Sunday, December 31, 2006
A bit of transition
You'll notice a few changes on the blog. I'm thinking the look and feel will be a bit fluid over the next week or so as I experiment with the 'Googleified' new features.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Happy New Year
Christmas was a quietish affair this year, but as usual everybody in the clan had there fair share of presents, food and alcohol so a big pat on the back to all involved.
Harrison was a little more involved in proceedings this year but clearly still has no concept of how Christmas works. 'Here Harrison, have a present from Mum/Dad/Granny etc..' is not a cue to pick up discarded wrapping paper and leave the room. Bless him though. Once the debris cleared he actually seemed to genuinely enjoy playing with his new toys, although this mostly involves bashing.
New Year is next on the list and for the first time in ages, we're having a quiet one. We'll be driving down to Cornwall this afternoon to bring in the New Year with a sea view. As ever my parents will be putting us up, which mostly makes a relaxing time for Fi and I.
Happy New Year to you all.
Harrison was a little more involved in proceedings this year but clearly still has no concept of how Christmas works. 'Here Harrison, have a present from Mum/Dad/Granny etc..' is not a cue to pick up discarded wrapping paper and leave the room. Bless him though. Once the debris cleared he actually seemed to genuinely enjoy playing with his new toys, although this mostly involves bashing.
New Year is next on the list and for the first time in ages, we're having a quiet one. We'll be driving down to Cornwall this afternoon to bring in the New Year with a sea view. As ever my parents will be putting us up, which mostly makes a relaxing time for Fi and I.
Happy New Year to you all.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Better late then never
Aren't you all sick to death of me having to apologise every time I post here? It's been aaaaagggeeeess since my fingers touched this page (saucy). No excuses - I just plain suck.
So, Harrison is 14 1/2 months old now and finally started to walk in a normal(ish) fashion about a month ago.... it's all great but hell, the crawling was easier! Over the past 12 months or so people have been warning us, saying things like 'oooh wait until he's walking, he'll be into everything', whilst sucking through their teeth at the same time. I truly understand what they mean now. The kid is relentless - bouncing around the room from one forbidden door to the next bookshelf from which to rip everything from. Hours of fun and I wouldn't change it for the world.
What else is new? Christmas is just around the corner and for once our preparations are going well. We'll be in Bath again this year so it should work out relatively calm. Looking further ahead, we're off to the slopes of Copper Mountain in the middle of January with Rachael and Paul. Hey, Colorado natives, what's this place like??? We missed out on our winter sports last year with the arrival of Harry so we're really looking forward to it.
Savour this. Hopefully I'll post again soon but on current form I'll be back in the Spring
So, Harrison is 14 1/2 months old now and finally started to walk in a normal(ish) fashion about a month ago.... it's all great but hell, the crawling was easier! Over the past 12 months or so people have been warning us, saying things like 'oooh wait until he's walking, he'll be into everything', whilst sucking through their teeth at the same time. I truly understand what they mean now. The kid is relentless - bouncing around the room from one forbidden door to the next bookshelf from which to rip everything from. Hours of fun and I wouldn't change it for the world.
What else is new? Christmas is just around the corner and for once our preparations are going well. We'll be in Bath again this year so it should work out relatively calm. Looking further ahead, we're off to the slopes of Copper Mountain in the middle of January with Rachael and Paul. Hey, Colorado natives, what's this place like??? We missed out on our winter sports last year with the arrival of Harry so we're really looking forward to it.
Savour this. Hopefully I'll post again soon but on current form I'll be back in the Spring
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Engage
A couple of months back, Marie and Jason bought me a pair of tickets to see The Tempest for my Birthday. Now, I'm not a great Shakespeare fan, largely because I don't understand most of it, but this was not just any performance. A couple of Saturdays back, four of us went to Stratford-upon-Avon for the day to take in the perfomance with Patrick Stewart playing Prospero at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
Call me a simpleton but I've admired Patrick Stewart since... erm Star Trek TNG. I've grown out of it now but his presence on stage is unmistakable. Fi and I have seen him once before in Ibsen's 'The Master Builder' and although starstruck then, this was far more epic! Although lengthy at close to three hours, I was moslty engrossed, no doubt helped by the remarkably comfortable theatre seats. Too comfortable for some it seems. Both Fi and Jason dozed off for at least a couple of minutes at some point during the performance.... obviously Patrick Sterwart was not on stage at the time. Make it so.
