And then it was Spring!

We appear to have been in hibernation this Winter, but now that the sun is shining again and the days are getting longer, it feels like time for another blog post to catch up a bit since Christmas. The main story of the last couple of months has been snow, so here's a few of our adventures:

After the first major fall of snow, Ben's first effort (5th January) at building a snowman was a "Snow King" (from a 'Harry and the Dinosaurs' story) rather than a full size snowman, but there would be plenty of other opportunities before the winter was out.

He also enjoyed playing snow balls with Mummy in the garden.

In these first few days, Daddy struggled into work so didn't get much of a chance to play with Ben and Thomas in the snow but at the weekend, with the snow still sitting on the ground as we suffered through the big freeze, we went sledging across the fields between our house and the Castle.

Mark got more than he had bargained for as for a little while he pulled the whole family along, and then a little later, let go the sledge with Ben on it down quite a steep hill. Running alongside for a few moments, the sledge rapidly outstripped Mark and he was relieved when Ben stopped just before heading into a ditch at the bottom of the hill! (Ben, thankfully, was totally unfazed and picked himself up with a grin from ear to ear).

It was of course Thomas' first Winter and therefore his first snow, although he didn't seem very excited by it all. If you look closely at the photo above, he is asleep.

Next week, a further fall of snow, and Ben was back out in the garden, this time with a much more impressive effort.

Things culminated with a visit with Stephen and Lucy to Lyvedon New Bield, near Oundle in Northamptonshire, and the construction of our biggest Snowman of the winter, in lovely Sunday afternoon sunshine.

After we'd finished at Lyvedon New Bield, we headed into Oundle for hot chocolate and cake, and Debbie is convinced we saw Pete Postlethwaite in the coffee shop. We'll never know for sure though.

Christmas (Part 2)

After returning home from Suffolk, we welcomed Debbie's parents to Kenilworth for a few days, filled with more present opening, good food and game playing (this time Carcassonne - rapidly becoming a favourite). Despite some dismal weather, we made the most of our time together, including a fun day at Warwick Castle. Ben was a little disappointed to be refused access to the dungeons by a ghoulish woman who told him he was too smelly, but dressing up as a knight in the Princess Tower made up for it!

A couple of days later we returned the visit and headed to Debbie's parents for our final Christmas celebration - a lovely afternoon and tea with all the family (below). And then it was all over. Mark's two week "break" seemed to fly by all too quickly. The only thing we didn't get for Christmas that we wanted was a decent night's sleep. Oh well, maybe next year?

Christmas (part 1)

This year we spent Christmas with Mark's family in Hollesley. As well as Thomas' first Christmas, it was the first time that Ben really started to understand what was happening, so we had lots of fun.

Christmas Eve we celebrated Grandad's 65th birthday and went to the crib service at the village church before returning home to leave out a mince pie for Father Christmas and hang up the stockings. Fortunately Ben's excitement didn't cause him to wake too early, so it was 7:00am when we all raced downstairs to see whether he had been. He had! Ben's squeal of delight when he discovered that Father Christmas had "looked in his sack and found me one of those" (a microphone he's had his eye on in the ELC catalogue) was magic. Christmas Day was taken up with the traditional present distribution, playing with new toys, a fantastic lunch and testing out a new game (Ticket to Ride).

The photos below give a bit of a flavour of our time in Hollesley. Ben grinning from ear to ear as he waits to open his presents. Thomas looking on eagerly. Ben getting to grips with the contents of his new dressing up box (a present from Mummy and Daddy), and Thomas on the beach at Shingle Street, wrapped up against the cold wind.


Here's everyone having their Christmas dinner. Thomas missed out on most of this, being safely asleep in his cot, so we were able to relax for a little while.

On Boxing Day, we all went to see the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk in Ipswich. Ben thoroughly enjoyed it - although after about 20 minutes, he did ask "where's Jack?" Eventually he appeared and all was well - Ben joined in with gusto and is still re-enacting it now! All in all a lovely Christmas.

Ben was Three

Much of November and December seemed to pass by in a fuzz of seasonal illnesses, sleepless nights and a desperate attempt to get ready for Christmas and birthdays and now we find ourselves into the new year and not even having posted an entry for Ben's birthday at the end of November.

