Work

Mommy’s 40th

Wednesday 29th May 2013Thursday 30th May 2013Baggie

A little later than planned but happy birthday to my darling wife and welcome to the 40 club. I was aiming for an update just after her birthday but once again life has got in the way (~~excuses~~ reasons later).

Lucinda’s birthday fell on the day before the last day of the Premier League season which was both fortunate and unfortunate in equal measures. As Head of Live Operations for IMG my major client is the Premier League and thus taking the last day of the season off as holiday is not an option and therefore the idea of taking Lucinda away for a birthday weekend (notwithstanding the fact that Ezra is only two months old) was a non-starter. However, I am fully aware of the importance of birthdays and especially ones with a zero on the end so I made sure that everything was in place for our busiest day of the season so that I could take her birthday off.

Lucinda has a number of favourite places around the world: Hawaii, South Island, New Zealand, Melbourne, St Ives, Cornwall and Hengistbury Head, Dorset to name a few and as Hengistbury Head was the closest we decided that was where we would go for a day trip to the seaside. Looking at the weather forecast leading up to the weekend our hearts dropped. Snow, month’s worth of rain and 65mph winds is not the usual Maytide offering from Ambisagrus (or other weather deity of your choice) even for Britain. Thus we were fully prepared to stay at home for the day.

So imagine our surprise when we woke to glorious sunshine on the morning of Lucinda’s birthday. We had an appointment in the morning (more of that later) so as soon as we left there we headed down the M3 to Hengistbury Head (via Mudeford). Hengistbury Head is a headland jutting into the English Channel at the mouth of Christchurch Harbour and is both an Ancient Monument and a Special Area of Conservation. It is a spit that points across the harbour towards Mudeford and is home to a few hundred beach huts which are among the most expensive in UK. However although Hengistbury Head was our destination it was to Mudeford that we headed. Mudeford is on the east side of Christchurch harbour and thus closer than heading to Hengistbury Head directly, although there is the small matter of an arm of the English Channel between them. So once parked at Mudeford Quay we headed for the short ferry ride over to Hengistbury Head.

The good weather held all day and indeed we were worried that we may get burnt as we sat on a sandy beach looking out to the Isle of Wight. The girls thoroughly enjoyed playing on the sand and in the sea (which was absolutely freezing – a reminder that it has been one of the coldest springs on record) and Ezra cast his eyes on the sea for the first time (we weren’t cruel enough to dip his toes in the sea). Before we headed back to the ferry we stopped off for the obligatory ice cream. Éowyn asked if she could order her ice cream, on her own. So I gave her the correct money and watched from a safe distance. She confidently stepped up to the ice cream kiosk and politely asked the lady behind the counter for her ice cream. I was very impressed and very proud, she is growing up fast. This was further supported a little later. We saw the ferry pulling on to the jetty and so myself and Éowyn ran across the beach and down the jetty to catch the ferry and stop it leaving Lucinda, Amélie and Ezra behind. We boarded and Éowyn walked straight up to the operator/captain/pilot (delete as applicable) and said, ‘Excuse me, please wait there are three more to come.‘ Again one very proud father.

So what was the appointment we had on the morning of Lucinda’s birthday? Well, with a growing family we are in danger of outgrowing our home. It is tight at the moment but as the kids grow older it will become a bit of a struggle and rather than waiting until Éowyn has settled into her school we have decided to dip our toes in the housing market and see if there is anything out there that we can afford. Houses have been very expensive for the last few years and, in my opinion, are still over-priced however I have been waiting for a correction in the housing market to bring the prices down to nominal levels for the last seven years and it still hasn’t happened. This is mainly due to lack of suitable properties and the availability of cheap credit both of which are still there keeping the prices high (especially in the South East of England) and so it doesn’t look like the correction is going to happen any time now (knowing the financial luck of the Bagnalls probably a month after we move in to our next home!). Now time constraints are the greater factor so we have decided to go for it.

We have been looking at property for a while but the better properties are snapped up quickly (mainly because of the lack of suitable properties) and unless you are on the market yourselves some agents will not let you even see the property. Therefore we have put our house on the market and started looking at properties in earnest. We will keep you informed as we go through the highs and lows of moving home. The house that we saw on the morning of Lucinda’s birthday wasn’t quite right but it is the start of a long process and the houses that you don’t like help you decide about the houses that you do like as much as the houses that you do like.

