Trekking with tigers

Willy turns 3

2012-01-30T22:48:00.000Z

Ah...I'll just wait for the next one, thanks!

2011-12-20T18:11:00.001Z

Willy the bus driver, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Fun day out in London today - London Transport Museum in the morning, and then across to the Christmas market on the south bank after lunch. Best part of the day: the fake horse poo under the early London omnibuses (according to Sofia).

Willy's first photo portrait

2011-12-09T23:07:00.001Z

Willy's first photo portrait, originally uploaded by Racmol.

After many failed attempts, this is Willy's first successful photo. Only a little bit of thumb in the top left - a vast improvement on earlier efforts.

And perfectly focused to show off my 'putting flat on market' coldsores. These seem to be a variation of the holiday coldsore, and no less virulent.

Christmas lights

2011-12-09T22:59:00.001Z

Christmas lights, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We rode the 98 bus into town on Sunday afternoon, so we could sit upstairs and look at the Christmas lights as we came along Oxford St.

Willy and Fia were less than keen. They really just wanted to stay at home and watch a movie, so the whole getting ready to go out process was long and drawn out and ended up with me bellowing: 'Look, it's going to be the most magical experience - GET YOUR COAT ON NOW!'

The bus took ages to get down Kilburn High Rd, but eventually, as we turned the corner onto Oxford St, it was very pretty - until one block later all the buses were diverted up the back streets and Sofia started saying 'We've been on this bus a very long time - when are we getting off?'

This photo is of Neal St, Covent Garden - the lights weren't all that spectacular but at least there were no cars and plenty of puddles for jumping in!

Social animals

2011-10-29T22:00:00.001+01:00

Four in the bed, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This may be why Willy sneaks in with us while we're asleep.

It seems nobody in our house likes to sleep alone - although Fia asked to get back in her own bed last night as Willy's bed was too lumpy. Later, when he had a coughing fit and I went and sat with him, I had to concede she had a point - the best part of a tub of 48 small spiky dinosaurs were in there with him!

We survived half-term (a week of school holidays). Jules and I took one day off work each and then Maria came on Friday. I sent Willy to Hopscotch on my day off (I know, very mean and boy was he suspicious: 'What you and Fia doing, Mummy?') Then Fia and I took the train into town and went to the National Gallery to see the sunflowers from 'Camille and the Sunflowers' (picture book about Van Gogh). She quite liked it (mainly the gift shop though, where we bought some Christmas decorations) but I don't think Willy would have got much out of it. And then, to add insult to injury, we met Jules for lunch and Sofia had a haircut.

Jules took both kids to the Natural History Museum on Wednesday but they ended up seeing the insects rather than the dinosaurs due to the size of the queue for the dinoasaurs.

FInally we have worked out why Willy has been saying (for about 3 months) 'There are dinosaurs in New Zealand' and 'Maria took me to New Zealand - on the train'.Just a mispronunciation of museum!

The pink cast...as promised

2011-10-29T21:38:00.001+01:00

Fia in pink, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Photos are up!

2011-10-11T09:35:00.000+01:00

Photos from the half marathon can be found on www.marathon-photos.com, under Royal Parks Half Marathon. You can search by surname to find us. Not sure who looks worse, but there are definitely some shockers in there!

The rundown of the run

2011-10-10T22:42:00.001+01:00

J pre race, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, we survived the Royal Parks Half Marathon, although we are still hobbling about and going down the stairs sideways.

Tomorrow hopefully the offiicial race day photos will appear on marathonphotos.com, but for today all we have is the few we took before the race.

Anyway I did it in 2.18.41 which I was pleased about as it was 4 minutes faster than Windsor last year and Jules did it in 2.07.34 and was devastated not to be under 2 hours. There were pacesetters running with big flags attached to them for 2.00 or 2.10 - I managed to keep my 2.10 guy in sight until 5 miles and then I never saw him again and Jules had a similar experience with his 2.00 guy.

Jules's friend from work Glenn finished in 1.47 but has no memory of crossing the finish line and woke up covered in ice in a St John's ambulance! Five hours later he was allowed to go home from hospital, where he had his celebratory half-marathon feast (chicken broth).

Later that afternoon while we watched the rugby that we'd missed in the morning, Fia and Willy ran laps of the living room and held medal ceremonies with our medals. Which was quite cute.

I did take some pictures of Fia's cast early yesterday morning before we left from the race, but she has this ominous scowl and with the energy saver lightbulb in the living room, Jules said the photos were too freaky to share. So we will try again in daylight.

Jules runs the Royal Parks

2011-09-27T21:29:00.000+01:00

Jules is running the Royal Parks Half Marathon on 9 October in aid of Mind, the UK's leading mental health charity. Impressively, he has been leaping out of bed around the time that Willy makes his fifth and final attempt to get in (i.e. far too early) and running in to work along the canal which is about 10km.

You can find his fundraising page and sponsor him online at www.virginmoneygiving.com/runjules.

Unfortunately there was some confusion over sizings, and Mind has helpfully sent him a medium Mind running vest which is woefully inadequate if not downright indecent! Hopefully this can be rectified before the big day...

In other news, Sofia now has a hot pink cast on her arm in place of the temporary one and is enjoying celebrity status at school because of it. Luckily Willy was at nursery that morning, as we spent nearly 3 hours at the fracture clinic.

And I did succeed in growing a (singular) pumpkin or squash of some kind this year but its stalk snapped today so it's now reclining in the fruit bowl looking very green and about the size of a rock melon. Jules saw it and said: 'Face it Rac, we're just not gardeners.'

Sofia's cast

2011-09-19T23:18:00.001+01:00

Sofia's Cast, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...and this is the 'after' shot. Soft play rooms are dangerous places, apparently.

The x-ray and the swelling suggest a fractured elbow. She got a temporary cast put on and we have an appointment at the fracture clinic for Thursday to get it reassessed and the long-term cast put on if necessary.

So at least there was something for show and tell on Monday! She has been revelling in all the attention from teachers, parents and classmates alike - but is outraged that one of the teachers prevented her from climbing up some playground equipment.

Ready for the fancy dress party

2011-09-19T23:08:00.001+01:00

Ready for the fancy dress party, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So, anyway, at the weekend there was a fancy dress birthday party at Hopscotch. This is the 'before' shot...

What Willy does when Fia's at school

2011-09-19T23:06:00.001+01:00

What Willy does when Fia's at school, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Jules pointed out at the weekend that the blog was getting a bit Sofia-centric, so I thought I'd include a shot of Willy recovering from the weekend before I tell you about the weekend itself (which will be mainly about Sofia for reasons that will become obvious).

Willy has swimming at 1pm on Monday so at 12.20 I went downstairs to search for togs and towels. Five minutes later, this was the scene in the living room. We didn't make it to swimming and he slept for two hours.

Officially a school girl

2011-09-08T21:58:00.001+01:00

First day of school 2, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So the first day of school finally dawned today, after weeks of anticipation.

So far, so good. We weren't late. We didn't forget to take the lunchbox out of the fridge. Some kind person had put a princess sticker next to Sofia's name on her coat peg. There was a whole army of dinosaurs for Willy to play with while we got all the bits and pieces organised in the various bins and trays. And she was not a bit concerned when we left, being half way through a puzzle by then.

We had had some discussions over the past couple of days about how you sometimes meet people who say mean things and how you don't have to listen, you can just brush it off. (Particularly after on Tuesday we were at Rascals and some bigger boys apparently said mean things and she dissolved into a flood of tears.)

So it was pleasing that at the end of the day as we were on our way out of the gates, Sofia said casually 'There was one child who was bad, and he hit me and I just went like this' and she did this elaborate sweep with one hand from the shoulder to the wrist of the other arm, and then repeated it on the other side!

I think I'll go to bed now. The stress of the school run plus the late night packed lunch preparation is taking its toll.

Graduation Day

2011-08-22T22:09:00.001+01:00

Graduation portrait, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This Saturday marked Sofia's graduation from nursery. As you can see, it is a solemn occasion - not that that stopped her colouring in her certificate when she got home, though...

Getting ready for school...

2011-07-27T11:56:00.001+01:00

Trying out the school uniform (winter version), originally uploaded by Racmol.

Hi - after a long silence, we are back in business blog-wise.

Major events in our house - some amateur hairdressing (Sofia, on Maria's watch). William has a couple of chunks missing at the back and a very jagged fringe. No way of fixing that without cutting it ridiculously short. Sofia has some shorter bits at the back which aren't too bad and then a quite short chunk out just behind her fringe which will take at least a year to grow out I imagine. Not the best look for starting school.

We're off to Germany for a few days next week to see Geoff and Heike while they're there. Early plane - Sofia very excited about getting up in the night!

