Toby Takes Centre Stage (for once)

As you all know, poor Toby usually takes a backseat to Beth when it comes to blog entries but today is his day! This morning we went out into the Peak District for a walk and for the first time we tried him in the back carrier. He seemed a little put out at first but soon realised it meant he was as tall as daddy and he had a great view. I think he also thought it was cool that I came on an outing too - he doesn't normally see me as he's strapped on to my front. :)

We had a great walk through the heather and along the gorge. Beth did really well as there were loads of slippy rocks and tons of mud and she only fell over a few times. We did manage to fit in an ice cream even though it was not really ice cream weather.

When we got home, we sorted the highchair out so it would fit Toby. Beth has pretty much stopped using it (though I'm sure she will now suddenly decide that it's the best thing ever) and Toby loves to be included in everything so it seems a good idea to get him up at the table. Again he wasn't too sure of this new experience but soon got used to it. He's desperately trying to crawl at the moment so we'll have to get everything baby proofed as he jams anything and everything he finds straight into his mouth.

Our NI Holiday

On Monday we jumped (well, staggered since it was 6:30am) on a plane and headed over to Northern Ireland to visit family and introduce Toby. Steve didn't come with us since he had to work but grandma thankfully was on hand. We stayed at grandma and grandpa's house the night before and Beth made herself quite at home by picking and eating all the raspberries out of the garden and trying out the pump (very cool). Toby enjoyed a different view in his jumper and was very happy watching the goings on.

Both kids did great on both flights. Toby seemed very unconcerned about the whole proceedings considering it was his first flight. Beth, as an old hand, seemed to enjoy the experience and stared out of the window for a quite a while. The first afternoon we walked down to the beach and had a good scramble around. Beth made a picture with the shells and actually sat still long enough to have a photo taken with me.

We stayed with Ruth and Harry (great grandma and grandpa) and again Beth made herself quite a home and was not in the least bit shy about exploring the house and pilfering items that took her fancy. Despite my spending every summer in that house from around Beth's age until I was perhaps 20 odd, I think she now knows it better than I do!

After a little bit of confusion between 'Tom's shop' (little grocery shop down the road) and a 'toy shop' we had to make a stop at a toy shop to save total melt down. After three or four circuits around the shop and rather a lot of gentle persuasion, Beth chose a pinwheel and Toby a maraca. We then headed to the playground to burn off some energy. It was quite large and had lots to play on but Beth didn't get to explore it all as it was a little wet after the early morning rain. It shouldn't be too long before Toby will be able to join in the fun. He's getting better at sitting up and has shown signs of trying to crawl, he is just gives up a little bit too quickly - I think it's just too much bother.

The trip did seem to consist mainly of trips to the beach and thankfully the weather was fairly nice (though a little chilly). As well as making mud pies and admiring the view, we managed to introduce Toby to quite a few new faces including (great) aunt and uncle Norma and Laurence, cousin Garth and great aunt Ali and of course Ruth and Harry. It was quite an exhausting trip but good fun - I think it may be a while before we go away again as we certainly need time to recover. :)

Rufford Abbey Country Park

For a change, today we had a day out and met up with Sarah, a friend from school, and baby Abigail who is about the same age as Toby (I love this photo as they both look so shocked - Sarah took the pic and it makes me wonder what she was doing at the time to produce this reaction in both kids!). Rufford Abbey Country Park was our destination as it is about halfway between our two houses (and free :)). We began with a walk around the grounds and by the lake, heading towards the tea room for a quite relaxing cuppa and slice of cake. Unfortunately we forgot to bring bread to feed the ducks/geese/swans but I'm sure they won't go hungry since it seemed to be a toddler hang out!

Before lunch we stopped off at the playground for a stomp. There were two play areas, both pretty good. They were both made of wood, the first had a slide and lots to balance and swing on. The second was pretty cool. It had a tree house kind of set up in one area then there was a climbing frame with ladders up each side. It was in a sand box and there were pulley's and shovels so you could get sand up to the top level, and then shoots, slides and wheels to get it back down. I think Beth would happily have stayed there all day.

Some of the grounds were quite formal and quite manicured and then there were also little mazes and areas to explore that we didn't find until we were leaving so I think we'll have to go back and explore again. It certainly was a good place to play hide and seek and as long as the weather is good, it'll be a great place to go for a picnic.

What A Weekend!

What a weekend! Thursday night Beth didn't sleep well and wasn't feeling great when she got up on Friday. I thought it might cheer her up to see grandma and grandpa (and of course it would be nice to have extra hands helping out!) so we drove down for a visit leaving dad on his own for the evening/night. Unfortunately dad didn't even get the chance to experience a relaxing meal alone . . .

