Year 2 Day 182: Last Sleep

Matt returned home from work this evening to a napping Ryan...so naturally Daddy has a lie-down with his number one.

Year 2 Day 181: Bi-Weekly Weigh-in

This is our last walk home from the baby clinic in Brierley Hill where Ryan was weighed. We will have to find a GP for the new place and hopefully there will be one close enough to walk to like this one was.

He's a whopping 13 lbs 11 oz now and closing in on his older cousin!

Year 2 Day 180: Packing Up

Although the main "big" stuff was moved with the lorry this past weekend, we're using this week to slowly trickle up the smaller things and we hope to be all moved in by Thursday.

Year 2 Day 179: Stare-down

"This town ain't big enough for the two of us."

Year 2 Day 178: Tight Squeeze

This is Ryan's first and last time in his own room at the "old" place and at the moment it's the only "quiet" place in the house. Before now it has been a storage place for anything that didn't have a home and the idea was that we would clear it out when it was time for him to move from his Moses basket to a cot.

Hmm, looks like he'll be running out of room soon.

Year 2 Day 177: I Gotta Feeling...

I saw this rainbow on the way to Matt's work again today. I decided to walk there again with Ryan because we're headed to the cottage tonight to sign the lease. This meant Matt wouldn't have to make a special trip to get us and we could head straight there.

So, just a tidbit of where we will be...

We met the landlord who had lived in the property for 25 years and said it dates back to the 1780s. Also, this is what was left for us after we signed the lease...

I think we're gonna like it here.

Year 2 Day 176:The Inevitable

Put it near his mouth...and he WILL try to eat it.

Year 2 Day 175: Sleeping on the Job

We have decided to take the cottage and started to pack for our upcoming move. One thing I have quickly learned is that moving with a small child is no easy task. He needs to be constantly entertained, fed, changed...checked on when sleeping.

Needless to say he wasn't much help here.

Year 2 Day 174: Love His Face!

Every time I look at this angelic face I simply melt. My love for this very little boy is overflowing.

Year 2 Day 173: 3 Months Old!!

And SO not a fan of photoshoots today.

Year 2 Day 172: Trance

Three generations...looks like they all have one thing in common from this picture. Can you guess what that is?

Year 2 Day 171: PC Emergency

Our motherboard has taken a serious nose-dive so we made a venture to PC World only to come out empty-handed. I may just shrivel and die without a PC.

Year 2 Day 170: Bumbo Baby-Sitter

Mothercare World had Bumbo seats with trays for £5 off, so Ryan and I walked there today to pick one up for him. Matt picked us up on his way home from work and here our little guy sits tonight with a selection of toys to choose from. However, unless they're dangling from his play gym, he's really not too interested.

Year 2 Day 169: Rockin the Tummy Time

He's able to keep his head up for longer now!

Year 2 Day 168: My Buddy

He decided to take a break from eating my cheek.

Year 2 Day 167: Mommy's Little Trooper

Ryan had his 3-month jabs this morning and he was such a good little boy. He cried a little but managed to make friends with the nurse again before we left the room. Just one more month of these nasty things and then he gets a break until he's a year old.

Year 2 Day 166: Baby Hef

His 3-month immunisations are tomorrow, so tonight he is pampered with a nice bubble bath, bedtime cream massage, and lounging on Mommy's lap while he watches the telly in his ducky dressing gown and bunny slippers.

Eat your hearts out!

Year 2 Day 165: Mother's Day (UK)

My very first proper Mother's Day!!! Matt "helped" Ryan pick out my card, which I will cherish forever, and Ryan wore his 'I love mummy' booties.

Perfect!

Year 2 Day 164: It's What Tiggers Do Best

Sleep it is.

Year 2 Day 163: Exploring

Ryan is starting to show more interest in touching his toys. He really likes the classical music on his LeapFrog caterpillar from his Great Nanny in America!

Year 2 Day 162: Cousins

Ryan's cousin was born just 5 months before him so they will clearly have the advantage of having a playmate close in age in the family. It's a bonus for everyone, really.

Today our niece was dropped off for a bit because Em had to take their cat, Sweep, to the vet. He's been suddenly quite poorly and no one knows why. So the kids had a bit of an impromptu "playdate" of sorts. Here they are mesmerised by some Waybuloo. Go CBeebies!!

Year 2 Day 161: Chramin or Cushelle

The UK has a knack for taking products and re-naming them for seemingly no apparent reason. A few months back the paper towel (or kitchen roll, as they say here) brand 'Bounty' was re-named 'Plenty.' I just don't understand why.

But here is yet another...if you're looking in the supermarket for some bog roll, you will no longer be able to find 'Charmin' as it is now 'Cushelle.'

Huh?!

Okaaaay.

Year 2 Day 160: Long Train Running

Yes. It will be long if this is any indication of how Ryan's experience will be. Nasty, ouchy, toofy-pegs!

Year 2 Day 159: Mr. Popular

Today Ryan managed to get more post that Matt or myself! To be fair, it was just his medical card from the NHS and the appointment time for his next lot of immunisations.

Year 2 Day 158: Dinner Break

Upstairs at Auntie Emma & Uncle Daz's, Ryan takes a moment to have a "conversation" with Daddy.

