Latest goings-on with us...

Hello, just to let it known that we are all still alive and well despite my blogging absence! In recent happenings...

- Ben got a new bike! It was absolutely necessary since he cycles to work and he had really flogged his last one, which had been stuck in the two highest gears for months now, and has really EMBARRASSINGLY squeaky brakes and was really on his way out. His new one is much cleaner, doesn't squeak and presumerably gives him a much smoother (and safer?!) ride. Although it's getting pretty icy up here now so he may have to start driving in at some point, or his limbs might start dropping off!

- Oliver continues to amaze us, and believe it or not, is into EVERYTHING even more than before. I admit, sometimes I am absolutely exhausted in the yucky 6-7pm hour of Ben coming home, dinner making and a waily, sleepy baby who goes off to bed straight after dinner (usually at 7pm). Having said that, he now officially sleeps through the night!! I can pretty much sign him off, since he sleeps through more than he wakes now: amazing. It's been fairly guaranteed for the past two weeks now, so next time I will know that it took us ELEVEN AND A HALF MONTHS to get to this point!!! I think I'm glad I didn't know that upfront when he was born, I might have cried! Now he is so old and mature he is taking on a lot of responsibility around the house. Here he is doing his assigned 'chore' of emptying the tumble drier when the washing is done:

What a good boy!! :)

- Oliver went to the cinema for the first time!! It was a BP event- they hired out the cinema screen to see 'Arthur Christmas'- a very lovely new animated film, and we thought since it was free we'd try Oliver at it. Each person also got £5 to spend on pick and mix or popcorn etc, so we had £15 between us which was quite outrageous!! Oliver surpassed all our expectations and only got wiggly and restless during the last 15 minutes (when I did the only thing left and gave him milky! He usually only has it once a day now- just before bed) But the rest of the whole film he spent sitting on Ben's lap and the two of them munched through the best part of a big bag of popcorn!! It was very funny to watch Oliver eating popcorn continuously without taking his eyes of the screen. Also a bit scary how naturally it came to him!

- A couple of weeks ago we went to an Enchanted Castle- it was an evening National Trust event with the castle open to the public and all lit up, enchanted trails in the gardens, storytelling, a hog roast and fire eaters! We wrapped up warm and had a lovely time wearing our glow sticks and woolly hats.

- This past weekend we had Ben's parents come to stay with us. It was lovely to see them and they particularly enjoyed spending time with Oliver- he was always very silly and giggly with Mum which was nice. They took lots of photos, but I did get this one: (It's 'We're going on a bear hunt'- arguably the best book ever written)

While they were here we enjoyed lots of walks in the chilly but sunny weather and one day we went to Stonehaven- a nearby pretty village by the sea- and Dunnoter Castle- an amazing ruined medieval castle right on top of the sea. We also put our Christmas tree up on Sunday afternoon and now that I've finished all the present buying I am really starting to get in the mood... :)

- In sadder news, our car has been kangarooring the last couple of weeks. We took it in to be looked at back then but they weren't sure what it was and it has been getting worse ever since... we kept worrying it would just conk out at the weekend, but luckily we got Mum and Dad to and from the airport fine. It's in its second garage today... although I have a third booked up later this week just in case!! I hope they can work out what it is and sort it without it costing an arm and a leg. Poor car- it does treat us so well usually!

It's a Miracle

... I made it all the way to Aberdeen with Oliver in the back of the car, AND without using the Sat Nav!!!

It took a bit longer than the ten hours that google maps told me because of traffic, but Oliver was so well-behaved, I KNOW it was a miracle. He slept longer than he has done for months, and I only had to stop once on both days.

Alleluia. We have a lovely, lovely house, our boxes are all around and we are all back together again. Hooray! :)

Things we have learnt while buying a car

The last few months we have had some real adventures car-wise. Our loyal but very old Saxo finally had to go in October, when practically nothing worked on it anymore. We had been debating what to do about it as we got closer to the MOT date, but when we prayed about it and the same day we noticed it veering to the left, the knocking and squeaking getting louder and the brake lights not working (!) we decided it had to go. We parted with it at a scrap heap, got £140 and walked away.

