Category: 2010 4pk News

After several impromptu feeding sessions at the table with all the family we’ve decided that it’s about time Harry started to be weaned off his gallons of milk that he consumes and onto some solids. It’s not like this would be an alien experience for him as Daddy has been feeding him most things off his plate for a few weeks now and it’s fair to say he’s not exactly hated the experience!

Mum decided that like his eldest brother & his sister his first meal would be some pureed carrot & potato.  The night before the big event Mum peeled & sliced some carrots & potatoes, bolied them and then mashed them with some butter.  She then put all the pureed carrot & potato into the ice cube tray & froze it.

The next morning Mum defrosted 2 lego bricks worth of carrot & potato puree ready for Harry’s lunch that date.  Lunch time arrived & Mum put Harry into his bumbo seat and started to feed him his food – to say it didn’t touch the sides would be an understatement, the food was literally inhaled by our little hungry horace, who then went on to drain his 8oz bottle of milk.

Mum says Harry is going to be a dream to wean as unlike Dan & Em he didn’t mess with his food he just ate it!

Update – March 2011

4 months on from Harry’s first taste of food it has been proven that Mum was indeed right – Harry has been a dream to wean!

He will eat anything & everything and is now on 3 full meals a day and whatever other food he can lay his chubby little hands on.  His daily intake is now as follows:

• Breakfast – 1 weetabix or porridge or (weekend treat) 2 farleys rusk using milk from his 8oz bottle – then his 8oz bottle
• Lunch – a bowlful of food, usually something we have had for dinner previously (last week he had shepards pie & tomato soup to name just a coupl) followed by some fruit, followed by a 4oz bottle of milk
• Dinner – another bowlful of food followed by a yoghurt
• Bedtime – an 8oz bottle

Harry will also look longingly at anyone that eats food in front of him and he has been known to devour yorkshire pudding with gravy, banana, toast & chocolate fudge cake!!

Josh fell off his skateboard just over a week ago when he was here at the end of the summer holidays and made a gravel sized hole in his knee! We cleaned it up and it seemed fine but when picking him up on Friday he had a nasty looking infected knee. We tried soaking it in the bath on Friday night to no avail so I took him to A&E on Saturday morning which turned out to be a most of the day event.

He had an x-ray and turns out he still had a bit of grit in his knee that had buried itself deep in his tissue. It needed a proper digging out below even where the hole was in the first place and now has a few stitches in it for his troubles. The incisions were so deep that he needs to let it heal properly and avoid knocking it for fear of opening up the the existing wound and getting it infected as the hole in his knee is so deep now it could spread to his whole knee.

So he’s stuck on the sofa for the next few days to let the stitches take hold and is banned from doing anything particularly exciting for up to 6 weeks to avoid infection more than anything else!

He’ll have the stitches removed in 10 days or so and has some lovely tasting (not) antibiotics to clear up the infection.

Hopefully he’ll be able to resist being his usual self for a few weeks and not fall over and hurt himself so it doesn’t get worse!

Today is Mum’s birthday, sadly we’re not there to share it with her today. We’re not going to say how old she is but rest assured when we’re all together again on Friday we’ll make sure we buy a cake big enough for all the candles. Might have to give Harry a taste of it too but don’ t tell Mum.

Happy Birthday Mum, we hope you get lots of presents from Dad and like what we’ve bought for you; unfortunately you’ll have to wait till Friday for our presents!

Well where did those Summer holidays go to?  The time has just flown by, it doesn’t seem like 6 weeks ago that Mum watched Daniel in his leavers assembly keeping her legs crossed so that Harry didn’t make an untimely entry into the world!

During the holidays we welcomed our little brother, Harry, into the world and now we are going to have to leave him in the capable hands of Mummy as we all return to school.

There is a big change for one of us this year.  Daniel is starting at high school!

But first Josh – he went back to Ysgol yesterday, he is now in year 2 his last year in infants.  He wasn’t really looking forward to going back to school as he isn’t very keen about the teacher he is having, apparently she is a bit strict.  We are sure Josh will be ok though as he doesn’t usually get into trouble at school.

Daniel & Emilie went back to school today so this morning it was back to the early morning routine, we haven’t missed this, and now Dan’s routine starts 30 minutes earlier at 7am as he has to be at school for 8.20am!

