Yesterday Matthew and I went to visit my parents and also my sister, Sally. It's lovely to be able to drive over for the day - it's four hours there and back but that's a good opportunity to sing my heart out without anybody else having to suffer (Matthew sleeps most of the way!). Dad and Lis are getting set up for a small person being around and have bought a high chair and a little ride-on which Matthew loved (he is crawling away from it and a fair speed but that's because the camera is more interesting!).


It felt like summer should do to, just being able to sit outside and enjoy the garden and we even needed suncream!

This photo is especially for Emma and Dan who sent Matthew some All-Black shoes for his birthday - who knows, maybe they're what got him walking!

Matthew and Skye

A video of the two of them playing - well Matthew is more wrestling - on the sofa!

Matthew's first steps

We're back!

I seem to have spent lots of time this year catching up on our blog. This time I have a very legitimate excuse for my lack of communication - not only no broadband or dial-up but no phone line for what seemed like a very long time! I'm assuming there was life before the internet but judging by the twitching and shakes in our household it was certainly long before our time. Anyway, now we are totally connected (and wireless, so Neil says I can update the blog sitting on the toilet on the second floor of our house - I don't think anybody's that desperate for our news!) and have a very good deal on international phone calls so nobody can escape!
So, what's happened in the Shepherd family...

Well, the biggest change is that we've moved from the quaint Pucklechurch into a rather large house in the centre of Bristol (there will be a video at some point, I promise Emma!). Although there's a lot less countryside around there are more people and I like having shops and other facilities I can walk to. Having said that, Neil can now walk to work so it's more feasible for me to have the car. One of the lovely little discoveries is the pohutakawa tree in one of the local gardens so every time we walk past I think of all our Kiwi friends and smile...


We're living with the lovely Phil, Mags and Skye Kelly which seems to be working out rather well and we're beginning to get settled and find our way around.
Highlights of this include finding all the back routes to avoid the rush hour (though not necessarily) traffic and sampling the various coffee shops and pubs; we have a rating system on our fridge for the various establishments though Phil and Neil seem to have the monopoly on the pubs!
I've been to a couple of parent and toddler groups (one has a waiting list!) which have been ok but different people go each week so it's not all that easy to get to know people but I know this takes time.
The house is great and we've named it 'The Ark' - partly because our children have three Noah's Arks between them and we have one large piece of artwork depicting it, partly because of the ridiculous amount of rain that fell in June (and thus far July too!) and at one point flowed through the porch but also because the drains got blocked and overflowed down the path and the toilets needed fixing on three occasions (the house doesn't sound that great now does it...at least we're renting!) There's loads of space which is great because shipments have arrived from the US and NZ (ours took 21 WEEKS!!! having gone via Valencia and having been quoted 8-10 weeks) so there are boxes galore. There's also a cute little garden, just about the right size for two toddlers, and Matthew and Skye love it - they'd love it even more if it would stop raining...



Sharing life (highs and lows) with the people we've joined here in Bristol is continuing to be fun and it's been great to have friends to stay including the wonderful Mansergh family.


Outside of life in Bristol, I had a weekend with my Nan in Peterborough (I got a whole two nights of undisturbed sleep which has not happened for a very long time!) and we went up to Sheffield for the TOM weekend which was great as we got to catch up with lots of people and I shared my 30th birthday with some special friends (no photos as I was too busy chatting!). I'm feeling ok about this milestone, though have to agree with Debbie, there's something about saying I'm in my thirties and not my twenties...

Other headlines include the fact that Matthew is now independently walking! He's been walking holding our hands for a while but would drop straight to his knees whenever we let go. Well, last Thursday he walked straight out the bathroom
all by himself and did about ten steps! As Mags and I are whooping (well, more me than Mags) Matthew stands still with the look of "What's all the fuss about?"! He's so confident (when he thinks we're not looking!) I think he's been secretly walking for weeks!


There are a couple of movies to follow but here's a picture I've found proving the sun does shine in this country, albeit occasionally!


