Lovely weekend in Wiltshire

So we had a good time in Wiltshire and it didn't rain which for a bank holiday weekend in England is pretty good. We set out for Trowbridge at 9am (to tie in with Tom's nap). Unfortunately, Tom refused to nap. He got himself in a right tizzy so we had to stop at some services to calm him down and sort him out. It worked and he was asleep within 10 mins. I have a feeling that he has some more teeth on the way. His fingers are constantly in his mouth and he does seem to be experiencing pain, poor thing!

Got a great welcome from the Smyths. Vanessa had cooked a huge roast dinner for lunch - including all the trimmings which was ace. How she does it from a small kitchen AND have no mess is beyond me. If it was me there would be stuff everywhere.

Once Tom had woken up from his nap we decided to go for a walk - we all needed fresh air and exercise after our lunch. Vanessa and Martin are lucky in that they live right on the edge of Trowbridge, so within minutes we were in cow infested fields. Did quite a good walk in the end. Even Tom got in the spirit and walked some of the way. Didn't get back home until about 6.30 so we were quite a long way behind Tom's schedule. Not to worry, this is what being away is all about.

He had a good dinner which was good as he hasn't eaten very well recently (another sign of teething?). Then a quick bath and bed. He refused his milk - first time ever, I came back down with a full bottle.

The boys went out to see a Pink Floyd tribute band, whilst Vanessa and I baby sat and watched a Clive Owen film.

Tom didn't have the best night's sleep, but it was better than last time we stayed with the Smyths, when he was in the middle of his very bad sleeping phase. Came down to a full English breakfast (we really do get very well looked after here). We then went to the local park for a quick play before driving home. He slept most of the way home and then went into full grizzle / screaming mode for the last half hour, no toys, food, water would placate him.

He had a miserable lunch and then we put him down for another sleep. He stayed in his room for over an hour, but I could hear him moving around, don't think he slept at all. Eventually got him up and spent the afternoon playing with him. He managed a good dinner (phew) and then a happy play just before bath (happy, splashy) and bed (he drank his milk this time).

We will see how tonight goes. He has been grizzling on and off for the last half hour.

Oh - I am sad to report that Tom doesn't seem to want to feed from me anymore. I can't seem to get him interested at all. I guess his time is up, I will miss our morning closeness, but I guess 15.5 months isn't bad. I will continue to offer him for the next couple of days, just in case it is to do with his teething, but figure the milk supply will dry up soon.

Also, would like to report that Tom was fantastic with the Smyths, no separation anxiety at all, went to them all with no problem at all which was lovely.

Both boys enjoy Jungleland

Today's weather was in stark contrast to yesterday. It rained ALL day - yuck!!!! No Waterbabies today as it is half term, which meant that Tom got his full morning nap today. He obviously enjoyed it as I couldn't wake him up when I went up to get him after an hour, he was fast, fast asleep and looking very angelic, especially with toothpaste on his cheek!

Adam, Karen and Leia came down for the day. Was good to see them, although as is usual these days, it was very difficult to have a proper conversation as either Leia or Tom or both would interrupt or need attention.

Anyway we had 'make your own pizzas' which the adults liked, but Leia refused to eat (she's just coming up to 3 and is fussy eater as I think most children her age are). As it was raining we decided to go to Jungleland so the kids could run (or in Tom's case crawl) around to their heart's content. It was very busy, but we managed to find somewhere to base ourselves and they had fun. Leia was particularly taken by the Jungleland Express and got a little upset when she was told she would have to wait half an hour before she could have a go.

It was Matt's first trip to Jungleland, he seemed to have a good time. He took Tom on the train and on the big slide, so hopefully he will sleep well tonight!

We said our goodbyes at Jungleland and then brought Tom back for his nap. When he woke up he had roasting hot cheeks and forehead. However, he didn't seem that bothered and played and ate well and then had a mad bath with his Dad. We've heard the odd sound from him, but nothing too bad, just the odd grizzle. We will see how it goes.

We are off to Wiltshire tomorrow to see the Smyths. They are emigrating to Oz later this year so we are trying to see as much of them as possible before they go. Very nice for Tom to have an exotically located Guardian Parent.

A day down the park

Friday dawned beautiful - blue sky and sun, but cold. Oh well, would rather take sun and cold than gray and hot. After his morning nap I went to Aerobics. Took Tom to creche, he was unimpressed and cried when I left him (horrible feeling, especially as there was only one door separating me and him - so I could hear him). He calmed down after a couple of minutes and I had a good aerobics session - ie quite hard work.

