What is this thing?

This photo of Joe reminded me of the to cot or not to cot debate. He didn't have a very close relationship with his (as you can see, it doesn't have that lived in look). When he was born my health visitor was quite dismissive of cots and the midwives were happy for him to be in my bed in hospital and we continued that at home. With Isaac I didn't give it much thought and he has always, very contentedly, slept in our bed. The official line now seems to be a bit different and my current midwife has already passed on the 'in a cot, feet to foot' advice. This article in the Guardian, and it's comments stream, shed a bit of much needed light.

sort out

The Lake District

My brother in Sri Lanka


I've been going through photos and trying to find an easy way to get them on my computer without a scanner (doubtful). In the meantime photographing them gives a nice border (although the quality and reflections not so good).

latest on the sock front

Recycling ideas

The glass had broken, but the frame on it's own makes a set of the pics blu-tacked to the wall.

The Search has already thrown up a (tumbledown) cottage which has us frantically viewing, phoning, swooning and fretting. Each evening we manage to sit down and convince ourselves of our ability to make sensible decisions and take calculated risks. This morning with renewed emotional distance I sorted out some of my drawers and came across this in a sketchbook from earlier in the year...



...who am I kidding?

b.Radwell?

When we first moved to Bedfordshire the most notable thing about Radwell was the fact that my Grandma's family had once lived here. Her Grandad was born in Radwell and a few generations before him had settled here. He, Frederick, was the 7th child in a family of eleven and it's not hard to imagine them all playing out on the (only) road in the village in the same way that Joe and Isaac do (fewer bikes).

Furnished with census returns for that period (thanks Dad) its possible to glean a few facts and guess at where they might have lived and what their days might have been like. The men were mostly Agricultural Labourers and the women Lacemakers, although Fred seems to have been the only one to leave a trail, turning up many years later as a Shoemaker in a neighbouring village. (The Agricultural Revolution playing a part methinks (hesitantly) and perhaps the others leaving trails in newly industrialised parts or even America - more research (and history lessons) required.)

Now, as we start our search for a more permanent place, I wonder whether this baby will be b.Radwell like it's Great, great, great Grandfather and about the very different micro social and economic reasons that might determine it, (then again, maybe Felmersham's just got a better pub!)

Untunable

The poor old piano has been signed off as untunable. We knew it was bad, but thought it might be rescuable. Decisions now as to whether to invest in a new one (we've been advised that good second hand ones are very hard to come by). It's a difficult one - our boys are really past the age where a formal learning programme that starts very simply is appropriate. Their interest lies in learning how to play the songs they like via tutorials on you-tube and is a bit intermittent at best. I'm a bit worried that my enthusiasm for a new piano is affected by the prospect of No.3 (no pressure babe!)

P.S Apologies for all the baby-thinking, now you know why I had to keep my mouth shut in Sept and Oct!

nice, colourful mess

Thrifty finds

(settee not lounger)

Who said Hoodies weren't cute?

Buzz words for 2009...Teenage...Pregnancy

...not the same person thankfully.



Baby number three is on it's way and, first things first,

...knitting has been done





(two -needle socks from Baby Knits for Beginners Debbie Bliss)...and enough of the cryptic clues!