So that's about it. We're getting settled - again! One thing that has obviously helped this is the arrival of my Pride and Prejudice DVD - just need an uninterrupted six hour stretch to watch it...

A few more photos

I did manage to find a few pictures that we took on Matthew's birthday - this was the birthday boy riding high with his Daddy!


You might look perturbed too if you'd opened a card to hear Zippy from Rainbow singing you Happy Birthday!


Matthew received a trike from his Grandma and Grandad - he loves 'riding' to the park rather than being pushed in his buggy.


Our budding rock guitarist!



My favourite photo of the moment of our gorgeous and perpetually happy little boy!


And finally, a big thank you to Jo Parkins for sending a little parcel from Australia containing some of the most delicious biscuits in the world! When we lived in NZ Tim Tams were one of our favourite biscuits and they taste as good as we remembered!

The last month has been more settling in - especially for Neil at school. The majority of his classes are fine (I've even heard them described as 'lovely'!) though a couple of classes of the youngest pupils are a little (well, alot) trying. But Neil has just the right disposition to deal with it and it doesn't phase him - he's great!
We've been familiarising ourselves with more of the city and enjoyed a picnic on the Downs - can't believe how many people hang out there on a Saturday afternoon - Matthew loved the open space to chase his football and Neil took the opportunity to catch up on his sleep (Matthew has decided that 5am is an acceptable time to start the day - we beg to differ)!


Matthew and I are discovering what's going on for little people and their parents. We've been to a couple of playgroups and recently ventured to a soft play warehouse for the first time - which was obviously a hit!


It's been a little strange as I've known that we won't be living in this area but last weekend we finally found a house to rent nearer the centre of Bristol which hopefully means it will be easier to make more meaningful connections with people. The house is lovely and large and we'll be sharing with friends, the Kellys, from the beginning of June.

Finally finding a house was nothing compared to our other big event of the weekend - celebrating Matthew's first birthday! I can't believe he's one but at the same time it feels ages ago that he was born and so much has happened in a year that he surely should be older!
Anyway, the day was lovely and included phone calls from NZ (Matthew was hugely excited when he heard Emma's voice over Skype and appeared to be looking around searching for her!), family came for lunch and then some local friends (older and younger) arrived for a 'party' in the afternoon. It was a very wet day (as are many at the moment) so we all went hyper inside but I think we all coped for an hour. Big thanks to Andy and Debs for allowing everyone to invade and there will be pictures to come but we were too busy to take very many so I'm relying on family sending them to us...

Easter holidays

Not really sure that 'Easter holidays' is the best title as we've had one, quite long holiday but the photos to follow are from our time away with family and friends over the last couple of weeks.
We've had time catching up with the Simms crew, where Matthew learned to crawl/slide down the stairs as well as up! This photo is a rare one with Matthew and his Nanna Simms, very rare because Lis is usually taking the photos or Matthew is bouncing so much they are all blurred.


We also spent some lovely quality time with the Hewson family in Sheffield, including a day around Chatsworth House.


There was lots of love between Sam and Matthew too, on occasions, so much that Matthew was overwhelmed!


We got to catch up with the Manserghs too, including good conversation with Anna and John while our boys slept (hooray!) and frolics (and a rather nasty fall for Elijah which resulted in a fair amount of blood) and ice-cream in "my park".


Hanging out is much different now with small children in the mix but just as fun and so good for us.
Also met some special friends from times gone by (I don't mean that to sound like I'm really old, it's just those seasons seem a long, long time ago now...) down at Philadelphia on Easter day morning. Matthew also had his first haircut and sampled his first chocolate - obviously a winner if you think about his gene pool!

Lastly we spent time with the Shepherds (though minus Christopher) in Hartlepool where we got to see our gorgeous neice, Emma, now walking!


Matthew had his first trip to a farm. He was far more impressed with the ride-on tractors than the animals but then we knew that would be the case!


Now we're back in the still sunny and warm Bristol but the holiday is well and truly over and Neil has started work - all going ok and only one joke from the pupils about having Shepherd's pie for tea!