Had lunch and Tom had an early nap. Matt decided to join Tom and I on our afternoon trip to meet up with Rachel and Mae. Believe it or not Rachel didn't realise Ironbridge was so close to us and hasn't visited it in her 1.5 years living here. Thought we should take her there which we did. There is a new children's park there so we went there and had a nice afternoon in the sun enjoying playing with Mae and Tom.

Once Tom had gone to bed, I managed to get my cake website live. So www.lilypadbakery.co.uk is now live. Quite scary (must remember to keep my phone on me at all times now!). Next job is to get the flyers and business cards printed and some more cakes baked and photographed. Busy, busy, busy.

First aid - what first aid?

A good night, Tom has been sleeping well recently. After breakfast and a nap we headed out to HLC for the second session of our first aid course. I lost the will to live this time. The trainer is awful - goes off on tangents, doesn't speak clearly, has no structure to her lessons and can't answer any questions. She even said that she had been investigated for child abuse because her children end up in casualty so often and she is teaching first aid?!. The other mums at the course all know each other (from a twins group) and seemed to hang on every word she said. In fact they were having a mothers' meeting at one stage talking about sleep problems, behavioural problems etc. The teacher let them carry on for a good 40 minutes - hello - isn't this a first aid course? I just sat and didn't say anything. I surely didn't learn anything. Oh hum, only one week left, but we have to wait a while for it - she refuses to work on her birthday so we have to wait until 17th June. How unprofessional to say that she won't run the course on her birthday - oh and did I forget to mention, she tried to sell us some first aid equipment - I was very unimpressed, this is a community course and I really don't think she should be selling her products to us. The other mums didn't seem to mind, in fact they are buying kits from her. I refused on a matter of principal and the prices weren't particularly cheap either.

Wow - didn't realise I was so upset about this - good to have the rant and get it out of my system.

Tom had a better time than me in the creche. Apparently he was a little clingy, so spent most of his time being cuddled by one of the workers. Came home, had lunch - Tom ate his in record time, guess he was hungry. He then went for a nap, whilst I worked on the photos for my website.

Once up we played outside. As you can see he was trying out Matt's bike for size (he needs to grow his legs a little before he can start riding!)

Around 4, he went into grizzle mode, and stayed in it until bathtime when he cheered up. He now takes his bottle of milk himself at night time, so I take the opportunity to read to him. He completely ignores me, but at least he stays on my lap because he is drinking his milk.

Busy week

Sorry there hasn't been a blog for a couple of days, time has flown and I don't seem to have had a spare 10 minutes to catch up with myself.

Monday was a Gymbabes day, but when we arrived we were told that it was cancelled, the people who run it couldn't open their van (something to do with an electric lock that had gone wrong), meaning they couldn't get the equipment out. As it was such a nice day and we had paid for parking anyway, we decided to enjoy the sunshine in a park. The four of us (Rachel and Mae were also present) had a lovely afternoon relaxing in the sunshine.

Tuesday was nursery and sugarcraft day. I spent the morning doing admin and trying to get my website to work (having problems with the picture galleries as iweb (the program I am using) will only allow one level of navigation, when I want two). Very frustrating morning, didn't really get anywhere. The afternoon was spent getting things ready for class in the evening and modelling with the left over chocolate from last week, as it had clouded over and cooled down (the chocolate was really hard to work with last week)

Wednesday was another nursery day. I spent the morning baking some banoffee cupcakes, icing a big fruit cake and continuing with various decorations. I completely made up the banoffee recipe as I couldn't seem to find one on google. They turned out ok, although I will make some alterations next time. I wanted the butter cream to be a mixture of butter cream with some streaks of caramel running through it. However, the butter cream seemed to absorb the caramel, so no streaks and VERY VERY sweet butter cream. Next time I think I will refrigerate the butter cream before putting in the piping bag with the caramel (which I will also refrigerate) to see if that makes a difference. Anyway you can see the result, they look ok I think.

The evening was spent in a pub in Coalport with the girls. Only 4 of us managed to meet last night, which was good, meant we could have one good conversation which all of us could join in rather than splitting into different groups.

