Dumbphone

I have what I fondly refer to as a dumbphone. I should clarify that it has one or two bells and whistles, namely the camera (which is all I use it for apart from the odd text or call), but it's certainly no top of the range thing. Still, it enables me to point and shoot, capturing the moment here and there without fuss.

So I present to you a selection of blurry photos, each one with lots of sentimental value yet little to recommend them technically or artistically.

Callie riding a horse toy at the church playgroup. She was around 12 months in this picture.

Climbing at 12 months...

...and at around 13 months...

...ditto the above.

Safely contained within a swing. The shoes she has on here were also E's first shoes.

Smugly doing the train down the click-clack track at one of the local children's centers. These places are stay-and-play areas, open in the afternoons, geared toward preschool children under the age of 5. The Libdem/Tory coalition have cut funding for many of these places.

2 C's... in the sensory room at one of the local children's centers.

Vrooming around the outdoor area of the center.

Climbing and following big brother, a marvelous combination.

Ditto the above, minus climbing.

E chillaxing on a log on the common.
Slightly distorted sibling picture, driving the airplane at the local common.

Can't climb that (yet).
The round-and-round is always good for some giggles. E in his school uniform here.

Peepo.

A "boat" E and I built out of old boxes and boards and bricks, at the local children's center. Love the fact that they provide these natural materials that have unlimited, open-ended play potential.

Sibswings. This was taken recently - you can see how C's hair has grown.

Logwalk at the Common park.

Outdoor play at the children's center.

Squashing a flower in her paws on the school run.

We found a new park last week that's only a short bus ride away, has a different children's center attached, a sandpit, and lots of things to climb on, including this train caboose and...

...this locomotive with a tunnel down the middle.

Inside the new children's center, E rode this funny foot-pedal-machine.

"A-a-anything you can do I can do betterrrr...."

Rocking horse inside.

Taken today... E and I visited Hamley's Toy Shop on Regent's Street while B and C stayed local. Lots of things to do/see, and here E is watching a Scalextric race, with a separate train display set up in the middle. He also drove remote controlled cars and played with a ton of other toys.

Like this rocking horse.

Free face-painting job - he is a tiger. Got lots of indulgent grins on our way home today!

A quick stop for a miniature chocolate cupcake on the top floor, overlooking central London, then a wander around Carnaby Street before heading home.

The phone is back in my pocket, ready to capture more moments. I have more blurry pics on my last phone but it's daunting thinking of hunting it down, charging it, finding a way to get them off, and then sitting here sorting through them, so I will rest on my laurels now... besides, C's sleeping is worse than normal because we are trying to crack down on her bad habits. Saw a pediatrician who said the bad sleeping is behavioral... needless to say, last night wasn't a barrel of laughs, and tonight probably won't be either.

In Which Things Are Much Better....

En route to Suffolk, we got the news that the landlady is raising the rent - a reasonable amount. Not trivial, mind, but not the jump isn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

So that's it - we stay here for at least another year, after which B's job prospects will be a bit more solid and E will be finishing out kindergarten (Reception, they call it here). I am massively relieved. We were able to enjoy staying with our friends in the country... had a great time... nobody wanted to leave, but we're back in London now trying to wrap our heads around the fact that it really is Monday tomorrow and back to the grind, etc.

Well... a few pictures.

Heading down the driveway for a quick walk around the nearby fields. E got to "drive" in our friend's lap briefly on a jaunt to the beach, since it was all off-road driving, on tractor lanes at about 5mph. Made his week.

They're off - the boys with a big head start there.
Lagging behind across the fields after that little display, with baby conked out in the sling.

And back, for playroom carnage.

Also, masks.
C gravitated toward this doll. Might have to get her one. I've never done the whole boy-blue, girl-pink thing, and she does enjoy running around with a car clutched in each plump fist, but this doll was a real attraction for her.

Of course, so were the stairs. Who needs a gym when you've got a climbing 15 month old?

Sifting through pebbles in the driveway.

