Work

Superstar and new shoes!

Wednesday 21st May 2014Monday 19th May 2014Baggie

So you hadn’t had an update for weeks and then, in the manner of buses, three come along in a short time. See, I am trying to make up for my poor showing in 2014 as well as regale the happenings of the Bagnall clan. I hope that this meets with your approval.

If you cast your mind back to before the solar panels write up to the first of this trilogy of write ups you will recall that it was Easter holidays. You also may recall that at the beginning of last term I made a promise with Éowyn. She would receive an item of her choosing from the Disney store (an Elsa dress that we are still waiting for stock in her size to return to the Disney store) if she managed to achieve superstar status five times during the term. She made that target before half term and so as a Dad of my word she will receive an Elsa dress, assuming that Disney ever manage to restock.

I was not foolish enough to make the same deal for the last term and I am glad that I didn’t! Éowyn returned to school on a Tuesday. In the four days of that first week she achieved superstar status every day and topped it all with the weekly award that she received in morning assembly before the entire school. It was confirmed with a note in the school newsletter and a certificate. I could not allow that achievement to go unrewarded and so there is yet another trip to the local Disney store planned to choose another prize. Actually it will be the same trip, she will just pick up two prizes. Not sure how long this encouragement can go on, either Éowyn will get bored and the incentive will no longer work, or I will be bankrupt. Buy Disney shares!

Éowyn’s superstar statuses this week were based on reading and writing. She moved up a level with her reading and is now where the majority of reception class children should be at the end of their first school year and her writing is coming along in leaps and bounds. She is encouraged to write and not to worry about the spelling at the moment, it is all about getting the ideas down. An approach many adults still have judging by their Facebook statuses. Éowyn’s class have recently been learning about ‘People who help us’. This has included firefighters, nurses, police officers and vets. Then they have to write about the people who had come into see them. So for the police officer she wrote a report about a thief that had been apprehended, so far so normal, but that was part one, he then absconded from gaol and was eventually recaptured. She is finally using the imagination she uses everyday to make up games in her writing.

For the subject of her nurse story she related she relied more on memory than imagination. A couple of weeks ago she decided that she would try a lift Amélie. Amélie wriggled and Éowyn lost her balance and fell backwards. Amélie landed on Éowyn’s head and there were tears. After the usual cuddles and checks to see if they were OK, Éowyn complained that her ear hurt. There was nothing obvious so we slightly dismissed it. However as the evening drew on the pain was getting more intense and she began to cry with the pain. Thinking that she may have done so serious damage I took her to the walk-in clinic in Ashford. After a short wait the on-duty nurse looked into her ear with anotoscope and said that she could see some swelling but nothing to be concerned about. She asked if Éowyn had a cold, which she had, and said that the impact had probably bruised the one side of her ear while the cold was putting pressure on the other side. She suggested that we Calpol her up and wait for the swelling to go down and to return if it wasn’t becoming less painful. Éowyn received a sticker for being brave and returned home fine. The Calpol did its job and the incident gave Éowyn inspiration for her nurse’s story.

Éowyn is not the only one who has received a sticker for being brave at the nurses. Both Amélie and Ezra have had stickers in the last week or so. Both were due booster jabs so as Lucinda and I were both off we decided to get them both done at the same time. I would hold Amélie and Lucinda would hold Ezra. As with Éowyn two years before we forewarned Amélie that the injections would feel like a scratch and may hurt a little but if she was a brave girl she could choose something from the Disney store (I did tell you to buy shares!). As an added incentive Ezra would be in the same room and she would have to be brave for him. I know what you are thinking cruel parents!

Amélie was incredibly brave, she didn’t cry, only winced when the first one went in and whimpered a little on the second one. In complete contrast to Éowyn who screamed the place down when she had hers. After receiving her stickers (one for each arm) we said that it was Ezra’s turn. Amélie then said that she didn’t want to see Ezra have his so I took her back to the waiting room, while Lucinda held Ezra. Again Ezra was brave (he must have seen how brave his sister was). He didn’t make a sound on the first, whimpered a little on the second but the third was a bit of a shock and then he cried but not for long. So the girls are now inoculation free until secondary school while Ezra will have his last set in about two years time.

So what else has been keeping me from this website?