Another glorious day - this time in Wales

We didn't have a fantastic night. Tom was up at 1.30 and 4.00. Took us a long time to get back to sleep after the 4am episode. However, it dawned a beautiful day and Matt had decided that we should get out to a National Trust property. Tom had a difficult morning, he cried as soon as I got him out of the cot and it took him a long while to smile and play which is unusual for him.

Anyway, he had a good breakfast and then did 3 poos within half an hour, so I guess that was probably what was bugging him. We put him down at 9am, but he cried and cried. We comforted him and then put him down in the cot in the downstairs bedroom with Reggie. Within 10 mins he was fast asleep - I guess it was too hot upstairs.

Once he was awake again, we headed off to Powis Castle. What a beautiful place, a sandstone castle set on a hill above its wonderful gardens. This combined with beautiful weather meant that it really was just stunning. We spent a couple of hours in the gardens, enjoying the flowers (I am much more interested these days now I am doing sugarcraft). We found ourselves a nice shady area for a picnic. This was the first time that all 3 of us ate the same. I made 3 rounds of sandwiches with different fillings and Tom actually ate some (last time I did this, he refused point blank to eat anything). Felt really good. We then had some time practising to stand and walk. He is standing now for about 10 seconds before toppling over. He didn't really want to do much freestyle walking today, but was happy walking across the grass, exploring the flower beds. One little boy even came up with him with a football, obviously wanting to play with him - had to explain that Tom couldn't walk on his own yet...

We had a look around the formal gardens, and then found a fountain. Tom LOVED it. First of all I dabbed his hands in the water, then he actively tried to get into it, giggling all the way. He drew quite a crowd of admirers as he splashed away. If he could, he would have gone for a swim! We stayed there quite a while and we had tears when we left.

We then went up to explore the castle. Usual collection of paintings, painted ceilings (which Tom really enjoyed) etc. Then a sit down for a drink and a slice of bara brith (shared between 3 of course) before heading to the oven which was our car and return home.

Tom slept the whole way back (an hour), which is an hour less than usual so he was a little grizzly for the afternoon. However, he managed a good dinner, then a good web chat with Grannie and Grandpa London before bath and bed.

Oh - today was also a poo day - he did 6 and they were all solid- yahoooooo! First full day of solid poo in about 10 weeks.

Anyway, it was a lovely day. It really is nice to go out as a family now that Tom is more interactive. We think he really enjoyed his day out today, as did we.

A glorious day in the garden

We got it more or less right last night. Tom didn't wake up until 5am meaning that he wasn't too hot. Managed to get him back to sleep until 7, then got him up - he was a complete looney first thing and in a good mood which was great.

The morning saw us at HLC for swimming. Tom is now doing Toddler swimming, funny as he isn't actually walking yet. In fact we couldn't do some of the moves as he needed to be standing by himself on the pool edge which he can't yet do. We now need to learn lots of new songs and moves. Can't say it was Tom's best lesson. He grizzled quite a bit and kept twisting up when in the swim position - not great. Hopefully he will be better next time when hopefully Matt will be well enough to go in with him.

Came home via the butchers and the bakers on the parade to get a sandwich and had an early lunch in the garden as it was such a glorious day. Tom then spent a good while playing in the garden. Today he learnt to 'open and shut'. He played in his wendy house for ages, going in, closing the door, opening the door, stepping out, shutting the door, then opening the door, stepping in etc etc. You get the picture. It kept him amused for ages.

He also had a play in his sand pit. We filled the other half of the pit with water, which he immediately poured over himself - hence this photo of him in hat and nappy, he had to be stripped of his soaking wet clothes.

He and Matt went for an afternoon nap, whilst I set up my website on Matt's computer. Managed to get most of it done which was good - just the galleries left. My problem now is lack of photos. I really need to get more done as it looks quite empty at the moment. Guess I need to do some more baking.

Sweaty baby

Poor Tom, he has definitely inherited my sweat glands. He woke up 3 times last night. He was absolutely soaking in sweat, and not due to a fever, but because it was so hot. His cot sheet was absolutely soaking wet. Not nice. We stripped him down and put him in a very light pair of pyjamas, opened his bedroom door and opened some windows. I only heard from him a couple more times, so figure he managed to cool down enough.

So, it was a beautifully hot day today, gone are the vests and out came a pair of short dungarees and sun cream. Must say he looked very cute. The morning saw us down at Telford Town Park to practice a walk ready for Breast Feeding Awareness Week in June. Was good to be out in the sun.

