Well hello again!
For no reason whatsoever I've been off blogging for a while. Partly as I've changed phones and jobs and been busy with.. well life!
We've been on holiday, Vera's in Year 1 and thriving! Alfred's growing up, fast! He's nearly ten months now and is cruising around furniture, opening every single drawer, pulling toilet paper off the roll, you get the picture!
The autumn has just flown by, the days are getting shorter and it's getting dark earlier but I love working part time and getting home with both children at 3:50 pm is so much less stressful than my previous life!
Last weekend Vera and I went to see the traditional fireworks in Dore. It was a display for Fireworks night or Guy Fawkes as it's more traditionally known. It was a great display and Vera loved it!
Tomorrow is my day off and I love my three day weekends! :-)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, 10 November 2016
Saturday, 27 August 2016
End of Summer..all of a sudden
So what's happened?!
Summer's nearly at an end although we're enjoying every last day
I've turned 40 and had celebrations in Sheffield and a gorgeous spa visit in Sweden at Copperhill
I've got a new job - starting next week
Alfred's got six teeth, the first two came out in Ireland, the second twoin Sweden and the last two in Italy - international boy!
Me and the children have been on 8 flights
We've been to Sweden (via Denmark and Norway) for two lovely weeks having a great time with family and friends
We've had a lovely summer holiday in Italy, in Pizzo in Calabria with lots of sun and swimming and food
Alfred's 7 months old and full of energy
Vera went swimming four times in Sweden and every day in Italy
Vera's Swedish is coming on really well as she's spent so much time with family
Alfred has started on solids but doesn't like being spoon fed and prefers to eat whatever he can hold himself (lots of mess!)
Vera's moved into her new yellow room that Mark did up during the summer
We were dog sitting Buddy, a cockapoo for a long weekend, which was fun but also hard work
Alfred's had his first settling in session at his child minder Wendy - which went very well
I think we're quite ready to start school again and be back in a routine!
Summer's nearly at an end although we're enjoying every last day
I've turned 40 and had celebrations in Sheffield and a gorgeous spa visit in Sweden at Copperhill
I've got a new job - starting next week
Alfred's got six teeth, the first two came out in Ireland, the second twoin Sweden and the last two in Italy - international boy!
Me and the children have been on 8 flights
We've been to Sweden (via Denmark and Norway) for two lovely weeks having a great time with family and friends
We've had a lovely summer holiday in Italy, in Pizzo in Calabria with lots of sun and swimming and food
Alfred's 7 months old and full of energy
Vera went swimming four times in Sweden and every day in Italy
Vera's Swedish is coming on really well as she's spent so much time with family
Alfred has started on solids but doesn't like being spoon fed and prefers to eat whatever he can hold himself (lots of mess!)
Vera's moved into her new yellow room that Mark did up during the summer
We were dog sitting Buddy, a cockapoo for a long weekend, which was fun but also hard work
Alfred's had his first settling in session at his child minder Wendy - which went very well
I think we're quite ready to start school again and be back in a routine!
Sunday, 19 June 2016
Half Term Ireland
One of the downsides with having a child in school is that we're restricted to school holidays. This means lots of traffic, busy airports and usually highly inflated prices. This time, we "only" had the traffic to contend with and we nearly didn't make it. We'd allowed ourselves two hours as buffer and left Sheffield at 9am and the ferry was leaving Holyhead at 14.10. When we got near Chester, the traffic on the motorway just ground to a halt and looking at the traffic news, it didn't look any more promising further ahead. So we left the motorway at the next exit and navigated our way on rural roads through northern Wales. At times I felt like a lorry driver and it was very close - but we made the ferry with 5 minutes to spare. Way too close for comfort!
The crossing itself was smooth, apart from a delay and we spent our first night in a rented apartment in a newly regenerated area in Dublin called Grand Canal Dock.
Ireland showed itself on its sunniest most beautiful side during our holiday and on our first morning, we walked down to the canal side and bought some breakfast which we enjoyed in the sunshine.
We then set off down to Carrick-on-Shannon and arrived at Ruth and Tony's just after lunch.
We had a few amazing days in Kilmore where we met all uncles, aunts and cousins apart from Jackie (who was en route to San Francisco) and Kathy, who lives in Kilkenny. Not bad going!
