Funny

Daddy’s 40th

Baggie

And so the Bagnall family celebrates its second momentous event of the month, indeed the week: my 40th birthday.  On the vernal equinox 1973, the joyous strains of Slade were sitting at the top of the UK single charts and I made my appearance in this world.  There have been plenty of ups and downs over the past four decades and anyone that has lived this long will have their own stories and this website is mine.

The day before my birthday we spent a quietish day mostly at home.  We ventured as far as the other side of the village to Nanny and Granddad’s for tea and buns to allow Nanny an Ezra cuddle while I gave Granddad his latest computer lesson on his laptop.  Then in the evening Ezra finally met his last Uncle and Auntie (Michael and Cristina) who had been on a snowboarding holiday when he was born.  He is well and truly a fully paid up member of the Cathrall-Bagnall clan.

The next day was my birthday.  So this is fortieth birthday I have celebrated, some have involved beer, some have involved tears, most have involved cake this is the first that has involved a week old baby.  Quite often one has a long list of wants for their birthday, this birthday was slightly different all I really really wanted was a good night’s sleep.  Thankfully Ezra is a very contented baby, he has not been too much trouble so far (I hope that hasn’t put the collybosh on that).  He sleeps, he eats, he poops and he only cries when he is hungry.  He is a very different newborn to both Éowyn and Amélie, in a good way.

So how did I celebrate this momentous occasion?  After a relevantly good night’s sleep (thank you Ezra) and after the girls gave me my card and presents I took Éowyn to school and the little egret that we first spotted the day of Ezra’s birth saw us off.  While I was taking Éowyn to school Lucinda cooked me a full English breakfast while I opened my cards and presents.  The pick of my presents was from my family and it is a super car driving experience at Chobham test track.  To be booked for some time this years I get to tear round a race track in one of six cars that I can only ever dream of owning.  I think I know which one I hope to drive but after the success of the naming poll I may just open it up to my readers to see which one you guys would chose.

Then the excitement of my birthday moved up a notch as we left Amélie at Nanny and Granddad’s while the three of us (Lucinda, Ezra and I) headed for lunch in Windsor after buying a new vacuum cleaner (not a hoover, as some may call it, a Dyson to be accurate, a DC34 Animal to be precise).  We know how to live.

The evening saw us at Nanny and Granddad’s for dinner, we were joined by Uncle Michael and Auntie Cristina and Lauren.  Unfortunately the evening was cut a little short as Amélie wasn’t feeling very well.  Indeed by the time we got her home she was running a temperature of 39.4ºC – scarily approaching the 40ºC when you should be heading to hospital.  We put her to bed and dosed her up with Calpol and monitored her temperature every hour.  The Calpol did its job.  She was still hot but at least her temperature was coming down.

Ezra slept well the night of my birthday again, going 5 hours between feeds, unfortunately Amélie did not.  She was still feeling the effects of her illness.  This could be a precursor of our future lives.  Even if the youngest member of our family sleeps there are still two older children that may not.

Thursday seemed to disappear.  Again Éowyn went to school while we took Amélie to sing-song time at Staines library.  She still wasn’t fully herself but she really enjoys the sing song time and so we thought it was important to take her.  She seemed to perk up after that but the illness had one final twist before bedtime.  Without going into all the gory details part of me was quite glad that she was wearing tights for it was contained.  However part of me wished she hadn’t been wearing tights for it was contained.  I cleaned her up and a quick bath followed by Calpol and she is back in bed.  Hopefully she has now turned the corner and hasn’t passed it on to any of us, especially Ezra who she delights in holding and kissing.

Although Thursday did seem to vanish quickly we did manage to make a number of important appointments including organising a time for the Health Visitor to check in and at the local registry office so that we can officially make Ezra a member of our country.

So I hope I haven’t bored you, with a week old baby it was never going to be the most adventurous of birthdays but nevertheless I have probably never been more happy.  Before I leave you to view the photos here is one anecdote that might raise a smile.  On my birthday morning I said to Amélie, ‘Who’s Daddy’s gorgeous girl?‘

Amélie folded her arms stamped her feet and replied, ‘I am NOT a gorgeous girl! I’m a cheeky monkey!‘  This may change when she is a little older.

Peace and love

Baggie

Sleepy close up
Snow White and Ezra
A kiss for my brother
Sleeping baby
Who woke me?
No photos please
Little Egret
Cheeky Sister
Happy birthday Daddy
Auntie Cris
Rainbow baby
Daddy and his kids

Ezra John Bagnall

Baggie

The metaphorical white smoke billows out of the non-existent chimneys of Bagnall Manor and the world breathes a sigh of relief, at last we have finally agreed on a name for our son: Ezra John Bagnall.  We now have to get used to calling him it rather than boy or Bilbo (indeed I believe that this will be his nickname whether he wants it or not).  It was very interesting to see the voting patterns on this website and one my Facebook page and thank you all for your input and don’t feel too bad if we didn’t pick for your personal favourite.  Interestingly the voting patterns on Facebook were slightly different to those on the website with Jacob and Noah neck and neck on Facebook with Ezra sneaking ahead of Noah by one vote on the website.  It was never going to be a democratic vote but it was an interesting exercise to see garner thoughts from friends and family.  Despite the Facebook voting pattern the overwhelming family vote was for Ezra John; grandparents, aunties and cousins all voted Ezra and so if we include family weighting then Ezra won hands down.

