I don't know where she gets it from

Rosie's Favourite Word

Add to My Profile | More Videos

London Lad

Here's Toby having dinner at his favourite restaurant yesterday. We had a Mom & Toby afternoon out and went to Waterstone's at Piccadilly, the Japan Centre and then had dinner at Yo Sushi!, which Toby loves. He always has the same thing: edamame, miso soup, yakitori, gyoza and veggie noodles.

London Lad

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Not good

We had an offer on the flat... 70,000 less than the listed price PLUS we pay the lease for the first year AND leave all of the appliances. That would be a big N-O. And the agents for the house on Kellerton Road rang to say that the house was going back on the market because we're taking too long to sell. Not a good morning.

Catching up

Jason and I had our 15th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. Since we met at the beach in Texas we decided to spend the day at the beach here. The contrast between South Padre in the Gulf of Mexico and Whitstable on the North Sea is quite marked, to say the least! We did have a lovely day out though. It was wet, cold and windy so we bundled up and drove to the East Quay Restaurant for fish and chips before walking along the pebble beach, collecting shells and chucking stones in the water. Afterwards we went for a walk in the seaside village, stopping for coffee and huge slices of chocolate cake. Both children fell asleep in the car on the way home which gave me and Jason a chance to talk about the last fifteen years together and the next fifteen ahead.

This week we've started the back-to-school processs. Yesterday I took the children to Bluewater to get uniforms for Toby. This year he wants a blazer and tie. He looks so cute in them and spent a very long time admiring himself in the changing room mirrors. I can't wait to take photos on his first day back.

Both children also needed new clothes since they've had growth spurts. I dressed them recently and Rosie's top barely covered her tummy and Toby's jeans were high-waters. So, two pairs of jeans each and various tops & trousers plus sweaters for Toby and skirts and dresses for Rosie. I'm very lucky that Elizabeth passed on some of Mary Catherine's clothes so Rosie already has lots of lovely sweaters and jackets this year. Rosie needed shoes too and I was amazed to see that she'd grown a size and a half. I bought her new sandals just two months ago. Good lord, these children are expensive.

Toby has one more week off before starting Year 1 and we've filled it was visits with friends and days out. We're going to go see the play of The Gruffalo's Child on Thursday which should be fun. On Friday Toby has an appointment for an ECG and a chest X-ray to check on his heart, which I'm sure is fine, but it means that we'll be in Farnborough all day.

School starts on Tuesday 4 September and we're all looking forward to autumn and getting back into our routine. I've missed seeing Marija at Costa in the mornings. It feels like we'll soon be wrapping up, drinking hot chocolate and thinking about Halloween, Bonfire Night, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Kissing games

Kissing Games

Add to My Profile | More Videos

You're how old?!

Tomorrow is Jason's birthday. He'll be 38 years old. He's on holiday this week and we're celebrating with a birthday breakfast, trip to Bluewater to buy J a camera, a hammock from Toby for the new garden and a little treat that Rosie made and a surprise or two.

Happy birthday Jason!!

Conversations with Toby

After Toby's bath tonight:

Me: Tobes, I noticed you were holding your willy a lot today. Is it feeling sore? Does it hurt when you wee wee?

Toby: I wasn't holding my willy. I was holding these little things underneath my willy. They're like little bubbles and I like to hold them.

Me: [thinking] ...and so it begins.

A sad week

Last week was a week for sad news. My friend Marija's father died, Rosie's music teacher miscarried at 21 weeks into her pregnancy, one of Jason's parents' friends died quite suddenly, a dear friend lost his year long battle with cancer and I learned that a much admired colleague passed away last year.

Some of you might have heard me talk about my friend Xavier in Paris. It was only 18 months ago that he discovered a lump on his collarbone which started a long and painful fight for his life. He leaves a wife and three children behind, his youngest a little girl named Rose who is the same age as Rosie. He was such a family man and so adored his children. I can't imagine them growing up without him. So sad and so unexpected. Xavier never smoked or drank and lived a healthy, happy life. So very sad.

Kicking into high gear

The flat is online here now. Click on Southeast London then Blackheath and we're the 3 bed flat on Quentin Road. Still no offers. Grrrr. Keep your fingers crossed that something comes up soon.

Happy birthday Toby!

Today is Toby's 5th birthday. I thought I would be freaking out but I feel remarkably calm. Perhaps that's because the fact that my baby boy is five years old hasn't completely sunk in yet. I remember his birth like it was yesterday and all day today I've been thinking about what I was doing at the same time five years ago.

You can read Toby's birth story here and if you're really interested that website includes my first pregnancy journal too.

Still in one piece...

... but only just. Came home with a splitting headache after our day out. I'm sure it wasn't helped by the fact that my breakfast consisted of chocolate palmiers. Not the best start to an active day. We did have a nice time at the museum but keeping up with the children while taking calls from the estate agent was hard work.

