Man U

It's 3 -2 now, J will be pleased and hoarse!

Where did last week go?

Well, I have been back at work for over a week now and it is if I have never left. In 4 school days, I took whole school assembly, did playground duty, led staff meeting and taught children in Year 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6! It's fair to say that I am back!

Emily is settling into her new routine with some success, we are still trying to get her sleeping during the day sorted out. Our childminder is really patient as she settles in on a Monday and a Tuesday and her grandmum is having a great time on Wednesdays! We are benefitting from having two cars and are managing the drop offs and pick ups. The house is relatively tidy and we have eaten every night, so we feel some sense of achievement as our new routines have begun.

We have had a busy week and weekend. Jamie has been sharing his music with church (check out the link on the side bar) and we went to another church on Sunday night where he was able to share some there too. We also attended a Service of Celebration for the life of a dear friend's father. It was an amazing service with so many people sharing stories of a such a great man.

Jamie is at Old Trafford tonight, the score is currently 2-2. I suppose it's not too bad, however 2 away goals is a good head start for the Italians. I am at home looking at work for tomorrow as I have to teach Year 2. I really hate the Infants. I feel that my strengths lie with the upper part of the school but... it will earn money and it is only until the end of July.

I have included some pictures of the past week, it's fair to say we were shattered. Emily struggled with sleeping and went to sleeping less than 10 hours a night, most mornings she woke between 5 and 6.00 am.

Enjoying song time with Daddy, (trying to clap in time!)

An exhausting Sunday requires a sleep (and yes I know she looks like her dad!)

Yes, she still looks like her dad. (Ignore my Gromit smile!)

We got the letters to say that we have been paid off

our Student loans. It took J 9 years and me 7.

Clapping and Laughing.

She can crawl and now she can clap. Wow, this whole growing and developing thing happens so quickly.... when it happens! When we say she can do it, she needs to be encouraged by those around her or reminded to 'hooray'. Listen out for the TV programme complete with a train called a Ninky Nonk. (What a strange name for a train!)

Just a bit of giggling at the Ninky Nonk, sorry about the orientation, if I moved it she would have noticed.

Still no teeth!!!!

She's Crawling

Nine months and 13 days later and our little girl is crawling.

Easter Holidays in Wales

Happy Easter

Chocolate for the first time.
Lovely weather needs a sun hat. (one with strings so she can't pull it off!)

Walking at Tatton Park (telling Daddy where to go with the map)

April is here.

April has arrived and so has Emily's 9 month milestone. She has been out and born for longer than she was growing and developing in the womb. My pregnancy seemed to last forever but the past 9 months seem to have flown by at a speed quicker then light! We have been blessed with an amazing little girl. She brings us so much joy and laughter, she entertains us with every breath she takes. She seems to love animals, responds positively to people of all ages and enjoys being outdoors. She really is a blessing.

This week is half term and the Easter break for us. We have been busy doing lots of things. On Sunday we went to have Emily's hand and footprints cast as a Christmas gift from Uncle David and Auntie Nicola. The sun was shining ( yes in Manchester) so we squeezed in a game of croquet on Dave and Nic's lawn.

Up on her feet and attempting to go forward.

Learning to drink from a sippy cup, whilst posing for the camera!

Do you see the cheeky glint in my eye?

Sniffles and Coughs, Bits and Pieces.

Well, this is just a mish mash of thoughts.
The Easter holidays have started with Jamie and Emily being unwell. Emily has had a cold since Tuesday and Jamie since Wednesday. We plan to swim, meet friends, plan, mark and do school work, go the caravan, finish jobs around the house, sell our house and a few other bits and bobs.
Apart from that we hope to chill out and catch up on the sleep we have missed out on whilst Darth Vader has been sleeping in her cot next door.

Just piccies that are on the camera.

Bath time on Monday (no cold in sight or sound!)

Catching up on light reading between naps

Bags under the eyes on Darth Vader.

(I have ommitted the nasal sound effects.)

7 panels damaged in less than 1 minute

(11.08 pm last Wednesday)

View from Tudno's church yard, Great Orme, Llandudno

The church gate at St Tudno's church
Emily's first driving lesson

Thirty one years and counting

Happy 31 years of marriage to my parents. My Mum was only 18 when she got married so it just goes to show that marriage can work. They have been together forever. So, enjoy your day and we hope there will be 31 more to come.

P.S. Please don't kill me for posting these funky, historic piccies!

That time already.

I went to school today to pick up my timetable and bits of stuff so I can plan. I am teaching History (Canals) Geography (Rivers) and Design Tech (Bridges). Not the most riveting stuff but it will pay the bills. I also have to teach P.E. maths and English, oh the joys! My new class have 33% special needs of which 3 children are statemented. My teaching assistant is going to be like gold dust to me as I find my teaching feet again and with a challenging class.
The count down is definately on, 2 more mondays and then I will be back!!