Got home at 1pm, so had a late lunch before putting Tom down for his afternoon nap. The afternoon was spent in the garden. Matt was at the Drs as his chest was feeling very tight Turns out that he has two infections - one in his chest and another in his bladder. He came home armed with penicillin so lets hope he is better soon.

Evening was spent eating curry and ice cream and slobbing in front on the telly.

It's getting warm

Another busy day and in the sunshine - it got pretty warm today, hooray, lets hope it continues into the weekend.

So this morning saw us at HLC rather than Jungleland. Sammie (who I do Jungleland with) decided that we all need to do a first aid course, so she booked me on one. Tom went into a creche, whilst I spent 2 hours doing CPR on a baby doll, a junior doll and an adult doll and learnt how to do the Heimlach manouvre in case of choking. I have 2 more weeks to go.

Came back, we had lunch together - Tom getting macaroni cheese left over from last night (this is fast becoming Matt's comfort food as well - he's still feeling a little rough with his cold). Then afternoon nap for Tom whilst I did some computer work. Typical www.lilypad.co.uk has gone - a property company in Hull have it - poo! So I have gone for www.lilypadbakery.co.uk - gives me space to diversify if I need to. Am in discussion with Matt's hosting company to set me up.

I also started looking into business cards and flyers. All need to be done in Photoshop, so I spent a frustrating afternoon on Photoshop trying to create them. I used to be a Photoshop whizz, but am very rusty. Got there in the end though (with a little swearing!)

Matt went up to wake Tom after 2 hours, we spent most of the afternoon outside as it was so nice. He is getting better on his feet, but as is usual, will only practice when he wants to, and today that meant hardly at all!

Chocolate paste is hard to work with

Another good night (thanks Tom). Meant that my mouth ulcers have disappeared (eating hasn't been fun recently which is very unusual for me). Matt also had a good night and all three of us seem to be feeling better although we all still have a lingering cough.

Tom went off to nursery this morning. He thought about crying when I went to put him in his place for breakfast, but one of the girls took him off me, turned him so he couldn't see me and I ran. By the time I walked past his window, he was contently eating his weetabix.

I spent the morning modelling chocolate paste (from last night's lesson) - made 2 chocolate mammoths, 3 roses with some leaves and some butterflies. Problem with the chocolate is that it melts really quickly and the warm weather and my hot little hands make it difficult to work with, but I got there in the end. Was very happy with my mammoths (as was Matt)

I also marizpanned the fruit cake I made last week. That took all the morning. Collected Tom, he had had a good time at nursery - including 4 dirty nappies (at last - until today he hadn't done a poo at nursery) and he was wearing his 'emergency clothes' for the third time running - he's got into a habit of pouring his breakfast weetabix over him rather than eating it!. Put him down for his nap and took the chance to catch up on the computer - sorting out my portfolio and flyer. Printer played up of course, but got there at in the end. I now need to find somewhere to print off my flyers, oh and to get my website address sorted.

Froggy Cakes

We were expecting a very disturbed night after the sick and crying, but amazingly, Tom slept the whole night through. He woke up in a happy mood. In fact when I went in to get him, he was sat up in his cot with the curtains open (cheeky thing!).

He had a good play on our bed and on inspection was rash free, so I decided to take him to nursery. Unfortunately when I left him there, he went into melt down - we tried a number of times to calm him down, but he would only clam down if I was holding him. In the end I had to leave with him screaming - not fun at all. They promised to call me if he didn't calm down or became ill again.

At home, I set to cake baking. Just before we left for Yorkshire, I took delivery of my cup cake stand. In preparation for it I had made some decorations for some cakes, so I just had to bake them. You can see the result. I was trying to get the effect of water with the butter icing - not sure how well it works?

We did a massive brain storming session in Yorkshire with Michael and Nicole for a name for my company and came up with nothing outstanding. The general consensus is to go with a cake name, but all the good ones have gone, I haven't come up with anything good at all. So, going in a different direction, I have come up with 'The Lily Pad' - for anyone who knows me at all well, they will understand where that has come from. It also means that I can diversify the business if I need to as it isn't cake themed. The more I think of it, the more I like it. I can only find one other Lily Pad and that is a florist shop in Dallas, so I think I'll be ok. Anyway, thought these cakes might help me on my way.

