Flying Start Fame



I got recognised yesterday at a children's Christmas party. Four times!

Why? Because of this blog, would you believe.

I'm going to be even more careful what I write on here since it appears that more people have read at least one post than I ever thought would. The post in question is this one last month, all about the wonders of "Play Jane," our Flying Start friend with all the messy play ideas (and materials!)

After we had our final session with Jane last week, I gave her the gift of a collage of photos taken over the months of fun we'd had with her, along with a print-out of the blog post I wrote about her, both of which were intended simply to show our appreciation and huge gratitude to Jane. I thought it said it better than any cheesy card I could write to her.

Thing is, the collage attracted some attention back at the Flying Start office and that spiralled as more people saw it and read the blog post (eek!) It got into the hands of Jane's boss, then her boss's boss. And according to the people who recognised me at the Flying Start party yesterday it is currently with the Chief Executive of Flying Start as a whole! Self-conscious doesn't even begin to cover it - the thought of all those strangers reading what I wrote, without any expectation that they would ever see it is a bit weird.

I'm incredibly glad though to know that Jane and other staff were so touched by something so simple but also gobsmacked that apparently they rarely get thanks. I would imagine they would be showered with praise and gratitude on a daily basis for the work they do but evidently our appreciation is not normal and their reaction proves it. It shows how important it is to let people know when they make a difference in our lives, I guess.

Thank you Flying Start, once again!

:)

Gratitude

“@MaxLucado: Cranky? List 10 good things about ur life. God cures grumpiness with gratitude.”

Yes, cranky is a word I might use to describe myself this week (at times, not constantly!) However, gratitude is something I feel so strongly about; I have a lot to be grateful for. Let's do as Mr. Lucado suggests and narrow it down to ten things!

1) My faith in, relationship with and experience of Jesus Christ.
2) Fantastic, selfless husband. He's my best friend.
3) Beautiful, precious son.
4) Fabulous family.
5) Wonderful friends.
6) A home and food: two bare necessities (are you humming it too?!) never lacking, however tight things get.
7) My health returning.
8) The bar of Lindor chocolate in my cupboard, just waiting to be attacked!
9) Laughter. Whether it's triggered by the hilarity of some people in our lives or entertaining programmes like Miranda or How I met your Mother, for example.
10) Flying Start and the support they provide.
11) {Yes, eleven! I'm breaking the rules.} Freedom. Sure there are big problems in our society and politics but we are a free country.

And specifically today I am grateful for:

1) Home-made mincemeat cake. Yum.
2) Calpol.
3) CBeebies. Specifically, 3rd & Bird and In the Night Garden ;)
4) That Lindor bar. Yes it is worth mentioning twice!
5) The book, "The Science of Parenting."
6) The Internet, specifically twitter, Facebook and hotmail. Keeps me feeling connected and did even when I was too ill to leave the house for days and weeks on end.
7) It being Friday.
8) NCT for introducing me to one or two very nice new friends.
9) A 40% off voucher for a shop I need to visit anyway.
10) A potential tax rebate :)

Thank you God. I am grateful.

An Advent Calendar Worth Opening

Check this out each day guys, I reckon it will be worth your time. A couple of minutes each day. The first one is a bit longer but after that, it will literally be a few minutes. Be blessed...

http://www.igniteme.org/advent-calendar/index.php#

I blinked...

...and he went from baby to proper little boy.

3rd & Bird creativity

This week I have decided to embark on a little art project. Can I draw? No, not really. Can I paint? Erm...no. Luckily the target audience for my little masterpiece is a very forgiving, not overly discerning thirteen-month old!

During Noah's bathtime the past two nights I have been happily sitting on the landing listening to him squealing with delight and splashing Daddy whilst I merrily draw and paint. Or attempt to ;)

I'm making slow progress, as I need black and white paint to complete Mr. Beakman! :)

What I'm actually painting is the MDF board we had to use to block the gaps in our banisters upstairs about 6 or 7 months ago!! Trying to spruce it up with a little help from those colourful 3rd&Bird characters is keeping me entertained and Noah fascinated ;)

Perks

For all the challenges (and struggles, at times) associated with living in gibby, one of the big positives (or perks) is that our postcode falls right in the middle of a Flying Start area. What a fantastic organisation! So much support and so many services available to families with children under the age of four in communities considered deprived. We are so fortunate and have met some really lovely people through Flying Start. Our health visitor deserves a whole blog post all to herself. As does "Play Jane" as I refer to her. And this is hers!

Jane comes to play most weeks, always bringing with her some random new toy or game or messy substance for Noah to have an amazing time with. Favourites over the months have included cooked spaghetti, tea leaves, a massive tin-foil first aid blanket, squidgy, lighting-up balls.... the list goes on.

