LawyerLow Diaries

Love it when a Saturday feels like a Sunday! Tomorrow is like a bonus day which I’m sure we will try and take advantage of. Or perhaps the days have just been swapped over as we ended up having our lazy Sunday today. We were helped with the continued success of the GroClock but we have moved onto phase 2 of that particular scheme. E waited until the 7am “sunrise” and then gathered her little brother and took him downstairs without coming into our bedroom at all. We actually slept in the first time in over 74 days!
Anyway, enough of my smugness (and no doubt I’ve jinxed tomorrow morning now!) so onto my top 5:

1. E lays an egg. Steph and I were having a nice chilled morning with the kids amusing themselves for the first time ever. Suddenly E appeared holding a chicken egg. We hadn’t even noticed her going into the kitchen let alone manage to reach the eggs. So we asked her what she was doing. She announced she had found an egg in her bedroom. I mean WHAT?!? She said she was keeping it safe in her white circle some with the holes in. It took a while for us to work out she had squirrelled away the egg yesterday along with our colander and hidden both in her bedroom, apparently to keep them well looked after until her birthday (in 9 months time!) I’m just so relieved that M didn’t get hold of it! 🥚 
2. E was telling us all about some very important things today and in particular about food. I asked if she wanted anything adding to the shopping list and she helpfully said “food”. She did mention sausages and I suggested we cook them on the BBQ. “But we had a BBQ yesterday Daddy.”
“That’ll be fine sweetie. With this nice weather we could even have a BBQ every day!”
“No Daddy, Mr Baxter told me that if you eat too much of the same thing you get fat. You know, like your tummy that we’re not meant to talk about.”
“I don’t think he meant the method of cooking. I think he suggested you have a varied diet.”
“If you say so Daddy. Don’t blame me if…” 😳
3. Queuing. So Saturday is usually essential shopping day and today was no exception. I was sent packing with a list and a request that I visit two shops to ensure I managed to get everything needed. I did as I was told and all was going very well, if I do say so myself. Until I arrived at the second shop, the supermarket. Social distancing is clearly not necessary in this particular area of Durham even though there was a very clear one way system in operation. I always do my bit when I am out and take my time and try to be courteous to others. I know it means shopping takes a bit longer but that’s just what is needed at the moment. I reached the last aisle and there was a long queue to get directed to a till. I patiently waited for about 20 minutes until it was my turn. When I was 2 places from the front, the staff member directing looked at my self scanner and announced loudly “well if you have self scanned there’s no need to queue! Just head straight over!” Helpful to maybe let people know that – or update the hundreds of signs around the store. I’ll admit I even tutted as I moved out of the queue, but don’t worry it wasn’t audible! 🛒 
4. Quizzing. Saturday is double quiz night with back to back Zoom calls. First I host the swimming club quiz and then we take part in the online pub quiz with the in laws. Both are fun in very different ways. With the first I enjoy watching the contorted faces and arguments in various living rooms when I have the answers in front of me and then with the second that is exactly us as we argue about comedy cartoons or historic British Prime Ministers. Steph and I have definitely reached a happy place with the quizzing, sticking religiously to our specialist topics and being honest when something is a guess. There’s nothing worse than when a team member is so confident of an answer you take it as gospel even if you don’t think it’s right, and then it turns out to be wrong. Worse still when you get every other question right in the quiz and miss out on 100% because someone else thought they knew more than you!!! 🤓 
5. The return of the toothbrush thief. Steph caught the little monster in the act today and he snatched my latest toothbrush head from our bathroom and headed off. Rather than stop him she decided to go all Sherlock Holmes and follow him. She tracked him to the spare room en suite and caught up just as he threw it into the toilet. She’s deduced that this is where the others have ended up. Why she couldn’t have stopped him before it was lobbed, only she knows. So now I’m onto head number 4 and this is all costing me a fortune. 🚽

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My first day’s holiday during lockdown and I couldn’t have picked a nicer day really. Steph was still working her shifts but it made for a much less stressful weekday than normal plus we still have a full weekend to come! Chalking that up as a win.
Due to the gorgeous weather I basically threw the kids out into the garden with the bouncy castle and paddling pool and it worked a treat to keep them off any screens for most of the day. 
I’ve been told to stop bleating on in the intro so I’ll get straight into the top 5:

