Friday 29th May - Keeping Ben busy!

Q: How do you keep Ben quiet for over an hour with the minimum of expense?

A: Give him a pair of scissors and let him cut the lawn!

We decided to have a day at home since it was lovely and sunny and we'd spent a lot of time in the car going to Scarborough. Ben was playing out in the back garden loading up his digger, but he was pulling up the grass. So rather than have a huge argument on his hands, Ian had the bright idea of giving Ben his scissors and letting him use them to cut the grass instead of pulling it up. I can't remember the last time he was so absorbed in something!

We also dug the ball pool out of the loft for the first time this year, and it was a big hit with everyone - I think everyone was in it at some point during the day. We had balls all over the back garden!

Thursday 28th May - Scarborough North Bay

One of the things we'd promised Ben we would do whilst we were off was go to the seaside. He loves the seaside (but then what child doesn't?) so we got off nice and early and braved the madness that is the A64 and set off for Scarborough.

The first thing we did when we arrived was go for a ride on the minature train, which goes up the coast a little way to the Sealife Centre and back again.

Me and my uncooperative children! Smile at the same time for goodness sake ;-) (note family behind us trying to do the same thing with about the same amount of success!)

Ben mucking about as we went through a tunnel.

The miniature train, and not miniature driver.

We then crossed the road and had our lunch in Peasholme Park, and watched people pedalling dragon boats round the lake. Unfortunately they only do their model boat displays at the weekends. In the park there was a huge flight of stairs, which I assume are for people to sit on and watch the model boats. Ben insisted on taking me all the way up to the top so that Ian could take a picture of us.

After lunch, we headed off to the beach. Although we took Zoe to the seaside last year, she was too young to know anything about it. So whilst Ian took Ben off for a paddle, I sat with Zoe whilst she experimented with the sand!
She spent a few minutes sitting on the rug picking the sand up and rubbing her feet in it. Once she got used to it, she absolutely loved it!

And once she realised she could crawl on it, she was off! I had to keep fetching her back!

Playing together, sort of.

Then it was ice cream time! Ben with his tub of ice cream with Smarties in...
... and Zoe helping me with my vanilla ice cream!

We had a brilliant day, even though we did get stuck on the A64 on the way home when they had to shut it for over 5 hours because of an accident.

Bank Holiday Monday - mucking about in the garden

Monday was such a lovely day, and since we had all week off, there didn't seem to be any point in rushing out with the hoardes, so we got the pop up tent out and a few blankets and played in the back garden. Someone once said to me that you don't take as many photos of your second child as you do of your first, so I got the camera out and took loads of shots of Zoe. Here are a few of the best...

She loved crawling around in the tent.

She's still dribbling loads as well - I'm sure I spotted a couple of molars peeking through, but I don't get many chances to have a look , and when I do I risk getting my fingers bitten!

Our Garden Makeover

As promised, here are a few photos of the garden on its way from overgrown to lovely!
This first photo is taken from Ben's bedroom, and as you can see, it had got a bit overgrown and neglected. In my defence, I was a bit busy looking after a small baby last summer, and Ian doesn't know a dandelion from a dahlia! I wanted to make it a more practical garden for Ben and Zoe to play in, but needed some help!

This photo was taken about a month after the garden was finished. Ben has a lovely big lawn to run around on, and now the grass isn't wet all the time, Zoe can crawl about on it too! The plants at the back are filling out, and hopefully in another month some of them will have some flowers!

The Saga of Zoe's Finger

I can laugh about it now, but at the time every day just seemed to be one thing after another caused by someone's incompetence! I'm still working on a complaint letter that won't end up with me being sued for libel or something. At least Zoe is too young to remember any of it. I, on the other hand have got loads more grey hairs and a couple more wrinkles ;-) Anyway, here is a pictorial record of our journey (but entirely suitable for those of a delicate disposition)...
This photo was taken about three hours after she'd come round from the general anaesthetic, which probably accounts for the slightly dopey look. Note the gigantic bandage, which was supposed to stay on for ten days, but didn't even last ten hours!
We took Zoe to the dressings clinic and got a much better dressing put on by someone who actually knew what they were doing. As you can see, having a bandage on didn't dampen her spirits much! And it didn't stop her getting about and having fun either! I'm amazed by how well it has healed up, even though we were told that babies have incredible regenerative powers. This last picture was taken four weeks after the accident, (it's her index finger that was hurt) and it just astounds me that only four weeks before, the top of her finger was literally hanging off!

Starting my updates!

I keep trying to do this at work, but my computer there is so old, it has rubber keys and you load the programmes with a tape recorder, and it hasn't been co-operating with me at all! Also with everything that's been going on lately, updating this has slipped my mind a bit. But now I'm back with a vengance and aim to keep you up to date with all our half term hi-jinx over the coming week :-D

Anyway, imagine some wibbly lines like they do on the telly, and I'll take you back to the 18th and 19th of April.....

I just wanted to put this one in, because she looks so cute!

Here she is, having a go with her tunnel and tent that Linda & Robert gave her for her birthday. She really loves it - she likes anything she can play hide and seek in. Ben also loves it too, and fortunately it seems to be quite sturdy so he can play with it too. (albeit under close supervision!)

On the Monday after my birthday, I had a day out on my own. I did town, Crown Point and the White Rose, and was shattered by 3 o'clock! I got some material from Sammy Taylor - the two pink ones are for a dress for Zoe and the green stripe is for a sun top for me. I aim to have them both done for our holidays, so watch this space! I also got two tops from Debenhams, a great pair of jeans, a pair of combats, a pair of cropped trousers, a pair of sunglasses, and have ordered a cotton top and sweatshirt type top from Boden, so I feel like I've given my wardrobe a whole new lease of life!

Its getting to my bedtime now and the laptop battery is nearly flat, so I'll keep updating over the weekend.