Today my oldest son is a teenager! Wow, where has all the time flown to, and I can’t believe that its 13 years since I was going through my first labour with Dave and my sister by my side, all a bit scared and excited. Anyone who has had kids will know what I mean when you instantly fall in love with your baby, and that love grows and grows, and so does the worry that comes with being a parent. Everyone says, they grow up so fast.. and they do.. so I thought it would be good to look back at those early years and to show you just how cute Miles was. Now he is a handsome guy who is no doubt going to break many hearts 🙂

This is Miles when he was a week old, such a cute photo, with such a grown up expression

This is him on one of his many trips to Robin Hoods Bay

Here he is at a year old, again at Robin Hoods Bay

A budding football star of the future maybe, this is Miles aged 2

Back at the beach aged 3, alongside Ethan

And looking cheeky aged 4

Now a birthday post wouldn’t be complete without an “in the bath shot”. This is when Miles was 2 and just getting over chicken pox

So we have come a long way in 13 years and here’s to many more… wonder what the next 13 will hold? Finishing education, moving out of home, choosing a career path, maybe getting married, maybe even having his own kids … who knows but it will be fun watching him grow up.

Love you Miles xx

This week I have been helping my grandmother B swap her old mobile phone that she was struggling to use, to a phone specifically made for older people. It hasn’t got any fancy features on, it calls and texts that’s about it, but also has a panic button on and will even text me if the battery is getting low. It’s great that it has big and clear buttons, but getting a new phone meant teaching “an old dog new tricks” as it were, which is never easy. I spent Wednesday afternoon with her going through the basics and have then produced her an easy to follow user guide. I thought it would be good to share in case anyone else out there has had to do what I have done and it will save you writing your own instructions 🙂

If at any time you get lost, press the Red button to get back to the Home Screen with the clock on.

To Make a call

Dial the Number with the full dialling code, Example: 01947****** then press Green to dial. After the call press Red to end the call

Letters on the Keypad

Press the button the right number of times to get the right letter
Example: The Number 2 A – press once, B – press twice, C – press three times

To Send a Text
Press Bottom Scroll button to get into Contacts

Scroll down through the list of names

Press Green when you get to the right person

Option to Call or Send SMS (text)

Scroll to Send SMS, press Green

Now you have an empty screen to type message

When you have finished the message press Green

Send – Yes
Confirm number – Yes

Sending Message, message sent

When all done press Red to return to Main home screen with the clock on.

To Read a Text
When a text has been received there will be an envelope on the main screen

Press Green

Shows who it is from, press Green to see the message

If the message is more than 2 lines press the bottom scroll to read more

Once read, press Green to get the options
Either Reply, Call Number, Delete – scroll down to choose, press Green on the one you want.

If you do not want to reply, delete the message from the phone.

Reply to a Text You have Received
As above…to read a message that you have received.

Once you have read the Text, press Green to get the list of Options.
Press Green on Reply
Empty Screen – Press Green
Type the message and then press Green, and send message as normal.

Make a call from the Contact List
If you have a person stored in your contact list you can easily call them

Press the bottom Scroll Button to get into Contacts

Scroll down to find the right person

Press Green when you find them

Option screen of Call or Send SMS

Press Green on Call

To end the call press the Red button

This weekend Cooper has had lots of water fun. On Saturday we took him to the beach for the first time and went to Saltburn-by-the-Sea. The beach at Saltburn is really long and flat and they do some great fish and chips too. As we drove into Saltburn with the windows of the campervan open Cooper went a bit crazy breathing in the sea air. He loved the sand and loved running and digging.

I tempted Cooper into the sea

as the waves chased us out

Then today we took Cooper for a lovely walk down to the river for a swim. As soon as he got near the river he was getting excited and its so lovely to be able to let him off the lead and for him to run off some steam. He was straight in and is getting much better at fetching sticks out of the river. He had a good little swim today.

He was pretty shattered after we had been along the river, so it was time for a little snooze

While we enjoyed a well earned pint at The Terrace in Ripon

along with a lush bite to eat. These were some gorgeous smoked haddock and leek fishcakes on a pea puree that I tucked into.

On a side note its been a while since we have been to The Terrace (just off “hospital hill”) in Ripon. Over the years it has changed hands many times and has been The Outside Inn, The Dog and Duck, Joe Rigatonis and The Terrace, but has never seemed to make it. We went a while ago when it was an Italian and it just didn’t meet expectations and the food wasn’t great. The new owners come from a long catering background with a good reputation and I’m pleased that its got some good trade. We’ll be certainly going back again to sit out in the sun and enjoy the good food.

So time certainly flies when you have a puppy in the house as I don’t know where the last 3 weeks have gone to since I did my last puppy post… but anyway, Cooper is now 13 weeks old and I thought I’d pop some more pictures of him on my blog so we can keep a good record of him growing up. These were taken this weekend.

Now puppies are very similar to babies in many ways.. you can buy them the best toys but they always have a favourite that wasn’t meant to be their toy in the first place. Cooper has taken a shine to this old frisbee type ball thing that the kids had years ago, that has been unearthed from the bottom of the garden recently.

He’s growing bigger every week, and learning all the time. He is such fun to have around and he gives so much back, you just have to look into his big brown eyes to see how much he loves you back. We have been out walking with him lots to get him used to different places in the area, which will form part of his longer walks in the coming months as its all about lots of familiarisation and socialisation at the moment. At the weekend we took him to one of the rivers close by and without much hesitation he was in swimming.. it was great and just what he needed on a hot day 🙂