Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

Sunday evening, lovely weekend under our belts, fire lit, SPOTY on the TV.... Must be time for present wrapping. Actually I'm writing this and Glenn is wrapping. Like many things we have a perfect division of labour; I buy the presents, he wraps and I write the labels. Slight problem that the girls know we are wrapping so despite it being gone 9pm they are still awake but given it's now Christmas holidays for them it won't hurt. I have a week to go and then my turn to break up for 2 weeks of R&R.... Can't wait! This week is not a bad one - few parties, few presentations and that will be the first 6 months done - how quickly has that flown by?!? It seems I write that every week but it's true - time does just seem to pass so fast, blink and it's gone. Amongst other things this weekend Abi and Izzy have yet again been walking their horse (aka an ever long suffering Scooby). To do this it's important to be safe so they have been plugging for hi-vis ves

It's the simplest things that make us happy. Today has been a day of lazy starts, raking up leaves, muddy winter walks with good friends followed by mince pies and then Sunday dinner, bath and bed. It was definitely a late start with Abi as our weekend alarm clock not waking up til 8am - very unusual. Obviously we are not then able to get up immediately as everyone wants a cuddle so it was nearly 9am before poor Scooby got out for a walk. Once upon a time I'd be horrified at this late start thinking it such a waste of time. Now it's the highlight of my week - everyone together making the most of time to lie in bed, chat and snuggle up together. Saturday has taken a new turn as after a period of watching the girls do their riding lessons, I decided to join in and have a go myself. Despite it being 25 years since I last sat on a horse I seemed to have retained at least the basics and so after a crash taster session last week on my own I've joined a small group of very

Phew, it's been a frantic birthday weekend and the girls have collapsed into bed exhausted. I think we may do the same! The weekend started on Friday morning with a very excited Abi and a very tearful Izzy. Not because Abi wasn't sharing or because she was upset she didn't have a birthday, she was just overwrought with the excitement at the end of a busy week. So, despite the periodic weeping they had a lovely start to the day of opening presents. Abi finally got her new wellies from Amanda, Alex and the boys and triumphantly turned to me to say "now I can come walking with you again Mummy!" About time - 2 weeks it's been since she vetoed all walking because I wouldn't allow her to have these before her birthday - stubborn child! Add to this new books, money and a big farm and farm animals - a very lucky and happy little girl set off to school proudly displaying her cake. This is clearly the signal for all the other children to rush up and wish you happy

Blink and it's Sunday evening again. Where did the week go, and more to the point where has this year gone? I was reflecting on 2014 yesterday. It's been a year of so much change. Starting with all that uncertainty of what might happen work wise, the stress of finding a new job, selecting the right job, balanced by the amazing opportunity to have 4 months of freedom from commuting, being in an office and being governed by a working week. I have so many highlights from that time - spending time in our new house, Glenn and I spending lots of time together, and in particular riding Mount Ventoux, being able to cycle and swim everyday, walking twice a day with Scoobs and of course being able to spend more time with Abi and Izzy. Also the creative challenge of planning our house, the satisfaction of making decisions and getting it all sorted, seeing it all completed within a year of moving in. Being able to do it in one go has resulted in a much better, more cohesive finish than w

The love-in continues and currently Izzy in particular wants to do nothing else but spend time with Abi. I won't complain, it's lovely to see them so close, I just wonder how long it will continue. I was listening to them in the bath together this evening - they were having so much fun, screaming with laughter as they played yet another game of make believe. This all said, goodness knows what the game was. When I came back into the bathroom after the normal mad pre-bedtime tidy up, Abi informed me that Izzy thinks she's half boy. Apparently on one side she's all girl 'long hair and wiggles' and the other side she's a boy 'with funny hair'. Without thinking I called her an hermaphrodite which prompted lots of questions - when will I learn?!? After me trying to find a relatively simple explanation Abi asked what you can do if you are born a girl and want to be a boy.... She concluded that if you have to make a choice you should wait until you're

So quickly it's time to go back to work / school / normality - bah humbug.  We've had a lovely week with lots of family visits and a jam packed week of activity. In fact today has been the first time in a week when we just stopped and did nothing. Izzy took full opportunity and fulfilled one of her life time ambitions.... an entire day in her PJs. Yes, I'm ashamed to say she didn't want to get dressed today, and we didn't make her. She even had a full Sunday roast at 5.30pm in her pyjamas - our standards have fallen to new depths! I asked the girls what was their favourite part of the week and  got the unanimous response of "Thursday riding!" - so much for all the people who made the effort to come and see us, the Halloween party I threw for them on Friday or the trip to London where we got VIP access to the front of the queue to see the Crown Jewels. Sorry everybody! Our trip to London was great fun even if it was an exercise in queuing from start t

