Catch Up

Has it really been a month since I last posted? I'm sure there have been occasions when I've had something to say, I just haven't seemed to find the time to say it.

For instance, I've started doing a family learning course at Jacob's school - Making Number Games for Children - which is free and comes with a free creche place for Sam. These courses are fantastic, not so much the content (but its v good), but just the fact that you can have a couple of hours time to yourself with other mums and chat and drink coffee and sit and make brightly coloured number games for your kids! They'll be running others in September term so I'm going to sign up for one or two, just as soon as I know what playgroup sessions Sam will be attending.

In other news, Sam has now got both his hearing test appointment and his Speech Therapy appointment; he's actually babbling quite a bit more recently, but not forming words, and stubbornly refusing to make any attempt if you try and encourage him. I took Jacob to see Lazytown Live last week, which he loved; it was miles better than I expected, and it was an absolute delight to watch his face as some of his favourite TV characters sung and dance on screen. Chelsea have finally made it past Liverpool in a Champions League Semi Final and although I fully expect them to lose against Man U in the final, its a great thing to be in the final. I made it up to the level cap in LOTRO, and despite thinking I'd immediately lose interest, I'm now working my way through the deeds like a trojan - good to watch my morale/power increase with every little thing I do in the Shire.

And we've finally arranged all the little components of our annual holiday. Two days in Brighton, mostly to attend Julian's twins' christening, then down the coast to Pagham and the Haven Holiday Camp there - we're staying in one of their top of the range static caravans, although I'm a bit apprehensive about this because since booking it, I've heard a few bad things about them. We'll be there for a week and then head up to Reading to deposit the kids with the in-laws and the day after will be heading for London for three days of wining and dining. When we first planned this, we thought of doing Paris, but I decided I'd rather be less than an hour away from my kids, just in case of emergencies!

We haven't planned much for London (I'm going to have a look at what exhibitions etc) are on, but we have booked afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason (the Ritz books up about six months in advance, it would seem) and a trip to see Spamalot at the theatre. We are hoping to go to J Sheekey for dinner on the night of my birthday, but you can only book a month in advance, so at the moment we don't know if we'll only be able to go as a couple or whether there'll be bigger tables available so we can extend the invitation to our friends. I have had some memorable evenings there (wedding "breakfast", wedding anniversaries, past birthdays etc), so its a nice thought that we might be there on my 40th too.

I have also been busy reading my friends' baby blogs; it takes me back a couple of years! But although babies are lovely and I do feel occasionally broody, I'm glad I've got older kids; mine are incredibly demanding, but so very rewarding. They're still very dependent on you for everything, but in different ways and you get so much back from them (even from one that can only grunt!). I'm finding it hard to believe that Jacob will be starting school within 7 months and that from September, Sam will be old enough to attend playgroup without me! How time flies.....