It is incredible and unbelievable that he is 8 months old today. He is just the most fabulous little person. He has started to mumma mum mum ma. It is clear and distinct, this morning Noo was preparing a carrot for him at the sink so had her back to him when in the loudest, shoutiest voice he said “Mum” it was really funny!

He does say dada but it is not yet so clear or obvious when he is saying it. Here are some pictures that Noo took today.

He has just woken up so I’ll leave it here for now!

I am trying to get the feed to work with a reader so that it will automatically let you know when a new entry has been posted – if you subscribe that is! So this is really a little test entry to experiment!

Today Noo, Edward and I ventured in to Northampton whilst Jack and Elise went swimming with Ding.

We were after a new ‘stroller’ type pushchair for Edward and Toys R Us had a bargain. £130 reduced to £69.99 including a parasol, rain cover and foot muff. It is black and red and is really easy to push around! Edward loves it too – he went for a spin around ‘Where in the World…?’ (PC World!) which was in the next retail park down the road!

We got a couple of bits from Where in the World and here’s a first for us! their prices are generally cheaper online so you can reserve it online and collect in store paying the online price. We weren’t sure which products to go for so we couldn’t reserve it before we went but we did check and found out that there was a wireless hotspot in the car park. So we found the products we wanted, left the store, found the hotspot, logged on, via the laptop, using our free BT Openzone account, ordered the products online, went back to the store and saved ourselves £10!! Bargain!

On Thursday Noo took Jack and Elise to Stanwick Lakes, the nature reserve we visited a couple of weeks ago, as there was an activity day for kids. Jack and Elise made a bird box, a nut feeder and a fat ball each! Sarah will post the photos later! They also went on the nature trail and got a prize for finding all the clues.

Yesterday Sarah took all the kids to her Mum’s for lunch and stayed the rest of the afternoon so I was able to get several hours uninterrupted study in – it was fab! The only problem apart from missing them was the more I study the more I realise I need to study, there is so much to learn – esp with the web development. One tricky thing is trying to come with reasonably simple ideas for web pages that I can practice on. So if anyone has any bright ideas or challenges for me then let me know it would be really good practice!

I’m off now as it is now Sunday morning allbeit just but it is time for bed!

Jack and I are going to a computer fair in Kettering tomorrow (Sunday). We haven’t been before so we’re hoping it is a good one!

And it’s only 8am!

Yes – for the last 3 nights Edward has slept through the night – hurray!

It has been a long 7 months of broken sleep but a week ago Sarah and I decided not to feed him when he woke up. Which he usually did around 12 and 4 – 5, he could have water but no “mit milch” (formula). It only took a 2 or 3 nights of ‘trauma’ and hand holding from Sarah to get through it, that’s Edward’s hand not mine! The other part of the plan was to fill him up during the day so he couldn’t possibly be hungry during the night!

He seemed somehow to have got his eating upside down – he’d eat more during the night than he would in the day – so we changed that around! He has now progressed on to more lumpy food – although it does take the little fella a while to ‘chew / mash’ the lumps with his gums! He still doesn’t like our home cooking, instead preferring jars of food. (He still has formula at least 3 times a day)
He does have some absolute favourites – egg custard and fromage frais (not together!) He likes squash but doesn’t like to drink it out of beaker with a spout – he’s far to grown up for that – he went straight to drinking out of an open cup! He’s so clever.

He does have really hurty teeth at the moment so his cheeks are really rosy red and he’s chewing anything he can get his hands on and dribbling constantly!

The bigger kids and Noo are still doing the gym/swim every day and thoroughly enjoying it, there all feeling fit and healthy.

I’m studying hard as much as I can, as you know I started my pc technician course again with the 2006 objectives. Although the same, it is different, the modules are in a different order and the information is, to state the obvious, much more up to date! But the new studying routine is paying off as I have achieved 100 in each of my first 5 assessments!

The assessments don’t count toward the final certificate, they are simply for revision purpose!