Blink and a year has passed already in our house, I guess we can no longer call it the 'new' house now. I've been madly trying to get all the last bits and pieces sorted but failed at the last hurdle. We are missing a piece of beading and a kick plate adjustment from Chris (may be a while) and we are now on our second attempt at kitchen splash backs after the first didn't quite make the grade. Jo and Matt came to fit them and as soon as they put them onto the wall Glenn started to look uncomfortable. When Jo asked what was up he pointed out the Union Jack design was painted upside down - oops. Mere mortals wouldn't have noticed but to him it's all wrong so down they are coming and the new ones are on order. It was another indicator for me that if nothing else the past year has instilled more patience in me. A year ago I'd have been very frustrated but I've learnt that these little things are first world problems and it will all come good in due course.

This weekend we have mainly been relaxing and taking it easy. The weeks are so busy that I'm reluctant to do much more than kick back and make the most of what has been a wonderfully mild October. We've started our annual leaf collecting marathon, as ever adopting different approaches. For me raking leaves is a peaceful, cathartic process where I can immediately see the impact of my efforts. It has the advantage of being active and allows me to make the most of the garden as it starts to bed down for winter. Glenn takes a more motorised approach (surprise surprise!). He starts up either the blower or the leaf pig and attacks the leaves with force and noise - not so relaxing! Saturday mornings for the girls are given over to riding. Abi can't wait and is up and ready way before we are due to leave. Izzy is torn between the chance to go on a horse and the opportunity to spend more time in her PJs, preferably watching something on her iPad or doing some colouring. Given th

  We are at last after 6 months a skip free house - hooray! Goodness it feels like its taken an age to get here but its so good to finally feel like we are saying good bye to the various people, who seems ed to have been a permanent fixture in the house over the last months. The girls will miss them, part of the Sunday routine is to ask who will be in this week and whether they will be around after school so they can see them, but keep your kids occupied is a poor excuse for paying your builders to hang around for another few weeks so go they must! This week we have a new front door coming, the final bits and pieces of decorating and then I can safely say the interior of the house is finished, phew.  It's cost twice the original budget, but then we only originally set out to do less than half the house so that's not surprising. We've spent a huge amount but I can account for exactly where it's all gone and in retrospect we've been lucky that the only disaster

Sometimes the girls just melt my heart they are so thoughtful.   We were all snuggled up on the sofa watching SCD when Tess Daly announces that the general public will be invited onto the dance floor to experience Strictly in all its glory.   All you have to do is nominate someone who has helped to make other people’s lives better. Izzy said “we should nominate you Mummy”, to which I laughed and said, “I haven’t done anything special”.   Abi looked at me and said “But you make our lives better every day Mummy!”     She then followed this up later as I was putting her to bed by saying “Night Mummy, love you – you make my life special!” Cue happy tears. The days are drawing shorter and although we’ve been blessed with a fantastic Indian summer, it is definitely beginning to feel autumnal. I have to reconcile myself to the fact that the mornings are now pitch black when I get up, and soon it will be dark before I get home as well.   My diary is completely full until mid-Nov which

What a wonderful end to the summer. After a chilly August, September has been dry and mild, and today we've spent the whole day outside in shorts and t-shirts. We have had a few cold mornings but all in all no complaints on the weather front for once. Last weekend was the Royal Berkshire Show, a high spot in the girls calendar.  Even more so now that Abi is convinced she is to be a farmer and therefore needed to pick up some hints and tips before starting out in her grand enterprise! As ever we never see it all and this time we got stuck in one of the warm up paddocks watching the rustic show jumping and chatting to various people with horses. I tried on numerous occasions to get them to move on but they were in their element. As long as they are enjoying themselves I guess... We obviously had time to have the annual python photo - this time I was roped in - spot the slightly forced smile! Today was a proper family day - Kerrie and Tor came for Sunday lunch (eaten outside in

Poor Abi is full of flu and feeling very sorry for herself.   She spent yesterday wrapped up in a massive duvet, dressing gown, jumper and slippers feeling boiling hot to touch but shivering and complaining of the cold. I knew it had to be bad as she has lost her appetite - very unusual for her!   Of course this coincided with Glenn leaving very early to do an off-roading day so I was left trying to get everyone sorted so we could get Scooby out for a walk.   I could see we weren't going to make it far so decided to take him into the woods - all very well except he thought this was a game rather than a walk and didn't seem inclined to do anything! I gave up in the end and we all trudged back to the house, apart from the girls who drove back in their ride on tractor / ambulance. Abi then spent the day either under her duvet or snuggled up to Scooby - a perfect companion if you need a long cuddle!   Izzy took full advantage and settled down for a day on the i-player watchi

