WylieNews: June 2005

The aftermath

So, we said goodbye to the Byatts and they beat a hasty retreat to the fine weather in the North, leaving us to do some much needed strimming in the garden. Nick got at all the hedgy things and did a spot of topiary, making them all look straight, neat and beautiful. The only problem being fitting all the waste into the councils recycling bin. You know our green minded Nick, so he used his daughter to tramp the branches down (see below), although I think his body weight had more of an effect!

Then the day carried on uneventfully, until... 10pm. That fateful hour when, oh my! Nicholas is dying. In his defense, his vomiting was quite impressive and smelly, however, I don't think it warranted the amount of sympathy he kept complaining he wasn't getting. He lay on the sofa, hand on forehead, regaling his woes to me and the children ALL DAY - no school for him, no rest for me. What did I do to deserve that? Hmmm.

Anyway, the little soldier has forced himself in to school today.
Liz; "Do you think it's a good idea to go?"
Nick (in excessively weak and pathetic voice); "I have to."

And we all say together... "Ahhhh"

Helping Daddy?

I'm the Queen of the castle!" But who's the dirty rascal?

Our friends from The North

Our friends being Rob (Nick's old housemate from Uni), wife Sharon and lovely daughter Polly. We didn't do very much on account of Jessica having explosions from "both ends" to put it in it's most polite form (suffice it to say I had a lot of washing to do over the weekend!). Madeline was perfect - until they all went home and she was left with boring Mummy and Daddy. Polly however was a darling the whole time and was a pleasure to be around. She's gorgeous! We did offer special swap, give one receive two at no extra cost, but they didn't buy it! Shame.

Anyway, after a fairly civilised lunch, discounting the children, we went and fed the ducks at Jephson Gardens. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Jessica or Rob. Polly? Well she could take it or leave it quite frankly! Then children were ousted and Nick and Rob regailed over "the good old days", "do you remember when...". Yada, yada, yada!

Today was spent sharing the sights of Warwick, lunch in the main square and then off they trotted with a tired one year old on a three hour journey (lucky them!). We assume they're home safe and sound, which leaves me with no other news.

Sharon & a tired Polly

The guilty feeder!

Feeding the ducks

Precision duck feeding

That's it. Joggle around and make yourself sick... again!

Look, I'm trying to lift up and crawl!

I think Maddy wants some toast!

Feelin' hot, hot, hot ...

So the weekend has had soaring temperatures and therefore soaring tempers (and that's just mine!). We have had a relatively lazy weekend, relaxing in the garden, sizzling in the shade let alone the sun. We went to the Leamington Peace Festival on Saturday but it was too hot and there was no shade. However, the bands we heard were good and Jessica danced! The wholemeal salad and Humous pittas were absolutely fantastic, ALMOST worth becoming vegetarian for!

Then Sunday was Father's day, Nick had some presents opened by Jessica (of course - no presents are our own these days!) in the wee small hours of the morning. Then the first guests arrived. "WaaWaa, Dada and Nanny" came but disappointingly didn't bring "Jo, Po" so we had that question a hundred times over! Jessica was well behaved, Madeline was angelic. I spent the afternoon on the computer with Graham, eventually got my head in gear and was of some use. Then "Nana, Dada" (- it gets very confusing at times) arrived. Unfortunately for them, at the end of a hot day, so some little girls were reaching the end of their tethers, but battled on through, blowing bubbles and more paddling pool/sprinkler action was available!

And that was that really. General news, Madeline is now rolling onto her front (15 weeks. We think she's going to take after her sister so prepare yourself Allison, make sure your on hand for the first few steps!) She's also trying to reach out and grab things now too. So basically she's growing up fast.

Nick's still on the search for a job, yes folks - he's realising that there's a big wide world out there which gives you money for labour. So we (well The Girls and I really) need you to all keep your fingers crossed... We could end up coming to you for handouts!

So that's it for this week - I'm doing quite well at keeping up the weekly reports aren't I Pete?!

Over and out.

Chillin' at the Peace Festival

Visitors

I'm forever blowing bubbles

At the end of a hot busy Father's Day, he puts his feet up.

Counting

This post appears to be testing my ability to count to three. Unfortunately we've not done much (with the camera) but the photos we've taken appear to work in sequence. Anyway, apologies for boring photo captions but inspiration left me at 2am when Maddy required me... again!

So, what have we been doing? Not very much, although a very excited Junior Wylie family took a trip to Heathrow for a glimpse of the famous couple. The journey was very good (Graham will be pleased to know!), the children were excellent and seemed to enjoy themselves. Jessica loved seeing "Pete" and "Court" as did the rest of us. They said "She is real" referring to Madeline, we say "They are real". It's true, not just 2D images on a website afterall. It was lovely to see them both, hopefully we didn't tire them out too much more, and that was that. In case you haven't seen the Junior, Junior Wylie family's blog, the pizza was truly awful!

Apart from that, we've done very little apart from watch Madeline develop. She's trying her hardest to roll over. (She's so advanced - sarcasm for those who don't realise!)! She just doesn't know how to move the arm underneath her which obviously she's finding exceptionally frustrating. But Mother and Sister are giving her lots of praise and encouragement so I'm sure she'll get there. And as you'll see, she's developing hand-eye co-ordination (there goes the teacher in me) and seems to be able to put things in her mouth occasionally, not just take them out.

But enough already! Enjoy the photos.

L