There have been a lot of housey things. With the recent fine weather we have been able to get into the garden and use my new toy (a self propelled petrol lawnmower). We have also begun our new hobby (if you can call it that) growing our own vegetables. Three rows of potatoes are growing nicely, as is a double row of green beans (because I don’t get enough of them at work!). Unfortunately my strawberry plants have been dug up and taken by culprits unknown (although my suspicion lies squarely with the local squirrel population). We have a row of herbs starting to grow and our pumpkin plants are nearly ready to make the move outside. We also have some bunny tail grass and sunflowers for decoration and half a dozen tomato plants. Not exactly the self-sufficient lifestyle à la Tom and Barbara but it is a start with relatively low maintenance crops that even we should be able to get something. It is also nice for the girls to see where food comes from and give them more reason to eat the produce when we come to harvest. Fingers crossed that they will taste nice too.

The other addition to the garden is the wendy house from the last place. It is actually about 11 years old bought by Nanny and Granddad for Lauren (and Maddie). They have outgrown it so we inherited it and not only has it lasted pretty well for the decade or so it has been built three times (by Granddad) so it is doing well. Just needs a lick of paint and it is good to go, not that has stopped them so far. Even Ezra has been inside.

Ezra has also had an eventful time he has increased his vocabulary by one word: ‘that’. This word is used ubiquitously in conjunction with the pointed index finger. If he sees something that he wants, anything that he wants, even if he knows he is not allowed to have it, the finger straightens, he looks you in the eye and ‘that’. It is the only word he needs. We have tried to get him to say ‘ta’ when he is given something. Not interested. ‘That!’ He has also learned to wave goodbye, whether you are going or not. Probably linked to not giving him ‘that’.

We have also bought him his first pair of shoes. He was spending so much time on his feet holding against things, that we thought that if we bought him some shoes it might encourage him to walk. When standing he also tends to tiptoe. Primarily so that it gives him a little more reach to get hold of ‘that’, but it is also one of the stages that little go through before they start to walk. So we also hoping that with the shoes he would not be able to tiptoe so easily and encourage him to use the whole of his foot. We are still waiting.

Amélie also had new shoes (a trip to Clarks cost us a fortune!). Her feet had grown very quickly up over two sizes, how she had managed to squeeze her feet into those shoes for so long we will never know. It will be Éowyn’s turn next with new school shoes a must over the summer.

So another season draws to a close, West Bromwich Albion survived (just) and now the hard work of the Summer begins. Usually the off-season is quite quiet for me, last season that was not the case and neither will it be this season. The Summer will see the transfer of Premier League Productions under the bosom of Stockley Park and all the testing and installation to go with that. There is also a World Cup (of men’s football), Wimbledon and The Open Golf Championship. I have got to try and squeeze in some vacation among all that. Hopefully I will have enough time to keep you abreast of our little family unit.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this trilogy of updates and I promise not to leave it so long next time. Don’t forget to have a look at our Flickr page (link on the right hand side) there are a few hundred new photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Three in a row

The boy!

Centripetal force

Sibling love

Coming in close

A kiss for my sister

A little bit of blue

Easter decorations

A finishing touch

With my Nanny

A dress made out of Play-Doh

Story time

The tower of Babel err Lego

Extreme close up

I am an Alien!

Not again big sister!

I’m taking them off

Easter eggs and a trip to the Seaside

Thursday 15th May 2014Baggie

Once again I feel that I have to apologise for the lack of updates through 2014. At this point last year you would have had 17 updates, this is only this year’s 8^th! In fairness, last year was busier than usual mainly due to the birth of Ezra but you have to admit I am normally more prolific than I have been this year. I have always said that this is a window into our world and it is more important for life to get in the way of this website than vice versa. There have been plenty of jobs to do around the house and garden, it has been the traditional end of the season business and there has been something that has been overhanging the family (or not overhanging the family – a little joke that you may understand when you read about it) over the last six weeks but more about that in the next update. Ah well, there are the excuses on with the update!

So what has been going on the in the Bagnall household?

