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Busy weekend ahead
My Mum's coming back to England! But she's flying straight into Manchester again. It was decided quite a while ago that my Nanna was not well enough - and never would be well enough - to leave the hospital, so my Mum's coming in to sell the house. The house belongs to my Mother, so at least that part will be straightforward, but she'll probably have to put the house sale in the hands of a solicitor because she won't be able to stay in England long enough to close the deal. (And I can certainly vouch for the fact that it takes ages to close such a deal in this country!)
So, she's landing in Manchester on August 11th and will fly out again on the 26th, which means... that we'll be driving up to Cumbria again soon!!
We've decided to go on the weekend of Stephen's birthday, the 15th. My Mum doesn't know yet but I can guarantee that she'll jump for joy when she hears that she'll get to hold her grandson again. I'm really looking forward to it too. I really felt that I missed out a bit during my pregnancy and since Jake's birth because I didn't have my family nearby to fuss over me. Sounds odd, I know, but I know that it would have been an amazing thing to have them around.
While we're there, in Cumbria, I'll visit not only my Nanna in hospital, but also my paternal grandparents, who were kind enough to visit Jake and I every day while we stay in the hospital. And, it may sound strange, but I also have this HUGE urge to visit the hospital that was my home for the first two weeks of Jake's life. I got to know all the nurses who worked in SCBU and I really felt taken care of. They did a wonderful job with Jake and I'd like to bring him in so that they can see how much he's grown. Maybe I'll bring some flowers for their office.
So, the weekend of August 14th and 15th will be a busy one... Stephen was talking about doing the 330 miles journey there and back in one day! We won't be able to do that with all the visits I have in mind though. Maybe we could stay in the same hotel where my waters broke...
Good boy!!
Wow! Wow! Wow! Jake slept from 9pm last night to 5:30 this morning, when I brought him into our bed and breastfed him for a few minutes. He fell asleep again until 7:30am when he woke me by giggling in my ear. Good boy, I cooed back at him. Over and over and over...
Sleeping, Packing, Holidaying
Two days ago, I wrote about Jake having slept right through the night. Well, the following night, he woke at 4am for a bottle and I felt like we were right back into the night feeds again. But then, last night, he did it again! Our little guy slept from 9pm last night straight through until 6am! I brought him into our bed where I breastfed him for a little while, and we all went back to sleep. By 8:30, I had taken my shower while Jake remained asleep on our bed. What a guy!! He woke soon after that and was as patient as ever while I finished getting dressed before I fed him.
Stephen has booked two weeks off work and we're all very happy about that. With our move impending, we've got lots to do around the house before we'll be ready to go. Stephen has planned to empty out the loft while he's off and make many, many visit to the dump to get rid of all the junk.
We've decided to have our belongings shipped to Canada with Allied Pickfords and, amazingly, they will come here and pack everything, right down to the littlest trinkets. We won't have to pack anything at all. Although, they will be some precious or private things that we probably will want to safeguard ourselves. But I guess their help will certainly lighten our load.
Then, of course, my Mum will be England. We'll be hiring a larger vehicle and driving up to Cumbria to see her on the weekend of Stephen's birthday, the 15th. On the way up there, we'll drop Hannah, Sarah and Ruth off in Sheffield to attend their Aunt's wedding reception and we'll pick them up on our way home again the following day. It'll be great to see my Mum and for her to get her mitts on Jake again. I swear; she's itching for it!
And finally, I'd like to welcome my friend Christina to this blog. She has been visiting for a little while now... even if she is in denial about it. 
Our day out
Our day yesterday started out with us not knowing what to do with ourselves. Should we hang around the house and do some of the many things that need doing before we move? Or should we take advantage of the good weather and the fact that the girls are at their mother's (can't fit everyone in the car) and head out somewhere nice? Well, you can just imagine which we chose...
So, we got in the car - which, in itself, is much more of a task with Jake around than it ever used to be - and headed towards Norfolk. Why Norfolk? Stephen likes it there and wanted to show it to me.
We'd been in the car approximately two hours when we came upon Norwich. We drove past the football stadium there and it looked like something football-y was happening. There weren't loads and loads of people though, so we assumed that it wasn't a game. But there were many yellow and green jerseys worn, so it must have been something sporty.