Vera got more presents and a further two birthday cakes and she got to spend some quality time with her younger cousins. Grace, Luke and Lily now have two donkeys living on the farm, who like bread very much :-) and Vera and her cousins spent lots of time playing outdoors, having a shop, water fight, arts and crafts, you name it!
It was also so lovely to bring Alfred to Ireland for the first time. A tinge of sadness as always that Joe and Olivia are no longer with us and did not get the opportunity to meet him... But we are so blessed to have a large, loving family so there was enough kisses, cuddles and attention for our little boy!
On the Thursday, Ruth, Kym, Enda and the four of us drove down to Strandhill , near Sligo. We nearly had the whole beach to ourselves and apart from a little bit of a breeze, it was truly glorious! Vera managed two ice creams from a cool ice cream parlour and we all had a late lunch on the beach side before heading back.
On Saturday morning, we headed back up to Dublin and stopped for lunch at our friends' house. Edwina and Emer had kindly also invited Emma, Aoife and Joanne and their children so at one stage there were nine children under the age of six running around - a lot of energy!
In the afternoon we headed north to Donabate to see Tom and Ger and their girls Emily, Lucy and Julie. Vera was delighted to play with her older cousins and they enjoyed meeting baby Freddie. We all enjoyed a BBQ outside and were so well taken care of.
We had an early start on Sunday morning and got the the Swift ferry back to Holyhead - mere two hours. Such a nice way to travel and so glorious to pack a suitcase and not have to worry about how much it weighs.
We had a much smoother drive back home again.
What a week! Lots of family, food, sunshine and freckles - the best kind of holiday!
The crossing itself was smooth, apart from a delay and we spent our first night in a rented apartment in a newly regenerated area in Dublin called Grand Canal Dock.
Ireland showed itself on its sunniest most beautiful side during our holiday and on our first morning, we walked down to the canal side and bought some breakfast which we enjoyed in the sunshine.
We then set off down to Carrick-on-Shannon and arrived at Ruth and Tony's just after lunch.
We had a few amazing days in Kilmore where we met all uncles, aunts and cousins apart from Jackie (who was en route to San Francisco) and Kathy, who lives in Kilkenny. Not bad going!
Vera got more presents and a further two birthday cakes and she got to spend some quality time with her younger cousins. Grace, Luke and Lily now have two donkeys living on the farm, who like bread very much :-) and Vera and her cousins spent lots of time playing outdoors, having a shop, water fight, arts and crafts, you name it!
It was also so lovely to bring Alfred to Ireland for the first time. A tinge of sadness as always that Joe and Olivia are no longer with us and did not get the opportunity to meet him... But we are so blessed to have a large, loving family so there was enough kisses, cuddles and attention for our little boy!
On the Thursday, Ruth, Kym, Enda and the four of us drove down to Strandhill , near Sligo. We nearly had the whole beach to ourselves and apart from a little bit of a breeze, it was truly glorious! Vera managed two ice creams from a cool ice cream parlour and we all had a late lunch on the beach side before heading back.
On Saturday morning, we headed back up to Dublin and stopped for lunch at our friends' house. Edwina and Emer had kindly also invited Emma, Aoife and Joanne and their children so at one stage there were nine children under the age of six running around - a lot of energy!
In the afternoon we headed north to Donabate to see Tom and Ger and their girls Emily, Lucy and Julie. Vera was delighted to play with her older cousins and they enjoyed meeting baby Freddie. We all enjoyed a BBQ outside and were so well taken care of.
We had an early start on Sunday morning and got the the Swift ferry back to Holyhead - mere two hours. Such a nice way to travel and so glorious to pack a suitcase and not have to worry about how much it weighs.
We had a much smoother drive back home again.
What a week! Lots of family, food, sunshine and freckles - the best kind of holiday!
Vera 5 years old!
Vera has so been looking forward to turning five, like most of her class mates and a few weeks ago it was finally her turn. We had a party on Sunday 29th for twenty of her school and nursery friends at Whirlow Hall Farm, and we were lucky that the weather was great so we could all be outside and do a farm tour. I've been meaning to write a lengthier blog post about British childrens' birthday parties as they are truly bananas (when you compare to Sweden).
It's a case of keeping twenty children and their parents happy for two hours and of course, the birthday girl!
Once home after the party, she got to open a few presents, any more and she won't appreciate what she's actually getting and opening.