The day after Lucinda’s birthday was the last day of the English Premier League the culmination of this season’s work. As last days of the season go it wasn’t a particularly interested one on paper with most of the major decisions already made and my team, West Bromwich Albion nestled safely in 8th place, their highest Premier League finish. Which was good because our last game was against Manchester United and the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson’s last match in charge. After going three goals down it looked like records were going to get broken and that the Red Devils were going to give their boss a day to remember. The Albion had other ideas though and after dragging it back to 3-2 relaxed and let Man Utd restore their three goal lead: 5-2. West Brom were not about to give up though and three late goals saw the first 5-5 draw in Premier League history. Now that was a fitting way to say good-bye to the Premier League’s greatest manager.

You will forgive the above it is not often that whitter on about football but it was something special. It also marks what it traditionally a slowing down at work although this year will be different as it is not only a family move that I am planning but IMG are moving London premises too and this summer (and beyond) is going to be a busy time facilitating that move. I don’t do things by half.

Fortunately, Ezra is currently being close to the ideal baby and seems to enjoy a good night’s sleep as much as his parents. He has even managed a 7 hour sleep, but 5 hours is more usual which is still fantastic for a two month old. He becoming more alert and enjoys watching his sisters play and they, in turn, still love their brother and both hold him at least once a day. However as soon as he cries or, worse, pukes then it’s ‘Mum! Dad! I don’t want him any more!‘ Let’s hope that this sororal love continues.

To complete the busy fornight or so we paid a flying visit to Nanny Fran’s on Sunday. The S-Max makes the journey extremely comfortable so the 250 mile round trip is relatively painfree. Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz haven’t seen the kids for a month or so and therefore saw a huge change in Ezra. The girls were their usual excited selves and Éowyn (who is now beginning to reason in an more grown up manner) lamented,’Why does Nanny Fran have to live so far away. I wish she lived nearer‘. The girls had a great time (as always) at Nanny Fran’s and kept their Bagnall relatives on their toes for the entire day which included making Auntie Liz paint their nails and, if that wasn’t enough, paint their faces too!

I will leave you there and let you enjoy the photos and hopefully I won’t leave it so long next time.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Push us higher

And higher

That’s it

Down the slide

Out of the way!

Got you!

Coy!

Happy birthday!

Something’s funny

Hengistbury Head 2013

Looking out to sea

Watching my sister

Giggling with my brother

The kids

The mini Bagnalls

We love our brother

I love my brother

Hello Brother!

First trip to the beach

Mommy and Ezra on the beach

Photobombed!

Dressed and ready to go out

Mommy, Amélie and Ezra

Aunt Sally

Smile for Nanny Fran

Blue Steel

Hug for my sister

You can even eat the dishes

Wednesday 24th April 2013Baggie

We are over half way through April and so it is only right and fitting that I update you with the activities of the Bagnall household. It has been a week or so of getting into routine. Éowyn is back at pre-school the first week since I have returned from paternity leave and so a new regime is in place. As Ezra is still only young (not even 6 weeks yet) and not sleeping through the night (more of that later) it seems completely unfair for Lucinda to attempt to get three children ready and loaded into the car to drop Éowyn off at school. Thankfully my working day is a little flexible so it is not an issue (most of the time) for me to head in for 09:30/ 10:00 and so we are taking full advantage of this. So we concentrate on getting Éowyn washed, dressed and fed and then I take her to pre-school before heading off to work. So far it is working and it means that should we have a bad night then Lucinda doesn’t have to struggle half asleep to herd three children into the car and ensure that Éowyn has everything that she needs, especially if Ezra has decided that 0830 is the time that he wants to go to sleep.

So how likely is it that Ezra will have a ‘bad night’? Not the easiest of questions to answer as it seems to be entirely random. It is not normally night after night but it can be two or three nights in a row followed by a good night. So what is the definition of a good night and likewise a bad night. Before children a good night’s sleep would be in the region of 10 hours, since children 8 hours would be a miracle, since the birth of Ezra 5 hours is unheard of. In fairness to Ezra he is probably a better sleeper than either Éowyn and Amélie. So the current definition of a good night would be Ezra sleeping for 3 to 4 hours, waking up crying, feeding then going back to sleep and both girls oblivious to his cries. A bad night (and we have had a few lately) would be Ezra not sleeping at all, crying for the majority of the night and his cries waking Amélie (and it is usually Amélie first – Éowyn sleeps through his cries). Amélie then gets upset and starts crying and because she is in the same room as Éowyn, Éowyn will wake up. Just what one needs before a full day during a busy period at work all three kids crying in the middle of the night!

