We're moving soon

So here we are, our last weekend in this house. On tuesday we collect the keys for our new house just a few minutes down the road. The new house has a small front room & kitchen, we would have preferred a bigger place but it has 3 bedrooms which we wanted & it also has a bath!! There is gonna be a fight for that bath on our first night there as we have spent the last 18 months in this house with only a shower. The road we will be living on is a dead end so it will be quieter with not having to put up with cars racing past at all hours. We also have a small conservatory which will be nice in the summer, unless of course next summer is like this..a complete washout. We have 2 cats which is always a problem when it comes to finding a house to rent but getting rid of them was never an option, we will just have to make the best of what we have. And at least we have not had the terrible floods that a lot of people have had to endure this summer, sometimes we moan about not being able to afford to buy our own house or not being able to rent places we like because they won't accept pets but we have been very fortunate this year. I would be absolutely devastated if I had lost what so many others have, my heart goes out to everyone effected by the floods. I was never the sort of person who attached themselves to any place, to me if anything had happened to my house or flat I would have just moved on without a moments hesitation but having Jack has changed my outlook on life completely.

Talking of my little Jack I hope you like the new piccies, as you can see he really is a little devil now! He is an absolute nightmare, we can't take our eyes off him for a second as he is always crawling everywhere, chewing everything. Ever since he could crawl properly he has been trying to stand up on his own ( and consequently fallen over so much ) & he tries walk which ends up with him doing a strange hybrid mix of walking & crawling on his hands & feet. He can pull himself up on his own now (as you can see in the piccies) & he manages to stand for several minutes, all he needs to do now is develop his balance & he will be walking (and then the fun starts). Jack can also sit up properly on his own now, he just gets very frustrated that he can't stand unaided. Today we were in the post office & there was a little girl in a pushchair next to us, Jack & this little girl were staring at each other (Jack is definitely a ladies man already) & we got talking to the girls parents, she is 10 months old (the girl, not her mum) & she is so much smaller than Jack. When he was born he was tiny but he seems to be growing at a rather accelerated rate. He was 6 months old on thursday this week, I can't believe it has been so long, it seems like only a few weeks ago since I brought him home from hospital. My little boy no longer seems like a baby, we have so many photo's & video's of him but I wish I could have captured every minute of him growing on film. it seems like such an old cliche that everyone says how fast kids grow up but it is so true.

Nic has worked full time over the last 3 weeks but we now have 2 weeks off so we can move & have time to sort the new place out before having to go back to work. When she goes back she will be working 3 & a half days a week, she has not been as grumpy as I thought she would be with going back to work. It has tired her out having to get up early every day but its been the same for me as I have been taking her to work nearly every day. I feel so drained that if we hadn't got the time off work for moving house I think I would have had tp book some time off. I have been getting up at 6:30am every day, taking Nic to work, dropping Jack off at her parents & going to work myself, I really don't like getting up so early every day.

I will be sticking with aol when we move (stop laughing at me, sometimes its better the devil you know), hopefully they will get the line active quickly, I really don't want to be spending too long on dial up waiting for my broadband connection. Dial up is such a pain in the ass, its too slow & you have to be so much more cautious with regards to surfing the net. I used to work for ntl (please do not send me hate mail, I hated them as much as any customer ever could) & used to regularly have people ringing up complaining about premium rate phone charges because they used a dial up connection for the internet & didn't take care what sites they went on. I will let you know how the move went once my broadband connection is back up & running.

I have just finished reading Robert Rankin's The Toyminator which is a great read, very funny & it raises some serious questions (where do all the chickens come from?), he has a new book out called The Da Da De Da Da Code which I intend getting very soon. I have just got Born To Be Mild by Dave Armitage & The Gospel According to Chris Moyles, will let you know if they are any good. Also not sure if I have already shared this with you, but if you like a good thriller then you might want to check out Alex Barclay's Darkhouse, it is a great book & I will be checking out her follow up novel The Caller soon.

