Last day of the week

There are few things better than going into work on Monday knowing that the next time you will be there shall be next Monday. Although, unless the metro starts moving any time soon I may not even get to work anyway...
Our family had a great weekend, on Saturday we had Dylan's naming ceremony where we invited some of our friends to welcome Dylan to the world and to wet (whet?) his head. Dylan also had a fig tree planted for him, with help from his big brother Ewan. The boys really are fantastic together and watching them play gives me a huge amount of joy, now I am really starting to look forward to being with them full time for 3 months from December!
Another decision we made for the weekend was to name individuals to be there for our boys as they grow and inevitably want someone who is not their parent to talk to. Choosing a title for these people was incredibly tough, after days of consideration and internet searches for ideas we decided on guiding friends; this was closest to how we saw what we were asking of our friends.
That may well have been the last party of the year where we can use the garden, lucky as we were with the weather. Next year I hope to have more barbeques but that relies on thie British weather improving significantly so I'm not holding my breath.
I've added a picture of Dylan with Mark and Lucy, I did my usual thing of completely forgetting to take pictures so I'll spend some time contacting people who were at the party to get their pictures too:)

August 8th

Today would have been my mothers 53rd birthday. I probably would have forgotten to send a card and would be on the phone making up for that and promising something soon.
Then on the evening, we probably would have had a chat on the webcam and Ewan and Dylan would have said hello.
One of the hard things recently is that Ewan seems to becoming aware of the concept of "gone". He has had some nightmares in which his grandad was gone and had a similar dream about me last week, made worse be me being out and not immediately available for a hug although a phone call turned out to be enough.
Put quite simply, we all miss her.
There are so many things in everyday life which tug at a little memory here and there, today was hard because there is one less person in the world for us to celebrate with.
I did hear today that mum's final gift has been passed on to another person who needed help, knowing that she has helped others live longer and happier helps a little.
I've got the afternoon off tomorrow, so some quality time with family is in order I think, or just giving Sarah an afternoon off:)

Weetabix

Ewan likes weetabix.
That is all...

Computer...

My faithful pc is starting to give up on me. The 750gb hard drive I was once so impressed with has started to develop bad sectors so it is backup time.
Not only backing up, now comes the arduous task of obtaining a new hard drive and putting an operating system on it. There is always Windows but since computers now only come with rescue disks set for the specific hardware, the version of Windows I technically purchased with my pc is effectively useless.
I'm considering a Linux box, especially as the advent of 'easy Linux' like ubuntu make the whole process a lot easier. It would, however mean that gaming would be impossible.
I'll have a think while I spend a few hours protecting data...

Damn

I forgot my metro pass again today, I think it may be in work somewhere...
The last time I forgot it, I was caught by the metro police and hauled off the train. Luckily, as I do have a pass the fine was waived but the whole thing was embarrassing and made me late for work. So I found myself today buying a ticket for the first time in years (four bloody pound sixty pence!) To avoid the potential hassle.
If course, because the Newcastle metro system is still stuck in the past, the machines still don't take cards or notes so I have had to buy a coffee from the guy at the station entrance, begging for as many pound coins as possible. I think it's the best train station coffee I've had with a nice bit of banter from the Washington based man. I may have to take up a coffee addiction.
All of this coffee buying and banter was made possible by the metro for south shields breaking down, giving me precious minutes for brewing and working the archaic ticket machine.
Off to work now, a morning of checking intravenous chemotherapy awaits, which is more fun than it sounds particularly as I get to wear pyjamas (well, scrubs) while I do it.

Ducks!

Ewan wanted to feed the ducks last week so we popped down to Paddy Freeman park with a pile of stale bread and fed those ducks! Surprisingly, we have lived near a duck pond for years and this feast the first time I had ventured up there to feed them. It is always amazing to see your kids happy, so the simple joy Ewan obviously got from throwing bread at ducks was wonderful.
I wqs even proud of how easily we managed to get him back to the car afterwards (anyone who has tried to lead a three year old away from a massive playground will understand) as we had plans later on in the day.
I must attempt to look for more 'simple pleasures' to enjoy with the kids!

Pat leave

I have just one week in work until I'm off for 2 weeks paternity leave:) the strange thing about this is that I booked in this leave for when Dylan was expected, but of course he came a msonth early. Work offered to move my leave and let me out as soon as Dylan came along but I chose to leave it where it was.
So next week I will have a fortnight in the company of a month old baby, as well as the rest of my family, instead of a newborn. As long as I can get a little sleep (HA) then I'll be fine.
Ed