This week it hasn’t just be the little ones that have been getting up in the middle of the night. Last Friday we decided to treat ourselves to an Indian takeaway, unfortunately it did not agree with Lucinda’s digestion. Now whether it was food poisoning, norovirus or just her body rejecting the spicy food the symptoms lasted best part of a week. Now obviously, our first concern was Lucinda but, of course as she is the only food source for Ezra out thoughts quickly turned to him. Can she pass the symptoms to him? Should she continue breastfeeding while ill? Should she be cuddling him? So what do we do in the early years of the 21st century when we don’t know something? That’s right we google it. There is very little these days that is ungoogleable (or ogooglebar as the Swedish aren’t allowed to say) and this was no different.

So, ‘should one continue breastfeeding when ill?‘ The overwhelming answer was ‘Yes!’ There are but a handful of conditions that can be passed from mother to child through breastmilk (HIV and HTLV-1 are the only infectious diseases that should prevent breastfeeding). Indeed on the contrary since the mother is fighting an infection her antibodies are in overdrive and these antibodies are passed through the milk to the child giving them a head start in any future fight they may have with a similar infection. It is just important to take care not to pass the infection on through the normal modes of infection, so avoiding coughing, sneezing over the little one and ensuring that hands are washed thoroughly before holding them are vitally important. Obviously one would do that anyway but it was comforting to know that Lucinda should still breastfeed and so she did and Ezra was fine.

So with a poorly mother it was left to Daddy to become primary carer on his two days off. It is always good to have some Daddy time and this was no different. The girls love the Disney programme Jake and the Neverland Pirates and so we played that, with yours truly playing the part of Captain Hook. Amélie took the game to heart (she was Jake) and for the last week she has no longer been calling me Daddy but Captain Hook and keeps trying to steal my treasure. Didn’t realise that my acting skills were that developed! ‘Blast those puny pirates!‘

I also begun to try and widen their taste in music it started off badly, however David Bowie, The Beach Boys and Bob Marley were definite hits but then we found a favourite that eclipsed the others: Sammy David Jnr’s version of Candy Man. I think we listened to it seven times in a row before I decided that enough was enough, I think it was the line ‘You can even eat the dishes‘ that caught Éowyn’s imagination. I told her that it was a cover of a song from a film called ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and gave her a précis of the story and told her that I had the book and if she would like I would read it to her. However because it is a big book it would take over a week to read it. This is the first time that I have read a book to them that is going to take more that a single night, indeed I normally read three short stories to them before bed. I wasn’t sure how they would take to it and whether they would have the attention span to last, no need to worry Éowyn is completely into it and even Amélie looks forward to it however being a little younger Amélie’s attention does wane a little and she has even fallen asleep before the night’s reading has finished. The girls are not the only one enjoying a little Roald Dahl, Daddy is enjoying it too!

The big news of this update is that Éowyn has been accepted at her first choice primary school: Town Farm. It was a difficult choice as Town Farm hasn’t got the best reputation in the area however it’s latest Ofsted report was by far the best in the area and when we toured around the schools it was the most impressive, with great facilities including plenty of computers, a well stocked library and good sporting facilities. Lucinda needed the most convincing for as she has been brought up in the area she is aware of the school’s reputation however the visit and the Ofsted report changed her opinion. There is still a nagging doubt in the back of her mind but we will soon find out whether we have made the correct decision.

However it is probably not the school we have to worry about influencing Éowyn but Éowyn influencing the other children. Éowyn is not only relatively clever but physically larger than the her peers and when she gets frustrated with her friends she can use both to get to own way. Her best friend Raine, however is more than a match for her both physically and cerebrally and they are usually as thick as thieves. If there is something going on those two are usually there or thereabouts, encouraging each other and their peers. Last Friday was an example.

Raine’s mum had offered to bring Éowyn home as Lucinda was still feeling a little tender and as she dropped her off she said that she had been called into Playbox by the teachers. Éowyn and Raine had somehow got hold of a pair of scissors and Éowyn had cut an inch off Raine’s hair. Lucinda apologised but as Raine’s mum said, she wasn’t upset with Éowyn (or Raine for that matter who had encouraged Éowyn to do it) but with the teachers who had left scissors unaided. It could have been worse, at least Raine’s hair will grow back. Just before Easter then had both come home from pre-school with their faces covered in felt-tip pen which took a couple of days to wash off and fade completely. It is never boring around at Chez Bagnall.

So after a winter that seems to have dragged which ended with the coldest March for 50 years the weather has finally turned warm (21ºC and counting!). The girls have their summer dress and their sunscreen on it so it must be time to turn the computer off and play in the garden.

Peace and love

Baggie

Shhhh!

It is comfy

Sleeping babe

Fancy dress

My baby brother

They made me do it

Éowyn’s art installation

Close up

Play-Doh!