Well it's time to say goodbye for now, I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine which has made a rare appearance this weekend....VampJack x

The calm before the storm

Today is the last day before Nic goes back to work, temporarily she is having to go back to her old hours starting at 7am. I'm on lates this week so I can look after Jack until I go to work when one of our friends is going to be looking after him, when Nic's parents are back from holiday later this week they will be doing the babysitting job. I'm glad for Nic that she's going back, she's been getting fed up with staying at home but she will be more tired than normal so she'll be short tempered this week, joy of joys. Having said that, as I will be getting up early to look after Jack & then working late I will also be a grumpy ba$**rd this week. So the message here is ..... don't come visiting this week!

Last night Jack was crying in his sleep, all I wanted to do was pick him up & cuddle him but he was fast asleep so I didn't want to wake him. It broke my heart listening to him crying, what was he dreaming about, the farley's rusk factory burning down, prohibition on milk, ferrari not winning....it was so sad.

Nanny came to visit yesterday, I wish she could come over more often to visit but as we don't have room for her to stay its a little difficult. We have seen 2 houses in the last couple of days that would be suitable for us, we have another couple in the pipeline for this week so hopefully by next week will know where we are going.

 

Right i'm off cos Nic wants a paper today, she wants the Bananarama cd in the Mail & i desperately need a coffee.

 

Take care...VampJack x

 

Well hello again.

 

So much has happened since I last updated my journal so i'd better get on with it.

 

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Honda F1 charity open day at Brackley which was fantastic. We met Jenson Button & a couple of drivers that Honda are bringing up through the ranks. The whole day was great, there was so much to do. Unfortunately due to them running overtime I missed out on my chance to take part in a real pit stop, I should have been doing the rear jack but hey, I'm sure after the success of this event they will have another & I will make sure I get to have a go next time. Just think, if they hadn't been running over the times set I could now sit watching the races & going "i've done that" whenever I watch the pit stops. maybe I will get my chance at the Renault World series event at Donington in September. Nic went with me to the Honda day & she really enjoyed herself as well even though she's not really a racing fan ( oh yes she is now, she thinks Jenson's cute!!!!, still didn't stop her from telling him to shave his beard off though ).

 

Last weekend saw a fantastic race in Germany, Lewis had a big accident on saturday but thankfully he was okay. The race itself was frantic, there was a huge downpour shortly after the start and cars were flying off the track. For a while it looked like we were going to get another Ferrari victory but Kimi's car let him down & so it was down to Massa to bring it on home. Unfortunately near the end of the race the heavens opened again & Massa's wet tyres had rotated on the wheel rim which cause lots of vibration making the car a complete bitch to drive & Alonso got by & took the win. Ferrari may not have won but we had the pace to do so & at the end of the day it was a great race so no complaints.

 

During this last week Nic & I have both had our birthdays so it was a good week. There was an announcement at work that I think is a good change to how we operate, the potential is always there to screw up when you make changes but I think this is a good start to improving things for us & our customers. Our centre was named the Customer Contact Centre of the year ( throughout Europe, Middle East & Africa ) & on friday we had a bit of a party at a local pub with free food & drink, normally you wouldn't catch me attending a works party but the small group of people I would choose to socialise with all decided we'd go. It was a good night out & a chance to share a drink & a laugh with friends outside of the office.

 

**** BIG NEWS ********

The big news since I last updatd is that although Jack has been able to pull himself around using his hands or pushing himself with his feet he was not co-ordinated enough to crawl properly - well not any more. Yesterday we got back from town & he just got up on his hands & knees then crawled over to me. He never ceases to amaze me with his achievements. Last night we went to a friends party & there was a girl with her baby daughter there, the baby is 7 months & 3 weeks old but she doesn't crawl yet, I was so proud that Jack was crawling. 

 

Why  do all houses in Coventry seem to have kitchens smaller than a shoe box? We're still trying to find somewhere suitable to move to at the end of this month, we have officially given notice on this house today so we either find somewhere pdq or we stay at Nic's parents for a little while. Would be nice to save some money but we'd have to put our furniture in storage & I really don't want to have the 3 of us living in 1 room, plus the fact that her folks have got Virgin & not Sky so I would miss Prison Break season 3 when it comes on soon.

