Blog silence

Due to Sky Broadband switching us to them 10 days before they planned to give us the modem we have been without Internet for 10 days. Bleh. Yes we rang them and complained fruitlessly on their 0870 number, eventually speaking to the most senior person available who said ' no we can't compensate you, yes we are charging you for the 10 days we have left you without Internet but because we have given you broadband access even though you don't have the modem' and what he didn't say but Toby seemed to understand was 'cancel if you like, you will have no Internet for even longer if you do that'. All I can say is it's over now, Sky have won. We do have 3 times faster broadband for £15 cheaper so it's hard to get nasty even if their connection process really sucks.

I took Leon swimming for the first time last Monday, no pictures as you can imagine but rest assured it was wonderful. He loved the water and I even let him go under and swim back up to the surface a few times, holding him and making sure he wasn't under for more than a second or so. He didn't choke or splutter just spat out some water on surfacing. All in all very enjoyable. Ellen and I are going to take him now every Monday afternoon, with Ellen taking him back home after so I get to do a few laps on my own.

Picture is taken in the Townhouse Freehouse in Ely, this is my Post Natal Group Mums, getting a bit merry on very little to drink, for most of us, this has been our first night out without spouse since giving birth. It was cringe worthy as you can imagine, I've never been out in Ely on a Saturday night and I'm not about to start doing so. The pub did have a DJ and the set was suitably awful tracks with a couple of nice surprises - Depeche Mode, Just Can't Get Enough and a bit of Abba which reminded me of a few good nights out way back when with Jose and Martine in Utrecht. It was good for us girls to get out occasionally but it was depressing to end up in spending the night screaming the words to Walking on Sunshine. It would be great to be able to go to a Karaoke night, I guess they might do them in Cambridge but I'd love to organise one for us in Ely.

very quicky

Very quick, Leon is in the door bouncer and was very contented but is starting to want his tea I think, he's getting very proficient on the bouncing. We did the garden today, Ellen did the edges (which was probably the biggest job of all), I did the lawn and Dan did the back gate - we now have a back gate that exists, never mind works, which it does now, beautifully.

I took Leon to be weighed today, he's up to the 50th centile (was 25th) I guess it's weening that's done it, he's really long, everyone says it. 16lbs 12oz or 7.61kg. Well over doubled his weight in under 6 months!

Flying baby

Leon launched himself head first off the changing station today. Fortunatley, I caught him about a foot above the ground. I knew learning to juggle would come in handy.

Beautiful sunny weekend again. I like that, and the 'again' word there too. We did the farmers market on Saturday then spent the afternoon chilling in the garden having rang up nearly everyone we know to see if they fancied a visit on such a fine day.

Sunday we went to St Mary's church for a christening - one of my Post Natal group's son, the entire Post Natal group showed up partners and babies galore. Then we went round to Nana and Grumps for Sunday Lunch outside. It got too hot outside so ironically we ended up in doors the rest of the afternoon. Ellen got Leon a Swing, he worked out how to swing himself harder and harder. He loved it. He's got a new expression and new noises; sort of ma ma ma da da da type sounds, I think this is down to teething and his face muscles are developing with weening. There's a new video of him on MySpace having a giggling fit.

The temperatures are rising, Leon's into short sleeved t-shirts and...sunglasses. They are really good for getting him off to sleep too.

Fabulous weather

I must get out, I did have lunch in the garden with Leon but must get into town. Yesterday was really nice. Ellen invited me over to their's for lunch as Keith and Grace were there for Grace's birthday. On the way there I picked up some baby clothes for Leon from a house near them, really nice clothes, some brand new in 6-9 months which Leon is well into now. It doesn't seem so strange now as he will be 6 months in a couple of weeks. He's growing like anything, very tall and long - still a chubba but he's really long - the 6-9 month stuff isn't too long at all.

The clothes from Freecycle were so nice I'm sending her a thankyou card, they were sooo good. Lunch was nice, we (Ellen, Dan and I) got to show off Leon to Keith and Grace. It was really nice, I really felt like part of the family. Then Ellen came back with me to ours and kept Leon occupied so I could do a shepherds pie and get it in the oven before I started the bath and bed routine. That was an absolute godsend - pictured here Ellen playing with Leon in the garden. It was really nice to have the support.

I must get out the house - I need Tob's PC to get the photos loaded so daytime is the best option but now, the sun is shining, Leon will wake soon from his midday snooze and the Library Rhyme Time awaits.

