Frazzled Working Mum

Glorious Devon for our Jocelyn!

2009-11-10T23:28:00.000Z

I confess that it has been two months since I last blogged. Life has been so crazy that we haven’t had time to stop – the weeks have just hurtled by. It is a shame as so much has been happening but I am hoping that I’ll be able to recall most things. I think that ultimately I do enjoy keeping a diary – I did as a child – and perhaps this blog is an extension of that. Shared memories have always been really important to my family; thus we are a family who love to tell stories and laugh over photographs of past adventures.

At present, we are well into the party season and almost every weekend has seen some celebration for the girls or their friends.

This is mainly an account of the time up to our holiday in Devon, where we celebrated Jocelyn’s second birthday.

August

The weekend before the nasty outbreak of E. coli at farms in Surrey, we went to one such farm (but not any of the ones involved in the outbreak) because we’d been promising the girls we’d go see some farm animals for weeks. So on the last Bank Holiday weekend in August, we set out for Bockett’s Farm.

It was a Saturday lunchtime but as we got within a mile of the farm, we encountered a nasty road traffic accident on the road. As we drove past the scene at low speed, I could see that there was only one paramedic on scene who had just arrived moments before. I asked Jase to pull over so that I could see if he needed any help.

An hour and a half later and after trying to save the injured man along with five paramedics and the air ambulance doctor and paramedic, we were finally done at scene and leaving the Police to start their investigation. It had been unexpected and stressful but I was glad that I was able to help in some way. Unfortunately, I was then in no fit state to go on to the Farm as I needed a change of clothes, so we headed back home.

The next morning, we tried the journey again, this time with no unexpected diversions. The road looked so different without the debris from the crash – almost as if it had never happened. I found that quite odd somehow.

However, once we’d arrived all thoughts of the previous day were forgotten and we had a wonderful time at the farm.

Here are Lauren and Jocey looking at the small animals in the hutch. Lauren was quite nervous, even of the small animals. Jocelyn, as usual, wasn’t scared of anything.

After looking at the rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep, goats and cows in the shed, we went outside to have a ride on the tractor around the farm.

It was all very well organised. There were plenty of hand washing facilities (and of course I made sure their hands were clean after they had touched the animals) and the place looked generally clean. It was all a lot of fun and the animals looked happy and content.

After a good lunch, we headed to the children’s playground area for the girls to run around and play. They especially liked the huge sandpit, complete with play house and sand toys!

Of course, Jocey loved the slide and had many goes before she could be persuaded to try something else.

Lauren spotted the bouncy pillow and the shoes immediately came off and she was on it bounce to her heart’s content!

Despite being quite a cold and overcast day they had a fantastic time and loved seeing the animals.

September

September brought a much needed holiday. Neither of us had actually had a proper summer holiday (our break in July was used to move house to Richmond). Work had been pretty busy for both of us and we were looking forward to going away.

I had found a lovely self catering cottage on the internet in North Devon which could accommodate all of us (as both sets of parents and Aunty Madge were coming too) and since I’d always wanted to go to the West Country, I thought it would be ideal.

It was in the most beautiful setting in North Devon; quiet, peaceful and so green. The cottage was located just outside a small town called Bideford, only accessible via a very narrow (and sometimes hair-raising) country lane.

It was everything we could have hoped for – not just picturesque but obviously a well loved family home. Our whole family loved it – the girls ran round the house for the first two hours exploring every nook and cranny of their “holiday house”.

Every evening, we had wonderful family meals in the farmhouse kitchen. I even got to grips with the challenge of cooking on an AGA (not my favourite beast – I love the instant control and intense heat that only a gas hob can provide). Catering for seven adults and two children was no small challenge, but actually one I enjoyed whilst on holiday.

On the first Sunday after our arrival in Devon, it was Jocelyn’s second birthday. She has yet to have a birthday celebration at home – last year, we were in Chicago for her first birthday!

Here is a picture of my baby girl just a few days old in September 2007.

This is her last year in Chicago on her first birthday.

I can barely believe how quickly she has grown into a little girl. Here she is on her second birthday in Devon. She is just about to blow out the candles on the carrot cake that I had baked for her that morning. I found the recipe in an old WI cookbook at the cottage dating back to the 1950’s. It was a fantastic recipe – I have used it a number of times since!

Jocelyn is turning into such a bright, vivacious girl – full of smiles and laughter!

She is so different from Lauren in personality but somehow they complement each other perfectly. We love our girls so much; they have brought so much joy into our lives. We are lucky and grateful that they also love each other very much.

Whilst in Devon, we visited some of the local attractions and sights. We had a day on another farm, called The Big Sheep, which was enormous fun. We had a day meeting the lovely farm animals, including feeding the lambs.

Lauren was a bit scared because the lambs were pretty boisterous but Jocey wasn’t fazed. She even went to stroke the lambs afterwards, and seemed to like that. Rigorous hand washing followed, of course. I was very impressed by the levels of hygiene in the place – there were signs everywhere reminding people to wash their hands and their children’s hands after any contact with the animals and it was generally very clean.

We loved watching the sheep dogs and also enjoyed the horse whispering demonstration. The girls also loved playing in the huge indoor soft play area.

They played happily in this area for at least an hour and a half before we could tear them away for some lunch.

Here’s Lauren, Jocey and Mummy coming down the big slide with Daddy looking on from the top.

Whilst in Devon, we visited a number of the local attractions. On a wet Monday morning, we drove into Cornwall to the Eden Project. Set in an old quarry, I found it to be surprisingly beautiful.

It was architecturally amazing – a perfect blend of sculpture with an industrial undertone and nature in all its glory. The planting was lush and felt natural; you would not have guessed that it’s only about 10 years old.

The girls did enjoy looking around the domes, especially the rainforest one (even though the heat was quite oppressive). Lauren especially liked the cocoa tree (when she found out that’s where chocolate came from!) and the banana tree with real bananas growing on it. I learned something too – I didn’t realise that pineapples grew on squat bushes; I had always assumed they grew on trees. Perhaps that was the fault of all those inaccurate Del Monte adverts when I was a child!

Both sets of parents enjoyed it too. We all agreed that it had been a lovely outing and well worth seeing. I thought that it was educational with a strong conservational message without being boring. I especially liked the cafe, where all the vegetable produce was grown on site by the Eden Project team.

Being real foodies, we decided that no trip to Devon and Cornwall would be complete without a trip to Padstow, home to chef Rick Stein. I planned to try some seafood there (being a port) even if it wasn’t going to be at his restaurant. Besides, I could always drool at the menu in the window.

It was a glorious day but I was shocked that on a Thursday after the schools had gone back from the summer break that the place was absolutely jam packed with tourists. Despite this, we did eventually find a restaurant called Pescadou which served us a wonderful seafood lunch at a reasonable price. My fish was cooked to perfection. I didn’t get to enjoy it for very long though, as Jocey was in a bad mood and had to be taken for a walk along the harbour before she calmed down.

A chocolate ice cream got her back to her normal cheery self very quickly after that!

Lauren, of course had one too.