We kept going and stopped in Wroxham, which seemed like a lovely town. We walked around and had some lunch. Coming out of the restaurant, I went to put my sunglasses on - like you do - and I broke them! The lens popped right out! I was a bit ticked off as I'd only bought them about two weeks ago and I'd hardly worn them. They had great blue lenses! I love sunglasses and I like to try to keep a bit of a selection... but I always seem to break them. But I suppose that I shouldn't be too irked; I did only pay about £5 for those ones. Anyway, not to worry, fussy me found and bought a new pair pronto. (These ones are cute too, with diamond-like thingies on the frame. A steal at only £3.99!)
So, with new sunglasses on and a full belly, we continued on in the car toward the seaside. But we didn't get very far before we heard a loud pop/thud. Stephen pulled over, got out of the car and came back to report a flat tire. Can you believe it!? So I got Jake out of the hot car while Stephen changed the tire by the side of the road. There was very little shade and Jake wasn't liking it too much. But, before long, Stephen had finished working his magic and we were back in the car. Again. But this time, we headed towards home, never having made it to the seaside, which was disappointing. Our spare, you see, wasn't in very good condition, which surprised Stephen, and he felt better heading home and getting the car off the road.
Some two hours later, we arrived home... more than a bit sweaty. When will this heat/humidity wave end??! But we had a good day. It was nice to get out for a drive and for me to see some more of England.
Our next big trip out will be up to Cumbria next weekend. That'll be a long one! Hopefully, it won't be too hot.
And finally, we haven't heard from Sue in a few days. Her due date, I believe has just past... Has the nutty baby arrived?
Survey!
Here's an email that I received this morning...
Dear Nicola,
I found your pregnancy blog online, and I was wondering whether you would be willing to post a link to a pregnancy survey that my professor at UCLA is conducting. Even though you are no longer pregnant and updating the blog, it still shows up on a Google search for "pregnancy blog," and other pregnant women are likely to read about your experience. Your help in posting the link to this survey would thus be very helpful to us.
Below is the link to the survey, if you would like to check it out. The first page is an information sheet that tells you more about the project. Basically, it's about attitude sensitivity during pregnancy. We hope our results will help women understand their emotions and attitudes during pregnancy.
Here is the link: http://www.xba-ucla.com/Eng/study3/
Thanks a lot! Hope you and new baby Jake are doing well.
Happy to oblige. 
Hedingham Castle
Stephen’s taken this week and all of next off work, which means that we have been spending more time out of the house, exploring far and wide. Our furthest and widest will, of course, be Cumbria this weekend, but on Wednesday, Stephen took us to a castle!
I love castles! Especially the really old ones with dungeons! I want to live in a castle.
Anyway, after visiting their website, Stephen chose Hedingham Castle near Harwich. With lovely grounds and a very old castle (c. 1140), it certainly was the perfect place for me.
When we arrived at the gates and stopped to pay, we were advised that a wedding was taking place there and that the castle was closed to visitors until 4pm! It was 2:30 at that point and we worried about how long Jake would remain agreeable. We decided to leave the grounds, get a drink and come back closer to 4pm. The only good thing about not being able to get in immediately was that we only paid half price upon our return (£2 per adult)!
(As an aside, my stepdaughters’ Mum is getting married soon and investigated a wedding at the castle. Go on, guess how much… £4,000!!!)
So, around 3-ish, we returned, paid and parked the car. We fed Jake and took a walk around the grounds. It was really beautiful and very well-kept. There was a pond with ducks in it and, further on, what was more of a lake with more ducks and big fish. We did the whole path around the outskirts of the castle grounds. It wasn’t perfect, doing a wooded trek with a buggy, but do-able… and better than carrying him.
At 4pm, we decided to enter the castle but that wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Castle steps are made of uneven stone and, as you can imagine, there was no buggy ramp. We carried the buggy up the steps and then had to leave it in the shop/restaurant area on the first floor. Carrying Jake around a castle and up a very narrow stone winding staircase wasn’t fun either, but, thankfully, Stephen took on that job. Meanwhile, I explored the castle and loved every minute of it.
