Friday 30 August 2013

The rest of the summer....

We have had a busy time of it this summer - getting used to being a family and making the most of this glorious weather - for once said with absolute sincerity! Noah continues to surprise and amaze us with his ability to simply go with the flow - camping one minute and spa-ing it up the next and then sleeping in a tent indoors in yet another strange place to top it all off! We are incredibly lucky, and whilst I can quite clearly see just how capable he is of throwing an almighty tantrum, I think we will cope!

Thedden camping with the gang - an interesting experience which would have been completely uneventful had I not woken Noah in the early hours of the morning in an attempt to go to the loo - yes, could have done without that hour of an overly excited child shouting "hiya" and waking the rest of the gang up!! You can see by the wheelbarrow transport that we had all the essentials for the evening!


Early evening socialising



The boys on their way to breakfast

Me trying to recover from a broken nights sleep!

But all was not lost as we were installed at Peterstone Court soon after and enjoying awesome food, hot stone massage, cocktails and the countryside! Noah was a hit with the staff and was fed far too many hand-baked cookies!!









Because we hadn't exposed Noah to enough different places already (!) we then headed to Glastonbury to stay with Ivan's (Mr bicknell's) Dad. Yet more nice weather allowed us to frolic in the Abbey grounds and to feed the ducks, although cousin Max taught Noah to eat the duck bread himself rather than share it!


Max still can't get that ball!!!

It was all too much for Grandpa Renchi!!!



Eventually however it was he who managed to convince the greedoids to share their bounty with the birds!!!

The Abbey

Noah did earn his keep though by sweeping up!

This week young Mr Bicknell has mostly been spoiled....

A new wheelybug to get from A to B(ee)


A new push along giraffe

His own "scratch" cat - this one keeps still and doesn't mind being pulled about!


Playing on the swings (a number of times)



and going higher and higher!!


Acquiring a shiny new yellow mac - thanks Grandma Oma! 

and getting new Gruffalo wellies from Daddy...

This week I had my first whole day away, leaving Noah with my Mum and dad who couldn't get their hands on him quick enough (!), so that I could head up to London to meet my best friend Bex, who sadly lives in Switzerland now, so I rarely see her - this time however we had 3 whole days together and she finally got to meet Noah! A wander along the Southbank took us back to nature, saw us watching the skate-borders, shopping for robots and drinking fizz underground at Gordon's wine bar!


Bex XX





The fizz didn't last long!




Given that we had the luxury of time for a change we got to have a day by the coast to shop a bit more at Gun Wharf and of course, to play in the sand! Someone small and naughty seemed to enjoy it!




My Brother and his girlfriend Talita came for supper and a simple game of Taboo proved to be too much for us all - I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time!! I think Bex had a good visit!

And at last! I caught up with my wonderful friend Caroline who practically showered the spoilt boy in wonderful gifts including some home-made bunting - she is VERY clever - but doesn't seem to know it! CAROLINE - YOU ARE VERY CLEVER, and, not only is she super creative, she makes great soup!!! A lovely end to a really great few weeks! X






Wednesday 7 August 2013

Getting into the swing of things!



In case you were wondering - I'm still loving it! Being a mum is still awesome! I am still smitten! Noah is such a sweet little boy and makes us laugh every single day, he is a real hit with our families and it is so amazing to see my parents light up so much when they see him! I am hoping that he is going to continue to be an effective de-stress-er for my Dad! So life is going well, Ivan and I are both maintaining some semblance of our previous lives and managing to keep up the climbing (him) and aerobicing (me) so as to be able to keep up with himself who is now rocketing around the house! Noahis now in possession of his first shoes - he is a size 4F and is very proud of his brown distressed leather affairs - I know this as he has tried to take them to bed with him! I love the fact that Clarks make such a big deal of new shoes and take the child's photo and make a little memento from the occasion! Ahem, at 32 quid for a teeny pair of shoes perhaps they should!!! Noah has also had to endure his year one inoculations and has had his big developmental checks - scoring off the planet clever which is so brilliant! He is a little small still but it looks like we have ourselves a pretty bright spark on our hands!  This is what  we have been up to...