I don't know which was the most bizarre, they're all pretty crazy! Today's fun was water play. The pictures say it all.

The number of times these visits have brightened up a challenging or just generally quiet day and turned it on its head is quite amazing :) It's one of those grace notes in the symphony that is life here. A real blessing.

On this day last year....

It was snowing!!

And he was so dinky!!

Habakkuk: An inspiration.

"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vines.....yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains." ~ Habakkuk 3:17-19

That's all :)

Dance dance dance

Love this!

Domesticated baby!

Not sure where he gets it from but this boy just loves cleaning/sweeping/wiping/washing (machines!!) Long may that continue ;) Except perhaps the washing machine obsession because that's the only one that has the potential to shrink things that should never have been put into it in the first place. The less said the better! ;)

Community

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community (even if their intentions are ever so earnest) but the person who loves those around them will create community”. Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

My goodness me is that a challenging statement for us right now. 

In some respects we have never felt so much a part of a real community as we do living in Gibby. We know our neighbours -and almost the whole street - by name and they know us. Various people come to us at different times, needing help jump-starting their car, needing to come in cos they're locked out til mum comes home (that was this week's entertainment!!), needing help with the electricity or flooded bathroom (another classic), etc etc. We could equally go to these same people and ask for help if we needed it. That is pretty great in this day and age - particularly so given that our street is, according to the PCSO I spoke to last week, the current no-go area as far as many are concerned and certainly a known hot spot for crime and antisocial behaviour. ASBO central apparently!

That's where the challenge lies. Despite all that beautiful aforementioned neighbourly spirit, I find living here frightening at times. The unpredictability of the kids especially means there's rarely a dull moment and that's putting it mildly. Living here has always been about living out our faith as best we can in the knowledge that Jesus loves this community and its people enough to die for them and we're called to love them like he does. Part of our feeble attempts at expressing that love (which I need to dig very deep for all too often!) is having dreams for how different a place and a culture this could be if Jesus' light were to really break in. And those dreams are good but I do not want to be one of those people who focus on the dreams and inadvertently make things worse - or, heaven forbid "destroy community." 

The answer, according to Bonhoeffer is simple: love those around you. Not your ideas, dreams or hopes. Just the people. The seemingly unlovable and almost certainly the unloved. Funny, I'm pretty sure that's exactly the simple message Jesus had too. Just like his other teachings, it ain't easy (!) but I think it's worth it :)

Leave of absence......

(tentatively) over!

Alright, own up! Who sped up time and made these past six months fly by so fast? I'm sure absolutely nobody has missed me in the blogging world (and will therefore not even read this post!) so I'm not worried about that but I would truly like to resume my very own little commentary on everything and nothing for my own sake. I'm not sure how or when I think I'm going to manage to do this but it's worth a shot.

To sum up the six months since I last visited my blog would be utterly impossible so I won't even bother to try. Suffice it to say, the adventure continues: both the parenting rollercoaster and life in gibby.

Hopefully tomorrow, some specifics ("I love the specifics....the specifics are the best part!" ~ A little F.R.I.E.N.D.S quote for you there!)

I shall leave you with a random picture.

My boys both doing something they love

It's the simple things...

I place Noah in a cot surrounded by colourful, soft, fun toys. He's happy playing with these for a few minutes until he finds the *real* entertainment built into the "travel-now-acting-as-playpen-cot"!

P.S. That strange high-pitched dinosaur-like noise he's making - that's a noise he has favoured periodically for about three months now. He does it non-stop for a week or two, then seemingly forgets all about it for a few weeks before suddenly - and joyfully - rediscovering it. Funny little creature!

As the saying goes...

...Time flies when you're having fun. Time also flies when you're a new Mum! Combine the effects of both having fun and being a new Mum and time doesn't just fly, it zips by. Like a Formula One car. Random anecdote? Yes. Reason? Vianney has the Turkish Grand Prix on at the moment and the inane whirring of the cars is kind of doing my head in; it does at least serve as a handy little illustration though! Time is flying like a Formula One car around the track. I just noticed that I last blogged a month ago tomorrow and I decided it was time to take back control! I'm currently feeling rather flaky and under the weather so lying here is a good opportunity to lazily type a little paragraph or two.

