Christmas in the UK

Brendon, Owen and I have taken 2 weeks holiday and have driven over to spend Christmas with Lynese and Douglas. The day we left Holland it started snowing and by the time we got to the UK they were having a disasterous time with ice on the motorway's and in particular the one that we had to travel on. Owen and I went to sleep once we exited the channel tunnel and by the time we woke up I was surprised to see that we had only gone about 15 miles!
We arrived at Douglas and Lyneses to see that Downham was also covered in snow. We enjoyed some time outdoors in the snow which Owen loved. He loves playing in it and armed with a kitchen spatula ran around digging in the snow.

Christmas morning was very special. Owen slept late until 7am. We had breakfast and then Father Christmas arrived to bring Owen "Bertie" bus. We opened all our presents and all 5 of us managed to ablute and be in the car by 9.30am so that Douglas could take a Christmas service. We left most of Owen's toys in NL but were happy about that as the Granny's and the Grandpa gave him so many lovely gifts. He enjoyed all of them. At the Christmas service Owen enjoyed playing the organ, rearranging the Christmas tree and singing after everyone finished singing the hymns.

Owen gets a new room

They say that when one is pregnant anything can happen. When I was near the end of my pregnancy with Owen we decided it was a good idea to do a loft conversion complete with a window extension the breadth of the house. This time it was a little less drastic but the energy exerted on Owens room left me deciding that it really was not necessary to redecorate all the 2nd floor bedrooms.

Initially Owen's room was going to be painted blue with a Thomas the Tank Engine theme. After painting 3 walls blue I suddenly decided that Brendon had to run to the hardware store to fetch 2 litres of white paint to paint the 4th wall. It was 4.30pm and the store closed at 5.00pm. It had to be done that same day! In between the 1st and 2nd coats of paint Brendon had to make a business trip to South Africa and Owen ended up sleeping in the new baby's room that looked more like a storage unit than a bedroom. He enjoyed the change and the chaos of every day living on the 2nd floor!

His bedroom eventually got finished and he loves his new bed and new colour scheme.

Owen moves to a big bed

Brendon & I decided that when we went to the UK to visit Lynese and Douglas we would introduce Owen to a big bed. At Lynese and Douglas's house the floors are carpeted and Lynese sourced a bed guard at the local second hand dealer that we cannot get in the Netherlands. So if there was going to be a bump in the night we knew that it would be a soft landing for Owen.

The transition went so smoothly. Owen has really taken to his new sleeping arrangements. When he wakes up in the morning he starts talking to "Mickey", sings a song and waits for someone to come and fetch him out the bed. He still hasn't grasped that he can get off the bed himself in the morning although he gets on it himself to go to sleep when I put him to bed. He will really enjoy his new room in Holland now.