Easter has come and gone since the last update and with it school holidays. Yes, Easter marks the end of the second term and a fortnight break from school for both of the girls. This came at an opportune time for Éowyn as she was beginning to get a little tired and was in need of the break. It is hard enough as an adult doing a full week of work, week after week without a break (I know I have not used an of this year’s annual leave as yet!), it must be ten times as hard for a five year old. Unfortunately we could not take full advantage of this hiatus from school because Easter is also a traditionally busy time in the football calendar and thus it is difficult for me to take time off work. (It has to be said that the busy points in my work calendar: Christmas, Easter and August unfortunately coincide with the term breaks and thus school holidays, that’s what you get for being the Head of Operations of the World’s largest independent sports production companies!).

A week off work was therefore out of the question but a tip to the seaside was still in order. The weather hadn’t truly warmed up but nevertheless this has not stopped the Bagnalls in the past and it certainly isn’t going to stop the Bagnalls in the future. So the S-Max was packed, a DVD loaded to keep the girls entertained and we headed to one of Lucinda’s favourite places, in probably her favourite county: Hengistbury Head in Dorset.

We arrived in good time and parked the car at Mudeford Key before heading across Christchurch harbor on the ferry to Hengistbury Head. Our arrival coincided with a heavy downpour and unfortunately we were on the open top ferry when it hit. As you can see from the photo below there was nothing we could do except grin and bear it.

It was no surprise then that we didn’t head straight to the beach, but rather the cover of the beach café and lunch. The rain clouds blew away while we were indoors and we headed to the beach; if not in bright sunshine at least it was more ‘cloudy with occasional breaks for the sun to peak through’.

The girls love playing on the beach (as I am sure that most kids do) and they do not feel the cold as much as adults. While Lucinda and I barely took our coats off they wanted to strip off (thankfully managed to dissuade them from that!) and paddle in the sea. Despite Daddy trying to convince them that the sea would be cold (it has barely had chance to warm up since the winter) it wasn’t until they had run in that they believed their Daddy.

Despite the weather, fun was had by all and three very tired kids reluctantly were convinced to return to the car for the journey home. Éowyn and Amélie both protested the return but both (indeed Ezra too) were asleep before we made it to the M27 and the journey home.

The Easter holidays also saw a visit from Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz. Nanny Fran’s birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year (a day that both Lucinda and I were working!) and so she came down on Good Friday to stay for the weekend. Her visit wasn’t just to get her present and deliver Easter Eggs.; it was to finally take advantage of last year’s present a ride over London in a helicopter. This was, if memory serves me correctly, the third time that she had tried to take to the skies. The previous two times the weather had put pay to the experience. This time however it was successful and she had a great time viewing the sites of our Capital City from an unusual vantage point.

Before we let her take to the skies though both she and Auntie Liz had to be roped into an Easter egg hunt. You may recall that a couple of years ago Lucinda and I organized an Easter Egg Hunt around Lucinda’s parents’ garden for our friends children, unfortunately without having weekends off and not quite the time to prepare that remains the first and only time (so far) that we have managed to organize such a big event, however that doesn’t mean that Éowyn, Amélie and Ezra should miss out. Therefore, while we were talking to Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz, Lucinda nipped outside and hid Easter Eggs around the garden for the girls to find.

With Éowyn paired up with Nanny Fran and Amélie with Auntie Liz they headed into the garden armed with Easter baskets. All but one of the eggs were found (I am sure the local foxes will have found it by now) and divided evenly – you have to be fair! These were then added to their, not too unreasonable, hoard of eggs and other assorted chocolates. I would like to know whose idea it was to associate Easter with chocolate; I don’t recall Jesus telling us all to eat chocolate in memory of his resurrection.

As you may have guessed from the above, the Easter term break also saw Lucinda’s return to work. Not great timing on our part but she has had nearly 14 months off and you can’t put off the inevitable. As avid readers and friends will know this return was going to be more emotional than her previous returns as the end of April saw Air Canada cease ground control of their flights at Heathrow Airport, responsibilities now undertaken by ASIG a general handling company. Therefore Lucinda returned for her half a dozen or so last shifts for Air Canada.

Change is sometimes good and sometimes beneficial. Time will tell if this change is good, but it has certainly been beneficial with Air Canada offering V.S.P. (redundancy for want of a better phrase – which Lucinda took) and ASIG requiring a large influx of staff trained in Air Canada procedures (which Lucinda obviously is – if a little rusty). Thus redundancy was taken and a new job at ASIG applied for and got. A little Brucie Bonus that doesn’t happen very often in life and thus one that should certainly be taken advantage of when the opportunity arises. It neatly concludes where 2013 left off, with new house, car, child etc.

