Some new photo's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just got a few minutes so thought I'd add some new photo's of Jack, i will add more when we get back from holiday...less than 10 hours to go before the flight

Still here...

Hello peoples, well i am now a Sky broadband customer & the service is much better than aol.

 

So far my little journal is still running but i just haven't had chance to update it recently. The last few weeks have been so busy with birthdays, weddings & other various get togethers. This weekend i have no plans except to go shopping for a birthday present for my friends little girl, its her first birthday next week so i will have another party to go to, the following week will be finishing shopping for my holiday then i'm off to Spain on 19th May and i can't wait.

 

I have some new pics of my little tornado but as i'm at work right now i will have to upload them when i get chance. I will try to do this before I go away as no doubt when i get back i will have loads more new pics from Jack's first foreign holiday.

 

Taker care for now...VampJack x 

Go To Hell AOL 2 (sorry for stealing your title Mr Brainwhispers)

I have had enough, so aol is going.

I am so sick of aol's crappy service that I have made the call. On wednesday after yet another day without internet (aol advised this was a general broadband outage not just aol but tough) I called aol. The woman I spoke to was in an indian call centre (no surprises there) & once she realised that she had absolutely no chance of changing my mind she told me that as I was still under contract she would not cancel my service. I asked to speak to her manager (which I am legally entitled to do) she refused point blank & when I demanded she put me on to someone more senior she accused me of not understanding english....thats right, she said I did not understand english, this coming from some clueless halfwit in india!!

She then dumped my call through to customer services, a  manager tried to go through to cancellations but the call queue was closed. I called again yesterday & got to speak to someone in Ireland (a big shock I can assure you), the guy passed me through to his manager after explaining the situation so I did not have to repeat myself. The manager asked if I would give him the opportunity to put the problems right but I told him my patience had run out & as the problems with aol are intermittent he may resolve it but I have no confidence in it not going wrong again next week. He has agreed to cancel my account despite the fact that I am stll under contract, perhaps the fact that I have spoken to trading standards & ofcom had something to do with it but I have got what I wanted.

 

Over the last (nearly) 2 years I have made some friends in j'land & I will be sad to end my time here but I cannot put up with aol's abysmal service any longer. I am not sure yet which broadband provider I will go with but at least it won't be aol. As my journal is on a user account set up as an extra account & not my  main aol account I may still be able to continue this journal, if not then I'm afraid it is goodbye from me & goodbye from him (Jack!).

Take care all...VampJack x

Its been a while...

Well its been a while but I'm back, how long for I have no idea. I have been so busy with work & being a daddy that I have not had much time for my journal, then of course there is the problem with a bloody o soddin l. Ever since the recent(ish) so called upgrade my connection has constantly been dropping out causing me to lose emails, journal entries, etc. Also the service has been so slow as to be unusable, I cannot wait for my aol contract to be over..I will print out my journal before then because unless aol drastically improves I will not be continuing to use them, they are CRAP!

So lots has obviously happened since my last entry, the main event of course was Jack's 1st birthday. We had spent ages preparing for his party then on the night before my sister called to say she had been ill & may not be coming, her husband came home from work that night saying he wasn't well either so it looked like the most important guests (for me at least) would not be present. On the morning of Jack's birthday we got up early as we had a photo session booked, my sister had given us the session as a christmas present so we thought it would be nice to use it on his birthday. After the photo 'shoot' we dashed round town to get the last couple of bits we needed then headed home for lunch, I got a text from my sister....she was on her way, with my bro in law & 2 nephews...instantly making the day better. After lunch we had to go to Nic's parents to set everything up, Nic's niece was helping to put everything on the table while I waited outside for my sister to show up (its on a busy road so they might've driven straight past had I not waited outside), when they arrived we went inside to be greeted by jack with a face (& hands) full of pasta salad that he had pulled off the table.

The house was packed with friends & family, we had pass the parcel, musical statues & loads of food. Jack got spoilt rotten with presents and quite rightly so, we brought some home but left a few at nanny & grandad's house as they look after him during the week when we're both at work. We had bought him a trike which he insisted on going on with no trousers but he loved it so thats all that matters.

At the end of the day both Nic & I were absolutely exhausted, if anyone thinks organising & hosting a childs first birthday party is a simple task think again, we had a great day but it was one ofm the most exhausting days I've ever had.

Since christmas Jack has been walking with much more confidence, he has even started running around which can be frustrating, annoying but also so funny. At night when he's tired he still stumbles but apart from that he's pretty much steady on his legs now. he has developed so much more character, he is the cheekiest little boy I've known but it is an absolute joy to watch him explore his world, even if that does mean he steals our dinner.

It's not all smiles though, the last couple of weeks he has been waking more regularly at night & most nights will not go back to sleep in his own bed, we have to hold him for anything from 10 to 40 minutes so he is sound asleep before we can put him back in his room, otherwise he screams all night. Because of this we hae not had much sleep & so we are getting very tired & snapping at each other. He is a real handful, I love him more than I could ever explain but sometimes I wish I could go back to my old life just for a couple of days to get some rest, I'm sure all the parents out there will know exactly what I am talknig about. it doesn't help that at work things are changing for the worse. The dept I work in is being effectively demoted back to the position we were promoted from, we are not losing any pay but they have decided that it would be in the interests of the company to bring all the staff up to our level, this means we go back to doing what the lower grade does now. Even management don't seem to know where the hell our roles are going but it looks like we will be doing the lower grade role for 3 weeks out of every 4. Needless to say most if not all of my dept are pi**ed off & want to leave (if there's any company bosses in Cov reading this & you want loads of highly skilled workers who already have a great team spirit let me know). The morale at work is so low that its draining all our energy, I hate feeling like this but its so difficult to lift my spirits when everyone around me is as low as I am. The company I work for keeps bleating on about putting its staff first but in truth they don't give a damn, as long as they can restructure the company in a way that they can shift our work to india & pay a whole team what we get each then they are happy. I can't wait to find a new job.

