Today was Mark’s nan’s funeral. We ended up bringing Oliver along in the end, so I was pretty preoccupied with keeping him happy and quiet (until the wake, when I just let him charm everyone and eat anything). I’d never actually been to a funeral at a church with a burial in a cemetery (I’ve been lucky enough to only attend 2 funerals in my life and one was for someone I didn’t know, Mark’s co-worker). It really hits you when you see a coffin and someone you know is in it. It’s weird anyway as the last time I saw Nan was some weeks before she went in hospital, and every time Mark visited her in there I stayed with Oliver, so for me it just feels like I haven’t seen her in a while and she wasn’t actually put in the ground today. Still sad though. Wake was good, however – it’s a rather opportune time for us to have all his family together and to be able to spend time with them. And we had some fun watching Oliver and Katie play.

In other news, I highly recommend Ebay next time any of you need to seriously de-clutter. People really will buy anything. We are basically going to have paid for our international move and then some, possibly. And it’s not really like we feel we are giving up anything! The stuff we like is still coming with us (except electricals, which just can’t come with us).

So in 2 weeks Oliver and I will be resident in Canada, with the rest of the gang following 3 days later.

Beyond the immediate concerns of packing everything I need for him to take with us, and settling him in to a different time zone for good, I’m also thinking about Hallowe’en as we’ll be there for that.

But what’s the North American policy on 10 month old babies and Hallowe’en? Surely taking him trick or treating clearly indicates to the givers of chocolate and candy that this baby is obviously not going to eat it and the parents are? (mmm Reeses peanut butter cups yummmm)

Should I be getting him/making him a costume and taking him out or do we stay in at my parents and greet all the costumed kids?

This isn’t an issue in England as there’s still so little trick or treating here.

Every year since I’ve been in the UK (because I’ve been in the UK?) I’ve managed to pull together a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner for myself or me and Mark. Always turkey, and sometimes even pumpkin pie (including one or two years with FRESH pumpkin which is the biggest pain in the backside ever). I even managed it last year, rather pregnant and being sick on an almost daily basis.

But I forgot this year!

Mainly I forgot to put it on the calendar, and with my baby muddled brain, if it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t exist. So it means I also forgot to send my parents an anniversary card.

So no turkey for me tonight. Bah. Luckily I think my mum is going to cook one for all of us soon after we get there.

UPDATE: Mark brought us home a mini turkey roast. Sometimes he actually deserves not to be slaughtered. In the oven making good smells with sage and onion stuffing (the turkey I mean, not the husband).

Uh oh.

Guess what he knows how to do.

There isn’t normally that much crap in his crib; I was trying to sort things out for packing v. charity shop.

I sense great danger. But, glee!

He’s been pulling himself up to standing using hands for a while, but the furniture thing is new. And when he can’t get up he freaks out a bit. He also freaks out a bit when he then cracks his head open when he falls over, but what can you do.

I have two full-time preoccupations right now…

1. Selling like 20 items on ebay (and more needs to get listed on there)
2. Using up all the food in the freezer as someone is taking it on Friday night

It doesn’t sound like much but between them I don’t seem to be able to get anything else done. Every spare moment I have to check the computer to see if there are any more questions about our items (Mark’s old windsurf board attracting the most queries and I know nothing about it), and for some reason ebay buyers have gotten really impatient and everyone wants a Buy it Now price! Except I discovered today that if someone bids it wipes out your price. So why’d I waste 25p putting it on there in the first place?? Also someone wants us to courier the windsurf to Cornwall which we were quoted at £500 last night. Good god. At least so far we seem to be making some unexpected money on some old tat (mostly thanks to Mark’s embarrassing radio controlled airplane hobby that he hasn’t engaged in but will again when Oliver is older I am sure).

And every meal is a new adventure in ‘what can I make with this steak/chicken/mince/10 pounds of frozen blueberries/too many apple strudels’. On top of that, we had so much food left over from the party that I’m also trying to clear out – I’ve been eating mini pork pies for lunch everyday and just feeling sick. I did manage to remember that I had a Nigella recipe for a turkey and ham Boxing Day pie which I made though clearly it is not Boxing Day as we had some delicious gammon that Mark made for our do leftover, and I had some turkey stir fry bits in the freezer. Add some frozen Canadian sweetcorn (excuse the food miles), leftover chives, and defrosted puff pastry and it was a success. Last night I got fed up and we had a thai takeaway. Smart. Tonight I am back on track and it’s cottage pie for all of us (including frozen mince, frozen corn again, and leftover party cheese). It’s so much brain power, though, thinking about all this stuff. And distracts from the main job which needs to be clearly as much stuff out of this house as possible before the movers come on the 17th.

I let Oliver use the keyboard just now. Here’s what he had to say to you all:

/;F ,m d jn hm nj78mm b #

// a j b bbbbbpo9l

If anyone knows babytypespeak, let me know what he’s said.

Perhaps he was telling you about his best friends, the jolly jumper and the dog?

Photo Sharing – Upload Video – Video Sharing – Share Photos

Apologies for graininess. It was dark.

Our Bon Voyage party last night ended up being rather more low key than we had hoped, for a few reasons. The main one was that unfortunately Mark’s nan died on Friday night (his mum’s mum) and all the family that were attending were obviously affected by this. She’d been in hospital for about the past month, but before that, she was a 94 year old woman with her wits completely about her who managed to keep her own house with a bit of support from her daughters in general housekeeping. I hope at that age I am still managing to get dressed, get down the stairs, take care of myself, and go back up the stairs to bed again. She absolutely loved Oliver – her two great-grandchildren (him and Katie) really made her happy.

It’s all still quite fresh so we are not sure when the funeral will be. Of course it’s not nice that it happened at all, but I am glad that it happened while we were still here so that we can all be with Mark’s family at this time.

Also, a bunch of my family and friends didn’t rsvp (well some did just as it started) and didn’t turn up. Thanks!! How do I emphasis the sarcasm?

Anyway, some pics.
We also got people to leave us messages on our camcorder which we’ll watch when we move and are feeling nostalgic.

Mark, his step dad Ron, his mum Brenda, Oliver and me.

Mark’s Uncle Gerry and Aunt Iris:

Mark’s friend from uni John and his girlfriend Jane, who got us a wicked vintage Monopoly set with the proper British street names and utilities – excellent!

We also had the priviledge of Emma and Mark from Wales coming to the party and staying over, which made it an even better weekend (why don’t I have a photo of them?!). This morning, we all took the dog out for a walk and ate party food leftovers for lunch before they left. Also it forced us to clean the house, though post-party you’d never know it.

Oh, crap. It’s October already!