Otherwise not much happening - Jules and I are permanently tired and grumpy as Willy is a ratbag at night. 'I don't like my own bed - it's too little!' and so on. Wearing.

Guernsey in photos

2011-05-10T16:24:00.001+01:00

Sofia on the sand, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Great weekend in Guernsey - see flickr for more photos.

Mathesons, my bag is packed and my family have been fondly farewelled. Some of them were a bit too specific about what they want as a present - I hope you can buy tiaras in Dunedin! Looking forward to seeing you all Thursday.

An early morning visitor

2011-05-06T08:38:00.001+01:00

An early morning visitor, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had an early breakfast today because we're flying to Guernsey soon to spend a long weekend with Pip and Damien.

This guy wasn't a bit bothered to see us all in the kitchen and hung around for a good five minutes watching us. I took this photo through the glass of the french doors which is why it isn't sharper.

Conversations with my children

2011-04-22T23:05:00.000+01:00

Scene: the bath tub

Sofia: (whiny) But I want another baby!

Me: Another brother?

Sofia: Ye-es.

Me: Well, I don't think we're going to have another baby.

Sofia: Or a sister.

(Pause.)

Sofia: Did Uncle Je...did Uncle Je...did Uncle Je...

Me: Uncle Jeremy.

Sofia: Did Uncle Jeremy have Caoimhe first?

Me: No, they had Timo and then Caoimhe and then Lennox.

Sofia: Oh.

Me: But some people decide that they will only have two children. Like Aunty Sara and Uncle Luke, they just have Mia and Isla.

Willy: Isla! I like Isla!

Gainfully employed as social media whizz kid

2011-04-16T10:08:00.000+01:00

Work situation finally resolved as of yesterday. I am staying in online comms and will be working three days a week from May. I'm taking on responsibility for social media on my third day and I have the flexibility to work one of my days from home so should still be able to pick up Sofia from school three days a week.

All in all, a good result and it's nice to have something new to focus on at work. Now I can legitimately be on facebook or blogging from my desk!

Learning to skip

2011-04-03T21:56:00.001+01:00

Learning to skip, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's moment of glory at Saturday's ballet show for parents.

Sprained ankle Day 3

2011-03-31T20:57:00.001+01:00

Sprained ankle Day 3, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I managed to injure myself on my first lunchtime run of the year, tripping over some uneven paving on the Embankment. Real dignity stripper - flat on face and feet all twisted up.

GP says it's just a sprain, because you can see where the blood is pooling under the skin along the lateral ligament. And it does feel a lot better already.

The main thing I've learnt from this experience is that my children are ten times more annoying when their destructive/creative impulses are confined to the flat! And, as I should know by now, baking with two helpers just turns me into a dragon...

Need a better plan for tomorrow. Roll on the weekend I say.

First picnic in the park of 2011

2011-03-25T21:38:00.002Z

Grey heron in Regent's Park, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I picnicked in Regent's Park today with my friend Sineva - a fabulous warm day as you can see. Didn't take any form of jacket and wore sandals and 3/4 jeans. Spring has sprung! Of course, this doesn't mean that we won't get snow at Easter like in 2008, but it certainly felt hopeful today.

In other news, I have to have two separate job interviews for the two jobs I'm going for in the new structure at work. That's on top of the 3-hour assessment centre I went to earlier this month. The first of these interviews, helpfully titled L2006 in the meeting request so I had no idea which job it was for(!), is on 5 April. It's in external comms and one of the skills you need to demonstrate is blogging. So I just might be able to do that!

Bunk report - morning after the night before

2011-03-20T10:40:00.002Z

Bunks , originally uploaded by Racmol.

Actually they were pretty good. Willy was so shattered after his day out in the park and not being able to have a nap due to his bed being in pieces that he rolled over and went straight to sleep. Fia took a little longer, but not too bad.

Willy started patting my face at 5.45am, but then he got in with us and went back to sleep for another hour or so before Fia arrived, so that wasn't too bad either.

It could be remarkably easy to get up to go running at 6am this year...

The man in the (super) moon

2011-03-19T20:41:00.003Z

Super moon over Winchester Avenue, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, apparently tonight the moon is the closest it's been to earth in nearly two decades, so we went out the front door to have a look at it. I took this rather atmospheric shot - can you see the face immediately to the left of the moon?

In other news, at our house it's goodbye to the cot and the toddler bed and hello bunks. Jules has been a trooper throughout the whole transition - working from home to receive the delivery on Tuesday and then disassembling the cot and toddler bed and assembling the bunks today - on probably the sunniest, warmest Spring day we've had so far.

Fia and Willy's room looks much better with bunks - it's never going to be palatial but there's a good square of floor to play on now and because the bottom bunk has good clearance, we should be able to store all the train track and blocks etc down there and get them out of the living room. Plus they are just so excited about the bunks!

Fia and I took Willy to ballet this morning so Jules could have some time alone with his screwdrivers. He (Willy, not Jules) definitely has ballet envy. The teachers had covered the window in the door with paper, which he ripped off so he could watch the class, and then he said 'I wanna do ballet'. Which was pretty clear, I thought. Maybe next year, although he shows a lot more aptitude for anything involving a bat and a ball. His carer at nursery, Vanessa, was telling me just the other day that she gave him a recorder to play, and he blew through it for 2 seconds and then ran across the room to whack a ball with it!

After ballet we went to the park. Going to the park with Willy is a bit like walking an over-enthusiastic dog. 'That stick is too big!' you find yourself shouting as he drags half a tree across the grass. 'Yes, I can see you're wet - well, if you will roll in the grass...'

And finally, around 4pm, the bunks were erected without injury to either parent - although there were a few near misses. Damned tricky getting the top bunk onto the pegs in a confined space.

Oh, and in case I haven't already told everyone, I miraculously got a public place in the Royal Parks Half Marathon second chance ballot, so I will be busy doing that on 9 October. Jules is doing the Windsor on 25 September and it would be good if everyone could remind him to actually register and pay his race fee before it fills up. Lean Heath Christmas in south east Asia, anyone?

Fairytale happy family at the combined party

2011-03-06T20:42:00.001Z

Fairytale happy family, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Mission accomplished

2011-02-27T22:02:00.002Z

Pinata action shot, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, we survived birthday season, although some might argue only just!

It would have helped if the oven hadn't died on Friday. And if Jules hadn't had the flu this weekend. And if this morning's sun hadn't been replaced with pouring rain by 2pm.

Special thanks to:

Antonio and Angharad (downstairs neighbours) for the use of their oven to bake the dinosaur cake. They even left out nibbles and a glass of wine for me!

Auntie Chrissie for conceptual and design work on the castle cake.

Sainsbury's for the slabs of angel cake that got stuck together to make the princess castle.

Alison for icing and decorating the damn thing, at the venue, at the last minute.

Sarah for general cheerful kitchen help, laying out trays of food, pouring drinks, chopping vegetables and even finding time to joke about whether we wanted them as batons and julienned!

Jules for wrapping half the party favour books and standing in one spot holding the pinata for ages and ages, despite having the flu. Also general childminding and finding suitable outlets for Willy's urge to bash.

(A side point - say what you will about Party Pieces, the internet business owned by Kate Middleton's parents, but they do make a nigh-on indestructible pinata for £12, which provided a good half hour of entertainment. In the end I gather it was wrestled to the floor and disembowelled to release the chocolate coins.

Photos are all up on flickr. I would say I was very proud of the castle cake but in the end my involvement was minimal. I iced and decorated the turrets and Alison did everything else.

Thank God for good friends! On that note, I'll go to bed.

On the eve of my daughter's fourth birthday

2011-02-25T20:54:00.003Z

Sofia's pre-birthday birthday cake, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Dear Sofia,

You are everything I ever wanted in a daughter and more besides. Your beauty and your imagination astound me every day and I feel very fortunate to have you in my life.

I also often feel at a loss as to how to deal with the latest performance over the unavailability of the pink baking skirt, and the refusal to wear anything else.

I have to say, I didn't expect quite such a PINK daughter. I remember shopping for baby clothes with your Auntie Sara. I chose a very cute stripey brown and orange velour suit with a giraffe on the front and Auntie Sara had her doubts as to whether that would really be suitable if you turned out to be a girl.

And then when you were a baby, I discovered Polarn o Pyret, and you spent your babyhood dressed in red and purple with denim dungarees.

Now you're turning four and everything must be pink. I am constructing a pink princess castle cake for the party and I have finally, after weeks of whining about cold legs on the way to nursery, persuaded you into some pink jeans. (They are size 5 slimfit and the legs are not too long - where did that come from?)

People often comment that you are a happy child and I have to agree - you generally have a very sunny outlook on life, which brightens my day every day.

