My ISP has once again messed things up. This time I can neither log in nor ftp to my site, though happily (for some!) it still exists. With any luck it will be sorted out soon so that my pointless blog can resume.

We had a nice weekend. The weather was good and the wedding venue was lovely. We were holed up in a lovely room in the eaves with a mini roof terrace and plenty of space for Miles and Jody. There was lots of merry making, good food and the happy couple evidently enjoyed the celebrations. The babysitter was absolutely brilliant so I was able to leave Miles with no qualms both evenings. It was the first time I've left him for more than a couple of hours with Roj, and was made particularly easy by the fact that we were only four flights downstairs. Certainly it reminded me that when his feeding becomes a little more predictable it will be nice to take advantage a little more often. All went swimmingly barring the fact that Jody has contracted a hideous cold and I have had minimal sleep. Very nice to make up for at least some of the deficit this morning with a 3-hour lie-in: Thank you Roj!

We spent most of yesterday at Longleat treating Jody to the safari park and other attractions. It wasn't the best choice for a baking August bank holiday Sunday, but we put up with the queues in the name of toddler entertainment. The safari park isn't exactly massive, but you can definitely appreciate the benefits as compared to conventional zoo confinement. It was very amusing to watch the monkeys destroying the 4x4 driving next to us, but most of the animals were sitting out the hot weather in the shade so there wasn't much action to speak of. The toddler play areas were absolutely phenomenal though and at £18 per adult for a million different activities it was well worth the money. Shame Jody was overtired and ill throughout, so always teetering on the brink of tantrums. She did very well despite it all, and we even managed to keep her awake til we left for London at 7pm.

Today we are well and truly relaxing. Roj, Jody and Miles are all currently asleep and were it not for my lie-in this morning I would be too. I have a million things pending in the 10 days before we leave for France though, so am trying to organise when to tackle what. Either that or find a nice hole that I can crawl into for the duration.

I might add that today marks the fourth anniversary of this blog. I would never have kept a paper journal going for this long, but the blog has become a way of life. Even racing around after Jody and Miles I still find a few minutes here and there to update, albeit less frequently than I'd like. After all this time I'm not sure of the point of it all but I enjoy reading back sometimes, and reminding myself of what life was like with one baby ... or even with none. I'm amazed at how much I have forgotten of my daily life - each time it's almost like reading about someone else's. So though it be small and arbitrary, it will no doubt continue for the next 4.

Well the sleeping for more than 2 hours at a stretch isn't coming together. Currently I'm waking every 40 to 90 minutes to feed Miles at night (staying awake each time between 10 and 40 minutes). I still don't think it's hunger that's causing his restlessness because he compensates by going 5 hours - sometimes 6 - between feeds in the day. It could be teething and it could be that he's so distracted during daytimes that he really isn't getting enough food and makes up for that at night. Whatever the reason, I wish I could find a way to reverse it so I could feel a little less fried!

I have, however, got what I need for the coming wedding weekend including one £7.20 (inc. postage) brand new little girl dress from Mini Boden via Ebay which suits Jody fantastically. I've only had bad Ebay experiences in the past but childrens clothes seem to be a bit of a winner so I might get dragged back in yet!

I have also been running a couple of times since my last entry. Unfortunately Sunday I was just too tired, it was too hot, and my legs were empty so I ended up walking 10 minutes or so. This morning was better on all those fronts but I still got a horrendous stitch coming off Primrose Hill and ended up walking 10 minutes again. Still ... I'm getting there! I also need new trainers as my old ones have holes in the lining that give me blisters, but luckily my Nike 10k entry includes 20% off a pair which is providential since Nike is my brand of choice (it's a fit thing).

We're off to just south of Bath on Friday at midday and have decided to spend Sunday (after cake and coffee at the wedding hotel) at nearby Longleat. What better way to see wild animals than to lazily drive around looking through the window? The wedding includes a civil ceremony and buffet dinner on Friday followed by the church ceremony and banquet on Saturday. With great generosity the bride and groom have arranged for babysitters for both of those evenings in the bedrooms at the hotel (the events are downstairs) so we can even relax a bit more than usual. Hooray.

