NCT Re-union

here are some pics from our re-union yesterday. More to follow shortly I hope!

Stephen

Stop and Fast

Stephen says I have two speeds... stop and fast. And I suppose he is right as that really sums up the last week for me!

Before I got sick, Sophie had a friend over to play and here is a picture of the two of them in the baby gym.

Then I was completely stopped in my tracks by flu. It was terrible, and trying to breastfeed while shivering with a fever is not fun at all! I am feeling much better now although it has taken until today for my cough to die down.

Monday we stayed in all day recuperating, but Tuesday we walked in to town then to the doctor's office where Sophie and I had our 8 week check and Sophie had her first course of vaccinations. Then Wednesday we went to our post-natal group, to a friend's house for coffee and had friends to dinner. Thursday we took the train to Guildford where we saw a movie at the baby and parent screening, went out for lunch with a friend and wandered around town doing some window shopping.

On Friday we went to play group and Sophie played with her feet in Jello and then spent some time grabbing the toys on the mat. What a clever girl!

And here's a series of pictures taken yesterday of Sophie and her smiles...

Its been a while.....

Tara has ben down with the flu over the weekend - so I was left in charge of Sophie and the house!

I managed quite well to look after Sophie - but the pictures below show my lack of tidying ability!

Rainy Days

The weather has been terrible the last few days making it quite difficult to get out. In Canada you can always go to the mall to get out of the house whilst keeping dry, but there are very few indoor malls here. So yesterday Sophie and I took a field trip to Basingstoke, a 40 min drive away, to get out of the house at 11.30 as she had been crying non-stop since waking up in the morning.

Here's a picture of the two of us in the mall.

And here are two pictures of a very sleepy Sophie in car park at Festival Place in Basingstoke.

Last of the visitors

Peter and Patricia left yesterday afternoon to go back to New Zealand. It was lovely to have them here and I think they really enjoyed having such a nice, long time to get to know their first grandchild.

Here are a few pictures taken yesterday with them and with Sophie's uncle Andrew.

Smiles all 'round

Here are some pictures of our Sophie smiling...

First in her bath, which she loves.

And second at her daddy whom she loves.

The magical dummy

Before Sophie was born both Stephen and I were completely against the use of dummies... They don't look nice in children's mouths, they cause dental issues and are obviously just a sign of poor parenting! However, the day we arrived home from the hospital we were enlightened!!!

Babies like to suck. It is what they are meant to do. If they want to suck and have nothing to suck they start to cry. You can stick your finger into their mouth, you can put them to the breast (ouch after a while!), you can teach them to suck their own thumb or hand (really too advanced a skill until they gain control of their hands).

Or you can give them a dummy and watch them be quiet like magic.

Below are some pictures which perfectly illustrate the magical effect of the dummy.

Here is Sophie in her car seat wailing with indignation...

And behold the power of the dummy!

The health visitor came by today to weigh Sophie. She is now 11lb, 2oz. This apparently is a bit too much of a weight gain and I am now to try to stretch out the feeds a bit so that she isn't feeding quite so often! Hence another need for the dummy! The health visitor also said though that Sophie is very advanced for her age and was quite impressed that she can lift up her head while lying on her tummy and is starting to reach for things - both skills of a 3 month old! What a clever baby she is!

Here is a picture of Sophie during Tummy-time today. What a cutie-pie!

Going to London to see the Queen...

Sophie had her first day trip to London today on the train. We left this morning with Peter and Patricia and spent the day out and about. Sophie really liked the train as it jolts about and rocks to and fro. She especially liked looking out the windows to see all the fascinating scenery.

In London we visited Canada House to enquire about obtaining a citizenship card for Sophie as well as about renewing a Canadian passport for me from England. Both are possible, but the citizenship card takes about a year to process I am told!

We then took a quick look about the National Gallery and had lunch in its cafe before walking past Buckingham Palace to Hyde Park Corner where the new NZ war memorial is found. Sophie slept through the entire thing so I think we will have to take her back again when she is a bit older!

It was a lovely day and we all enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to get out for such a long walk and very special that we were able to take in the London scenery while doing so.

Here's one last picture of Sophie and her Grandma Kay in the train on the way home.

House Full

I have lots of pictures to put on today!

We had all of Patricia's UK family here today for a big belated Christmas lunch. It was very nice and we have some lovely photos of Sophie being held by her great-grandma Simpson. Sophie is a very lucky girl and has 4 great grandparents - one from each side of the families!

And here are a few of Sophie looking very cute in various places...

And here's a final one of the two of us playing Sophie's favourite game of copying my facial expressions.

Another day done...

I can't believe how fast the days are going by. It seems like I have no sooner woken up than it is time to once again get ready for bed. Sophie is asleep now in her basket (still in our room) and Stephen and I are soon to follow. It is nice to have the couple minutes down time though at the end of the day just to relax and chat about stuff.

Today Sophie and I went for a long walk to the baby clinic to get weighed (10lb, 9oz), then to Park Nursery where they run a fair number of programmes for mums and babies, then across town to Charlotte's for lunch. It was nice to get out for a walk especially since the sun was shining.

At Charlotte's Sophie played on her own in a play gym for the first time! She spent a good 15 minutes looking at all the dangly colourful things and trying to make her arems move before she got too tired for any more.

Here are a few more pictures to keep you all going...

A couple more pics for you all

Here's one of Sophie looking adorably up at Stephen...

And a couple of a happy Sophie looking cute waking up from her nap...

Happy 2007

So, as strange as it may seem, Sophie is now in her second year of life!

Yesterday was also the first birthday of my Goddaughter Elizabeth Purkiss. So Sophie also went to her first birthday party... unfortunately we need to teach our little girl some manners as she slept through the whole thing - even through some of the other children attempting to rock her out of her car seat!

Here is a picture of our little grump attempting to wake up.