Pre-school

First update of the year

Thursday 23rd January 2014Thursday 23rd January 2014Baggie

2014 has begun (in the UK at least – we will not talk about the Polar Vortex in the US) as 2013 ended with storms and flooding, indeed the floodwaters have been encroaching the Staines area and the Thames is approaching the record highs of 1947 and 1894 (and let us not forget the terrible floods of 1774!). Fortunately the new Bagnall manor although not that far from the River Thames and Staines Upon Thames town centre stands on a 1000 year flood plain, which although doesn’t completely guarantee that we will never get flooded, does infer that it would have to be a pretty weather impressive event to do so, which is just as well as I have not found my wellies yet, they must be still in one of the many unopened boxes sitting in the garage.

We may have moved in to Bagnall manor in November with Christmas but with the general malaise induced by the melancholy weather (not to mention the almost perpetual precipitation) we still have a considerable number of boxes sitting in the garage waiting to be opened. Most of the important stuff has found a new home however the bookshelves betray what lies hidden in some of those boxes.

With the New Year comes a return to routine. I am at work (not that the Christmas break affected that routine), the girls are back to school (and thankfully their school has remained open during the ‘floods’, many of the schools have closed not due to the flooding per se but because the drains are full) while Lucinda is left at home with Ezra (at least for a couple more months until her maternity leave comes to an end). Amélie is now entitled to 15 hours of free nursery tuition and so to take full advantage of one of the few government schemes we are entitled to, she now goes to TinyTots 3 days a week. This means that we only have to pay for three hours of tuition a week (and her lunches) a considerable saving for us but it does mean that Amélie has had a 50% increase in attendance. Poor little mite, although she enjoys it and it is good for her.

Ezra is growing up fast. He spends a lot of his waking hours (and to be fair to the lad he does still like his daytime naps) either standing against whatever seems stationary, included your leg if you stand still long enough, crawling around the house or putting whatever he can find that is small enough into his mouth. Has has also started cruising, holding onto the furniture and walking. Although he has not yet summoned the courage to try to walk. Indeed if you try to encourage him by holding his hands he tries to sit down, not yet interested. Not that he needs to expend any more energy to wear himself out for he is usually good at night. However over the last week or so he has been a little disturbed but that is due in no small part to his teeth. He already has 9 teeth, which I think is quite a lot for 10 month old, however we think his back teeth are starting to poke through and they are causing him some pain. We are prepared though, Bonjela and Calpol the pain-fighting duo are at hand to numb the pain enough to get him to sleep.

The biggest milestone that Ezra has just achieved is the power of recognisable words. ‘Daddadaddadaddadda‘ is the main (and most important) one but he has also said ‘Yum‘. Éowyn is convinced that he said ‘Éowyn‘ and this let Amélie to say that she heard him say ‘Amélie‘. Poor Mommy.

As part of the new year, new house regime we have decided to mark the height of our children for prosperity. It will be interesting to see how much they grow over the months and years. For those of your that are unable to see the results: Éowyn is 119.5cm (a shade under 4 feet – the height of an average 7 year old); Amélie is 103cm and Ezra is 71cm.

Anecdote of the month goes to Amélie. I was putting the girls to bed and Amélie, tries to climb into bed wearing an eye-patch. Thinking that this wasn’t a very good idea I said to Amélie, ‘Take that off please, you are not going to bed wearing an eye-patch.‘ (A phrase that I never thought that I would ever say). ‘But Daddy, I’m a pirate.‘ A fair reply I hear you cry. However the danger of going to bed with a piece of elastic around her head is a stronger driver so it was time to make a new rule ‘We do not go to bed with an eye-patch in this house, whether we are a pirate or not.‘

Now as this is only a relatively short write up so I will leave you with this nugget of information: last weekend’s full moon was the smallest full moon for 1,000 years as the full moon occurred within 2 hours of apogee (the furthest point in the moon’s orbit). It will keep that distinction until 2154 when a full moon will occur closer to apogee. Unless I live to 181 I will not see this, even the Baguettes will have to break the current longevity records to see it.

I will leave you with some photos and promise that it will not be so long until I update you all with latest events in the Bagnall household.

Peace and Love

Baggie.

A smile for Daddy

And another

Can I stop smiling?

Yum!

What’s in here?

Give me a grin

Poser

Cutey-pie

Who’s beautiful?

Daddy and Ezra

At the pizza place

Yes, I’m on the iPad, again!

The flood of 2014

The playground

No BBQ’s

Whee!

This is my swing

I said, this is my Swing!

Welcome to 2014

Monday 6th January 2014Wednesday 8th January 2014Baggie

As we teeter on the edge of (OK, toppled headlong into) a new year (a new year that will see Lucinda and I celebrate a decade together) it is traditional to look back on the year just gone and look forward to the next. What a year 2013 has been! Probably the single most eventful year we have known as a family. Yes, other years have had big events: births, deaths, marriages, holidays, big birthdays, house moves and new jobs but this year has definitely has had them all (apart from the new jobs! – although work did relocate; does that count?)

At the start of 2013 I made some predictions of what we were expecting to look forward to this year and it was already looking busy; not only did they all come to fruition, fate threw a few more in for good measure. Hence why this site has seen a record-breaking number of updates and a record number of visits, well I do have to keep you all informed don’t I? And seemingly you are interested. Or is it just the photos?

