Monday, January 26, 2009
DfT Tales of the Road - Part 2
This is the second ad from the "Tales of the Road" series from the Department for Transport. Keeping with the same Tim Burton-esque animation as the previous advert, this one is notably less "gory" than the first and I think will be more effective.
I like that they're running this campaign because I find English roads to be incredibly dark on the most part. Although my area is dotted with several villages, there are several very rural areas where there are no lights and in some cases, narrow or single-track roads. Also, Cambridgeshire is incredibly flat, making it ideal for cycling. I think it's hugely important to convince kids to wear reflective gear and be seen because of all this. It's quite sad, we've got reflective tags and flashing lights to attach to our dog for evening walks, but I didn't have anything reflective for the kids until recently. I hope this campaign makes more parents aware, like it has done for me.
who NOT TO book for your child's party
We went to a party yesterday for one of Jack's nursery friends, and they had hired a magician to perform. At the beginning of the show, I had to take Jack to the loo and when I returned, I caught the end of a conversation involving the magician telling off some mums for talking during his performance. At a CHILDREN'S PARTY. For which HE is being PAID to perform.
It gets better.
One of the mums and I started chatting very quietly, leaning in close to each other because I had a very difficult time hearing her as we tried to keep our voices down. I then noticed the room had fallen silent, and turned to see the magician staring at us with the dirtiest look I'd ever received in my life. He had actually stopped the show to berate us, patronisingly asking us if we would "like to join in now." The child's mother looked at us in horror and embarrassment, and the other parents looked at us with a mixture of shock and laughter at the absurdity of the situation. At another point, another group of mums started chatting quietly at the back of the room, and this time he said "And now for our next trick IF THE MUMS IN THE BACK WOULD ALL STOP CHATTING" with a glare.
Now the thing is, normally I'm not one to hold my tongue. My instinct was to smack this asshole with my very large handbag and give him a piece of my mind. But because he kept doing it during the performance in front of our children, I didn't want to be rude. And after the show, I didn't want to further embarrass the hosting mum by having a go at the guy she'd hired to entertain the kids. So gracefully, I let him off - but not without ensuring that I get the word out that this guy should be avoided like the plague.
Do not, even in your most desperate moment, hire a guy called Billy Banana Children's Entertainer (AKA Peter Ashley) at http://www.billybanana.com/ phone number (01353) 649595. I'm not quite sure how he stays in business, but generally it's a bad idea to completely humiliate and piss off potential customers. Just a tip for you, Billy.
Monday, January 19, 2009
and here's me, without coffee
There is nothing worse than being totally, totally exhausted but unable to fall asleep every night. Well, okay. There are lots of things worse than this, but humour me...I don't have time for perspective and reality right now. I just can't fall asleep quickly anymore. I go upstairs early, I get all snuggled into bed, I read, read some more, put the book down, close my eyes, and lie there for an hour or two until I finally succumb to sleep. By that time, it's around 1am and I'm a zombie by morning. I feel like I've had too many espressos at the end of every day; all jittery and unable to relax. I've tried Rescue Remedy, lavender oil, and warm milk (BLEAH), but nothing seems to work. I had this with Jack and Mia, too. Pesky hormones.
Forgot to mention, at my midwife appointment last Thursday, Junior Mint's heart rate ranged from 142 (boy!) to 158 (girl!) in the couple of minutes Jane had the Sonicaid on me. So really, it's anyone's guess right now. Still leaning towards boy.
The Big Scan is in four weeks, and I cannot wait. Thankfully I managed to snag a 9:00am slot, so no hanging around all day watching the clock. And no having to waddle around for ages with a bladder about to burst.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
little things
So Jack was telling us some jokes on the way to nursery today: "Why did the zebra eat the tomato? Because HE LIKES IT! Baaahahahahahaha! Why did the owl eat the banana? Because HE LIKES IT! Baaahahahahahaha!" and so on. Mia looked uncertain, but laughed along anyway.
Mia says: mummy (finally!! Paul and I have both been "daddy" up until this week), Jack, meow, hat, shoes, yeah, no, "one, two, threeee!", bye, hiya, dog, woof, uhoh, gone, look, ta, hot (mostly referring to the oven), yum yum, duck, cheese, cheers, eye, and baby. Sometimes all at the same time.
Junior Mint is still wriggling away in there, and the 20 week scan has been booked for Feb 16. I'm feeling so much better these days, and have even been eating healthily and exercising. I give it a month, tops (both the feeling good and the healthy regime.) I'm huge and looking properly pregnant, but I much prefer that to the "Has she been eating too many pies lately?" look. For the record, we are both very much leaning towards JM being a boy.
Hmm. Wonder if anyone would mind if I crawled under my desk and took a nap for an hour or so?
Thursday, January 08, 2009
let the betting pools commence
Jack thinks the baby will be a girl, and that we should call her Mia. That way, he explained, we'd have Mia 1 and Mia 2.
This would make things much easier, as I could just reuse Mia's wall letters and wouldn't need to re-label all of the clothes for nursery.
Monday, January 05, 2009
big, bigger, biggest
From left to right: 14 weeks 4 days with Jack, 14 weeks 1 day with Mia, and 14 weeks 1 day with Junior Mint.
Gosh. Already outgrowing my boobs and it's not even month 4. Everything is going well, I'm actually feeling pretty good, and I've definitely got Baby Squirmies happening on a regular basis now. It's all rather uneventful at the moment, which is just fine by me.
I managed to snag some bargain maternity wear in the Christmas sales (online, dahlings - mama don't do in store shopping over the holidays) and my friend Lucie dropped off a bag of lovely clothes a friend had passed along to her. There were some really gorgeous bits in there; dressier things for work from Blooming Marvellous, Mamas and Papas, etc. What a treat! So this means I no longer have to wear a bin bag secured with bungee cord, I've got clothes that fit me now.
Thank you, that is all.