Life Update

It's been exactly a month since the last post - this wasn't done deliberately, I just have the time and something to write.

Again Harrison is asleep. I use the couple of hours that he sleeps in the afternoon to do everything I want to do without him getting in the way - hence the blog. Annoyingly he fell asleep in the car on the way home from swimming which always throws his nap time out completely. I can't hear him anymore though which must be a good sign. The swimming is brilliant now we have moved up into Ducklings 2. It is more grown up - some of which scares him a bit, like standing on the side of the pool and jumping in while I catch him, and lying on his back which he hates. Oh well practice makes perfect as they say.

No grandparents yet though. Hopefully, maybe, maybe not next week - if all the extremely well paid and extremely crap professional people who deal with house sales get their arses into gear and actually do something....Solicitors and estate agents make me so mad. I could do their job better than them standing on my head with my eyes shut :O) I'm not actually sure I can stand on my head but I'll give it a go!

Andy decided to join 'Love Film' on a months free trial so we can see how it works. I have to say it works brilliantly, once you set it all up. It has revolutionised our evenings (seeing as we can't leave the house to go to the cinema and our DVD collection is so uninspiring). We have seen 2 films in the last 10 days that we may not have paid to go to the cinema to see or bought them on DVD but I am really glad we put them on our list to rent. Firstly we saw 'The Black Dahlia' which I had wanted to see ever since it first came out. So it arrived in the post and we actually sat down and watched it rather than playing on the Xbox or surfing the net. I'm glad I've seen it because now I know I don't want to see it again - much too confusing, but didn't interest me enough to try and watch it again to work out what the hell is going on. So we posted it back and within 3 days we had our next film. Now this was definitely a film I wouldn't have gone to the cinema to see but I have seen a lot about it on the internet. 'Volver' was excellent and I think it is now one of my top films. I absolutely loved it. I'm not a big fan of subtitled foreign films but I was so engrossed in this one. I am a changed person. So yes 'Love Film' is a brilliant way of seeing all the films you've missed at the cinema or read about and didn't want to waste the money. For £10.00 a month normally we could potentially watch 4 or 5 movies, so I think we will be continuing after the free trial ends.

Now I've been a bit 'Alec Baldwin' about the whole 'Love Film' thing, I'd better get back to doing something much more useful like putting some undercoat on the skirting board in our bedroom. We are almost finished with the painting, the bed is up, the carpet is in, all we need to do is put the new curtains up and go to Ikea to get the rest of the furniture. It looks fab, so I'd better continue with the decorating.

Back in the swing of things

Harrison's having a nap which gives me some precious time to actually sit down and write a post. We have been back from our holiday for 2 and a bit weeks now but already it seems like a lifetime ago. It seems to have taken ages to get over the jet lag and the horrible cold that followed me home (which I then gave to Harrison). Finally though I feel like I can deal with everything that life throws at me, although things have been surprisingly quiet - compared to the stresses that we had to deal with in the previous 12 months. I have made a conscious effort since we have been back to focus more on my immediate family (Andy & Harrison) and to try not to worry about what other people do or think. This is very hard for me as I'm sure Andy will testify, but I am trying and I think family life is better for it.

As for Harrison, he is into absolutely everything, and I mean everything. I think Tumbletots is partly to blame because they encourage him to climb and so he carries on when he gets home. And Harrison being Harrison the word 'NO' does not register with him. Instead you have to forcibly move him from the forbidden object and then he has a tantrum which usually involves him kneeling on the floor with his face in the carpet (he looks like he is praying) crying. People say these things happen but it is not until it starts happening with your child that you realise just how annoying, yet ridiculously funny at the same time, it is. I must remember never to let him see me laughing at him whilst I am trying to tell him off :O) We still go swimming and are just about to move up to Ducklings 2 after the half term break. This involves, from what I've seen, the wearing of armbands and lots of jumping off the side into the pool. I'm slightly worried about that but I'm sure Harrison will love it. Whenever I go now I have to make sure he doesn't try to get in the pool by himself - he's really impatient! I have also started to let him eat his own yoghurt. It is incredibly messy and he always uses the spoon the wrong way up but he needs to learn otherwise I will be feeding him until he goes to University. He does grin while he does it because I think he realises he is doing something that I am proud of rather than being told off. I haven't quite resorted to letting him hold the yoghurt pot by himself yet though - that will come later.

Things to look forward to - just more of the same really. We have a very quiet life and I'm afraid that there is lots more quiet to come, until Granny and Grandpa make their big move back to Bath. Then hopefully we'll be able to make use of our Christmas present (a night out on our own just the 2 of us). This never happens so hurry up Granny and grandpa :O)

One week down

We head into the second week 0f our hols with great times behind us. The skiing/boarding at Copper is magnificent and we've all made decent progress with our respective abilities.


Having a couple of rest days over the weekend has enabled us to enjoy a couple of other activities most notably dog mushing in Leadville yesterday.


None of us had done anything like this before and the apprehension was tangible as we waited for our guide to lead us out to the dogs and sled. Kirby was a lovely chap and did his best to ease us into the techniques and skills required to take full control of the sled. To be honest, we were really just holding on but the lack of any 'skilled' person on the sled alongside the driver was quite unnerving.



We all took it in turns to 'mush', lay in the sled and ride on the trailer on the back of the skidoo, from where all the pics could be taken. There were a couple of hairy moments but we all came back safe and sound. An amazing experience.

Copper

Hey folks. After a long old trip we got here safely around 24 hours ago. Although it's been our first full day we've not hit the slopes yet - food shopping and jet lag put paid to that. Tomorrow the fun starts.

Here's a crappy pic from our balcony (which I can't imagine we'll ever use)...



More as the week moves on.

Bring on the snow.

As earlier advertised, Fi, Rach, Paul and I are off to Copper Mountain CO for a couple of weeks of skiing/boarding. Packing is almost done, which is a relief given the time of our flight tomorrow morning.

I'm hoping to be able to post here, and to my Flickr pages whilst in the US so hopefully more soon.