Harrison continues to develop as all babies should. He is so very close to be able to walk now and will happily hold one of our hands and toddle around the house and garden with us. He's taken a couple of unassisted steps, but they are always done whilst falling over. Of course he turns to us and smiles as if saying 'I meant to do that mum/dad'.
With just eleven days before his first Birthday I find myself amazed at how quickly the last twelve months has passed us by. Never a dull moment with kids you see.
Call me a simpleton but I've admired Patrick Stewart since... erm Star Trek TNG. I've grown out of it now but his presence on stage is unmistakable. Fi and I have seen him once before in Ibsen's 'The Master Builder' and although starstruck then, this was far more epic! Although lengthy at close to three hours, I was moslty engrossed, no doubt helped by the remarkably comfortable theatre seats. Too comfortable for some it seems. Both Fi and Jason dozed off for at least a couple of minutes at some point during the performance.... obviously Patrick Sterwart was not on stage at the time. Make it so.
Harrison continues to develop as all babies should. He is so very close to be able to walk now and will happily hold one of our hands and toddle around the house and garden with us. He's taken a couple of unassisted steps, but they are always done whilst falling over. Of course he turns to us and smiles as if saying 'I meant to do that mum/dad'.
With just eleven days before his first Birthday I find myself amazed at how quickly the last twelve months has passed us by. Never a dull moment with kids you see.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Camping in North Devon
We decided to go camping last weekend with Denise, Tom and Hannah. Denise chose a lovely campsite near Lynton and Lynmouth called Channel View Camping and Caravan site and off we all went on Friday afternoon. Somehow against all the odds we managed to get everything in the car (we did have to go through everything and pick out stuff we definitely could do without and it took us 3 days to pack the car!) and after packing Harry in his car seat alongside everything else, we set off to pick Andy up from work. Normally we go with our usual group of friends so it doesn't matter so much. We just stuff bits in other people's cars but because Denise and Tom were coming down from Meriden we had to be brutal in our packing.
The plan was to meet them at the campsite. They were going to be leaving a couple of hours before us so we asked them to get us a big pitch. However they left an hour later than they planned and we left earlier so as luck would have it we met them at the services just past Weston-Super-Mare. We decided to follow Denise and Tom and after 2 or 3 detours and quite a few muppets on a not very to easy to overtake road we got to the campsite about 7.30pm. Not great when it's ridiculously windy and you have 2 tents to put up, a baby to feed and a toddler running off every 5 seconds. We finally put children to bed and had our tea in the dark about 10pm. Thinking everything was ok we were looking forward to bed both of us being completely knackered. But oh no, because as bad luck would have it, the combination of us talking outside the tent, the tent pitched on a slope so he kept rolling to the bottom of the travel cot and it being bloody windy, the boy woke up about 10.45 and wouldn't go back to sleep screaming the tent down. Mum and dad being very very tired and cold bundled him into the car and went off for a drive with the heater on full blast. Harry didn't sleep but we were very tempted to sleep in the car. However it didn't come to that and when we finally got out of the car and put Harry in his cot he drifted off to sleep...bless! He did the same thing the next night but he went back to sleep about 11pm, woke again about 5am and lucky for him got to share mum and dad's double sleeping bag - a tight squeeze I can tell you.
You'd think camping in August based on the previous few weeks weather would be fine so we omitted to take our ski jackets and the like. Oh how stupid we were. We wore the same clothes for the whole weekend because they were the only warm clothes we had. Harry was ok because when it comes to packing I always have to make sure he has 3 times as much stuff as he needs and we just try to pack the bare minimum so it fits in the car.
Overall the trip was good. It was really nice to spend some time with Denise, Tom and Hannah, and we went to a part of Devon that I have never been to before. The scenery was very very dramatic, more like Wales or the Lake District, and I had a really good cream tea - that made it all worth while.
Moral of the story, don't pitch your tent on a slope on top of a headland facing the wind unless you want no sleep ever. Oh and we need a bigger car!