Looking cool at Clarks!

I have been jamming with the best of them - this is a peek at one of the classes I put myself through weekly! I love the fact at a recent class we were all given slush puppies - OMG it's a long time since I had brain freeze like that!!!





Finger lights too - me? Too old for this? Not in a million!!!

Noah is learning to feed himself - he is by no means the foodie that is his cousin Max, but we are persevering with new flavours and working on his enjoyment of food ( - his diet in country was probably enough to put him off food for life!) - part of this is making it fun for him - thank goodness for sunshine and an outdoor space! Otherwise this yoghurt eating episode might never have happened - his clothes were removed for their own protection!!!

"So I can eat this all by myself? You sure about this?"

"Awesome!!!"

"Better make the most of it then...!"

"Errrrr, who is going to clean me up then?"

Noah loves fruit - looks like it loves him!

Another cousin encounter - Daddy looks more excited than Noah!!


The bubbles were good though!

MINE!

I love Thedden (where Ivan (Mr Bicknell) grew up) and Tom who kind of takes care of the veggies has some impressive crops on the go - I love the bucket grown carrots and as for the artichokes - well, they tasted pretty good!


At last! Noah met Jess and Belle - Lynda's gorgeous girls - Noah not too sure about Jess!

There were good cakes to be had at this particular lunch!

Craft market number 3 - the Maltings in Farnham - first Saturday of every month - not brilliant for me, but as they say, you have to be in it to win it, and the fact that I made any sales is a miracle given that the place is so damn huge!! I had a pitch next to a "geezer" called Bob - a builder - I know - by day, Silver merchant on the side! He was a lovely bloke and made the day really bearable - he also might do some work for us - so that was a result!! This is my stall - been busy! YES, you can still do your own stuff with a baby, especially if you have a super duper husband who helps out a lot!


YEARS ago I used to work here for my agent - Jane Mosse - the place has changed a lot, now it has a new frontage, a great shop and a nice restaurant - just as well it wasn't like that way back then - I would have been broke!!! 




I have also been making some more stuff for Noah's room - these letters being the latest addition - hopefully his Daddy will put them up tomorrow!








Noah was also given these by Sheila at Thedden - awesome mainly because I had been wanting to buy them for his room myself - great minds think alike!!!

Continuing with bedroom design, we are having a problem with preserving Noah's books (he like the sound of ripping paper) and have been looking for a shelving solution - thanks to the Wee Birdy blog we found the answer - IKEA spice racks - Southampton here we come!!!!

How anyone could tear up lost and found I will never know!!



Children's book shelf using IKEA spice racks via WeeBirdy.com

Clever huh? I will paint them white though...

We are all going camping on Saturday at Thedden with a large handful of the other "Thedden kids" - I predict mayhem and a sleepless night, but who cares, I LOVE camping and hope that Noah will take to it too - it's going to be a bit glampy of course but that's the beauty of Thedden and all it's amazing residents - so a little life arc has been purchased - the box it came in proved to be much more fun - well, for Ivan (Mr Bicknell) anyway.....!!

So err, why is this fun daddy?

You have to ask, Noah?????


A bit random, but as you might know, I can't help myself from print screening the stripes that appear when a page doesn't load properly...... 






Next week it will be our 7th wedding anniversary - and exactly 2 years since we first embarked upon the adoption trail - a significant date for us, the 12th - to mark the occasion, and in total contrast to the preceding camping, my lovely husband (Mr Bicknell) has booked the 3 of us into the amazing Peterstone court in the Brecon Beacons for a couple of nights - spa treatments included and everything - for the adults that is! I can't wait, it is one of our most favourite places to be and will be very cool to share it with Noah! see you on the other side......XXX