Author Archives: Jessica

Party time!

Leave a Reply

Party timeToday we all headed off to attend the first Birthday party for little Aedan (my good friend Katie’s little boy). I really enjoyed getting the chance to catch up with some of Katie’s family who I hadn’t seen for many years. Katie’s little sister is now all grown up (and much taller than she used to be!) where as her parents are still just as I remembered them with her dad maybe not being quite as scary as I used to find him 🙂

Sam also seemed to enjoy himself even though he was a bit too small to join in playing with the other children there. He was much admired by the other mums who all looked at him fondly and remembered their own kids at Sam’s age. We also found out that Sam seems to enjoy bopping balloons – he amused himself for a good while with the one in the photo.

Thanks Katie for inviting us, we all really enjoyed ourselves and it was great to get out and meet some new people. Thanks also for Sam’s party bag, Rich and I helped him eat the cake on the way home 🙂

All tuckered out

Leave a Reply

Tired SamuelWe’re just back from our new baby & toddler group and Sam fast asleep in his buggy. He’s been very cute again and did a real charm offensive on all the other mums. Sam seems to really enjoy watching all the other kids causing chaos and he even had a bit of a play on one of the mats himself.

Last night Sam managed for the first time to grip a rattle and shake it about. He seemed surprised and delighted and shook it about for a good 20 minutes, and even after the rattle had gone from his hand he still would give his arm the occasional hopeful shake 🙂

I’ve also managed to keep one of my other promises to myself which is to try and dress Sam in something other than sleepsuits all the time. Today he wore a pair of his dungarees proudly as well as his favourite stripy jumper and the cute hat his auntie made him (she is so talented!) for Christmas.

3 months already!

Leave a Reply

Cara with SamTime has really flown by. Our little Sam has already reached the grand old age of 3 months and while I can clearly see (and feel – oomhp he is getting heavy!) that he is no longer a tiny baby I can’t quite believe it yet. During the last 3 months Sam has changed and developed so much that looking back at some of his early photos it’s hard to believe that he is the same baby.

Sam can now do the following:

– find his hand, chew it happily and almost get all of it in his mouth at once

– lift his head, look round and then head butt you when you are least expecting it

– smile winningly and be pretty much irresistible, especially when he is supposed to be going to sleep

– stretch out his legs and lift them up in the air when you hold his hands (we have no idea why)

– say impressive things like ‘a-goo’ and blow bubbles

– hit all the toys hanging from his play gym and occasionally knock them flyingTiny Sam

Sam’s auntie Cara came round to visit him today and was also impressed by how big he is now. She did a great job of holding him and giving him lot’s of attention and he enjoyed having another minion around at his beck and call. Cara also brought me some lovely Christmas presents – thanks so much Cara & Nick – I love them!

For those of you that have forgotten what Sam looked like as a newborn here he is – only just born, weighing only 5 lb 7 oz

Sam’s weigh in

Leave a Reply

img_1751As of yesterday Sam now weighs an exceptable 4.74kg (10lb 7oz) – my he’s getting big! Does anyone know of a way to stop him growing up so fast?

Today Sam and I went to our first proper baby/toddler group and are much relieved to have met some very friendly mums in the nearby area at last. I was very nervous beforehand, but I’m so glad that I went along as it was really nice to get out of the house and chat to some more experienced mums about what I’ve got in store in the near future.

Now I had best go back to baking flapjacks – wish me luck!

Happy New Year!

Leave a Reply

img_1702To help us celebrate New Year Rich’s Mum & Dad have come down from Northland to spend a couple of days with us. Yesterday we had both of them as well as my parents, Liz & Myf round to our house for a tasty lunch of jacket potatoes. Myf got her first look at Sam and seemed to approve of her newest cousin. Sam continued to be on best behavour and had all the adults assembled completely charmed.

After my family had headed off home Rich and I prepared for a quiet New Year staying in. We had some lovely Marks & Spencer party food with his parents and toasted the New Year with them a little earlier as they had to get back before the buses stopped running. We then managed to stay up until just gone midnight and shared the last of the champagne between us.

2008 has been a fantastic year for us and we really couldn’t have asked for anything more. We’ve bought our first home, had a sucessful pregnancy and now have the most lovely son imaginable. Thanks to all our friends and family for helping us through this very busy year – we wish you all the best for 2009 and hope that it is a happy year for all of you.

Happy Christmas!

Leave a Reply

Sam's first ChristmasHappy Christmas to all our readers – we hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas day and are now enjoying what is left of the seasonal celebrations.

Rich, Sam and myself all had a lovely time spending Christmas at my parent’s home with my two other sisters, brother, little niece Katie, Kathy & Marcus. Somehow all ten of us managed to squeeze round the table for a fantastic Christmas meal (with Sam dosing in his sling on my lap). Thanks for all the lovely food Mum & Dad – especially the tasty desserts!

In the photo on the left you can see little Sam in his cute little jumper that a friend made up for him and the photo on the right shows Sam recovering after a tiring but very enjoyable Christmas.

Sam managed to charm everyone who saw him and he spent the day cooing and playing and having the Tired Samueloccasional nap time too. He is now babbling and cooing like a good-un and he is also smiling and playing really well. Sam would like me to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all his presents, he had a very impressive haul for his first Christmas – he had more presents than his dad and me put together!

Rich and I are now gearing ourselves up for some visitors from the north – Sam’s other grandparents! Little Sam is practising being as cute as possible for their visit while Rich and I rush around getting the house tidied up.

Sam’s weigh in

Leave a Reply

Heavy SamRich and I took Sam off to the Health Centre on Christmas Eve so that we could get an update on what his weight is currently.

We are very happy to report that he weighed in at an impressive 4.46kg (9lb 14 oz) – quite an impressive weight gain in just a week.

Sadly this means that Sam is now too large for most of his baby clothes so hopefully Santa will bring him some new threads otherwise we’ll have a naked baby crawling about the place…

Cyber Sam

Leave a Reply

cyber_samuelSamuel finally got taken in to hospital last week to have his hearing tested. Even though I was dreading having to try and keep Sam quiet during the test I really didn’t need to have worried as he behaved like a little angel.

They did two different tests on Sam, the first was just the standard stick something in his ear to check that his ear drums were bouncing back the sound properly. The second test is only for babies that have been in the SCBU for more than 5 days and involved a complicated arrangement of sensors and the fantastic ear-muffs shown in the photo. Sadly I forgot to bring the camera along with me – but if I had done you would have all been impressed by how much Sam looked like a baby Cyberman with all sorts of wires and sensors attached to him. Luckily the nurse doing the testing let me have the ear-muffs to take home, though she probably thinks I’m slightly daft for asking to keep them…