Of course now we had to find a new car... but we didn't have a car to find one! (How come we didn't think of that before we got rid of it?) We had quite a tight criteria- diesel, very economical, small preferably, low tax band, low insurance group, full service history, cambelt change, under £2500 and less than an hour or two away. We had to rely on Ben's parents driving us to garages up and down the country when we were all free, which wasn't very often. Often we'd find one, but by the time we'd been able to work out the logistics of being able to see it it was long gone. Then there was the car we found on autotrader that looked absolutely perfect so Ben went up to Birmingham to see it and hopefully pick it up. When he got to the address it turned out to be a car park in the middle of dodgy estate rather than a house, and the address the car was registered to was hundreds of miles away! Hmm, stolen vehicle?! Another fun trip was going to see the slimey dealer who couldn't start the car for a while, and when he did get it running we saw that the "full service history" advertised was actually all written in the same handwriting despite it being done at other garages...!! After three or four weeks of searching we finally got lucky and picked up a lovely little Vauxhall Corsa. It was nippy, a good price, economical and wonderful to drive.

On 21st December it turned out it was also wonderful to drive INTO, when a taxi driver hit us while we were stationary and about to turn into our drive. Oliver was just two weeks old and miraculously no-one was hurt. Needless to say, the car was declared a write-off and we were back to square one again!

Amazingly the insurance company valued the Corsa at £675 more than we paid for it (it really WAS a good deal!) so we could now up our price and hopefully find something better! We were also given a very snazzy hire car for six weeks, so we could start the finding process again (oh joy!7s usually a reason why people get rid of the car- and in our experience it's usually because things are going wrong...

- Sometimes you can check everything, be very picky and think you've finally got it sussed, and it's still not right.

Well, we still haven't learnt how to do it properly, but one day we'll get it right, I'm sure?! It's all quite funny really :)

Recent happenings!

Hello!

I've never written a blog before (and it's kind of American, really) but I love journal writing and thought that this is one more thing I can do while Oliver is feeding!! If all goes according to plan I'll try to post our recent wonderings, adventures and Olly Woo milestones when I can, and then the miracle of technology will mean that our family and friends will be able to read about it, wherever we are.

At the mo we're not 'on tour' at all... we are still in Girton, Cambridge and loving it. The house is nice but has got major damp problens still... I can't seem to clean quick enough!!!

This week we found a car to replace our lovely Corsa. It's a gorgeous blue Renault Megane but unfortunately it's a bit bigger than I'm used to so I don't think I'll ever be able to get in and out of spaces!! It is very economical and last night we realised it's more flashy than we thought it was, with automatic wipers and a rain-sensing windscreen! Crazy!!

Yesterday one of my friends from choir, Seb, came round to take photos of Olly and a couple of the three of us (he's a brilliant photographer). We tried so hard to catch Olly's new skill- smiling- but they're just a bit too fleeting at the moment. It was still tons of fun and we had little O changing outfits every few minutes. He was dressed in a Tigger suit, some lovely dungarees he got from Nanna Pentreath, and my very favourite green starry plastic pants! He looked gorgeous and I can't wait to see the photos.

Ben is into his second week of term and enjoying lectures. He has a four-day week and he hasn't been set any work yet- both very lovely! :) We are still waiting for news from BP about where he is starting work, and probably won't get any until the Spring which is exciting. Watch this space...!

Last night we made gingerbread men, using a recipe from a children's baking book Ben's Mum and Dad gave me for Christmas. I had to run off to choir so I left Ben to do the last batch in the oven. When I got home the kitchen was REALLY smoky and the last two gingerbread men (and one gingerbread blob) were burnt to a crisp!!! Very funny- and smelly. Ben reckons he left them for over an hour!!

Anyway! That's all for now. A picture of the new car is attached- mmmm!

Love Abby (and Oliver, who is now asleep on my lap!) x