Went to collect Tom at 1pm, he had been ok, apparently he had cried a little more than normal, but they had taken his temperature and he was ok and he had ate well, so I guess he must be ok. Brought him home for his sleep (he hadn't slept at nursery) - he did a good 2 hours, giving me time to do some more cake things. I am LOVING all my new tools I got for my birthday, I've been having fun with them.

Not much to report for the rest of the day, Tom was grizzly at the end of the day so we gave him an early bath and bed, all of which went well.

I can walk! (sort of)

Hi there, here's the video of Tom's first steps as promised earlier. He has a way to go, but it's a start.

A weekend in the Dales

Sorry we haven't been in touch for a while. I forgot to mention in my last blog that we were off to Yorkshire for a long weekend. We rented a cottage in the middle of the Dales where there was no signal on Matt's i-phone meaning we were unable to blog.

Anyway, we had a lovely time. We were based in Horton-in-Ribblesdale with friends of Matt (from his time in Japan): Michael, Nicole and their 4 year old Marcus. We had a lovely time and it hardly rained at all which is always a bonus.

Cottage was great, a tardis - looked tiny from the outside, but was in fact very spacious - our bedroom was huge, even though we had Tom in a travel cot in with us, and we had a wonderful view of Pen-y-ghent.

Nicole, Marcus, Tom and I arrived on Friday afternoon, but had to wait until 7.30 for Michael and Matt to arrive (both had been working - Matt at an ITI workshop in York). Once the boys were in bed, we spent the evening catching up over pizza.

Saturday was spent walking. We took the train to Ribblehead and did a 2.5 mile walk around Ribblehead Viaduct (remember we had a 4 year old with us who until this weekend hadn't done any 'proper walking'. After a pub lunch we returned to Horton so Tom could have his afternoon nap, and then did another 2 mile walk around Horton before dinner. This was a good walk - crossing rivers, plenty of footbridges etc. We let Tom down to have a little toddle on a flat bit, he did incredibly well - in fact if you look at the photo of me holding his hands - he had walked from the bottom corner of this field - I was very proud of him.

Got home, the boys had dinner and baths together before retiring to bed. Matt and I then left for our night out - dinner in the local pub. We were in Horton for the 3 peaks challenge, so it was very busy, but we found a table and got talking to some blokes from Norfolk with very strong accents (I was in smile and nodding head mode)

Managed to stay out until 9.30 (very unusual for us), Michael and Nicole had a fire going so we joined them on the sofa for an hour or so before heading to bed. We didn't have a great night (Tom woke us up 4 times) and woke up to miserable weather. However, we all cheered up over breakfast. Matt spent the morning acting as a taxi service, taking M, N & M to Ingleton so they could do the waterfall trail and then coming back to collect me and Tom. Unfortunately he got done for speeding long the way (more haste, less speed, naughty boy). Oh hum, anyway we caught up with the Andersons on the trail and enjoyed some good waterfalls and just about managed a picnic lunch before the heavens opened.

We then split - Matt and Michael walking across the fields to White Scar Caves, Nicole, Marcus, Tom and I retracing our steps to the car and driving there, both sets arriving at exactly the same time. We couldn't go into the caves, as they weren't at all baby friendly, so we had a coffee and cake in the cafe and Matt drove us back to the cottage and then left to pick up the others. Tom was supposed to have an afternoon nap, but refused, he was so wide awake!

Once everyone was back we all had play time together. Michael and Matt managed to convince Tom to take his first unaided steps. I took some video of the momentous event which will hopefully be on the blog tomorrow. Michael and Nicole went out for dinner whilst we baby sat.

We had another bad night with Tom (he woke us countless times), but it was sunny and after breakfast we all perked up again. This morning we went into Ingleton for a nose (this is one of our 'preferred villages'). Found a great playground which Tom enjoyed and bought some sandwiches from the rather excellent local butcher. We then headed home. Tom slept for the whole trip home (2 hours) which is quite unusual for him. He woke up really grizzly. I thought that maybe some more teeth were on the way. At dinner time he refused everything except puree and then fell asleep on me before bath time (not usual behaviour at all).

We took him up for an early bath and he promptly threw up on the bathroom floor - not good. He did perk up in the bath and then I gave him his bottle which he seemed to enjoy. However, as he finished his bottle, he threw the whole lot up on me (lovely). Both of us needed changing. We then gave him some water and put him down. We also noticed a rash on him at bath time. He definitely isn't well. We will see what tonight brings.