On that topic, not every day has been bright over the last four years. I have suffered postnatal depression twice (once after each child, the second time much worse than the first) and relied heavily on support from family and friends. And even when I was almost completely silent, you still appreciated me jamming blocks together for you wordlessly and heavily editing your bedtime stories.

You won't eat scrambled eggs or baked beans, though, which may well be a consequence of all those days I couldn't summon the energy to cook anything or find the concentration to decide what we needed and shop for it.

You went through a worrying phase of sitting on or biting your little brother, but now you actively look after him and come to his aid if it looks like anyone is being mean to him at nursery.

Every night, Willy says 'I want Fia's bed' and gets in with you. There isn't really room for two toddlers in a toddler bed, so I have to transfer him into his own bed to howls of protest. It's nice that you have that bond, I think.

Tomorrow is your actual birthday, and we hope it is everything you're wishing for. We will take you to see your second actual castle (Windsor) and your Dad, by the sound of his recent phonecall on his way home from work, has over-ordered hugely on breakfast patisseries and other tasty morsels.

Happy birthday sweet pea. Have a lovely sleep.
Love, Mum.

PS The idea for this post comes from dooce.com, who blogged a letter to her daughter every month for the first few years of her life. And the picture opposite is the obligatory pre-birthday birthday cake at nursery this afternoon.

Hope springs eternal

2011-02-14T12:34:00.004Z

Hope springs eternal, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I rather like the light in this photo, taken one sunny day last week. It looks like we're going to have a good showing of bulbs this year.

Jules is a bit gutted as he took Sofia out in the garden a while back and they each planted a tub of bulbs. He planted his carefully at the right depth and discarded any showing signs of mould.

Sofia went to town with her tub, stuffing in every bulb she could find randomly, including rotten ones, and scarcely covering them at all. A few weeks later, her tub is showing about 5 green shoots and there is zero growth in Jules's tub. Maybe when you're planting as late as the end of January, you should disregard the instructions and plant very shallowly.

Yesterday we went for our first explore of a London suburb we don't know. You'll be hearing a lot more on this subject as we try to find a house we like in an area we like, at a price we can afford.

My money is on Surrey, which looks (at least on the internet) lovely, but Jules fancies a move north, so we thought we'd take the train from Queen's Park to Watford Junction. Willy likes trains, so at least the day wouldn't be totally wasted, was our thinking.

Unfortunately, there was a problem with the train so we had to get out at Harrow and Wealdstone, and then service was suspended north of that point.

It started to rain. Jules's phone had no coverage and couldn't produce a map for us. We walked up the high street on the Wealdstone side of the station (chicken n chips, kebab shops, Iceland) and when we got to the top Jules said 'In a word, no'.

Next week we'll go by car. The problem with taking the train is that, for example, you know there's supposed to be a nice bit of Harrow but it's not so easy to find on foot. Also the troops get rebellious after a bit.

Next week we'll go south west. I like the look of Sutton, Cheam and Surbiton. I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for the fact that any house we find in Surbiton will not be like Tom and Barbara's from The Good LIfe - but even so, it still looks nice.

What happened to the idea of moving back to Wellington or Auckland? In a word, money. While it would be lovely to see more of our families, we're not sure how much more we would actually see them and we ARE sure that these are very expensive cities where we wouldn't have a lot of disposable income.

Still very keen to mind Sara and Luke's farm for them for a few months/a year if they want to go away again though :) New Zealand is beautiful if you take the property ownership side out of the equation.

Heath family recipe attempt no. 1 - Nanny's sponge

2011-02-05T21:25:00.010Z

Well, it's Saturday and we found a very old can of pitted black cherries in the back of one of our kitchen cupboards, so it seemed like a good excuse to make a cake.

The Heath Dyers of Hawea Flat kindly made Jules a Heath family recipe book for his birthday so he thought he'd try his mum's sponge cake.

Actually, now that I think about it, I can't remember Jules ever making a cake before - at least not since the days of the coconut and chocolate microwave cake he used to make when we were going out. (Pause for nostalgic moment.)

I have to say, it was particularly de-lish. A little on the crunchy side texture-wise perhaps, probably because he rashly substituted Green & Black's hot chocolate granules for the custard powder. NB: They do NOT dissolve in the oven.

Here's a close up of the cake, filled with blackberry jam, whipped cream flavoured with chocolate milk and the aforementioned cherries.

Intrepid cyclist on the Central Otago Rail Trail

2011-02-02T21:22:00.001Z

Intrepid cyclist, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I was a bit scared of the Central Otago Rail Trail, to be honest. I'm the sort of cyclist who has been known to fall off her bike on a completely flat stretch of road, or even getting out of the driveway at home.

My main worry was that I would brake the wrong way, skid and end up in a pile of gravel with scraped knees and elbows. But it was actually fine - a gentle gradient all the way, as you would expect given that it was once a train line.

Having said that, biking across the viaducts with the wind buffeting you was a bit freaky. And the pitch black inside the tunnels also. But having had a taste, I'm definitely keen to do the whole thing.

A selection of photos from our NZ holiday is now up on flickr. Just click on the lovely image of me in neon (above) to get through to all our photos.

Happy birthday Willy!

2011-01-30T20:11:00.005Z

Triceratops on the move, originally uploaded by Racmol.

There wasn't much fanfare to Willy's 2nd birthday really, due to jetlag and general exhaustion (Sofia, Willy and I arrived back from New Zealand the day before).

We had presents in the late morning and funnily enough, the biggest hit was the two little dinosaurs Sofia bought him in the Otago Museum shop while we were in Dunedin. And I do mean that she bought them - I was busy preventing Willy from flinging a space hopper across the shop at the time, so I sent her up to the counter with the money and she came back with all the right change and the dinosaurs in a bag.

Willy calls his new friends 'Tops' and 'Saurus' - short for Triceratops and Stegosaurus.

About 6 o'clock I made a big chocolate traybake cake. Sofia and Willy hadn't woken up from their afternoon nap yet, and even after I'd cut up the cake into the shape of a T. Rex (roughly speaking) and iced it they couldn't be roused. I did stand over their beds and talk loudly about it, and lifted Willy's arm and let it flop back down again, tried a spot of tickling - but no luck.

So in the end we had the cake this morning. And very delish it was too, if I do say so myself.

I got about 6 hours sleep last night, which was more than Jules got as he was apparently up making pasta for the kids at 11.30pm and then again at 4am. And tonight they were both asleep between 6 and 7pm which is pretty close to normal, so we'll see how we go.

Trying out the new wheels

2010-12-05T22:44:00.001Z

GO!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A fabulous morning in Queen's Park today - positively tropical at 5 degrees - so Willy took his new scooter out for a spin. He was so excited to see the box - a big thank you to Nanny and Lolo. As you can see, he doesn't believe in using his foot to push off, but he has pretty good balance.

Lots of other things have happened since September and obviously I haven't blogged about any of them but you can catch up with the action on flickr in the meantime.

Windsor half marathon - post-race report

2010-09-27T21:49:00.002+01:00

Ready steady go, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A summer of leaping out of bed at 6am to run culminated yesterday in the Windsor half marathon, run in the Windsor Great Park just down from Windsor Castle.

My running partner hurt her back and pulled out a few weeks ago, so it was just me and the Nike+ ipod, plus a support team of Jules, Willy, Fia and Ali (the injured one). The only sports injury was to Jules, who claims he got a chafed nipple from running alongside with the pushchair as I came down the Long Walk to the finish line! Didn't get a great deal of sympathy for that one...

All in all it was not too bad. Whoever described the course as gently undulating needs to be slapped about a bit, but otherwise no dramas or need for toilet stops (always a major worry - not so easy to duck behind a tree with 4000-odd people running past, although plenty of people did just that.

My chip time was 2hr22min53, which I was very pleased with, as usually on a training run 20km would take around 2 hr 30. Then I looked on the website and noticed that the person who finished immediately after me was a woman in the over-65 category!

As I came down the funnel after the finish line, there was a woman gushing to her husband 'I'm so sorry...how did you do?' And he mumbled something and said 'How about you?' And she said '2.20 - woohoo!" So she obviously left him for dead for being too slow.

Ali had brought champagne and a Victoria sponge for a picnic but as I finished it was starting to rain so we just went back to the car, and then spent an hour and a half trying to get out of the carpark, as everyone decided to leave at once.

You can see my official race photos here.

