Graduation Day

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...

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

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

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

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

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

Learning to skip, originally uploaded by Racmol.

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

Sprained ankle Day 3

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

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

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

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

Fairytale happy family, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Mission accomplished

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.