So with Lucinda returning to work and with me in full time employment we are in need of an alternative child care facility when grandparents are in need of a rest and when we can’t manage between ourselves through holidays and shift swaps. This makes it difficult to arrange child care. Most nurseries and child minders want a set number of hours a week and set days, then they can plan other children around the slots in availability that they have. This is understandable but very frustrating from our point of view. However, a friend of ours uses a child minder literally around the corner from us, someone who only wants a few extra days a month. An ideal scenario.

After meeting her we took Ezra around for a one hour taster session to see how he got on. He was fine, thoroughly enjoyed himself and so we were happy to book some dates with her.

Lucinda’s shifts tend to be earlies. This can be anything from a 0500 start! This means a few things. Lucinda needs to go to bed not long after the kids in order to get a decent amount of sleep. Lucinda has to get up about 0345 (at the latest) in order to get ready and out for work. This means that I have to rise a little earlier in order to get myself and three kids washes, dressed and fed. Bags packed and out the door ready for three different drop-off points before heading to do a full day’s shift at work. Indeed I feel like I have done a full day’s shift before I get there. It doesn’t help with the little inter-sibling squabbling that tends to happen and when your youngest starts to cry and try and hold on to you when you drop him off at the child minders for the first time. By all accounts he soon settled down and was fine for the rest of the day (and in that respect was no different to Éowyn or Amélie on their first days too!) but when your enduring image is of your little one in floods of tears reaching out to you it doesn’t set the day up very well.

Ezra is still tending on the lazy side (Lucinda would disagree). He crawls at lightning speed and is on his feet whenever there is something to support him but he still is not interested in walking. If you encourage him to take a few steps he immediately sits down. Legs are for standing so that your arms can stretch to reach whatever it is that you are not allowed to have. They are also useful for climbing. He has been able to climb the stairs for a while but now his little mind has worked out that if there is something shiny out of reach that climbing may just help. He started off by pushing his walker or Lego table towards the settee and using it as a ladder to climb higher. Now anything that gives him a little extra lift is fair game. Indeed Lucinda left him in his high chair momentarily to find upon her return Ezra sitting on the kitchen table. He had seen the biscuit barrel on the table and thought to himself while there is no one around I’ll have a couple of those. For that is exactly how Lucinda found him, sitting crossed legged on the table with two malted milk biscuits!

That is a bit of an epic but there a few more stories I would like to regale so pop by in the next few days for another snippet (or two) on our world. In the meantime enjoy some of the photos of the past month or so.

Love and Peace

Baggie

We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Olivia Lynn Eccles to the world,the first child of my 2nd cousin Charlotte and her husband Paul. Congratulations to them both.

Half term at Nanny Fran’s

Wednesday 26th February 2014Wednesday 26th February 2014Baggie

As promised, the second update in a week – how I am spoiling you. So what is it that warrants a second write up. Nothing dramatic merely half-term coinciding with a non Premier League weekend meaning that I could wrangle five days off work and spend some time with my family.

Éowyn’s half term started a day early with an inset day, unfortunately we were still experiencing one of the countless Atlantic lows that have brought so much rain to this fair isle over winter. Thus the Bagnall family needed to find an indoor activity. Fortunately (well let’s think about this, not fortunately just good marketing by the film distributors) there are two child friendly movies released during half-term that appealed to Éowyn: The Lego Movie and Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy. Daddy wanted to see the Lego Movie however since Amélie is also a big fan of the Tinkerbell movies we decided that this was an opportune time to take Amélie to see her first film at the cinema. You may recall that Éowyn’s first trip to the cinema was to see the Muppet Movie at roughly the same age. This time it was Lucinda’s turn to be the first to take one of our children to the cinema. So Friday morning saw the Bagnall girls go en masse to the cinema in Staines to watch Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy, while the Bagnall boys stayed at home and talked about football (not really – Ezra slept).