Anyway we all had a good weekend away, and realised that we really do want to move there - it really is beautiful and everyone is so friendly. I even found a sugarcraft course running in Ingleton that I can do (although I also found evidence of many people making celebration cakes in the village. In fact nearly every other shop in Ingleton has a tea room, all of which state that celebration cakes are available on order - guess I'm going to have to be good to compete!)

Cream cheese is good for noses

Hi there, sorry we've not been in touch for a couple of days, keep running out of time.

So we have had a good week to date. On Monday we went to Gymbabes in the afternoon. Normally I get Tom to have 2 naps prior to the session so that he is well rested and raring to go for it. This week, however, he refused to co-operate not wanting to have his lunch time nap. I decided to take him early to see if he would fall asleep in the car. He did - literally as we arrived in the car park. We had 15 minutes before the session started so that's all the nap he had. Oh well... we had a good session, he decided he wanted to walk for most of it, and walk he did (although I would describe it more as attempted running). He got hold of a walker and zoomed around the room with me running to catch up.

He surprisingly didn't fall asleep in the car on the way back to Rachel's (where we had coffee). It took until 4pm until he finally relented. I pulled him out of the car - a sack of floppiness. I put him in the cot and gave him 30 mins before dinner. Surprisingly, he did eat his dinner ok and then went to bed ok.

Tuesday was nursery day for Tom, so off he went. He cried this time when I left, but I think that was due to the fact I had to hang around longer than normal (I took some bum cream with me as it's a little red at the moment and it had to be approved). Anyway, when I went to pick him up, he was happy enough. He hadn't slept at all, so once again I ended up pulling a sack of floppiness out of the car and putting him in his cot. He slept for 2 hours, which was great, I did some practical work - getting creative with some icing.

He was grumpy when he woke up so the afternoon wasn't particularly brilliant. However, today he managed to get a jigsaw piece into place for the first time ever which was brilliant. He did it more than once, so I'm hoping it wasn't a fluke. Once again he went to bed well and I went to my cake course - we made pansies today. Why is it, when the teacher shows us what to do it looks so easy, but when I do it, it is incredibly difficult - the icing doesn't seem to do what I want it to do. Oh hum, practice makes perfect - I have a lot of practising ahead of me.

Today was another nursery day. Tom had a little grizzle when I left, but he had finished by the time I walked past the room on my way to the car. I spent my 'time off' doing homework from last night (ie making pansies). Took me the full 5 hours to make 6 - they aren't the best pansies in the world, but I think they are recognisable. Also started to make some roses with my new cutters.

Collected Tom from nursery, once again he hadn't slept ("he's very curious isn't he?"), however, he did manage to stay awake in the car. I put him in his cot, did some more flower making before getting him up at 3. Tom was in a good mood this afternoon, so we did some more walking and I even managed to read him one story before he arched his back and tried to get away from me.

We had another good dinner, then bath and bed. He's been quite good in bed the last couple of nights. He's had mild conjunctivitis and last night he woke up at 11 with a fever, but after a spoonful of medicine, he's gone back to sleep and stayed asleep which is fab.

Today's pic - Tom after eating cream cheese on rice cake for part of his dinner.

Long distance walker / Happy Birthday Mummy

A fairly quiet day today. Tom didn't have the best of nights, as he seems to have picked up another dose of conjunctivitis. He started howling at about 9.00pm, and we couldn't work out what was wrong with him until we turned on the main light and saw his eyes all full of stuff. We gave them a rinse with some saline and he seemed to settle again, but he was crying again at 11.30. Not for long this time, though. I thought I was getting over my cold as well, but it came back with a vengeance last night. Sore throat, streaming nose etc. Eventually I threw in the towel and took myself off to the spare room, where I eventually dropped off around 5.30, only to be woken by a grumpy Tom before 7.00.

Anyway, we had an extended morning play on the bed, as Nik had all her birthday presents to open. This took some time, as there were an awful lot of them this year, mostly cake-making tools. She seemed very pleased with the haul. After breakfast, we decided to let Tom have his first outdoor walk (see video). He did very well, but the new shoes will take a bit of getting used to. Still, he loves walking and is making rapid strides (ha ha).

As you can see, it was quite a nice morning, so we decided to walk to the golf club for lunch. We took a "short cut" through the local nature reserve, which was actually a good bit longer than our usual route, but it was very pleasant, as was lunch.

