Nanny and Granddad

Amélie’s Third Birthday

Thursday 3rd October 2013Saturday 5th October 2013Baggie

The fourth quarter is upon us, the nights are drawing in and the girls have completed their first month at school. In the last write up Éowyn was enjoying school while Amélie was in tears and begging us not to take her to nursery. So is that still the case?

Éowyn is still enjoying school and has got use to the fact that it is five days a week. It has not, however, been completely plain sailing since the beginning of September. There were a few days when Éowyn became upset and said that she didn’t want to go to school. Sensing that something had happened at school, Lucinda asked her what the matter was and had anyone upset her. Lucinda’s fears of something from school were soon allayed, it was something much closer to home: me. To be exact the lack of me. It has been a very busy period at work and I have spent long hours away from home. Although for Éowyn’s (and Amélie’s) first week or so at school I’d managed to trim the hours a little (a dark weekend helped – a dark weekend is a weekend with no Premier League football) the hours had begun to creep back. With Éowyn spending every weekday at school, and me working into the evening and at weekends, the girls were only seeing me in the morning. Not exactly what one might call quality time as it is all about shepherding them through breakfast, getting dressed for school and eventually out the door and into the car.

That was a wake up call and although it is difficult I have to strike the correct work/life balance and make the time I do spend with the girls special. With that in mind I asked Éowyn if there was something that she wanted to do with Daddy when she got out of school. Her first choice was to go the cinema – result! Unfortunately there were no suitable films showing at our local picturehouse (Vue Cinema, Staines). So it was the back up plan: baking some cakes. Therefore, armed with ingredients and a large mixing bowl we entered the kitchen and did not leave until we had made some fairy cakes. A simple gesture but it seems to have worked wonders; she is much happier. I can not rest on my laurels however and it was serious kick in the butt. With an imminent house move in the mix it is going to be a very stressful time for all the family and we can’t take our eye off the effects it is having on the children.

Amélie on the other hand, has gone from hating school and crying whenever we dropped her off to running into school. We are not entirely convinced that she is loving it but she knows that she has to go and is quite happy to go. There are still the questions about whether we are taking her to school but at least there are no tears when we tell her that she is going. Definitely a big step forward and just in time for her birthday.

Yes, the big news of the inter-write-up period is the news that Amélie has turned 3! Saturday saw our middle child’s third birthday. Unfortunately weekends are my busy days and so although I could push back the time I started I still had to go into work so I was unable to spend the whole day with her, which was upsetting. I was there when she opened her presents however, and was tasked with the job of extracting the toys from the packaging – not the easiest of tasks especially when you are trying not to damage the toys or indeed your own fingers! So although I wasn’t there for the bulk of the day I don’t think that she missed me too much as she had the distraction of a small family party around Nanny and Granddad’s with her cousins Lauren and Maddie. She was still awake when I got home from work (a little late – but it was her birthday!) and was full of excitement with the presents that I hadn’t seen and the fact that she had been playing with her cousins.

It was her second birthday party. The week before she had had a pirate themed birthday party around Nanny Fran’s with Nanny Fran’s other adopted grandchildren. Lucinda and I were not at the party however for we were taking advantage of Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz leaving our brood with them while we were approximately 60 miles away. One of my university friends Neil was marrying (I think the official term is entering a civil partnership – but I prefer marrying) his partner Paul and therefore when we received the invite to their big day, Nanny Fran’s services were booked. We had a great time, catching up with my university pals which was good as I rarely get to catch up with them, even the ones that live quite close. Unfortunately again the pull of work was strong and we had to leave early the next morning – before we had managed to say goodbye to them – the joys of working in television! I drove back to Nanny Fran’s, dropped Lucinda off and headed straight to work. Lucinda then drove back later with the girls.

Although it was Amélie’s birthday last Saturday, Sunday saw a third birthday party in just over a week, but not a third one for Amélie, but an early one for Éowyn. As regular readers of this website may recall Éowyn was the last of our NCT class to be born and the group of us that still keep in touch try to organise a joint birthday party for them some midway point between the beginning of September and Éowyn’s birthday on the 17th October. As fate will have it, this is usually around Amélie’s birthday, so I am sure that in her mind it is also for her. This year the venue chosen was Alice Holt. Run by the Forestry commission, Alice Holt is a few miles south of Farnham and excellent venue for the kids with plenty to do. The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were full of stories of the giant woodpeckers and owls in the habitat trail. Again the call of work meant that I wasn’t able to go, but not only were the girls full of praise for the woodland so was Lucinda, so when work calms down and we have a fine day I think a trip to Alice Holt is in order.

With all work and not a lot of play when my friend Andy saw an offer for a half-day’s Owl and Eagle experience at the Birds of Prey Centre in Old Warden I jumped at the chance to do something for me! This was our second time, we took advantage of a similar offer last year, and again thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It is great to be so close to such beautiful creatures and the only disappointment was that it wasn’t a full day’s experience. There are plenty of photos on our Flickr site including the moment that a moody female Bald Eagle decided to give Andy a little nibble. Well, he probably deserved it!

So before I leave you, just a quick note to say that the house move plods on but it now looks like all of our finances are in place and we could be exchanging before the next write up. That probably means there will not be a write up until November! (I am joking!)

Enjoy the photos and keep your fingers crossed for a smooth house move.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Push me!

Higher…

Wheeee!

Coming through

Hold tight little brother

Down we go

Where’d they go?

The wooden throne

Just playing

Party time

5th birthday

Blow out the candles

Daddy and Ezra

Cheeky Grin

Rockstar

Emotional Phonecall I

Emotional Phonecall II

Emotional Phonecall III

Cheesy Grins I

Cheesy Grins II

Cheesy Grins III

Birthday girl (and big sister)

Amélie blowing out her candles

The last piece of cake

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!