Best friends

My best friend

Asleep on Daddy

Sleeping’s for wimps!

Thursday 11th April 2013Baggie

Welcome to the first post-paternity leave update. Yes, I am back in the adult word with responsibilities to my employers as well as to the family. So as many of you are taking time off at Easter to be with your families I am somewhat contradictorily returning from time off work. Perhaps Ezra has sensed this change in circumstances for he, too has decided to change his circumstances. For the first two weeks of his life he was unbelievable as a baby. He would feed and then sleep. Wake when he was hungry, maybe cry a little and then feed and go back to sleep. Obviously there would be the regular effect of all that food and he certainly doesn’t like his nappy changed with his bits all on show. However apart from that he was an almost ideal baby. Then it changed.

For a week he didn’t sleep. He fed, he cried and he pooped and that was all he did for nearly a week. I think if it wasn’t for Nanny Fran Lucinda definitely, and me, probably, would have been in a complete state since I was trying to get back in the working mentality and Lucinda would have had both girls and Ezra to look after on mere snatches of sleep. Not conducive to keep yourself compos mentis or to be in charge of small children.

So what caused Ezra’s sleepless nights? It is hard to track down. He wasn’t ill. It went on a little too long to be something that Lucinda had eaten. We are putting it down to a development leap, he was possibly becoming more aware of his surroundings and so his brain was trying to process all this new information. According to the Wonder Weeks website this was a little too early but if we ignore this little oversight then it seems to tie in quite well. One thought that did pass through our heads was whether he was developing Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerance like his sister. Therefore we decided that we would take him to get him weighed at the next clinic to ensure he was putting on weight at the expecting rate.

While we were struggling with Ezra alone where were Éowyn and Amélie? There were 120 miles north-west in West Bromwich at Nanny Fran’s. Yes, Nanny Fran had offered to look after the girls for the first week of the Easter holidays and we jumped at the offer. This would tie in with my first week back at work and so, the theory went, Lucinda could get into a routine with Ezra alone before trying to get into a routine with all three children. As you can guess that idea didn’t quite go to plan but nevertheless was very convenient.

We drove up to West Bromwich in the S-Max, its first proper outing and the first time that we could use the in-car DVD in anger. Ezra was very good in the car (as were Éowyn and Amélie) and we soon arrived at Nanny Fran’s. As I have mentioned before Éowyn and Amélie love to go to Nanny Fran’s and this time was no different, they were very excited for nearly a week before the journey. I am sure that Ezra will be no different when he grows up. Indeed he realised that he was somewhere different and you could see him looking around and trying to make some sense of the new place. As a baby’s eyesight isn’t that great it is possible that it is new smells that he is reacting to but whatever it was he definitely knew he was somewhere different and he was quite happy to be there.

This was Ezra’s first trip to West Bromwich, in fairness it was his first proper journey of any note. News of his trip spread and even though we were only there for a few hours he had a number of visitors who came over to see him. He also made a visit to his Great-Grandma. It was the day after her 90th birthday and so there was a double reason to visit. Great-Grandma managed to have an extended cuddle with her first Great-Grandson and Ezra was very good just lying there in her arms relaxed in his oldest relative’s embrace.

After a meal and a couple more visitors Lucinda and I then headed back home leaving our oldest children with Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz. So while Lucinda was struggling with no sleep and I was struggling with very little sleep and getting back into work, what did Éowyn and Amélie get up to?

If you ask Éowyn then the answer would be nothing. It is always nothing as I have mentioned before, but the photos paint a different story. Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz spoilt them rotten (as a Nan and Auntie should). They went to a couple of soft play areas, the West Midlands Safari Park and Auntie Liz took Éowyn to the cinema to see her first 3D film (Finding Nemo).

They were both very well behaved (well they were at Nanny Fran’s so they had no choice!) and came back with some goodies and had but one question: When could they go back to Nanny Frans.

So before I leave you (with a good selection of photos) is Ezra Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerant? While I took Éowyn to the cinema to see her second film of the week (The Croods – in 2D, none of that 3D nonsense for me) Lucinda went to find out. Well if his current weight gain is anything to go by, no! Tuesday morning is the Baby Weigh-in clinic and so Lucinda (and Amélie) took Ezra for the first time. His last weigh-in was two weeks ago and so we were quite interested to find out how much he had put on. We were not prepared for the answer. The little bruiser now weighs 4.97kg (10lb 15oz). He has put on over two pounds (just short of a kilogram) in less than 4 weeks and now sits on the 91st centile. That’s my boy!

Please enjoy the photos below and don’t forget the photos on Flickr

Peace and love

Baggie