Stef!

Met up with Stef yesterday - I wanted to get him and Leon together to check they got on before asking Stef to be godfather. As you can see, Leon decided Stef was suitable as climbing frame, and Stef obviously liked him too. Very pleased Stef said yes :)

tongue

Two views of Leon's tongue, taken at the playground outside the village hall where we went to Amelia's party. I couldn't coax him to crawl through the tunnel, but he stood and span the helm :) He's not far off walking now... Oh, also, he was excited by the prospect of a slide - after a couple of goes, I just sat him at the top and he shuffled forward and launched himself, ok he bumped his head as his bum shot out from under him, but I put him back up top again and he was happy to slide again, he loves it :)

Amelia's fourth

It was but a blinking of an eye ago that Tob and I went to South Africa to Melissa and Rudi's wedding. They got pregnant pretty much on the way to Cape Town from all accounts. I remember we were renovating the flat in London when Melissa was heavily pregnant with Amelia...and now she's four!!!! Melissa did a fabulous job, there was a bouncy castle, loads of stuff to do from card crown decorating to biscuit decorating, then lots of party games. Leon did his own thing and did join in the musical stand on a fish game. He had a pretty good time, even kept his party hat on for a while. Melissa did the cakes here pictured based on Amelia's cuddly toy cat that goes everywhere with her and whose name escapes me. Delish. It's got me thinking about Leon's 1st birthday cake....

Stef is Godfather II

Finally we have managed to get together with Stef this Saturday in Cambridge to hang out and to explore the possibility of him becoming Leon's Godparent. So far we have Adam, who is actually a practicing christian and Michelle, who is probably agnostic/atheist (depending on how much they've had to drink) and so is Stef. We aren't planning on getting Leon christened for two reasons, one we aren't regular church goers and two, I don't believe in heaven or hell and if there is a god I don't think religion has anything to do with it anyway. If he wants to be baptised, he can do it as an adult of his own free choice.
It was really nice to see Stef properly for a bit and now he's living down the road somewhere just outside Cambridge it will be much easier to stay in touch.

Friday

On friday, Hannah came round and we had a wonder into town via the swings with Sebastien and Leon. Sebastien is getting over a cold so the fresh air did him all the good, plus a bit of Calprofen and by the end of the afternoon, a couple of snoozes, some fresh air and a good invasion of the children's section of the library, he was positively glowing. In this first picture Leon is demonstrating his climbing skills on the stair gate. Leon's cold is well and truly gone, thanks to a good constitution and home made houmous (thankyou Sarah) with enough raw garlic to keep the entire population of Sunnydale from turning into vampires. He's even been accused of being French.

TGIF

Friday at last. You might think this doesn't matter to us 'house wife' sorts but I look forward to the weekend and time together as a family among other things.

It is a constant source of frustration to parents why we spend good hard earned money on developmental toys only to see them unplayed with while the 11 month old is sitting on the floor next to me with a tube of hand cream in one hand, suntan lotion in the other and when he's bored of that he's off to play with the wheels of the pram. Oh, then just to disprove my theory he's now actually playing with his fire engine and blocks. Hurrah!

I wonder what it is that makes a screw driver, or a CD case so much more exciting than the specially designed kit we parents have to obsess over.

I've applied for an application form to apply for a part time job as Clerk to the Governing Body at Witchford College. It's a healthy 5 mile bike ride from Ely, 12 hours a week, some of which can be done at home, mostly minutes and stuff. Looks like just the sort of thing that would be doable right now. The only hindrance would be the likelihood that if I got it, by that point I would probably already be pregnant again, which might not go down well.

Yesterday Ro and her son came to ours. We had a lovely day, lunch here first then a good walk into town, down to the river and back, it was really nice to see Ro and catch up. Somehow we were so busy chatting and getting on with the day, I didn't take any pictures, I thought about it a few times but spent most of the time chasing after you know who.

Back to the hand cream and sun tan lotion after all of 10 minutes with his toys. He's now in seeking out things he can't have mode, my mug, for one. He could well be hungry. He can have a bit of breadstick until lunch time.

The photo was taken by Dan earlier in the week in their garden. I thought it was a well captured moment of relaxation by a teething, restless son with his mum.

First steps

Each day he is developing further. I can read books to him twice and they hold his attention, quite often he will go through the book again for a third time on his own (well in his own way) he points to the dragons and pretty much finds the dragons first time, he finds the flaps hard to open at times but with a hint he usually gets it now. His top two teeth are starting to show, his cheeks were glowing today, we managed to distract him from letting the grumpiness come through. He took two steps between Ellen and I on his own. I don't think he intended to and it couldn't be replicated but it shows his balance is improving by the day. He will walk pretty much all the time with just one hand, only wanting two if he wants extra speed or if he's tired. At lunch time, he was pretty grumpy and impatient so I gave him his veg pasta by putting a blob of it in his bowl and just giving him the spoon and letting him get on with it. He did very well for a first try, didn't actually eat much of it but kept putting the spoon in the blob of food then putting it in his mouth. The fact that he didn't throw the spoon on the floor, scoop out the contents, throw them at me, dislodge the bowl and sticky mat and throw them on the floor was for me, the major win. I basically ignored him and got on with tidying up the kitchen, which seemed to work. When I came to feed him, I fed him from the bowl in front of him and he ate the lot, and a yoghurt. This evening, I did the same, again, he ate the lot followed by a whole banana. He wasn't bothered about eating that himself and I broke bits off and fed it to him. There was a nice closeness that isn't always there during his tea. Especially if he's tired, he can be really awkward - he eats most of it eventually (yesterday not - too full of cake!) but it can be a real case of patience and more patience.