The wedding that had been taking place was over, but the bride and groom lingered to have photos taken in the castle. We watched them from a balcony for a few minutes and her dress was lovely! A strapless and beaded, off-white number.
Lastly, we went down to the basement, which was very dark and musty, with a sand floor and high ceiling. This basement had apparently not been used as a dungeon, as it would have been too dangerous to keep prisoners inside the castle. The dungeon, instead, had been just outside the front of the castle (meaning near the door where we entered), but was now reduced to low stone walls and no roof. Age, I guess, had damaged some of it.
I really enjoyed Hedingham Castle and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys that kind of thing.
Here are a few more pictures:
The view from the castle
Hannah and Jake
The lake
Jake and I (he had the sun in his eyes!)
We ended our day in Clacton. Stephen and I pushed the buggy along the pier while Hannah and Sarah enjoyed a ride in the amusement area. We finally got home around 10:30-ish. Tired and tanned.
No hospital visits this time...
We're off to Cumbria this morning. We'll (hopefully) be leaving within the hour. Right now, I'm just waiting for Stephen to finish his breakfast so that I can give him a quick haircut. It's getting a bit shaggy!
Oh and our rental car is here! A Vauxhall Zafira, which seats seven. We need something that big with 5 adult-sized people, one baby in a car seat, baby's buggy and travel cot! Not to mention any bags we have packed. The car is so nice and new. It smells of 'new car' and I love it. We're going to have such a hard time giving it back on Monday. 
Anyway, off we go. Wish me luck - no hospital visits this time...
Shhh...
I'll write more about my eventful weekend tomorrow, when I'm less tired, but the short version is:
- went to Cumbria via Sheffield (took us 9+ hours!)
- visited grandparents
- shed some tears
- visited hospital where Jake was born and was a bit disappointed
- had some very yucky breadrolls at my grandma's house and resorted to hiding them to make it look like I'd eaten them (gimme a break; you don't know my grandma!)
- heard a very amusing story about my stepdaughters' aunt's wedding dress being so revealing that the registar kept messing up his lines
- went to Pleasurewood Hill theme park today and just got home
- broke a nail
- broke my new sunglasses!! Arg. Just got them.
More tomorrow. I have a lot to say but Jake is sleeping and I'm trying to type quietly...
The Weekend
So we jumped into our rented Vauxhall Zafira and started out on the road toward Sheffield. Why Sheffield? We'd said that we'd drop the girls off at their maternal grandmother's house so that they could attend their aunt's wedding reception. The detour into Sheffield added a little bit onto the journey time, but I've come to realise that travelling any significant distance with a 4-month old is tiring all by itself. I can't say that we stopped all that much for Jake but the difficulty is that every stop lasts about 45 minutes to an hour. Feeding him, winding him, changing him and visiting the loos ourselves took ages!
Anyway, we dropped the girls in Sheffield and Stephen, Jake and I continued on to Barrow in Cumbria. All in all, over a nine hour journey! Very tiring. We finally arrived around 8pm. We went straight to my Nanna's house and dumped all our stuff. Then, off to the local chippy!! A good healthy meal was had.
The following morning, we rose early and went to see my Nanna at the home where she is now living. She looked so frail. When we arrived, she was seated in a communal area, talking to some friends she'd made there. My Mum went to get her while Stephen, Jake and I waited in her room. My Mum had warned me that my Nanna would cry when she saw Jake but it broke my heart nonetheless. She is using a walker now and was in tears as she shuffled through the doorway. It's a terrible thing when the mind is active and the body is no longer willing. I could see that she wanted to fling her arms around me, and especially around Jake, but couldn't do it. My Mum helped her to her chair before I went to her, gave her a kiss and placed Jake on her lap.
The little guy was as charming as ever! He didn't mind her slurred speak and understood the universal language of 'smile'. She smiled at him and he smiled right back. I had a hard time holding it together though. It upset me very much to see her looking so fragile. She's had a few strokes now and I've convinced myself that, with our Canada plans, I'll never see her again. My grandad died recently and I don't think she'll be far behind.
