Funny

Reluctant Landlords

Tuesday 3rd September 2013Saturday 7th September 2013Baggie

I am spoiling you this week. You have just had a special for Amélie’s first day at nursery, and now a second in a week. Even disregarding the bonus write-up it is has not been quite as long between ‘actual’ write-ups as one would usually expect. Not that it has become any less busy this past fortnight but my workdays have not been quite as long so I can squeeze in a little time for you dear readers. The stress at work is still quite high bedding in a new season, coupled with a new technical facility, coupled with new clients and a new delivery system and all the associated issues blending these together. At home, the stress is different but equally as high, with our blighted home and attempting to purchase a new home coupled with raising three children under the age of five. How Lucinda and I are both so young looking, I’ll never know!

The children are not helping during this stressful time, Amélie especially. With Éowyn not at pre-school (and not yet at school proper) the girls are spending a lot of time together, winding each other up in only the way sisters can. Amélie as you may recall is a little bit of thief and, in the past, has earned the name ‘Swiper’. However, she has been relatively good of late. Therefore, last Thursday when Lucinda and I were getting ready to head to our first wedding of the season (Jon and Taryn – congratulations guys) and Lucinda couldn’t find her purse, Amélie was least in our minds.

Lucinda looked in every bag and everywhere else that she may have put it and came, quite reasonably to the conclusion that it must have fallen out of her bag the previous night after she had paid for her groceries at the supermarket. She called the supermarket, it hadn’t been handed in and so to add to the stress that we are under, Lucinda began to cancel all of her credit and debit cards that were in that purse while I drove to Braxted Park in Essex for the Dodds’ wedding (photos here). Fortunately nothing had been added to (or taken from) the cards, so they hadn’t been used nefariously, which was good; however as most of them are joint cards it meant that my mine were also compromised and so had to be cancelled too, which was bad.

Nevertheless, we put it out of our minds and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the wedding with the Baguettes (our nickname for the little Bagnalls) safely in the care of Nanny Fran. Nanny Fran had thankfully driven down from West Bromwich the day before to look after her grandchildren while we celebrated in Essex. It was an excellent wedding, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves ‘East of London’, and we wish the Dodd’s all the best for their future lives together.

Ezra, however was not quite as well behaved as he usually is and gave Nanny Fran a little trouble. Ezra doesn’t normally take bottled milk but I have managed to give him a bottle on a couple of occasions when Lucinda has been out but he wasn’t going to have it from Nanny Fran. Éowyn however was full of good advice for her Nanny. When Ezra was fussing and refusing the bottle, Éowyn calmly said, ‘Nanny, there is no other way, you are going to have to get your boobs out.‘ Nanny Fran explained that only a mommy can feed a baby to which Éowyn replied, ‘But you are a mommy.‘ There is no denying the logic from our eldest. Poor Nanny Fran.

Ezra is no longer solely relying on milk but taking solids and thoroughly enjoying them. Indeed, he is not content until every scrap of food has been scraped from the bowl. Definitely a Bagnall! He probably needs the extra food for he no longer sits or lies still but is moving around the house quite well. He isn’t crawling as such, although gets himself into the crawl position (and sometimes ‘the plank’), but as mentioned in a previous update tends to ninja roll across the floor and then moves backwards until a wall or a piece of furniture stops his progress. I don’t think it will be long before he is chasing his big sisters around the house.

I will use that as a segue into our big story of the last few months:

As regular readers will know we have found a house that we love and have had our offer accepted. We had found buyers and we had accepted their offer. Mortgages had been arranged and the chain was complete, it seems that everything was going well. That was mid-July. Two days later BAA announced their proposals for a possible expansion of Heathrow airport, namely the building of the third runway. One of those proposals involves the complete destruction of our village, Stanwell Moor. Even though this is but one proposal, regarding one airport, it has effectively blighted our sale and our buyers pulled out specifically citing those proposals as a risk they are not willing to take. I can completely sympathise with their decision, but what does that mean for us?

