Teething

Happy Birthday Éowyn

Tuesday 20th October 2009Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

And so the year has turned full circle. Yes, as you may have guessed from the title of this update our first born is now a year old. She reached this milestone on Saturday (officially at 04:01), although in fairness to her it has just passed her by. However as proud parents we wanted to celebrate this achievement and so hosted (at Lucinda’s parents house) a birthday party for her little friends and our immediate family.

The last few weeks have been a little stressful for not only have we been preparing for the party but gearing up for Lucinda’s return to work. The 21st marks the occasion of a return to the adult world after nearly 14 months in the land of nappies and coffee mornings and understandably Lucinda is not looking forward to it. Hence I have taken holiday from my job so that I can look after Éowyn while Lucinda is at work. Éowyn has only spent a couple of hours alone with Jo (our child-minder) and so it seemed unfair both to Jo and to Éowyn to then leave her for two shifts. However, in order to build a relationship between Jo and Éowyn I will be taking her there for one of the afternoons. This gives us all a safety net and Lucinda piece of mind to just concentrate on getting up to speed with work.

Éowyn’s party was good fun, if hard work, especially since there was about half a dozen other one-year-olds and about the same of older children. Éowyn appeared to revel in the fact that she was centre of attention and on a number of occasions went up to other children and either hugged them or stroked their hair saying ‘Aaarrrhhhhh’. She was nonplussed about her presents, they just didn’t interest her, however the Butterscotch Angel Delight was another matter. It was a big hit with all the children, and a number of the adults too!

We have to say a big thank you to Lucinda’s parents for letting us host the party at their home and especially to Lucinda’s mum and Cristina for helping set everything up for the party. A special thanks to Éowyn’s cousins Lauren and Maddie too, then were a big help making sure that everything was just right for all her guests.

Éowyn was on such good behaviour and really enjoyed herself, probably because she was surrounded by all the people she loves including her Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz who came all the way down from West Bromwich. Another visitor that popped over to wish Éowyn a happy birthday was a Brown Shrike. Usually found in India and South East Asia it is a very rare migrant bird to these shores (to Europe in general) but this one decided to take up residence at the northern end of Staines Moor for the week of her birthday, and so did a horde of twitchers looking for a glimpse of it. Stanwell Moor has become a car park and although I can appreciate the excitement it becomes more than slightly frustrating when driveways and entrances to private roads are blocked by parked cars.

In other news Éowyn’s walking is coming along nicely and has recently beaten her personal best of 7 steps and now stands at, unlucky for some, 13. she now has 6 teeth and her favourite things are mobile phones, car keys, wallets (or purses) and knocking things down. Make of that what you will.

I will leave you now to the photos but not before I wish my daughter a very

Happy Birthday

Peace and love Baggie!

Party time!

For you

Aaaarrrrhhhh

My first pressie

What can it be?

Not bovvered!

I have been mostly eating yoghurt

This beard real, Dad?

I’ll have this

Auntie Liz’s present

‘Just got up’ look!

Aaaarrrrhhhh!

Just walking with my Nanny Fran

Looking Cute?

Have they all gone yet?

Must try harder

Monday 5th October 2009Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

I had always said that if I was going to start this website/ blog then I would keep it updated regularly. However I feel that I am not living up to that promise at the moment. So, I will apologise to all that regularly read this in an effort to keep up to date with Éowyn’s progress and obviously to enjoy the latest photos. I must try harder!

Thursday brought the year round to October, the month of Éowyn’s birth. This time last year, we were poised on the edge of parenthood not knowing what the future held, or indeed when the momentous day would occur. Éowyn was due on the 5th but as per ‘all good things’ she made us wait, but I will leave the reflections for another post.

Life has settled down into its usual pattern of my shift pattern after the excitement of the summer and so I have been able to enjoy being at home a little more. However, we never seem to rest on our laurels and try to fit things in on my days off and last weekend was no exception to that.

Last Friday we managed a second trip of the year to the cinema due to the generosity of Lucinda’s brother (Mike) and his baby-sitting skills. I am sure that Éowyn was aware that we wanted to go out for it took her a long time to settle herself to sleep. Nevertheless she dropped off and we managed to make it in time for the film we were hoping to see (District 9). This is by far the least number of cinema trips I have made in a year for more that 20 years. I have even been known to see more than two in a day on a number of occasions. We will be fitting at least one more trip in before the turn of the year since Lucinda is eager to see New Moon, the second of the Twilight series after being hooked on the books and I thought I was the geek of the family!

The next day we spent ambling about the home, taking it easy and just playing with Éowyn for we were heading down to Liphook in Hampshire for the evening. Hollycombe is a working steam museum and every September/ October they open into the evening (10pm) so that one can experience the steam fair at night. The greater Cathrall clan headed down there early and we cooked up a barbeque in the car park before heading in as the sun went down. The rides are in remarkable order considering they a close to 100 years old and it is interesting to imagine the wonder the Edwardians must have felt at these rides when they first saw them. It was also interesting to see how much the children were enjoying it and getting the thrills out of the rides even though they are veterans of Thorpe Park et al. It was great fun and Éowyn behaved impeccably, considering it was totally against her routine. We even took her on the carousel and she loved it, sitting there with a big grin on her face. At her usual time she fell asleep in her pushchair and hardly stirred despite the noise and lights of the fairground.

