MudPud Camp

Saturday
We didn't have any trouble persuading Charlie out of bed today - the anticipation of camp was too much to bear! We set off at 11am and made good progress until we hit the M40/M25 interchange - lots of traffic jams for no apparent reasons. After a stop at the services on the M25 for lunch, a bit of football viewing (Bev only) and petrol we were back on the road and away.

Charlie was a star as usual for the entire journey, listening to Pure Dead Magic on his iPod and we eventually arrived just after 4pm.

After unpacking everything and being rather surprised at how easily the static swallowed all the stuff we had bought with us, we decided to try and find the camping field and see who else had arrived. Charlie played with some of the little ones in a self styled sand pit (dry mud pit).

As we were leaving the camping field to go and get some dinner Charlie fell over and cut his knee rather badly but wouldn't let either of us near him, so we struggled back up to the static listening to the screaming ab dabs!

We were so tired that we couldn't be bothered to go out for dinner so we just got some fish and chips on site. Charlie then persuaded us to go into Sparky's but he didn't like the noise level so we left pretty quickly and went back to the static and put Charlie to bed and we followed shortly.

Sunday
We all slept pretty well although it was *really* *really* hot all night even with the windows open, so we were all up by 8.30 for breakfast.

We set off for Lowestoft at 10am and had a mooch around for a bit, including looking for a new camera for Charlie and buying Bev some new clothes. We were back in the static at lunch time and after sandwiches and cake we all chilled out for a bit and read as it was so hot.

At 2.00 we set off for the beach where everyone was due to meet for sandcastle building. Charlie was really taken with Ady, as he always is with men who are willing to talk to him. Charlie had a fab time and was really thrilled to see Fran again and played with her for ages trying to build a huge wall around the sandcastles. He also played with Maddy a bit but got rather upset when the wall kept getting destroyed!
He also did a serious amount of paddling and enjoyed splashing with some of the others. Bev got serious ganged up on by some of the kids who were determined to drench her!




We walked back to the camping field with the puddles and Charlie disappeared into their tent with Fran. We had to break up their playing after a bit as it was time for dinner at Pizza Hut as we still hadn't done any shopping! A quick play at the playground and then we went into Sparky's. This was our first proper look at what went on there and Bev and I both taken aback at how adult some of the jokes were and the general madness of the whole Sparky thing. After only a few minutes I decided that I needed vodka (I never drink!)so I retreated to the bar and got much needed drinks.

Charlie sat down with Fran to watch the Sparky thing and they danced together too. At one point they were sat down swaying together to a slow song - very sweet. We were back in the static around 9.30 and did Charlie's scalp oil and let him read until 10pm.

Monday
Another really hot night meant I was awake and up by 8.30, those statics really hold the heat until it gets cold that is. After we'd all had breakfast and showers we wandered down to the camping field and spent some time chatting before going to tie-dye Charlie's t"shirt. Kath and her hubby did a fab job with this activity, I couldn't get any photos of it being done and Bev and I had to do Charlie's for him but we got a picture of the finished article. We were surprised how easy it was once it had been explained and Charlie chose his colours.

After we had finished we went back to the static and hung the t"shirt up to dry and then went out for lunch at Livingstone's which was absolutely yummy. We had planned to go back for dinner another night, but never quite made it.

It was still really hot when we got back to the static so we chilled out and read whilst Bev went for a walk. Charlie and I were too tired from the heat to walk anywhere! When she got back we wandered down to the camping field again and sat with the others still doing their tie dye so that Charlie could play with Fran (again!). After dinner Charlie went to the playground and then somehow persuaded (dragged?) us back to Sparky's.





Charlie had a fab time dancing the night away and somehow once the rest had gone I managed to get myself dragged into some parent and child dancing competition and won. My prize? A park resorts "winners" mug! Less said about that the better I think.

Tuesday
A later start for us all this morning - all that dancing the night before was exhausting.

This mornings activity was plaster of paris models and Charlie decided to make a mountain range scene. He really enjoyed this and playing with Fran, Maddy and Claudia afterwards. He made me a lovely bead bracelet too.