Not sure whether to brave Brent Cross today. I've decided that trawling around central London for kiddie clothes is not on because many of the shops have no lifts. Brent Cross isn't exactly my favourite place either, but it's raining hard and I definitely need wedding outfits for the two of them, so I don't see that I have much choice.

I went for my first run this morning and enjoyed it enormously. 1½ hours later and I still look like a beetroot. My sleep has been apalling the last three nights, and I still haven't kicked the cold entirely so I was quite chuffed to get back in one piece, though I was only out for 37 minutes. Here's hoping I can raise my game a bit before mid-October and the Nike 10k.

Not much has happened this week, including on the house front. We are eagerly awaiting news from our financial advisor to establish whether we can afford to keep this flat and rent it while purchasing the other. Or rather how much money we'll have to borrow to make it possible. I don't look forward to being in debt but it seems the rental market is on fire so there is a bright side.

Have been spending a little time improving my French this week as promised. So far that only entails verb practise in books. The next step is to start listening to French radio and trying out the spoken stuff, which is really what I'm aiming at improving. I don't think there'll be much improvement by the time we go to the Dordogne, but I'm determined that eventually I will be better. I'm finding that I really only have to remind myself of the principles (and vocabulary) - it's not a case of relearning everything - so I remain optimistic that my minimal efforts will make a difference. Even if sleep deprivation means my brain is working at half speed.

I now have three goals for the medium term. Running, French and cooking. I'm sick to death of Waitrose ready meals and determined to broaden my culinary horizons. I am also a bit of an organic junkie and ready meals are a bit of a letdown on that front, so I need to start cooking from scratch. Certainly while we live within spitting distance of organic butchers and quality fishmongers. I therefore have my copy of How to Eat in front of me and am happily being inspired. My aim is to introduce one proper meal per week and then up it to two, and then three, until all my meals are cooked with fresh ingredients. I am also hoping this approach will be cheaper (even with organic prices) because our monthly grocery bills are currently astronomical.

You may have noticed that photography doesn't place in my current goals. I'd like to get back to it one day, and take more than just baby snapshots (though that will obviously be a prevalent theme), but lugging my camera around with me on top of an 18lb infant and a 30lb toddler plus accoutrements is just unfeasible.

Plenty of other goals ahead of me, but three is enough for the time being. Aiming to sleep for more than 2 hours at a stretch is another one, but somewhat out of my hands.

A very momentous weekend just passed. Miles got his first tooth on Saturday and rolled over for the first time as well (back to front). Then he got his second tooth on Sunday (so both bottom middles are through). Then - most importantly - Sven got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Charlotte in Italy. Fantastic! Can't wait to hear more about their plans when they get back and congratulate them in person (maybe) or at least in a phonecall lasting more than two minutes.

Also I managed to banish the nits which is quite a relief. I still have one more combing session for me and two more for Jody before I can categorically say they're gone, but it seems I caught them very early on and we both therefore appear to be nit-free (with minimal effort). Phew. I am now going to check once a week after Jody's last day at nursery to maintain a nit-free environment. Though they bear no relation to hair hygeine and carry no disease, they make my skin crawl (and my scalp itch) long after they've disappeared. Yuk.

The weekend was lovely actually - a lot of mileage in the car but all worthwhile. We saw lots of people. Uncle Olly on Thursday night with his work mate Eugeine; Ian and Emma with their daughter Lottie (3½) for a lovely evening on Friday up in Alderley Edge; Nanna and Auntie Zoe on Saturday for cat scratches and shetland pony riding; Mormor and Morfar on Sunday for lunch and baby-clothes sorting; and James and Annabel with Clementine (19 months) on our way back to London last night. All was very enjoyable and Miles even slept well for 2 out of 3 nights (waking at 1am, 4am and 5:30am) which made me feel like a new person ... for about 10 minutes.

I'm toying with the idea of doing the Nike 10k this October. Dave sent me a link today (he's doing it for the 3rd time I think) and I'm quite tempted. This is a little crazy since the last time I ran was in February, but 10k isn't very far and if I can shake my nasty cold, I am quite capable of doing 2 - maybe even 3 runs a week for the next two months to build into it. It won't be a fast time - I can say that now - but it'll give me something to aim for won't it? (I've convinced myself - just signed up).