1. Steph suggested we play a guess who game on her phone whilst sitting out in the garden soaking up the rays. You hold your phone on your forehead and it displays words/names etc which the other person has to describe and you have to guess. Initially it seemed like a bit of light hearted fun but I quickly realised that my wife isn’t the best at choosing specific (or indeed helpful) descriptive words. Shouting out that “It’s an American thing” is not going to help me guess quite as much as she clearly thought. To be entirely fair, she did get much better in the later rounds and I became the problem with my distinctly poor knowledge of singer and actors! 📱
2. E announced today that she was having a break from our daily walks. “I’ve done plenty Daddy” she protested when I said that we really should get out and about. I mean what makes her think she gets to choose? I’m the adult. I’m the boss. I’m the responsible person who spends his life worrying about and looking after his children and trying to bring them up in a safe and happy environment, knowing what is best for them whilst they mature and learn about the world. I ended up going out with only M. 😖
3. I needed to pop out to run some errands today so took the kids with me as it feels like they haven’t been in a car for months. E is in the process of drawing some pictures for all of her school classmates and she wanted to post the ones she’s finished and I also needed to pop into the butcher and the baker. Unfortunately the whole village was there stocking up on BBQ food so it took longer than planned. On the way home I said to E that after the butcher and the baker all we needed was a candlestick maker. She did not get that reference at all! She kept asking what candlesticks were and when we pulled into our street she helpfully reminded me we hadn’t been to see the candlestick maker yet. Bless her. 🕯 
4. The preparations for M’s birthday next week are ramping up and as always they are being led by Steph. Can I order some decorations, she asked? Yes of course but don’t go overboard was my response. That was my voice of experience after trying to rein her in during previous celebrations. Well, today saw the start of the deliveries. It appears we have a Mickey Mouse theme as a large cardboard cut out of Minnie Mouse arrived along with a variety of themed banners and, strangely, themed paper plates, cups, napkins and a plastic tablecloth. I’m loving the theme, but given we can’t have a traditional party and so there’s only four of us here, I’m not sure all of this is strictly necessary. Maybe I’m being harsh and in fact M will really appreciate all the effort his parents have put in to celebrate his special day. 🥳
5. We had a FaceTime call with my mum tonight, timed so the kids could say goodnight before bed. E was adamant that she wanted a bedtime story, but for a change she wanted to “read” it. This meant she made a story up on the spot which really wasn’t what we were expecting. It was about a King David and Queen Mammy who lived in a big castle with Prince M and Princess E. The castle wasn’t scary though as there were no squids (random much?) and there was just a kingdom. She then proceeded to list out a whole bunch of extended family (including Grandma) and announced that they were the servants but they had to live in another house until Coronavirus goes away. I really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! 🏰

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Today was all about work. Boring for the purposes of writing my diary I appreciate, but sadly necessary to make sure I can take tomorrow off and have a day in the sun with my gorgeous kids.
Fortunately the old ball and chain doesn’t ever let me do what I want to do and made sure I was dragged away from the computer and my phone at various points during the day. That way at least I could scrape together a top 5 for your delectation:

1. M’s eating has been a feature of my diary throughout but he has today taken it to a new level. Steph and I have sat tonight to work out what he’s eaten during the course of 12 hours awake. Blueberries, chocolate pancake, banana, satsuma, chocolate pancake (again!), raisins, blueberries (again!), crisp, popcorn, cheese sandwich, ice pop, crisps (again!), and ice cream. By the time we got to tea time he refused to eat anything and just drank some milk before bed. 🐷 
2. I took the kids on a walk and today E insisted on taking her toy double pushchair and two babies with us. I warned her she would have to push it the whole way. Boy was everything a drama. She was too cold then she was too hot. Then she was melting and needed a drink. Then we were going too far. Anyway towards the end she decided that singing songs together would help speed us along so off we trotted, side by side, pushing our respective pushchairs belting out Old Macdonald. Imagine my surprise when after the first animal was SHEEP and the second animal a UNICORN, she shouted out that the third animal was a FLYING DUCK. One has to be very careful with one’s pronunciation! 🦆 
3. As a result of the huge success of the GroClock (still looking for some commission!) the kids are sleeping in really well. One negative of this, and I think the only negative, is the fact that M’s 3 hour afternoon naps have disappeared and have been replaced with 45 minute power naps. I’m managing to time them perfectly for when we’re due to swap over working shifts so Steph takes over just as he’s waking up. Just don’t tell her that’s deliberate… 😴 
4. The bouncy castle continues to go down a storm but with the hot weather the play pool had to come out this afternoon. We were worried after M’s near hypothermia last time that we should try and get some warmer water in today. I was asked to hook the hose onto the kitchen tap. Fail! So Steph then connected it up to the outside tap. Fail! So she started carting out jugs of warm water to fill it up. It took her blooming ages! So she gets M into his swimmers and he steps in it, looks at her, shivers and gets out!! At least E stayed in for a while otherwise there might have been bloodshed! 🥶
5. Tonight we did a bit of zooming for the McLoughlin family weekly quiz. It’s always nice to catch up with the in laws and find out their news (still at home and not much has changed, same as every week!) Tonight was slightly different however as one (anonymous) member of the family was cooking dinner for them and their partner. They were having pasta (nice) but then slipped into the conversation that they were having crisps to start and probably nothing for dessert. Then that suddenly changed and she announced she might have some nuts for afters. Oooooh matron! Bit of an overshare there! 🤭

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We are over the hump! Restdays and Rundays are no more so I am back to plain and boring old traditional days of the week. Wednesday is always a killer but a short week helps whether you’re meant to be in the office or still #RemoteWorking!
The GroClock continues to make a huge difference to our sleep patterns with E continuing to stay in her room until “the sun comes up”. The 4.30am starts seem to be a thing of the past, but now that I’ve said it no doubt we’ll have a rough night tonight! 
To be honest it was a pretty quiet day so I’m cracking straight on with the top 5:

1. Well we need to start with the big news of the day! M’s birthday present from Steph’s parents arrived early today and it didn’t take long for the bouncy castle to be fully installed in our garden. The instructions clearly stated that it could only be put up by “one competent adult” so goodness knows why Steph thought she could do it without me. Imagine my surprise when I arrived home to find it pegged into the ground and fully inflated. Maybe I underestimated her determination to get something built that would keep the kids entertained all afternoon and give her some peace! I’ve already been told it has to be re-inflated first thing tomorrow morning (regardless of whether the kids want it up!) 🏰
2. E is very confused with M’s presents starting to arrive this week. I mean we’re all struggling with keeping track of the days but as a 5 year old the world is all upside down at the moment. Whenever we mention that something is a present for M’s birthday she just stops and bursts into a rendition of Happy Birthday especially for him. She then gets upset when we explain it isn’t until next week. I suspect that it’s because she was expecting cake rather than she wants him to have a special day – she is his sister after all! 🎂 
3. Speaking of cake, we had some triple chocolate in for the kids tonight for their pudding (purely for the kids you understand!) They are guaranteed to make a complete mess but hey, you’ve got to let them live a little! So sure enough their hands and faces were covered but somehow M had managed to swing his legs up onto the counter and drag his toes through the bowl so he could smear chocolate icing between all of his toes. He is single handedly managing to take messy eating to a whole new level! 🍰
4. Men often get a bad name for either not doing enough around the house or doing things that are hugely unhelpful. The cliche example of the latter is finishing the bottle of milk or a packet of biscuits and putting the empty back in the fridge or the cupboard. To be honest I get why that would cause fury as there just isn’t any need. I would NEVER put anything empty back in the cupboard. Sadly the same isn’t the case for my daughter. Actually that isn’t technically true as there was one thing left in the packet. One mini marshmallow. She emptied the entire packet into her hot chocolate tonight except for one and then subtly returned the packet back into the cupboard. Little monster! ☕️
5. M has decided that he wants to grow his vocabulary and has a bit of an obsession at present with faces and in particular the different body parts on the face. With no warning he’ll suddenly jump onto my knee and poke me in both eyes shouting “AYEEEEEEEEE!” And then he rams his fingers into my ears shouting “EEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Once I’ve stopped squealing in pain he drives two fingers up my nostrils and I shout “NNNOOOOOOOOO!” Teaching is really hard (and painful) 👃

