The Sam Camp

is a new thing - constructed every morning on the sofa, it holds room for 2 ba-bas (big), 1 owl and a little boy.

It's been a while

With one thing and another I haven't had time to write for ages - over a month in fact.  Life has been a mixture of unbelievably long hours at work, interspersed with brilliant moments with Sam.  Here are some recent pics of him.  one set when he decided to get dressed in kitchen role and the other enjoying an ice-cream.  He's utterly brilliant as usual.  Starts nursery and swimming lessons in a couple of weeks too.

Cornwall

Just back from a holiday in Cornwall.  Despite rain for most of it (of course), the  break was great. One thing you soon realise about holidays with young kids is that you probably won't come back feeling physically rested but with any luck you will have spent some quality time with your family and that's the best thing for giving you proper perspective on everything that's really important.

We had a proper laugh together and with his mum, dad, huge indoor ball pits, farm animals, the beach and sea to play in, Sam loved every minute of it. 

How to eat an egg

Sam only has two styles of eating.  I think many kids his age are the same:

1)  'Super Model'.  This involves eating one very small thing at a time, such as a pea / piece of sweetcorn, along with the occasional very carefully chosen piece of egg white.

2) 'Henry 8th'.  This is the opposite and entails scooping up as much as you can get your hands on and stuffing it into or around your mouth.

There is a third style but it's not really eating as such.  Based on the Hester Blummental school of food science it involves pouring things into other things and mixing ingredients that don't go together - marmite and apple juice for example.  Sam is really quite good at this.  Shame he doesn't eat any of it afterwards.

Home and away

Leaving your baby is one of the strangest feelings.   You miss them like mad but I am convinced that once in a while it does you good as a couple.  You can't really put a price on the ability to sleep and get a bit of perspective back on the world.  We have just come back from a week in Portugal which we both badly needed.   Sammy spent the week with Jo's parents in Cornwall and by all accounts had a brilliant time.

And although we thought he might be a bit off-ish, he loved seeing us when we got back too.

It's going to be all change for him soon.  Phase 1 is almost over with us getting a new nanny for a couple of days a week and him starting nursery.

And phase 2 will no doubt bring a new round of unexpected highs and lows.   His world and his curiosity will get bigger than ever.  I guess your relationship with your kids is one where you have got to gradually let them go, find their way, experience life when you are not right by their side.  Damn, that seems hard.

It amazing to think nearly two years has gone past.  I know most parents love their kids but he's truely an amazing little boy.

Nice one dad

Some sleep at last. Sam has got through that particular phase and seems to be sleeping a bit better lately which is great and means we both feel a bit more human. Which is nice.
Had a heart in mouth, oh-my-god moment yesterday when I accidentally caught him in the mouth with the end of a broom I was using to sweep the patio. He'd crept up behind me and I just didn't see him. The broom went back and boom. Poor little man. Can there be anything worse than you making you own kids cry???? He was pretty brave to be fair but he's got a bright red welt on his lip today and I feel like the worst dad in the world.

So tired

Parental tiredness is a special kind of tiredness, a slow, creeping, cumulative thing that gradually wares you down over the weeks and months until you can barely keep you eyes open. No amount of all-nighters when you are young prepares you for it.  And just when you think that you have everything under control, it comes back to hit you.
Both Jo and I are going through an on-our-knees-tired phase at the moment. It's a combination of us both having full-on, stressful and emotionally draining jobs, an office that is miles from home and the fact that Sam has started waking up in the night again and then very early in the morning so we never get a chance to lie in.
There is just no time to catch up with yourself and there seems very few opportunities to take a day off either,which means that we are like walking zombies at the moment. And this is with one kid.....
I am sure we suffer more than other couples where one of them is either at home or in a relatively relaxed job. There doesn't seem a great deal we can do apart from try and get into bed early but I find that difficult to do after a stressful day when I really need time to chill out for a bit rather than get straight into bed.
Sam is beautiful and amazing as usual. But he is at an age where he really demands constant attention. I think that we are good at sharing the load but it does mean that we are both as exhausted as each other. Cue short tempers etc. Frustrating.......

Jump and shout

Sam plus trampoline = hilarious.

The little man is recovering from a bad cold at the moment but nearly back to top form.

The sun was out today and he was showing off to Dad and loving kicking a ball about in the park.

He is really starting to link words up now too.

Big red bus is his longest and current favourite phrase.

My life is too hectic

to write the blog right now.  I haven't got a second to breath.  Will return when I have. meanwhile, here's the best pics I could get of Sam.  Not great I know.  He's lovely as usual. Lots of words, being very cheeky.  I would like to make a brother or sister for him but Jo and I will need to be in the same place at the same time for that to happen which isn't very often right now.  Boo.

blogging vs tweeting

Everyone's tweeting.  Apart from me.  I have always thought that tweeting is only for sad narcissists but may be I am coming round to it.  I do still think there are a load of people full of their own self importance tweeting but it is a great way to communicate with people if you have no time to blog.  And that's the bit that works for me.  My blog postings are very erratic at the moment, mainly because I am so busy at work.  Then, when you do find 5 mins to post something, you either haven't got the right photos to hand or can't remember what it is you wanted to talk about.  I don't know.  I'm not sure what to do yet.

Work has been ridiculously full on recently (I always say that but it has been particularly bad this last few weeks).  This weekend is the first time that I have spent some good time with Sammy for ages.  He is being fantastic, smiling, babbling away.  I even managed to get a couple of nice pics of him (see above).  The secret is to pretend to be about to tell him off about something and he will look around and beam at you.  Cheeky bugger.

We are thinking about 'number 2' again.  I say thinking, we are er.....on the case.  It's funny going back to the start again but we both want it to happen, so we are into the working out cycles and all that and making sure we give ourselves the best chance.  Even if that chance comes after a 14 hour day at work when we're both stressed out, have thumping headaches and just want to sleep.  Needless to say, it's dead romantic : ).  Trying not to get stressed out when it doesn't happen too.  It may take a nice sunny holiday.....

The Car Man

The accumulation of new cars shows no signs of abating.  Unlike Daddy who still hasn't got his s**t together and brought a new car, Sam has acquired about 100 in that time.  They are everywhere - in the bath, in the loo, stuck down the sofa, in bed.  Sam sometimes goes to sleep holding a handful of them.  That or his cluster of Easter chicks.

He's still being a brilliant little man.  After a long arduous day at work, I just want to get home to see and cuddle him.  

Perfect weekend

We have just had such a great weekend with Sam.  One of those family weekends where Jo and I both put aside the mountain of work we both have on and gave our full attention to the little man, who was in a brilliant mood. On Saturday we took him to 'Soccer-tots', a series of classes that are designed to develop football skills.  At this age, it involves trying to get the kids to kick down skittles on command and put their foot on top of a ball and roll it about a bit.  Needless to say, Sam was much happier picking up the balls and making a hilarious dash for the exit at every opportunity.

He has grown out of his old trainers so we brought him some new ones that light up when he takes a step which he loves. We also found a play mat that has roads printed all over it so his rapidly growing number of cars now have somewhere to be driven, although I'm not sure if he quite gets that yet as I came into the living room to find him wearing the mat on his head.

Spring suddenly arrived on Sunday and we took him to Kew gardens early.  The flowers were out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  It was beautiful.  We also went for lunch with some friends at Soho house. He loved playing with the other kids.  One of the little boys he gets on with best is called Ollie.  They were properly play wrestling (see above) and having a right laugh.

He was so nice to see Sam really happy and it's always so rewarding when you know that he is loving being with his mum and dad. It does make you want to spend more time with him during the week but it's just not possible right now.