58 Lakeside Drive

A week later and I think we are finally setting into our new house. I have to say, I love it and I'm pretty sure Mark and Calum do, too. The move went off without a hitch, hiring professionals was worth every last penny in the end. Mark's family was also amazing in helping out, but thank God we won't be moving again for a long time!

The week before we moved he and Nana sat outside in the sun

Before moving in I had doubts, it had been so long since we last saw the house and I worried if it was really the best one for us. Everyday I love the house more and whilst it's going to be a work in progress over the next couple of weeks (spotlights fitted in every room, painters coming to paint all of the rooms, new carpet and a new fireplace), in the end I know it's really going to be our dream home. The space is amazing, I just can't get over how big it is! So far we've spent 80% of our time in the kitchen and with the nice weather (finally) arriving, we are really going to make use of the deck which is larger than our old backyard.

This move has just really made me feel like a grown up. The house symbolises the transition into that next phase of our lives, the grown up phase, and that for me is cemented in that I have an official guest room! The t.v. we installed in the kitchen, whilst a small thing, was something I have wanted since I was a kid. I have very fond memories of my Grandma watching the news in the kitchen on what must have been about a 6 inch screen while she was cooking and it's little touches like these that I want to add to our home to make it really feel like home.

Calum acts like he's lived here all of his life-he seems to sleep even more soundly and has absolutely loved exploring and opening all of the cupboards in the kitchen. A second dream comes true for me this weekend as we're finally going to put up Calum's swing set that the family bought for his 1st birthday. I always wanted a swing set growing up as a kid and now I'm finally getting one!

Loving the cupboard under the stairs
Exploring the kitchen cupboards

Yesterday Calum and I went on a short walk to explore the massive pond and park just behind our house. Initially I was pretty excited about just the pond, it makes for a gorgeous view from the back bedrooms and Calum loves ducks so I knew we would spend lots of time down there. I was so excited to find that if you follow the path around the pond it leads to the most amazing little hidden park complete with a huge grassy field and bandstand, a great toy area and picnic benches. I'm pretty sure we will be spending lots of time down there in the next few years and as we were walking down the path which borders our back fence, I could imagine Calum in a few years being a typical boy and exploring the woods back there (with supervision, of course!).

View of the back of our house from the park
Loving the swings (but not his hat!)
Calum's view of the geese and ducks

Anyway, we're loving it and I hope you all come and visit at some point as I can finally entertain! Otherwise I've been really busy trying to balance work (whilst Pat is away on holiday and having surgery I am trying to fit in every spare second I can), spending time with Calum and feeling like I am giving him enough attention, getting settled in the house and oh yeah, my marriage which unfortunately seems to come at the bottom of the list at the moment although I am looking forward to celebrating Mark's birthday in the next couple of weeks and going on a much needed date soon-I can't even remember the last time we went out!

Have a great weekend, it's going to be 27 here so time to fire up the barbecue!

Checking out the back deck

Brighton

This past weekend was a busy one. Saturday night Mark and I had our niece Holly and nephew Max over for a sleepover. It was only last week that Calum and I spent the night at their house but Calum was equally (if not more) excited to have them on his own turf and play with them on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Sunday my friend Jeanne arrived from Seattle for a short stay. Jeanne and I spent 9 months of being the "single" girls together in Seattle before I moved to London and she shares the same passion for travel that I do. I think this is the 4th time she's been here since I moved (which is coming up on 4 years in June!) and since she's done pretty much all the London touristy stuff I thought we should go on a little road trip so we headed to Brighton which is just about my favourite place in the U.K.

Brighton is about an hour south of us on the south coast, it's an artsy town with some great shopping, restaurants and night life and was a perfect place for a weekend away with Mark pre-Calum. It's also featured in one of my top 3 "English" movies, Wimbledon (which comes after 1. Match Point and 2. Love Actually). Unfortunately the weather wasn't amazing but we did have fun walking around, checking out the boardwalk and had an amazing lunch at one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants (followed up by homemade donuts on the pier-so much for my diet!). It was great to have Jeanne here, even if just for a little while, we got to really catch up which is so hard to do when we are home for our usual short, whirwind visits.

