Lady of Leisure

I've had a lovely week so far. On Sunday we went to Bockett's Farm for the day. Joe was so excited by everything, the piglet racing, stroking goats' beards, patting the sheep, sitting on a tractor even washing his hands at the big sinks ... I thought he was going to explode! Max's Grandad took this photo, we bumped into Claire, Keith and Max with Keith's parents on our way in so the boys had a good run around together.

Simon has been off work since Monday and has been treating me to lots of lovely lunches. On Tuesday I went on a mini shopping spree and treated myself to a handbag before we went off for a great long lunch at the Kings Head, I even had a glass of wine! On Wednesday we went into town to check out the members bar at the Royal Festival Hall. The views are absolutely spectacular from there and the refurb is so retro, I loved it. Today we had another wonderful lunch at Chez Gerard so I've been piling on the weight this week! Simon has gone for a much deserved Shiatsu massage this evening at Vida Therapy in preparation for the week to come. Our folding doors and the kitchen window are now ready for installation so we have to sort out a date with the builders. We will probably go to Cornwall for the week when all the work is being done via Frome (Mum got the keys to her house this week - hurrah) to escape the chaos, or just transplant our own chaos to the seaside!

The midwives are giving me a sweep tomorrow so hopefully Missy will make an appearance this weekend, if not I'm booked for a c-section on Wednesday. So one way or another she'll be here soon.

This week we have mostly been

loving Flight of the Conchords. They have a new series starting this week on BBC3 if you get it. Simon especially loves the Business Time song. Check them out.

Farewell Jose

Chelsea always sack managers at momentous points in my life.
Farewell Special One.

Food glorious food

Tomorrow is my due date so I'm making the most of being able to live on mint Cornettos, Jelly Tots, and crisp sandwiches! Will have to buy industrial strength pants for Andy's wedding in October!
Mum has had some good news, her solicitor has received the money for Homeward Bound so hopefully the purchase of the Frome house should go through very soon. She's very relieved and excited and I'm sure Conor and Liz will be pleased to hear that they can get rid of the sofa's being kept for her at their house!
Keith the Carpenter comes tomorrow to finish off the cupboards and the window film has arrived so we're in the final stages of the build now.
We had some sad news on Friday, Joe's nursery is closing in December so we'll have to move him to somewhere else. Luckily the Teddington Day Nursery had a rare place available so he'll be starting there soon but we'll be very sad to say goodbye to Holly House, especially as I could literally make it over there in my pyjamas in the morning! We're hoping to continue to stay in touch with his friends at regular intervals for playing dates but I know he'll have no problems making new friends, in fact when we went to have a look around the new nursery he was in the thick of it within minutes. Annabel Karmel (food guru for babies) oversees all the menus so no doubt he'll start turning his nose up at my efforts very soon!

I wonder why, he's the greatest dancer...

Joe has apparently been cutting up the dancefloor at nursery! The drama lady did a music session with the under two's yesterday and the wee man barged his way to the front and showed them some non-stop disco Stu moves - my heart swelled with pride when they told me! He even got a sticker for being such a great dancer - he gets that from his mum! And he carried on dancing when the music stopped! They've promised me that next time she comes they'll let me know so that I can pop over and check him out!

Simon has put up some pictures and the mirror downstairs so the place looks a lot more like home. About another five boxes worth went up in the attic too so we can start to see the carpets again. Vince our star decorator has been round this week painting the shelves and should be finished tomorrow. Carpets are being steam cleaned tomorrow too so hopefully I should stop continually sneezing!

We have managed to get tickets for the Police at Wembley in the front middle block so really looking forward to that, will be able to partake of a drink or two then as well. Conor has gone mental with excitement at the news that Led Zeppellin are doing a one off gig at the O2 - cue lots of Saxondale lookalikes, all playing air guitar, heading for east London. Just finished reading Alex James' biography which was an enjoyable diversion, he's far too polite though about the really interesting things unlike Rupert Everett whose book is a scream.