Outside the RAF Museum

2010-09-21T21:07:00.001+01:00

Outside the RAF Museum, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Words from William

2010-09-18T20:41:00.002+01:00

biscuit
cake
more cake
pancake
dodger (jammy)
apple
(ba)nana
raisin
stars (rice krispie)
ice cream
bread
toast
tato
chip
sauce
beans
juice
milk
water
bath
bubble
bottle
fork
dinosaur
tiger
elephant
rabbit
cat
dog
monkey
giraffe
fish
shark
yellow
red
shoe
my shoe
my turn
up and down
hop hop (little bunnies)
out you go (from Lydia Monks' "Aaagh! Spider!"
Ice Age
swing
slide
park
pushchair
scooter
bike
digger
bus
plane
helicopter
hot
poo
nose
eye
eyebrow
ear
chin
mouth
teeth
where's
after dinner (in relation to chocolate)
tea time
spider
bee
frog
flower
key
hello
bye bye
high five
shower
Fia
Alex
ball
mix
moo
baa
roar
rufF rufF
horse
rough game
ont (I want)
no
yeah

Face painting for beginners

2010-08-11T21:54:00.001+01:00

Face painting for beginners, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So we bought a face painting kit at Sainsbury's on Saturday. Somehow I think it is too early to start hiring myself out for parties. In my defence, some of my subjects would not sit still.

We finally beat the snails!

2010-07-23T22:09:00.001+01:00

Summer flowers, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This is our third attempt at sunflowers from seed - and the first generation to survive to adulthood.

The best of friends...

2010-07-16T22:37:00.001+01:00

Willy and Jules at the Taberna del Temple, originally uploaded by Racmol.

What a heartwarming scene - father and son gazing fondly at each other as they dine out under a plum tree on a balmy summer's evening in Pollenca. And then, quite literally, it all turns to poo.

Two minutes later, when Jules had carted Willy and a complete change of clothes off to the (very small) toilet, all you could hear were bloodcurdling screams. (Mostly William.) The lady at the next table went to the toilet herself and came back shaking her head. 'Ooh, he's struggling in there,' she said cheerfully and picked up her wine glass again. I just smiled ruefully and set about decontaminating the highchair.

However, the holiday wasn't ENTIRELY miserable. We had a great day when we drove up into the mountains to Soller, a small town that was pretty much cut off from the south of Majorca until they put a tunnel in in 1997. It is surrounded by orange groves and quite pretty. From there you can (and we did) take an open-sided tram to Port de Soller, which was where the oranges left for France from and is now a seaside resort. We had a swim and an ice-cream and then caught the tram back again. Then on the way up over the mountain we stopped at some viewpoints for quite spectacular views down to the port.

The day we went to Port de Pollenca was also quite successful - after a morning swim, Fia and Willy both went to sleep in the pushchair while we were walking about looking for lunch so we had a nice quiet tapas or five while they slept.

Our two child-pleasing days were the waterpark (Aqualand) at Alcudia, and Marineland (dolphin show, seals, turtles, aquarium etc) at Palma. Expensive, but the kids loved them.

On our last night in Pollenca, we finally discovered how you eat out with small children in Spain. We tried to go to a fairly nice restaurant and ended up with William shaking and incandescent with rage so we had to leave without having dessert, which was a shame as the menu looked pretty good. So we wandered into the town square, thinking we could at least have an ice cream. And there we found all the residents of Pollenca relaxing with a bottle of wine at outdoor tables while their children ran and scooted around the pedestrianised square in the dark. So we did that, and all was well.

Family holiday in Mallorca receives mixed reviews (Part One)

2010-07-06T22:29:00.001+01:00

Fia and Willy on the Formentor Peninsula, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, we all survived a week of family togetherness in the old town of Pollenca in the north of Mallorca, although some would argue only just!

We may as well just be honest about this up front - there were some bad moments. In retrospect, when you get stuck driving up the incredibly narrow Calle de Porquer and you realise it's a dead end, the best option is probably NOT to continue driving ACROSS the town's trademark cobbled Calvari steps into a driveway that turns out to be too small to turn around in without scraping the front of the car and destroying a tyre. Luckily a very helpful resident of Calle de Porquer (looking like he'd seen it all before) and his mechanic friend came to our aid and the ordeal was over in an hour or so.

As I was saying, hindsight is a wonderful thing. When I booked the house we were staying in, my main concern was to make sure the pool was well separated from the house, as Europeans don't believe in fencing swimming pools - and it was, being at the top of a section that cascaded steeply down the hill with the house at the bottom. Next time I will ask some more searching questions, such as:
Are there a million steep stone steps on the section with vertical drops off the side and no rails of any kind?
Do you have random glass vases full of dried flowers on the landing half way up your marble staircase? (And if so, WHY? What were you thinking?)

We didn't actually break the glass vase standing on the floor of the landing and nobody fell to their death off the side of the steps, but Jules broke the handle of the freezer door and Willy broke a blue glass bowl, the ceramic base of a bedside lamp and (although this might have been a coincidence) the volume control of the satelllite tv. This probably sounds like reckless vandalism, but actually the freezer door formed a vacuum seal of incredible strength, Willy grabbed the glass bowl off a high shelf while I was holding him and reaching for the remote control for the fan, and he broke the lamp while I was brushing my teeth in the next room. I was happy enough to see him leave the room as the last time he'd been in the bathroom with me he had turned the bidet jet on full and sent a flood of water out into the hallway and then slipped over in it and howled.

I slightly lost patience with the landlady when she came to sort out the satellite tv while we were out (after we'd reported our long list of breakages) and left a large fake Ming dynasty type vase on a low table in the living room, as if she was daring us to break that too!

That probably seems like rather a long moan, and I haven't even got to the liquid poo incidents (one in our bed and one in a restaurant).

And then there was Black Tuesday (or possibly Wednesday, I forget which). When I finally got to bed after the bloodcurdling screams had stopped (17 renditions of Puff the Magic Dragon later), Jules rolled over, yawned and said: 'They're horrible. I don't like them and they've ruined my life.'

Part Two will be the highlights (yes, there were some!), and of course the full details of the liquid poo, which I know you are all anxious to hear more about.

Northern Ireland in a day

2010-04-02T21:33:00.002+01:00

Siblings at the Giant's causeway, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So, last Saturday we went to Northern Ireland for the day on a whim. Or not really a whim, exactly - I did look into apartments over Easter but everything was expensive and already booked and we couldn't face the idea of another night with four of us in a hotel room like the nightmare in Norfolk.

So we drove to the airport for an 8.50am flight to Belfast, picked up a car at the other end and hit the road.

Drove up the scenic coast road to the Giant's Causeway, played on the rocks, had a quick lunch and drove on to the Carrick-a-rede swing bridge. There is a little path along the white clifftops to get to the bridge, which joins two pieces of headland across a chasm. It's a lot like an NZ swing bridge now, but it used to be have a single rope to hang onto and fishermen used it to catch salmon. Just as we were coming back to the car it started to rain, so we timed the day perfectly.

When we got back to Belfast we had just enough time to stuff about a bit and almost miss our plane, (7.40pm) but not really enough to have anything to eat so we ended up running for the plane with some toasted sandwiches in a paper bag.

Fia and Willy slept all the way home in the car and we were all pretty shattered the next day but aside from that I would say it is just about doable as a day trip. Where next?

Happy birthday Willy

2010-02-01T22:16:00.001Z

And here is Sofia singing 'Happy birthday' to William and helping him with blowing out his candle. The cake is a first attempt at a Thomas the tank engine - tasty but probably easier to buy one at Sainsbury's next time.

In other news, we went to Norfolk for the weekend but it was closed. Some places, like for example Gorleston-on-Sea, should just have posted a sign on the road into the town saying 'We are closed for winter. Try Norwich'. Still Sofia got to run along the beach in the mist so she was happy.

Movie time

2010-02-01T22:04:00.003Z

Willy learnt to walk last month, and I finally got around to filming it the day before his birthday.

Bookshelf demolition

2009-12-22T22:16:00.001Z

Bookshelf demolition, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Merry Christmas from all of us

2009-12-22T22:11:00.002Z

Family portrait in the snow, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Here we all are, in the snow in our garden, this morning. Yes, we were meant to be in Bruges but never mind - hopefully we will get a full refund. What are the odds that the one time we get organised enough to actually book a trip the Eurostar breaks down! Still at least we weren't stuck in the tunnel for 5 hours like some unfortunate people.

In other news, we're about to become car owners. I went for a test drive this afternoon and paid the deposit, then go back tomorrow to pay the balance and take it home. It is a 2006 Mazda 3 in Phantom Blue - quite snazzy. Sofia can't quite believe it - keeps asking 'Can I go in it? In my car seat? In my blue car seat? Can William go in it? And me? In my blue car seat?'

Our poor little plague rat

2009-12-14T23:07:00.001Z

Plague rat, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, it was inevitable really, wasn't it? Still at least we are now done with the pox and Willy is slowing regaining his former beauty, one healing scab at a time.

He was particularly troublesome at the height of the spots last week, waking in the night and howling then falling asleep spreadeagled in the middle of our bed wearing a very self-satisfied expression.