Dan & Em had breakfast and then got dressed in their new uniforms and new school shoes – they both looked extremely smart and Daniel looked very grown up in his blazer and tie.

Then Dan set off on his first journey to school – he looked quite cool with his retro satchel, courtesy of Dad (Tim) – Dan was excited about starting at the high school.

Mum (Alli) walked Emilie to school and watched her go in as she made her way into Year 3, her first year of Juniors.  As usual Emilie was very excited about going back to school, in her opinion the summer holidays are 4 weeks too long!

Our first days back went well.  Two of us escaped without any homework but poor Daniel had some to do, although it wasn’t too taxing he just needs to back his exercise books – so Mum is off to the shops tomorrow to get some sticky back plastic!

Today Mummy, Daddy, Emilie & Josh took Harry to the Register Office so that we could register his birth.

There was some last minute deliberation in the waiting room over the choice of names with Daddy requesting Stringfellow & Mummy saying only if Harry became Harrison!

Fortunately, for Harry, the Registrar called us in quite quickly so the deliberations stopped and our new addition was named:

Harry James Elliott

The names were chosen for the following reasons:

Harry
Not after Uncle Harry or the current Spurs manager but just because Mummy & Daddy have liked this name for ages.

James
We (3pk) were asked to choose a middle name for our brother, Josh suggested James & we all agreed that this was a good name.

Elliott
This was our Nana’s maiden name & Mummy wanted to include this name in memory of her Mummy.

So there we have it, our brother is now official!!

With the new arrival of our fourth child it was decided that we’d create a new website for all that goes on in the now 4pk world. This was supposed to have been done prior to Harry’s arrival but with one thing and another that didn’t happen.

Anyway, whilst there are still things to do on this new website I’m pleased to announce it’s ready for the friends/family who used to frequent the now obsolete 3pk website. All the news etc that was on the old site has been transferred to this site so rest assured if you are wanting to catch up on the last 5 years worth of news then you can still do so.

We’re also introducing or re-introducing the photo albums, bear with us whilst we get this setup properly, there are over 5 years worth of photos to upload so it will take some time. To view these you will need to log in to the site however, you can do this yourself or email either Alli or myself to give you access details.

Let us know what you think and if there is anything you think would be useful to include; when I get a spare 5 minutes I can look to integrate some more functionality!

At last, 10 days later then expected, our new baby brother has arrived!

Mummy had Harry James Elliott at 10:34pm and he weighed 11lb 8oz, the heaviest of all us by some considerable amount.

We are really happy that Harry is finally here and that Mummy & Daddy are ok after a very long day at the hospital.

Welcome Harry!!!

This afternoon Dad & Alli have been to watch Josh take part in his sports day. They were a little uncertain when they set off as to whether the sports day would go ahead as it had been raining, however it managed to stay dry for the afternoon & sports day could go ahead.

Josh was in Owain house (yellow) and looked ready for action in his pe kit, he would be taking part in 2 events.

His first event was the obstacle race – he had to balance a bean bag on his head and run to a hula hoop, pass the hula hoop over his head, run to the next hula hoop, pass this over his head and then sprint to the finish line. He lined up against his fellow competitors and the whistle was blown, off he went, he did very well and managed to secure a 2nd place in this race!

The second event for Josh was the egg & spoon race, not his strongest event as he had told us previously that he found it quite hard, however we think he must have been putting in some practice as he managed to come 3rd in this race.

He looked so pleased, and rightly so, when he stood on the podium after each of his events.

It was then time for the Dad’s race – the look on Josh’s face when he saw that Dad was going to have a go was priceless – Josh’s grin lit up the whole of his face and he was proudly telling all his team mates “that’s my Dad.” The whistle was blown and the Dad’s set off – how would Dad do? Well he managed to come 4th out of about 15, so not bad but not as good as Josh! Dad blamed the fact he was wearing jeans and hadn’t been well, but we just think Josh is much better!!

With the Dad’s race finished it was time to announce the results of the afternoon and we are pleased to say that it was Josh’s House – Owain that won the event – so well done to Josh and his fellow housemates!

As the school year draws to a close the time comes for the dreaded school report to be sent home – how will the 3pk fair this year?

The first one to bring home the report this year was Josh.

So what did it say and would Daddy & Alli be pleased?