This year Ben's birthday was nearly cancelled - first due to some hideous behaviour (!) and then due to a horrid virus (which probably explained the first). In the end, with the aid of Calpol, Ben rallied for his birthday weekend and enjoyed a lovely party at home with friends followed by a family day and meal out with grandparents and aunty and uncle.
Here he is modelling his Chef's outfit - a gift from the 'birthday fairy' (aka his lovely friends from Debbie's old 'bumps and babies' group, still strong 3 years on).

And here he is at the end of the 'teddy bear's picnic' party lunch with his lawnmower birthday cake (for which, as in previous years, we are indebted to http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/)

And finally a photo of the four of us out for dinner on Ben's birthday. The candle in his ice cream was a hit!

At the grand age of three Ben is insistently a 'big boy' with a big personality, a determined mind and the same infectious smile and great sense of humour. Singing, role play, and cooking are favourite activities - walking, getting dressed quickly and getting enough sleep are not!

My Brother!

As Thomas is becoming more robust it's lovely seeing Ben's developing role as big brother. He sits alongside him on the play gym (his 'tent') or by his bouncy chair and tells him all the things he needs to know and more. Generally, he is very good at "going after" (ie looking after) Thomas, reinserting his dummy, telling him it's OK, Mummy's just gone to get something and such like. Perhaps most amusing was the time he explained to Thomas exactly what had happened in the toilet (in the early stages of toilet training) in more detail than we would care to share here! Sometimes he tries to involve Thomas in his games - so here they both are inside Ben's cardboard box house.

And here are a few more photos of our terrible two.

Lullaby Hullaboo!

And still (after nearly two months) Ben has a ready audience for his singing. Here is Ben accompanying himself on Debbie's old keyboard, clearly very pleased with his typically robust rendition of a favourite "night time" song and enjoying the opportunity to perform to a placid little brother.

Spot the difference

Since Thomas was born it has felt like we've had baby Ben around again - they seem to look so similar. We've done a bit of comparing of early photos, and just for fun thought we'd post a few of them. Can you tell who's who?

The astute may notice some seasonal clues! And we've sneaked in a photo of one of Thomas' early smiles. Like Ben, he seems very ready with them, and is charming us with these little grins and accompanying gurgles more and more.

Read All About It

Mark was listening to Start the Week on Radio 4, and after listening to Victor Mayer-Schonberger discussing his new book "Delete - the dangers of remembering in the digital age" was inspired to Google his name. There are lots of Mark Dawsons in the world so at first glance not very interesting, but after a bit of refining the search, he was surprised (and, whisper it, a little pleased) to find this article on the Daily Telegraph website about the suppression of a "secret" arms report.

Mark had no idea that he had been written about in such an august publication, which included a quote from his internal memo on the release of the National Audit Office's report on the British Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, released under Freedom of Information legislation some three years on.

More of Mark's memo is quoted on the FOIA Centre website. We wonder what other gems from our past are out there waiting to be discovered.

Getting away from it

In the past few weeks since Thomas was born, life seems to have been very full. Almost relentless. But we have had a couple of nice breaks.

Firstly, Mark's parents took Ben away to the Lake District for a long weekend. Despite the rainy weather he had a lovely time and was spoilt rotten, with steam train trips, a visit to the World of Beatrix Potter at Bowness, where he got to meet Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny in real life, climbing mountains with Grandad and playing by the river. Here he is on the train from Haverthwaite to Lakeside with Grandad.

It also gave us the chance for some precious time with our newborn and to have a little bit of a rest too.

Then last week, Debbie took the two boys off to stay with her parents, giving Mark the chance of a break to catch up on work, sleep and jobs round the house. Thomas responded to his first nights away from home by waking a little more frequently, and Ben also decided to revert to waking up at 5:00-5:30 in the morning after a blessed few weeks when he has frequently been getting up after 7:00am. Meanwhile, back at home, instead of enjoying blissful quiet, Mark was suffering with migraine! During the daytime though, Ben enjoyed wearing out his grandparents at Telford Town Park and Apley Woods, and Debbie enjoyed being looked after herself and the extra pairs of hands.

Two little boys

Unbelievably it's now three weeks since this little cutie entered our world. In many ways the time has flown, but it also feels as though Thomas has always been here. We are loving (most of!) our new life with two little boys around the home and have enjoyed these precious early weeks getting to know Thomas and learning to deal with two. Thomas is generally being very amenable and is packing on weight - Debbie was stunned when the Health Visitor weighed him at just over 2 weeks and found he was already 8lb 7oz. This is a real testimony to the support we have had from both family and friends - we've hardly had to cook a meal for ourselves yet!

