Owen’s Eighth Birthday

Owen turned eight earlier in the week, although his birthday party only happened today. His actual birthday started off fairly low key, opening his presents, then going to school. After school all his grandparents came to visit for tea and cake, and of course, more presents. Then we went to Hickory’s Smokehouse for dinner – it was not in our plan, but Owen had mentioned to a few people that it was his favourite birthday tradition, and Jen and I did not really take too much convincing!

Rather than a big party, like the last couple of years, we took Owen and a couple of his best friends to Laser Quest and then for lunch. I joined the boys for Laser Quest, and we had the place to ourselves! The boys decided that they were going to team up against me – I did not get off to a good start by starting in a dead end, but I did manage to get the highest score of the game, albeit lower than the boy’s combined score – probably because I had more targets to shoot at. After our games of laser tag we did a round of the space themed mini golf, which is the reason there is a photo of Astronaut Owen), it was only a small 9 hole course, but we enjoyed it. Finally we went on the VR experience, I went on a car race one, which made me feel a bit sick, and the boys went on an underwater adventure – which must have been very realistic judging by how loud Owen screamed when the shark swam up to him. After Laser Quest we joined Jen and Henry at Pizza Express. I think that the smaller party worked well, as Owen could spend more time with his closest friends, their only disappointment was that they could not carry on the celebrations into the afternoon.

Owen’s Sixth Birthday

Today was Owen’s sixth birthday! Although the celebrations started yesterday, with a big party for all of his friends at Tiny Tim’s Purple Planet soft play in the city centre. After a couple of years without big parties, it was nice for Owen to be able to celebrate with his friends – especially as he had not seen them over the school holidays! Despite there being twenty-five excitable children, they all behaved well and Owen was good about greeting/thanking everyone, even though I am sure he would have rather been charging around the soft play. After the excitement of the party, it was back home for a smaller party, with Jen’s family – which meant lots of cake!

Unfortunately for Owen, on his actual birthday, he had to go to school, rather than play with the huge pile of presents he received from both us and his friends. Now that he is six, people, including Jen and I, have also decided that he is sensible enough to choose his own presents, so he got some birthday cash, and a wallet to keep it in. I think at the moment Owen’s wallet has more cash in it than mine! There was also a Super Mario theme with his presents – he must talk about Mario as much at school as he does at home!

This evening my parents took us to Hickory’s Smokehouse, to celebrate Owen’s birthday, and then we practised shooting targets with the Nerf guns – I bought one for Owen and had to buy one for myself too, although I think Henry is also after one now too…

Owen’s Fifth Birthday

Today was Owen’s fifth birthday. For once the boys actually gave us a bit of a lie in. Just before 7:00 we heard shouts of “it’s my birthday”, “I’m five” and “wake up Henry, it’s my birthday”. To say Owen was excited would be an understatement! Owen was a lucky boy and had lots of presents, the Lego being a firm favourite yet again (in the photo above he is using the Lego iPad app for instructions) and he spent the morning playing with some of his new toys.

Unlike last year, we were able to have a few of Owen’s friends round for a small party in the garden. There were four of Owen’s friends and a little sister who is friends with Henry, so it was good to watch them all playing together nicely. As it was the last day of the school holidays they were probably all pleased to see each other again. Jen had made another amazing birthday cake, this year with a Mario Kart theme.

After the party it was nice to hang out at home with the boys Nanny and Grandad. All the excitement had tired Henry out, so whilst he had a nap and Owen played trainsets with his Grandad I managed to see to a few jobs in the garden. With all the excitement, the boys ended up having a busy day, so I think Owen will be going back to school for a rest tomorrow, before birthday part two, with Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow!

Henry’s First Birthday

Yesterday was Henry’s first birthday! It is crazy to think that it has been a whole year since he was born – the time has flown by! He is growing to be a right little cheeky monkey – even cheekier than his big brother! In some ways Henry seems more advanced than Owen was at that age – he has more teeth, and his gross motor skills are ahead of Owen, probably from copying him. However, Henry is yet to start talking, whereas by one Owen had a few words, which he used in the correct context. Henry just makes sounds. I have loved watching him grow up over the last year, especially the last few months, where I have been on parental leave to look after him.