We went off to Morrisons and as well as food got Charlie boules, catch ball, disposable camera and paper and crayons - he chose wax for some reason. After lunch Charlie was really tired and lay down for a bit - almost dropping off several times. He read for a while and also did some drawing.

Then it was time for kite making which he really loved and after going back to the static he played with Abi and Becca.



I didn't feel up to the BBQ so we had dinner and after Charlie washed up we went for a walk.



There was a really bizarre moment when we saw a peacock in the front garden of a house which nearly caused a learner motorcyclist to crash.



Charlie had a huge paddy when we got back to the static and eventually fell asleep at 9.15 in our bed.




Wednesday
I woke up at 7.45 after a really bad nights sleep due to the heavy rain which sounded incredibly loud on the static roof. After I showered and dressed I woke Bev and Charlie up at 8.45 so we weren't late for Africa Alive. Charlie was very reluctant to get up.

After breakfast the static was suddenly surrounded by loads of ducks so Charlie gave them some bread.



We got to Africa Alive on time and duly handed our money over to Nic. We checked out the lions, rhino, hyenas otters and meerkats and listened to the otter and meerkat feeding talks.





At 11.15 it was time for our animal encounter. Charlie absolutely loved this and it certainly seemed like all the other children did too. They all got too meet and hold or stroke a giant african land snail, cockroach, 2 rats and a snake.



The lady doing the talk was really fab and we really enjoyed this. After lunch we saw more animals, funny goat like thingies, reject chimps, tortoises etc. Bev and Charlie tried to feed the goats but they kept eating it straight out of the machine.





Charlie bought a literacy pack from the Discovery Centre and a dolphin ornament and aqua clock in the gift shop. After we left Africa Alive we went into Lowestoft as I needed a new memory card for the camera.

After dinner it was back to Sparkys AGAIN for more dancing and bizare game playing before bed.

Thursday
I had a huge lie in today as I was exhausted after a difficult nights sleep, first it was freezing and then boiling - couldn't win! We lazed around reading until 11.00 ish and then went swimming. Alison was there with her youngest three and kindly lent Charlie one of their swimming rings. Charlie loved the pool, he hasn't been swimming for yonks, and we all rather liked how warm the baby pool was which we lounged in for a minute or so as Charlie was too young for the jacuzzi.

After lunch Charlie played with Abi, Becca and Lottie and managed to fall and scrap his other knee and elbow - he looks a right sight covered in plasters now. After dinner it was time to go down to the camping field for the cabaret. When we reached the puddles tent, Charlie popped his head round their tent opening and announced " hello muddle puddles" in a very broad yorkshire accent. Fran, Maddy and Amelie excitedly told me what they were planning on doing in the cabaret and we chatted about the Little Mermaid. Their faces when we told them we had met Ariel in Disney World were a picture!

The cabaret was quite impressive and there are some really talented MP'ers out there.







I tried hard to get photos of everyone performing but failed miserably due to not being close enough most of the time which meant with my lens good photos weren't always possible - next year I will have my zoom lens hopefully and will do better!

After the cabaret we headed back and Charlie played on the swings for a while with A,B and L before getting back to the static and falling asleep in an exhausted slump.

Friday
After waking after yet another terrible nights sleep due to the mattress and me feeling decidedly unwell due to an oncoming mirgraine we decided that we would go home today rather than tomorrow. So we packed and checked the static and were on our way by 11am. An awful journey meant we didn't get home until just after 5pm.

Back from MudPud Camp

We actually came home yesterday rather than today, mainly due to an impeding migraine and my back not being able to tolerate the bed in the static for another night. Total journey from hell, took 6 hours in the end, with several of those sat on the A14 outside Cambridge. I promptly threw up when we eventually got in the house, but feeling fine now.

Just starting to Flickr all the photos I took and will blog a camp report next.

Another early start today, in order to get last minute stuff done before leaving for camp.

Yesterday was a nice quiet day - I'm getting quite used to having Friday's off now - that's two in a row! Charlie and I dropped Bev at work and then went into town for some last minute holiday shopping. Got three new tops and some shampoo and Charlie drew his pocket money out of his bank account.

Took him to the boatyard shop and he bought three keyrings including one which is a compass and another which is a mini telescope. He loves that shop and looking at all the boat building and maintenance supplies.