I have said it before but I do seriously intend for this blog to begin to return - at least partially - to its original purpose. Sharing my faith, the things God is inspiring me and challenging me with and hopefully encouraging those who read. Not just pictures and stories about the oh-so-all-consuming Noah! Sorry about that ;) For now though, I must feed the aforementioned Noah who is stirring and whose whimpers, if translated, would mean "milk please mummy." While I do so, enjoy the picture of the flowers which I'm currently enjoying in the...(not flesh...?...Leaf? Bloom? Jug!?) Thank you to Noah (and Vianney) for the foliage and Mrs Cookie (and her bridal sister!) for the fab jug. Love them.

Highchair Hijinx

 It's just one new experience after another when you're a little one isn't it. Today: the high chair!

"Mummy, it's feeeeeding time, not photo time!"

"Just give me the flipping food!"

"Highchair time is serious time."

"I will win. The prize? Carrot and sweetcorn of course!"

"What a funny face you have, Mummy"

"Now we're getting somewhere..."

"Oh alright, I agree - highchair time is fun!"

Kids and Technology eh...

Noah had been having a lovely morning so he decided he wanted to text his Granny and Grandad to tell them all about it...

For some reason, the predictive text wasn't working out too well for him, so he thought he'd go for the traditional phone call...

The thing is, in his excitement he forgot that you can't hear through your nose. Mistaking the lack of conversation for a malfunction in the phone's settings, Noah decided to try the "loudspeaker method" he'd seen them use on The Apprentice (sshh, i know he wasn't even born for that last series!!)

In the end though, it just seemed easier to go back to texting and ask Daddy to help. So he did :)

A real achievement!

You may think you've achieved things in your life but prepare to feel totally belittled by a five-month old....

I know. It's difficult to realise Noah is so far ahead of you in life's achievements but try not to take it too hard, he is pretty clever.



Two more "Firsts"

The sun has got his hat on and I finally believe we're leaving that bitterly cold winter behind. Don't let me down now, Spring! Tonight we couldn't resist basking in some of the novelty sunshine we were experiencing so the three of us went down to good old Barry Island to look at the sea - a first for little Noah.


I believe I promised you two first things? Well, the second first (work that one out!) was wonderful : my first proper walk on Barry Island beach. I had ventured onto the sand once before but only managed a few steps, waited for the tide to come right up then went to paddle in the sea with a lot of support from Vianney. That wasn't even two years ago. Tonight we walked right down to the waves and meandered along for a good half hour. Another precious thing to thank Jesus for.

Fun on the farm...

...for the very first time.

 A week ago today, Noah and I joined most of the other Mums (and some Grans) from Little Stars (the toddler group at church) for a field trip to the farm. It was the most beautiful day of the year up until that point and was not only Noah's first trip to a farm but probably the first real sun he's experienced. I think he quite liked it! As you can see, he was brushing up on his farm animals - revising them from his book - on our way to the farm. He didn't want to look like he didn't know anything ;)

I think we will be paying more than a few visits to this farm in the coming months. I especially loved the name of the farm: Warren Mill Farm. Nice :)

Sunday Snaps

Sunday involved a morning chat with the cottage's resident chickens (resident outside, not IN the cottage. That would be weird!), a beautiful drive over the mountains, which the adults enjoyed more than the babies (!), a stroll along the seafront at Aberystwyth (a first in all our adult lives) and of course some more playing back at the cottage :) Enjoy the pics... monday ones to follow soon!

Checking out the chickens....from the safety of their Daddys' arms!



Super Dads doing what Super Dads do best

Me and my littlest boy at Aberystwyth seafront

Me and both my boys in Aberystwyth :)

Reays on a gate with a view...and a sheep!

Noah rather enjoying Jude's toys. Thanks Jude!

Determined to sit up like a big boy and impress Jude....and that's just Vianney! ;)



Saturday Snaps

Here are a few photos from our first full day of the long weekend away together. The first two are actually from the Friday evening as us Mitis arrived. We were checking out the stunning view which so far just does not get old! It is beautiful.

Returning to the forest we visited both of the other times we've been to the cottage in Llanidloes, it was blissful not to have to take the wheelchair and stick to the "accessible" path (which, incidentally, was the bumpiest path I've ever travelled along in the wheelchair....well, that's probably not quite true but it was definitely the bumpiest path to ever declare itself to be "accessible!") We loved taking on a whole new route and meandering along the river and through the woods until we came to a little waterfall. It was crazy to think (as Tom pointed out) that the little river we were walking alongside was the Severn, the same river that becomes so wide and powerful further south.

And then later in the afternoon, the boys got down to the real business of holiday: playing! It was gorgeous to see them really interacting with one another and being aware of each other. Noah needs to learn a little more control of his limbs so as not to randomly whack poor Jude but they had fun! It was a particularly special evening given that Noah sat up for the first time that afternoon. The developments are coming faster and faster from him these days! More holiday photos in tomorrow's post... ;)