Now if only more of you would come visit! Honestly, before I moved I really didn't see the appeal of coming all the way to Europe to come to London, but it is a great stopping over point and you will always have a free place to stay! Wish us luck this week with the move-it only just occured to me last night that we're pretty far behind-as in, haven't packed a box and we move in 9 days (and we seem to have accumulated a lot of crap in the year or so since we last moved). I've got so much to get rid of and go through and we have to somehow squeeze in painting Calum's room back to neutral-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Neglected blog...

So it used to be that I would try to post at least once a week, maybe twice but since we've been home from Cyprus time is moving at light speed. Part of this probably has to do with the fact that I'm working again-for those of you who don't know, I've started up my own recruitment company called Thoughtbox Recruitment (www.thoughtboxrecruitment.com). It's been a bit of a slow start but now I'm full steam ahead and finally getting back into it. I have to say, having a year off I've suffered a bit of a lack of confidence which isn't ideal when you are working in a mostly telephone sales based role. Luckily in that year I missed what was a massive blow to the recruitment industry what with the recession and all, and have joined back in what seems to be an upturn. I've got a couple of new clients on board and love that I have the flexibility to choose when I work and to work from home, although it can be tough sometimes. Mark's Mum, Pat, has also agreed to watch Calum for us so I haven't had to go through the dreaded task of taking him to nursery and I know that he's with he's happy with his Nana whilst I'm working.

We're also getting ready for our move. I managed to off load all remaining glass furniture (so not practical with a baby!) on eBay and the boxes came yesterday from the moving company so we're ready to get packing. Can't believe we're almost there, it's been a process which started back in November and I'm just so ready to get moved in and enjoy the summer in our new house. I'm also looking forward to all of the new furniture we've ordered including our "Super King" bed! BTW, we now officially have not one, but two guest rooms (until baby #2 comes along, anyway!) so no more excuses for not visiting!

Otherwise Calum is keeping us busy as usual. This week he got some sort of a viral infection so Mark had to take him to Kids A&E yesterday to get a blood test done which didn't sound too pleasant. Along with his viral infection Calum has broke out in a little spotty rash, but despite it all he's still as loud and rambunctious as ever as you can see in the video below. We saw the physio therapist last week (3 MONTHS after we were referred, thanks NHS!) about his tip-toe standing (which has massively improved) and she has said it's not a problem and strongly recommend I not use the Bounce a Roo ever again. Calum hasn't really shown any desire to walk which could be because he's perfected the crawl-today I watched him push his walker around on his knees which was pretty funny.

Oh, and did I mention I'm an Auntie again? Mark's little sister Tracey had her baby, Rhys, on April 23rd at 33 weeks. Unfortunately we were in Cyprus and things were a little touch and go at first due to what sounds like misuse of the forceps, however just 2 weeks after he was born he was released from the SBCU and is at home with Tracey and her boyfriend Richard. Rhys was a whopping 6 lbs, can't even imagine what he would have weighed full term! Has been lovely to see Tracey settle into motherhood, she's a natural. Having Rhys around has already made me broody and I have yet to hold him; as soon as I have those thoughts though I am reminded of those late night feeds and those first few weeks home which were a literal blur so we will happily wait for awhile and enjoy what we've been blessed with. Have a great week!

Baby Rhys

Cyprus

Hard to believe a week ago today we were basking in the sun with not a care in the world. As I look out the window the wind blows and today I was forced to pull a sweater out from the bottom of the drawer. Boo hoo.

Our week in Cyprus was great, more then I would have ever hoped it would be. To be honest, I didn't have huge expectations as Cyprus was never on the top of my list of places to go. Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean just south of Turkey and not too far from Israel. It's history dates back to the 10th millennium B.C. (!); until 1970 it was part of the British Commonwealth. In 1974 there was a civil war of sorts between the Turkish and the Greek communities that make up the island which resulted in the island being split in two (and divided down the middle by barbed wire and UN outposts!), the north is the Turkish side and the south is the Greek side. We stayed on the south side in a town called Larnaka where Mark's business partner/best man/best friend owns a house and was generous enough to let us stay there.

George's place in Cyprus, perfect!