After the stroll back, Tom had his nap, I got to work editing the huge backlog of video I've taken, and we then had a Skype call with Grannie and Grandpa after Tom's tea. He put on his usual entertaining show. Nik & I actually had an evening out on our own tonight. Auntie Jude came round to babysit while we went to The Fox in Chetwynd Aston. Excellent nosh and a very nice couple of hours for just the two of us. We got back to hear that Tom hadn't uttered a peep the whole time we were gone. Phew. We were so hoping he didn't disgrace himself and give Jude a hard time. Well done Tom.

First shoes

Good news, I am pleased to report that Tom has got over his cold and is sleeping through again. He has done so for the last two nights, unlike his father who seems to have got a worse version of the cold and is tossing and turning at night (I sent him downstairs last night as I was wanting a good night's sleep).

As Matt woke up feeling rough, we left him at home and went swimming. Had a really good swimming session, didn't realise, but it was the last 'baby' lesson. Anyway, Tom did well, no grizzles at all. He did think about grizzling when going on the wobble board, but he came round and ended up enjoying it. It was Abi's last lesson - Rose and Martin have lots going on on Saturdays in the Summer so didn't think it worth it to continue. Shame, we will miss them. We both said that we should keep in touch, I hope we do. We tried to take a nice photo of Tom and Abi together, but one or the other played up each time.

Tom completely out did himself after swimming. He walked (holding on to my hands) all the way from the pool to the sofas. Those of you who know HLC will know that that is a LONG way. I couldn't quite believe it, but was very very proud of him. He then decided to continue walking around the sofa area. In fact, instead of walking, he was trying to run - it was quite hard for me to keep up!

On our return from swimming, we picked up Matt and headed out to Wellington. We had lunch at our usual pub and then went to the market. I was looking for a ribbon shop I was told to try out. Couldn't find it, so asked and got directed to a part of the market we didn't know existed. In fact we found two extra parts of the market we didn't know existed so a good result, and I found the ribbon shop and bought loads.

We took a sleepy Tom home (the exertions had caught up with him) I couldn't keep him awake in the car and removed a floppy baby from the car when we got home. Once he'd had his nap we took him to Clarks to get his first pair of shoes. He lost one of his little soft shoes in Wellington, and anyway, they were scuffed and had holes in the toes. He has scuffed them to death playing on his bus, so rather than ruin another pair of soft shoes, we thought we might as well get a 'proper' pair as he seems to be learning to walk very quickly.

He behaved very well at the shop, allowing his feet to be measured and various pairs put on his feet. In the end we had to go for practicality rather than style. We bought the pair that best passed the 'tug test', ie the pair that stayed on his feet best. Apparently he has slim ankles, meaning that most of the shoes tugged off easily. Anyway he now has a rather smart and EXPENSIVE (£24) pair of shoes (4F). They are special 'cruising shoes' - with softer soles than normal shoes to give Tom the chance to get used to proper shoes, however, they are tough and should cope with the scuffing they will get when he plays on his bus. Let's hope his feet don't grow too quickly!

Came home, Tom was quite grizzly, but I think he was very tired from all the energy he expended in the morning. He had a happy bath, then bottle and bed.

Unfortunately at 9pm we had an incident. Tom woke up crying, I went up to see him, but he wouldn't stop which is really unusual for him. In the end I put the main light on so I could change his nappy. At this point I noticed his eyes were gummed up. Looks like he has conjunctivitis again, poor little mite. I soaked them with salt water and he calmed down. Think he is asleep again now. Let's hope they don't gum up again.

Walking Tom

Not too much to report from today. Tom had us up at 1am, so we gave him some Calprofen and that was it, so not too bad. Went in to get him at 7am, he was sat up in his cot playing and very cheery.

He had another morning in nursery. Jessica has moved up to his class now which is nice, and I bumped into Lou which was good.

I spent the morning baking a fruit cake which I want to use as a model for various decorations (until it gets too marked to use) and then made some pastillage from which I created some plaques.

I then did some internet research before lunch and picking up Tom. Tom was a very happy chappy and got another good school report. He now has two key workers looking after him (new one, Chris is new and asked for some babies to look after and got Tom as one of them), so he should be really spoilt there. Chris seemed very happy and came over to me immediately to tell me what Tom had been up to. Tom was in a good mood which was fab.