The plan was to meet them at the campsite. They were going to be leaving a couple of hours before us so we asked them to get us a big pitch. However they left an hour later than they planned and we left earlier so as luck would have it we met them at the services just past Weston-Super-Mare. We decided to follow Denise and Tom and after 2 or 3 detours and quite a few muppets on a not very to easy to overtake road we got to the campsite about 7.30pm. Not great when it's ridiculously windy and you have 2 tents to put up, a baby to feed and a toddler running off every 5 seconds. We finally put children to bed and had our tea in the dark about 10pm. Thinking everything was ok we were looking forward to bed both of us being completely knackered. But oh no, because as bad luck would have it, the combination of us talking outside the tent, the tent pitched on a slope so he kept rolling to the bottom of the travel cot and it being bloody windy, the boy woke up about 10.45 and wouldn't go back to sleep screaming the tent down. Mum and dad being very very tired and cold bundled him into the car and went off for a drive with the heater on full blast. Harry didn't sleep but we were very tempted to sleep in the car. However it didn't come to that and when we finally got out of the car and put Harry in his cot he drifted off to sleep...bless! He did the same thing the next night but he went back to sleep about 11pm, woke again about 5am and lucky for him got to share mum and dad's double sleeping bag - a tight squeeze I can tell you.
You'd think camping in August based on the previous few weeks weather would be fine so we omitted to take our ski jackets and the like. Oh how stupid we were. We wore the same clothes for the whole weekend because they were the only warm clothes we had. Harry was ok because when it comes to packing I always have to make sure he has 3 times as much stuff as he needs and we just try to pack the bare minimum so it fits in the car.
Overall the trip was good. It was really nice to spend some time with Denise, Tom and Hannah, and we went to a part of Devon that I have never been to before. The scenery was very very dramatic, more like Wales or the Lake District, and I had a really good cream tea - that made it all worth while.
Moral of the story, don't pitch your tent on a slope on top of a headland facing the wind unless you want no sleep ever. Oh and we need a bigger car!
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Monday, July 17, 2006
A weekend baby-fest!
We have had a bit of a baby-fest this weekend, which has been great fun. Harry doesn't get to mix with as many babies as I would like (my fault entirely), so it was nice for him to interact a bit with Morgan & Maddie on Saturday afternoon. We all went out into the back garden and set up a rug and some toys for them and really let them get on with it. The usual tug of war with toys started and Harry was his usual self. Anything that he didn't have, he wanted, and would crawl over anything or anyone to get to it resulting in Maddie smacking him on the nose (Go on Maddie!) I think the afternoon wore them and us out which was nice.
On Sunday we had arranged to go and visit Denise, Tom & Hannah. This visit has been in the pipeline since April so it was really exciting to be seeing them again especially since we have both been on big adventures since the last time we all saw each other. We went to Antigua and they went to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore (puts our trip to shame a bit I'm afraid). Also both Hannah and Harry have really changed quite dramatically. Hannah was 2 on the 14th of July so we took her a china tea set as a present (a tea cup promptly got broken but Tom saved the day and glued it back together). It was extremely hot so we all went out in the back garden and Hannah & Harry went in the paddling pool. Bless them. Even though Hannah probably doesn't remember Harry she took to him really well. By the end of the day she would call out his name if she couldn't see him. It's lucky they like each other seeing as Denise and I have already decided they are going to get married :O)
Other than that things are progressing as normal. We are trying to get stuck into the garden when the weather isn't too hot and also trying to get the house into some kind of order. Same old same old really.
And finally Harry is 10 months old today. How time flies when you're having fun.
On Sunday we had arranged to go and visit Denise, Tom & Hannah. This visit has been in the pipeline since April so it was really exciting to be seeing them again especially since we have both been on big adventures since the last time we all saw each other. We went to Antigua and they went to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore (puts our trip to shame a bit I'm afraid). Also both Hannah and Harry have really changed quite dramatically. Hannah was 2 on the 14th of July so we took her a china tea set as a present (a tea cup promptly got broken but Tom saved the day and glued it back together). It was extremely hot so we all went out in the back garden and Hannah & Harry went in the paddling pool. Bless them. Even though Hannah probably doesn't remember Harry she took to him really well. By the end of the day she would call out his name if she couldn't see him. It's lucky they like each other seeing as Denise and I have already decided they are going to get married :O)
Other than that things are progressing as normal. We are trying to get stuck into the garden when the weather isn't too hot and also trying to get the house into some kind of order. Same old same old really.
