Friday night in pics

Since there are so many pics from last weekend I thought it would be best to do then in sets so the first set would be for friday. We drove down and the journey was pretty good. Ted slept alot on the first part of the journey and I sat in the back with him feeding him blueberries (his latest favourite) and telling him stories and so on. We arrived first but were soon followed by Barney and the kids, Claire was having some quiet time at home and having spent the weekend with her crazy gang I can see why she took the opportunity. Dan and Emma called to let us know they were still a long way off so we had some play time and then all sat down for a roast which was lovely. The hotel was great, very family friendly with big rooms and plenty of space. Dan and Em arried with Lola and Ruby at 9ish just as we finished our dinner and had a late meal. All the kids  had mass bathtime – which was a little overwhelming for Ted as he is used to bathing solo! Then it was off to bed for the kids at 10 or so, and after a little coffee and chat we were not far behind.

Quick news

Lots to share but hectic week – am hoping maybe to get weekend pics up on Thursday but there are so many of them its taken me two days to get them sorted – also have had to get on top of groceries and laundry after long weekend away. Have trips to Leeds and Brighton this week which is also hitting my time so no chance to provide a full summary of wonderful weekend. Heres a couple of pics of the wee one to keep you going though :O)

Pics of my boys

bedlam, mayhem and chaos reign supreme

Well its all go, thats all I can say! I think its been about a week since I last had a chance to post and it has just been so busy its ridiculous. Ted is doing great and enjoying nursery so that is making life easier – it would be horrible if he didn’t enjoy it but he seems to be really thriving and is starting to want to do his thing more and more – he doesn’t like getting help at nursery with his spoon as some of the older children are feeding themselves and I think he is keen to do that too – he has shown no interest to date so I think it must be early signs of peer pressure!!

Work has been manic and my days are so full of meetings I have very little time to do anything else which is abit of a problem as the backlog thats building up is substantial. I am hoping that on holiday I will be able to unwind but to do that I might need to spend abit of time getting organised as I am functioning day to day at the moment with no plan which is hard for me but must be even harder for my team who have both started in the last fortnight.

Then this weeks min crisis has been with one fo our tenants – shes on housing benefit, they make 13 4 weekly payments month in arrears – we want 12 payments month in advance, the housing support team covered the first months rent in advance but of course because she gets 13 payments not 12 the monthhly amount she gets is never going to be enough so she is always going to be short. I would have prefered to sign a 13 payment agreement where we get a smaller payment 13 times than having to fudge the accounting around the benefits schedule in sync with the agreement but because the agreement is with the council we can’t change it. I don’t get how one department can set up a process which is so dysfunctional with another department in the same organisation. I am also staggered that when the government and councils are trying to encourage private landlords to have tenants who are on benefits they set the system up to be 13 payments every 4 weeks in arrears when every private and most commercial landlords operate 12 payments month in advance – idiotic is the most polite way I can describe my thoughts about the situation.

Ted has been getting abit grizzly in the evenings – its wither the hot weather, teeth, him getting tired earlier on account of his busy days, or something to do with his jabs kicking in. So he was in bed tonight at 730 which is early for him, so we will see how he sleeps.

We got Ted some new shoes on Sunday – Clarks and Umis – his first proper shoes – he is a 5 and a half E – which is pretty massive for a baby his age – all his little girly friends are a 3 or 4. Bless him though he looks so cute and smart and he walks much better with the stability they provide – however I am told he will most likely need a new pair every 6 weeks and even in the sale the sandels were £20 – £30 for the non sale ones – footwear is going to cost a bomb… Ry will be thrilled about that, not.

Ry is running and as soon as he finishes I am right out there too – I really need a good run to burn off some of the stress energy and get a release from the tension of having to deal with non stop issues at work, issues with the tenants, and then even the estate agent was calling today about brighton and viewings and our tenant and making arrangements. On top of everything else I just remembered there is no milk for Teddys bottle in the morning so someone (Ry I hope) is going to have to shoot up to the supermarket to get some tonight….

Still we have a nice weekend planned with the family in Devon – most of the Light side will be there for my Aunt and Uncles joint 70th so that will be good – especially since ry took a day off friday so we can travel down early.

have just discovered ry was upstairs on the computer and he thought i was running so he’s off just now and I will have to wait another half an hour before its my turn …. nevermind – might give me time to post some pics if there are new ones…

Gallery

Swimming on Satuday, Lunch on Saturday, Lunch on Sunday with Z,P and G, and a walk by the river

Quickly before bed

Its another week of back to back ’stuff’. No pics tonight as I am too tired to sort them out but update as follows. Saturday we had lunch with Mark and Emma in Battersea – just off the Northcote Road – alternatively known as nappy valley on account of the expensive baby shops and wall to wall 3 wheeler buggies with their yummy mummies. I went into a shoe shop which sells the little tots shoes which are apparently good for little feet that are still developing – there were about 5 sales assistants and since they were more interested in gossiping (and the fact the shoes are half theprice in Walton) I decided to take my custom elsewhere. Lunch was lovely and a chance to catch up. Ted enjoyed his fishfinger bap and we leftRy to go to Martin and Nickys bash in the evening as he was ‘in the mood’ for a few more pints. Ted and I were in the mood to get home and hang out with a late afternoon B movie – Death on the NIle – fantastic.