Big brother enjoying the very long-roped swing. Spot the peeking baby. She was just on the cusp of getting angry about not being able to swing. Shortly after this, she was distracted by a cat in the adjacent orchard and toddled madly off to find and pet the very tolerant feline.

Spotted on the way home, literally above our car as we drove along the highway! Had some sort of strange fan-like engine strapped to its rear. 'Scuse the reflection in the windshield.

...off to bed... baby still not even close to sleeping through... but it's been a great weekend and maybe this coming week will be a bit easier.

Well...

March is supposed to be the end of the sick season, isn't it? For us, it definitely wasn't. It's been a rough few weeks around here - made worse by illness. Picked E up from school with a vomiting bug, which he then passed to C several days later (fortunately not passed to the adults as well, although I'll admit we have better hand-washing habits etc). Then a bad cold, passed to everyone.

On top of that... it looks certain the landlady is going to raise the rent. OK - we can deal with a rise... but then she had an agent come around to "revalue" the property. I did a bit of research and... well, London private rents have gone up a lot in the past few years. Two bedroom places in this area are renting for prices that, for us, are unaffordable. So God knows what our rent is going to be raised to, but I'm really hoping we can afford it.

If not, I don't know where we'll go. We have a ballpark area - anywhere with good transport links to both Brighton and London. Nothing hums to us. Nothing feels like home. We've been here for just under five years now and the thought of relocating makes me feel sick to my stomach. The thought of telling E, who is so excited about going to "big school" just down the road, that he can't go there, makes me feel awful. I love the school run, I love this area, I love seeing and chatting to the same people - the nice librarian who has known E since he was 4 months old, the friendly childminders in the area, the other mothers.

So, just sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will the rent increase be affordable? Will she be merciful, wanting to keep known tenants, or take a gamble on the unknown? We've expressed our interest in staying... there's nothing we can do at this point but wait, and hope she doesn't ask for £300 extra per month.

It sucks being a taxpayer in the UK who has to support a family on one income. A worker supporting a wife and two young children is taxed at the same rate as a childless, single taxpayer. There are so many good aspects to this country but this particular point is tough to swallow. It's not the principle of the thing - it's the fact that I love this area, I love this flat, my children have spent their entire (albeit short) lives in this area... and we're on the cusp of being priced out entirely. I knew we'd never be able to afford to buy here (or anywhere, really, at this rate), but I thought we might have a few more years here.

It'd be easier if we had somewhere else in mind. But... we don't. And actually, even areas further out in London are more expensive than I'd expected. Just... ouch. Reality bites, and all.

It'd also be easier if B's job wasn't up in the air. His company is... well, restructuring. He's not in the line of fire, but he will be in a few months, when some department takes a look at his role and decides whether it's essential or not. And his boss has just taken another job, so he's getting a new one. Another unknown... way too many for me.

Well... reality bites.

So let's look at the positives. We're off to Suffolk to stay with friends this weekend. And this Sunday was Mother's Day in the UK. I woke up to chocolates and a balloon....

We all went to Wimbledon Common for a walk.

Note the horses just through the trees in the last pic. We saw lots of people out riding. After our walk we went for lunch and then had a browse in a local independent bookstore. It was a good day.

Now that we're all healthy again, the warmer weather is luring us into the garden. C is too precarious to leave on the large trampoline (especially with E on it) so I've dragged the little one out and she's loving it.

Can't do anything for one these days without the other one wanting it... "Take a picture of me, Mama!"


Ok - am off to attempt to regain my natural optimism. Probably through sleep (if C lets me, she's been awful the last week) and maybe possibly through having a bit of chocolate and reading a trashy romance. Tomorrow is another day, and all that jazz.

EDITED TO ADD: If anyone has emailed me lately and not received a reply... email me again, please (katcoll AT yahoo DOT c.om is the one I check - write it the normal way with the @ and . - am foxing the spambots by not writing it out properly, this is a public blog, after all). I've lost some messages to spam, according to a friend, and may have straight up just not received email. V. annoying. And now off to bed.