Our initial feedback on the first five viewings has been - two think the kitchen is too small, one is very interested and two haven't gotten back to the agent yet. We had another viewing today and have one tomorrow and another on Wednesday. I'm really hoping that by Friday we've at least had a nibble.

House for sale

There must be something in the air. Mom and Dad moved last week. They bought a house in Lufkin and have returned to the place where it all began. We're in the throes of buying and selling and Jason's parents put their house on the market on Friday. Anyone interested in a lovely house in Cambridgshire with a beautiful English garden should check it out. It's a 4-bed house between 250,000 and 300,000 in Sawtry.

Jason is back at work today and the children and I are going to the Museum in Docklands. We're packing a picnic lunch and going with Toby's friend Max, his mum, brother and baby sister. That's right. Rachel and I will have five children between us. Should be interesting. Hope I make it home in one piece.

Haircut and flat for sale

Got a major haircut this morning. Now, before anyone starts freaking out (Mom) I've just cut off all of my damaged, hormone-ravaged pregnancy hair and will grow it out again into something that is hopefully much more healthy. At the moment I like to think I'm channelling my inner French girl or maybe Cleopatra or Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface...

And the flat is officially on the market. We've had five viewings so far and are hopefully going to have an offer this week. Keep your fingers crossed. The Kellerton Road house has been taken off the market for a week to give us a chance to get under offer and then hopefully everything will proceed quickly. I'll let you know when the spec ends up on the agent's website so you can have a nose around. I know I would want to check out your house if you were selling! We just signed the contract though and the five viewings so far have come from them ringing around. We have two more scheduled early this week and hopefully lots more once the spec comes out. Someone must want to buy this flat!

Sleepy Girl

Sleep girl

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Keeping them entertained

One of those days that make you happy to be you

Lovely day. Dropped Tobes off at holiday club, went to see the Hereford Gardens house then headed to Costa. The whole gang was there - Philippa and Little Joe, Marija, Marion, the Book Lady, The Smoker, Lily and her parents, etc, etc. Our little coffee clache, as Marion says.

Afterwards I came home and did some laundry (the dryer was fixed on Tuesday, hurray!) then picked Tobes up and went to his friend Finn's house for lunch. I really like Finn's mum, Jo, and we had a lovely lunch. Finn has a little sister Amelia who is almost three and all of the children played very well together. Jo and I ended up being monsters chasing Spiderman, a princess, a red Power Ranger and Rosie around the garden. Lovely afternoon.

We came home to have the flat valued by another agent and then had breakfast for dinner (bacon, toast, eggs and beans). Now if I can get the children to sleep at a decent time I might just manage to have a bit of quiet time tonight. I'm not getting my hopes up though.

And we're off..

Saw the house in Hereford Gardens this morning. Beautiful ground floor though smaller rooms than Kellerton Road. The finish of the house is amazing - original wood floors, gorgeous kitchen extension, lovely kitchen, etc, etc but it's that bit further from the village, that much smaller overall. Definitely a no. It has shown me that Kellerton Road is the house for us and given me some ideas for improvements though.

So I've got another agent coming to value the flat today and then hopefully we can choose with whom to list the flat. The owners of Kellerton Road have another viewing on Saturday (fingers crossed we don't get gazumped) but they will stop viewings after that for a period of time so that we can sell our place. Hopefully we'll sell quickly and it will all move smoothly. Our place is in a very popular location and we've done a lot of improvements so we're cautiously optimistic. I can't believe this is all happening while J is on the other side of the world!

OK, off to look at potterybarn.com for some decorating ideas. The children are going to share a room so I'm looking for things that would both like. I'm thinking red and white ticking fabric, white walls, big blackboard... ohhhh, I'm in my element now!

Now I'm really shitting myself

They accepted our offer. Holy. Crap.

So now we just have to get our place sold. I had one valuation today and I've got another coming tomorrow. Hopefully in the next few days we can choose an agent and get the flat on the market.

At the moment my greater concern is getting Rosie to sleep. Tobes passed out about an hour ago but Rosie is holding out and is now running around the living room full of energy. They've been a real handful today. I've probably been distracted with all the house stuff and found it harder to cope too. Taking care of the children is a piece of cake... as long as you don't try to do anything else at the same time. Buying a house and selling the flat definitely qualifies as "anything else".

Gotta get this girl to bed before I lose my mind. Really need some quiet thinking alone time tonight.

Oh man

We weren't even thinking about moving. Just kind of kicking the idea around a bit. Now I've found another house I want to go and look at. It's in the same area as the first one, costs less and has more space. It's here. Very grand and we would definitely need to redecorate and pare it down a bit! Check out the formal dining room in the IPX videotours at the bottom of the page.

Well, the sellers came back to us about the house. They've asked that we raise our offer a bit (well, of course they did) but J and I have decided to stick with it. We love the house but we're in no rush to move so we're going to play hardball and risk it.

It's listed with another agent here and there are some different photos including the main bathroom.

Having our place valued this morning. Can't wait to see what they have to say!