Mission Accomplished

That was taken first thing this morning (shoes allowed this one time as it was wet). Boyo seems delighted.
Save for a little bit of landscaping, it's done. We even managed to hold the surprise until this morning too.
He's been out a few times since. How long until the novelty wears off?

Positively Positive

Seven years to the day since I first become a dad, MPLST sent me that pic at work. We've kept that under our collective hats since then. We should have a giggle along the way through this latest (not to mention last!) bash at babymaking. This blog kicked off not long before LL was born, so most of the madness between my ears was missed.

This will be number 3 for "us" and number 4 for "me" and I reserve the right to chop and change that reference as my mood dictates. Yes, we are chuffed. Yes, he or she was planned. We have no real preference to what flavour this baby will be, we wish only that he (not she!) is healthy. I prefer "he" to "it" and I'm not about to spend the next 6 months quoting "he or she" every time "he" is mentioned!

Operation Tramp

We've committed the cardinal sin of parenting by applying ourselves not so equally to our boys birthdays. Whereas LL's was almost upon us, even before we'd remembered to buy the poor wee mite a card (whilst completely forgetting to take BB to get his brother a card!), the stops are being well and truly pulled for the big'un.

So here's the problem: We have a trampoline (which incidentally takes loads up to 22 stone, so even MPLST can bounce on it) for his birthday, but want to a) keep it as a surprise whilst b) digging a pit and erecting it. Not only that, but c) the bloody playframe, which weighs well over half a ton is parked on the optimum spot.

Here's the solution, or at least part of it.....use and abuse your friends, relatives and drop hints to toddler group mummies who will then readily volunteer their husbands. The plan was to part break the playframe, then carry......yes carry, it to it's new home at theother end of the garden. On arrival, not a single one of them thought it was do-able! Done in 40 mins though.....we're not very bright, but we can lift heavy things.

There was no way were were dismantling that. It took MPLST and I about 19 hours to build over 3 days, with the same two little lumps clambering all over it, just like that. So well done us.

Part two was to get a man with a digger. Really, I wanted to do this myself, but common sense prevailed. BB thinks the drains are leaking and we need to fix them, hence the big hole.

You've got to love the innocence of children. He thinks that the frame is part of the structure to keep the hole whole so to speak. We've got a week to finish this without him suspecting it's a trampoline. Should be interesting, especially as MPLST is away offshore for half of the remaining time. No pressure then dad!

The Lost and The Forgotten

Poor Little Lad's second birthday has come and gone without so much as a blog entry. No balloons or streamers either. Instead, all he got was a boring Sunday roast where we were joined by his grandparents. Probably not quite what he would have wished for, but then again he was 2. At 2 I've learned that boys like opening presents, then playing with them. They really couldn't care what day their pals came round to play because life at 2 really isn't all that complicated.

BB will be 4 in a couple of weeks. And he is much more party aware, so we will have to pull our fingers out for that. Indeed, he is so aware, that as soon as he gets to one, he's looking for his party bag, but that's another story. Back to Little Lad's big day - he was pretty impressed with his cake

The only part I played that cake was the eating.

Whilst checking through MPLST's camera, I did find two other pics that amused me somewhat. One sums up bossy boots in a nutshell. The other seems to have captured BB in a not so rare moment of public nudity.....