In the afternoon, we drove back towards North Devon and stopped to take in the sights at Tintagel. Being a fan of the Arthurian Legends since childhood, I achieved a lifetime ambition to see Tintagel.

It is set in the most amazing place; you walk down a very steep path which takes you down a narrow valley and out towards an isolated headland, buffeted by the sea.

To clarify, the ruins that you see are mainly from a castle built in the Middle Ages. However, out on the headland, archaeologists uncovered ruins dating from a 5th or 6th century fort, the correct timeframe for the legends of Arthur. We loved it; the atmosphere and the sheer wild nature of it.

We had unexpectedly glorious weather for the entire week so much of it was spent on the beach. The girls loved this; they spent the whole time running around and building sandcastles. It was fantastic to see them so happy and so free – a far cry from London.

We found two beaches that we particularly loved; one at Instow, which was very sheltered and family friendly and one at Woolacombe, which was huge, very clean and had excellent facilities.

Here’s Lauren and Jocey on the beach at Instow building sandcastles.

Here’s a later masterpiece getting the “Jocey treatment”.

The girls are clearly having fun!

This is Mummy’s attempt at sand sculpture – a sea turtle. Pretty basic but drew many admirers from people passing by on the beach!

Our day at Woolacombe was also fun filled. The girls had a wonderful time doing a dance around their sandcastle – perhaps to bring out the sun?

What better way to celebrate the joys of the beach than for the whole family to enjoy a lunch of fish and chips in the sunshine? I had some fresh whelks as well…yummy!!

It was a fantastic day out, as you can see by everyone’s relaxed smiles.

We attempted some family photos but unfortunately the girls were too tired by then. This was the only one we managed to get successfully!

We loved Devon and we loved our holiday there. The week was over far too quickly (as always with holidays). We were truly sad to be heading back to the concrete jungle of London. The quieter pace was something I definitely continue to yearn for, and maybe we’ll find soon. I would definitely like to go back some day.

The rest of our holiday photos can be seen here.

The Big Fish Tank

2009-09-01T21:17:00.000+01:00

We’ve had a number of successful days out from Richmond over the past few weeks.

One weekend at the end of July, we went on the train to Waterloo to the London Aquarium. We had been promising the girls that we would go to see the “big fish tank” for some time and they were very excited about going. Even the train journey was lots of fun for them and they kneeled on the seats to look out the windows to point at other passing trains along the way.

We got there relatively early, but despite this there were already hoards of people in central London. The queue for the London Eye was already massive. Here’s Daddy and the girls outside the Aquarium.

Lauren had recently watched a “Happy Monster Band” episode on Playhouse Disney where the band go to London and see the London Eye, Big Ben and meet the Queen, so she was really excited to see Big Ben and the Eye in real life.

No show for Queenie though…

Here’s Jocelyn and Daddy; Jocey’s clearly eager to go in as she’s pointing to the Aquarium!

We didn’t have much of a queue for tickets at the Aquarium but unfortunately we were kept a long time at the desk as the girl could not work out which pre-paid ticket we’d bought. So much for pre-paying!

It was our first time at the Aquarium and the girls loved it, although Lauren (as usual) was a bit scared of the bigger fish like the rays. There was an open tank inside about halfway through where you could get really close to the fish and see them from above. Poor Lauren got really frightened when one of the rays rose up out of the water towards her to have a closer look. She wouldn’t believe me when I told her they were nice fish with big smiley faces!

Once she got over that though she seemed to enjoy the rest of it, especially seeing “Nemo” and “Dorey” and the sharks. Jocey, meanwhile took it all in her stride and wasn’t scared of anything.

At the end of the trip, there was the obligatory stroll around the gift shop. Jocey fell in love with a cuddly Nemo and asked to take him home. Bizarrely, for a girl who was scared of the big fish, Lauren chose the cuddly shark (now called Bruce) in the toy shop at the exit – go figure!

Lauren’s 4th Birthday

2009-08-31T23:58:00.000+01:00

I am slowly catching up with recent events; it has been so hectic that I’ve barely had time to catch my breath. I can’t believe that two weeks have passed since Lauren’s birthday and that I haven’t been able to blog about it until now.

Mind you, in that time I’ve been to Australia and back, but more about that later.

The birthday girl had known for some time that she was coming up to her fourth birthday and mentioned it quite often. She talked about the party she was going to have (with all the family there, of course) and the cake that she wanted (chocolate, with Dora the Explorer on it – a bit of a challenge for poor Mummy!). She was really excited as the day got closer and the family started to arrive.

Peter and Suzanne stayed with us in the flat and my parents stayed in Kingston as the flat isn’t big enough to accommodate both sides of the family at once. The children were thrilled to see everyone here in our new home. Both sets of parents have been impressed with our new flat – smaller but perfectly formed, and our new surroundings in lovely Richmond.

We decided to have a big meal out with the whole family on the Saturday night and went into Putney to the original Royal China there. We had an enjoyable meal even though some aspects of it were not as good as the newer Bayswater one.

Lauren’s fourth birthday was on the Sunday. Recently, I bought a Cobb barbeque to try out as we only have a small balcony as outdoor space and it is so compact. We lit the coals and prepared a large birthday feast – this is fast becoming a tradition on her birthday.

Here’s our journey with her in pictures. This is my beautiful girl on the day she was born, in August 2005. She was so tiny as she was only 34 weeks and was 4lb 3oz (1.9kg)!

Here’s Lauren on her 1st birthday, looking very excited at the prospect of birthday cake.

Here’s the great barbeque on her 2nd birthday. We had a glorious day as the weather was superb.

Here’s happy Lauren on her 3rd birthday. We were about to bring out the cake at this point!

Here’s my beautiful birthday girl waiting patiently for Mummy to finish icing her cake so that she can open her presents on her 4th birthday.

She is our darling girl and we love her so much!

When the cake was finally finished and brought out (as ordered) I hope it didn’t disappoint. It was moist and gooey inside – just as a chocolate cake should be.

Poor Lauren went a bit shy when we were singing “Happy Birthday” to her and retreated to Mummy for a big hug. After this, she opened her presents, which she clearly enjoyed.

As you can see, the birthday girl loves her princesses, so a fairy princess outfit suited her just fine. She wore this for most of the day!

When Aunty Charlotte, Uncle Jason and George arrived, they had also suspected that Lauren might enjoy being a fairy princess. Lauren was thrilled to get this second outfit, with even bigger wings! A girl can’t have too many…

With barbeque food flying off the tiny but wonderfully efficient Cobb, the day was a huge success. Lauren had a wonderful time, and the grown-ups did too.

Exactly six days to go before we do it all again for Jocey’s second birthday, as their birthdays are only three weeks apart. I’m keen to give Jocelyn a really good birthday this year as last year we only had a small celebration and then had a long plane journey.

This year, we’ll be with the whole family in Devon and Cornwall; we’re renting a beautiful 16th century thatched farmhouse. It will be the first time we’ve ventured that far into the South West – can’t wait!

Life in Richmond

2009-08-31T22:58:00.000+01:00

I am finally back blogging after a significant break – it may even been the longest period I’ve had where I haven’t blogged. Swine flu is just a distant memory now – although Jocelyn also caught it (bizarrely, not from Jase) and was quarantined too.

We went offline shortly after my last post because of the house move. There was a frantic push towards the finish line as the move date edged closer, but we finally managed to get all our stuff ready for long term storage and the house ready to be packed by the removal men.

On the morning of the house move in mid July, the girls got up for the last time in their bedroom.

Here they are in their beds in their room. Most of their stuff had already been packed away and this meant that it had already been depersonalised to some degree. However, I did feel sad for them as it’s been the only home either of them have ever known.

Despite this, they seemed genuinely excited when they said their goodbyes to the house and I promised them that they would go to the new house when they came home from nursery.

The removal men came and with great efficiency packed all our remaining stuff and loaded the vans ready for the trip to long term storage and our new flat in Richmond. Since the flat is smaller than old house, we had already decided that much of what we had would need to go into long term storage and only brought back out when we move to a bigger permanent home.

The move actually went very smoothly although it took most of the afternoon for them to unload our stuff at the other end and lug it up to our second floor flat. They worked very hard and were really good – I’d definitely use them again. Of course, that was only the beginning. It took me a good week and a half to get the flat organised, tidy and in good working order – a lot of hard work. However, by the end of the first afternoon, the girls’ bedroom was ready for their return and we had a functioning kitchen and living room, which I think was a huge achievement.

The girls returned home and were absolutely thrilled. They loved going up and down in the lift and they were really excited to find their bedroom almost exactly like their old room (smaller, but with their furniture in a very similar layout to the old room). The familiarity helped them see that the flat was our home now and they settled in quickly. We even brought some of our pot plants with us to put on our balcony, which Lauren then immediately recognised as “Mummy’s Garden”.

For about two weeks, they were a bit unsettled at night and were anxious when they awoke and didn’t recognise their surroundings (which was a good excuse for climbing into bed with Mummy and turning Daddy out into the spare bedroom). However, that settled down as well and they are now really at home in our new flat.

Mid July was also George’s first birthday. Charlotte and Jason had planned a big party with their friends and family at a venue in Hammersmith. My parents came down to stay with us in Richmond but the Friday before his birthday weekend, Jocey contracted swine flu and was placed in quarantine by our GP. This meant that sadly she and I missed out on the big party. Jase, Lauren and my parents went and took some pictures for me to see.

Here’s the birthday boy with Charlotte and Jason. He’s clearly looking forward to his birthday cake!

Lauren having hugs with her Gung Gung at the party, and probably looking forward to the cake too.

Here’s the birthday boy playing with Lauren and my mum. They are clearly having a lot of fun.

When Jocey was declared safe to join the world again, we made the most of our free weekends and explored Richmond from our new home. Our flat is in a fabulous position, right in the heart of town but off the main street where the pubs and train station are. This means it’s convenient but we don’t have drunks or much noise at night. This was a major factor in choosing this property for renting – great location and functional layout inside. As Richmond is so compact, everything is within easy reach and we rarely take the car except to go further afield or to go to work.

Here we are at our new local playground, a lovely small park in Worple Way. The girls are trying out the swings and having a great time.

The girls giggling on the swings!

Here’s Jocelyn playing with the football on another occasion. She’s very good on her feet and is showing some sporting promise!

This one was taken at Old Deer Park, a little further away, but also with a great children’s play area. It is a huge expanse of green next to the river – good to end up there after going down to the river to feed the ducks!

Jocey enjoying the climbing frame.

Lauren also having fun on the climbing frame.

Head first down the slide! Wee!!

After any trip to the park, a big ice cream is mandatory. Lucky that there is just such a place across the road from the new flat. Bliss.

What more could a girl want?

Our other Richmond photos can be found on my Flickr account here and here.

Days of our lives

2009-07-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

I’m pleased to report that Jase has recovered from his brush with swine flu. He was in quarantine all of last week but after starting Tamiflu made a speedy recovery.

We’ve had the opportunity to deal with approximately 30 years of photographs over the last two weekends as part of our packing and sorting. We found an excellent company on the internet who take all your old photos and scan them into digital copies.

We sent them approximately 2000 photos from 30 years (unfortunately excluding ones already in photo albums as I had packed these already) and within three days they had scanned them and returned them to us with the photos on a DVD. Through this method, we were able to save these precious photos from further degradation in quality.

I am so pleased with the result! We looked through the photos and it brought back so many memories, but frustratingly we also realised how much we’d already forgotten. I’m hoping these memories will come back when we look at the photos again.

We have begun to build our photo archive here on Flickr. I will need to get Jase to dig out some of his baby photos the next time we are in York.

Ruby Wedding celebration

2009-06-30T23:35:00.001+01:00

Four weekends ago, we headed up to York to celebrate my in-law’s Ruby Wedding anniversary. Suzanne and Peter had invited their close friends and wider family to help them celebrate the occasion. My parents headed down from Edinburgh for the weekend as they were invited too.

We were a little worried on the way up as the weather hadn’t been all that great and the forecast was for a cold and grey day. I hurriedly unpacked all the summer clothes that I had originally packed and repacked for a colder day before leaving London.

We arrived close to midnight on the Thursday night, so went straight to bed on arrival. The following day, we helped Suzanne and Peter get ready for the big day by preparing food and doing odd jobs.

On the Friday evening, a large marquee was erected in the back garden. We were amazed at the speed with which it went up considering at that time the heavens opened and it was pouring with rain.

On Saturday, Suzanne’s family started to arrive. It was lovely to meet them for the first time and get to know them a bit. My parents also arrived that afternoon, so we spent a lovely evening as an extended family out at a local Chinese restaurant called Maxi’s.

This is Suzanne with two of her sisters. Jase also got to meet one of his cousins for the first time.

The girls are enjoying hugs with their other grandparents in this photo.

The girls can be a bit fussy at times about their food when we go out to eat but fortunately they were both on best behaviour. They both enjoyed their noodles and had some crispy duck and stir fried beef. I thought both girls looked lovely in their little party dresses.

This photo is of Jocey giving Aunty Madge a cuddle – I thought it was really lovely!

The day of the anniversary party turned out thankfully to be dry. The finishing touches were added to the marquee making it look fantastic.

The guests started to arrive, including Suzanne’s brother and another sister that we had not met before. It was fabulous seeing these long-lost siblings reunited at such a happy occasion. Here they are at one of the family tables.

Everyone helped themselves to drinks and before long a real party atmosphere was underway! This is the magnificent marquee in their back garden.

Lauren and Jocey also got to meet all their second cousins. They played really well together (maybe because they were all girls!) and had a fantastic time. Lauren especially loved playing with Alice, who is a similar age. Here’s Lauren with Georgina (aged eight) and Alice (aged four), the children of Oliver (Jason’s cousin) and Caroline. This was taken after they had finished playing balloon tennis with me in the living room.

Little Lara (aged two) was also there with her parents Janet (Jason’s cousin) and David. She was too little to join in the more boisterous play of the older girls but seemed to enjoy herself nevertheless.

We all sat down to eat the fabulous hog roast before long. The food was wonderful as the hog was done to perfection. My only regret is that the caterers took away all the leftover hog roast, including an awful lot of excellent crackling. When Jase went to get me seconds, he omitted to get any crackling for me and when I next looked, the hog had been packed away. What a missed opportunity!!

We sat with Jase’s cousins Janet, Claire, Oliver, Jo and their partners. There was a lot of talk about babies and children at our table. We all had a great time catching up; I especially enjoyed chatting with Caroline about our lives with two children.

The girls all had a little table to themselves adjacent to ours. Initially, this was only meant for the three older girls but Jocey soon decided that she was not going to sit with Mummy and Daddy and would rather sit with Lauren, Georgina and Alice. Extra chairs were quickly produced!

Lauren and Georgina then began to look after the younger children, looking after them and being Mummy to them. Lauren was feeding Jocey and Lara chocolate cake in this photo. Good sharing!

Both Peter and Suzanne had the opportunity to speak and talk about their time together and their happiness that they had their family and friends all around them to help them celebrate their special day.

The girls enjoyed themselves immensely and were very well behaved. We were so proud of them. As they got on so well with their second cousins, we promised Caroline and Oliver that we would make every effort to see them and their girls again in the near future.

The grown ups were pretty tired out by the end after a day of entertaining the children but it had been a truly memorable day. Here’s Dad catching forty winks on the sofa with Jocey and Octpu.

All Peter and Suzanne’s hard work in organising the event led to everyone having an absolutely fantastic time, as well as raising a sizable sum for one of the local children’s hospices. I am certain that everyone there will remember it fondly in the years to come. Most importantly, they themselves were relaxed and had a wonderful time, despite all the work they had to put in behind the scenes!

The family photos from the day can be found here.

Moving to Richmond

2009-06-30T16:18:00.001+01:00

At the end of last week, we finally exchanged contracts on our house and have set a date for moving out! We were absolutely thrilled to have sold our house in 7 weeks despite the current housing market and additionally to get what we asked for the house. Our estate agents worked their socks off for us, so all credit to them.

We have had several weekends of sorting and packing, thus the lack of updates online. We finally finished clearing out the loft this weekend, including all the old carpets that had been stacked up there from the year dot. Worryingly, some of them had become a good hiding place for moths so they were quickly taken to the tip. The loft is now gloriously empty; just a shame it wasn’t that way when we moved in ourselves.

It has been really cathartic; we have taken 5 car loads of stuff to the tip and at least 3 car loads to the charity shop. I couldn’t believe some of the stuff that Jase had hoarded over the years in our loft (we’ve only been in this house since the end of 2004 but there was hoarding going on even before that).

The house is chaos as you can imagine; boxes and stuff everywhere, either waiting for packing or having been packed.

I find it a bit difficult to relax in the house at the moment because of this and can’t wait for the move to be all over. However, to be fair, we have done a lot of packing and there isn’t much more to do.

My job for today has been to find a company to clean our house before we hand it over to the new owners. Now I know that some people will wonder why we are bothering but I feel that it should be part of moving out and is a courtesy to your buyer. Our buyers seemed to be really nice people when I met them and have done everything they can to make the exchange a smooth process, which is all the more reason.

Of course, there are also personal reasons for this. This was our very first house together in Bonaly, Edinburgh which Jase and I bought in our final year of university. It didn’t always look this lovely though. This picture was taken when we were preparing to sell it back in 2003.

We moved into the house in February 1997. It had been a really cold and grey day and by the time the move was done it was dark. The previous owner had left the house dirty, had taken everything including the loo roll holders, towel rails and shelves off the walls and left each room with just one 40 watt light bulb (even in the rooms with more than one light fitting). There was also a pile of discarded odds and ends in the garage which she had not bothered to remove.

I remember sitting in the dark front room at the end of that day feeling exhausted and disappointed because it hadn’t been anything like the home I’d expected to move into. Contrast this experience with our move into our current house, where the previous owner left us a bottle of champagne and a friendly note explaining how everything worked. The house had been left tidy, and whilst not super clean, it was still a huge improvement on our experience in Edinburgh.

We take possession of our rental flat in Richmond tomorrow. I was thrilled when I found it as it is just right for our family’s needs at this time. It is right in the heart of Richmond so everywhere is within walking distance and it’s a good size being a post-war flat. I am looking forward to spending Tuesdays and weekends exploring Richmond and Kew; Jase and I are both hoping that it will be less pressured and less hassle than West London, where we’ve been living up to now. Of course, being closer to work and nursery (it’s about 5 minutes drive from our new flat) will be fantastic too.

We can’t wait!

Glorious summer

2009-06-02T17:00:00.000+01:00

The weather has been absolutely glorious for days. At the weekend, we spent a lot of time at the park with the girls as the whole family took advantage of the fabulous weather. Our garden is looking wonderful but is needing a lot of watering as the sun is so fierce during the day. There has been very little rain lately, so it looks like we could have the very hot summer that we’ve been promised by the weathermen.

June is a busy month for all of us. My brother Jase and Charlotte celebrate their second wedding anniversary today. My in-laws celebrate their Ruby wedding anniversary this weekend. We celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary in 3 weekends’ time; that same weekend, my cousin Jeff will be getting married in Toronto. We are really sorry that we won’t be there to help Jeff and Leanne celebrate their special day.

So this weekend, we are all going to York for Suzanne and Peter’s Ruby wedding anniversary. There is a big event planned for Sunday with family and friends, with a hog roast being the centrepiece of the festivities. We are all really looking forward to it and having a long weekend out of London.

Next week, I am going to view some rental accommodation in Richmond for the family, as our house sale appears to be reaching the final stages. We are really pleased to have got here so quickly and can’t wait for everything to be finalised. Moving to Richmond will get us closer to the nursery and make our lives a lot easier as commuting will be less.

Once we are safely settled in Richmond, we intend to kick back and enjoy the glorious summer ahead!

Happy Birthday to Grandma!

2009-05-31T15:55:00.001+01:00

May is a month of birthdays – we had PoPo’s (Grandma Maggie’s) birthday at the beginning of the month and Grandma Suzanne’s birthday today at the end of the month. So just for our two Grandmas, here’s a special rendition of the Birthday Song!

Happy birthday!

James & Sally’s Wedding Photos

2009-05-30T14:19:00.001+01:00

The photos that Jason, Julian and I took are uploading to Jase’s Flickr account as I type.

They will end up here.

We have sent James & Sally a disk with them all on today.

Feel free to share the link around.

String Legacy

2009-05-27T22:31:00.001+01:00

My musical career really began aged 6 or 7 when I first encountered the violin. I remember quite vividly my first Skylark violin; it made quite a squeaky noise and its quality was no doubt the catalyst for many parents prohibiting their offspring from taking their instrumental career any further.

Luckily for me though, my parents persevered with the questionable sound and my string playing eventually led me to playing both violin and viola with orchestras and quartets at school and outside of school. However, as my singing career became more dominant, my chances of playing became less and less and eventually I stopped playing both instruments and concentrated on the singing.

Recently I brought my instruments (which I’ve had for about 20 odd years) down to London as I wanted the opportunity to pick things back up and show the girls what fun stringed instruments were. Lauren in particular was fascinated. However, after a few attempts at playing the instruments, I realised that all those years in storage had affected both the bow and the instrument as the sound didn’t ring quite true.

Last Tuesday, I accidentally found a violin shop in Ealing whilst on a quest to get some sushi. Sadly, the sushi shop was just closing as I got there so I decided to investigate the violin shop instead. After a conversation with one of the staff members, I decided to bring my instruments back to the shop this week for examination, a valuation and an overhaul if necessary.

Luckily for me, the owner was on the premises when I got there and he examined my violin and viola with the kind of attention to detail and knowledge that marked him out to be a real pro. After playing strings for many years, I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about violins and violas, but my knowledge was trivia compared to his depth of knowledge. He makes and restores instruments and actually knew the man who had made my viola, which impressed me no end.

I had been right in thinking that both instruments and bows need a little bit of work to get them back to a good standard, but he reassured me that these were not overly complex as the instruments were in very good condition and structurally sound.

However, when he gave me a rough valuation for my instruments I nearly fainted. They were worth much more than I had expected, even taking into consideration that I have owned them for 20 years.

Once restored, I will definitely be taking better care of my instruments and playing them more. After all, despite having to leave it to one side once the demands of my working life took off, I can definitely say that my musical career brought me a lot of joy and happiness. The instruments will also be a fantastic legacy for the girls, especially if they decide to follow in Mummy’s footsteps and play strings.

“Happee!”

2009-05-27T22:07:00.001+01:00

Jocey is getting really talkative now. We are constantly astounded at her rapid acquisition of new words. My favourite one is “happeeee!”, which is quite apt considering her sunny personality and her constant smiles.

We’ve had two happy Bank Holiday weekends in the last month. On the May Day weekend, we went to Woburn Safari Park on the Saturday and on May Day we ventured out to Kensington Gardens to see the Diana Memorial playground. We hadn’t been before so weren’t quite sure what to expect. However, we liked the sound of the pirate ship there so made the journey out there.

Understandably, it was pretty busy. I overheard one parent remark to another that they had thought it would be a good idea to come but shame that everyone else had thought so too. Despite this, the girls absolutely adored it.

Lauren and Jocey really enjoyed playing on the pirate ship, in the sand pit, on the climbing frames and swings.

It was just a shame that it wasn’t a better day in terms of the weather, as it rained and was overcast. During the worst of the weather we went to the Royal China for Dim Sum and noodles, so it was a good day for everyone. By the end of the day, the girls were worn out but had had a brilliant day. Here’s Jocey having a rest on one of the sheep sculptures; I love this photo!

This Bank Holiday weekend, it was an absolute scorcher. It really felt like summer was well on its way with glorious sunshine both Saturday and Sunday. Monday was sadly more overcast but did brighten up later on.

On the Saturday morning, we headed out to Chiswick quite early (well, early for us anyway) to have breakfast as we had a viewing that morning and another one at lunchtime. Here’s Lauren and Daddy at breakfast.

We love going to Balans for breakfast. We always get good service and we love the booths which make eating out with the children a bit easier. Here’s Jocey and me, taken by Lauren.

They have a big outdoor seating area so it wasn’t surprising that they were really busy. We sat indoors though, so had no problem getting seated.

After breakfast, we headed to a children’s playground in Chiswick to let the girls have a bit of a run around.

They loved the new park and had fun exploring the climbing frames and slides.

Monday saw more park fun at Ravenscourt Park and also some time in the large sandpit there. Much to my surprise, Jocey was initially quite scared in the sandpit and wouldn’t put her feet in the sand. After all the fun that she had had in Lyme Regis, this really surprised me. We had clearly left it too long.

However, after a while, she came round and was soon helping build and destroy sandcastles with glee. Later on, they explored the children’s playground as well.

The outing was finished off with a trip to Gourmet Burger Kitchen. We all definitely had a happy time!

A South Yorkshire Wedding

2009-05-24T17:44:00.001+01:00

Last weekend we went to the wedding of Jason’s oldest friend, James. They first became friends at the age of 4 when they went into Clifton Prep School in York some 32 years ago. They, together with their friends Alex and Julian later went to St Peter’s School in York and are still friends now.

Here’s a picture of the boys together on the day (clockwise from back left – Julian, Jase, James the groom and Alex).

James and Sally had a lovely civil ceremony in one of the hotels in central Huddersfield. They asked Jase to do one of the readings; he was a bit nervous but it all went very well.

It was quite a blustery day in Huddersfield and a mixture of sunshine and showers. We had both been a bit worried as initially the weather forecast was pretty poor. However, the sunshine held out long enough for James and Sally to get some lovely pictures outside, so it all worked out well for them.

Here’s one of James and Sally after the ceremony with their mums.

Everyone thought that Sally looked fabulous on the day. She wore a really classic dress and looked both beautiful and radiant.

Here we are after the ceremony in front of the hotel.

We tucked into a buffet meal later on in the evening and were entertained by the fun speeches. The happy couple then led the dancing as the DJ got his decks going. We sadly had to leave after the first dance to get back to the girls, who were at Grandma and Granddad’s house in York, but we both agreed that it had been a lovely day and a great wedding.

We wish James and Sally every happiness in their new life together!

Congratulations!

2009-05-12T17:13:00.001+01:00

Congratulations to my friends Jill and Mark, who had their third baby at the end of last month! Baby Stephen arrived three weeks early but both mum and baby are doing well and are at home. Strange to think that they were only with us back in February, when they got snowed in.

My favourite picture was this one that they sent me, of Emily, Christopher and the new arrival.

Call of the wild

2009-05-12T17:05:00.000+01:00

On the Bank Holiday weekend, we decided that we’d done enough tidying and cleaning but hadn’t really had enough fun. On Saturday, the weather was glorious, so we decided to go to the safari park at Woburn. The girls were really looking forward to it as we had promised them that we would see lions and elephants in the morning.

After about an hour’s travel, we were at Woburn without too much difficulty. Unfortunately, the ticketing computer decided to crash when we got to the ticket desk and we spent about 10 minutes waiting for the team to sort us out with tickets. However, once this was solved, we were in the park.

The girls got really excited when they saw the big animals. They loved the lions, elephants, giraffes, big oxen and the monkeys.

It was fantastic fun for all of us and we all loved it – adults and children alike. Once we completed the car safari, we had lunch in the child-friendly cafeteria and walked around the foot safari area. They had an afternoon looking at animals (they really liked the kangaroos), playing in the children’s playground and even went for a trip on the miniature railway. Here’s Lauren on the train with Daddy.

They even had time to play at the fun fair at the end of the afternoon before we set off back to London.

On the way back, there was only snoring coming from the back seats; the girls were asleep as soon as we started driving as they had had a fun filled day. We would definitely consider the trip again as it was a really good day out. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount they had there for young children to do – a real bonus!

Fun at the weekend

2009-04-26T20:53:00.002+01:00

Well, this weekend wasn't the complete washout that the weather men predicted and was actually quite lovely.

The girls have been out to the park today with Daddy whilst I was doing my weekly cooking marathon. We all managed to have a relaxing time despite the chores - something we were needing.

Lauren drew this picture for me this weekend.

Apparently the person in purple just left of centre is me! I think her pictures are fab and getting ever more sophisticated.

Jocey also made progress this weekend and said her first sentence this weekend. On waking up on Saturday morning she was playing in the bed for a little while. She put her Octopus under the covers and said "Beh, Otpu! BeyBey!" (translated from Jocey language as "Bed, Octopus! Bye Bye!").

Love it!

Selling our House

2009-04-21T22:29:00.001+01:00

Over the last 7-10 days, I have had a mad time entertaining estate agents. Last week, I invited a few agents to view our house and to give us a valuation. Predictably, these ranged from the totally unbelievable to the probably realistic. In the end, after much deliberation, we didn’t go with the agent who gave us the highest valuation, nor the one with the cheapest rate. The agent we chose came armed with lots of facts and figures, didn’t say anything vague or wishy-washy and didn’t promise anything that he knew he couldn’t actually deliver. He was also the only one who said that he wouldn’t be telling us what we wanted to hear but what was realistic.

I have to say that I have not regretted the decision at all. After informing them that they were the successful ones last Wednesday and signing the paperwork on Thursday, I found myself sorted out with a solicitor for the conveyancing work and with a viewing in hand by Friday. By Saturday, we had had another viewing and an offer made on our house. I was bowled over by their efficiency and fast pace.

Since then, we have had two further viewings and all before the details of our house are even fully available. Yesterday, the photographers were in the house taking the pictures and preparing the floorplans and descriptions. This meant that all last weekend, we were packing, moving boxes and furniture out to storage and cleaning the house from top to bottom. We worked like slaves but I can now say that the house looks absolutely amazing.

Even our estate agents were amazed. They kept saying that they couldn’t believe that it could look so good with two children in the house. They told me it was like a show home because it was so well presented. So far, all the feedback from the viewings has been really positive, with people saying how lovely the finish is on our property.

It is hard, hard work. To keep it in top condition means endless tidying and cleaning after the girls have gone to bed and each morning before going to work (and that means getting up earlier to achieve it). It has to be spotless before I leave as I can get phone calls at the last minute to view the property, and there would be no chance to get back to tidy before it.

It is really stressful because it feels that the house is no longer ours, but if we make this sacrifice and we get the house sold for a good price in this market then I will certainly not be complaining. I’m hoping that we can sell our house and move out before the summer so that we can relax a but once that is done.

On a brighter note, today Jase and I treated ourselves by going out for lunch to the lovely La Trompette in Chiswick. We felt that we deserved it after all the hard work on the house that we've put in recently. It was fantastic and we had great food and a wonderful time.

We are keeping everything crossed; our future depends on this sale going through successfully.

Ongoing developments

2009-04-21T22:03:00.000+01:00

Jocey has suddenly discovered language. She seemed much slower to talk than Lauren but over the last three weeks, she has been learning new words at a phenomenal rate.

She has quite a vocabulary now and seems to be adding several new words every day. For example:

Mame = Mummy

Dada = Daddy

Otpu = Octopus (her favourite soft toy)

Mih = Milk

MehMeh = Dummy (also Lauren’s name for a dummy)

Tuck = Stuck

Noo = No

OoohNooo = Oh No!

AhhGoh = All gone

BehBeh = Bye Bye

SaCho = Sad Choice

The last one in particular had me in stitches. She is great at mimicking us, as I found out this morning. I was telling Lauren off for making a mess in her bedroom and I told her that she was “making a sad choice”. Jocey, who was on the changing mat at the time started saying “SaCho, SaCho, SaCho” over and over again. I was trying my best to keep a straight face but in the end couldn’t help laughing.

It had the desired effect though. Lauren tidied up.

In other things though, Jocey was faster to develop than Lauren at a comparable age. She walked sooner and her ability to understand make-believe is really quite advanced. Last week, Jocey was playing a feeding game with the “babies” that she had put in the pushchair.

I am sure that this is through her constant interaction with Lauren, as Lauren was not quite at the same stage with pretend play at the same age. She copies Lauren a lot (however, this isn’t always a good thing!). For example, this is Jocey at the park last weekend, swinging from the crossbar over the slide like Lauren does. Jocey is fearless in everything that she does!

Here’s the chief monkey showing the apprentice monkey how it should be done.

The girls play well together as Lauren feels that Jocey understands her play. They clearly adore each other.

Jocey is also showing more interest in books now, whereas before she wasn’t really interested. This was a huge contrast to Lauren, who from an early age loved us reading to her. However, the feedback that we get from nursery is that Jocey loves music and dancing most of all!

Lauren is also making huge strides in development lately. Her carers were telling us that she is the best child in her class at writing; they told us that she can consistently write her name in a legible form and they said how impressed they were that she was able to do this. Her speech and its content is also becoming much more sophisticated. Both girls seem to be thriving!

I have uploaded all our recent family videos to Jase’s YouTube page.

Fun with the Grandparents

2009-04-21T20:46:00.001+01:00

I’m aware that we haven’t been posting very often recently but here’s an update of the things we’ve been doing over the last three weeks.

At the beginning of April, Jase’s parents and Aunty Madge came to stay. It was the weekend following my birthday but unfortunately I was on call that week, so wasn’t able to celebrate much. The girls had a great time as usual seeing their grandparents and Suzanne and Peter did a fantastic job with the garden. They helped us by tidying and planting up our tubs to bring colour into the garden.

You can see from the photo that the back garden has really matured from the time when the initial planting was done by our gardener Helen.

I think that it’s turned out really well, and it has been low maintenance just as she promised us.

The front garden also looks lovely with the window boxes that they planted.

Our front entrance has really been brightened up and I love the unusual hanging basket.

After all that hard work, it was decided ice cream was needed and the girls enjoyed theirs hugely!

Jocey developed a large ice cream “beard” whilst eating hers but wouldn’t let any of us clean it off!

On Sunday, it was good to escape the house for a while to have lunch in Sam’s Brasserie in Chiswick. We had a great meal there (as always) and the girls had a good time too. Lauren drew some pictures with Suzanne whilst we were waiting for the food.

Jocey (as always) was impatient for her food and ate her toddler food as well as tucking into Mummy’s food later on.

The following weekend, my mum and dad came to stay over the long Easter weekend. We took the opportunity to do further packing, tidying and sprucing up the house before putting it on the market. The girls had a wonderful time with the grandparents with trips to the park and lots of fun and games. We also had a bit of a family get-together with Jason, Charlotte and George.

Here are the girls after dinner on Easter Day. They found Daddy’s medal (for the best 70’s outfit at a work’s night out!) and had great fun putting it on and taking it off.

Lauren gave the medal to Jocey for being the first to finish her dinner!

By the end of the Easter weekend, we were exhausted but had made really good progress on the house. The girls were really sad to see the grandparents leave on Easter Monday, especially Jocey, who cried for several minutes and pointed at the door demanding to be taken outside after they had left. Lauren was sad but seems to be starting to understand that the idea of a visit and that grandparents come back after a while.

Catch-up with Old Friends

2009-03-31T21:14:00.004+01:00

Whilst away in Manchester for James’ Stag Weekend I had the opportunity to catch up with Gareth and to meet Lindsay for the first time.

We spent a good 5 hours (in a couple of sessions) chatting, and that is one of the prime reasons I am so tired this week! (3 am finishes are outside of my comfort zone now!)

Anyway, we had a great time and here are some photos that I took in Starbucks.

Jase

Rapid catch up…

2009-03-25T00:03:00.003Z

I have been chasing my own tail for so long over recent months that I’ve hardly had time to breathe. I’m certain that this adds to the sense of frustration that I have felt on a day to day basis. There seems to be an impossible mountain of tasks to complete and not enough hours in the day.

To add to this, I sprained my back whilst moving boxes over the weekend as some of them were very heavy after I had packed and sealed them. I am trying to keep moving and do some stretches, but it has been a set back in terms of packing today on my day off.

I’ve put the girls into nursery full time so that on my day off I can organise all the house move stuff. Whilst I was a bit reluctant to do this at first, it has certainly allowed me to get things done which are normally impossible. Even at the weekend, we have little opportunity to do chores as the girls are still little and require a lot of our attention. I miss them but console myself that it’s only going to be for a short time until we’ve sorted our move.

I’ve finally got up to date with our photos online – our photos from the last three months are all uploaded and can be seen by clicking the link to my Flickr albums.

Now, highlights from the last three months’ family activities!

New Year

We had a quiet New Year; unfortunately I was working at my hospital and on duty for a lot of it. Jase’s parents came to stay; sadly, Auntie Madge was unwell so could not come. There had been quite a lot of ‘flu going around prior to Christmas and she had also caught it. However, Peter and Suzanne were happy just to have some quiet family time with us and the girls (of course) loved having them in the house.

The girls had another round of present opening and enjoyed the fact that Christmas had come all over again! Here’s Lauren opening presents from Grandma and Granddad.

She also loved this little backpack with accessories for looking after “Babies” (her doll). Both Lauren and Jocey have had great fun with this little set.

After opening all her presents, she wanted to try on the scarf that I had received.

Here’s Jocey investigating all the toy food for their little grocery store. They’ve had hours of fun playing with all this toy food – stocking pretend shops with it, buying it from each other and taking it on pretend picnics!

Jase, Suzanne and the girls went down to the big new shopping centre, the Westfield to check it out. The girls looked lovely that day and they got lots of admiring looks.

January

All too soon, we were back at work.

The girls’ nursery, originally part of the Happy Times company, was taken over by another company last May. We were initially quite apprehensive along with a significant number of other parents. Our main concerns were obviously regarding the fate of carers already at the nursery and the standards of care offered. There were a number of teething issues and a lot of us were initially pretty displeased and disgruntled, but as the months went by, it became obvious that the management team were listening to the parents and trying to change things.

In January, we had the relaunch of the nursery under the new parent company, Casterbridge. They celebrated the occasion with an Open Day for the parents with food, smoothies, face painting and a Rainforest Roadshow.

Jocey had a close encounter with a boa constrictor and was fascinated by the texture of the skin. Poor Lauren was scared and could not be persuaded to touch any of the “scary” creatures, such as snakes, spiders and lizards!

Here’s Jase with the girls.

Here are the girls with one of the cute, fluffy guinea pigs. Lauren just about managed to touch it!

The day was a definite success and we were pleased to be informed of all the positive changes that had taken place at the nursery.

Chinese New Year came along at the end of January this year. We welcomed in the Year of the Ox, my horoscope sign, with the usual massive rounds of family feasting. Our fridge was groaning under the weight of all the food.

I was really proud of our New Year’s feast. Quite an achievement for a weekday endeavour, I thought.

Sadly, because it was a weekday, the girls were at nursery during the day and Jocey was too tired to share the meal with us. She hadn’t been particularly well and went to bed early. Lauren really enjoyed it though!

Here she is having fun with Daddy before we tucked into the main event.

February

The beginning of February brought our friends Jill, Mark and their children from chilly Glasgow down to London to visit us. The trip had been discussed for a long time; it was great to finally have them down with us.

We took them out to the Royal China for Dim Sum on one of the busiest weekends of Chinese New Year. The Chinese community was out in force, as well as a large number of tourists who’d come to watch the lion dances. It was a bitterly cold day but we all wrapped up warm.

The restaurant was extremely busy and it took us at least 40 minutes to get a seat. Luckily, poor Jill (who is pregnant with Baby Three) got to sit down.

Here’s Mark with Emily, who unbelievably is almost five years old now!

And here’s Jill with Christopher, who was still just a baby when we last saw him.

The children played together really well, apart from the odd tantrum over sharing issues and the weekend went very well indeed. We adults also had some time in the evening to chat when all the children were off to bed.

Unfortunately, on Sunday night the heavens opened and a ton of snow fell onto London whilst we were all asleep. I knew that they would be in trouble because I had been up in the night to get milk for Jocey from the kitchen and had seen the already massive snowfall in our back garden.

When Monday morning came, I braved the 6 inches of snow to go to work but Jase was snowed in (worst snowfall had been around Epsom where he works and the roads around there were all closed) and Jill and Mark’s flight back to Scotland was cancelled. We were really pleased that they had to stay a bit longer and I suspect that they were too. The children made the best of it and had a wonderful day frolicking in the snow and building a snowman in the back garden.

Here’s Lauren with a snowball aimed at Daddy!

They eventually made it back to Scotland on the Wednesday; it was great that we had had that extra time together.

March

The end of February and the beginning of March saw us going on our trip to Hong Kong to see my grandparents and our extended family. We were really excited because it was finally a chance for the girls to see the rest of their family. We were a bit nervous about a long flight but hoped that they would take it in their stride, having already flown to Chicago with them.

I must admit that they did very well despite the long journey; they did manage to sleep for a lot of it and although I was very cramped holding Jocey on my lap almost the entire time, I was glad that they hadn’t really been fussy.

My grandparents met us at the airport and were thrilled to meet all their great grandchildren for the first time. Four generations of the family were finally together. I could tell that they really loved getting to know the children. We had many happy family meals together.

Here is one of me, the girls, Gung Gung and the great-grandparents.

Here’s one of Lauren and Jocey with Auntie Winnie, who took them to feed the goldfish at one restaurant.

I was surprised at how shy the girls were; I think they were initially a bit overwhelmed at meeting so many new people. However, by the end of the trip they had come out of their shells and were happy to play with my extended family.

During the trip, we visited Disneyland Hong Kong and had a brilliant day out. Lauren and Jocey loved it and were so excited when they met Mickey Mouse in the flesh. It was a small site, just the right size for toddlers.

Lauren absolutely loved the marching band and the parades.

Our ability to go on rides was quite limited as Lauren was so timid. When we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, she was terrified by the Woozles. To be fair, I thought it was too scary for toddlers too.

Jocey, as always, took everything in her stride and was fearless. She even enjoyed the 3D musical experience, despite the loud crashes and bangs from the orchestra.

Here are the girls with Gung Gung and Po Po.

Here is Lauren smiling before the fireworks started. However, once they did start she didn’t like the noise at all, poor girl.

As well as this, we managed to cram in trips on the Star Ferry over to Kowloon side, as unusually we were staying on Hong Kong island on this occasion, near Fortress Hill.

The girls with Daddy at the Star Ferry terminus in Kowloon.

Whilst in Kowloon, I took the girls to play in Kowloon park, which I haven’t visited since I was a little girl. It was a favourite haunt when I was small.

On the Sunday before we came home, we visited a great street market in the streets near our hotel. It was buzzing with noise and colour, and full of locals doing their shopping.

I was really sorry to come home to London because I had really enjoyed it and the girls were just getting used to life there. I found Hong Kong much more satisfying and less alien than on my previous trip. I think that this was because I had not been back for such a long time prior to 2005 (15 years since the previous visit) that it had come as a bit of a shock to see how changed it was. That time it was if the Hong Kong from my childhood had been taken away and replaced by something I didn’t recognise at all.

This time was definitely better. However, I was really sad that we didn’t get to see my Aunt Winnie (my dad’s sister, not the one in the previous photo who is my Uncle Eric’s wife) who is having chemotherapy at the moment. We were all anxious and worried about her but also didn’t want her falling ill from catching any of our germs whilst having her treatment.

Whilst out there, I applied for a Hong Kong identity card as I have right of abode in Hong Kong as I was born there. As well as allowing my speedy entry without a visa into Hong Kong, it will also give the girls the opportunity to apply for their own ID cards in the future should they want to spend more time there too. I’m keen for the girls to have as many options open to them as possible and for them to recognise their rich Chinese heritage. It would be all too easy for them to grow up completely Westernised, and I do not want that to happen to them.

When we were out there, I also took a little detour to Sydney, where I’d been invited to attend an interview with a hospital who have head-hunted me through an agent and are interested in giving me a permanent position as a consultant. Although there are a number of hoops to jump through before I can take up the job, we decided after long discussions in Hong Kong that we are going to try to emigrate at the end of the year. We did try to go previously but found that all the doors were closed and that all roads became dead ends.

Suddenly, I find that the way is opening up again and our dream of escaping London is fast becoming a reality. All the parts of the jigsaw are falling neatly into place and it all seems somehow fated.

Who are we to argue? I’m still not sure how we will pull it off but I’m confident that with a little faith we can achieve our goal.

So much to do

2009-03-14T15:53:00.003Z

We've been back from our holiday a week and a bit now and I know that there is still so much to talk about. I've realised that I haven't even got round to putting hte pictures up from New Year yet!

Whilst on holiday, we made some firm decisions about the near future. Firstly, we are going to try to sell the house. I've got a decorator to come round next week to start work on getting the house smartened up for sale. Everything needs to look spick and span before we invite the estate agents round as I want to get the best price possible for our house. I realise that in this financial climate we will need to be realistic about what that is (unfortunately, probably about £100,000 less than the price I could have put it on the market 18 months ago).

Once we've sold the house, we are going to rent in Richmond closer to the nursery for a while until we are ready to make our ultimate move. More about that soon!

A weekend of packing up and de-cluttering looms ahead; no doubt it will be the first of many.

Holidays!

2009-02-20T15:49:00.001Z

We are off on our holidays tonight! The whole family are flying to Hong Kong to visit my grandparents and extended family. Lauren and Jocey haven't met my grandparents before, so we are all very excited. My grandparents have told my parents that they can't wait and are coming to meet us when we land on Saturday afternoon.

It's also the longest plane journey that the girls have been on so we are a bit nervous. Last time coming back from Chicago, Jocey refused to sleep for the entire flight, which was tough. We were all shattered by the time we got off the plane, as that meant that none of us adults had any sleep either.

I have just about finished packing now but as always, I have that nagging doubt in the back of my mind about whether or not I've forgotten to pack something. I suppose I'll find out soon enough!

So glad that the holiday has finally arrived. Yippee!

Madness

2009-02-16T10:58:00.003Z

I've been having a really difficult time at work recently (through no fault of my own but due to a big systems failure which has led to absolute chaos within my workplace) so have been working late far too often. I've had no time to do anything at all, so life has been pretty dire. Sorry for the lack of updates.

Thankfully, the snow has gone and the weather is back to normal - there's even a hint that Spring might be just around the corner today. The snow (whilst looking lovely) did create a bit of chaos for everyone. Jase was snowed in, our house guests were stranded (gave us a great excuse to spend more time with them!) and my poor uncle and cousin were stuck at Heathrow for two days awaiting a flight back to Hong Kong. The girls did have fun building snowmen and generally enjoying it, so it was worthwhile.

Quite a lot has happened but there is just not the time to talk about it. Lauren went for her first haircut at a proper hairdresser on Saturday and loved it. I found a place in Chiswick called the Chiswick Salon that had a special children's salon (with their own entertainment and special chair for little ones), so Lauren and I both went for a cut. The stylist who cut Lauren's hair was lovely and told Lauren that she was getting "princess hair", which had Lauren sold on the idea straight away! We're now ready to go on holiday this Friday.

Jocey has started babbling in a meaningful way to us this last week and now spends ages "talking" with us in her own language. I can tell she's got lots to say and she expects answers as well; she often pauses and looks at us as if to say "and what do you think of that?"! She is obviously getting ready to talk for real and will now mimic the sounds we do with her (which she didn't do until quite recently).

Thankfully, both girls seem to be enjoying a spell without illness. Poor Jocey seemed to be ill almost every week for months, so much so that even the girls at nursery were commenting on it. That resulted in both of us having to take time off work as well as her feeling miserable. We can finally go for her MMR this week - I've had to delay it all this time because of her constantly being unwell.

Jase had a momentary lapse of concentration on Saturday whilst we were out and about in Chiswick and bumped the bumper of the car in front at very low speed. Thankfully, no one was hurt but I think he damaged the front of the big Citroen a little, so it is going to get fixed whilst we are away. The other car didn't seem too bad but we will see if we hear anything from them.

It's almost time for me to go to work now so I have to finish up. The things going on at work has meant that they've insisted on us doing one late shift per week and my day has been allocated to Monday. It's a difficult change on the family as it puts quite a bit of pressure on Jase, as he is now doing both nursery runs on the Monday, due to our distance from the nursery. All these things are adding to a growing deep dissatistfaction with our home and working lives in London, which we are now desperate to change.

I am really looking forward to our holiday and can't wait for Friday to come.

Snow Fun!

2009-02-02T14:25:00.002Z

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