More Videos on MySpace

Go to the video link under the photo to see Leon descovering grass and reading his cloth book out in the garden.
http://www.myspace.com/belaroomum

Vision Thing

Better post this before I forget - the books say that around now Leon will be able to see about 5 meters, and he'll start to be able to percieve depth. And lo and behold, yesterday morning, when I went in to see him for his morning change, instead of smiling as usual, he looked at me very curiously then patted my face for the first time. He did the same with Christine later. I guess he was adjusting to recognising us in 3D, and getting used to faces looming at him!

Stop press - just now in his doughnut he reached out and pulled on the hanging Tigger for the first time too.

He glows!

Easter Sunday

We managed to pack alot into today, breakfast in bed, full church of england sunday service at Ely Cathedral, Sunday roast at the Welney Wetland Trust followed by a good walk around the wetlands. Ellen and I got in for free by wearing 'Easter Bonnets' recognisable as summer hats looking a bit funny for the rest of what we were wearing but the girl at the admission desk passed them as Easter Bonnets. Leon's was the best - he had a duck safety pinned to his cap!!! Spot Dan wearing my bonnet in the third photo - I didn't notice it when I took the picture. I hurt from laughing.

The service at Ely was pretty good, we got to sing Lord of the Dance and Thine be the Glory, both I doubt I've sung since school and quite enjoyed. On radio 4 this week they accused the Church of England of a 'Corporate error' because the most important day of the Christian Calendar hardly gets a mention. They said that they are too busy arguing about whether or not they approve of being gay or not and if so what next. Organised religion eh.

Welney is stunning, we came back with that lovely red cheeked feeling.

The weather was glorious, a really lovely day.

Foot in mouth, no really.

Another milestone of sorts, today he put his foot in his mouth, not just a bit but for the duration of his bath more or less. Then when I got the camera he was more interested in laughing but after a massage he obliged me this shot.
The other picture I took because he really loves to look out into the garden - when the weather allows I put him in the garden but the last day or so were perishing again so he sits in his high chair looking out into the garden, I'm not sure if it's the trees or what but he seems happy for ages. He had breakfast (apple puree) and lunch for the first time (carrot and breast milk) today - 2 meals. I will do this for a week then up it to 3 meals. With any luck we can drop the 11pm feed then.
Tob's out with work for drinks tonight so it's pizza for one and a DVD for me I think. His new 6-18 month grobags arrived today, they are summer ones too. His room is south west facing, even with the curtains shut, with the setting sun, his room barely goes under 20 degrees once the outside temperature is above 15 during the day.

Taxi!

M&D took Leon yesterday and played in their garden. Here's two cute cute photos they sent me:

He really loves the pop up game he's got here. He understands how it works, he's just not quite dexterous enough to operate it yet. Indoors it makes him jump when the lids open with a sharp 'clack'! He doesn't mind though and he's obviously enjoying playing with it here!



He's really growing into a little boy. I wonder how long he managed to keep vertical! At home he can manage a good few seconds before rolling over :)



Thanks for the cutie photos Mum, Dad :)

Monday, ahh Monday

My plan was to clean the bathroom today, I've done the washing and a few other things that could be classified virtuous cleaning type things but I've lost a few hours to MySpace, looking at interesting sites, comedians, musicians etc. It's amazing, I've found Kristen Hersh's MySpace Page to name but one treasure find.
Toby took some pictures over the weekend of guess who and I think they are really special so I've decided to post them as Toby has a dungeon to visit tonight.
Leon slept through until 2.20pm, I fed him and palmed him off on his Nana. That reminds me, if I don't express soon my left boob will explode.

Shiny

Serenity voted no.l Sci-fi film.

We are on Myspace

I've set up a myspace account to film the milestone things like weening, sitting up up etc for the benefit of all his online stalkers.

The URL is: http://www.myspace.com/belaroomum and then under the picture of me and Leon is a thing saying view my pics/videos. Click on videos and you can keep up with Leon's development there.

I'm also finding it quite fun musically to see what's out there, not to mention the other mad videos....

I took some pictures thismorning as he was so well dressed (yeah, thank's mum) but I soon realised that the look on his face was down to him being busy filling his nappy. Boy was it a full one...

Then we went out in the garden to listen to the birds. This was so relaxing that within about 10 minutes I deemed it necessary to stick him in his pram and get him off to sleep which was now well over an hour ago so Mummy was right.