Come home and did about 6 loads of washing and drying so I could finish off the packing and make sure the laundry basket was empty. Spent several very frustrating hours try to upload and burn Pure Dead Magic to Charlie's iPod. Got there in the end on the fourth attempt by figuring out I needed to re-number the last 3 cd's worth of tracks so they ran concurrently.

We went over to my parents and Charlie was lucky enough to be given some holiday spending money. Dad is starting a photography club and we've got a pro joining us apparently - should be interesting. What's better is that it's a female pro.

Come home for Big Brother - genius tv - Get Grace Out indeed! That was my favourite part of the night - oh and seeing her cry - someone should tell her about karma.......

Charlie has been utterly, utterly obnoxious this morning so am seriously considering leaving him behind and coming to Kessingland without him. It is very tempting. We had the sobby, crying, hormonal bit on Thursday and now we have the rude, nasty, cheeky, obnoxious bit today.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm really not liking the 8's?

Best way to empty the freezer before going to HE camp? Banana, strwaberry and mango milkshakes of course! Especially yummy when made with honeycomb ice-cream. Best thing Bev has ever made.

Had post from Kessingland this morning - registration form, park leaflet and a letter offering me various upgrades and the possibility of adding an extra night on for £15. Tempted to call and enquire about Friday night as I need this break badly after the serious biz stress of the last 6 days!

Very quiet day today - stupid birds woke me at stupid-o-clock again which I wasn't impressed with but Charlie managed to sleep in until 9am and seemed to have shifted his headache.

He did SL, reading and miquon whilst I worked and chose to read a couple of greek myths out loud to me. He's still really enjoying this book - today was Midas and ermm a few others that I can't remember at the moment.

After a very stressy 4 business days I was placated somewhat by my lovely pr lady - she's so calming, and its good to have someone to chat to that understands the stress involved when people don't deliver as they're supposed too and suddenly you have hours and hours of extra work to fit in before Friday! Anyway, press releases will be sent in the morning and the web ones will go when we get back from camp.

I was quite excited to ring the fertility clinic this morning and get the ball rolling for my 6th lot of treatment. So off for blood tests on Wednesday and to pick up the pill too. Bit of a major problem with donor sperm though - there is a massive, huge nationwide shortage so my clinic has applied to the hideous HFEA for a license to import sperm from the States. They are hoping to hear at the end of the month whether they've been sucessful or not. If they haven't then it's likely that my treatment will be delayed a bit, which makes me nervous as the nurse couldn't say how long that might be.

Anyway, the nurse is currently searching for a recipient to match me up with as I'm donating half my eggs again.

Feels weird to be back to all this after a year - I thought it would never come around again, and still so far to go - at least another 14 weeks before I find out if it's all been sucessful - such a long process IVF sometimes. Charlie is besides himself with premature excitement again.

Quiet day today after all that sun exposure and exercise yesterday. Nice lie in as usual and as always fab bacon sarnies via the wife.

Having persuaded Charlie to eventually get teeth done and dressed we set off for the shops. Picked up some nice munchies ready for Kessingland, but couldn't get enough soya milk for Charlie for both this and next week so will have to go back on Friday.

Come home and after lunch Charlie made some more models from Fimo - a rather fab turtle for me and a pencil topper for granny and grandad. He's spent ages on the turtle, he crafted a body and then actually made a separate shell to go over it which seriously impressed me. Will blog photos later. He also made a lake with a fish in for my aligator. We baked that and my aligator from yesterday.

He had a little panic after dinner as he thought he might have killed his many neopets as he hasn't fed them for a couple of weeks.

He rode his bike around the development for 45 minutes this afternoon as well. He came back a bit sad that he could hear children in one of the gardens but no-one came out to play in the communal spaces.

Think he's a bit poorly as he's been headachey all evening and dizzy too, plus lots of drink requests this evening - hope its nothing too serious - can't remember the last time he was actually ill.

Yesterday

We were up earlyish for us for a Saturday morning but after the usual go-slow attitude of the monkey when it comes to getting dressed and doing teeth it was 10.45 before we left the house to go here. After a short detour for petrol we arrived just in time for lunch.



We enjoyed a rather delicious ice cream - sorbet in Charlie's case because of the dairy thing and then wandered round looking at the animals.