We had a small party at home to celebrate, just close family and a few friends. Jen made some amazing cakes, including a “1” shaped birthday cake, which Henry could not wait until we had finished singing “Happy Birthday” to taste! It was so nice to have everyone round, although a bit overwhelming for Henry at first. Although he soon realised that lots of people meant lots of drinks to try and steal! And unlike Owen he managed to stay awake for the duration of his party!

The sad news is that Henry’s first birthday marks the end of my parental leave – I will be starting back at work tomorrow after more than twelve weeks off…

Owen’s Third Birthday Weekend Including Monster Jam

I can hardly believe it has been three years since Owen was born unexpectedly early, but it was his third birthday last week and we had an extra long weekend celebrating it!

On his birthday he rushed into our bedroom first thing in the morning to remind us that it was his birthday and ask if he had any presents! Fortunately “Henry” had bought him a Playmobil Mountain Biker, which kept him entertained for a while. I find it cute how Owen still refers to it as “the bike that Henry got me”. Then we came downstairs and Owen discovered the big pile of presents, which he unwrapped over breakfast. By far his favourite were the Playdoh Wheels sets – one of the only things he has asked for after seeing it on an advert. But Playdoh and construction vehicles is pretty much heaven for Owen, so I can understand why! Unfortunately he had to go to nursery in the morning, so had to leave his new toys. He did ride his bike to nursery though – it is only a kilometre away, so even Owen riding is quicker than driving, despite me carrying Henry in his baby carrier, meaning I could not really run after Owen. While Owen was at nursery, Jen and I got the house ready for his party, then I snuck off to the pump track for a few laps.

Owen had a good morning at nursery and was excited to see that his Grandma and Grandpa had joined us to collect him. I was proud that when Owen realised both Jen and I were there without Henry, who was waiting with my parents, his first thought was to ask where his little brother was. Of course, when we got home there were even more presents from Grandma and Grandpa! Later in the afternoon his guests arrived for the party, it was only a small affair, with both sets of grandparents and Owen’s best friend, Cara. Owen and Cara had fun playing together with Owen’s new toys. Then it was time for the cake – Jen had excelled herself here, the chocolate “construction site” themed cake looked amazing and tasted even better!

Friday is Owen’s swimming day, so I took him to his lesson as usual. He has been doing really well recently, but did particularly well this week, putting his face in the water, jumping in and insisting on swimming on his own when the pool noodles were given out. He was swimming lengths of the pool on his own with his arms over the noodle. After swimming Jen’s friend came round with her little boy, so Owen had another fun afternoon playing. For dinner we went to Owen’s favourite restaurant – “McDonald’s with the softplay”, which is right at the other side of the city, but Owen always asks to go there. Incidentally, the last time Jen and I were there was about ninety minutes before Henry was born. Owen ate his dinner like a good boy, then was let loose on the softplay! It was interesting watching him, as he has obviously grown so much in confidence since our last visit at the start of the year. Usually he just does laps of the same section, but this time he went exploring – right to the top of the softplay structure! Maybe it is time to try taking him climbing again?

Owen’s usual Ready Steady Riders session was cancelled on the Saturday, due to the poor weather, so we just had a quiet morning at home – because in the afternoon we were going to Monster Jam! Monster Jam is a huge touring monster truck show, and Owen loves monster trucks almost as much as diggers. So when I heard it would be coming to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on Owen’s birthday weekend I knew we had to go! Monster trucks are too loud for Henry (Jen had an excuse not to come), so my Dad joined us – we have talked for years about the three generations watching motorsport together, so this was a good opportunity. As soon as we got to the arena we saw the monster trucks in the pits, along with some construction vehicles that made the track – Owen’s day was already made!

Once in the stadium the first of the monster truck events was a series of head to head races – Owen loved it! He was cheering on the trucks and clapping excitedly at the end of the races! I was glad that he was wearing his ear defenders, as even quite high up in the stadium the trucks were really loud. Owen was less excited by the next event, the donut competition. He was upset that the monster trucks were not jumping! I enjoyed the donut competition, especially as most of the trucks did their donuts at our end of the stadium. I also liked that the scores were voted for by the fans in the stadium on a special website. After the donuts the trucks went back to the pits and the construction equipment came out to redo the track and prepare it for the freestyle motocross riders – which Owen enjoyed almost as much as the monster trucks! The freestyle motocross riders were as impressive as ever and hopefully Owen did not take too much inspiration.