So what were the big events of 2013 and what have we learnt?

Obviously the biggest event of the Bagnall year was the birth of our third child and first son. Ezra John (named after his Grandfathers) was born a week before my 40th birthday. Now whether it is because he is a boy; or whether it is because he is a third child or whether simply it is because every child is different but he seems to be far more relaxed than either of his sisters. Amélie had an excuse with her Milk Protein intolerance and we probably spoilt Éowyn, especially initially as we were learning to be parents (and still are!), but he has been the easiest to get to sleep, he cries the least and apart from an aversion to lumpy food has not shown any dislike to his meals. And although it is a new skill for Lucinda and I to master, juggling the needs of three children, the most important detail is that all three of them are healthy. Even Amélie’s milk protein intolerance has seemingly lessened.

So with three children our home in Stanwell Moor finally felt a little on the small side. Thus we decided to make the tough decision to leave the moor, the village that Lucinda has lived all her life! It did not take us too long to find a house that we both liked. However the course of house buying ne’er runs smooth. So let me give you a précis:

Found house made offer – offer rejected; Vendors found house so offered house at a lower price if we could proceed – we can’t proceed as we had no buyer; We found buyers but so did our vendors and their new buyers offered more that we could afford – we proceeded with our sale; The new buyers chain began to fail so we offered an improved offer (though lower than the other buyers) – the vendors decided to proceed with us.

So far so good – then the twist began. The government formed an Airports Commission to look into the requirements for expanding capacity at the UK airports and invited proposals from interested parties. BAA operate Heathrow Airport and one (two) of their three (four) proposals for the expansion of the UK’s busiest airports involved the building of a third (fourth) runway over the village of Stanwell Moor. This puts a bit of a dampener over the future of a new home and hence our buyers pulled out.

This left us with a dilemma: go back to square one, find a new buyer that didn’t care that their house may not be there in the near future or find a third alternative. The third alternative was found and now we are the proud owners of a new house and landlords (with tenants!) of our old house. That certainly wasn’t the plan at the start of 2013 but as we enter 2014 that is where we are. Will we still be there in 2015? More than probably, indeed we plan to be in our current abode until we retire and move to the seaside!

Both of those changes to Bagnall family life eclipse the other differences the year has brought: a new car (our 7 seater Ford S-Max) and a new place of work (same company just different premises).

It has been a very important year in the life of our oldest child. Éowyn not only had the upheaval of moving home (and we kept both Éowyn and Amélie across the notion of moving from the onset including taking them around the house and asking if they liked it and which room they would like as their bedroom) but she also started full-time education. It was confirmed in mid-april that Éowyn would be going to our first choice school, a decision that was fraught with conflicting emotions. On one hand, it is a well equipped school, with a new head with lots of new ideas and has had a recent injection of cash; on the other it has a bad reputation and is now far from our new home.

The decision has been made and although we and not too obstinate that we would not consider moving Éowyn at the moment she is loving school. She loves her teacher Miss Finbow, she has a new best friend and most important of all she is learning. Her reading and writing is coming along in leaps and bounds and we, as parents, are actively encouraged to help as she gets homework twice a week.

2013 was a big year in Amélie’s development too. Amélie started pre-school at a private nursery on the grounds of Éowyn’s school (makes dropping off so much easier – and a consideration if we are ever to move schools). After a bumpy start and lots of tears (Éowyn was the same if you recall) she now runs down the path to school and sometimes forgets to give her dad a kiss before running into the classroom. It is comforting to know that both of our children enjoy their respective places of education especially with Lucinda returning to work. We just need to find somewhere for Ezra to spend those days.

2013 also reminded us of the circle of life. At the beginning of the year we welcomed Ezra into our family and at the end of the year we said goodbye to my Nan. She was the last of her generation and although she had been ill for a long time her passing was still a shock and obviously upsetting. The comfort that we have is that she met her first Great-Grandson, that her close family were there in her final hours and her suffering is no more. She has left us some great memories, more than a handful of quirks and a wardrobe of knitted jumpers! Sleep well Nan.

One prediction that disappointingly didn’t come to pass was comet ISON. Even in the days leading up to its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) we were hoping for a spectacular astronomical display with possibly the brightest comet for a generation. Unfortunately like an empyrean Icarus it flew too close to the sun and was destroyed and thus became possibly the only disappointment that 2013 brought.

So, all things considered, 2013 was a good year that brought many changes to this enclave of the Bagnall name. (And I didn’t even mention the fact that both Lucinda and I celebrated our 40th birthdays!) Hopefully after such a busy year you will find it in your hearts to forgive us if we hope for a quieter 2014. Life will change to a new pattern in April when Lucinda returns to work but whatever else happens will be a surprise since the only other plan we have is to finally unpack all our boxes and settle into our new home. I leave you with this toast to the coming year:

Here’s to the bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here’s to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold.

Peace and Love

Baggie

PS If you are into your geeky stats then this page is for you (click here). Also, I have updated a few things in the background which shouldn’t affect you, my dear readers, but you will notice a couple of new widgets in the sidebar to the right. So in addition to seeing the last three update titles and the current favourites there is a form to subscribe to the website so that you will receive an e-mail whenever there is an update.

The Bagnall Family - Christmas Tree Decoration — The Bagnall Family – Christmas Tree Decoration

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!