This sheep loved Charlie and kept following him after he stroked him. Charlie kept apologising for not being allowed to give it any of his sorbet!



Charlie had a fab time in the playground



and then we went for a mooch around the garden centre part and the craft shop. It was really hot in the garden centre so we didn't stay long as we all began to feel ill in there but I got a chance to have a look at some stock (as they had gifty type section) I am considering which was good.

We had planned on going to the magic maize maze but unfortunately it doesn't open until July - looks fantastic and will have a playground, trampolines and other stuff in there too. So we decided to go and brave the pick your own.



I'd forgotten how good strawberries taste after years of eating supermarket ones! Charlie and Bev picked two good punnets full - I couldn't manage it because of the bending involved so I stood in the breeze and tried not to burn!



We then endured the tractor/trailer ride back



A quick mooch around the fab farm shop, paid for our strawberries and then had a much needed drink (and in Bev and Charlie's case a cake too) and we went home. It was really fab here, and best of all free, loads of space for kids to run around, although not much shade. I was really shocked at the number of children with no hats on though - there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was beating down.

When we got home Charlie decided to get the fimo out. He originally wanted to make a plant with flowers on but decided to make me an aligator (called Ali) and a smiley face for Bev.



Dinner outside followed and then a trip to Sainsburys for some dairy free ice-cream for Charlie and ordinary stuff for B and I.

Lovely Day

Charlie decided that he wanted to go the farmers market so after we dropped Bev off at work we carried on into town. Despite having told him to go to the toilet before we left the house, the first thing he said after we'd got the parking ticket was I need a wee!! So a detour into the shopping centre was necessary.

He asked to go into Ottakars predictably and spent some time browsing as usual. He chose thisto be put onto his ipod for the journey to camp next weekend and this for reading at camp too.

I picked up 3 books on their 3 for 2 offer, this
this and this The middle of which I am particularly looking forward to reading at camp. I hear the day care in the camping fields is particularly good :P

The farmers market was good and we got some 3 fruit marmalade and Charlie chose some veggie pasties for lunch with a rather large eccles cake too.

We found an antique//rare bookshop which Charlie loved.

Then we went home for lunch.

After lunch we went to my parents house to sort their post and Charlie then played in the garden whilst I started the scrapbook for my dad for fathers day.

An interesting visit to the office followed when Charlie turned off the server and no-one left in the office had high enough authority to know the password when we finally managed to switch the damn thing back on. So now I'll be so dead when my mother returns.

Lovely homemade pizza and salad for dinner and Charlie is reading before bed.

Well the day got slightly better after my earlier blog and Charlie and I had a chat. He merrily read two chapters of SOTW and did some map work and then a page of miquon too whilst I worked really hard at getting my files finished.

Bev came home and we had lunch and then I got on with more files whilst Charlie played Sonic on the PS2 and read various atlases and animal encyclopedias.

I worked on and had a very encouraging e-mail from the pr agent about the new tag line and placed an order for some more babylegs as we ran out about ten days ago and it was the first chance I got after picking the newly released colours at the Baby Show.

Charlie settled down in front of the radio at 3pm for his daily does of Little and Big Toe, with his SOTW colouring and did himself proud finishing 4 sheets!

I did myself proud by finishing all my files which means Charlie and I can have the car tomorrow once we've taken Bev to work and can actually go OUT on a week day!!!

Not sure where we'll be going though, ideas so far have been Warwick Castle, Farmer Grows, Coral Reef, the beach ( not going to happen as I need to be in the office at 4pm!) and various other places.

I finished the day by doing the accounts filing zzzzzz, wrapping some orders, updating QB, updating our price list, and negotiating a rather generous discount with a supplier which I was ordinately pleased with as it seems so unfair that independent sellers are usualy barred from this kind of thing that is the realm of the high street guys.

Charlie is having kittens waiting for the Tip to arrive - we love this stuff and were so pleased to have found the supplier several months ago but ahmmm and ahhhed over selling it. We were introduced to it at home ed group where we used to live back in 2004 and Charlie has loads of models he made with it scattered around his room.