Simon had Monday off so we were able to have an outing to Bushey Park among other things. Joe enjoyed all the ducks and especially the cygnets, spent most of his time being chased around by Daddy with the remains of his ice cream all over him. The One O'Clock Club at Marble Hill Park is now finished until next April so Lord knows how we'll fill our days until then - probably banging things and finding danger if I know Joe.

If the Fonz is so cool....

....... why does he hang out with Richie and Ralf Mouth?

Just a note to say that the trips have now finished. The highlights included Milwaukee: home of the Fonz, Laverne & Shirley [?] and Miller Beer [the purpose of my visit]; Johannesburg: home of gun crime, inequality and South African Breweries [the purpose of my visit]; and Woking: train home please! Will be taking 4 weeks off when the baby arrives and then, who knows.

Here's a photo.

Seeya
S

Photos!

... of course we moved back home - though the house still looked like this......

We had a lovely time at the Big Chill in August. It's so kiddy-friendly. As Niamh said we met Tom & Ben and ate great food and relaxed and it was lovely. Joe was on great form.

Joe's first haircut!

We spent a great day with Suzy and Adie and Sophie and Chloe in Newbury. Joe & Sophie loved the paddling pool.

Back online at last!

I'm sure you've probably given up on this blog by now but we're back in the land of broadband finally - hurrah!
Since our last post it's been all go here. We've moved back into our house, the kitchen is just about finished and all that's left to do in the main room is the folding doors and kitchen window. Once that's done, the floor can be finished and I'm hoping the tiler can come at the same time as the glass people to cut down on the disruption.
We're still surrounded by boxes but the number of them is slowly decreasing. Conor and Liz are coming on Sunday en route to the Police (lucky things) to help with the bookshelves and a few other things but be warned if you do come to visit you'll be given jobs to do!
Joe had his first haircut the other week - the barber got a bit over enthusiastic but he looks like a little boy now, not a baby any more.
We had a great time at the Big Chill. Stopped at Lucknam Park on the way up, had a fabulous dinner there while Joe had the most glamorous babysitter in the world, ever! Met Tom and Ben at the Big Chill on the Saturday and had fun hanging out at the barn dance. Joe was keen to try out their pear cider and was investigating curious smelling cigarettes! It was a really family friendly festival and we'll definitely go next year and might even camp! Mr Scruff was my festival highlight as he played Ian Dury, but he was closely followed by Sir Norman Jay on the Sunday. The food was fantastic as usual and other memorable moments were the candle lit paper balloons released at night time, as we went home you could see dozens of them across the valley; also the tree with the cycle-powered lanterns both Joe and Simon enjoyed those! It was nice to go back to a hotel room though for a hot shower and a proper bed, also strange sleeping in the same room as Joe again.
The Grogan's have filled our house with baby stuff so we really don't need anything now for the new baby. They've lent us things I had no idea we needed - how did we manage without them before!!
Mum came over on a flying visit for her first gig ever - Rolling Stones at the Dome - and tackled the bamboo in the back garden, the Tenko look is now a distant memory!
Simon and I have had a good run at the cinema lately, Mum babysat so that we could go and see the Bourne Ultimatum in Richmond - what a fantastic film, but absolutely exhausting to watch - good job we went to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen beforehand, I would never have made it through otherwise! Claire babysat the other night and we went to see Knocked Up, a surprisingly funny one, although a few teenage boys were in shock by the end and I made sure I wasn't the first to stand up at the end in case any of them fainted!
New babies are arriving left, right and centre, I had to buy 10 new baby cards at John Lewis the other day! Gill and Ali had another boy, Cameron. Beata our cleaner had a girl, Kamilla, Beverley had another girl, Maya and Emma's had a boy, Freddy. Joe has a baby doll to get used to at the moment, he takes feeding her very seriously and I'm hoping he gives the real baby as many kisses!
Just as we're contemplating more nights in, we've signed up to Virgin+ basically a cheap version of Sky+. After weeks of no telly we're overdosing on telly now, and Simon's back in the UK to enjoy it! He's even made it home for bath time during the week so we all remember who he is again!