It was the perfect situation really, Calum settled straight into his routine which gave Mark and I 2-3 hours of pool side time to ourselves everyday! With the time difference it worked out perfectly for us to go out for a late meal in the evenings as the Cypriots do and when we did go out, the food was amazing. Think mezes, Greek salads, grilled meats and fresh fish. The people there were amazingly friendly and loved kids, Calum was treated like a king everywhere we went. We took a couple of road trips to the capital city Nicosia for some shopping and to Pafos where we stopped at Aphrodite's Rock on the way to the zoo.

At the zoo
Beach at Aphrodite's Rock

On this night the waiter brought Calum a plate of strawberries that he loved but also got all over his new outfit!

Calum's first birthday was spent relaxing, during the day we went to this restaurant/bar on the beach to watch Mark's beloved Tottenham play Manchester Utd. and in the evening we went to a nice dinner and came back to a little cake and candle for Calum. The next day we took him to the zoo which was probably more for me then him as he seemed more interested in Daddy than any of the animals or birds although the playground was a highlight. He was an absolute star on the 4.5 hr plane ride there and back so let's hope it continues for our trip in July to Seattle & L.A.

Loving his new baby pool, birthday pressie from Mom & Dad
Opening one of his little gifts we brought on his birthday
With Mom at birthday dinner
Calum's birthday cake (not sure who ate more, Calum or Dad!)

Happy 1st Birthday, Calum!

Tomorrow we leave for Cyprus which in itself is a small miracle due to the constantly changing events after the Icelandic volcano eruption which have totally put all flights to and from the U.K. to a halt. Apparently my recent church going has made someone happy and our prayers were answered, Mark and I desperately need a holiday and as I had nothing planned for Calum's 1st on Saturday I was beginning to feel like his birthday was going to be a blow out.

Yes, impossible to believe but our little munchkin will be 1 on Saturday. In some ways I look back and feel as if it's been 10 years and in others it feels like yesterday that we brought him home. Honestly those first few days and months were tough, I was on an emotional roller coaster, nights of waking up to feed left me dazed and confused the next day and there were more than a few tearful evenings of Mark returning home from work and me thinking I just couldn't do the stay at home Mom thing anymore. This year has been a massive learning and growing experience and instead of being sad about the time that has passed, I look forward to each day moving forward.

A lot of you haven't had the chance to spend much time with Calum which saddens me to no end. Maybe you should feel blessed that your ear drums are still in tact. Yes, he is a talker, yeller and screamer. Mark and I have given up talking to each other at the dinner table as neither of us can talk loud enough to be heard over Calum. I can no longer watch the news in the mornings when I feed him because he is yelling at me and demanding my full attention and rapid spoon to mouth feeding to satisfy his insatiable appetite. Our kid can eat. And eat. And eat some more. There isn't a single thing he won't eat. I can't think of a time when he hasn't shouted for more at the end of a meal. Public outings with Calum are the highlight of his life. Not satisfied with the undying attention he gets at home, he views these as his chance to get as many grannies as possible to look his way, tell him how cute he is and etc. In fact, he doesn't even discriminate anymore-he will even try to get attention from teenage boys and the like which is pretty embarrassing for all parties involved (except Calum of course).

One thing Calum might just love more than attention is books. Better than any toy, books will keep him entertained for ages. Thank you a million times over Auntie Tara for starting our collection, we have read each of your books about a thousand times and it's even gotten so bad that I have memorised the words to Guess How Much I Love You which could be viewed as sweet and pathetic at the same time. Calum also loves his Daddy, lots. I knew Mark would be a great Dad, but I don't know if I could have ever expected just how much fun these two have-it's like they have their own little world sometimes and I am just lucky to be standing outside looking in. Next to Dad Calum also especially loves his cousins Max & Holly. When the three of them get together as of late, they all really play and he could spend ages just watching these two goofballs and trying to be part of the action.

Really we have been blessed with an amazingly good baby. Since about month 3 he has slept through just about every night from about 8-8. He naps religiously 3 hours a day. While I was worried he didn't start crawling until earlier this month, he blessed me with 11+ months of not having to run around after him and prevent him from turning on the surround sound at full blast or taking all the pans out from under the oven. 99% of the time he is a happy baby and he loves being around people. He will go to anyone happily. He loves the creche at the gym which has allowed me to almost get back to pre-baby body which is saying a lot considering I gained about 70 lbs.!