Not a good start to the day - only 10am and we've had a major meltdown and he's wailing in his room. I'm so sick of the rudeness and the teenage attitude, I really dislike 8 year olds.

Early start to today for me, up and working at 8.30. I've been waking up really early the last week, not sure why. Bev kindly bought me tea and toast to my desk so I didn't have to stop working and I worked solidly through to 11.30 and finished all my files minus the one that I couldn't do and is therefore sat on the query shelf.

Meanwhile, Charlie read a couple of chapters of SOTW about the Greeks and then did one of the SOTW worksheets - a Greek god wordsearch and then did a page of Miquon whilst I showered and dressed.

Then Bev came home and we had lunch.

After lunch I went to the office and picked up some more files. Spent a pleasant 40 minutes chatting to colleauges - always a novely for me to talk to grown ups during the week.

Came back and packed up a couple of orders, wrote a long reply to the pr agent's e-mail, did some more work and phoned the web designer.

Charlie put on Little and Big Toe and did some of the SOTW colouring sheets and also listened to Big Toe. This as a good way of getting him motivated and to stay in one place and actually do something! He enjoyed the cleared coffee table for him to work on, so we're considering buying a larger coffee table to keep in the sitting room where the dining room table was for him to spread out on when he's listening to the radio. He uses the desk in his room for non "work" stuff and the packing table in my study when I'm upstairs working and the dining room table when I'm downstairs working. Thinking of something like this
as we like the idea of having some of his bits and bobs in baskets in the cubby holes.

We had a lovely walk at the lakes after dinner - coldn't find any of the ducklings though which was disturbing as the mummies have lost so many already.

Predictably the recycling centre was the epitome of bank holiday hell this morning. Second worst thing about being in business is the amount of huge cardboard boxes you end up that can't be reused for customer orders! Still we ridded the garage of ten million boxes and even managed to fit a small filing cabinet in.

We had planned to continue on into Bicester to go swimming but really bizarely the leisure centre was closed! Whats that about? Everywhere else I lived (Bucks, Herts and Glos/Avon) have kept theirs open on a bank holiday - talk about throwing away money! I rang the Banbury one too and that was also closed.

So we decided to pop over to the restaurant opposite the Designer village and had a rather nice lunch before returning home.

Charlie decided to play Sonic Heros on his playstation and didn't reappear for several house so Bev and I took advantage of that and finished sorting the stock room. All the stock boxes are now labelled with the relevant stock codes on the outside so it's easy to see where everything is and so that my parents can't make any mistakes if/when they pack any orders!

We also packed several orders - bank holidays can be strange. The first one this year we didn't sell anything but the last two have been busy. Those disney princesses certainly go down well.

I had a lovely lie in this morning listening to Bev and Charlie having lovely conversations in his room whilst B dismantled the filing cabinet. They ranged from how funny it would be if we arrived at Kessingland and there were no statics left I was shown to a tent (NOT even remotely amusing!!) and Charlie would enjoy seeing me freak out and packing to go home, to something or other to do with micro climates.

Plan for tomorrow is back to normals and I must contact the Sailing Club we found in Banbury as Charlie is desperate to start. Need to find a swimming teacher to hire here as none of the leisure centre do private lessons which is frustrating. Might also try and pop into town to the craft shop to pick up some scrapbooking supplies as Charlie wants to have a go.

He's also keen to do both Illustration Friday and Photo Friday this week and I've also promised to try and find a painting/drawing class for him too.

Charlie is sat downstairs listening to Big Toe and rather enjoying it, it's been a while since he's had it on. All normals done today except maths, which for some reason seems to have been missed out. Yesterday he did normals plus some Getty Dubay and also a page from a Horrid Histories Greek Activity book.

He is really loving reading the Greek myths and declared yesterday that Heracles is his favourite but also really enjoyed Jason today.

Had a respite from work today until about an hour ago so got to do some more work on the website, phone a couple of suppliers - one really nice and one who isn't. Then Charlie helped me tidy up the stock room and we finally got the Selecta stock out of its box downstairs and into stock boxes in the stock room. We bought several more storage boxes yesterday and already they are filled up! Considering we are waiting on three more deliveries I'm not amused.

