On Wednesday night I decided that as Barney (did I mention we’ve decided to call him Barney?) had slept for a couple of hours on the sofa the previous two nights I’d try him in his cradle once he had gone off to sleep. So, at 3.30am off we went, I lay him down and went to get my Pjs on. When I got into bed his eyes were awake and within 5 minutes it was obvious he wasn’t going to sleep there at all so off we went back to the lounge. Ah well, it was worth a try.

I had looked up the sunrise times and according to the website I found the sun rises here at about 6ish which would mean leaving here about 5.15 to make sure I was in place to watch on the morning I go. However, I happened to walk through the kitchen at about 5.20 and as the blind was open I noticed the sky was fairly light and I could see the sun just coming up so I’m guessing I’ll need to leave about 4.15. If I ever go. I might be lazy and go and watch out of Jack’s bedroom window (it’s probably safer than driving up to the coast now that I’ve announced to the world I’m going to do it one morning, lol)

Have you noticed I never seem to mention doing anything much during the day? I just never go out, I never feel like it once I’m up. But yesterday (Friday - it’s currently 2.30am Saturday) I forced myself out of bed after 4 hours sleep and went over to see a friend. I have to admit before I left I was sat feeding Barney and wishing I hadn’t organised it, I was so tired, but I am so glad I did. It was a lovely afternoon which I enjoyed so much I lost track of time and was most shocked when we discovered it was almost 6pm!! I took the three younger girls and they had a great time too.

We live in an old house (well, half of it is 200 years old, the other half is relatively new at about 25 years) and I’ve often wondered who used to live here so the other night I spent a bit of time on ancestry.co.uk looking through the census records and I think I now know. Unfortunately they didn’t put house names on the returns although I’m not sure the house would have had it’s name then. I’m pretty sure there were only two or three houses on this road until the early 1900s so I’m fairly sure I’ve got the right people. It also seems the road had a different name at one point as well.

It was interesting looking through the names of the families that lived in the village. There are several surnames that I’ve noticed I hear a lot round here anyway and they cropped up in the census. If I’m right then our house was lived in my one of the ancestors of one of Jack’s playgroup ladies.

I still really want to dig around outside and see if there’s anything buried in the garden - and one of these days I will take a photo of the military “things” I found in the garden to see if anyone who reads this can tell me what they are and how old they are. I think they are some kind of button or other kind of decoration for a uniform but I have no idea otherwise and it’s hard to read the inscription on one of them. They turned up in the gravelled part of the garden so I suppose they could have been in the gravel load rather than dropped by someone here. If they are from here there could be more - I think the chickens may have scratched them up. I should go and have another scout round in case anymore have turned up.

Having written all that, I’ve decided to photo them now - of course, I can only find one of them. They’re funny things - they disappear and reappear regularly. We put them “somewhere safe” and they’ve gone when we want them, and then they reappear somewhere really strange days, weeks or months later. Anyway, the one I have photographed is the one that looks like it slides onto a strap or something. It says “HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE” and “ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS” In the centre it looks like GR VI

Having Googled it, I’ve got some info about it - it’s from George VI’s reign so could be as much as 70 years old. Anyway, if anyone knows anymore I’d love to know. The photos aren’t great though, sorry.

I did start writing this last night but then Barney needed me to pick him up so it’s now Saturday night. Another day has been wasted really with us sleeping. However, I did do a bit of sewing - made some Pjs for Alfie and a hat for Barney from the off cuts. Does anyone else have to try and sew with two toddlers climbing all over them and trying to touch the machine? Jack was trying to turn the wheels on my over locker - it took me ages to get the settings right after the last time someone messed about with them so I wasn’t impressed!!

Barney has found his voice today which is sooo cute. He’s lying on his playmat at the moment talking to his toys. I keep forgetting he is 2 months old now and is probably wanting to look at toys and things. Now he’s smiling as well it’s lovely. It’s a good job he’s so cute isn’t it??

Right, that looks like my typing time is up for now, Have a good Easter Sunday whatever you’re doing. Don’t be sick if you’re lucky enough to get lots of chocolate!!! ;-)