It's been a while

We have been quite busy over the past 2 weeks.

We made it to Rhos on Sea ( North Wales) where the sun shone and we even got to walk on the beach. Emily is growing rapidly (17lbs 12 0z) and will soon be out of the Bjorn so we are taking as many opportunities to put her in it before we graduate to a back carrier.

Emily and I have been to Belfast to visit all the family. Our niece has now got 2 teeth and is enjoying the freedom of her roller walker. It is amazing to see the similarities and differences in their growth and development as well as their personalities. We had a great visit, although it is not easy travelling with a small child on your own. (The whole buggy, bag, boarding card, seatbelt, confined space thing is really tiring.)

Emily is doing well, her hair is growing at a pace and she now can wear shoes without them falling off, although she prefers the taste of them!

We are going to visit our wonderful childminder next week so that Emily can get used to her. We have no worries about this, it will be good for Emily to be with other children. She will also be with her Grandmum on a Wednesday.

Apart from that we have been busy finger painting, singing, playing, walking, gardening and having fun. We are now using the floor more as I cannot leave Emily in the chair as she fell off yesterday and bumped her head. We went to the doctors but all is well. (Bad mummy has learnt a lesson!!) She is a real joy, loving books and learning to treat them nicely without pulling at the flaps! Her favourite at the moment is Animal Hide and Seek and Dear Zoo! She is sleeping well, but now sleeps on her tummy. No matter what we do she always ends up there; one battle she is winning!

For me, well I am now starting to get my head around school things;I am back 3 weeks on Monday, so I am going to look in my cupboards to see if I have any clothes that fit, look professional and that I still like! On the house front, still nothing, apparently house sales are slow due to economic issues etc as well as it only being the start of Spring. My parents are now back in Romania and enjoying their work. Check them out on www.projectromania.blogspot.com.

Enjoy Spring, the flowers are beautiful in the parks, and remember that tomorrow the clocks go forward and we lose an hour of sleep!

P.S Big congratulations to Derek and Sandra on the safe arrival of their baby daughter.

The blog police can now rest that I have blogged. (It has only been about a week!)

Smiles........ and drools!

P.S. Spring must be here. I hung the washing outside today :)

Teeth or no teeth.

Still no teeth.
Instead we have a runny nose, a rash under her chin and nose! Oh the joys. Thankyou to you all for the teething advice, I am trying it all. But... still no teeth!
(I saw Charlotte's Web today, it was good. The CGI didn't disappoint and it was how I remembered the book. It is such a good example of friendship and sacrifice.)

Teething.

It is such a horrible time. Emily is hard to console. We are trying Ashton and Parsons teething granules and Calprufen, but today has been hard. She is in pain and is drooling something shocking, so much so that she now has a rash on her chin! (She has gone to bed with a vaseline beard!) We think the tooth to arrive will be on the bottom at the right.

Emily shows us where the painbringer is!

Anyway, we are hoping that the tooth will come soon as it feels like she has been teething for weeks, but oh no.....today has been the worst. She has even chosen to eat her dolly. Maybe tomorrow the pearly white will arrive!

On the car front the Clio passed the MOT and tomorrow the Peugeot is getting new brakes so we don't squak and squeal when we stop. Nothing else exciting or unexciting to report; so many of our friends are far away, you know who you are. We are sorry we haven't rung recently the nights run away. We will get onto phoning asap, but in the meantime know you are missed and loved.

Family Celebrations

This weekend we went to Birmingham to attend Jamie's cousins daughter's baptism. It was a lovely opporutnity to catch up with the McCulloch side of the family and to attend such an important day in the life of Jasmine and her family.Emily was in good form considering we are still waiting on the teeth to arrive. What is really noticable is that she seems to really enjoy people. She is so smiley and friendly, it gives me great joy to see her smiling at strangers with such ease.

We have had a busy time with Jamie being on a maths residential course, parents evenings and general business in life. We missed our church this weekend but it was good to worship somewhere else. The church we visited are going through Lent reflecting on the book Live Life, Love Lent. It has lots of challenges to do throughout Lent including 'make a cup of tea for someone more busier that you.' It seems like a really cool thing so we are going to try to get a copy of the book. (it we do, we will include some challenges for you to consider.)

Anyway that's all for now, David and Nicola are off skiing this weekend, we hope there will be plenty of snow! For me I have the pleasure of Emily teething; for Jamie, he has yet another Parents Evening to look forward to.

Boing, Boing!

Nothing more to be said really.

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!