Bev's mum fell downstairs yesterday and is in hospital. They're hopefully discharging her tomorrow so Bev is going down to Devon in the morning to see her. Charlie is thrilled at the prospect of a night of co-sleeping tomorrow.

Who's bright idea was it to start (again) an online business?! My eye's are so crossed after spending every night from 6-11pm in uploading stock to the website, for the last two weeks solid, I'm beginning to hate wooden toys and soft ones too, and I STILL haven't finished! Still waiting for some suppliers to send CD's of images and still waiting for one box of stock to arrive. I don't think of people's names anymore, they're just a SKU number and price to me.......!!

Only 19 more days left to get it all finished as well - which idiot decided to go to camp 9 days before her e-commerce site went live?!!

Anyway, education wise, Charlie has been pretty focussed this week, maybe having less hair weighing on his head helps.

Back on track with SL and he's really enjoying Greeks - I knew he would. For a change he's reading the read alouds to me rather than to himself as atm its Usborne Greek Myths He's loving it and I'm enjoying some of my favourite stories too. The only thing that's slightly frustrating is that I'm sure they are using some of the Roman rather than Greek names and it's bugging me.

Maths - dare I say it - is coming along nicely. He has had a definite leap in ability this year, although I suspect he is behind his age peers but I don't care - there's a good reason the calculator was invented. He still has a monumental female teenage sob when he opens his workbook and sees some of the sums - especially if they aren't written in a straight forward manner - which being Miquon, they're frequently not. But once he calms down (takes some time) and is helped, he can easily do most of them. He quite likes division now but gets mega stressed by sums like ?=6/2+5*15 but he can do those with ease now. Me, I just look at them and cry and happily yell for Mummy 2 to come and hand out assistance.

The Hair Thang

Deep breaths!

This is the most recent photo of Charlie before he attacked his hair, (March this year) just to give an idea of length before hand.



This is what he did!! He did not want this taken, hence the blur!



This is what the hairdresser did - again he didn't want the pic taken - he hates it!



Lesson learnt now.

Stupid, stupid Flickr! Doesn't recognise my e-mail addy so won't let me sign in. Wanted to upload my day in pictures and hair disaster pics so have merged with my yapoo account instead. Just waiting for the upload now.

Thanks Jax.

Most of the last three days have disappeared into a mish mash of work, work (and today has been particularly stressful ensuring that I've spent all day dreaming of a day when I'm no longer employed!) and yet more work but we managed to leave the house today with my parents for the Venture viewing. Some really gorgeous photos and my parents managed to spend a disgraceful amount on prints, one for them of the family, one for my brother of him and Charlie (really lovely) and one for me of Charlie and I. I was fully expecting to have to pay for mine myself and therefore went armed with my credit card but my delightful parents treated me to a much upgraded option.

Charlie got rather upset at seeing all the pics of him "with" his hair - he *definitely* won't be cutting it himself again!

We've been finishing up on Egypt with Sonlight and SOTW so have done about 6 weeks of work in the last three days and Charlie is looking forward to moving on to Greeks next week. He's still Egyptian mad though.

He's loving the Hobbit and I love seeing him enjoying a book I loved too at around the same age. I've had such a kick over the last 3 years of seeing him read so many of my old books. It's strange that our reading ages are/were identical compared with our chronological age, at least he has inherited something from me. He has his father's obsessive love of nature and cartology, that's for sure.

Spurred on by a series of very late nights - it was 1am before he went to sleep on Monday and 12.30 last night, we tried a new strategy which encompassed a warm bath with candle light and muumy 2 reading him poems at his request! Bribed him into staying in bed with promises of considering a double loft bed for him (really just a cunning plan to gain more space his room - sounds odd when he has the largest bedroom!) Seems to have worked though - he hasn't reappeared since I tucked him in at 8.45.

Had slightly panicked thoughts this evening when I realised that only 6 months after moving into a new house we've seriously outgrown it already due to starting the business and loosing a bedroom to a stock room. No idea how we'll remedy this, we had a discussion about having to chest of drawers in the sitting room if we ever manage to get pregnant again.

We're off to the Baby Show at the NEC on Saturday with our free trade tickets, checking it out with the intention of exhibiting there next year and probably at their show in London too. Hoping to chat to some suppliers too.