Éowyn thoroughly enjoyed her cinema trip and avidly sat through the whole film. Amélie was also very good considering it was her first time and only asked to leave when there was a scary part of the film. However, Amélie doesn’t like loud noises and a cinema can be a particular noisy environment, Lucinda, being the experienced mother that she is, was prepared and took Amélie’s ear-muffs. It was not long before Amélie complained that the cinema was too loud and so on went the ear-muffs and they did not come off for the entire film. It may have looked a little strange but at least it muffled the sound enough for Amélie to enjoy the film and that’s all that matters!

Friday night saw 80mph winds and fallen trees (and a third fence panel) but Saturday saw a distinct change in the weather. With greatest threat of flood warnings peaking on the Friday and our street seemingly avoiding the worst of it (large puddles appearing out of the drains but no streams or torrents of flood waters threatening our threshold – see photo below) we felt safe to leave the confines of Staines Upon Thames. In mid-January the Badger Clan had decided that a trip to the Natural History Museum in London was called for and this first Saturday in the half-term break seemed to be the best date for all concerned. Unfortunately with threat of inclement weather most of the clan had pulled out. Undaunted the Bagnall sub-clan and Lucinda’s brother Michael, his girlfriend Cristina and eldest of the latest generation, Lauren caught the train from Staines Upon Thames to the Big Smoke.

I was not prepared for the popularity of the Natural History Museum (not sure why being a Saturday and half-term) but we joined the queue and were quickly inside. The Natural History Museum is an impressive building without the exhibits but it was all a little too much for Amélie who was a little freaked out, especially since we said that we were going to see the dinosaurs. Nevertheless the strong arms of Daddy carrying her into the main hall was enough to allay her fears and raise her excitement levels at the wonders within.

Unfortunately we were only in the museum for 20 minutes or so (enough time to see the Diplodocus and the whale hall) before there was an evacuation and we were all ushered outside. It was a big disappointment as we hadn’t seen the dinosaurs or managed to fully take in the big wonders that are the whales. (Éowyn has a half-term project entitled ‘Under the Sea’ so we were going to use the trip to highlight some of the wonders of the sea and indeed the vast size of creatures such as the Blue Whale).

With thousands of displaced people milling about in the street waiting to go back into the museum we decided that we would wander a little way down the street and visit the Science Museum instead. Although fascinating for me, I think the girls are a little too young to appreciate the wonders inside. A skeleton of a dinosaur fills all ages with awe-inspired wonder but there needs to be a little more of an understanding to appreciate the beauty of Stevenson’s Rocket or rotative engines built by James Watt. Also, to best take advantage of the Science Museum it is worth visiting their website and planning your visit, booking timeslots to see the various exhibitions. I think that is perhaps a visit left for when they are little older. I can’t wait.

So after the culture side of our trip to London, we headed into Piccadilly on, what Éowyn described as the best part of the day, the top deck of a double decker bus for a late lunch. A quick walk around Covent Garden (including a visit to the Disney story – although nothing grabbed Éowyn’s fancy as reward for the 5 superstar certificates) before heading over Hungerford Bridge (well strictly the Eastern Golden Jubilee Footbridge) to Waterloo railway station and home. The girls were both very well behaved and considering the amount of walking that they did, did not complain for the entire day. This was probably because it was such an exciting day out and there was plenty to keep them occupied.

Both were so worn out that they slept past 0800 the next morning. This is in complete contrariety to the norm. School days usually involves dragging them (metaphorically) out of bed at 0730 to give them time to breakfast and get dressed before leaving with enough time to walk to school (rather than a sprint from a parking space half a mile away). Holidays and weekends usually involves them waking up at 0600 and waking Mommy and Daddy up when we could actually catch up on our beauty sleep (not that we need it :-)) So an opportunity to have a lie in while our children slept was a welcome, if somewhat unique occurrence.

A relaxing Sunday was followed by another adventure on Monday. Calling on the services of Lauren once again, we headed to Epsom and the delights of Hobbledown Farm. Hobbledown is a rebranded (or built out of the ashes of – depending on the rumours) Horton Park Farm based on a mystical and magical fantasy tale by A. J. Kecojevic (to be honest I had not heard of it until I started writing this update). In 50 acres of farmland it combines a farm/ petting zoo with an outdoor adventure playground and an extremely large indoor play barn. It is themed around the Hobblers, fey-like gnomic people who are based on traditional English nature spirits and their arch-enemies the Skibblers, ugly, hook-nosed goblin-like entities that have arrived in Hobbledwon intent on causing mischief.