We had two options:

Pull out of our sale knowing that it would be unlikely that we would be able to move until the proposals are confirmed
See if we could keep our current home and still buy

We had already consigned ourselves to moving and once we had made that decision, no matter how much we love our current home and Stanwell Moor, there was not going to be any turning back. So option 2 was pursued. After a heavy discussion and consulting a financial adviser, we had an option: rent our current house and become reluctant landlords. So that is what we are doing, the mortgage applications are in and soon we will be in a frightening amount of debt, but we will have a home that is big enough to accommodate our growing family, let’s hope that we can get tenants or it is going to be a very short experiment!

Money is going to be tight and so knowing where your purse is quite important. Lucinda was still wondering where her purse had gone the day after the wedding. It hadn’t been handed in at the supermarket, it hadn’t fallen out of her bag in the car and it seemingly wasn’t in the house. She was sure she had brought it home but the evidence seemed to point to the contrary. None of the cards had been used so it appears it hadn’t been stolen. The girls have a wooden kitchen that is positioned just inside our dining room. Lucinda, tidying up some of the girl’s toy foods, opened one of the cupboards in their kitchen to put them away only to see her purse stuffed at the back. Glad she had found it but obviously wanted to know what had happened. Sensing the fingerprints of Swiper, Lucinda asked Amélie if she had moved Mommy’s purse.

‘No Mommy, it was Éowyn.‘ Lucinda disbelieving the incumbent thief asked if it was truly Éowyn. ‘No Mommy, it was the fairies.‘ It is hard to be cross with her and the only thing you can say is that Amélie really needs to work on her lies. Therefore, although it was annoying that Lucinda had cancelled her cards at least her purse had been found and thus so had all the other accoutrements that are found in a lady’s purse, of which one does not speak.

Tuesday was Amélie’s second day and first full day at nursery. This wasn’t quite as smooth as the previous Thursday. All morning Amélie was saying that she didn’t want to go to school and got herself quite upset. Lucinda was getting emotional herself and was close to not letting her go. Time for Daddy to be the baddie. It was always the plan that I would take her, so not showing any emotion I tried to distract her, giving her a special assignment that she had to tell me the names of three people from school when I picked her up. This stopped her crying and the Muppets soundtrack in the car on the way to Tiny Tots cheered her up and she quite happily held my hand and walked to school. However as she stepped into the classroom the tears started again. The staff were great and picked her up and just encouraged her to move from the door and go and play.

She was a little upset when we picked her up but the staff said that she had been fine during the day and even had got a sticker for sitting nicely and listening (wish she would do that at home!). It is going to take her a while to settle in, as it did with Éowyn but I doubt it will take very long, we just have to be strong as parents, that means you Lucinda!

I have actually just had a couple of days off work (the first two days in a row for a month or so) and so with Éowyn starting school later this week (standby for another special) I have had an opportunity to spend some quality time with the family. Therefore there hasn’t been the usual choice of photos but I will leave you with some knowing that it will not be long before you are back here for the second special and third update in a week. I am spoiling you aren’t I?

A quick mention (forgotten in the rush of the previous update) for Lucinda’s mum and dad on celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on the 17th August (the first day of the Premier League season – so someone was missing). Congratulations and I truly hope that in 2057 Lucinda and I will be celebrating our golden anniversary.

Peace and love

Baggie

Daddy and Éowyn

I’ve got blue feet

Come here you

Daddy and Ezra

Not my cupcake!

Throwing bread to the ducks

Adventure time

Safety first

Even got my wellies on

Nanny Fran and Ezra

What are these!

Modern technology

A Play-Doh wig

Not impressed

But it is funny!

Still laughing now

Ready for anything

Too cute

Baking with my cousins

Pretty for the party

My pretty hair

Pretty sisters

Mommy and Éowyn

Nanny and Granddad’s Golden Anniversary

An offer has been accepted – but it is more complicated than that!

Tuesday 20th August 2013Wednesday 21st August 2013Baggie

It is the midst of the busiest time of the year for me I am struggling to find time to do an update but as I always try to do one every month and I haven’t missed yet, 2013 isn’t going to be that year! Therefore you will need to excuse the brevity of this write up, I will do better when the world has calmed down.

So what is going on? Our new technical premises are coming on line and I am spending my time making things work as well as making sure that everyone is kept in the loop with the changes and new processes. It is hard work and it is keeping me from my family, a necessary evil and although I am not happy about it, it is something that needs to be done – in the short term. Therefore many of the following anecdotes are second hand to me.

Just before the madness at work started however, we did manage one last family date and that was the to the Frimley Lodge Miniature Railway. Both Éowyn and Amélie enjoyed the Cockcrow Railway when they went in May (except Amélie didn’t like the spooky tunnel) and because Daddy missed out we decided to pay a visit to Frimley. Nanny and Granddad joined us and I am not sure who had the most fun. It was a very pleasant day – not as hot as it had been – and there were plenty of people with the same idea. The queues looked huge when we got there but it is surprising how many people they can fit on one train and so you never had to wait long for a ride.

Just down from the railway was a children’s playground with the usual accoutrements one would expect with the addition of a zip wire. Éowyn loved it and we had to keep launching her down the wire. Éowyn was probably only just old enough to safely hang on and thankfully Amélie didn’t fancy it and I think we would have had tears when Daddy said no.

Amélie is certainly becoming more independent and is pushing the boundaries. She has also taken to making up excuses but her imagination is a little too wild to make them believable. You may recall that she had blamed the big bad wolf for stealing something from our bedroom and was a little surprised that we didn’t believe her. Well that theme is continuing. We always like to give the girls a little choice over what they would like to wear each day. Lucinda was taking the girls out and wanted Amélie to wear a nice dress. ‘How about this nice spotty dress, Amélie?‘

‘I can’t possibly wear that dress mommy.‘

‘Why not?‘

‘It makes my teeth fall out.‘

Lucinda, stifling laughter, ‘How about this one?‘ Pointing to an equally nice dress.

‘No Mommy, that one makes me sick!‘

She is quite funny though when she is trying to get something out of you. If you refuse her request she will look you in the eye, smile and holding her forefinger and thumb close together (but not touching) say ‘Just a little bit.’ It is hard to refuse with her cute smile and cheeky face.

Éowyn is growing up far too fast, however there are still the vulnerabilities of a four year old. She begun to enjoy watching Scooby Doo however she still has a vivid imagination. So, in the darkness of her room late at night her imagination must of begun to kick in and she began to have nightmare about Mommy and Daddy being skelebones (as she called skeletons). So after giving her a cuddle and telling her a story about princesses she eventually went back to sleep. The next few nights she began to be scared to go to sleep in case she had bad dreams so Scooby Doo has been banned in the this house, at least for a couple of years and we make sure that the bedtime stories are about nice things. However, we did complete the BFG and the idea of 54 foot giants snatching children out of their beds and eating them hasn’t upset her in quite the same way as Scooby Doo.

Ezra, too, has taken some large developmental steps. He has outgrown his moses basket and been moved to a cot in his own room. He has begun to take solid food, and had a bottle or two of formula milk (thereby freeing Lucinda up to go out without worrying too much about the next three hour feed). He has slept through the night, twice (which isn’t as bad as it sounds – for me at least – as he doesn’t spend the night crying he just wakes about 0300, feeds and then goes back to sleep). He has also begun to move. Not so much crawling but ninja rolling is probably the best description. You put him on his play mat on his back in the middle of the room and you turn your back for a second and he is the other side of the room on his front, rifling through Lucinda’s bag. The girls are going to have to learn quickly that anything that they leave on the floor will soon be fair game to their little brother. I wonder how long it will take them to learn.

So what is the title of this write up all about? As you know we are trying to sell our house and we have found a house that we want to buy. Surely it should be as simple as that. As those of you that have bought and sold houses will know, it is never that simple and the emotional rollercoaster of buying and selling a house is not exactly what I need at the moment as we are in the middle of a move at work which is as equally stressful. Nevertheless that is where we are and hopefully we are on the downward slope.

If I had managed to find time last week to complete this write up then that is exactly what I would have thought. However there is always something that comes along and bites you on the bum!

So after having the initial offer on the house that we have fallen in love with rejected, accepted, gazumped and finally a higher and final bid accepted our buyers dropped the bombshell yesterday that they are pulling out citing the Heathrow expansion plans as the reason. I can completely see it from their point of view and it is such a shame because not only were they a nice couple that I think would have fitted in with the neighbours (call us sentimental but we liked the idea of our house being handed over to nice people) they also loved the house and the village. Unfortunately one of the Heathrow airport expansion proposals will mean that our village will become Stanwell No Mo(o)re and a third runway will be built on top of our house. We need to come up with a cunning plan if the only house that we have seen that we like is going to slip through our fingers (indeed, potentially any hope of moving!) and we truly hope that this doesn’t mean that regardless of decisions regarding the Heathrow expansion (and that is still a couple of years off, mid-2015 – and even then the government of the day does not have to make any definite decision) Stanwell Moor will be blighted (although not officially as they are no definite plans) in much the same way as Sipson, Longford and Harmondsworth are, and have been for some time. Can anyone give me the 6 lottery numbers for this weekend please?

As ever I promise I will keep you up to speed with developments.

Peace and Love

Baggie

A miniature locomotive

A giant carrot

Nanny and Ezra

On my way

Watch out

Got you!

Wassup?

With my big sister

Safety first

Cheeky smile

Watching Auntie Liz

Poser

Mommy and Amélie

Ezra with Nanny

Amélie and Mommy

It has been a while

Monday 22nd July 2013Wednesday 24th July 2013Baggie

I am necessitous of absolution from you dear readers. Apart from a slow start I have been updating this website with some alacrity this year but as we hit the halfway mark, nothing. Nigh on four weeks and no news from the Bagnalls. Now the reason for the lack of updates is nothing to do with a lack of news. On the contrary there is perhaps a little too much news for one update. No, the reason for the lack of updates is due more to the fact that we have been taking full advantage of the hiatus before my working life takes over family life for a month or so. The fact that the UK is currently enjoying (or not – depending on your point of view) its first proper heatwave for 7 years also adds to the desire to enjoy the outdoors rather than sitting indoors on the computer (and if you look on our Flickr page you will see over 100 photos taken over the last three weeks or so). So although I beg your forgiveness dear readers I make no apology for spending the time with the family!

The disadvantage of leaving four weeks between write ups is the fact that there is so much to tell you and yet I fear that I will bore you if I regale it all verbatim so this will be more a précis than usual.

On the last day of June, Staines-upon-Thames celebrated Staines-upon-Thames day. So to show support to our local town (and because Ashford on the Map was so good) we decided to head down with the kids. Unfortunately Staines-upon-Thames days was not a patch on Ashford on the Map and we were actually disappointed, the only highlight was a boat trip down the Thames. It was then back home for the first of many barbecues.

With the approaching school holidays (and my approaching busy period at work) we decided to get a head of the game and spend a day at the seaside before it gets mobbed with schoolchildren. We decided on Mudeford since we enjoyed our trip to Hengistbury Head and since we only passed through Mudeford we thought it would be nice to actually explore Mudeford for a day instead of just using it to catch the ferry. Nanny and Granddad know Mudeford quite well and they joined us on our trip to the seaside. The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as did Lucinda and I and Nanny and Granddad.

The turn of the school year marks a big change for Éowyn. No longer will she be at pre-school but will start full time education at Town Farm school in Stanwell. The last few weeks saw Éowyn begin the transition and preparation for the move. Lucinda and I had a tour and introductory chat with the staff; Éowyn spent an hour and a half at school (and although she was very teary when I left her there by all accounts she was on good form and was one of the more confident children) and then Éowyn’s teacher Miss Finbow paid her and us a visit at home. It was something that surprised us but in a nice way. It is good that Miss Finbow got to see Éowyn in her environment and she how she spends her time. I think that Miss Finbow was a little overwhelmed with the greeting that she received. The girls were both very excited to see her and Éowyn had drawn her a picture of a butterfly and wouldn’t leave her alone. At least Miss Finbow is forewarned before she receives Éowyn in September.

