Of course, the major event coming up will be the birth of our third child. Hayley is pretty big now and with less than ten weeks to go the countdown is really on. It will be no surprise to any of you that my calm, one dimensional personality is winding Hayley up like beyond belief. I think she honestly thinks that I haven’t noticed that she is pregnant and as the forthcoming birth is widely accepted as being my fault this makes it even worse for her to come to terms with. I had to chuckle today as Hayley explained to me, whilst we were in the frozen section of Sainsbury’s, that she is kept awake at night getting more and more wound up about me. I’m just expecting the scene from Misery to take place prior to Christmas, but don’t worry readers, I sleep with one eye open.
Hayley has been a star; I have mentioned a few weeks ago that I’ve started a new job, but as comes with a new job, I’ve been required to get trained up on the system that I’m due to become an expert on (god help them!). The problem is, my new company is global and therefore the training courses are seldom held in Ipswich, in Suffolk or rarely even in the UK. So for the past three weeks I’ve been in Amsterdam from Monday morning to Saturday evening, leaving a very pregnant Hayley to look after our active six year old and our four year old that needs a lot of help with the normal things. I have been surprised about how well Hayley has taken it; it’s not that she couldn’t deal with the situation, but it’s still ruddy hard work that could cause varying degrees of stress. Yet, every evening and lunchtime when I called, Hayley was very upbeat and almost mellow. I’d have been clawing at the windows.
I’m back now and making a right mess of the house. Firstly, our shower, has sprung a leak through the dodgy Persimmon homes workmanship (honestly, this isn’t defamation, every thing that could leak in this house, has leaked). Then, we buy a new tap for the kitchen sink. My word, what a pickle! So, I fix the tap to the kitchen top and arrange all of the pipes in the right place, but just as the time ticks past closing at Homebase, I realise that the connections are different, meaning no working tap and no water until tomorrow morning. It would be OK, but we can’t even flush the toilets; the mind must boggle.
Camille is still doing really well and looking like a really big girl now. We don’t think that she has really grown hardly at all, but I think it is just that degree of maturity that they get when they start school. The diet of Milky Bar yoghurts is certainly not the mainstay of a nutritious diet to support strong bones and the occasional growth spurt, so we’ve got a supplement powder from the doctors to help fill in the gaps. Camille is like a sniffer dog and any sign of powder entering her vicinity and she sings like a canary. So, Hayley and I have to take her yoghurts or water around the corner and sneakily stir in small amounts of the powder hoping that the first taste will not reveal a strange lingering powdery taste in Camille’s mouth. It’s working, just, but it’s still Milky Bar yoghurt and they are still made of a whole bunch of crap that makes my eyes water.
With Halloween just a day away, the girls got to go to a Halloween party at the weekend. Hayley and I are not the most creative individuals in the world, so we decided that a purchased costume would be the best idea for them. Lucia plumped for the modest, yet very Lucia, cat costume. Camille could only ever be a Pumpkin, including the snug fitting hat with stalk. The girls will make good use of the costumes as they hit the pavement tomorrow night knocking at more doors than an MP looking for re-election. Hayley and I will probably just go round to the houses who we know won’t point a shotgun at us. If I’m honest, I hate Trick or Treating, probably even more than going to the zoo, but I can’t turn into a grouch just yet, my father was at least fifty before he became intolerant of all children’s activities (sorry dad, it’s true though isn’t it?).
So, the girls have posted their Christmas list to Santa and the run up to Christmas has well and truly started. Of course Hayley has done the hard work, so I’m going to pay for that by doing all of the donkey work, such as wrapping, moving, hiding and deceiving. I am pretty good at three of the four so hopefully it will be a rip roaring success.
Hayley’s coffee mornings for Camille’s Appeal went down a storm and about one thousand pounds was raised which is a great effort from all who participated. There will be another one next year, so if you can make a cuppa or back a cake, join in and raise some good hard cash. Following on from that, we’re now building up for the Christmas Ball that takes place on 9th December. We’re selling tables now so if you’re interested please let us know. Last year we had some amazing items that were auctioned and raffled to our guests and like always we are looking to raise some good hard cash for the appeal. Oh yeah, my JustGiving page for the London Marathon is feeling a bit unloved this week, www.justgiving.com/martinshave2012.