Although it was half-term the inclement weather had put pay to baying throngs and there were no queues (although they were still operating a 90 minute time limit in the indoor play-barn). The girls enjoyed the animals and the adventure playground (there was an aerial adventure course aimed at older children that Lauren completed, which culminated in a zip-wire back to the start – our girls are a little too young (or short) for but it will not be that long before Éowyn (10 more centimetres) will be harnessed up and clambering over our heads) and an afternoon in the indoor play-barn allowed Ezra time to stretch his legs and play in the soft-play area.

The adventures continued on Tuesday. It has been months since we paid a visit to West Bromwich and Nanny Fran’s and so it was time to rectify that. Unfortunately I was returning to work on Wednesday so we decided that Lucinda and the kids would have a extended visit and return on Thursday while I would return home on the evening. Therefore we had to take both cars up the M40. Éowyn saw this as an opportunity to spend some time alone with her daddy and asked if she could travel in Daddy’s car. So Éowyn and I set off five or ten minutes before Lucinda, Amélie and Ezra.

Fifteen minutes into the journey, I’d just made it onto the M40, my mobile rang, it was Lucinda. For some reason my handsfree didn’t work, fortunately there was service station and so concerned I turned off the motorway so that I could call her back. An ‘Engine Malfunction’ error message had flashed up on Lucinda’s dashboard and so worried headed off the motorway and headed to her parents. Unfortunately cars are controlled by computers and so it is impossible to lift the bonnet (hood – for Americans) and see if there is anything obvious. So there was nothing to do except call out our breakdown service and let them hook a computer up to interrogate the car and determine the problem. In the meantime Éowyn and I continued to Nanny Fran’s.

Not long after we arrived at Nanny Fran’s Lucinda called to say that the breakdown mechanic had been and the car behaved itself. No warning light. Nothing! The mechanic said that it is one of those things and it should be fine, just a hiccup and effectively turning it off and turning it back on had cured it. Computers! Thus Lucinda packed Amélie and Ezra in the car and headed up, so in the meantime Éowyn had Nanny Fran (and then Auntie Liz) all to herself. Éowyn enjoyed the attention but poor Auntie Liz as soon as she walked in through the door from work Éowyn assaulted her begging for her nails to be painted! Evening came and I headed back south via a friend’s in Tipton while Lucinda and the kids stayed with Nanny Fran.

I think fun was had by all (as I was at work). There was a visit to Sandwell Park Farm and something that Éowyn has been craving to do for a while a combination of two ideas in her head. As many of you know my father died when I was 14, therefore Lucinda never met my dad and my children have never met their Granddad Vic. My dad is buried in West Bromwich and, to my shame, I do not visit his grave as often as I should, and only took Éowyn as a baby to ‘introduce’ her to her granddad. Éowyn has reached that age when she is starting to ask questions and one of those questions has been about my dad, so I have been honest and open with her, as we are about all her questions.

Secondly, Éowyn has recently acquired a fascination with graveyards. Not sure why but every time we pass a church she will ask if it has a graveyard and whether we could go and visit. I have actually taken her around a couple (I quite like graveyards) but is right for a 5 year old to have such a fascination? Éowyn added these two ideas together and asked if she could visit Granddad Vic’s grave. I said I would take her the next time we went to West Bromwich but unfortunately haven’t, as yet, had enough time to take her, so I suggested that she asked Nanny Fran. So Thursday morning Nanny Fran and Éowyn headed up the road to buy some flowers to take to Granddad Vic. This made Éowyn’s trip and I think that she now has some sense of reality of Granddad Vic.

Thursday afternoon Lucinda and the kids returned home and relaxed a little over the remainder of the holiday. Éowyn visited her new best friend on Friday then spent the weekend at home. As I mentioned above Éowyn had a half-term project entitled ‘Under the Sea’ so Éowyn asked if she could make an underwater scene. So Daddy used his computer skills and printed off some pictures of sea creatures and Mommy helped Éowyn paint a cardboard box and decorate it with the images. You can see the results below.

Anyhow I have kept you long enough so will leave you to enjoy the photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie