Peace Week

It is Peace Week here in Manchester. It is a time when the profile of the need for peace in our city is raised. Jamie has written a song that seems to fit in with this frame of thought. If you are interested the link is at the side under Jamie's Music. There are quite a few of his songs on there; the one that relates to the need for Peace is called 'Ruler of the Earth'.

Enjoy.

Days out at half term

Over half term we spent lots of time outdoors walking (remember we live in England!) We had the joy of going to one of my favourite places, Dunham Massey. It was a great visit, the weather was typical, cloudy, cool and overcast; a great combination to be wrapped up and outside.

Sadly half term is over, Jamie went back to work this morning, but the positive news is that the Easter holidays are just around the corner. (7 weeks today I go back to work).

On the Emily front... today her new car seat arrived. I tried to take her out of it after a couple of minutes ...........she cried. I think she likes her new throne.

Frog Batting

I realise I haven't blogged that much so I thought I would add something for all of you out there who would try to do anything to avoid doing a little bit of work!
Frog Batting is another little game introduced to me by members of my Form 9H. The frogs choose to jump in the direction you are batting so please don't think it's cruel!
Just press the space bar to bat and off you go. Make sure you post your highest score. Enjoy.

Swings

Since being very little I have always enjoyed being on swings. The feeling of weightlessness and being able to fly, the possibility of catching the clouds! The day we got married we went to the beach to have photos taken. Nearby there was a park. It wasn't long before I was on a swing in my wedding dress and sandals!
On Monday we took Emily to Heaton Park where she experienced a swing for the first time. You can judge for yourself if she enjoys being on a swing as much as her Mummy!

Please Pray

Well, we have 4 things that we would appreciate prayer for.

1. Our good friends Charles, Tabitha and their 4 year old son Ben are having major problems. They are Indian and have lived in Manchester and been our friends at church for 6 years now. Over the past 3 weeks they have been targeted by vandals, thieves and thugs and have had their house broken into and damaged on several occasions. They are abused in the streets and live in fear and worry for their property and safety. They were broken into 3 times in 3 days! They are not the only family from church who this is happening to. Jonathan, Anita and their one year old son Samuel is also having hassle. This is so unacceptable and sad. Anita and Tabitha are working as nurses in our hospital. Charles and Jonathan are working hard and supporting their families. It is very sad that our friends can be abused because of the colour of their skin. Please pray that they will find a solution to this problem, that the police can help and that they can sleep peacefully at night and go to work without the fear of intruders in their homes.

2. Another one of our friends was involved in a car crash. He is very lucky to be alive. He is recovering at home but faces the prospect of a written off car, lack of work and mounting money issues. Please pray for peace of mind and recovery of his body.

3. We have a lot of friends who are busy writing papers, essays and dissertations/thesis' for GSCE coursework, degree, MA or PHD level work. Please bear them in your prayers that they will find clarity of thought, deadlines will be met, inspiration will come and sleep will be peaceful and deep. ( You all know who you are.)

4. It feels selfish to ask but I am going to anyway. We have found a perfect house for us, but sadly no one has fallen in love with ours yet. This leaves us in the position of not being able to proceed with the house we like and feel would tick all the boxes. Please pray that things would work out for us and that our house will sell asap. We want the right decisions to be made and know that this house may not be it, but at the moment we would be disappointed if it didn't work out.

We know that God works in really interesting ways and he does answer prayer. We are grateful and thankful for all he does for us.

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Other news;

• Emily is 17lbs.
• She is too big for her first car seat and is now moving up to the bigger size!
• Jamie is on half term
• I go back to work in 5 school weeks! (with 2.5 weeks of holidays as well)
• Our car failed it's MOT today
• We just watched Little Miss Sunshine. (and smiled!)
• We went to the Royal Exchange last night to see The Vortex with Will Young. (It was ok, he was good)
• Andrew came back from the States today, (yeah!)
• We went to Heaton Park, it's a very cool place and couldn't believe that it had a free animal zone where Emily met alpacas, peacocks, geese and rabbits ( I will post piccies asap).
• The pygmy goats were really great, we wanted one for a pet but Willow would have something to say about that. They were smaller than most family dogs. :)

That all the ramblings, I will post piccies soon.

Emily's first trip to the cinema out in the fresh air.

Today I plucked up the courage to drive over to Salford to take Emily to the Parent and Baby screenings at the cinema. It is pretty cool, the film is at 11am, they turn the bass volume down and leave the lights up. There is no issue with crying as everyone there has a baby. To be honest it really has nothing to do with the babies, but it is a great way to see movies. It is also lovely for Emily to be mixing with other children as we went for a coffee together afterwards.

So a big day for us, I drove all the way over to Salford and Emily learnt that there are TV's the size of a wall. (She spent most of the film with her arms waving and legs kicking) Oh the film... Music and Lyrics, it was ok nothing too exciting.

Mish Mash

Still no news to post on our house sale, we are still waiting to see if one guy who has been back twice will buy it. However, the house that we loved has been sold so we are not moving to 16 Huncoat Avenue Heaton Chapel, Stockport. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be.

Yesterday Jamie's mum celebrated a significant birthday. It was fun to meet up and celebrate. We are looking forward to a nice meal out on Saturday night. I will post photos of the event later.

Today I got a Valentines card from Emily! Yes Jamie succumbed to the whole card buying thing and I received a card that said 'To my Mum on Valentines Day'! I think it is cute... I have never had more than one card on Valentines day.

Jamie has a cold, which is not easy when you are teaching. He was invigilating an exam today and hoping that he wouldn't cough, which would then cause a chain coughing fit. ( When I was at school, I used to join in!!)

The blade broke on the blender, so Emily's food isn't so smooth. She is on pasta now and this week seems to be really enjoying blueberries. (The stains will come out of the carpet or we will just move the furniture to hide them.)

Still no snow, I have given up waiting for it.

Teeth? still no teeth, I haven't given up as I know they are their way. Only 2 more school days until half term then we can do lots of fun family things for a week!

A milestone reached

Trying to grab the camera!

Today Emily has 95 % mastered the sitting up thing on her own! The other 5 % she falls backwards and frustratedly pushes her bottom in a bunny hop like way to try to get back up again. She's so funny at the minute. Still no teeth, but her gums are pretty bumpy; it looks like one is about to put in an appearance on the bottom left hand side.

We love freebie ballons from cafes. Emily has spent all morning playing with this one despite the fancy all singing/dancing toys she has.

Profile changes

Photo for profile if I can remember how to change it!

Snow

What snow?

Emily and I were all ready for a walk in the snow this morning as she has never seen snow before. So we pulled back the curtains to see.... nothing different and no snow.

There is nothing like this in Manchester, I am very sad, bring on the snow!

Dedication Snaps

Trip to Belfast

This weekend we jetted off to Belfast to attend our niece's dedication ceremony. This is the fifth time that Emily had visited Belfast and the 4th time she had flown there, (not bad considering she turned 7 months old yesterday!!)
Jamie, Emily, my Dad and brother (Del) went to visit the Northern Irish parliament building at Stormont. They walked up the mile long boulevard to get these pictures and peer through the windows. (Not sure if you could do that in London!)

It was a beautiful spring day, with lots of sunshine, Emily had lots of reasons to smile and seemed to enjoy her day out with her daddy, Granda and Uncle! She also seemed to have fun in her new stroller; we got a lightweight one as her proper pram gets so bashed on the plane. For those who are wondering what I was doing...I was back at my parents having my hair cut. I am not too sure about having a fringe again but it's too late now, the hair has been cut and the fringe is back although it does not start from the back of my head this time!

Ellie-May's dedication service was lovely with my Dad doing a great job, it was weird seeing him standing back in the same place that he stood all those years ago when I was a teenager and he was a Pastor. I watched him dedicate, bless and christen many babies, this time it was great to see him dedicate my niece and god daughter. I am so proud of him, he is a great dad and I believe a great Pastor. There are many folk who call him 'Pastor' even though he doesn't have an official parish.

The happy proud parents

Judith, David, Emma and Paul

On the weaning front... Emily is doing really well. She enjoys cod, chicken and veggies, but she has a real taste for fruit. I hope she hasn't got my sweet tooth. I am so fortunate to have this time off work to make her food. I am enjoying trying out new recipe's from Gina Ford and Annabel Caramel's cookery books. (I think her name is great, having a surname like that and writing recipes!)I have spent ages in the baby aisle at the supermarket looking at baby food. It is so confusing, the ones that are labeled healthy, organic, 'good' are not good, they are often full of sugar. SO if anyone out there knows of any GOOD food out there, let me know as I can't make snacks for Emily forever.

On the work front... it is official. I am going back all day Monday and Wednesday and Tuesday afternoons. It is not exactly as I had hoped but they have done all they can to accommodate me. This is until September, I will find out in June what they can do for me in September. Emily is going to Sarah (Childminder) on Mondays and Tuesdays and Elizabeth (Grandmum) on Wednesdays. April 16th is my first day back; I will be taking the deputy head's classs on Monday and Tuesday and am floating on Wednesdays.

On the house front, we have a person coming back for a second viewing on Sunday. Lets hope he likes it.

That's all, a bit of a mish mash, dedication photos will follow as there isn't enough room!