Harvest At Jimmy's

Where do you go for your first camping trip with your little one? Al did his research and discovered a very family friendly festival full of food and frolics! The location was Jimmy Doherty's farm in Ipswich, he of TV fame and friend of Jamie Oliver. The line up was great: The Futureheads, Scouting for Girls, Newton Faulkner, The Hairy Bikers and loads of food stalls and entertainment for kids. We did pretty well for our first adventure, just one night was all we did and I happily hold my hands up now and admit I'm a hotel and hairdryer kind of gal. I don't mind roughing it for a time, but God bless my shower and toilet.

Coby loved it! He thought the tent was great and enjoyed tucking into our picnic once all the pegs where in. He enjoyed building a den in the wood and chasing a frog into his hideaway. He rolled with laughter in a sumo suit made for someone twice his size. He loved the double decker bus with the secret ball pit on the top deck

The 'Caspian' Crowd

Its a long story for those that don't know it, but in short, Teresa, Al and I all used to work at the same company in Central London, Caspian Publishing. I resigned in 2006 at the end of my maternity leave and Al in 2007. Over the years, we made many friends with our colleagues, one of which is Lara. She actually announced her pregnancy as I was leaving to have Coby. And now, she and her husband, Howard, have a seriously gorgeous daughter called Hannah. Teresa, of course, has the beautiful Amber. Despite being outnumbered 2 to 1, Coby enjoyed hanging out with the little ladies at Lara's house recently. Hannah's dad is a pilot and was able to spend some time with us before heading out on a flight to Zambia. Coby tried on his hat and enjoyed a minute or so of male pride!!

Lara cooked us all dinner and I spent some lovely sunshine time in the garden with the kids while Teresa had a rest.....

I am the captain!

Skater Boy

" Mum, I want roller skates. I really, really want roller skates. Argos sell them". So I relented and bought Coby a starter kit, adjustable skates, elbow and knee pads and a helmet. We skated around the garden, Coby nearly pulled my shoulder out of its joint as he clung to me and lost his balance several times. There is very little space for skating in our garden, hence how after 15 minutes, we were done. The skates are currently lying on the lawn, getting wet in the rain....

The Big Day

Al and I found it incredible and a very good measure of how time really does fly, when we took pictures of Coby on his first day at school for this blog. We started diarising Coby's journey from birth on a whim. I thought it would be a great way to pass the final stages of maternity leave and, in the long term of course, an even greater way for distant friends and relatives to see Coby's development.

Now, here we are, Coby's first day at school. A four year old ready to learn and meet new friends. Emotions were high, even though his first week would consist of afternoons only. I hid behind large sun glasses, tears pouring down my cheeks as Al and I walked away and left him for a mere two and a half hours. I guess, like most parents, the overwhelming emotion is pride, seeing how smart they look in their little uniforms, new shoes, book bag, haircut. And a realisation, that their baby and toddler years are gone. Those years of total dependancy, learning to crawl, walk, talk, recognise colours and shapes, numbers and letters. And now....reading, writing, social skills, knowledge of the bigger world, telling the time, maths, science and....independance. One day, they say thanks mum and dad, but I'm ready now, I'm ok. All we want for our children is for them to feel loved, be nourished and healthy and generally be ok and have a happy life. My Coby is going to be ok.....

Suited & booted

About to leave

Some words of wisdom from daddy

Home Time!