  Blink and you'll miss it - there goes another week and the start of another school year.   A very happy Abi and Izzy got dressed on Thursday morning to go back to school with that lovely combination of anticipation and excitement that I can still recall 25 years later.   Also happy to see the return to school is Glenn who has had the task of amusing them over the past 2 weeks while the house has been a no-go zone - not easy.   Abi now goes into 'proper' Junior School.   This means she's now expected to be more responsible and think about her own organisation.   I don't think this will be a huge problem given she is mini-Glenn, particularly with the threat of penalty cards if she doesn't come up to expected standards, but we'll see,   It's not easy being organised at the moment when the contents of our kitchen, the hub of the house, are spread across every room it seems! Izzy is looking forward to Year 2 and all of what Abi exper

Aghhhhh!!!!  This week we are mainly trying to live through the nightmare that is no kitchen - not fun. After everything else that we've had done in the house over the past 5 months you would think we would be immune to dust and upheaval, but nothing is quite like having a kitchen ripped out and trying to make do with the utility room and a few boxes of stuff scattered across every corner of our house.  Obviously while we stress about the world being out of kilter, Abi and Izzy are loving the random eating options this is presenting.  They have been allowed to eat in the front room, on the floor in the dining room, in my study, and in the playroom using their trip traps as tables. We may never return completely to normal again! The upside of this was a late arrangement to see Simon and Audrey for the weekend so we could break out from the 'cheese sandwiches for tea' rut we are stuck in. The sun shone, we played games on the lawn, swam and chatted - a very pleasant inter

After 5 fun packed days in Somerset a sense of quiet descended over the house.  We got back last night, put the girls to bed and then smiled to ourselves this morning as 7am passed, 8am... 8.30... Izzy finally came down looking a bit bleary-eyed at 8.53am, followed by Abi at 9.10 - a minor miracle for her!  They have had a ball over the past few days, playing in the river, helping Fifi and Grumps, spending lots of time with Ben and Laurie and (most importantly for Abi) catching up with the pigs!   We planned to do a number of touristy things while we were there which we achieved - we visited Dunster castle where the kids got to bang the dinner gong and hear all about Victorian kitchens, we went to Dunster Show where we spent a fortune on the funfair and Glenn taught the kids a thing or two about archery (popping the balloon in the end!), we had lunch at the seaside (well, looking out over the Bristol Channel - almost the seaside).  We also spent lots of time catching up with fami

  RM350 2-3 August 2014   What a weekend! After all that training and worrying, Glenn completed his epic 24 hours, 350 mile cycle ride, raising over a £1000 for the Core in the process. I'm so proud of him. We waved goodbye to Glenn on Saturday morning as the skies darkened and then watched with baited breath as the heavens to a rainstorm of biblical proportions.  We could only hope that it was a little drier in Southsea where he was starting his ride.  We had agreed that e would keep his phone switched off unless he was at a rest stop, so the news of how he was going was sporadic.  The girls were oblivious to my concerns - 350 miles is such a long way! So he rode from midday on Saturday through to about 4pm on Sunday - a total of 28 hours and 25 in the saddle - ouch!  Amazingly he felt fine on finishing and still on Monday, but the stiffness has now set in and there were a few yelps of pain now and then.  Funnily enough, he wasn't keen to get on the trampoline eithe

This week has definitely been an improvement on last when I was a bit doom and gloom, albeit every way I turn at the moment it's all a little more stressful than I would prefer.  Glenn has his big 350 mile ride next weekend so we are into the last minute panic / resignation of the fact that it's going to be long, boring and painful.  Having just checked the weather forecast it looks like it will also be wet - oh joy.  At least this time next weekend it will all be over (hopefully) and he can relax while soaking his bottom in a vat of recovery cream!  The next layer of stress is our house renovation which continues to crawl onwards, seemingingly one step forward and two back.  This week we got confirmation that the structural engineer (as now expected by everyone given the time that has passed) has messed up our RSJ calculations. On the plus side better to know now than when the house falls down, but its still a real pain and it means more mess, more making good and more time

