Chickens in a box

Everyone has their off days and today was Will's. It began with a row over Rice Krispies (William didn't want any milk on them), cutlery was thrown, screams followed swiftly. The situation was finally diffused by the removal of both children from the kitchen, leaving Eddie to eat alone while I breathed deeply in the snug, clutching a (fortunately) cuddly James and listening to William gradually calming down outside on the carpet. Minutes passed and, realising no one was paying him any attention, Will gave up and breakfast resumed without incident. The rest of the morning was spent happily enough with Eddie at home trying to finish a squillion tiny jobs he hasn't got round to doing in the last 3 months and us lot at the pool. Alas pride comes before a fall and my big mistake of the day was deciding we should go for a walk along the canal in Kintbury. Will hated the idea immediately and was only cajoled into the car once Rabbit was produced. More screams when we got to Kintbu...

We don't go out for months on end and then suddenly we've found ourselves at a different restaurant every night. Well, not quite - but it certainly feels that way. We had John and Helen to stay last week and treated them, and Daddy, to lunch at the Peat Spade on the Tuesday while the boys were at nursery (I still feel guilty about enjoying myself without them...), followed by a lovely tootle round the river. Thursday was my birthday and after being showered with a heap of presents, Eddie treated me to supper at my absolute favourite restaurant The Harrow at Little Bedwyn. It didn't disappoint, I do love that place. On Saturday we had a post-Brittany debrief with Anthony and Beverly, whose house we stayed in, but as we couldn't get a babysitter, they came over armed with an entire 3 course supper! Fantastic, and enjoyed in the garden on a balmy summers evening with some Breton wine to wash it down with. Feeling slightly jaded by now, Sunday was spent trying to wake ou...

I'm in the sitting room, finally warm after a long hot bath, face mask (or is it masque?) and a good book to try and defrost after another arctic summers day. Eddie's workmates came over for a barbie today and we were really looking forward to it. Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely afternoon (apart from the sub-siberian temperatures and gale force winds), but I spent all but 10 minutes looking after our two small children. In Will's case it was just making sure he didn't upset any of the other children who'd come over to visit by wrestling them for whatever toy they'd innocently chosen to play with. James was a bit different in that he refused to be picked up and held by anyone except Eddie and I. When the first two guests arrived he was in his bouncer on the doorframe - his favourite thing - and as soon as he clapped eyes on them he went completely still....for about 30 seconds....before his eyes welled up.....and then the terrible, distraught wail cut thr...

Quiet times, well, as quiet as it ever gets round here. Eddie's been painting Richard and Sonya's house this week, great fun watching it change from pink to pale blue but a huge undertaking. So it's just been me and the children at home and I've found it strange having been so used to having Eddie at home. I'll miss him terribly when he goes back to work in 3 weeks time. Tuesdays are now firmly fixed as both boys' full day at nursery and we've started making it the day we go out for lunch. Such a treat because we so rarely get any time to ourselves. Yesterday I had a far more successful polo lesson than last week's pitiful effort, then rescued Eddie from the scaffold and went for a medicinal moule et frites before heading into work for another meeting with HR. Negotiations about my return continue unresolved but we'll get there eventually.

It's been a whirlwind weekend spent in Sussex for Maddie's 40th birthday party. Hot on the heels of our holiday, our ability to pack the necessities totally deserted us and we forgot all James' bottles and his travel cot. Poor little mite ended up sleeping on a duvet on the floor surrounded by a collection of cushions, suitcases and shelving units to 'box him in'. Fortunately by the end of yesterday he was so exhausted he was asleep in seconds. As ever, the same could not be said for his elder brother... The party was great fun with Eddie, Sue, Jim, Kirsten and I setting up camp in the kitchen and nattering away while the wine flowed. Alas it didn't flow in my direction as I'd drawn the short straw and ended up as chauffeur for the evening. I don't really mind, a hangover with the boys is hell on earth, but then again it's quite hard to get into the party mood when everyone around you is getting progressively more giggly and you're knocking back ...

Back at home after a wonderful two weeks in Brittany. We took the ferry across from Portsmouth to St Malo, which meant we could also take our trucker Toyota crammed full of gear. A small cabin and travel cot meant the babies could sleep during the crossing, while Eddie and I hid in the miniscule bathroom with a stash of salami sandwiches, chocolate and a bottle of red. Holiday highlights: Amazing seafood A rather alarming (and probably alarmed) crab we took home in a plastic bag for supper, who promptly skewered the sides with all its claws and frightened the life out of poor Will. It then wouldn't fit into the saucepan....at which point Eddie took charge and I scuttled out of the kitchen and left him to it. It was delicious. Huitres - oysters to you and me. Absolutely delicious but you can have too much of a good thing. The last 6 we ate ended up giving Eddie acute paranoia that this time he'd eaten the 'dodgy' one and was about to spend the rest of the night throwin...