When the monster trucks came back out they had a two wheel skills competition, which was not that impressive, possibly because the track was so slippery due to the rain meaning most of the trucks failed to do their stunts. One truck, Max-D, ended up on its roof – which prompted lots of questions from Owen. “Why is it upside down? Why did it land on its roof? Why did the stunt go wrong?” etc. However the final event, the freestyle competition was by far the highlight of the show. The trucks each had two minutes to perform stunts on as many of the obstacles in the arena as possible. There were huge jumps, donuts and even a backflip – right in front of us (albeit with the truck landing on its roof)! It was a great afternoon out for all three generations of Craik and I would certainly go again.

After the excitement of Monster Jam on Saturday, we had a quieter Sunday. I dropped Jen and the boys off at Jen’s friend’s house in Nuneaton, then went for a bike ride at Pooley Country Park, near Tamworth (and even used my GoPro for one of the runs). Jen and the boys had gone for a walk/bike ride to the park when I got back to Nuneaton, so I rode to meet them and rode back with Owen for lunch. We had a few errands to run on the way home, including stopping at Jen’s parent’s house for tea and cake, which was a nice way to wind down after a busy weekend. Next weekend is also going to be exciting as we are going to the Malverns Classic mountain bike festival, where Owen will be racing dual slalom on his balance bike! Does anyone know how to explain slalom to a three year old…

Owen’s First Birthday

Owen on his first birthday

Today was Owen’s first birthday. We have spent a lovely day celebrating with family – Owen has recieved loads of presents, eaten lots of cake and done loads of cute giggling. So I’ll class that as a success.

I find it hard to believe that a year has passed since this cheeky monkey surprised us by arriving six weeks early. It has been amazing seeing him grow from a tiny little baby in an incubator to a strong little boy who knows what he wants and can crawl around the house to get it! Spending the last year with him has been great, especially the last few months whilst I have been on parental leave.

The downside to Owen being one is that I am back off to work tomorrow and Owen is off to nursery.

Parental Leave: Week 9

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Another bank holiday Monday! I’m getting poor value on my nine weeks off, as they include so many days that I would have off anyway. Having said that, this is my last week of parental leave, the nine weeks have flown by! As is traditional on bank holidays I had to fit some DIY in, more painting on veranda bits for the garden project. However the main activity for the day was a wedding reception in the evening, which meant we had to drop Owen off with my Mum and Dad – for the night! We drove down to Chipping Norton for lunch, then stayed with Owen to make sure he was settled in, not that it was a problem, as he is used to visiting them. We snuck off whilst he was having his afternoon nap…

We both had a lie in on Tuesday! The first one in almost a year! Jen had the day off, as it was an extra holiday for civil servants and I didn’t have Owen to wake me up. We were just about up and about when the builders arrived to continue work on the garden – in our defence they did get here earlier than expected. What did we do with our new found freedom? We cleaned. We cleaned the house from top to bottom, sorted out the clothes that Owen has grown out of and, after 4 years living here, I finally hung some photos on my office walls (mainly to get them off the floor so I could vacuum). Who says that having children changes people? Owen got home late morning, having enjoyed his Cotswold mini break with his grandma, grandpa and great auntie by all accounts. I was relieved that he seemed happy to see Jen and I when he got back though. We had an indoor picnic, which Owen enjoyed, as from his little chair he could drop his food on the floor, then pick it up again (and repeat…). In the afternoon we had some errands to run, collecting the last few bits for Owen going to nursery. Jen took Owen shopping with her, which I think he found a bit boring as he did a lot of screaming. I got my bits done quickly so I could get out on my bike. As Jen was off work the evening was relaxed, we both had a good play with Owen. We had chilli for dinner and, as seems to be the way these days, Owen wanted to try it. He seemed to like it, as he kept coming back for more!