And finally Harry is 10 months old today. How time flies when you're having fun.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Photography for Sale
As a bit of a sideline venture, I decided to sell prints of my photography online. It's a relatively new site, so there is not much to chose from at the moment, but if you've got a minute why not take a look.
Andy Clist Photography
I'll still be posting images on my Flickr site, but I'll probably leave the very best for my gallery!
Andy Clist Photography
I'll still be posting images on my Flickr site, but I'll probably leave the very best for my gallery!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Weekend Break
We're taking advantage of a rare free weekend to visit my parents in Cornwall. Getting here on Friday night proved to be a bit of a nightmare with long delays on the M5 and A30 (causing an impromtu diversion), but we're happy to be here now and it's fantastic to be writing this overlooking St. Ives.
Last weekend should've been a memorable one. It was my first Fathers Day, which although like another Birthday, was somewhat blighted by me being largely bedridden with Gastroentiritis. 'Harry' made me a fabulous collage of our first 9 months together, I just need to decide where to hang it. Thankfully, I'm feeling a whole lot better now.
Harry continues to enthrall. He's pulling himself up onto his feet with the aid of random objects. Amusingly he rarely knows what to do when he's upright and tends to spend much of the time trying to figure out how he's going to sit back down again without falling over! Another tooth has appeared from nowhere, giving him 5 and a rather lobs-sided smile. If form continues, the corresponding tooth should sprout soon enough ensuring normality returns.
Last weekend should've been a memorable one. It was my first Fathers Day, which although like another Birthday, was somewhat blighted by me being largely bedridden with Gastroentiritis. 'Harry' made me a fabulous collage of our first 9 months together, I just need to decide where to hang it. Thankfully, I'm feeling a whole lot better now.
Harry continues to enthrall. He's pulling himself up onto his feet with the aid of random objects. Amusingly he rarely knows what to do when he's upright and tends to spend much of the time trying to figure out how he's going to sit back down again without falling over! Another tooth has appeared from nowhere, giving him 5 and a rather lobs-sided smile. If form continues, the corresponding tooth should sprout soon enough ensuring normality returns.
Friday, June 16, 2006
A New Blogger
It has been just over 3 months since Andy posted anything so I have decided to invite myself into his blog...hence the new name.
I'm sure lots of things have happened since the last post, but I will only mention a few specific events.
Firstly Harry is going to be 9 months old tomorrow. I don't know how time flies so quickly but I find myself thinking that we have had him in our lives for the same amount of time that I was pregnant. Now that is scary because the pregnancy thing seemed to last for an eternity but Harry being here with us is just flying by. It's fantastic and fun and exciting. He is now crawling and trying very hard to stand (by pulling himself up on cushions) although he doesn't know how to remove his hands from said cushions or the floor. Inevitably he will then just fall back on his bottom and try again - He's a determined little boy.
We went to our first swimming lesson today. he is an official member of ducklings 1 at the local leisure centre. He loved it. There were another 5 mums and babies and they all seemed to have a really good time. Luckily he loves the water and doesn't appear to be frightened of it. He even likes being dunked! The only thing he doesn't seem to be fond of is being on his back in the water which is odd because in the bath he is fine. Oh well I will keep persevering with it. It's a shame that it is me who does this with Harry because I feel that Andy is missing out. I will have to persuade Andy to come swimming with us at the weekend so we can show him Harry's new found swimming games.
It is also the first fathers day for Andy on Sunday. This should be fun, especially when dad sees what Harry has made specially for him (with a little help from mum!)
On the holiday front, we have been camping twice and we have also been to Antigua for Jason and Marie's wedding. Apart from the first camping trip which was a bit of a disaster illness wise the second camping trip and the trip to Antigua were absolutely brilliant. Harry was a star and coped with the flights admirably. Admittedly the skycot wasn't up to his usual standard of cots but he eventually got comfortable after twisting and turning and sticking his bottom up in the air a few times. I think the heat was a shock to him and to all of us but he swam in the pool and got used to being under his umbrella as we walked him around St Johns, Nelsons Dockyard and Shirley Heights. He was admired everywhere which doesn't help his increasing vanity. Jason and Marie's wedding was beautiful and very emotional as you can see from all the photos on Flickr. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HAPPY COUPLE!!! The camping although not as luxurious was a riproaring success (the second trip that is). We went back to a tried and tested camp site in Dorset. Harry loved the outdoors and crawling out of the tent by himself to see Rachael & Paul and Jason & Marie. He has a mind of his own. We went on a steam train (his first train) and took him to Bournemouth.