To celebrate our spot-free household we are off to the Christmas markets in Bruges on the train on Monday for two nights. Sofia has already said she doesn't want to go on a train, she wants to go on two planes to see her cousins. Which is a bit of bad luck, really.

30-day moustache

2009-12-01T22:47:00.003Z

30-day moustache, originally uploaded by Racmol.

The mo is no more, but this is how it was on 30 November. A big thank you to everyone who donated to the cause.

Also on flickr is Willy displaying his lopsided smile and Sofia with the pox.

The Movember mo in progress

2009-11-18T22:08:00.002Z

Jules with Movember mo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

As you can see, Jules's Movember mo is coming along nicely. Doesn't he look handsome - very Magnum PI, I think.

However he is very depressed as nobody apart from me has sponsored him yet. Come on people! Time to put your money where his mo is.

Also on flickr is a charming new photo of William.

Six months old

2009-08-01T21:22:00.001+01:00

Six months old, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Willy turned six months this week so I made a cake (any excuse!). He didn't get to do more than smile at the cake but he did celebrate with some mashed banana. We think he is looking quite grown up already.

In other news, the triathlon training is going badly. I have had what I thought was a bad cold for over a week but this morning after swimming in my new wetsuit I sneezed about 30 times in a row so I think it may actually be allergies exacerbated by chlorine and not a cast iron excuse to do no exercise for a week. Still, five weeks to go tomorrow - maybe I will be able to drag myself around the course anyway.

Sofia has made friends with a Jack Russell puppy at the park - after a lot of prompting she eventually put out a hand and stroked him and then said in a very polite English accent: 'Shall we take him home?'

We have booked some flights to NZ and should arrive on 22 September after a couple of nights in Hong Kong. We leave again on 9 October. All very exciting!

Day trip to Brighton with Great Auntie Averil

2009-07-06T22:02:00.003+01:00

Brighton merry-go-round, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a lovely day out today, taking the train to Brighton with Great Auntie Averil. Sofia had an ice cream, a sausage and two merry-go-round rides so she was happy. William had three bottles and a sleep so he was happy too. I bought lots of things so I was happy too.

Here's a picture of the great aunt in action.

My first jars of raspberry jam

2009-07-06T21:45:00.003+01:00

Raspberry jam, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Clearly it is time I went back to work, before I start knitting my own socks. These jars of jam were made with 17 of our own raspberries and £4 worth of raspberries from the farmers' market. So I'm calling them homemade AND homegrown. Technically there may well be at least one homegrown raspberry per jar...

Garden update, triathlons and celebrity spotting in Queen's Park

2009-07-04T16:09:00.008+01:00

I pulled up my first two potato plants today and I think it's fair to say it could be a lean Heath Christmas this year. The prize for the world's smallest potato goes to this guy, sitting next to a small Braeburn apple for scale purposes.

Also harvested five red onions (small) and a handful of very small raspberries. To think I saved some jars specially for making raspberry jam...Still the blackberries are rampant as usual so I guess we can make blackberry jam instead.

The pears, apples and tomatoes are all doing very well and our cucumber plant has five babies while the red pepper plant has four. The butternut squash plants (2)are growing well and today I put a pumpkin in the raised bed that I pulled the potatoes out of. Also to go in is a chilli pepper bush - I figure it's a good idea to grow things that are expensive to buy.

My friend Alison and I are planning to do the Tri for Life triathlon at Eton on 6 September. You swim 400m in a lake, bike 20km around the edge of it then run 5km. This morning we went swimming at the Parliament Hill lido which is 60m long and unheated - it was lovely on such a hot day. Now I just need to hire or buy a wetsuit for the lake swim and a triathlon suit for the rest of it. And of course get back on my bike, which I haven't done since I fell off when I was pregnant with William.

In other news, I met Cillian Murphy in the cafe in the park today. We were both going for the napkin dispenser to wipe our accompanying child's face clean of ice cream. I wanted to say I really liked Breakfast on Pluto or whatever that film is called, but I couldn't remember the title so I shut up. And last week Tamsin Greig from Green Wing held the gate to the playground open for us so that's two celebrities spotted in a fortnight.

Row row row your boat

2009-05-27T10:40:00.001+01:00

Row row row your boat, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Here are our two playing nicely together - and you can see that William's enjoying the attention, for once...

Day trip to Lavenham

2009-05-26T09:46:00.001+01:00

Poppies in Lavenham, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a beautiful fine bank holiday Sunday, so we rented a zipcar and drove up to Lavenham in Suffolk, an old medieval market town. Had a lovely pub lunch in a garden bar and then went to see Little Hall, a 14th century timber-framed house. I found these poppies in the garden there.

There are pictures of all the family in Lavenham on flickr - just click on the poppies to see the collection.

Our two in the baby gym

2009-05-17T21:31:00.001+01:00

Sofia and William, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Running back to happiness

2009-05-16T18:25:00.005+01:00

On the advice of my psychiatrist, I've decided stop whingeing and get back exercising, as the fastest route back to happiness. Two runs so far this week - just around the park a few times but you have to start somewhere.

Anyone who hasn't sponsored me yet for the Race for Life on 7 June can do so from right here below. Thanks to all the lovely people who've already done it!

Lolo arrived safely this afternoon, and we're all thrilled with the presents he brought with him.

Sofia's had a great day at Millie Barnes's birthday party - she was too full of sweets and cake to even look at a sausage at the bbq lunch. And she managed to score 3 presents at pass the parcel too!

Fortnum and Mason's morning tea

2009-04-30T10:04:00.001+01:00

Fortnum and Mason's morning tea, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A bit of a week of contradictions, really. Fortnum and Mason's morning tea on Tuesday and then I joined Weight Watchers on Wednesday. Don't know what the WW leader would have had to say about our morning tea - I had a black forest cake and hot chocolate (with real chocolate) and Christine had two strudels and a toffeecino (mainly whipped cream). Still it was lots of fun.

Then we went to the V&A in the afternoon, only to discover that the dolls' houses Chrissie wanted to see are actually at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green now. Still we enjoyed the fashion and jewellery exhibits - some amazing stuff on display, including 200 and 300-year-old shoes for women with tiny feet. People were smaller in general then, I guess.

That evening we went to see Mamma Mia, also good fun. I really enjoyed just being out in town at night - a rarity with two small people in the house but something that definitely needs repeating - and SOON!

It's been lots of fun having Chrissie to stay. Unfortunately for her though, Sofia has taken to waking up at 5.30 now that it gets light so early, which isn't the best. She came to see us at 5.45 and we weren't that thrilled to see her either.

First bbq of the season

2009-04-19T19:52:00.001+01:00

Family snapshot, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Lots more photos on flickr of all of us enjoying our first bbq of the year with the Barnes family.

Also, today marks the planting of the potato crop and some more salad leaves.

For the Nanny, there are also some pictures of Sofia and Millie playing with the kitchen - it was a great hit.

Springtime comes to NW6

2009-04-18T22:08:00.001+01:00

IMG_2344, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia, William and I had a picnic in the garden this afternoon (while the rugby was on tv). Must have been about 18 degrees or so - positively tropical after the recent rain.

The leek harvest has begun - with one small-to-medium-sized leek. Maybe a leek and potato soup in our future this week?

The spinach is up in the raised bed, as are the first salad leaves. Red onions are there but pretty titchy.

And the slugs have been given their first dose of Kronenbourg in the slug traps - we'll see whether they like that more or less than last year's Stella.

Mother and son

2009-04-16T21:26:00.002+01:00

Mother and son, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Some new pictures of Willy on flickr from this week. It's been a rough fortnight but I think I'm on the mend now. And William seems to be learning how to sleep through the night at last - has managed it on two occasions but not two nights in a row.

Jules and I are still pretty tired and resorting to chocolate as a pick-me-up. Sometimes I think the handiness of our corner shop is a mixed blessing...

William at 7 weeks

2009-03-22T21:40:00.001Z

William at 7 weeks, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia turns 2 - twice!

2009-03-02T23:07:00.001Z

Blowing out the candles, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Yesterday was phase 2 of the great 2nd birthday extravaganza - the party, as opposed to the actual birthday on Thursday. We took 8 toddlers, 3 babies and 15 parents to an hour of soft play at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre and then on to the cafe for cake. Definitely a good decision, having it away from our house. When we saw the debris after the toddlers had eaten, we were very glad not to be doing the clearing up. And Sofia had a great time so it was all good.

Sofia's latest phrase is "Fia needs more presents", which is quite clever but completely untrue! We were chuffed when she opened the scooter we got her and said 'It's Fia's scooter. Is pretty cool.'

Jules and I are a bit shattered, one way and another...

Grandma with William and Sofia

2009-02-15T17:09:00.001Z

Grandma with William and Sofia, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Big sister, little brother

2009-02-07T08:43:00.000Z

Sofia's first snowman

2009-02-02T20:30:00.001Z

Snowman, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Lots more snow photos on flickr.