On her actual birthday and as per tradition, we woke her up with a tray of birthday cake and juice and her presents! We all went downstairs where she happily opened all her gifts - she is a very lucky girl to have such lovely family and friends!
At 9am we took off and left for Ireland - Vera was spending her birthday in three countries: England, Wales and Ireland - as well as on a ferry!
Saturday, 18 June 2016
Tuesday, 7 June 2016
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Sunday, 22 May 2016
Summer's coming
The first weekend in a while with no parties, but we managed IKEA, a school disco, chocolate tasting, a visit to the park to feed animals, play and eat ice cream and some lovely family meals.
Alfred's going through a growth spurt so sleeping less and eating all the time (very little sleep for me! ) but he has learnt to roll over from back to front.
He's my smiley chatty baby boy and I just love spending time with him!
Saturday, 14 May 2016
Thursday, 12 May 2016
Four months old (nearly)
Our Alfred's four months old on Sunday and hasn't time flown!
He's a gorgeous, smiley boy who loves nothing more than standing up, looking around and being part of things.
He's recently started giggling, especially when Mark tickles Alfred's foot with his beard stubble.
He weighs 6.7 kilos, bang on the 50th percentile so no worries or concerns at all.
We've recently joined a baby singing and baby massage group, the former more for my benefit rather than his! It's nice to get out and meet people.
I'm writing this from Vera's swimming lesson, which she does weekly on Thursday nights. She's becoming more and more confident and it's a really important life skill to have, in addition to being enjoyable.
She is very excited about her birthday at the end of the month and about her birthday party and our trip to see family in Ireland. Life is good, in other words!
Sunday, 8 May 2016
Summer's here!
At least temporarily, so need to make the most of it while we can! Two birthday parties, two barbecues, play in the garden and wearing summer clothes!
Monday, 2 May 2016
Weekend round up
We've had a quiet Bank Holiday Monday after a busy weekend.
On Friday I was out for a few drinks with some of Robins (Vera's class) mums. It was very nice to get ready and catch up with them all.
We had dinner guests on both Saturday and Sunday night and as I and increasingly Mark too, enjoy cooking - it was nice to cook some of our favourites including Risotto, Beef Bourgignon, Cheese cake and Pavlova and spend some time with nice people!
Vera had a ball on Saturday too playing with friends.
I also had a proud mum moment on Friday when Vera came out from school with a celebration award, given to her by the headmaster. Only one pupil from each class was given one during Friday morning's assembly, and Vera was one of them.
Thursday, 28 April 2016
Catch Up
Compared to before when I was working full time I'm not busy. Ok, I'm busy in a completely I can't plan way. Every now and then you just need to drop what you're doing as Alfred needs to feed, be changed or cuddled and played with. I guess that's my excuse for not taking the time to write up proper blog posts! Some days I have 1-2 hrs "free" when he naps, other days there's barely time to have lunch or go to the toilet. But rest assured I am so enjoying every minute!
So where were we, we're at the end of April, Alfred's 15 weeks old ( tomorrow), It's Vera's 5th birthday in just over a month and it's 4 weeks since we returned back from Sweden. Crazy how time flies!
We had such a wonderful time and for once it didn't feel too stressed. We had lots of time to spend with family and dear, dear friends and enjoy one of the best times Sweden has to offer, "spring winter", when the days are long enough and warm enough so that we can be outside and enjoy the snow.
I had the pleasure of spending lots of time with my best friend Anna and her wonderful family and of course lots and lots of quality time with momma and moffa, moster Catrine and all the lovely cousins.
One huge highlight was of course to meet cousin Elsie for the first time! She is such a cute, happy and easy going baby! We look forward to spending much more time with her as well as her brothers of course in the summer.
We even managed to squeeze in a walk with Charlotte and her family, Linda's 40th birthday party as well as a few beers in town!.
Vera's enjoying school and her reading and writing is really coming on. But they also spend a lot of time playing and creating. If you ask Vera what her favourite thing to do is she'll say "making". She is very creative and ,loves nothing more than cutting, gluing, sello-taping - you name it! Every day she brings home new creations and we pick flowers and sticks along the way, also used in her art.
We're trying to encourage it as much as we can and she's always got a couple of project on the go at home - although sometimes I get a bit stressed when there's stuff everywhere!