He certainly is a lucky boy seeing so much in such a short life. Here's to many more trips and many more great experiences for him.
Otherwise life has been carrying on fairly normally with the usual amount of stress thrown in from work and family dramas etc.
I promise it won't be so long until Harry and I post the next installment in our fun filled lives (?)
One last thing - I am in the process of trying to start my own Payroll business (to save nursey fees etc). It is really hard and a bit scary. Anyway if anyone can help me or knows anyone who may or may not want my services let me know..... There is more information on my website. This won't be a regular plug, honest.
I'm sure lots of things have happened since the last post, but I will only mention a few specific events.
Firstly Harry is going to be 9 months old tomorrow. I don't know how time flies so quickly but I find myself thinking that we have had him in our lives for the same amount of time that I was pregnant. Now that is scary because the pregnancy thing seemed to last for an eternity but Harry being here with us is just flying by. It's fantastic and fun and exciting. He is now crawling and trying very hard to stand (by pulling himself up on cushions) although he doesn't know how to remove his hands from said cushions or the floor. Inevitably he will then just fall back on his bottom and try again - He's a determined little boy.
We went to our first swimming lesson today. he is an official member of ducklings 1 at the local leisure centre. He loved it. There were another 5 mums and babies and they all seemed to have a really good time. Luckily he loves the water and doesn't appear to be frightened of it. He even likes being dunked! The only thing he doesn't seem to be fond of is being on his back in the water which is odd because in the bath he is fine. Oh well I will keep persevering with it. It's a shame that it is me who does this with Harry because I feel that Andy is missing out. I will have to persuade Andy to come swimming with us at the weekend so we can show him Harry's new found swimming games.
It is also the first fathers day for Andy on Sunday. This should be fun, especially when dad sees what Harry has made specially for him (with a little help from mum!)
On the holiday front, we have been camping twice and we have also been to Antigua for Jason and Marie's wedding. Apart from the first camping trip which was a bit of a disaster illness wise the second camping trip and the trip to Antigua were absolutely brilliant. Harry was a star and coped with the flights admirably. Admittedly the skycot wasn't up to his usual standard of cots but he eventually got comfortable after twisting and turning and sticking his bottom up in the air a few times. I think the heat was a shock to him and to all of us but he swam in the pool and got used to being under his umbrella as we walked him around St Johns, Nelsons Dockyard and Shirley Heights. He was admired everywhere which doesn't help his increasing vanity. Jason and Marie's wedding was beautiful and very emotional as you can see from all the photos on Flickr. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HAPPY COUPLE!!! The camping although not as luxurious was a riproaring success (the second trip that is). We went back to a tried and tested camp site in Dorset. Harry loved the outdoors and crawling out of the tent by himself to see Rachael & Paul and Jason & Marie. He has a mind of his own. We went on a steam train (his first train) and took him to Bournemouth.
He certainly is a lucky boy seeing so much in such a short life. Here's to many more trips and many more great experiences for him.
Otherwise life has been carrying on fairly normally with the usual amount of stress thrown in from work and family dramas etc.
I promise it won't be so long until Harry and I post the next installment in our fun filled lives (?)
One last thing - I am in the process of trying to start my own Payroll business (to save nursey fees etc). It is really hard and a bit scary. Anyway if anyone can help me or knows anyone who may or may not want my services let me know..... There is more information on my website. This won't be a regular plug, honest.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
4 Months
Yes folks, it's four months to the day since I last posted anything..... To be honest I can't think where all the time has gone but I'm sure parenthood is to blame for the majority. Anyway, I'm still here and intend to be a little more vocal in the future.
Not a huge update here, just a little self-promtion. Nowadays I keep all my (decent) photographs on Flickr. I've added a little button on the 'links' bar on the right to instantly access my portfolio. Of course you could just follow this link here. Does the same thing, just a little less fancy
Not a huge update here, just a little self-promtion. Nowadays I keep all my (decent) photographs on Flickr. I've added a little button on the 'links' bar on the right to instantly access my portfolio. Of course you could just follow this link here. Does the same thing, just a little less fancy
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