Sudocrem

David has perfected the art of climbing in and out of his cot. For the past three days I have found him asleep on the floorboards during his lunchtime nap. Today, the pitter patter of little feet during his supposed nap time suddenly stopped to I went upstairs to check. I found David has smeared the entire contents of a pot of sudocrem over his clothes, his cot, the floor and his teddy bears.

I did the dutiful thing and told him, in a firm and controlled way, that he had been naughty. Inside, all I wanted to do was grin madly. Tinker. As my cousin said to me when I related the story, "Don't be too hard on the little man, he's got so many far bigger messes to deal with in life"

July 20th, 2010

I spent Sunday glossing the skirting board in David's room and scrubbing the plaster off the skirting in the hall. Progress remains slow but now the hard work in David's room is over we can start preparing the next phase - decorating the hall, stairs and landing. I don't know why I love glossing so much. Give me a piece of skirting to gloss and a Pink Floyd soundtrack and I'm in heaven.

Matt spent the afternoon digging up the veg plot in the garden. Unfortunately my onions and pumpkins appear to be rotting - probably due to the terrible drainage despite the constant sunshine at the moment. I was fairly certain the veggies would be poor but at least I've given it a go and I've learnt heaps already. We have managed to harvest potatoes and French beans so all is not lost. I've decided to try green manure in the unused veg plot and boarder. Matt is turning over the soil and I'll hoe it and then I'll plant the seeds. It grows and then rots back into the soil - hopefully replacing some of the nutrients for a better start newxt year.

David's room - progress report

Slowly, very slowly, we are getting there. Matt has spent a long time preparing all the surfaces which involved lots of sanding, scrubbing and more scrubbing. The priming of the skirting board is almost complete and then we will be ready to gloss and paint the walls. I've decided on the curtain material - a blue and red stripe. the bay is huge so it will cost a fair amount and I really don't want to get it wrong.

Back from France

We've just returned from two weeks of bliss. No house chaos to deal with. Instead, lazy mornings, French food, cheese, wine, pastries, swimming, reading, dozing and most importantly, spending time as a family. We had a fantastic time.

We arrived back on Sunday Matt wasn't due back to work until Thursday. On Monday and Tuesday we both felt strange and on Wednesday we realised why. We'd agreed not to talk about the house whilst we were away so when we came back, we were faced with the reality of the task ahead of us.

Matt opened one of the windows in David's room and it nearly fell off its hinge. He's finally agreed that the only real option for us is to replace the windows. I arranged for a local company to come round and give us a quote on Tuesday and will get a few more before we decide who to go with. As long as we can find the cash it will be the next big job. We've also decided to commission an architect to draw up plans and costs for a ground floor, and possible second floor extension. I have absolutely no idea what we can do so we need an expert to come up with some suggestions and costs. At least then we will know how much money we need. Baby steps.