We need to get our plants and pear tree planted this weekend too - well Bev does whilst I give helpful tips from the sitting room :)

PMSL

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Only 15 months on from the terrible diseaster with Charlie's hair there's been another one! But this time it wasn't me!

Over the last week he has been asking for his hair to be trimmed out of his eyes as he is "sick of being a one-eyed cyclops". Despite being surprised as he hates having his hair cut, I've been telling him we'll get it sorted this weekend.

Bearing in mind it's Friday night, about 2 hours ago he yelled down that he'd decided to save us some money and cut it himself. Bev and I just looked at each other in horror. He came downstairs and I nearly died. Front and sides short and the back still long - pmsl. He looks bizarre and now there will be tears tomorrow as it will have to cut short to even it up.

Sigh.

Back to normals

Charlie had yet another lie-in today, deigning to rise around 10.30 again. Predictably he is still awake right now singing "wimba-way" or something equally irritating.

He managed a page of Miquon today too after a bit of a fuss. But as for the rest of the week as well as the rest of today he's spent his time reading. Current book is The Hobbit and for a while he was reading The Philosophers Stone too but he finished that off yesterday.

Work's been really busy this week again, although I managed to finish by 3 this afternoon which gave me some time to collate some product images for print to send to Antonia.

There's been lots of deep thought and talking over the last week or so, owing mainly to the relevation that the company I work for may very well be sold at the end of the year. Nothing's definite but despite the massive loss of income it will mean, I am really looking forward to the possibility of not having to work for someone else ever again and being able to concentrate on the business and Charlie. The money stuff is really scary as I'm the so called bread winner, and my salary will be a huge loss as Bev only works part time but with any luck it should all work out.

Had to consider whether it was still sensible to go through with my next ICSI cycle in July, but it seems stupid not to keep trying whilst I still have the money in the bank, plus I can't even begin to imagine giving up on having another child. This might be the last egg share cycle I'm allowed (as it's my third) so we decided to just go for it and this time if I'm lucky enough to get enough embryos to freeze again I will keep them this time as that gives me at least another try on top of that as a FET cycle.

Starting to get quite excited about camp now, as is Charlie. Still nervous about being in a static as I have no idea what to expect of one. Charlie is besides himself at the idea of actually having other children to talk to and play with, bless him - especially Fran as she's so pretty and kind apparently!

Also it's exciting as the site launches 2 days after camp ends - so seems close now.

Catching Up again

Charlie had a wonderful time in Yorkshire by all accounts - lots of walking and hill climbing. He's been utterly exhausted ever since he came back, totally flaking out at bed time.

Before he came back on Monday Bev and I mooched over to Bicester Village for a browse. As usual Charlie ended up with more clothes (Ralph Lauren) and we ended up with nothing. I do love those discount outlets though and both the tops we got were also in the sale so even better. No way would I pay £90 for a RL jumper (ready for next winter) but at the reduced price it was more amenable.

We had brunch whilst we were there which was delicious.

I've been so busy with work and the buisness all week and Charlie's been exhausted so has only done maths workbooks once but we've all been enjoying daily strolls round the Lakes each evening after dinner. The ducklings are so cute and incredibly tame, coming out of the water most days and right up to you. The Lakes are beautiful at this time of year.

Charlie spent all day in the garden today once he'd got up.

I was at the hospital again this afternoon, this time for my ENT appointment having a telescope shoved up my nose, that was bad but the anaethestic spray was far worse. Between the taste, the retching and the suffocating feeling I was not impressed. The stupid registrar didn't even tell me what it was until after she had finished! Anyway I have a polyp in one side but she said that doesn't explain all my symptoms and as its unusual to only have them one side I need a CT scan to look at a sinus further in my skull or something.

I'm going to be peeing bright green stuff soon with all this radiation - I've already had one CT, three sets of x-rays this year and now I'm waiting for another CT plus an MRI for my knees. Then there's all the internal ultrasounds in August for the IVF. I did tell her about that and she said the CT appointment would come in a month or less.

Popped into town afterwards to grab my dad a birthday present and treated Bev to some new togs too. Got home and had dinner then round to my parents to see my dad. Also went for a lovely walk around the lakes - gorgeous evening and cute ducklings as always.