Sunday we were up and out in the late morning to go and meet Patrick and Suzanne and Guy for lunch in Henley. We met at the Green Olive – which is a great place serving Greek tapas type fare. Defintely one we will go back to and there are 2 others in Windsor and Chobham which we will have a visit to at some point I expect. Had a great catch up and it was great to see how uy has changed and grown. He has such a little boys face and smiles and chats. Ted was good and sat at the table in his booster enjoying a range of foods – olives, pitta and hummus, lamb souvlaki (abit too chewy but he had a go), broad beans in mint, mash with garlic, and then rice pudding with cherry compote for dessert and a little baklava. It is so nice now he can have tasters of whatever we’re having. We all went for a walk along the river after lunch and then went our separate ways. I think we will try and meet up again ealry August next.Back home and once on top of chores and gym and dinner it was time to crash.

Monday wa a hectic day – got Ted to nursery then was in work early to get things ready for my new starter. It is great to have her on board – I now have the full team but theres that transition where they both get up to speed where I have to take time out from getting things done. I also need to put some structure in place as although I can work with the organised chaos in my head, they are not mind readers so I need to get stuff downon paper. Once they are up and running abit more independently (end of the week I expect) Iwill be able to put more of a framework in place so we all know where we are going. Anyway, long day, picked up Ted – who is thriving in his new room, regular naps, eats extra portions of food, always playing outside, always busy when I arrive to get him, broughthim home and did his tea, bath, bed, run, soup, and then it was bed for me too. Today has been much the same except we went to the chiropractor on the way home and Ihad to go to Tesco to get milk for his morning bottle after he went to bed so no run today – have also managed to get my accounts and the company accounts and the housekeeping sorted tonight.

Doing admin tonight have discovered we are short a rent from one tenant – not unexpected as she neededto get her housing benefitsorted out but it will need a chase, also feedback from viewer of the flat is that it is untidy with mess everywhere – rather annoyingly our tenant decided to move a load more crap into the flat just after we notified him that we were looking to sell it, and just before he went away on holiday for 2 weeks – so all 5 viewings since then have had to look at the flat with a bucnhof crap everywhere. For the 2 and a half years he has lived there it has all been very minimalist and tidy and now all of a sudden it looks like a gypsy camp … funny that. Am going to have to have a word when he gets back as although he says he is cool with us having the flat on the market – it doesn’t seem like it, and of course Ry feels he is deliberately being unhelpful and disrespectful. Am inclined to agree.  We shall see if he sorts it out when he gets back or whether it continues in which case we might decide to put the rent up. If he decides to go on that basis then we can take it off the market and put the rent up more to cover the increased payments so one way or the other we can make it work even if he goes. All a little annoying.

Right bed for me. Pics as soon as I have an hour to edit and post. Sorry Grannies – I know you must be missing your teddy fix.

Teds MMR

Ted had his MMR on Thursday and apart from being a little grumpy in the evening – I think his leg must have been a little sore, he has been fine since, so fingers crossed we are over that hurdle. He did look at me when she put the needle in as if to say ‘what the hell did you let her do that to me for’ which was awful – for me – and he cried then, but only for a minute and it was nothing a kiss and a cuddle and a dummy couldn’t fix.

He may get a rash around 7 – 10 days after apparently as thats when the measles part kicks in, but again, nothing to be concerned about.

Friday he was fine at nursery all day – although we had to do the accident form on collection (this is the seventh time!!) as he had a graze on his forehead – he got it playing outside apparently, but noone knows exactly how because he made no fuss at all so they didn’t realise he had done it – not major and no worse that he collects all the time at home. He loves to throw himself about so much its not a surprise at all!

Will do fuller post of the weekend tomorrow – we had a lovely day today and are seeing Patrick and Suzanne and Guy tomorrow for lunch so there will be lots to share and some good pics too I hope.

Thanks for the help …..

Before….

and after …

can you guess what happened after I put them back?

Ted and the Babybel

He’s a Ladybird

T moved out of the baby room – Caterpillars into the toddler room – Ladybirds this morning. He went straight in – had his breakfast, 2 portions of lunch and tea and wasn’t at all upset all day. I called at lunch to check on him – haven’t done that for ages so clearly it was a bigger deal for me than for him. Anyway he seemed to love it and adjust  right away. So glad as its much happier to leave him when I know he is happy.

I have had a grim headache all day – I think its because I missed breakfast and then was in meetings which meant I didn’t even have the chance to grab a snack until lunchtime which is never a good thing for me! Still will help burn the extra pounds the curry I had on Saturday provided me with!!

Off to bed now to sleep it off, still managed a short run tonight as I thought it might make me feel energised and better – it didn’t – but at least I am down 250 calories which makes me feel better. Good sleep should see  me right.