Our garden after the snow

2009-02-02T10:23:00.001Z

Our garden after the snow, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Up to a foot of snow last night in London. Nursery closed today and snowman assembly to commence shortly.

We are all thanking our lucky stars William didn't arrive today on his official due date. Finding a cab to get to the hospital could have been tricky!

Our water baby William comes home

2009-02-01T21:17:00.002Z

William comes home from hospital, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We finally left the hospital on Saturday afternoon, after 48 hours of antibiotics (William) and lukewarm, uninspired hospital meals (me). Very glad to be home!

On Wednesday evening I had gone down to the labour ward to be hooked up to the monitor just to check that William was ok, as I hadn't felt any movements all day. I thought this would be a 10-minute visit, but in the end I had the monitor on for nearly two hours even though everything appeared to be normal, because noone was prepared to let me go home until the machine said 'Criteria met'.

Eventually one of the registrars came around and said maybe it would be a good idea to try and do a sweep before I went home. So one of the midwives did that and said I was 1-2cm dilated already so things would probably kick off in the next day or two.

Jules and I got home about 10pm, had a pizza and went to bed. By about 3am I was feeling a bit crampy but not really having regular contractions yet. At 6am I got up and had a shower, then rang the midwives' team mobile. The midwife who answered said to see how many contractions I had in the next half hour. So at 7am I rang back and reported 5 contractions in 30 minutes so she said to come in.

Got to the hospital in a minicab by 7.30am. Only 3 contractions on the way this time, so a lot better than the nightmare cab ride to the hospital when we had Sofia.

We got one of the rooms attached to the birthing pool, and the pool was already being filled for me, so that was great. Around 8am I was hooked up to the drip for my antibiotics for Group B Strep, which took about 20 minutes. By that time the pool had cooled down again, so there was quite a painful half hour of leaning on the bed with Jules massaging my lower back before I could get in. Also threw up a couple of times around this point - the hot cross bun and cup of tea at 7am seems to have been a mistake!

About that point the midwives swapped shifts and the new midwife did an exam and said I was about 5 or 6 cm dilated. Got into the pool about 9am, which was a relief for the first few minutes and then after that I was in so much pain that I really couldn't tell if the water was helping or not.

Jules and the midwife sat around the edge of the pool and made encouraging noises and the midwife said she would let me choose when to start pushing.

The next hour and a half is a bit of a blur - I threw up again and made quite a lot of noise. Then eventually I couldn't help pushing. I remember feeling a big bubble as the waters broke and then having to not push too hard so William's head would be born slowly.

Then I looked down and his head was out and you could see his dark hair floating in the water and a few minutes later (10.35am) he came out in a rush, looking tiny and kind of blue.

The midwife picked him up, unwrapped the cord from around his neck and gave him to me to hold while Jules cut the cord. He seemed absolutely tiny but started crying straight away.

Then the midwife helped me out of the pool and the placenta was delivered on the bed. My only thought was relief that it was all over at last.

After a bit William got cleaned up and weighed and had his Vitamin K shot. Jules and I got a cup of tea each and then we were moved upstairs to the postnatal ward because someone else wanted the room.

The paediatricians insisted that William be given a 48-hour course of antibiotics because he'd only got 2 hours coverage from my IV antibiotics during labour. I wasn't exactly thrilled to have to watch my new son have a canula put into the back of his hand on his first day out in the world but he was very brave and didn't cry, even though it took them two attempts to get it in.

Jules went home and came back with Sofia and Grandma about 5pm. We gave Sofia her present from William and she seemed excited to see him so it went quite well - no screams of outrage or running from the room.

Today we've basically had a quiet day at home. Jules and Sofia went to the farmers' market in the morning and Sofia and I took a very quick walk to the charity bin with my maternity jeans (yay! good riddance) in the afternoon.

Snow has been falling since about 5pm (stopped now) and there's a severe weather warning over Eastern England tonight and tomorrow - expecting up to 15cm of snow in some places. So it may well be a pretty quiet Monday too!

B2 Arrives

2009-01-29T21:01:00.004Z

Hiya Jules here.

Just to say William Robert Heath arrived at 10:35 am today weighing 3.095 kg.

He was delivered in the birthing pool (I'm sure Rac will blog more on this).

Here's a piccy of him after he was tidied up. The bandage on the arm is to deliver antibiotics to him (More on that later as well).

Here's another when Sofia met him.

More pregnant than ever before!

2009-01-24T22:24:00.001Z

More pregnant than ever before!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

At this point I have no vanity left, so I'm sharing my enormous belly with the world. I hate all my maternity jeans with a passion - they all creep down and get very frayed and muddy around the bottom in this weather. I tried a skirt the other day thinking that would be better but no, it crept down too, taking the tights with it and revealing a builder's crack!

Nearly sent all three pairs of maternity jeans to the charity clothes bin at the end of the street today but thought better of it. If B2 hangs on for another couple of weeks I will be heartily sick of my yoga pants too.

And then of course there is the possibility that some of this hugeness is chocolate-related and will not disappear instantly on B2's arrival. In which case my ordinary jeans will not fit. Sigh.

I'm going to have a bath now. Any tips on bringing on labour gratefully accepted.

The birthday boy and his cake

2009-01-17T20:29:00.002Z

Jules's birthday cake, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A busy day today - one cake to make, one Grandma to pick up from the airport, one little girl with an upset tummy (a virus already in evidence yesterday, and NOT related to excess cake consumption...)

In the end I made the cake while Sofia slept in the pushchair and Jules went to pick up Grandma. It seemed too risky to take all of us to the airport, considering Sofia's delicate condition - not to mention B2's imminent arrival.

Nothing so exciting as Grandma arriving has ever happened before, or at least that's what you'd think from Sofia's reaction.

Grandma and Sofia have both gone to bed, and now and then you can hear Sofia calling 'Hi! Hi Grandma!' hopefully. With any luck Grandma is so tired from the flight she will sleep through it. And now everything has suddenly gone quiet - a good sign??

The chocolate sensation cake was a modest success, if I do say so myself. Although not exactly slimming, with sour cream and dark chocolate filling and dark chocolate and butter icing, and extra whipped cream on the side...

36 weeks pregnant

2009-01-08T21:36:00.003Z

36 weeks pregnant, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Yes, I am HUGE. For comparison, here is Sofia at 38 weeks, the day before she was born.

Went to see my midwife today - B2 is doing fine and is engaged (about 1/3 of the head at least) but his spine is facing the wrong way apparently so I'm allowed to sleep on my right side for a change, in the hope of turning him over. Yay - I get my side of the bed back early!

Also got a tour of the labour ward and postnatal ward, neither of which are as bad as I had expected after the brief and stressful visit we had to the labour ward a few weeks back. Looks much better in daylight and when you're not worried about losing the baby...

Then I went to see the physio about my hip, which is not malaligned after all, just a bit flexible due to pregnancy. Anyway it is already a lot better than when it was I made the appointment. I have a new support belt thing and lots of exercises to do, mainly to do with core strength.

Quite liked the physio - she expressed great surprise that I was 36, which was nice of her. I'm pretty sure I look my age, if not more, especially at the moment!

Jules has just rung from work drinks to say he's at GBK having a kiwiburger. I note there has been no weighing in in 2009 - wonder how Harold's doing?

Cheers - here's to a very happy 2009!

2009-01-02T17:30:00.004Z

Cheers - happy 2009!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a lovely New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, even if the temperature stayed around freezing the whole time.

On New Year's Eve we had booked a babysitter so we went into town to celebrate. Had a pleasant if not outstanding meal at About Thyme, a little place near Victoria Station and then walked along to try and see the fireworks at midnight. A LOT of people had the same idea - all the viewing areas on the river were full by 11pm.

So we ended up in St James's Park, which is quite different after dark. From where we were you could see the top half of the London Eye, which was where the fireworks were let off from so we got an ok view and it was not crowded in the park at all. In fact it was kind of eerie and still, as this photo of the pond shows.

Then on New Year's Day Sofia and I went to the park while Jules prepared a roast lamb, with sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, brussel sprouts, carrots and broccoli, which was completely delicious. We chased it all down with trifle, just to make sure there was no danger of starvation!

Today we babysat Sofia's friend Millie, who has a new baby sister, so her dad could spend some time at the hospital. An interesting experience taking TWO toddlers to the park but we managed to avoid serious injury. The two girls walked along hand in hand, which was endearing, and then played 'Row, row, row your boat' from their highchairs in the cafe. Just as they were in the middle of that, Millie's dad arrived to pick her up, so it was nice that they were both looking so cheerful at that moment!