Lots of people are away this week so it's going to be a quiet one. I have baby clothes to purchase for Rosie's upcoming wedding weekend and providing I can shake the cold I will attempt a gym session Thursday and my very first run one other morning. I'm also having a long-overdue lunch tomorrow with Bams which will be fun and gossipful. Otherwise it's playground time and park walks and money-spending avoidance methinks.

Nits. Yuk. I noticed that Jody had lice in her hair on Wednesday after her afternoon nap had turned her hair into a beehive. So I de-loused the whole family (a 2-hour job) that evening and found that both the boys had escaped infestation. It was a challenge getting that fine-toothed comb through my hair I can tell you - especially when Desperate Housewives was imminently starting on E4 - but it was well worth it and I seem to have done a good job since I re-did it this morning and found none. I will still have to repeat the whole lengthy process a couple more times in the next few days to make sure I eliminate lice who are currently residing in eggs. Disgusting business, but an inevitable one I suppose. It makes me not want to send Jody to nursery again though. And even more so because Jody has been delivered to me twice in a row with a dirty nappy which has clearly been dirty for some time. Certainly it arouses my suspicion on their levels of hygeine. Still ... I suppose I can't expect too much for £9 per 4 hour session.

Miles is still disrupted at night. Any good night seems to be a mere fluke at the moment. I was reading back at my blog from Jody's early days and I was equally obsessed with sleep issues at that point. I'm only obsessed to the point of talking about it incessantly ... not to the point where anything needs to be done about it. I am disturbed to discover however, that Miles seems to have flipped his nights and days. He feeds 5 to 6 times during 10 hours at night and only 3 or 4 times during 14 daylight hours. I would much rather the situation was reversed but I'm not sure how to tackle it. I expect I will just continue ranting about it but just hope that the situation will reverse in time.

He has just about grown out of all of his 6 month clothes now. I find it quite amusing to buy 9 month clothes for my 4 month old. It makes Jody seem petite in comparison!

I am currently at my father-in-law's house near Chester wondering if the rain is going to stop so I can get outside with the kids. Roj is working in Manchester today and I'm in this enormous house on my own getting a little bored. We'll be visiting my mother-in-law and my parents and two sets of friends before we make it back to London on Sunday night. Not exactly relaxing but hopefully enjoyable.

I have actually started the French language improvement I talked about a few weeks ago. Of course as soon as I get an idea I get no time to do anything about it. The BBC Website has a fantastic expansive language section which will hopefully keep me interested in the odd minutes I have to spare. I don't hope to be bilingual this decade, but I do hope to remind myself of some of the key principles so that I can be confident that 9 years of French education have not gone to waste.

In house news we are looking into the possiblity of re-financing our current flat in order to sub-let it while we purchase the flat on Montagu Square. It seems to be our only option after an absence of offers in the last 4 weeks. We still have six weeks or so before we would lose our deposit but as the housing market is forever slowing up as it moves towards autumn and winter, we aren't holding out much hope. The sub-letting solution isn't ideal in that we won't have a lot of cash to play with for the couple of years that we'll be tied into letting our current flat before being able to sell it again, but the numerous bright sides include the fact that we will be able to relax in a new spacious flat and not go stir crazy with a baby who imminently needs to be moved into his own bedroom. It seems extreme measures to prevent the loss of our deposit, but we're confident enough that the Montagu Square flat is the right property for us to go to these lengths. Lets just hope that no unforeseen spanners arise in the meantime.

Finally had a better night after a string of waking 5 or 6 times a night to feed Miles. Some people have said that because of his size I haven't got enough milk to sustain him so he's getting hungry in those early hours, but that's utter pap in my opinion; yesterday he did a 6 hour stint between feeds, it just happened to start at 6am (and people breastfeed twins for goodness sake). Anyway, this morning I finally employed the calgel when he woke an hour after his 3:45 feed and he didn't wake again til 7 which was fantastic. I do realise that I'll probably have to start solids a bit before the recommended 6 months, but I'm determined to hold out at least til 5 months and hopefully til we get back from the Dordogne at 5 and a half. Meanwhile I'll just have to hope that he chills out after these first two teeth have appeared (in the next week I predict) and that the calgel works its magic in the meantime.