He's going to bed really quickly lately, he's so knackered at the end of the day, after a bath and a 7oz bottle, he's asleep before his head hits the proverbial mattress.

Back into the fold

In many ways it's been a week of returning people, Ellen and Dan came back on Sunday evening from their holiday in Russia and came round Monday afternoon baring gifts. Leon was very happy to see them as were they too.

Tuesday the post natal group met up for the first time in ages, most of them I'd not seen other than bumping into in town or at the NCT sale so it was good to catch up too. Beckie, in the photo made baby cake (Annabel Karmel recipe) and it was like feeding time with the ducks, Leon being that duck that always thinks it's his turn. They all loved the cake but Leon's genes really kicked in - father of cake boy and there was no stopping him. Leon started off as one of the smallest babies and is now by far the tallest and appears to be the closest to walking - not that it matters. They will all be lazy and moody by the time they get to about 14. I was very proud though, he's a lively fun boy. Later on we (Ellen, Dan, Tob, Leon and myself) went back to view the house we want to put an offer in on but can't because ours hasn't sold yet. Everyone is in agreement that it's a brilliant house for us. There will be others if this goes nowhere. At least we know there are houses out there where we want to live.

the many faces of leon

Much free standing, this weekend - these pictures are from last weekend but were suspended on Tobs phone.

He will walk one handed but prefers 2 hands because he can practically run. He will use anyone he can get his hands on, one of my tasks at the moment is when requested walk round the house. It's clear that the small one is the puppet master.

He now understands how books work and instead of getting annoyed because he turns a page or closes the book but can't work out where the image has gone, he seems to be more comfortable with the idea that they are flat now.

He opens his dragons book by himself and points at the dragons and opens the flaps, it sounds like he's making up his own story the twittering going on.

Same goes with the 'that's not my robot' book upstairs - this is the one that really upset him because he couldn't work out where the robots went when the book closed.

I got him a drum at the NCT sale among other things, he's pretty good at pounding it and everything else in reach. The soft toys in his cot are now his friends, this is a real turn up for the books as he happily plays for about half an hour in the morning, I can hear him awake but squeaking and babbling. It looks like he's dropping his afternoon sleep, yesterday and today, he won't sleep in the afternoon. He went to bed an hour early, asleep before his head hit the pillow yesterday, so I guess unless he does get a sleep before about 3.30, it will be the same story tonight. It's a pain, he's really grumpy by tea time. I will keep trying the after lunch sleep, I hope this his more to do with his teeth. I think the front two teeth wont be long, he's playing with the gum with his fingers, there are grey white spots where the teeth would be and they feel tender. He's pretty grumpy today and has a short fuse if the toy/book/mother doesn't cooperate. I'm pushing the pram back and forth at the second attempt at getting him to sleep. Not looking likely, the grumpiness that usually means tiredness is not accompanied by eye rubbing.

I chased the estate agent up for feedback on the last two viewings of our house. It looks like the very last one is still a possibility. The house we want wont take it off the market until this one sells. Trouble is Ely has a dozen houses just like this on the market right now so apart from the obvious presentation improvement we already made. The next step is to bring the price down a bit maybe.

I've given up on getting Leon to sleep and am letting him watch a bit of telly while I have something to eat. Time to clear up and give him some more cuddles and playing time before Ellen and Dan arrive in a bit.

More pictures from Matthews birthday

Matthew is one today

My Godson, turned one today. Seems amazing that this time last year Sarah was crawling around on her dining room floor swearing and demanding more gas and air. Not long after that, I was cradling a tiny 8lb 2oz Matthew while heavily pregnant trying to get in a bit of practice before Leon appeared on the scene about 6 weeks later.

We went to their's yesterday for his birthday party, there were loads of babies from a couple of weeks old onwards. I suppose Leon and Matthew will be toddlers soon so they were the oldest 'babies' present. The indoor pictures are a bit grainy, I've lightened them as they were way too dark but I thought they captured a moment.

Fooood

I'm letting Leon feed himself more and more now. He has Toast with Mango and apple puree, big lumps of banana, which having gone off banana completely is good. He only eats it when offered fresh out of the skin so to speak, no mashed stuff for him.