Ben is still delighted by his baby brother. We think it is very sweet that it is only now that he has finally learned to give kisses - he was definitely saving them for Thomas. He is an eager helper for Mummy at Thomas' bathtime, though he really can't wait to be able to share the big bath with him.

We have enjoyed having lots of visitors, including Uncle Stephen, Aunty Lucy along with Mark's cousin Sara, representing the family 'down under'. And we have been especially grateful for wonderful grandparents who have helped us survive these early weeks - keeping Ben entertained and helping to keep the house and garden under control. Thank you!

Official (no.2)

It's officially Thomas Joseph Dawson following our visit to the Register Office last week. Unlike last time when Mark went by himself, this time we were organised enough for all three of us to go along. Of course, Thomas slept through the whole experience.

"Grandad Duke of York"

Ben loves to sing and now he has a ready audience. It can be a great soother for baby Thomas! We couldn't resist sharing this rendition of a favourite nursery rhyme, subtley amended by Ben, on a lazy morning in bed with our boys.

Now we are Four

This post has been somewhat delayed but we've been a little bit preoccupied the last few days.

We were blessed by the arrival of another beautiful baby boy on Monday 14th September. Thomas Joseph was born at 3.44pm and weighed in at 7lb 10oz, slightly larger than Ben. Here he is.

After a bit of a rough ride at Ben's birth, everything went much more smoothly with Thomas' arrival into the world. Despite the frustrations of him being 8 days overdue, it seems that God's perfect timing was at play as we were able to be supported by a friend and midwife from church who happened to be doing her only shift of the week last Monday afternoon.

It was a special moment introducing Ben to his new baby brother later that evening. Although a bit fazed visiting Mummy and Thomas in a hospital at what would normally be his bedtime, Ben purposefully led the way into the ward, enjoyed an exchange of presents with his new little playmate and commented on his funny hair, before proudly holding Thomas on his knee. And so now we are four...

Soon after lunch the following day Mummy, Daddy and Thomas arrived home to a wonderful reception from Ben and his Nan and Grandad. Again, Ben was the doting big brother and couldn't wait to hold him again.

A week on we are still full of wonder and thankfulness to God for blessing us with this precious new life.

Birthday celebrations, summer fun and waiting...

Well, it's a day past 'due date' and about time we updated the blog. No sign of the imminent arrival as yet, but we're doing our best to wait patiently, keep busy and make the most of our time as a family of 3.

During the first week of Debbie's maternity leave, we were able to enjoy a few days to ourselves again, while Ben had a lovely holiday at Nan and Grandad's. We joined him at the weekend for a family lunch to celebrate Nan's milestone birthday.

Ben tucked in with gusto - especially enjoying his ice cream (though we attempted to disown him at this point)

We spent a relatively quiet August Bank Holiday weekend pottering around locally and treating ourselves to lunches out and picnics, though the weather wasn't quite as good as promised. Luckily it held out for a barbecue with friends on the Monday evening. Ben had lots of fun playing in the garden with Edward and Oliver, and especially trying out his new car with Edward - a recent car boot sale bargain.And now our diaries are looking fairly vacant as we wait expectantly for our new arrival, who is clearly feeling cosy and staying put for the time being...

Escape

We've been fortunate enough to have several nights to ourselves in the last month or so thanks to lovely Grandparents. Back at the end of July we all enjoyed a lovely few days in Suffolk with Mark's family, including a couple of nights on our own at a hotel in Southwold - luxury! If you don't know it, Southwold is a gorgeous little seaside town on the Suffolk coast that seems to be caught in a bit of a whimsical time warp - complete with pier, lighthouse, local summer theatre and lots of beach huts.

Our stay in Suffolk included a trip to Lowestoft air show - beach and aeroplanes making it a perfect combination for Ben, although the torrential storm as we waited for the park and ride home wasn't quite what we planned, and meant that the promised Vulcan Bomber was grounded (Ben's latest obsession - aka 'Falcon Bomber' - courtesy of a trip to the air museum at Coventry with Gran).

When the weather improved Ben enjoyed playing on the new bouncy castle in Gran and Grandad's garden, and we were able to go for a lovely walk on the heath with Aunty Lucy and Uncle Stephen and their dogs.

But the escape to Southwold, and this lovely view from our hotel, was definitely the highlight, and something we will cherish with all the upheaval about to happen in our lives.