I apologise if the site is behaving a little strangely at the moment… I am currently doing some technical stuff behind the scenes and all should be back to normal in the next few days.
Apologies
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Sam’s weigh in
As 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!
To 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 New Year!
I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.
2008 started pretty badly for me and Jessica – sat in the flat nursing a cold whilst our relatives went out to the fireworks in London. However this was not an indication of the tone of the year which turned out to be the biggest one of our lives. We’re very thankful for our son and our new house and can only hope that 2009 is just as kind to us. Thanks to friends and family for all the help you have generously given us in the last 12 months.
Bonsai!
before
after
One of my presents from Jessica this year was a bonsai tree. This particular variety is a Chinese Bird Plum and has been growing very happily in the kitchen since it was bought in mid-December. It has grown so well that I (nervously) had to trim it yesterday to try and bring it under control.
You can see the results in the before and after pics here. I’m hoping that I can make it into something special over time but that requires some intelligent trimming and re-potting. There are loads of bonsai resources on the Internet but I might need to get a book to help me.
Happy Christmas!
Happy 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 
occasional 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
Rich 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…
Merry Christmas
Just wait until he gets teeth!
Hi everyone, I want to wish you a Happy Christmas and say thanks to everyone who has sent the family a present or card this year.
We spent our Christmas at Jessica’s parents along with her brother and sisters. Thank you to Jessica’s parents for feeding and housing us for a couple of nights – it was good to be spared the trouble of making the big meal. Me and Jessica were pretty pleased with ourselves as we think we managed Samuel’s first nights outside of the house well and didn’t panic too much 🙂
Samuel chose Christmas day to try out some new things, like rolling over and sucking his hand. He has yet to get the hang of the rolling over business (it is a bit early in his life) but he managed to get half-way and spill the water that I was using to clean him. You can see a video of Sam by clicking the link below.
I wish everyone a happy new year and hope to catch up with those I’ve missed as soon as possible.
Pie Times – Round 8
Pie from Londis
Firstly, I apologise for the changing nature of the blog design at the moment – I am trying out new designs and haven’t quite got things right yet.
Secondly, to our latest mince pie. I bought this from the local shop and it is a Viennese mince pie made by Hoppers Farmhouse Bakeries.
Jessica:
Lovely sweet but not really Christmassy. 3 out of 5
Richard:
More of a biscuit than a pie, very nice but I have to score it down for lack of mince depth. 2 out of 5
Cyber Sam
Samuel 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…