Éowyn has taken the fact that she is going to ‘Big School‘ to heart. She has stopped sucking her thumb (which is a massive achievement as she has been sucking her thumb since birth), begun taking showers and ventured in the realms of older children television programmes. She has insisted that we teach her to read and has been practising drawing (drawings that actually look like something) and writing her letters and numbers.

Her choice of television programmes are interesting as they are the same ones that I used to enjoy when I was a child: Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo. In fact as I came home one evening I opened the door to hear one of the most delightful sounds there is. Éowyn was giggling and Ezra was giggling too! Éowyn was watching Tom and Jerry and thought it was one of the funniest things she had ever seen and Ezra was sitting there giggling at Éowyn giggling. The small things in life are the best.

Ezra is also developing at a rapid pace. He is now four months old but looks much older (he is a bit of chunk!). He is still relatively placid only crying for a reason (hunger, nappy change, wind), however he now wants a little more entertaining. He enjoys holding his toys and rattling the ones that make a noise. He has also begun to roll over. Therefore you have to be careful where you leave him and not only does he roll on to his belly and also rotates around so he can be quite far from where you left him. As a consequence we have to be careful where we leave him unattended. It probably will not be long before he begins to crawl – taking after Éowyn more than Amélie!

Let us not forget about Amélie, she, too, is growing up. Unfortunately she is starting to go through the terrible twos. Not quite as terrible as Éowyn’s terrible twos but because Amélie is so much of a cutey that the slight change in attitude is noticeable. Again you have to look at everything in an holistic manner rather than in isolation. Thus with unemotional attachment you can see that Amélie could be overcompensating for a perceived lack of attention with Ezra taking at lot of our time and obviously with Éowyn’s imminent change in school, Amélie could feel that she is being left out. Obviously we are trying not to make that so but I think it will be the perennial problem facing us that there is always the possibility that one of the three will feel left out at some point. So no doubt this will become a common, if somewhat unwanted, theme.

It probably didn’t help that I paid a flying (literally and metaphorically) visit to New York (well Stamford, Connecticut) for a meeting with one of our new clients for the Premier League, NBC. As an important client it was an important meeting to have to ensure that we can provide the level of service that they expect. We were only on the other side of the pond for 36 hours and the states were experiencing a heatwave every much as intense as ours. I think that the girls (and Ezra) missed me but the little cuddly toys that I picked up at the airport more than made up for my absence!

The other big news of the last month is the fact that we have accepted an offer on our house. It is in the region of what we wanted to accept and the couple that are buying it seem very nice and so we feel that we are handing it over to worthy custodians and at the same time not leaving the neighbours with someone that we wouldn’t want to live next door to. We still haven’t found anywhere to buy ourselves though, so it could be that we could be homeless before the autumn (a caravan in Nanny and Granddad’s back garden could be an option!). The only house that we have both fallen in love with is a little out of our reach but we have put an offer on the table and entered into a negotiation with our ability to move quickly the ace that we are trying to play over the higher offer that they have already accepted. The joys of buying a house! Let us see how that pans out.

Before I leave you to look through the photos there is just enough time for me to wish Lucinda a happy anniversary. It has been 6 years since she said ‘I do’ and made me a very happy man. We have squeezed a lot into the last 6 years but probably not as much as we will fit into the next 6 weeks, with a potential home move, a definite work move, Éowyn due to start school, Amélie due to start nursery and Ezra due to start crawling. Thus, I am sure you can appreciate that the next few months are going to be somewhat busy so I apologise in advance for any perceived lack of news and any tardiness in relating it to you all via this medium but there are only so many hours in a day!

Peace and love

Baggie

PS This must be the only website written on the 22nd July 2013 that hasn’t mentioned the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s son, our future monarch. Damn!