She's still doing her ballet on Saturday mornings and she has swimming lessons on Thursday nights, which she also really enjoys. It's a great pool at a private school (less than 5 mins from the house) with very small groups so lots of one-to-one tuition. She's progressed to stage 1 and is more and more confident in the water.
She's also just finished an after school club "Dance Remix" where the dance and played games to music, every Wednesday after school. Yesterday all the parents got to enjoy a little show where they showed us what they'd learnt this term.
The new clubs have just been released and Vera is interested in either Cooking or Drama/Performance - so who knows!
I love being able to attend these shows and be part of her life at school. On Tuesday I volunteered to come along to Toby Carvery, when the whole class went for an outing there. We walked for 30 mins there then spent 2 hours doing fruit and veg quizzes, healthy eating information and colouring before the whole gang had a roast dinner. We all pitched in to make sure they got meat, potatoes veg and gravy and then walked back. Not bad going for 30 four and five-year olds!
I was completely wiped out by the time I got home so I have the greatest respect for teachers and chilcare professionals.
Alfred is getting more and more sociable, he smiles at everyone with a glint in his eyes! He loves to "talk" with us and is happiest when he gets so sit with us at the table. He hates missing out on the action.
Sleep-wise, some nights he sleeps 5-6 hours in a row, other nights it's 2-4, but compared to those first frantic weeks, it's much much better. He sleeps in a crib in our room, in his little sleeping bag.
Time to sign off and entertain the little man!
So where were we, we're at the end of April, Alfred's 15 weeks old ( tomorrow), It's Vera's 5th birthday in just over a month and it's 4 weeks since we returned back from Sweden. Crazy how time flies!
We had such a wonderful time and for once it didn't feel too stressed. We had lots of time to spend with family and dear, dear friends and enjoy one of the best times Sweden has to offer, "spring winter", when the days are long enough and warm enough so that we can be outside and enjoy the snow.
I had the pleasure of spending lots of time with my best friend Anna and her wonderful family and of course lots and lots of quality time with momma and moffa, moster Catrine and all the lovely cousins.
One huge highlight was of course to meet cousin Elsie for the first time! She is such a cute, happy and easy going baby! We look forward to spending much more time with her as well as her brothers of course in the summer.
We even managed to squeeze in a walk with Charlotte and her family, Linda's 40th birthday party as well as a few beers in town!.
Vera's enjoying school and her reading and writing is really coming on. But they also spend a lot of time playing and creating. If you ask Vera what her favourite thing to do is she'll say "making". She is very creative and ,loves nothing more than cutting, gluing, sello-taping - you name it! Every day she brings home new creations and we pick flowers and sticks along the way, also used in her art.
We're trying to encourage it as much as we can and she's always got a couple of project on the go at home - although sometimes I get a bit stressed when there's stuff everywhere!
She's still doing her ballet on Saturday mornings and she has swimming lessons on Thursday nights, which she also really enjoys. It's a great pool at a private school (less than 5 mins from the house) with very small groups so lots of one-to-one tuition. She's progressed to stage 1 and is more and more confident in the water.
She's also just finished an after school club "Dance Remix" where the dance and played games to music, every Wednesday after school. Yesterday all the parents got to enjoy a little show where they showed us what they'd learnt this term.
The new clubs have just been released and Vera is interested in either Cooking or Drama/Performance - so who knows!
I love being able to attend these shows and be part of her life at school. On Tuesday I volunteered to come along to Toby Carvery, when the whole class went for an outing there. We walked for 30 mins there then spent 2 hours doing fruit and veg quizzes, healthy eating information and colouring before the whole gang had a roast dinner. We all pitched in to make sure they got meat, potatoes veg and gravy and then walked back. Not bad going for 30 four and five-year olds!
I was completely wiped out by the time I got home so I have the greatest respect for teachers and chilcare professionals.
Alfred is getting more and more sociable, he smiles at everyone with a glint in his eyes! He loves to "talk" with us and is happiest when he gets so sit with us at the table. He hates missing out on the action.
Sleep-wise, some nights he sleeps 5-6 hours in a row, other nights it's 2-4, but compared to those first frantic weeks, it's much much better. He sleeps in a crib in our room, in his little sleeping bag.
Time to sign off and entertain the little man!
Sunday, 10 April 2016
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