Short back and sides

Or something like that. Kester cut Felix's hair on Saturday. At one point he gave a little gasp, then a giggle and informed me that I probably wouldn't like what he'd done. I was a little shocked when I first saw it as the fringe was really short and he looked a bit like Mr. Spock, but it's starting to grow on me now. He still looks cute even with a dodgy fringe.

I did love his mop of hair, but it was getting in his eyes all the time and had to be done. Sob.

Before:


After:


He looks so much older though, which has clearly made him turn to the booze:

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Sunday was beautiful, and after a nice long lie-in, breakfast in bed and flowers for Mother's Day I was feeling pretty chipper so we decided to take Felix to Colchester Zoo for the first time. He really loves animals at the moment so we thought it would be nice to see how he reacted to seeing some of his favourites up close and for real. He especially loved the penguins and tigers, and was excited to see the sheep for some reason, but he mainly loved charging round like a loon and attempting to befriend other children. He's a funny little thing. When I asked him which of the animals he liked he said he liked them all, but when asked which was his favourite said "Nanny". Hmm.

Parklife

The weather yesterday was lovely and sunny, so I thought it was only fair to let Felix get out of the house for a while. I considered the garden but the lawn needed mowing so I decided it could wait for Kester to do it at the weekend. Eventually I decided I would lug my aching pelvis up to Chalkwell Park. Wasn't sure it was such a great idea as the shortest walk can put me out of action for days at the moment, but I made the mistake of mentioning the word 'park' to Felix and within seconds he had got his shoes and was trying to put them on.

It was worth it though; we had a lovely walk up there, which thankfully was pretty slow due to Felix wanting to stop and examine everything en route. And once we were there he loved it. Really loved it. We haven't been since last summer, and he was much more enthusiastic this time - went running over to the play area as soon as he saw it. He seems completely fearless now too and insisted on going on the big boy swings without a baby seat, meaning he had to hold on tightly. Eek. I didn't push him too high though. He went on three out of the four swings in one set, and didn't seem to realise they were all the same, loved the slides and eyed up the really big one, though I knew there was no way I was climbing up it with him and he wouldn't manage it himself so we quickly walked on. He fell off the roundabout twice but didn't seem to care, and even bumped into a little friend from Edward Bear Club, who we haven't seen for ages. He pointed out the sights to her "Plane! Dog! Swing! Sky! Bird!" etc and she seemed fascinated.

I was sore later on, but it was still fun. Again, I'm not exactly sure how I'll manage it with two, but I'm sure I'll find a way! I think I'll have to...

Essex Mums Birthday Party

Yesterday we had the Essex Mums first birthday celebration at Partyman World in Basildon. It was a really fun afternoon, despite Anglia TV doing their best to spoil it, haha. A good turnout, especially as so many came from quite a distance and got a number of buses to make it. It was really satisfying looking around and seeing all these Mums who now know each other well, kids who are becoming friends and who recognise the other Mums, and everyone just generally having fun.

Felix loved it there and enjoyed charging around trying to get on anything. He roped a number of the other Mums into climbing up various things with him and generally doing his bidding. Gina and Nicky got to appear on the local news, which also had a hilarious shot of Lea throwing herself down the slide. Claire, I'm surprised they didn't show any of your antics too...

Partyman World itself was fantastic too, and the owner 'Jimbo' came to chat to me about ways he thought they might be able to work with the site. He's only 24 (I think) and is a millionaire, all from his Partyman business which he apparently started out from his Nan's living room. He's also keen on getting involved with and giving back to the community so he sounds like a really good bloke to work with. He suggested that they might be able to take over the ownership of the site from freeforums, so that I would have more control over it, would have an IT department there to run it etc.

He also said he's been thinking of setting up a magazine for local parents and basically asked me if I'd be interested in running it in conjunction with the site. We've got to discuss details but he pretty much said that all they wanted to do was fund it and advertise in it, the rest would be up to me - he seemed impressed with what I'd done with the site - the idea behind it, how well it had taken off etc., the fact that I did it despite making nothing from it, and the way I had got in touch with the local media etc to promote it. Lots to discuss and still early days, particularly as it was so busy so it was just chat, nothing formal, so I'm not really expecting anything to come of it but very exciting stuff nonetheless!

Birth pool trial run

We did a dry run of setting up the birth pool on Sunday. Glad we did as a few bits were tricky and it was certainly better to discover that when not in the middle of a contraction! It looked good though, and was really comfy. Felix loved throwing himself around in it and we considered leaving it up before realising he would probably destroy it before we got round to using it!

Actually quite looking forward to the labour now, as bonkers as that sounds...