As the afternoon went on, Beth seemed to get worse - she couldn't keep any food down and was clingy and tired. We headed down to the doctors to have her checked out and by the time she was seen, she was resembling Molly (and not in a nice, hair tied back looking nice and neat kinda way). She was white, floppy and rather uncommunicative. Within a few minutes, Beth and I were taking a rather fast, sirens on, lights flashing ride to the emergency room.

Anyway, after numerous doctors, nurses, paramedics, etc. she's much better and was allowed home Sunday lunchtime. We're still not entirely sure what was wrong - pneumonia/a virus/an infection/something else . . . were all suggested but no one seemed positive as to exactly what happened. I don't suppose it matters much now, she's back to her old self (just a bit more tired) and back doing her job of pushing all the limits. :) Here's a piccy to prove she's okay!

I think she probably quite enjoyed the attention of it all. She actually asked to see the doctor after leaving the hospital and got most annoyed when we said no, that she couldn't go back right now! I suspect it was the playroom that lured her in - she loved the kitchen and the craft table. Have to say that I rather liked the fact that they had two dedicated "play specialists" working during the day who were happy to entertain and play and even took Toby for 45 minutes to play!

Oh, just a final bit, Toby was of course around for all of this - poor thing, he just get's hauled around with whatever we're doing (as you can see he looks a little on the tired side). He also has a cough and cold, needless to say we're keeping a rather close eye on him.

Yeah!!! A Tooth Appears :)

After three months of trying, today Toby managed to produce his first tooth - the middle, bottom left one. He must have felt better for it having come through as he was in a great mood this afternoon and went to bed without any fuss. With the good moods, we decided to go for an impromptu picnic down by the canal and then had a very relaxing pint in the beer garden of the local pub . . . we could get use to this!

Beth started playgroup today. We've decided not to send her to nursery for the moment as she wasn't a big fan, she didn't mind it too much once she was there but certainly didn't like the idea of it and was always really tired by the end of the day. The playgroup is only two mornings a week and only 2 1/2 hours. I planned on staying for the session today to get her use to the surroundings, etc. but she jumped straight in and wasn't fussed if I was there or not so Toby and I headed home. It was rather nice as it's only a ten minute walk through the village and I just had enough time to feed Toby, make him some food and read the paper during his nap time then get back in time to pick Beth up. Very civilised! It would be nice if it was slightly longer but at least Beth was in a good mood after and we had a good afternoon exploring the local library (quite enjoyable as she's past the 'pull everything off the shelves' stage).

Absolutely no relevance to the post but here is a pic of Beth feeding the ducks.

Cusworth Hall

With nothing much to do this morning I decided we should check out Cusworth Hall. This is a Georgian house and parklands in the next village to us. It's actually in walking distance but I thought it might rain so we drove (also I know it's through fields if you walk and I didn't want to get stuck if the pushchair wouldn't fit!).

It was great, like finding a gold mine next door, as it has everything you could want when trying to wear out two children. By the car park there is a play area. I think it's meant for slightly older children but that didn't stop Beth jumping straight in. The house is at the top of a hill and has steps to run up and down and also a tea room (nice thought but we didn't quite make it in there).

The duck pond/stream is at the bottom of the hill and also has a couple of great conker trees around. We were actually far more restrained than other visitors when getting to the bottom. We walked/ran rather slowly down the path but we did see quite a few children rolling down. I would imagine on our next visit Beth may attempt this descent. Part way down we stopped for a snack, Toby nearly retched when he tried the one-pot chicken I had spent so long preparing but gobbled down the applesauce.

After feeding the ducks we wandered along the pond and saw some fish. Unfortunately they had to go hungry as Beth had eaten the rest of the bread. Before heading back up the hill we found a fallen tree to play on and leap off. I think we'll be back to visit again soon as it was a great morning out.

Moving and the Dambuster Reservoir

It was a close thing but no, we didn’t have to pitch our tent on Tuesday night – we signed the papers and picked the keys up as the moving truck sat outside the house. Everything went pretty well but we weren’t that impressed with the firm that moved us as there were more bits damaged during this move (a total of 31 hours) than during the move from CA (a total of 840 hours). Anyway, things are in and we’re gradually unpacking. Beth seems to like the new house - she is free to roam wherever she chooses (no gates up though we’ll have to reinstall them once Toby is on the move), and she has toys and books in her room rather than just her bed and dresser.

I’m not sure why but already this house seems more homely than the last one. This evening we ate dinner in the garden, something we never did in the seven months at the other place. It might be because we knew that we weren’t going to be at the other one for long so never made much of an effort to make it feel like ours.

After all the rushing about during the week, we decided to go for a walk in the Peak District this morning – our old stomping ground. We went to Derwent Reservoir (where the Dambusters use to practice during the Second World War) and had a good mooch around. Beth thought the dam was a castle and was sure that we would find a princess at the top. Unfortunately we didn’t but instead we found a tiny frog and also saw lots of other wildlife including a squirrel eating blackberries, a robin and plenty of sheep.