My other studies are going well too – web design, most of that studying goes on between 9.30pm and midnight! Still I really enjoy learning about the web – it is here to stay and I believe that it will become so much more important in time to come. Some believe that it will do away with the need for having a powerful pc, as much of the work we do will be done online. You can already use word processors, spreadsheets, calendar programmes etc on the net for free, saving your documents online as well. So one day you could have your own online desktop, so instead of storing your files on your pc you will store them online and access them from anywhere. And with the increase of wireless networks you should be able to get to your ‘stuff’ from anywhere using any wifi device, whether it be a mobile phone, pda or small laptop.

On another note, I threw away the flowers that Mum gave us when she came over – they have lasted for ages!

Right then it is off to Tesco!

We woke up to snow this morning and it kept falling until mid-afternoon.

Me and the kids walked up through the park to Drayton House, it’s only a 10 minute stroll but the wind was whipping through the park making it SO cold – so we turned round and came home.

I’m off to eat dinner now – so I’ll leave you with some snow piccies.

Sarah x

Lengths that is!

We are now family members of the Nene Leisure Centre in Thrapston. This opens up a whole host of opportunities for everyone and we intend to make the most of everything.

Membership includes: unlimited swimming, unlimited use of the gym, unlimited participation of adult classes (there is a Salsa Fit class on a Thursday morning that I’m really looking forward to) and unlimited participation in all of the dry side courses for children, which include trampolining, soccer school, dance, gymnastics, cheerleading and more! Membership also covers two other leisure centres that are close-by.

Me, Jack and Ellie are going to go at least once a day Monday to Friday. The plan is to swim between 3 and 4pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (we can’t swim at that time on a Wednesday as it’s staff training in the pool) and then spend an hour in the gym afterwards with just the gym on a Wednesday.

We swam 50 lengths on Monday and 55 yesterday – to swim the Pier to Pier distance we only have to do another 73 lengths. The kids are also going to take part in this year’s Marie Curie Swimathon on the 24 March, there are 3 distances you can do: 1.5k (60 lengths), 2.5k (100 lengths) or 5k (200 lengths). If they do it at our pool at the gym they will have 3 hours to complete their chosen distance in; if they do it at the Kettering pool with Tony then they’ll get 4 hours to complete it in – they haven’t decided on a distance or pool yet.

We also had our gym induction course yesterday – the kids are only allowed to use the cardiovascular machines and ‘Stuart’ showed them how to use them properly and worked out a little fitness programme for them. ‘Phil’ showed me how to use the CV machines and some of the resistance machines and has devised a programme for me to follow so that I’ll be able to rediscover my old wardrobe again – YIPPEEE!

Other news:

Edward is too big for his baby car seat now; his new one AKA ‘The Beast’ arrived yesterday – it’s ENORMOUS and looks very comfy. See what you think….

Sarah x

We are members of the RSPB and today we went to an “Aren’t Birds Brilliant!” day at Stanwick Lakes in Stanwick (funnily enough) which is about 10 miles away.

“Aren’t Birds Brilliant!” is running every weekend throughout February with RSPB staff and volunteers on hand with binoculars, telescopes and a wealth of information.

We sat in the hide and watched a Tufted Duck duck and dive under the water over and over, a Great Crested Grebe dive and catch fish, Canada Geese snoozing in the sunshine on an island, Mute Swans glide past elegantly with their big signets following on behind.

We also saw Coots fighting over territory – I don’t think any of us had seen anything like it before (other than on nature documentaries). They lay back on top of the water and fight with their feet, which are claw-like like garden birds rather than webbed like ducks’ feet. If kicking isn’t scaring the other one off then they try to sink them, the RSPB man said that it’s not unknown for them to drown an opponent – I don’t think I fancy coming back as a Coot!
Jack and Ellie went swimming at the pool in Kettering with Tony this afternoon to carry on their training for the Bournemouth Pier to Pier swim in the summer; they are staying over at my mum’s tonight so it seems eerily quiet here at the moment – I’m off to make the most of it and wonder how on earth Edward can be seven months old already.

Sarah x
Tufted Duck

Diving…

Fighting Coots!

Swan – just beautiful.

Or so they say! Here are just a few…
Madaline – fast asleep when she came to stay

The light around Lowick church changes almost by the hour it seems – here are a few differing light shots, the last one was taken this morning as the sun came up.

