A phoned this morning about 9.30am to say could I come over and join them for the day instead of just arriving to pick M up in the afternoon, as the weather was so lovely and they were limited without transport. Drove there along the Hawes road - the bikers ride like mad things along there! And I always end up stuck behind someone doing 30mph... At least L slept all the way.

Met A & M in the Ingleton car park, as they'd just been on the climbing wall. It was M's first time trying climbing and he said it was the best thing he'd done all weekend so far. We drove back to the lodge to get a sandwich and then went to Hutton Roof to try and find some of the rest of the MR team who were climbing there.

I carried L in the baby bundler sling so I had my hands free. The hill up to the climbing area looked huge to me (I don't do hills!), but we found the right path (met a couple of the team on their way back down to go for a brew and got better directions) and headed upwards. Luckily I couldn't see the top from where we set off, or I might never have set off! The path got worse and much steeper, and L got heavier, though the carrier is really comfy as carriers go. Eventually got to the top with much huffing and puffing, A was even quite sympathetic - it was nothing to him as he's out every other weekend up and down hills. As we reached the top, the rest of the MR climbers were headed back down, so A & M didn't actually get to do any climbing. The views from the top were fantastic and it was much cooler near the top and pretty windy. I sat and admired the view and fed L, while A & M explored and scrambled over some smaller rocks. On the way back down A said he'd carry L as the extra weight was no more than he usually carried, so he had L on his front and his hill bag on his back. I'm not sure how I could've managed L, as I was trying to keep my feet on the uneven rocks all the way back down the hill.

We drove back to Ingleton and M showed me his moves on the climbing wall. I hope A & M get chance to go climbing again soon so he can have another go. Then it was back to the lodge for tea, a very lovely spaghetti bolognese. I set off home in our car with L and M, and A drove back with his gear in one of the MR wagons.

Today has been very quiet with DH and M away. I think this is the first time M and I have ever been in separate locations overnight! It was strange to wake up in the night and not have M in his bed when I went past his bedroom door on the way to the loo.

We got up about 8.30am and had a relaxed morning with me reading emails and blogs and feeding L. When he had a long nap about 10ish I started the first front of a jacket I'm knitting him. So far I've just done the back. I don't knit very fast, so I'm making size 6 - 12 months to balance knitting something fairly small with having time to finish it before he grows out of it! I'm using different colours to the pattern though - denim, denim/white mix and a dark red.

When L woke up and had had another feed we went for some retail therapy at ToysRUs, Mothercare and Tesco. Mothercare had a tiny feeding and changing area considering the size of the shop, but I managed to get L to the loo in there, though that was the only toilet opportunity I managed to make while we were out today. I was looking for ideas for Christmas presents (always vow I'll be better organised, always still shopping right up til Christmas! LOL) and birthday cards. ToysRUs was a dead loss and I only got some Star Wars nick nacks for M. In Mothercare I got a baby toy and soft book for L - couldn't resist, but the book is for his stocking. Tesco was more successful - found a small size potty for 77p! I also got L some socks and bought some bits and pieces for M's birthday. After Tescos I had a picnic late lunch in the car (cafe was heaving and not very baby friendly) and drove home.

A's rung to say he and M did the waterfalls walk and found the cache and have had a lovely day. M has made a new friend, a son of another team member - they went on the walk together today. M decided it would be fun to paddle in the water at the top of the walk and got his boots soaked, so had to walk all the way back with soggy feet. This evening they're having a BBQ.

I'm cooking myself leek and mushroom pie and it's smelling lovely. I think this evening I might watch episodes 4 and 5 of Lost, which I have on a tape somewhere if I can find it! I'll watch it in bed and knit once L has gone to sleep.

I'll start today's post by saying that I'm trying Elimination Communication with L, which is where you respond to your baby's toileting needs by offering them the opportunity to go other than in their nappy. Babies don't like to soil themselves, and will fuss when they need a wee or poo, its just we don't usually believe they can do this so we don't see the signs and respond.

I'm really pleased with how the day's gone today. I knew we were going to be out all day and decided I'd try and tune in as much as possible while out and see how it went and where I could "potty" L. We had a 90 min drive to S & B's birthday party and L slept all the way, except for a few mins on the way where he woke and cried and then went back to sleep. I presume the crying was cos he needed a wee, but there was nowhere to stop - not sure how I could have got round this, but I do the best I can at the time and I'm making it up as I go along!

So we got the hall where the party was and I took L straight to the hall toilet where he had a wee and I put a pocket nappy on him. We mingled and introduced L to friends who haven't seen him yet, and every so often he fussed a bit, I took him back to the toilets and he went fine. We were there 2.5 hours and caught 4 wees and 2 poos and had one miss. Didn't admit what I was doing when I took him though, except for to T who knows we're ECing. Another mum came looking for baby wipes when I was putting his nappy back on, and did seem a bit perplexed when I said I didn't have any in there with me.

The party was lovely, with traditional party games and plenty of chance to run about and play with lots of children. M had a great time and I enjoyed seeing everyone too. M was playing a game where he got his friends to carry him around - not quite sure how he persuaded them to do that!

From the party we had the journey from hell, because the road was closed and there was a massive traffic jam, so again I couldn't take L's nappy off for him to go. Got to our friend's house and L cried when I took him to her toilet, though I knew he needed to go. Didn't matter what I said to try and calm him, for some reason he just hated their toilet! It's a very fetching blue one with a bubble pattern and so far he's only used standard white ones, so maybe it was just too different for him ?!? I wish I had any clue why he didn't like it?!

Then from there we went on to meet DH so I could drop M off for their boys' weekend away. They're at the Mountain Rescue team's families weekend in Ingleton and they're going to go caching tomorrow and to the climbing wall on Sunday. M is so excited!!

I've not really felt any inclination to have a personal blog until now, but with a new baby and an older son who is growing up fast, perhaps it will be fun. My younger sister's always said the second child gets fewer photos taken, doesn't have their baby book filled in etc and I don't want to be like that - but the days go so quickly I can see how it happens. Perhaps if I write a bit each week (being realistic - I know how often I ever updated my gardening blog!) about what we've been doing I'll remember some of the milestones with L.

The blog title is because we do quite a few things in our family in an unconventional (for mainstream UK society) way. But I reckon that the more you find out about people, the more you discover no one is "normal" and everyone has things about themselves that are a bit unusual or different. "Normal" depends on which group of other people you are comparing with.