Year 2 Day 157: English Fairytale

I took ONE photo today...just one...but this wasn't it. This one is borrowed. I took my picture on my phone. When I went to upload the ONE picture I took I couldn't find it...because I had deleted it. ARGH! In all my time of doing the 365, I haven't deleted a photo before having the chance to post it.

So, although this post is a bit of a cheat, I hope that what I do have in place of a photo (that is not my own) can suffice.

Video(s).

We went to view another property again today. A cottage. Matt noticed it online and joked that we should check it out. It's listing says it has coal-fired central heating, which I have read can be far less expensive than others. It's in Rowley Regis and a bit farther than we were hoping, but still close enough to family.

Now to an American (like me, anyway), this is the epitome of picturesque England. When we viewed the property we really liked it too, but it's a little more money than we were hoping on spending. In fact, for the cost, we were hoping to have a 3rd bedroom, but we will just have to discuss it more and see how things go.

Without further delay, I give you a couple videos...


The Front Room...



The Garden...

Year 2 Day 156: No Worries?

Little man is getting in a nap before our "long" 3-mile journey to walk to Daddy's work this afternoon. We're supposed to be going to check out a house to let and it will save Matt having to come all the way in the opposite direction to come and get us.

What's that you ask? We've only just moved 8 months ago...why would we be looking to move again?! Well, this isn't by choice, really. As it turns out our landlords have not been paying their mortgage and have neglected to inform us that they were having any troubles. In fact, we've been waiting on the carpet in the bathroom to be replaced since shortly after moving in last year as it reiks of...well, unpleasantness. The letting agent stopped hearing from them in November and our 6-month lease was up in December. We wanted to sign another, but were forced to stay on month-to-month since the agent wasn't able to contact them. We see now why that is. It seems they might have pulled a runner.

This week we received something in the post 'To The Occupant' and since there were two similar letters in their names (because as I have mentioned on here before, they still haven't set up therir mail to be re-directed) we decided it was important and opened the occupant one. Inside was a 'notice to quit' which is basically a warning  that the mortgage is in arrears and about to be potentially repo'd. To top that off, after Matt phoned the solicitor, he was informed that it was not a buy-to-let mortgage, which meant they didn't even have permission to be renting it out (something I thought the letting agent would have been responsible for verifying before taking them on as clients -- guess not).

They have a court date now set for the 9th of April, but after much discussion, Matt and I would rather be proactive and start looking for someplace else to live now than to wait and be evicted after the court date. We have a child to look after now and it wouldn't be sensiblle to leave things until the last minute.

It's a shame really because we do like it here in Brierley Hill, and we like the house. Plus, we weren't planning on having to move again for another 2-3 years and we only just started discussing decorating the place a bit and making it our own.

::sigh::

So, we'll see how today's viewing goes, but Matt already thinks it's going to not be worth it because he says the area isn't nice.

We shall see.

Year 2 Day 155: I Like Your Shirt...Stripey

This green, stripey top is one of my favourites of Ryan's at the moment -- largely because of the 'envelope' style neck. It was a gift as part of a set from one of the ladies at Matt's work and it's from H&M. The waistband on the bottoms that came with it had some seriously snug elastic so he can't wear those anymore. Initially the arms on the top were too long and the sleeves had to be rolled, but now our young lad is finally stretching a bit, his things are starting to fit him properly.

Year 2 Day 154: Teething?!

I took Ryan to the doctor's surgery yesterday since his stuffy nose hasn't seemed to clear in the last few weeks as expected and he ran a low-grade fever over the weekend. I wanted to make sure it wasn't getting into his chest at all. The doctor asked a series of questions which included:

"Does he tug at his ears?"

Yes.

"Is he drooling excessively?"

Like a Saint Bernard.

"Has he been putting his hands in his mouth and chewing?"

Like he's never been fed!

End diagnosis....he's probably teething.

Fantastic.

Year 2 Day 153: Time to Say Goodbye

Yes, again. We've recently learned that although we have been paying our rent each month, our landlords have been accepting it without problem from the letting agent, however, they have not been paying their mortgage on the property. Unfortunately we were not informed of any problems by the landlord as they have not been in touch since before November last year. We had the misfortune of learning about the situation via a letter from a solicitor on behalf of the landlords' mortgage company. The arrears are such that we have been issued with a "notice to quit before eviction" and a court date for the 9th of April that we are more than welcome to attend as observers. The other unfortunate bit of news is that their mortgage is not a 'buy-to-let' mortgage, which means they did not have permission to rent the property out to tenants.

What it all boils down to is that we have essentially NO rights when it comes to staying in the property and it is likely that the courts will award the property back to the mortgage lender. This means we will eventually be evicted due to no fault of our own, so we have decided to be pro-active and begin the search for a suitable place to live...again.

How sad is it that this will make the third time we have moved in less than 12 months?!

Year 2 Day 152: Who's Blog is This?

I've started to wonder if I should just re-name this blog as all my photos are of Ryan anymore. To be fair though, the 365 project has to do with my life in 365 days and Ryan is now just that. Plus, how can I resist when I get photos as precious as this?