But we've been lucky enough to get the four-generation photo:
Then came lunch at Tesco in Barrow. Can't say that I was impressed though. "I'd like a jacket potato please." None left. "OK, I'd like beans on toast please." No bread. Gimme a break! We're in a grocery store! Hmmm... So I settled for 2 over-cooked hash browns, a slimey sausage and beans. There were very few sandwiches left either so I felt like our options were limited.
I'd made arrangements with my paternal grandparents to see them at 3pm, so we took the next available timeslot to go to the hospital where Jake was born. I'd been wanting to do this and I felt like I just needed to get it out of my system. I don't know what I expected from the visit but I left feeling a bit disappointed. We were able to have a quick chat with one of the nurses who helped Jake in SCBU and she held Jake for a few minutes. But I'm glad I got it all out of system. I'd been thinking about the hospital and our 11-day stay there quite a lot since we left and being back has kind of closed the book for me.
Around 3-ish, we arrived at my grandparents house and were pleased to see not only my paternal grandmother and grandfather but also my uncle (my Dad's brother) and aunt. We had a really nice time there but, knowing what a long journey we had ahead of us, we told them that we couldn't hang around long. My grandmother though is a bit posh and a bit pushy. They'd arranged a 'NetMeeting' with my Dad in Canada (online conversation with audio and visual) for 5pm and wanted us to participate. My grandmother tried to bribe us with the promise of breadrolls and tea. So we agreed to stay.
By that point, it was just after 4pm and we hadn't yet packed any our stuff at my Nanna's house. We jumped back in the car, rushed back to my Nanna's house and quickly dismantled Jake's travelcot. Looking at the time, I knew that we weren't going to make it for 5pm so I called and spoke to grandfather. I suggested that we shelve the idea of us coming over again because we really had to get on the road. He said, "But granny's already made your tea." We packed the car, said goodbye to my Mum and rushed back to my grandparents' house for tea and a NetMeeting.
The NetMeeting part was quick: Hi Dad. We're fine. Bye Dad!
The tea part was a bit more difficult. My grandmother had made ham rolls. They really looked nice! She'd chopped some celery, laid a plate of biscuits and made a pot of tea. (She's really into presentation. Step aside Hyacinth Bucket!) She went to pour me a cup of tea and I told her that I don't drink tea. She looked at me like her whole plan had been turned upside down and said, "Hmph, a wasted pot of tea." Stephen jumped in to save me: "I'm thirsty! I'll drink it all!" I wasn't offered an alternative.
So I bit into a sandwich... the ham was great. The bread was nice and fresh. But what the hell was the sweet, chunky stuff in there?! My grandmother had wandered into the other room to participate in the ongoing NetMeeting so I turned to Stephen and made a face. He hadn't bit into them yet and looked a bit confused. We exchanged a bit of meaningless sign language about it before he tried a bit. Looking puzzled, he gave the sandwich a sniff. Stephen likes picallily and other such sandwich condiments but even he couldn't figure it out. It was pretty scary and not particularly tasty. I ate a bit more and then came across a big chunk of... well, of something and couldn't go on. Hearing my grandparents shouting into the microphone on the computer, Stephen did a very chivalrous thing. He grabbed my sandwich and made a dash for the car. He returned without it and my grandmother was pleased to see that we'd cleared our plates. Well done! (I hope she never reads this. I feel terrible!)
Back on the road and heading to Sheffield to pick up the girls. They'd had a very nice time at the wedding reception but they said that the bride's dress was a tad revealing. The bride, you see, had a boob job recently and I think that she's a bit too proud of the surgeon's work! I haven't seen the photos yet but will post one here as soon as I can. Apparently, the registar kept messing up his lines because he was staring at her chest and the 'audience' was laughing. The bride, I'm told, then got so drunk at the reception that she now cannot remember most of it. The groom went off to the pub during the reception too. Sound like a match made in heaven.
The journey back took about 6 hours, as Jake slept most of the way home. We got back at 1am. Loooooong drive.
We went to Pleasurewood Hill Theme Park, but I'll write about that later as my fingers are about to fall off.