Calum has just been the most amazing, special addition to our lives. He's been more than I ever could have hoped or imagined and I can't wait each day to go in to his room and see that beaming smile of his and where this day will take us, what new thing he will learn or help me learn. Happy birthday to my gorgeous cheeky little boy, we love you!

Our 1 year stats:

Height: 75.5 cm / 2ft 5.7 in (49th percentile)
Weight: 12 kg / 26.5 lbs (96th percentile)
Head circumference: 49 cm / 19.3 in (91st percentile)

Loved what Meghan did and thought I would share a few pics from the last 12 mos. Wish us safe travels! x

Almost 1!
11 months
10 months (notice Guess How Much I Love You in the background?)
9 mos
8 mos
7 mos and looking really grown up!
6 mos-he will never forgive me for this costume!
5 mos

4 mos
3 mos, on my birthday
2 mos
5 weeks

Calum's First Haircut

Somehow I thought we might be able to prolong Calum's first haircut until after his first birthday, but lately his shaggy dog look was getting far too shaggy and before Mark got tempted to cut it himself (which he actually did when Calum was about 3 mos old resulting in him looking like Chucky for a good few weeks), we took Calum to the closest kid salon we could find which was a good 30 minutes away but totally worth the drive (for anyone reading here in the U.K. it's called Echo in West Wickham and they are great!). I guess when you can only charge £5 for a cut it's not a very hot market.

Pre haircut, Shaggy-style

Anyway, it was awesome-he got to sit in this cute little tractor seat and in front of him next to the mirror was a flat screen t.v. playing Peppa Pig (a kiddie favourite here in the U.K.). Calum didn't cry once and actually seemed to love it, not surprising considering the attention he was getting from the hairdresser and the family who came in for the appointment after ours. I'm still getting used to the results, and the fact that he's growing up so fast that I can barely keep up.

Post haircut showing off for the girls who were next

Tooth number two is making it's appearance, this time it's the one on top just above his one that's come in on the bottom so looks like we're going to have a baby jack o'lantern on our hands until the other two front teeth catch up.

Calum has also perfected his crawling technique over the last week or so which has resulted in me running around after him and hopefully losing those last few pounds of baby weight (a year later!). Just in time for our trip next week to Cyprus where we will celebrate Calum's 1st.

Hope you all have a great week x

The latest

After what was a long 4 day weekend here in the UK, life today seems to be getting almost back to normal. Friday I went shopping and to lunch with a friend and capped off the night with a family dinner for Max's birthday. The following day we helped Tracey and her boyfriend Richard move into their new house and Sunday we spent the day with family for Easter. Easter morning was a treat, my Mom sent a HUGE box of American candy and a few bits for Calum who actually seemed to really love the Easter pail the most! Poor Calum has come down with a cold again and wasn't really able to get as much sleep as he probably needed due to us being out and about. As I write this he is snoring away peacefully in his room which is pure bliss to my ears!

Tracey and Richard in their new house, Tracey is 30 wks pregnant.

It's weekends like these that I am reminded just what a good baby we have. He rarely cries and even though at times this weekend he looked drunk he was so exhausted, he keeps powering on and always has a smile on his little face. Due to exhaustion and a stuffy nose/cough he woke up once or twice both Friday and Saturday night which is a rarity for him. I know personally when I hear that cry come over the baby monitor I always wake up with a shock followed by a little groan in the back of my mind wondering how long I'm going to be up and how we're going to remedy the situation. Whilst I was exhausted I had to remind myself that this is normal baby stuff that we've thankfully be spared from most of the time. I'm convinced our next baby is never going to sleep and be a big handful!
Most of you know I was a little concerned as Calum (who will be 1 in 2.5 wks) hadn't started crawling yet. On Friday night when we got home I put him down to unpack our stuff he started crawling! After months of trying to lure him with the remote, cell phone and etc. he surprised us by going for it when there was nothing exciting in sight and when he was totally knackered. Of course since then I've been wishing he could go back to not crawling because now he is into everything! Calum's first tooth also made an appearance last week so slowly but surely he is catching up and amazes me at how much he is learning and changing everyday. With his 1st birthday approaching I thought I might be a little sad but how could I be when I have so much to look forward to with him?

Showing off his new crawling skills-he favours the crab walk!
Calum with his favourite, his rocking horse from Grandma. He can rock on his own now! Not sure what Mark has done to his hair in this pic