He's getting better with raw apple now too, he bites off bits and spits out the bits too big to swallow. He still needs supervision with apple as he has a habit of biting literally more than he can chew.

It's very interesting watching him become more dexterous with his hands.

Leon's first cold

After a lovely afternoon at a 1st birthday party along with a dozen other babies of a similar age and their parents on Saturday, we got home a little later than Leon's usual routine. Leon brought back up his tea along with a load of mucus, which I guess instead of running out of his nose was going straight into his tum. He was very grumpy, which we put down to tiredness, so we skipped the bath, gave him a big bottle of milk and he was asleep in seconds. By 9pm, give or take, we heard a bit of coughing and crying, Tob went up to find him all snotty and bunged up. He settled down after another bottle but kept waking up with snot everywhere and coughing. He was very much into sleep so was easy to settle down again, mostly not even needing to be picked up. We kept taking his temperature, but it was normal - just a cold. After the umteenth wake up, Tob set up camp on the floor on Leon's floor and I got the bed to myself from about 2am to 6am, when we swapped over. Tob said, Leon was never awake for very long but mostly needed repositioning and a nose wipe every so often. We put the head end of the cot slightly higher with blankets under the mattress to aid the mucus going down, which seemed to make a difference. In the morning, I gave him a very steamy bath and shower which helped clear him out, even if he is still very suspicious of the shower. Most of Sunday we hung out with him, both like zombies, wiping the stream of snot from his nose, giving him plenty to drink. At bedtime, I filled the bathroom up with steam with the shower, then filled the bath so he had another steam session, this worked a treat and he went to bed easily, breathing freely. He woke about 10.30 for a top up feed, then slept through to 7am. It seems to have completely gone in 24 hours!
I was a bit sceptical that I stop breast feeding for a week and he gets his first cold - there might well be a connection there, but he's fine now. My boobs are still leaking but I'm holding out and he's not missing them - I make sure they are always covered around him so as not to remind him.
Leon's eating my purse on the floor next to me, it's lunch time so this might be some sort of hint....

just a quickie

I have the Brugge photos in drafts, still alot to go through and I don't want to post too many. I keep meaning to note a few things like how Leon's routine has changed since our return and a week after stopping breast feeding.
Instead of feeding from me first thing, he has breakfast first then a bottle before his morning sleep, which is also now about an hour later at 9.30am. In the afternoon, I give him less milk than I used to so he eats all of his tea then he gets a big bottle before bed. I guess he would have been falling asleep on me way before he got as much as he does in a bottle, so I've moved stuff around. Counting it all up, he's been having as much as 30oz (pint and a half) in a day so he's not going short. Next step will be to get him drinking milk from a cup rather than a bottle, this will save a tenner every 6 weeks in new teats for a start!
Tob's been coming home in time to give Leon his last bottle at 6.45pm and settle him to sleep. Leon is always ecstatic to see his dad but after the initial excitement he settles down nicely. Adult fingers have now become Leon's vehicle to getting around, he doesn't mind who but once he's got you holding his hand(s), he's off! He's also walking much more on the flat of his feet and less on his toes.
Last night he woke up with teeth pain about 11pm, he had decided he wanted a bottle so after the bottle he was settling down in his cot, I sat in the rocking chair next to the cot stroking his his back or holding his hand. I laid Pooh next to him, which he usually likes along with his muslin. His Happy Horse was propped up in the corner - a stripey thing that looks more like a giraffe and plays 'tea for two' if you pull his tail I got in a bargain bin for a Euro in Prenatal, Utrecht cos I liked the look of it. Leon does too, which is why I'd put it in his cot. Anyway, he lifted his head in the half light, saw the Happy Horse in the corner, reached over and pulled it next to him, chirping and chatting to it as if to say 'you lie here'. I sat there grinning like only a Mum can observing him chatting to Happy Horse and Pooh on either side of him while he settled himself to sleep. Looks like he's starting to make some friends...
We've been listening to Black Celebration while I've been writing this and it seems that Leon really likes it, he was bobbing about in time much to my fascination. It seems that judging by the wide smiles, dark music makes him happy, just like his parents, ahhhh.

Brugge

In a nutshell, we did a boat tour, wandered around, ate some chocolate, went to the Flemish Primitives museum and saw some amazing paintings, saw a massive medieval procession, saw a Michael Angelo statue in the Church of the Holy Mary, ate mussels, drank Belgian beer and got bit by many many muggies in a cheap hotel called the Central, which was, very central but the room was teeny tiny and the walls were covered in smears that were once muggies.
It was a lovely couple of days, we really felt like we were on holiday, even if it was only a couple of days. The medieval procession was a once in 5 years lucky bonus. With 70 odd different bits that went past, we got to see the entire history of Brugge laid out in front of us. I'm glad we read the history bit in the guide book as this helped it to all make sense. For example, the swans in the parade referred to a power struggle where the Mayor of Brugge, whose coat of arms included a swan, when they killed him and took his power, the successor said there must always be swans in Brugge and to this day there are. Sick eh?