Language, literacy & communication skills
Josh speaks Welsh fluently and can express himself clearly, he enjoys talking about a wide variety of interests.
Josh has made excellent progress with his reading & has started to read fluently with understanding and it’s great to see Josh enjoying books.

Mathematical development
Josh has started to gain a little more confidence when adding & subtracting. He lacks confidence when approaching new concepts and must ask for help when necessary.

Personal & social development
Josh is a pleasant & polite boy who is always more than willing to help in class.
He is a sociable person who finds it easy to make friends but sometimes lashes out when things don’t go his way.

General comments
Josh is a lively and popular boy who is always prepared to help others.
He has shown an interest in all aspects of the curriculum and has developed a quiet confidence.
He has worked well during the year and made steady progress.
Good Luck in year 2 Josh.

So as you can see Josh’s report was excellent and Daddy & Alli were really pleased. The reading of English Biff & Chip books (like Emilie had) has obvioulsy paid off and now we will just have to help him with his maths a little bit but that won’t be hard given what Alli does as a job!

Well Done Josh – keep up the good work!!

Happy Fathers Day to the best Dad & Step-Dad in the World!

We love you lots and think you are brilliant, we hope you have great Fathers Day and that you like the presents.

Love from
Dan, Em & Josh
xx

Also, Happy Fathers Day to our Grandad (Trains) and Grandad David.

This afternoon we have been to the Africa Oyé festival in Sefton Park with Rachel & Baby Niall.

Africa Oyé is the UK’s largest free celebration of African music and culture and takes place annually in Liverpool. As well as the music there were stalls selling food, drink, arts & crafts and fashion from Africa.

The weather was once again glorious, although at times the breeze was a little strong and made us a little bit cold.

When we arrived at the park we made the obligitory trip to the toilet and then we walked around the food and arts & craft stalls, whilst listening to the various bands that were playing on the outdoor stage.

Within the hour the first muttering of “I’m hungry what are we having for lunch” was heard so we decided to get some lunch.

Out of all the delicacies on offer we decided on the following:
Daniel – Hot Dog
Josh – Hot Dog
Emilie – Chips
Dad (Tim) – Burger & Chips
Mum (Alli) – Jerk chicken wrap
Rachel – Curried Goat yes GOAT!!!!

We laid out the blanket, that organised Mummy Rachel had brought with her, and sat down to enjoy our lunch. Rachel offered us all some of her curried goat but we all politely declined the offer. She said it was really delicious but we just didn’t like the idea of eating goat.

After eating our lunches we headed back to the arts & craft stalls and it wasn’t long before Dad (Tim) had to dig deep to purchase items for us:

Dan – trilby hat (so he can perfect his Michael Jackson impression)
Emilie – pink & silver necklace
Josh – beaded bracelet with an England flag on (good lad) and a bag of candy floss!!!

Once we had made our selections we headed for the ice-cream van where we were all treated to a 99!

Then it was time to head home, we enjoyed our first family outing with Niall and look forward to many more with him.

This afternoon Mum & Tim went up to school to watch Emilie take part in her last infant sports day.

The weather was glorious, infact it was a little bit too hot for the sports day competitors, who were having to compete in the glorious sunshine.

Emilie had been placed into the red team and her and her fellow red team competitors were to spend the afternoon competing against the blue, green and yellow teams.

Emilie’s first race was the space hopper race, as you all now Emilie is quite small and therefore when she climbed onto the space hopper Mum didn’t think she had much chance in the race as the space hopper was nearly as big as her! However, Emilie showed that just because she is small doesn’t mean she hasn’t got a competitive streak and she put in a very good bounce and managed to secure a commendable 2nd place!

The next race that Emilie took part in was the year 2 girls cross country (or one lap round the school playing field), now in this one she really didn’t stand much of a chance as she only has little legs, however running around with her brothers has obviously paid off as even though she finished some way down the field she was NOT last!

After a small break (sadly Tim had to go back to work) Mum watched Emilie take part in the water balloon throwing event, this was the last event of the sports day which entailed all the children lining up up and throwing a water balloon as far as they possibly could.

When this event was over Emilie’s class teacher announced the final result.

The final scores after all the races & events were, in reverse order:
Yellow 149
Green 159
Red 178
Blue 179

So sadly Emilie’s team came second by just 1 point! Emilie was a little bit upset but she soon started smiling once she realised she would still get a lollipop!