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Happy Platinum Anniversary to my regular readers. We’ve made it to day 70 and we’re just about in one piece. Well done us! 
After the excitement of yesterday and perhaps an overload of adrenaline running through my body, today was a bit of a shock to the system. My leg injury has hit back with a vengeance and I’ve spent all day hobbling around. Today would have been a rest day if we were still mid-relay so I’m expecting that the withdrawal symptoms won’t hit until tomorrow. A good bit of rest for this leg to heal and then I’m determined to keep some regular running going after that given how many miles are in the old pins. 
The kids were on great form today. I know they can be right pains sometimes but lockdown just wouldn’t have been the same without them. And when they are happy (and well fed) they are an absolute joy. I’m still trying to work out where all the food goes but I guess they wouldn’t eat if they weren’t hungry. Gannets or pigs? 🤔
So a happy and funny top 5 today:

1. The GroClock is definitely the best money I’ve ever spent! E absolutely loves it and even spent time today trying to explain to M how it works and why she can’t get up before the “sun comes up”. To our shock we were all still in bed at 7.30am. Whether that is because of the clock or just the fun in the sun yesterday, to be frank my dear I don’t give a damn! It was complete bliss. Perhaps I should try and sign up for some commission from the GroClock company given all the publicity I’m giving them! Oh, and you get a free storybook with it. 🕰 
2. Our one key bit of naughtiness today happened first thing when M got a telling off from his Daddy. I forget now exactly what it was about and that isn’t important. What is key however is the fact that I raised my voice and Steph heard me from upstairs. M sloped out of the living room in full knowledge he had been told off. So he sought love and sympathy upstairs and headed into our bedroom. He arrived with all his cute smiles and giggles ready to entertain his Mammy but all he got was the classic line “I’ve heard you’ve been a naughty boy.” He knew straight away his usual divide and conquer approach hadn’t worked and so his head just dropped to his chest and he shuffled out, pulling the bedroom door closed behind him. I love it when some consistency of message actually works! 😏
3. I decided to still take the kids for their lunchtime walk especially as M needed his nap and strapping him down (in his pushchair) is by far the best way to help him nod off. I was trying to get them out of the door but inevitably E wanted to get herself sorted out. First she needed the toilet. Then she wanted her new Ariel dress sorted out so she looked extra pretty for going out. Then she refused to put any comfy or flat shoes on and wanted her glittery heels on. To top it off she then demanded to have a handbag as “All beautiful ladies who wear dresses and lovely shoes have to have a handbag to carry around their important items.” Just to be clear those important items comprised a bottle of Frozen perfume, a plastic strawberry tart, a plastic mobile phone, a toy Olaf and a toy Cinderella. Remember folks, never leave home without these things! Just in case of emergencies you understand. 👜 
4. On the way back from our walk (during which we found the fairy garden again together with a pond full of tadpoles) E randomly started talking about Aladdin. To show interest I asked her if she had three wishes what would she wish for. She thought for about half a second and then replied “first for some candy floss and second for some candy canes…” (who knew I was raising an American child!) and she then paused for a bit longer and said “and then I’d wish for more wishes.” Now my instinct was to say “that’s my girl” but it was too easy an answer so I told her that unfortunately Genies can’t grant a wish for more wishes so she needed something else instead. She thought for a little and then suddenly said, “Daddy, my third wish is for lots of genies as each one can grant me 3 wishes and then I can have everything I want.” Her problem solving skills are clearly developing with #HomeSchooling! 🧞‍♀️ 
5. After deciding that playing in the paddling pool didn’t really count as a proper wash, we threw the two terrors in the bath tonight for a proper scrub. Now Steph doesn’t really trust me to wash E’s hair although I genuinely don’t know what I have or haven’t done in the past to warrant such a slur on my parenting abilities. So I tend to wash M first and then take him downstairs and finish getting him ready for bed whilst Steph washes E’s hair and then sends her down. No sooner was M in his pyjamas when E appears in her towel. Her hair was bone dry. I asked why she was out of the bath and she said she was cold. I told her to get back up so Mammy could wash her hair. She said she’d already spoken to Mammy. “And what did Mammy say?” I asked sceptically. “She told me I could get out if I wanted to be smelly!” came the reply. 
“Surely you don’t want to be smelly?” I retorted. 
“Why not? Boys are smelly and I can always spray on some perfume!” 
So now I know why the bottle of perfume was an essential item to take on the walk. It can hide all manner of sins! 🛀