All the family on Christmas Day

2008-12-26T21:52:00.002Z

All the family on Christmas Day, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Things to spot in this photo:

Sofia's fabulous Christmas stocking, courtesy of the Nanny
Mallowpuff the polar bear (star Christmas present of 2007, now slightly off white)
the last recorded sighting of the intact London double decker bus, before Jules stood on it while trying to avoid some other debris later in the day
Sofia's delight over Grandma's present, clutched firmly in both hands. Tragically the little sheep are still a bit big to be worn this year but they are getting lots of airtime as toys anyway!

Our daughter was a model citizen at Alison and Stefan's traditional Canadian turkey dinner, remaining cheerful all evening and sitting in her chair for the entire main course. After that she did admittedly get to her feet, bellowing for ice cream, but luckily there was some on offer so we got some excellent quiet baby bird behaviour at dessert time too.

It really felt like we were proper grown-up parents this Christmas. Jules was kept busy preparing our Christmas duck on Christmas Eve and then taking Sofia out on the bike to the park on Christmas morning, so I could make the pavlova and buche de noel I was taking to Alison's for dessert. For one nasty moment it looked like the pav was going to disintegrate completely before I could get the greaseproof paper off the bottom of it, but somehow I managed to upend it onto the plate without smashing it to bits and smother it with enough whipped cream to hide any minor collapses!

Anyway it was very nice to change out of the clothes that were all covered in icing sugar and cocoa and shut the door on the debris-strewn kitchen to go and eat somewhere else. I suspect I may have eaten too much of Alison's wonderful turkey plus all trimmings (even though eating for two!) as all I could manage was one slice of pav for dessert. I blame B2 for occupying valuable space that could otherwise be used for stomach expansion.

New regime mark 2 starts on Monday - once we've eaten the trifle, the remaining mince pies, the Christmas pudding and the ham!

Jules and Sofia ride past our house

2008-12-23T13:10:00.001Z

Jules and Sofia ride past our house
Originally uploaded by Racmol

The bike came out of its shed again at the weekend, and there was great rejoicing.

It's now parked in the communal hallway and every time we go in or out the front door there are shouts of 'Fia's bike! Dad's bike! Fia and Dad's bike!'

A very merry Christmas and a fabulous new year to everyone from all of us here in London. See you in 2009.

Love Rachel

B2 at 32 weeks

2008-12-12T22:35:00.002Z

B2 at 32 weeks, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, I promised a photo so here it is. It's pretty poor though - the sonographer didn't charge me for the photo as she couldn't get a good shot.

The important stuff though - he's growing well, all measurements within the normal range. Estimated weight: 1.878kg. Abdominal circumference is not quite as average as it was, but still normal. That's the one they were really looking for, as that shows whether there are any problems with growth. Also the placenta appears to be functioning properly.

And dammit, no urine test! So I might as well have had a fruit mince pie for breakfast after all, instead of sensible porridge...

Comments - should I just disable this feature or what?

2008-12-11T22:52:00.002Z

Doesn't anyone have anything to say about Sofia's stage debut? And by the way I have a scan tomorrow and if noone comments on the fabulous 32-week photo of B2 I shall be posting afterwards I really will disable comments.

Noone has said anything for the whole of December. Which is a bit disheartening, really.

The nursery nativity play (extended version)

2008-12-11T12:08:00.003Z

Sofia is the white sheep with ears sitting next to the more major players, the gold and silver stars, on the far right.

A stray sheep in the Chaston Nursery Nativity Play

2008-12-10T13:43:00.003Z

Here is our daughter making an unscripted appearance as a stray sheep in the Chaston Nursery Nativity Play last night. I'm also uploading a longer video on youtube - you can see Sofia sitting off to the right in her sheep costume, next to some more major players (the silver star, the gold star, Mary and the donkey).

You would never know to look at her that the night before she was down at the hospital again getting more antibiotics for another ear infection. I did actually consider skipping the play, but she was so excited watching me make cupcakes for it that it seemed mean not to let her go. So I strapped her into the pushchair and forcibly administered the antibiotics and some nurofen and off we went.

As you can see, she had a great time. Several people said to us afterwards 'Your daughter is so smiley!' and 'what a happy little girl you have!' Next year will be interesting - the kids in the big kids room (where you go when you turn two) had actual speaking and singing parts. Some of the boys in particular were very good actors and singers - we were very impressed (when we weren't howling with laughter...)

A busy Sunday in the garden

2008-12-08T07:38:00.001Z

Post-gardening tantrum, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a frost on Saturday night and a beautiful clear sunny Sunday. About 4 degrees, mind you, but still.

Tasks accomplished:
Leaves raked up and binned (both of us)
Garlic planted (Jules)
All remaining tulips, daffodils and crocuses planted in tubs, the lawn and the borders (me)
New gumboots worn in and trike ridden up and down the lawn (Sofia)

And then Sofia had a tantrum because I wasn't running to carry her down the steps. This photo was taken as the tantrum reached its peak! You can also see Jules planting the garlic and Sofia in her party dress after Saturday's party on flickr.

A family day out at the Christmas market in Winchester

2008-11-29T22:12:00.003Z

All the family in Winchester , originally uploaded by Racmol.

We've just spent a lovely relaxed Friday at the Christmas market surrounding Winchester Cathedral with our friends Adam, Angeline and Millie.

We took the train from Waterloo on a groupsave 4 ticket, which took about an hour. It was a bitterly cold day but the market was lovely - with more than enough mulled wine, hot chocolate, fruit mince pies and Belgian waffles to keep everyone happy!

We bought a few small presents and three Christmas decorations for our Christmas tree. We're hoping to pick up a tree tomorrow at the farmers' market as advent starts on Monday.

Sofia and Millie had a lovely time running about at the market and as it was in a big enclosed courtyard with no cars, they couldn't come to too much harm. Sofia is tall enough now to help herself to the free samples of cheese, jams and so on - but she still ate a big lunch when we finally found somewhere to eat.

There are lots of big dogs in Winchester - Old English sheepdogs and big shaggy black ones, for example.

Only one complaint - the cathedral toilets didn't have a nappy change table, which seemed like a massive oversight when you consider how many pushchairs there were at the market. At only 5 degrees celsius, Friday was not a good day for changing nappies on the concrete floor!

I fell asleep on the train on the way back. Sofia sat on Adam and lifted up his jersey saying 'baby' and 'tummy' - I think he was a bit offended!

Today Jules went to the rugby at Twickenham and Sofia and I went to the post depot to pick up a parcel - containing one very beautiful Christmas stocking from the Nanny. Jules said: 'I guess we're responsible for filling that for the next 20 or 50 years'...so I suppose we'd better buy some more items than just the Upsy Daisy socks that are hiding in my wardrobe.

A Jules and his fish soup - the new regime week 1

2008-11-21T22:36:00.001Z

A Jules and his fish soup, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had an impromptu dinner out at the pizza place on the corner (aka Pomodori e Baci) tonight, just to celebrate the fact we both still have jobs despite gloom and doom everywhere in London. It was a lovely one hour and ten minutes, with Sofia on her best cafe behaviour for once, as you can see on flickr.

In other news, I took Sofia for her first swim since St Lucia this afternoon and it was a roaring success. She blows bubbles brilliantly now and even submitted to having her hair dried with the hairdryer afterwards.

Oh, and for anyone following Jules's new regime or competing with it, I think the fish soup and the forgoing of a tiramisu may be the start of a seachange in our eating habits. Or not. Watch this space...

2008-11-21T22:10:00.005Z

28 weeks pregnant

2008-11-10T22:48:00.002Z

28 weeks pregnant, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We suddenly realised we haven't taken a single photo of B2 yet so here he is, better late than never!

For comparison, see when I was six months pregnant with Sofia.

In other news, Jules is aiming for a(nother) lean Heath Christmas. The new regime starts tomorrow!

Snow in October?

2008-11-01T08:38:00.001Z

IMG_2083, originally uploaded by Racmol.

First time in London since 1934, apparently.

Sofia's artwork

2008-10-28T21:56:00.001Z

IMG_2073, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's portfolio

2008-10-28T21:40:00.006Z

We've brought Sofia's "portfolio" i.e. artwork home from nursery to 'show the family' so I took some photos as I have to take it all back tomorrow.

We're quite impressed with the amount and variety of art she's done at Chaston Nursery. Bebi, her key worker, is very keen on painting, which definitely helps.

Yesterday when I picked up Sofia, I asked her what she did that day and she said 'Painting! Stars!'

So she's having a good time, which is the main thing.

All the photos of the artwork are now up on flickr.

Ruby Wedding

2008-10-25T22:54:00.001+01:00

Ruby Wedding, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Autumn review - the novice gardeners' first season

2008-10-25T21:08:00.013+01:00

Well, it really is going to be a lean Heath Christmas this year, or at least it would be if we were trying to be self-sufficient from our garden! I can't help noticing that our entire autumn harvest fits into one Abel and Cole weekly organic mixed box, with space to spare...

