Friday 14 August 2009

Home and Away Updates


First, an update from home. It's been a busy week at work, so my plan of quiet nights in front of the TV then early to bed haven't materialised. I was supposed to be on holiday yesterday (my delayed holiday from last week) but I had to work, but I have managed to have a day off today, pottering around in the garden. I'm treating myself to a night out tonight, I'm off to Henley with Anton & Simon, which will make a nice change. I'll still seperate the boys while I'm out, I'm happy for them to play around with each other when I'm nearby, but I don't want to take any chances with Mishka losing his cool when I'm out! Jackson loves it when I put the lead on Mishka for a walk, and it's not clear who's going to take Mishka out, me or Jackson:



As you can see though, Mishka takes it all in good humour.

On the away front, I've posted some more photos up in this album, this is where I'll put all new photos that Olga sends. Lara is getting better at going off to sleep now, and for the past two nights she's even slept in the cot rather than in bed with Olga, which is better for everyone. They went for a boat ride on Wednesday, they enjoyed themselves for the 40 minutes they were on board before they set off, then were bored after 5 minutes! Kids...




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Tuesday 11 August 2009

First Full Day on Holiday

Here are the first photos and video Olga has sent back from Cyprus. Contrary to the BBC weather forecast (heavy showers but hot) you can see the weather is typical Mediterranean in August, hot and blue skies.



That second photo, and this video, remind me of a photo I remember seeing from a holiday to Spain when I must have been a similar age to Lara, being led into the sea, and I don't think I was anywhere near as happy about it as Lara. Mum, can you confirm this!?!



Lara took some time to get off to sleep last night; the whole trip, and the new surroundings, were all a bit too exciting for her, plus she has to get used to only Olga being there, rather than both of us. As adults we'd take that for granted, but this is the first time Lara will have been in unfamiliar surroundings without both of us, and it doesn't help her get off to sleep. In the end she slept with Olga on a mattress on the floor last night, and mostly likely she'll do that again tonight. We reckon that in a couple of days she will have relaxed enough to sleep in the cot that our friends have provided. Once she's got off to sleep, she's fine and slept through last night as usual until 7.30 (OK, that would be 5.30 for her body clock!) when the room got light.
During the day she's been absolutely fine, and we were both pleased to see that she doesn't seem to be afraid of the sea. She did drink some seawater today, but I don't see how we can prevent her from doing that without physically restraining her when she's in the water! Any ideas, anyone!!?
Well, I can hear the boys playing downstairs, and it's time to put Jackson to bed, then myself!

Just the Boys at home now

Well, it's an all-male household now! Olga and Lara left for Cyprus yesterday morning.
Their flight from Heathrow was due to leave at 8.50am, so it was an early start for everyone, and we got there just after 7.30 (so nice when there's no traffic, it's only a 25 minute drive to Terminal 5), and everything was going smoothly. Olga had even managed to pack everything in one medium sized holdall, for which she deserves a medal. We nearly forgot the pram, but luckily I remebered when we were only 30 seconds from home. The trip would have been a lot more difficult without it!
On the way back to the office I passed a small crash on the M4, in the direction of Heathrow, and it had caused a 3 or 4 mile tailback, I was relieved we'd not decided to go that way to the airport, and I felt for anyone stuck in the queue who was going that way!
I was a lot more concerned when Olga's number popped up on an incoming call on my mobile at 10am! It turns out that their pilot aborted the take-off at the last second (the Captain's and 2nd Officer's respective speedos were showing different speeds as they headed down the runway!) and so they had to change to a new plane. All in all this caused a three and a half hour delay before they could take off again, not ideal preparation for a four and a half hour flight with a toddler. The silver lining to the cloud was that all this was happening during the morning, when Lara would be awake and playful anyway, rather than the middle of the night when all the fuss would keep her awake and grumpy. It also meant that she was very ready for a nap when the plane finally took off, and she slept for an hour en-route, so Olga could have a quiet glass of wine at least!
This leaves me at home to look after the boys. I don't mind admitting I was looking forward to getting home from work at 5.30 every day, sorting out food and walkies, then retiring to bed nice and early and catching up on sleep. Well, I got home from work at 7pm yesterday then had to go to the supermarket for more food for Jackson at 9pm, and tonight I got home at 8.45pm. Maybe tomorrow I'll get home at a sensible time... famous last words. I'm due to be on holiday from Thursday until Tuesday, but that just means I can do my jobs in the garden!
Jackson and Mishka are still getting on very well, and are playing more with each other than in the very early days. Terriers like a good game of "bitey-face", which is pretty self-explanatory, and it's funny to watch. When Mishka is standing up, Jackson has to take a run-up before he jumps high enough to land a nip on Mishka's whiskers. Mishka tolerates this for a while then just brushes Jackson away with a gentle swipe of his head. On our wooden floors this tends to send Jackson sliding a good two feet away before picks himself up.
Toilet training is an endless battle at the moment, but we knew to expect that, and there is improvement every day, but I still have to dodge the piles and puddles, armed constantly with a kitchen roll.
Jackson is a star though, he always seems happy, and he stopped crying at night way back on Thursday or Friday night last week, a sure sign he's settling in here. I took him down to Littlewick Green on Saturday for a while, with Lara, and he got much more attention than she did. I could have made a bit of cash if I'd charged for people to give him a cuddle. It's all good experience for him though, so he'll be a well socialised dog when he grows up.