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Well to say today has been busy is a bit of an understatement! From lots going on in our street over the last 24 hours to my relay teammate becoming a dad for the second time overnight that would be just about enough. But throw in the last leg of our relay marathons and Bank Holiday fun in the garden and I’m definitely ready for an early night. 
I have a three day week at work this week so surely that is manageable for half term! Not that we’ve told E that it is half term and we’re likely to keep cracking on with the #HomeSchooling. Her teacher phoned today for the weekly welfare call and I must say a call on a Bank Holiday Monday is pretty impressive. Kudos to the teachers out there who are still doing their thing under very difficult circumstances. 
A busy day so lots to cover in today’s top 5:

1. I have to start with the end of the Lawyers in Lockdown charity relay. After my leg injury which has held me back on my last two legs I was very apprehensive about today as I really wanted to run. My Facebook memories have reminded me that by a complete coincidence today is the one year anniversary of my first ever Parkrun! I knew I would be elated crossing the finish line and as some of my ex-swimmers have reminded me recently, I used to trot out the cliche of “no pain no gain” to them mid way through a particularly tough session. So I set off with a light jog and actually it wasn’t as bad as I had though so with increasing confidence I clicked off the miles. The only problem was that the huge head start Steven Allan gave me in anticipation of me having to walk. I therefore had to slow down after half way and then stop completely with a mile to go as we had planned to run that last mile together (but virtually of course). To be fair he had been up all night supporting his wife who gave birth to gorgeous Sophie so it’s been an even more special day for him! It is done now and we’ve raised nearly £2000 for Brain Tumour Research which is brilliant. The link is here if anyone is still wanting to sponsor. A massive heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been so generous and has sent supportive messages over the last 30 days. 🏃‍♂️ 🦈 
2. It was a bit of a toasty day so Daddy was dispatched to cut the grass and get the weeding done before a bbq for tea. It also gave us an excuse to get out the paddling pool for the kids which was suitably freezing for them. M didn’t last long as all before he turned blue, whilst E manned up and stayed in much longer than was really necessary. My freshly cut grass is now saturated and my kitchen floor covered in grass from all the comings and goings. It was a lot of fun though! 🏊‍♀️ 
3. I received a very kind gift of a Pub in a Box to mark the end of my running challenge, which included a keg of lager. This was perfect for the garden this afternoon but it was clearly an item of interest for the kids as a keg is not something they are familiar with. M was shooed away and went off in search of some poor defenceless snails but E wanted to know all about it, how it worked and what was in it. The next thing I know she has taken out a little cup and helped herself to some to sample!! Fortunately, and as I had expected, she took one sip and declared that it was yukky and Daddy could drink it instead! 🍺 
4. Tonight was the second instalment of our street quiz where Steph and I took a solid 3rd place. Before the next one we know we need to brush up on our knowledge of all things octopus related as well as movies generally. I’m delighted to report there was no falling out this time and we simply designated a captain to each round who had control of the answers. I led on sport, geography and flags whilst Steph took over for cartoons and soap operas. That seemed to work well as we just stuck to our strengths. Neither of us see octopuses as a strength though so still work to do! 🐙 
5. After a very sensible suggestion following a previous diary post when I was complaining about how early the kids were getting up, we have presented E with the gift of a GroClock. We snuck into her room last night to set it up and it has worked an absolute treat! When M got up this morning, E let him out of his room and then when I got up to take him downstairs E refused to come as the “sun hasn’t come up on my clock yet” and returned to her room until 7am. She pressed the buttons tonight before bed to set it up and change it to the night setting so hopefully tomorrow morning will be a repeat! We just need to keep M asleep a little longer and then we’re onto a winner! ⏰

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There’s definitely a theme developing during our weekends, and in particular on Sundays. It’s been a pretty lazy day, waiting for the morning wind to pass and by the time it did we couldn’t be bothered doing much anyway. Perhaps the strict routine we have to follow on a weekday to deal with our work shifts actually serves us quite well. The alternative is complete anarchy. 
A lazy day was good rest for my leg which continues to give me gip. My relay teammate smashed his penultimate leg this morning meaning we are on for our big finish tomorrow. Our fundraising has gone really well and we have already raised a significant amount for such an important charity. It occurred to me today after watching the 5pm briefing with M that the distance we are running also happens to be the distance a certain senior government advisor drove a few weeks ago. Perhaps we should rebrand our fundraising page!! 😂
Right a Bank Holiday top 5 to digest:

1. I had agreed with Steph that she could have a morning away from the little darlings and I would do everything. I was absolutely delighted that after weeks of trying, E finally listened to my instructions last night and when she woke up, she collected M and took him downstairs rather than bounding into our bedroom and causing carnage. This meant Steph could have a proper long lie as I snuck downstairs. Kids fed, watered and dressed; dishwasher emptied and refilled; washing up done; washing machine and tumble dryer on; bins taken out; kitchen tidied; kids’ bedrooms tidied. I was on fire! I have, of course, made the fatal mistake of showing what I’m capable of so guess what Steph has suggested for tomorrow… 😇 
2. M has definitely discovered a new word and it has quickly become his favourite. “Uh-oh” is a very apt word too given his adventurous behaviour and cheeky street. He just goes looking for trouble and knows full well when he is doing something naughty. It’s the sideways glance and the grin that gives it away. Today he managed to find four felt tip pens despite us hiding them away weeks ago. Suffice to say he managed to colour in a few things including the washing basket, his jeans and his hands. I suppose if we hear him saying “uh-oh” we need to get there PDQ! 😈 
3. I thought this afternoon that a bit of a movie would be nice but I refused to watch the usual Disney films that E insists on. So I downloaded Enchanted and convinced E it was all about a princess and she would enjoy it. About 30 minutes in I suddenly realised I was the only person still in the living room (everyone else had gone upstairs to play). This is what my life has become. And before you ask, of course I finished watching it. A bit like trips to the Stadium of Light, I refuse to throw in the towel half way through a performance! 👸🏼 
4. Please don’t judge me! After finishing the housework chores this morning I asked E if she wanted to sit down and complete some of her schoolwork. I know it’s a Sunday, and also it happens to be half term, but I was pushing an open door and she really enjoyed it. Perhaps I’m taking the phrase “every day a school day” a bit far but if it keeps her mind active and she learns even one new thing every day then I’m chalking that up as a #HomeSchooling win. Also, it was either that or the bloody Pups again! 👨‍🏫 
5. E has started being very affectionate and motherly towards M which leaves us feeling both proud and a little suspicious. We know how she treats her dolls and I’m a bit worried she is heading down a slippery slope with her brother. Today she took to reading him stories (very cute) and they washed each other’s hair in the bath tonight. She also has a bit of an obsession with having a sleepover with M and tonight wanted to swap beds. I am fully expecting to find her dressing him up in a dress and putting makeup on him next. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I grab a photo before intervening! 💄

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The start of a three day weekend was always going to be a nice break from #RemoteWorking and #HomeSchooling. Instead I had the penultimate leg of my running challenge to complete and a quiz to write. The kids really enjoyed having a lazy day and stayed indoors to avoid this ridiculous wind we’ve been having. I definitely blame Steph’s cooking for that!
I’m not beating around the bush tonight so straight into the top 5:

1. I suppose I should start with the Lawyers in Lockdown update. Sadly my leg is still hurting and no amount of frozen veg seems to be making a difference. We’re going to have to go out for another essential shopping trip just to replace all the defrosted veg packets! I therefore ended up splitting today’s leg into 2 again and had to walk both. I tried a bit of light jogging this morning but it didn’t go well. It’s really not how I wanted this challenge to finish but I’ve still made it round over 123 miles in less than 4 weeks. My local childhood paper (the good old P&J) also carried our story today which was lovely to see as it must be about 20 years since I was last in that esteemed publication! I have a Restday tomorrow and then Monday sees our final push over the finish line. Not long left to donate if you haven’t already – link below. 🏃‍♂️ 🦈 
2. I need to mention M’s outfit tonight. We put him into his pyjamas as normal and he then suddenly appeared with E’s jumpsuit over the top. Apparently he really enjoyed putting it on and then danced round for a ridiculous length of time. No judgment, just unadulterated joy from an innocent child who loves life. We love him too (except when he wakes us up at stupid o’clock)! 👚
3. Monday in our street is a very special day and not just because it is a bank holiday. One lovely couple in our street are celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary, which is a quite remarkable achievement! Sadly their amazing trip to Canada to mark this landmark has been cancelled and instead they are having to stay here in line with Government advice. We really want to celebrate their special day but in a socially distant way so Steph and E have spent most of the day designing, preparing and painting a huge window banner to put up tomorrow night ready for Monday. It has got me thinking that if Steph and I ever reach such an anniversary it will be 2063 and the kids will be 48 and 45! I’m really hoping we aren’t still in lockdown otherwise as there would like to be more than one body under the patio! 💍
4. After a number of messages about Steph’s hair which I dyed last night for her I thought I should share a photo of how purple it went! Personally I think it looks great and to my utter shock she seems pleasantly surprised too. I might even get to do it again. I did remind her that in my uni days I did have some experience of hair dying but I suppose the proof is in the eating. We’re turning into a right proper hair salon between the clippers training and colouring practice. I suspect M will be next which will be a whole new challenge. Is it possible to cut hair whilst he’s asleep? 🟪
5. We finish today with a classic E conversation and this time it is about boyfriends. She suddenly announced this afternoon that she has a new boyfriend. Now how this happened during lockdown only she knows but I did ask about her fiancée who seemed to have been overlooked. 
“Daddy” she says with a very serious look “you need to listen carefully because this is important.”
“Ok, sweetie, what is it?”
“I have three boyfriends.”
🤯
“I have Jamie who I’m marrying and Noah is my boyfriend and you remember the other one.”
“Which OTHER ONE?!?”
“You remember. Who bought me a chocolate rose and you sat on it!”
“Oh, you mean Tommy from nursery?”
“Yes Daddy. You don’t remember anything do you?”
Steph stepped in at this point, thank goodness, and tried to explain the difference between boyfriends and boys who are friends. Weirdly that then morphed into a conversation about how old Mammy and Daddy were when they had their first “proper” boyfriend/girlfriend. Unfortunately it was time for my run so I had to leave…. 👫

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Yet another day in Lockdown but it’s a Friday and a Restday so at least that’s something. It’s felt like an incredibly long week this week and we are all now running on empty. Humid nights don’t help at the best of times but when the littlest cherub wakes up at 3am screaming (bless him) you are never going to feel fully refreshed for work. I sometimes find myself reminiscing about life before kids but quickly snap out of it when I get prodded hard, hear a loud noise or smell a revolting smell. It’s just a question of which will happen first. 
A very brief update on my leg – I really hoped it would be feeling better today but sadly it’s exactly the same. I’ve been icing, resting and elevating as advised but only time will tell what shape I’ll be in tomorrow and Monday. In the meantime we’ll certainly take the unexpected press interest and hopefully raise a few more quid for Brain Tumour Research. 
There was unexpectedly a lot of going’s on today so what made the top 5?

1. Scrabopoly. E decided to invent a new board game today and to my amazement she did an absolutely cracking job. She was trying to learn her red words/ speed words and wanted to play a game with them so she designed a board similar to monopoly and put each letter of the alphabet into a square in a random order. She then wrote all her red words onto separate cards and essentially you have to roll a die and move round the board collecting letters to spell out the red words you pick at random at the start. The extra part is you also have to write them down as you collect them so we have some handwriting practice going on too. I was so impressed and we had a full game this evening (which E won hands down!) She’s so much more imaginative and creative than her Daddy and didn’t even realise she was doing schoolwork! 🗃
2. I was dispatched to the supermarket for an essential shop today and was surprised to find it heaving with a queue around the block. My wife had reassured me that she’d only written a short list so I wouldn’t be long. Nearly £140 later and a full trolley (a proper one, not those little ones that “daily shoppers” go for) later and I managed to escape. Now we have tried incredibly hard to follow all Government advice to the letter and so I was conscious I should be wearing a face mask today. Unsurprisingly I didn’t have any in stock but fortunately a branded snood arrived in the post today from one of my virtual runs so I got to wear that round the shops feeling like a highwayman. I’m sure that I looked like a complete pillock but if it helps stop the spread (or even a remote chance) then I don’t mind doing my bit. I took reassurance from the fact that at least I wasn’t wearing a full blown balaclava like one guy I passed! ⛷
3. The dog was returned to the in laws this afternoon and E accompanied him over. Apparently there was a rather unexpected conversation in the car:
“Buddy needs to find a girl dog and then he can have puppies!”
“I don’t think that is going to happen.”
“But why? He needs to. He needs a girl dog to have puppies.”
“Well he is quite an old dog so I think it’s unlikely.”
“But what about Lola? (a friend’s dog) We could just invite her over and then they could have puppies together and we can look after them!” 
No, no, for a hundred different reasons, no!! 🐶
4. M has been relatively well behaved today given how heavily he normally features in the top 5! His speaking is really coming along and he is desperate to say E. They have such a special bond and we’ve realised that rather than being overly demanding for food or greedy, he always wants two of everything just so that he can take one through to E. I certainly don’t remember doing that for my sisters so fingers crossed it continues. It’s less than a fortnight until his birthday although we’re pretty sure he turned 2 a while ago given his hormonal attitude to the word “no”! 👼
5. Tonight was very special as it was the first time I got to do this to Steph during lockdown. I’ll admit I’ve been waiting for the last 66 days for this special day and with each day that has passed my excitement and eager anticipation has grown and grown. I think every long term relationship needs the man to do this to the woman every now and again just to add a bit of spice and with a sprinkling of danger. Tonight I finally got to dye my wife’s hair! All the practical jokes and little comments had to be put to one side as it turned out to be an incredibly serious session, where the instructions on the box were read and then re-read and only then was I allowed to read them. What she doesn’t know is I secretly switched her brown dye for purple so she might get a shock when she wakes up tomorrow! 💆🏼‍♀️

