatedly but ‘Happy Birthday’ to my first born. Yes, Éowyn celebrated her second birthday last Sunday, although in true style she celebrated it all weekend and hence no updates!

As my family are still primarily based in the West Midlands and since Nanny Fran is still unable to drive, we headed to West Bromwich so that Éowyn could see her Nanny and Auntie Liz. We also took this opportunity to introduce Amélie to her Great-Grandma and to the husband of her namesake, her Great-Great Uncle Albert. Both enjoyed extended cuddles with Amélie but Éowyn was a little subdued, although she did have excuses. At Great-Grandma’s nursing home I think it is a little overwhelming to enter the common room and I think it freaked her out a little and hung onto Daddy’s leg for protection. While on the way to Great-Great Uncle Albert’s she fell asleep and so we had to wake her and I don’t think that anyone is at their best when they have just been woken up.

We were only at Nanny Fran’s for a little over 24 hours but I think that Éowyn completely wore out her Nanny Fran. Éowyn was so excited all along the motorway and couldn’t wait to get out of the car when we arrived at West Bromwich. She bounded into the house said ‘hello’ then headed for the toy corner and made herself at home. Nanny Fran was a star and looked after Amélie overnight so that we could have a (fairly) uninterrupted night’s sleep to try and put some hours back into the sleep bank.

We headed back home Saturday afternoon and while my 3 girls snoozed I managed to listen to another fine performance of West Bromwich Albion battling back from a two goal deficit at half time to draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford! The first time in Premier League history that Manchester United have let a 2-0 score slip at home in the Premier League (although they did let a 3-1 score slip to Chelsea in 2000). Amélie only knows West Bromwich Albion as a top 6 Premier League team. Boing Boing! (It can’t last can it?)

Sunday, (Éowyn’s birthday) we headed the couple of hundred metres up the road to Lucinda’s parents for Sunday roast with Lucinda’s immediate family and the girls’ cousins. Éowyn loves to play with her cousins including poor Finley who will soon feel left out as the only boy in the group. In fact he is the only great-grandchild of Granddad Badger (Lucinda’s granddad), outnumbered 10 to 1. However, if we take into account the second cousins then the ratio becomes a little more respectable 11 to 2, still the Cathrall family name is reliant on only two males to carry the name forward. I know the feeling. My Grandfather Bagnall had five sons, who between them have had 5 girls and me. It is probably the reason that I am interested in my family history but I think my girls are going to have to keep their surname for this branch of the Bagnall line to carry into the future.

I will leave the update there as this post is a little belated and as I am now back at work you will have to tune in next week to fine out how that is going.

Peace and love

Baggie