So why Ezra John?  Simply, we decided to name our first son after his grandfathers.  Lucinda’s father’s name is John and my father’s name was Victor (I say was as he passed away in 1987).  So why Ezra?  Ezra Bagnall was a locally famous pianist and organist in West Bromwich when my dad was growing up and for some reason, lost in the mists of time, it became his nickname.  Some people only knew him as Ezra in the same way as some people only know me by my nickname Baggie.  Now since our other two children have unusual names, indeed Éowyn is extremely unusual, it would therefore be a little strange and certainly be out of character for us to have christened our son John.  In addition Ezra John seemed to flow better than John Ezra and Ezra seemed to fit with his sisters’ names: Éowyn and Amélie (Éowyn, Amélie and Ezra does flow doesn’t it?).  Also, his middle name has four letters to fit in with his sisters’ middle names (Vera and Iris) however his name doesn’t contain an acute accent but you can’t have everything.

So did you miss me yesterday?  I spoilt you on Thursday with two posts but then I was absent yesterday.  Part of the reason was the fact that we had not fully decided on his name and part of the reason was the fact that we managed to have a quiet day with no visitors and apart from taking Éowyn to school and then filling up on groceries on the return journey we did not leave the house. It was quite nice taking Éowyn to school and then picking her up at the end of the day.  It is also part of my effort to try and keep the girls foremost in my attention so that they do not feel that Ezra is pushing them out.  Obviously this is more difficult for Lucinda as she is feeding Ezra and therefore has to pay him a lot of attention so I feel that the onus is on me to lavish attention on the girls.  So when I picked Éowyn up from school I took her to the local supermarket to stock up for the week.

Éowyn doesn’t usually like going to the supermarket but I managed to convince her with a combination of turning it into an adventure and encouraging her by making it seem that I needed her help and bribing her with the promise of a magazine.  As we entered the supermarket Éowyn saw the display of cut flowers and said ‘Can we buy Mommy some flowers?‘  How could I refuse?

So she chose a bunch and into the trolley they went.  I then thought I would ask her what she felt about her new brother? ‘Is it a little weird and strange to have a baby brother?‘  I asked.

‘No Daddy,‘ she replied, ‘but what is weird,‘ she continued, ‘Is that Mommy feeds him with her boobies.‘  I tried to explain that is what boobies are for but she wasn’t having that, so we left it there.

Saturday saw the first of the visitors.  Lauren (voted for Ezra) and Maddie (didn’t vote) , his cousins, were the first of the visitors.  Maddie hogged the cuddles for longer than Lauren but I am sure that it will even itself out over time.  Then Nanny Fran (voted for Ezra), Auntie Mary (voted for Ezra) and Auntie Liz (voted for Ezra) came down laden with presents.  There were presents for Ezra, for Éowyn, for Amélie and some for me (it is my birthday – my 40th birthday – on Wednesday).  The girls were very excited to see their aunties and even more excited with their presents.

So Ezra is now part of the family proper.  He has a name and is beginning to meet his close relatives (and more tomorrow hopefully).  He is keeping his mommy and daddy up at night but sleeps (like a baby) during the day and poor Lucinda is only getting snatches of sleep between feeds – for he is feeding every 3 hours.  She is currently getting one of those snatches of sleep while I look after my son so I will leave you there and let you enjoy the photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie

One proud Auntie
Sisterly love
My beautiful children
It’s my brother!
Éowyn and Ezra
Give me a kiss!
Smile for the camera
Auntie Mary
An Amélie cuddle
Auntie Liz
Cousins
Maddie and Ezra
My big sister
Our little brother
The Bagnall kids
Close up
Hang on
Sleeping Baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Addition to the Family

Baggie

Sorry, I got your hopes up then didn’t I?  No we are still waiting for his arrival, the new addition to the family of which I speak is the new car.  Bertie Beast (as the girls have named it) is now a part of our family.  Nellie Bug (Lucinda’s Nissan Micra) has been replace by Bertie Beast (Lucinda’s new-ish S-Max).  It was a sad day to see Nellie Bug emptied of all personal possessions and left on a strange garage forecourt.  This was tempered by actually driving the Beast away and playing with all the gadgets that it has.  It took a while to make the decision as to which MPV (7-seater) to buy; we decided that the S-Max was the best fit.  It then has taken a while (Lucinda’s appendicitis put pay to the first attempt at buying a car) until we found the actual car with all the extras that we wanted for the price that we could afford.  We are very pleased with our new arrival.