So, to recap, in the Spring we got two raised beds and filled them with topsoil from Norfolk. In one I sowed spring onions, carrots and leeks. The spring onions were smothered by the carrots but, after the carrot harvest, we seem to still have about 10 leeks. Hurrah!

Being short on space, we also squeezed in a butternut squash plant into the corner of that raised bed. 'Apparently, your butternut squash needed to go in in March,' said Jules the other day having somewhat belatedly read up on it on the web. Me (snappily): 'Yeah, well you didn't buy them until May...'

In the other bed we had a big patch of salad leaves, some broccoli and two courgette plants. The salad leaves were a runaway success - we didn't buy salad leaves at all this summer. The broccolis did produce some very small calabrese broccoli and we did eat one or two of them before they flowered but they weren't great. Maybe we overcooked them.

The courgette plants grew amazingly and had small yellow courgettes. Only two made it to harvest without being eaten by slugs. I put one of them in a vege chilli and it wrecked the chilli - Jules sat there picking pieces of small, hard courgette out of his teeth, which was a bit dispiriting. The other, about the size of a small carrot, we put in the vege crisper in the fridge where it got squashed up against the side and hidden under some apples and then half of it went mouldy and I couldn't be bothered saving the other half - so who knows if yellow courgettes are better than green ones or not? I suspect not - and not worth the bother. Plain green zucchini for us next year.

The apples were moderately successful - apart from the James Grieve which lost all its shiny red apples in about June and was left with maybe one on the tree. More Bramleys than Windsors this year but that is probably because we had the trees pruned in January and the guy said they were well overdue so the pruning was quite drastic.

Some of Jules's 12 sweetcorn that I put in in May survived to adulthood although most were destroyed by slugs and snails. We got one cob and when we opened it up it only had about 12 kernels of corn, so we didn't bother to cook it. Yet again, maybe May was too late.

The tuscan kale (cavolo nero): every leaf eaten by slugs.

Rhubarb: ditto, plant destroyed.

Sunflowers: ditto

Cucumbers: ditto

Garlic: got some bulbs but they were about the size of one normal clove of garlic.

Hydrangea: (bought in desperation when I was trying to think of a shrub the slugs wouldn't like) barely hanging on to life. May see out the winter if the slugs die down before it does.

Nasturtiums: thriving, smothering the struggling hydrangea.

Tomatoes: pretty good - definitely several large punnets of cherry tomatoes.

The compost however is brilliant - about 50 worms to every spadeful. So the bed where the salad leaves and broccoli were has been dug over and I planted mustard seed as a green manure, so we'll see how that goes next year.

The plan from here:

Crocuses in the lawn for February and the new baby.

Pots on the patio: tulips and irises (but will the squirrels eat them, like some got eaten last year?

More daffodils in around the beds at the edges of the lawn (some still left from last year.)

The roses were a success - especially the Ruby Wedding - which we have a cutting of on our kitchen windowsill. The two small pink patio roses were quite prolific too.

Some successes, some failures. Next year we'll have one bed just for butternut squashes. Someone on the web says you can get 32 from one plant - but we're just aiming for 10 squashes overall. We know our limitations...

B2 at 22 weeks

2008-10-08T06:48:00.002+01:00

IMG_2064, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Lazing about in St Lucia

2008-09-30T23:05:00.001+01:00

Our pool, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I've just uploaded a few of our holiday pics onto flickr - and I can't help noticing that they give the impression that we did very little, which is true!

There was a lot of lazing about on the beach, interspersed with frequent swims in the pool outside our villa and in the sea. Sofia ate far too many M&M ice creams and hot chips and not nearly enough broccoli but seems to have made it home again without scurvy!

We didn't do much sightseeing at all - our sole burst of activity was a motorboat trip to the marine reserve to go snorkelling one morning while Sofia stayed at home with a babysitter. And of course we got a great view of the island during the helicopter transfer from the airport in the south to our resort in the north. It's still covered with 70% rainforest, and where the rainforest has been cleared there are banana plantations instead so it's very lush and green everywhere.

After we had been there for two days we had three days of rain, which caused two large leaks from the balcony of our villa (quite basic, far up on the hillside) into our living room and bedroom. So we got moved to a 'superior' villa down by the beach, pools and restaurants which was a lot flasher and more modern, with its own hot tub and a smallish swimming pool about 10 metres from our front door. Then the weather cleared again for a week of hot sunny days and we settled into a gruelling routine of three swims a day, with occasional breaks for an ice cream or perhaps a nap in the midday heat.

We were due to fly home on Friday afternoon, and we got all the way to the gate of the plane before it was announced that our flight had been cancelled due to the plane hitting a bird as it came in to land. So, in the pouring rain, we were bundled into dodgy minibuses for a 90-minute drive along windy, flooded roads back up to another resort at Rodney Bay in the north of the island - a bit ironic considering all our careful planning of helicopter transfers specifically to avoid that drive!

Saturday was another lovely day, which we spent in the pool (for a change) and then it was back in the dodgy minivan to get on the plane at 11.30pm that night. We finally got home on Sunday afternoon instead of early Saturday morning but obviously Virgin Atlantic had to pay for all our accommodation, food etc so it wasn't the end of the world. Had to wake Sofia up at 8am the next morning though - and she insisted on taking Wom with her to nursery so she was obviously a little bit disorientated! Quite perky again when I arrived to pick her up - apparently slept for two hours after lunch.

This morning we were at the hospital again for another scan, which I will blog a picture of tomorrow. Everything looks normal - and we found out what sort of baby we're having too, which was quite exciting!

Rookie parent

2008-08-15T17:35:00.001+01:00

For those with unlimited patience or just nothing much to do today, here is 5 minutes of quality footage of Sofia getting to grips with the new pushchair and baby doll.

A sailing photo, at long last

2008-07-24T21:02:00.002+01:00

Jules on Hotstuff, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A sibling for Sofia

2008-07-22T20:34:00.003+01:00

Bump 2 at 12 weeks, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Our new little alien, ETA 2 February 2009.

Sofia and Millie on the merry-go-round, London Zoo

2008-07-22T08:21:00.003+01:00

Sofia and Millie on the merry-go-round, London Zoo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Dress-up dragons

2008-06-14T23:06:00.001+01:00

Posing, originally uploaded by Racmol.

No, she hasn't eaten too many jaffa cakes - it is a padded suit. Some more photos from today's dress-up extravaganza on flickr.

Gardening assistant

2008-05-24T21:36:00.001+01:00

Trying on the gardening glove, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've just put some new photos on flickr, including some from our holiday in Tuscany a few weeks ago.

It's all change at our house - I'm heading back to work on Mondays and Wednesdays and Sofia is going to nursery, which she absolutely loves so far. She has been settling in there all this week, culminating in a full day on Friday. Originally I was supposed to start work this Wednesday coming but the paperwork isn't complete so there may be a delay.

In other news, I saw Justin Hawkins from The Darkness on Salusbury Road today and I made my first pav - which you can also see on flickr.

Our garden in snow

2008-04-09T22:40:00.003+01:00

Our garden in snow, originally uploaded by Racmol.

First steps - Action movie

2008-03-29T08:07:00.003Z

Sofia learnt to walk last Thursday, 20 March. Some dodgy camera work, but we get there in the end...

Today we went shopping for her first pair of outdoor shoes - but there was not a great deal of choice for a girl with an H-width foot! Wonder where she got that from?

Handyman Weekend - and the trike's first outing

2008-03-02T20:25:00.007Z

We've had a very handyman weekend, with the new electric drill in constant use. Friday night - sawing of little round holes to thread cables through underneath the fireplace. Saturday morning - assembly of trike (with helper) and then two raised garden beds (now in place but awaiting topsoil delivery). Sunday - paint samples (many and various) for living room.

Here is the trike being assembled:

And here is Sofia trying out her new gumboots:

The trike's first test run down the hall:

And finally the first outing to the park:

Cake demolition in progress

2008-02-27T12:30:00.001Z

Cake 3, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's first birthday

2008-02-27T12:27:00.002Z

Happy Birthday Sofia, originally uploaded by Racmol.

You know how people always say to children: 'No, you can't have cake now, you'll spoil your dinner'? Well, we fed Sofia cake right before dinner - just to make sure she wasn't too full or tired to appreciate it - and she wolfed down an entire large slice and then washed it down with a full bowl of spinach, kumara and peas. So it turns out the cake spoiling dinner thing is an urban myth and we shall not be paying it any heed in our household.

There is a full sequence of birthday pictures, including all of us in St James's Park at lunchtime, on flickr. But I'll also post the final cake picture, so you can be sure I'm not making this up.