Northamptonshire has a maze of villages of varying sizes that are all separate from each other – our nearest ‘big’ village is Thrapston (think of a cross between Steyning and Storrington) and is separated from Islip (smaller village but not as small as Lowick) by the River Nene. To get to Thrapston you have to drive across the Nine Arch Bridge (complete with overnight mooring facilities for narrow boats) but you have to wait your turn, it’s only wide enough for one way traffic…

Home sweet home…

The only ‘snow’ that’s stuck around for longer than 5 mintues…

Jack with short hair (make the most of it, he’s already looking fuzzy!)

And for the grand finale – The Bear Cub (taken on Monday).

Sarah x

I have been trying to decide on the best way to catch up with our goings on. The trouble being that the more I procrastinate the bigger the gap and thus the bigger the problem of catching up!

So I’ll carry on from today and throw in bits that have happened these past few weeks in more detail as we go in the coming posts.

In the meantime here’s a list of the main things!

We changed our minds and decided not to send the kids back to school.

Sarah had the worst ever toothache caused by an infection under one of her back teeth.

Mum and David came to visit – hooray!

Edward just keeps getting cuter and cuter and his poo is getting more and more solid (weaning)!

I started a new course – Web Wizard – the follow on to the Web Entrepreneur course I completed last year.

So that was a brief run through I have probably missed out loads of stuff but we’ll add it later.
Over breakfast this morning Ellie was asking about Amsterdam, where it was etc so that gave us our learning topic today! The EU. So the first task was for the kids to find out what countries make up the European Union, there are 27! When they had done that we talked about the order that they joined in and found out that it is the EU’s 50th birthday this year. Their next tasks were to find out the main language, population and flag for each member state. Then tomorrow they can draw a map of Europe and put the flags in the right places!

Jack, Ellie and I went for a stroll in the park with the dogs. I think that when it gets warmer quite a few learning activities will take place there. I can see them sitting on the grass with a sketchbook drawing the big house!

Today I decided to restart my Comptia A+ course. The professional body has just released the 2006 course objectives – I had been studying the 2003 objectives – so we had a choice, either carry on or start again with the new materials – so I opted to start again. The course materials are similar but have been updated to reflect the new technologies so it shouldn’t take long to catch up.

Jack has decided to grow his hair long so we’ll wait and see on that one! Ellie is being all grown up and very helpful and Jack has become a real bookworm, he can’t put them down! His latest preferred author is Mark Robson .

Right I think that will do for today – I’m off to test the new mattress!

A day of good intentions that were partly achieved! One goal, which was achieved was to make sure that the kids ate early enough to be able to have an early night without going to bed on a full tummy as they are visiting a potential school tomorrow morning.
Chilli con carne was the dish of the day! It was cooked in the morning and with only the rice left to cook the kids were eating by 5.30pm and in bed by 8pm – unlike their younger brother, who insisted on staying up with his Mum and Dad, we eventually got to eat just after 9pm. Edward settled down to sleep at about 9.45 having had a couple of ounces of formula for a snack!

It was a big day for Edward – he found his feet and then spent every opportunity on his back curled up in a little ball playing with his feet whilst giggling hysterically. He’s so cute! He also continued to practice his rolling abilities – from tummy on to his back!

Noo planted up the last of the buckets with bulbs, which will then be sunk into the front garden. The front path has a border either side it.  It is currently covered with pebbles – or at least that is what we thought. Noo discovered that it wasn’t a covering of stones, it was literally filled with stones. So that put the kibosh on planting up the borders with bulbs etc. That is until she had a brainwave – she decided to put the bulbs in buckets and ‘plant’ the buckets! So in a few months we should have a fab show of spring bulbs.

On the wireless network front I have made a little progress. Because our cottage has 2-3 foot thick walls a reliable wireless network signal was just a forlorn hope – the Linksys range expander hasn’t been a huge success yet but I am hoping I might have more luck with it boosting the signal upstairs so that both Jack & Elise can access the net in their rooms. The signal downstairs has been improved by changing the wireless channel to 11 and broadcasting only ‘g’ instead of a mixed b/g.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for Edward – he will be 6 months old and will meet his cousin, Madeline, she is 1 years old and lives in Newcastle but is down with her Mum, Paula for a few days!