my first fathers day

I will remember today as long as I live, today was my first Father's Day.

I was woken up this morning at 8.45 by my son giving me a slobbery kiss, Nic had got him up (considering its not a work day for me that was a massive surprise) & brought him in to see me with my card & presents. I got a small 'spaceform' glass plate with 'i love you daddy' etched on it, a framed daddy poem (Nic made the poem up, its great) with a picture of me & Jack the day he was born, it also has Jack's foot & hand prints around it. I also got a box of liquorice allsorts, will have to make sure I hide them or Nic will steal all the blue jelly ones wiv bits on...and she'll probably blame Jack for it.

When I was a kid I remember buying my dad loads of crap like socks, after shave, ashtrays..all sorts of crap really. I don't remember one year when I actually bought him something he would have really wanted but I now know what fathers day means & i expect Jack will buy me some crap over the years but you know what?.... it won't matter because i will love the fact that he has got me something. I will keep this years presents forever as they are the first ones & they mean more to me than if i'd have got a massively expensive pressie (although this doesn't mean i don't want him to buy me a lamborghini one year).

We all went to Nic's parents for dinner as her dad was doing a barbecue & very nice it was too. Had to be back by 5 though for the formula 1 (what, you really thought you'd get away with another race not being mentioned?, don't be silly). I am in awe of Lewis Hamilton's talent but I am sooo sick of itv mentioning him every 2 seconds. My beloved Ferrari' were better at this race than the last 2 but we still have a very long way to go before we're nicking the wins from McLaren.

Right well i'm running out of time now, got lots to do so i'll catch up with you all later...VampJack xx

Back in j'land again

Hello, is anyone out there or have you all gone away because I haven't put in an appearance recently?

It has been over a month since I last updated my journal, it wasn't a planned absence or anything it just kind of happened. I have been spending as much time as possible with Jack, that along with little excursions, work & keeping the house in a reasonable state has led to me having less time to myself & something had to give....in this case it was my journal.

So since I was last here quite a bit has happened. My sister, bro in law, 2 nephews & my mum came over at the beginning of may which was great. It's been quite a while since we were all together, even though it was just for mthe one day it was still nice. It was the first time my sister & her family had seen Jack, both my nephews were desperate to hold him but when my oldest nephew held him Jack screamed his head off so his younger brother didn't get a chance. My sister was in pain from a back problem but she wasn't going to let that get in the way of holding her new nephew, even my mum didn't get much of a look in with sis hogging the cuddles.

Jack has had his 2nd lot of injections last week, apparently he screamed quite a bit & that night he whinged a lot. He is growing so much now, when he's in the car seat it weighs too much for Nic to carry him more than a few yards. We're going to have to by a new car seat soon, his feet are nearly over the edge of the one we have. We bought him some Tigger trainers the other day, he's only 14 weeks old but we've had to buy him size 9-12 month trainers!!!

We went to my sisters for a few days the other week, she lives in Cranwell now cos her husband's in the raf & she's just been posted there. It's really nice & peaceful, even Nic said she wished we lived somewhere like that & she has always said she wouldn't want to live anywhere too quiet. While we were there Jack learnt how to push himself around using his feet (when he's lying on his back), he hasn't figured out how to use his arms when he's on his front so he's not crawling just yet but I don't think it'll be long. We'd leave the room for a minute with him lying under his play gym & when we went back he'd be across the other side of the room, definitely gonna have to watch out now. When he lays on his front he can push his bum up in the air but has worked out he needs to use his arms to move forward.

After that week off I was supposed to work bank holiday monday, I got to work only to be told by the manager on duty to go home. She was sat in her car in the car park because the security guard hadn't turned up so nobody could get in, we only work some bank holidays (we cover Ireland so if they don't have the day off we work) & obviously noone had thought to make sure the guard would be in to open up. The upside was that I got to spend the day at home, when we went in on the tuesday those of us that should ahve worked the monday asked about our day in lieu because we'd all made plans, we were hoping work would still give us the day in lieu because we had turned up for work even if they had to send us home. To our surprise they have said not only do we get the day off but they are paying us the overtime for monday too....bonus.

We are still having major problems with the big changes that have happened at work but this week it has got a lot better. I don't mind the problems though, it is frustrating when we can't provide the usual high level of service to our customers but it has made the job more of a challenge which in turn actually make sit more enjoyable because we don't get time to be bored.

I took my lieu day for the bank holiday last friday, Nic went with the girls to Alton Towers & I decided to visit my mum (which she'll never tire of as long as I take Jack), I also had time to go & see my best friend. It was great to be able to have a chat over a coffee & relax, even if he did ask me if I took sugar in my coffee & then twice put sugar in my cup after I told him I don't take sugar!! He has promised Jack he will take him to get his first tattoo when he turns 18, I guess this is payback for all the times I have wound my sister up by being the fun uncle who teaches my nephews bad habits & buying them drums. I am so glad the court case was sorted last year following my accident, if not I still wouldn't have a car so it'd be so much more difficult to go and visit my friends & family.

We had a little drama on sunday, Nic was sitting on the bed holding Jack when he suddenly wriggled free and fell onto the floor. Nic was absolutely horrified & was blaming herself, I told her that eventually something like that would happen because that's what babies are like but she was so worried he'd have to go to hospital. In the end we kept him awake for a couple of hours to make sure he was okay. He cut his mouth but only a little & he also had a big bump on his head but he is fine, the bump didn't even turn into a bruise. It still didn't stop Nic feeling guilty, she knows kids are going to do things like that but I guess if it was me holding him & it happened I'd be exactly the same.

Anyway I guess that's enough for my return to j'land, enjoy the new pics.....VampJack x