 

Anyway, enough of my moaning..here's some more pics of my cheeky little chap>

 

  

 

 

Hello again peoples. I read a comment in a journal sometime over the last few weeks that when you're blogging it can pull you in and you can't stop blogging but once you stop for a few days it can be difficult to get back into it...how true!

Christmas was good, Jack was more interested in his old toys than the new ones, he didn't even want to rip the paper off his pressies & he normally loves ripping up paper..strange but true.

It was nice to have some time off work, I had booked the time off between christmas & new year so had time to relax a little (or maybe not, I have got a little one you know). I lost count of the amount of times Jack tried eating the tree lights & pulled the baubles off the tree but thats what its all about, fun, fun fun. We had told people not to go stupid buying Jack pressies cos we haven't got room to store loads of stuff & he is only a wee little one so doesn't really know what the hell all the fuss is about & surprisingly our wishes were respected...now there's a bloody first.

Jack is now walking properly, ok he does fall on his butt on a regular basis but usually when he's tired or when he's not looking where he's walking. We have had to buy him proper little shoes cos his feet are too big for baby shoes now, he looks so grown up. We are in the middle of planning his first birthday party for later this month, can you believe my son is about to turn 1, where has the last year gone? My sister bought us a photo session at a Venture studio for christmas & we're booked for Jack's birthday which is gonna be great, photo's in morning & party in the afternoon. Our house is in a little street that is literally a one lane road up to a turning circle, we all have driveways for 1 car & you can have another car if you block your driveway. Because of this we are going to have the party at Nic'as parents house as they live on a main road so parking is a lot easier ( although their foreign neighbours usually have several cars outside at any given time).

I will try to spend some more time catching up with my journal over the weekend cos I am off for a bath now then going to put my feet up & have a glass of wine. I hope you're all nice & warm indoors tonight, the weather is not nice at the moment although I would like more snow.

 

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to drop by & wish everyone a very merry christmas.

Jack is still awake & I'm going to read him 'the night before christmas' shortly before he goes to bed. This christmas is going to be the best ever.

 

Wherever you are & whatever you are doing over this holiday period I wish all the very best to you & your loved ones.

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1

Its beginning to look a lot like christmas...

Good evening peoples, yes I know i haven't posted for a while but what are ya gonna do about it!

Since my last entry I have returned to work after having nearly 3 weeks off with my bad throat & work is still the same old crap with the same old crappy managers who have no idea how to actually do our job so they bumble along in their cosy little offices making changes to our jobs that have only 1 outcome....they have now pi**ed off most of the staff so we are now looking for other jobs. I would say if we all go they will realise the error of their ways but I really don't think they will, they appear far too stupid.

Jack has got a lousy cold at the moment with a bad chesty cough so we have 2 lots of medicine to try & get him to take several times a day. I'm asthmatic & sorry to say it seems that Jack has inherited a weak respiratory system (sorry son!). Poor little jack spends most of the day screaming & crying because he has no way to express how he's feeling. Those of you with kids will know it also means most of our clothes are covered in baby snot, oh the joys of parenting!!

Over the last few weeks Jack has taken the odd step here & there but yesterday he walked across our living room unaided. We have bought him a walker for christmas but it converts to a bike so it won't be completely useless come christmas day. He still stumbles & falls on his butt a lot but he can walk quite well, I am so proud of him, a few weeks ago my mum told me if he was walking within 6 weeks he would have beaten me so already my son is better than his old man.

We went to see my mum a couple of weeks ago, while we were there woolworths had a photographer in doing childrens photo's so we arranged for my sister to leave her 2 boys with their grandparents so we could get Jack together with his cousins for a nice photo. We're going to get the picture framed for my mum, I have tried scanning it so we can have a copy & also email it to my sister but the picture is too big for my scanner so I need to scan it in 2 halfs when I get chance & photoshop it. My sister has bought my mum a session with a photographer and she has decided she wants to have her picture taken with her 3 grandsons so after christmas they are all coming over to coventry for the photo session, can't wait. Its so nice to have all of us together but we rarely get the chance these days.

Not a lot else has happened ( my son walks & i make it sound like nothing much is happening here...what an idiot), Nic got to meet Gordon Ramsay at waterstones this week, I have bought her his latest book for christmas but i couldn't get time off work so she took it to get signed. Nic drools every time she see's him on tv but i can cope with that, if Nigella Lawson came to do a book signing in coventry i would DEFINITELY be phoning in sick so I could go. Apparently there was a massive queue so they ended up giving out tickets so not everyone got in to see him, we were hoping to be able to get a picture of Jack & Gordon but as it was so bloody cold Nic's dad took Jack home, still at least he has met Bart Simpson!!!

I hav added mostly new photo's of Jack but have also included a picture from back in june, in the june picture he is sat on the same tigger he is sitting on by the christmas tree. Thought you might like to see just how much he has changed in 6 months.

If I don't manage to update my journal before christmas I hope you all have a fantastic time... VampJack x