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I’m starting tonight with a thank you to all those who have sent supportive messages today about my running. It’s been a really tough day as anyone who knows me will know how competitive I am. There is more below. 
My salvation is my wife and kids. They are so supportive of me and I know I’m really lucky. Even little things like dancing stupid dances in the living room just bring so much laughter and happiness. I know it’s challenging having to juggle all our commitments but we wouldn’t really have it any other way. I got to do some #HomeSchooling with E today when I managed to drag her away from those pesky Pups. Part of me wishes M had some work to do too and he fills that void with continued naughtiness and general trashing of the house. 
Anyway, here we go with the top 5 for today:

1. As a result of my injury I just had to accept I just couldn’t run today. This felt like a tough call but it was the right thing both for the next few days but also longer term. Instead I split my leg (running, not physical) into two and walked both with the dog for company. Far too much time to think during the walks, but it is done and we now have just over 40 miles left to the finish line. We also managed to get some press coverage today which will hopefully help boost our fundraising effort. If you haven’t yet done it, you’re running out of time!! The link is below and don’t put it off…. 🏃‍♂️ 🦈 
2. I’ve mentioned the dog who came with me for both walks today. I quite enjoyed having the company but I am slightly concerned that he’s not a spring chicken and therefore trekking for 8.5 miles is a big deal for him. Seeing him right now, flat out on the couch, makes me think he needs the stretching session and ice more than I do! Sadly he’s returning home tomorrow and so I’ll be back to solo runs but it also means we won’t have unnecessary company in the bed, disturbing our sleep! 🐕‍🦺
3. Speaking of unnecessary company in bed, E rocked up this morning just before 5am. Apparently the birds were tweeting so she knew it was the right time to get up. After pestering us rather than just sleeping like a normal person, Steph had enough and sent her off with the iPad. M was up by this point so E was specifically told to share with him. As you might imagine, a lead balloon hit the floor when Steph came downstairs to make a coffee only to find E hiding in the toilet watching the iPad by herself. That does explain why I keep finding the iPad propped up on the potty! 🚽 
4. The appetite of the kids continues to grow as told they wolfed down all 5 meals (yes, 5!) We are struggling with only a weekly shop given how quickly the fridge appears to empty. Steph’s highlight today was watching M eating an ice cream cone as he just didn’t understand he could eat it as well as the filling. That made a lot of mess but he was very excited when he made the discovery! 🍦 
5. We were very lucky to have a number of packages arrive today. These little gestures from family and friends go a long way and inevitably they arrive just at the right time to give a boost. It often doesn’t matter what is in the package as it’s just the fact they thought about you which is important. A surprisingly high sugar package from Grandma did go down a treat and E was delighted with her Paw Patrol lanyard from her Aunty. I suspect Daddy will NOT be borrowing that from her except for the purposes of starting a bonfire!📦

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