Sunday was a trip to Nanny Fran’s in West Bromwich. It was my sister Elizabeth’s birthday and so it was a good excuse to pay a visit. Also with Éowyn’s birthday around the corner it meant that Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz could take Éowyn and Lucinda around Merry Hill and choose a present for her. I managed to wheedle out of traipsing around the shops by arranging to meet up with my mate Bobby and we sat in the pub putting the world to rights. I think that was a fair compromise. Again Éowyn was in a very cheery mood, despite the previous night’s excitement and entertained her Nanny and Auntie for the best part of the day. It always seems too short when we zoom up to the Black Country for a day but it we wnot be long before Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz will see her again.

This week it was Lucinda’s turn to entertain the NCT girls for their coffee morning and I was off, which is a rare occurance. It was really interesting to see how much Éowyn enjoyed people she knew coming round, and there was a definite delight on her face when her little friends turned up. It was also quite amusing when she went up to Blake and gave him a hug. He just turned to his mum and burst out crying. I don’t think that Éowyn understood why he was so upset and looked at him as if to say, ‘I’m only giving you a hug!’

Before I leave you for this update one little thing that Éowyn has started to do this week is very touching and that is to string words together. The first was on Tuesday of last week when she said ‘Bye Daddy’ as I left for work. Then on Friday when I was at work, she picked up her toy phone, not once but twice, and said ‘Hello Daddy’. Okay, maybe not the oration skills of Winston Churchill or Abraham Lincoln but just as important to me.

Enjoy the photos…

Baggie!

Aaaahhhh!

They went that way!

I’m not doin’ anyfink!

Hollycombe Steam Museum

Me, Daddy and Nanny

On the Carousel

Cup o’ Char

Ooo makes a lovely brew?

Cath Kidston?

Hello Daddy

Coming through

Peep-Po

http://www.hollycombe.co.uk/

It's been a while

Monday 31st August 2009Sunday 1st January 2017Baggie

Apologies to all the regular readers for the lack of update over the last 3 weeks or so. I have been a tad busy. IMG has won a couple of major contracts, namely Studio and live operations for the newly launched ESPN channel in the UK and the Football League show for the BBC. Two prestigious clients but a lot of work to get them on the air and devise systems to integrate them into our current operations. A lot of hard work but something that I really enjoy. However, with my shift opposite on holiday, it has meant that more of the onus has been on me and in order to fully define the technical solution I have been doing long hours and extra days. Hence the lack of time for updates (on this website anyway, myself and a colleague Jay Versluis have created one to impart information to our freelance staff. If you are at all interested you will find it here).

Unfortunately this means that I have not seen that much of Lucinda or Éowyn either, in fact on some days neither of them were awake while I was in the house!

The month started with Éowyn’s nine month check up at the Health Centre. Just a general check up to ensure that she is developing both physically and mentally. The health visitor seemed quite happy with her development, her weight is in the 50th centile and her height in just above the 98th centile. She can do all the things that they would expect a 9-month old should do: grasp small objects, pass them from one hand to the other, clap, crawl, etc. Without appearing to be boastful parents we did not have too much worries regarding her development, she appears to be quite precocious.

The next stage in her development is the fact that she has outgrown her first car seat. After some consideration we opted for the Maxi Cosi Axiss due to the fact that it rotates on its base. It will save our backs lifting her in at an angle, especially as she gets heavier. She was unsure of it at first because it faces forward, she has always travelled backwards, and it is a different experience looking out the windscreen. No doubt she will get used to it rather quickly.

To add to the lack of contact I have had with my wife and child this month, they left me for a week. Not in that sense. Lucinda’s parents took their grandchildren (and Lucinda) on holiday with their friends Mike and Sue (and their grand-daughter). Mike and Sue have a holiday home, made from a 2 converted train carriages, in Selsey, the most southerly point in West Sussex. Éowyn had a fantastic time, as did her cousins. Éowyn is now of an age that she can play with the older children. Obviously she can not do all the things that they can but she can interact with them and they enjoy teaching her things.

Éowyn also played in the sea for the first time. It was not the first time that she had seen the sea. When we stayed in Devon in May we had a day trip to Padstow and introduced her to the sea then, but as she was dressed in one of her posh dresses that day she didn’t get her feet wet. Down at Selsey it was a different matter as the holiday home was just a short walk from the beach. So Lucinda dressed Éowyn in her swimming costume and took her down to the sea. She loved being in the sea, crawling on the sand after the outgoing tide and when she reached the sea, splashing and giggling. She was enjoying herself so much that when Lucinda thought that she should take her in, the tantrums started and she hit Lucinda so hard that it made her nose bleed.

That wasn’t her first tantrum that happened a couple of days before the trip to Selsey. Lucinda was tecting on her mobile phone when Éowyn decided that she wanted it. Obviously, Lucinda didn’t let her have it and waterworks and lungs were turned on full effect. We just looked at her in shock and little disbelief, which in a way was the right thing to do as we did not react to it and it soon stopped. However, I think that it is only the precursor to another stage of development. How we are looking forward to that one… not!

There has probably been a lot more incidences that I should retell but I think after a month of silence the only things that you are interested in are the new photos. So who am I to carry on…

Peace and love

Baggie!