 

Right, off to catch up with some reading....c ya later...VampJack x 

Half day off work

Today when I got to work I thought it was going to be a very bad day....the coffee machines weren't working.

Turns out this was something to do with the fact that we had no running water. We had an engineer out who blamed it on the water company who then snet someone out who blamed it on our building owners. We were advised by our fearless leaders that it would get resolved....then a little later we were told that if we needed to go to the toilet we could go home & wouldn't have to come back!! Why they didn't just tell us to all go home I don't know because obviously we all did.  So today I had half a day off work & it was great.

I got to spend more time with Jack which is always a bonus (honest, it is....even when he is screaming). A friend from work has seen pictures of Jack but hasn't seen him since I took him into work when he was less than 2 weeks old so we went round to see her today so she could have a 'squidge' as she puts it. I think she's getting broody now!

Little Jack is so fast now, he still can't quite coordinate himself enough to crawl on his hands & knees but he manages just fine pulling himself along. Once he does get the hang of crawling properly its gonna be a nightmare, nothing will be safe, least of all Angel. Jack adores Angel, he will watch our other cat Bailey but not the same way as he does with Angel.

I hope you like the new pics.....until next time take care..VampJack x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The passion

Today is a good day. Kimi Raikkonen has just won the british grand prix with Alonso 2nd so more points cut from Hamilton's lead.

I am really bored of listening to itv drone on & on & on & on & on about Lewis Hamilton. Today Kimi drove a great race to bring another win home for Ferrari. Ferrari seem to have well & truly bounced back from their recent slump which is great for the championship. This year looks to be a close fight between 4 drivers, usually by the halfway point in the season it is clearly between 2 drivers but this year we have Kimi, Fernando, Massa & Lewis all capable of winning this years championship.

I am looking forward to next weekend, Honda are having a charity open day at their Formula 1 factory in Brackley which I have tockets to. Nic is coming with me as she wants the chance to have a go in the F1 simulator. Jenson Button will be there as well as Anthony Davidson, Murray Walker, & loads more..including Jody Scheckter, Ferrari's last world champion before Schumacher. It should be a fantastic day.

I haven't had much time to update my journal recently so I apologise to those of you who have told me you need more entries. I just never seem to have enough time for everything these days, between looking after Jack, work, housework, & my limited social life I think I need about 36 hours in each day.

Jack is now sort of crawling, he either pushes himself along with his feet or pulls himself along with his hands but hasn't quite got the hang of using both together, although I think it is only a matter of weeks before he is crawling properly. He has progressed from milk to having 'mush' as well now. We have a freezer full of pureed veg & fruit for him, he doesn't like baby rice at all but give him apple puree or sweet potato puree & he will eat it all. Nic moans becasue when I feed him he doesn't make much mess but if she feeds him he gets covered in food, I've tried telling her Jack knows daddy is the boss but she doesn't believe me.

He has started waking more during the nights now, either 2 or 3 times between midnight & 8am he wakes up for a feed. I would love for him to go back to sleeping through the night completely but who knows when that will happen again. My friend at work brought her baby in to see us last week, she is gorgeous & I am so jealous because her daughter has slept through the night ever since she was born.

We are looking at moving house at the end of august when our tenancy ends as we only have a shower here & it is not big enough to be able to take Jack in the shower with us & he is very nearly too big for his baby bath already so we want a house with a bath. It would also be nice to have 3 bedrooms so we can have family come to visit & have somewhere for them to sleep instead of just having a few hours visit before they have to go home again. Moving is horrible so we will let my mum or Nic's parents look after Jack for a couple of days while we move. Nic will be going back to work next month as well so its all happening here.

Right better go before I get told off for not doing my jobs around the house!! Hope you are all well..take care & I will be back again (hopefully) soon...VampJack x

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