I need to practise what I preach.  This week I have felt the full onslaught of being back at work and arrived at Friday feeling very tired and pretty negative about the whole back to work process. I spent the journey home on Friday night (on a hot hot train) wondering whether I've made a big mistake in my choices and generally talking myself into believing my own negativity.  I never expected it to be easy, particularly given the lovely break I've just had, but I'd forgotton how hard any transition is and as usual have set unrealistically high expectations of myself to just slip back into work with barely a ripple. Anyway, roll on two days, a bit of persepective and time with Glenn and the girls and I'm feeling much better.  Top tips for the next few months: 1. Accept that my diary is not my own for the time being but that it will come into line in due course. 2. Don't set my own expectations too high - I can only do what is feasible in the time I have so be

Back to work for week 4 tomorrow and I think I'm beginning to at least get a sense of where I'm going, if not yet what I should be doing.  So far the routine of getting there and back has been ok - a few late returns admittedly but nothing that's been too bad.  I'm forming some initial observations which I need to decide whether it's just the way it is or something I can / want to change.  In short I'm not dreading back to work on a Sunday evening so all must be ok.   I definitely underestimated just how tiring all this would be.  I keep telling myself it's not surprising and hence not to panic. I'm meeting new people every day (and I'm rubbish at remembering names), learning about new areas of the business and generally trying to work out priorities. All while also dealing with things at home which of course haven't changed just because I've gone back to work.  On the plus side the girls are enjoying me getting dressed up every day and

What a week - tonight's long awaited glass of wine is definitely deserved!  So after a long break it was finally back to work and the inevitable shock to the system of having to get up before 6am not one day but 5 days in a row - ouch! All in all its not been painful - just feels like its taken an age to make it through the week and I'll admit I'm glad to have chalked up my first week and got that initial apprehension out of the way. To add to the pressure I also had my first meeting as a member of the Oxford University Audit Committee (yes me, the person who went to Plymouth Poly!!).  I held my own and then some - guess some of the brain cells still there then. One of my biggest concerns was that everyone was going to miss me and that the transition was going to be difficult for Abi and Izzy. Hmmm. I'm not sure if I'm pleased or not to say that I've clearly done a great job in preparing them for my return to work as it seems like they've barely minded

After the luxury of being away for a few days it has been back to normal, with the now ever-present fact that I'm back to work next week. I'm trying to stay positive but I am naturally quite apprehensive, as well as just a tad tearful that the domestic bliss of the last few months is about to come to a resounding halt. I keep telling myself that it's the start of a new era and will have loads of exciting positives to look forward to. I'm also reminding myself that my brain will kick back in - eventually! - so not to be too hard on myself in the first few weeks.  It will be fine - everyone will adjust and we'll all continue to do the best we can to spend as much time together as possible. The girls are oblivious to all of this due to the long awaited arrival of the hobbit pod - their new playhouse. This arrived on Saturday afternoon in large sections, apparently suitable for construction in just 2 hours with the assistance of "2 strong people". Hmmm. Th

This week we have mostly been enjoying the South of France and the delights of Mont Ventoux. We planned this trip ages ago and I admit that I hadn't paid too much attention to exactly where we were going - more so on what we were doing. So when I found out that we would be driving almost to Marseille, I was a bit concerned.  The amazing thing about travelling without the kids though is just how much easier it is.  They are both brilliant travellers, but you still have to consider 2 little people, whether they need to stop, the need to amuse them and so on. With just the 2 of us it was a breeze and we flew down to Ventoux with few stops and fewer delays - perfect.  Even more perfect was the cycling - it was just lovely. We travelled on Thursday with plans to do Ventoux together on Friday (1912m of climbing at an average incline of 9.5%), a scenic ride on Saturday and then Glenn would attempt his 'Club des Cingles de Mont Ventoux'  (roughly translates to mad men of Ventou

This week has been full of champagne and celebrations as I had my new job confirmed - woo hoo! If I look back to Christmas I said that the perfect scenario would be to have some time off, get paid to the end of May and then walk into a fab new job at the start of the summer.  Lo and behold this is what has happened - perfect planning or just good luck- who knows but I'm very pleased.  What might have been even better could have been the opportunity to have the summer off with the family, but I'm ready to get stuck back into it and a longer break would have just made it even harder to go back so I think this is a good compromise. The girls are mixed in their response to the news I'm going back to work.  Both were really pleased and proud of me for getting through the partnership process and hearing I'd got the role.  I came back on Tuesday to a series of lovely 'well done Mummy' paintings which they had spent the afternoon doing.   On the other hand we all kn