It was the first time that the girls experienced such a change in their lives.  Lucinda and I have both had the same cars for the girls’ lives and thus it must be quite a strange experience for them to see something that has been quite a big part of their lives left at a strange place while we drive off in a new car.  Éowyn has experienced hire cars (and vans) and so leaving our car behind to drive off with a new one wasn’t a novel idea but not taking it back and picking up ‘our‘ car most certainly is.  Éowyn is obviously a little older and so we can explain the situation to her and she takes it on board, comprehending a new experience.  Amélie, on the other hand, isn’t really old enough to completely grasp the notion.  It must have been playing on her mind because a couple of days after we had picked up the Beast she said ‘Mommy, I really miss Nellie-Bug.‘  It nearly broke Lucinda’s heart.

As I mentioned in the last write up the girls are now sharing the same room, in bunk beds.  This is quite a change for both of them.  Éowyn now sleeps five feet (1.5 metres) off the ground and needs to climb a ladder to go to sleep (or descend it to go to the toilet).  Amélie has moved from a cot (with sides) to the bottom bunk of a bunk bed, a full sized bed.  They both have to adapt to sharing a room and the disturbances that this brings.  So far it has not been too bad.  Initially they kept themselves awake talking and shining their torches at each other, but since this beginning the novelty has worn off they go to bed and for the most part of it go to sleep quite quickly and stay asleep until dawn.

That is not to say they have slept through the night every night, but then neither did they do so when they had separate rooms.  Amélie, especially has woke us a number of times recently crying and visibly upset although she has been very much asleep.  This, we think, is because she has started to dream vivid dreams, her subconscious attempting to make sense of the day’s experiences.  Éowyn went through a very similar stage at about the same age and although they are very much reduced in frequency she still has them occasionally, then again so does Lucinda.

Although both girls have seemingly adapted to sharing a room quite quickly it would be nice, especially when they get older, for them to have separate rooms.  Not that three bedrooms is a bad thing but we live in a terraced house and so the communal rooms aren’t massive either and so we are on the look out for a larger house, ideally four bedrooms, but anything with more space and room to expand into.  Unfortunately, houses that fit that description in the areas we want for the price that we can afford are few and far between.  Unless one has a bottomless pit of money there is always compromise whenever you buy something.  For instance the S-Max was a compromise as it was a year older than we would have preferred (to be honest I would have preferred a new one but that was completely out of the question) and silver (not the colour that Lucinda wanted) but ticked the remainder of the boxes.  With houses there are more boxes that need ticking and although we have been to see a number of houses lately the compromises that they have are just too great at the moment.  This will probably have to be put on the back burner until junior is a little older as he will be unashamedly (and rightly) hog our attention for the next few months.

However the challenge over the next few months will be to get the balance correct and share our time with the girls.  This onus will probably fall on me more than Lucinda as she will be taking more of the bulk of baby care.  Not that I am a shy of doing my share and I am sure that regular readers of this website will testify.  Every now and then though Lucinda will throw me by changing the goal posts.  This happened at breakfast last week.  I asked the girls what they wanted for breakfast and Amélie asked for ‘Crocodile feet‘.  I laughed because I thought she was being funny.  Now that sounds precocious for a two year old but the girls play a game where they pretend to be waitresses and take a food order from all the adults in the room.  They pretend to write the order down and then return with the order a short while later.  It is a good game to test their memories and I like to push the boundaries so instead of the more usual ‘ham sandwich’ or ‘spaghetti bolognese’ I try to gross them our with items such as ‘Rhinoceros Toenails’ or ‘Camel eyelash sandwiches’ which the girls find hilariously funny. Thus when Amélie said ‘Crocodile feet’ I thought she was doing the same.  However when I opened the cupboard with the cereal boxes in I found a new cereal in the coco pops family called Croc prints which are crocodile feet shaped chocolate covered cereals.  She knew what she wanted.

Before the snow returns (yes really!) at the weekend we have had a couple of vernal days with temperatures hitting 17ºC and so I took full advantage performing the first mow of the year.  Thus the garden is ready for the next new arrival even if the house isn’t fully there yet.  At least Lucinda’s bag is packed and the S-Max is fully fuelled, let’s just hope that the snow that is forecast isn’t too deep or brings the traffic to a standstill at the wrong time!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums out there and let us see if the little one will appear on his due date.  So stand by for I believe that the next write up will be the one you are after until then

Peace and Love

Baggie

Not many photos but here are the girls saying goodbye to Nellie-Bug

The girls and Nellie-Bug
Lucinda and Nellie-Bug
Say goodbye