Apologies for the rather large break over the last 6 weeks. ‘Where have you been’, I hear you ask!  We’ve just been a bit out of kilter.  It seems we sometimes get those months where we just get up, go to nursery / work, come home, make tea, bath, read, soph to bed, wash up, do washing, check emails, watch 30 mins trash tv and go to bed…and on the weekends we have bits and bobs to do – keeping things spinning type stuff.

Earlier in the month I had to visit Bristol for 2 days for work, as this is where my new company has it’s IT and operations arm.  I didn’t dislike Bristol.  It was sunny and warm, we stayed on the Quay area in a clean comfortable hotel, there were pretty seaside like houses all scattered along a fairly dramatic gorge, a truly impressive bridge by anyones standards, nice new colleagues, dinner out at Los Iguanos – but Guy and Sophie were at home and instead of it being shiny and exciting it just felt a bit empty without them.  I also knew, in my heart of hearts, that at some point we’d be required to visit more often, and that would be the end of my little 3 day a week job just a mile from home.  I have to go again on Tuesday, for 2 full days – flying down this time.

Surely enough, not long after the visit we were told that we’d need to meet our team, face to face, every 2 to 3 weeks.  This means alternating travelling for 2 days at a time to Bristol or Edinburgh.  Lets just say the CV is being brushed off as we speak.

So, my lovely Guy has been holding the fort this month on the home front, and will return to nPower for another stint on April 1st, for a month initially, but fingers crossed for longer.

Luckily, to counter the job situation, Spring has sprung!

I am feeling rather smug, as I had 2 snowdrops come up from the batch of bulbs I planted in the winter.  2 might not sound much, but I’d prepared myself for dissapointment after Mummy Green Fingers said they are very tricky to grow from bulbs…so I was fit to burst when they popped up.  Since then, Grandpa Ainley has given me some more “in the green”, as those gardening types say, and I now have lots of snowdrops in my front garden.  Next years display will almost be impressive!

On the gardening front, I also planted some pretty Narcisus and Dwarf Tulips at the same time.  While popping the snowdrops in today, I noticed the other bulbs are all coming up!  Yippety skippety!

The back garden is looking a bit sad unfortunately, and we are missing the ready availability our Ground Force equivalents aka Auckland and North Walsham Fitzhughs.  I would like to create a lush green courtyard, but money, time (and more than a little fear) are preventing us getting started.  Maybe once the money is there we’ll get on with it. 

Guys big girl has accepted a place at Liverpool John Moores to do a Criminology and Psychology Joint Honours Degree.  We are very proud, Guy is worried she’s not going to eat properly, I’m worried she’ll spend all her student loan in freshers week, and she can’t beleive she’s leaving home and going to Uni so soon – but aside from that we’re all very excited – it’s an early start, 1st September.

Out little girl is turning into a big girl rapidly.  She now has a big girl duvet, is starting to want to use the potty and is doing very well walking further and further all the time.  We’re aiming to get rid of the push chair at the end of the summer, so her little legs are going to some walking over the next few months to train her up!  Language, as Stevie also described with Lucy, is an astounding process. She talks non stop, from the moment she gets up.  At nursery they must say ‘belly’ rather than tummy – but Sophie thinks they say “beverley” so she comes and shows us her tummy and says it’s her Beverley…which makes me laugh no end.  As with the Aucklanders, we have been drilling Ps & Qs into Sophie – the funny thing is that she says Please Mummy / Thankyou Daddy, but Please is always accompanied by the sign for please as well.  In fact, 2 signs are still with us. That used for “please” and the one used for “again”.  How strange that they are so deeply imbedded into her thought process, that she still uses them even though she can say the words.

Last, but not least, I am officially a student again.  I applied to do a Post Natal Leader Diploma a while ago, and got offered 75% funding around December time.  The course is part time, part of a degree level course, takes approx 3 years and involves tutorials every 6 to 8 weeks.  The core is self directed study of parenting issues and includes some study weekends and running post natal courses.  It is assessed by exams, running courses and around 8 coursework  essays.  I am very excited to have found it as the subject is fascinating to me and I’ve always wanted to turn my facilitation experience into my work – but never knew what to focus on…apart from IT, which I didn’t want to focus on!  I attended a taster tutorial in Manchester in March, did some written work, got some references, had a successful interview and started the course last week with my first real tutorial.  The aim is to be licensed to practice by the time Sophie starts school, so that I can run mostly daytime, but some evening and weekend groups locally instead of running the corporate treadmill.  Hourly rates for a newly qualified practioner are the same as I get paid now but it’s unlikely I’ll work nearly as many hours, so I may need to combine it a while with my day job.  However, we are working hard in our branch to set up joint services with Calderdale NHS, so this should be more developed by the time I’ve qualified – so there would be the possibility of running groups for them too.

We are off to Norfolk for Easter, and taking wellies and kags for the beach. Cromer Crabs here we come!!!!!