Owen woke me up at 4:30 on Wednesday morning, but I didn’t hear from him again until after Jen’s alarm clock had gone off! Naturally, Owen’s lie in coincided with him needing to be at nursery for the first of his settling in sessions at 9:00. I can tell that he will be trouble as a teenager, he seems to have inherited my sense of urgency for this sort of thing. He seemed happy to be back at nursery, until he realised that Jen and I wouldn’t be staying with him this time. He had a bit of a cry, but we were told that he was fine almost straight away. Whilst Owen was busy exploring his new surroundings, playing with toy cars and throwing balls out of the ball pit, what did I do? More cleaning, this time in the kitchen. Owen was asleep when I collected him from nursery, so he wasn’t too impressed at being woken up and had a little cry. He was happy enough by the time we got home. After his lunch I continued his Scottish food training with some Tunnocks Teacake, which went down very well! When Owen woke up after his nap, we had a frustrating afternoon, with Owen doing a lot of screaming. If he was in his high chair, I tried leaving the room for a bit and waiting for him to calm down. He seems to be getting the message, as he calms down much quicker now, but it is still frustrating. I think it will get easier when he can articulate his frustrations. When Jen got back from work we all had quick dinners, then I went climbing, at the new climbing wall in the city centre.

On Thursday morning I risked letting Owen feed himself Nutella on toast, it didn’t turn out to be the chocolate coated disaster I was kind of expecting. Owen didn’t even finish it, possibly because he’d scavenged too much of our breakfasts. There was no swimming, due to the school holidays, so I gave Owen a bath, so he could still have his Thursday morning splash. This must have tired him out, as he had a long nap, allowing me to crack on with some jobs. Jen had the afternoon off to go to buggy workout, so I took the opportunity to get out on my bike.

Owen had another settling in session at nursery on Friday morning. He obviously remembered it from Wednesday, as he realised that I was going to leave him and he had a little cry. While he was at nursery I cleaned the inside of the BMW, as it was full of mud and sand from our holiday. I had planned to clean all three of the cars, inside and out while I was on parental leave, but only managed to clean the outside of the 500 and the inside of the BMW. The guys finished the landscaping, so I sorted a few things out in the garden before collecting Owen. He was tired and grumpy when I collected him, but I was told that he’d had a good time, especially in the jumperoo. I wasn’t surprised to hear that he didn’t eat his lunch, but had eaten cake and custard for pudding! We spent the rest of the day preparing for the main event…

Saturday was Owen’s first birthday party! We started the day off with a trip to Costco to get supplies. Owen was his usual cute self and had people fussing over him. He was absolutely in his element being wheeled around the shop, especially as they were doing tastings of his two favourite foods – avocado on toast and cake! Owen seemed a bit confused when people started arriving for the party, he wasn’t used to seeing so many people at home, but he was soon crawling around seeing everyone. All the fuss must have tired him out, as he needed to have a nap – skillfully avoiding the bit of the party where both his girlfriends were there! After his nap we sang happy birthday to him, which he didn’t seem too bothered by, but certainly looked like he enjoyed the cake that Jen had made him! Towards the end of the party all of the remaining children (aged 9 months to 7 years) gathered in the tent on the lawn – it was good to see them all playing together so nicely. Some of our friends had travelled down from York with their children for the party, so we spent the rest of evening with them, visiting the city centre to catch the end of Motofest, then having a takeaway. Owen seemed much happier with a smaller group and stayed up with us well past his usual bedtime.

After a busy week and getting up at 6:00 with Owen everyday I was glad to have a Sunday lie-in! I also got out on my bike again, taking my total distance for the week over 90km! After playing with the older children at his party, Owen has gained confidence, he is exploring around the house and climbing more, this has meant a few knocks, but it is interesting to see. While he was crying after one of his falls I spotted that he’s now got a fifth tooth! As Jen had over-catered for the party, we all had party food leftovers for lunch.  I think the fact that we were all eating the same things made Owen try a few new foods, although some of them ended up on the floor. We had planned to go back into town for Motofest in the afternoon, but it was raining, so we all ended up having naps. It was good to have a day of doing nothing, it is so rare for us.

This is now my paternity leave over, I’m not quite back to work yet though, so I’ll be concluding this series of posts next week.