Had a nice weekend. Good to have Roj back from Cowes, and not only because he afforded me a couple of much-needed lie-ins. Spent Saturday afternoon up at Fruitstock with Pat, Adam and Milo. Would have been nice to go for longer and get a chance to sit and relax but it wasn't to be. Roj joined us there in the afternoon after a gun-fitting at the West London Shooting School (nothing to do with terrorism I promise) but we abandoned the heaving crowds and came back soon after. Jody had the biggest tantrum in the whole world when she was going to bed. After coaxing failed to work, we just left her in her bedroom, shut the door and waited for her to calm down for lack of audience. This tactic was eventually successful, though I did have to go in 20 minutes later, pick her up off the rug (she was still sobbing in her sleep) and tuck her into bed. We need to count ourselves lucky that we've only ever experienced 2 tantrums on this scale. I'll be glad if we never have to again.

Was also lovely to see Alex on Friday who was making one of her now quite regular trips down to London. We did our usual Regent's Park walk (at half the usual pace, thanks to Jody), and stopped in at the Honest Sausage for a substandard lunch. Was great to catch up as usual and Alex really is good with the kids which is lovely coming from a non-mum friend.

Spent this morning with Sonia & the girls again, some of it at the Hyde Park Lido which is a lovely little play area with paddling pool despite costing £3.50 for the privilege (and despite me running 40 minutes late this morning, thanks to toddler/infant unpredictability, leaving me only an hour before we had to leave). I'm making a resolution to stop raising my voice at Jody. She sits up and listens only when my voice means business, and for that I know I don't need to shout. I'm a little renowned (not proudly so) for a short sharp temper and in general having a toddler has trained me to be much better with it, but in the occasional times that it gets the better of me I inevitably have a guilt trip for the rest of the day. I need to learn to keep a lid on it even when I'm really stretched or I'm just teaching Jody that shouting's OK. Which it clearly isn't, not even when hideously sleep-deprived.

Miles has finally snapped out of his growth spurt and reverted to 1am and 4am feeds. Unfortunately he also gets uncomfortable from about 4:30am and whinges on and off until Jody comes in at 6:30. The most successful antidote was to let him sleep in his bouncy chair for a couple of hours on Tuesday morning but I'm still partial to letting him into our bed for a cuddle in those early morning hours (to my detriment). His bottom two teeth are definitely pushing at the gums now - you can just about see them under the skin. I bought him some cool teethers yesterday in the hope that they give him some relief (as well as a Bumbo seat because he seems so eager to sit up). Early days to be teething (Jody got her first tooth just before she was 6 months), but if it's linked in any way to the rest of his physical development, it makes sense that he's advanced.

Roj is corporate schmoozing in Cowes for three days this week, lucky sod, which at least left me with a good opportunity to catch up with Sam over pizza last night. We think the last time we met up was about a year ago so it was long overdue, but very enjoyable. I think I was asleep within about a second of my head hitting the pillow though, to dream of hiding from murderers in a Geisha house and other absurdities.

Spent most of yesterday with Sonia & girls in Hyde Park and then at their house for lunch. Jody and I are eating her out of house and home at least one day a week but with Miles totally portable and Jody not needing to sleep in bed during the day, we are more flexible than her girls who are tied to their beds for their afternoon naps. It's still necessary for me to be out of the house as much as possible too, in case there are viewings (which are still trickling in, to no avail) so I'm very grateful to have someone so happy for us to freeload.

Also had a lovely day with Camilla on Sunday over some excellent Greek cooking (hers of course). Always very therapeutic to spend time with Milly (despite encounters with ants nests and an obsession with psychoanalysis). I believe Roj thinks so too, since he spent most of the afternoon asleep on her sofa!

Jody is in nursery today and tomorrow mornings, affording me some break from the rigours of toddler care. I'm looking into lots of courses for her right now - namely French and football and toddler gymnastics - and am aiming to brush up on my own minimal French skills before heading off to the Dordogne though whether that remains pie in the sky is yet to be seen.