Came home, had a play with Tom before putting him down for his afternoon nap at 2pm. When he woke up, we had a play on the bus on the tarmac outside, and then went out in the garden to play in the sandpit, have a swing and a slide. He was an energetic little chap. He also allowed me to walk him around (see pic). I really wasn't helping him that much at all, he really has come along in bounds since the magic first steps on Sunday. A week ago, me doing this with him would result in tears almost immediately.

He also had a good dinner (which I had to save twice from Jodie - who has very much been in our bad books today) before bath and bed.

Oh - other pic is an 'official pic' Matt took of me and Tom for a breastfeeding brochure. We both look quite good which is unusual, although I really do need to do something about my hair!

The good night run comes to an end

Not much to report for today I'm afraid except Tom didn't sleep very well last night. He had me up twice. Can't blame him, he's not well and coughs when lying down. He didn't settle well all night so we weren't surprised. So he managed 13 nights in a row without me having to get up and resettle him, a record (the next nearest was 5 nights). Well done Tom. I'm looking forward to the next run to begin.

Unfortunately I have also come down with something (mild luckily) as has Matt (full blown cold I'm afraid). So I have one grumpy boy and one snotty boy (guess which is which). No photo today, sorry forgot.

Anyway even though he is under the weather, he had a good morning at nursery, got a good school report 'he's been a very happy boy today' and ate a good breakfast and lunch. He also had a good dinner. Hopefully he is on the mend, although Matt had to go up twice to settle him this evening whilst I was at cake course.

We WILL have a BBQ

In true bank holiday style we decided to have a BBQ today, come rain or shine. We had a bit of both, plus a cold wind that got down your back and froze us all. Anyway, we managed to stay outside in the garden for most of it. We have 5 Michelin men style babies in the garden and all our play equipment got used which was good. When it came to pudding it started to rain and we gave up and piled into the house. Very cosy it was too, with 10 adults and 5 babies, but we managed it and I think everyone had a good time, even though my hosting and presentation are nowhere near as refined as some of the other mums - it is all very rough and ready here - but then that is our style, I might have the posh accent (which some people take great pleasure in reminding me) but I don't quite show the etiquette to go with it.

One good thing about hosting a big bbq is that you end up with lots of food so we will have bbq chicken, sausages and mochi for every meal for a while. Just as well that it is cake course day today, we can both raid the fridge for lunch.

We forgot to take any photos and didn't have the opportunity to take a photo of all the babies together as there was always at least one asleep (Tom missed a good hour and a half - but he still has his cold and was slightly under the weather). One day I hope we will manage to do it. They are all at very different stages of development. Seren and Olly are walking quite confidently (although our garden proved too much for them - it's so uneven). Seren is also beginning to talk and understands a lot of what is being said to her. Matt couldn't get over the transformation in Mae - she looks like a toddler and is very tall compared to the others. She can stand but can't walk. Jessica loves to point at things and is at the same stage as Tom with her walking.

As you can see I managed to take one pic - Tom wearing Michelle's sun glasses (Michelle was being optimistic) - doesn't he look like a cool dude?

People didn't leave until 5, so Tom had his dinner whilst we cleared up and then we collapsed for the evening.

A big step forward

Well today was very exciting. After breakfast Tom and I were playing. He showed some interest in his trolley walker thingy, kept pushing it around. I decided to stand him up behind it (I've done this many times with no result). Today, however, he went for it and decided he could walk. The video shows his 3rd and4th attempts. He's got much better already.

I don't know who was more excited: Tom, Matt or myself- we all had huge grins on our faces.

After his morning nap, we have him a couple more gos before heading off to Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton for an explore. The weather today wasn't that great, but we walked around the grounds, had tea in the very small and chaotic tea room (first time Tom has had to eat in his rucksack - as they only had stools or benches to sit on) and then toured the house. The best bit by far was the nursery the nursery which had a number of toys that Tom was able to play with including a tin drum which made a LOT of noise.

Came home, Tom went for his sleep. We watched the Moto GP and then went in the garden to finish tidying up before the bbq tomorrow. The rest of the afternoon was spent entertaining Tom. He's not too well today, has got a cold which means he has a streaming nose and a cough which isn't very nice, but he was cheery enough considering. He did some more walking with his trolley- looking much more stable this afternoon.

He didn't have a very good dinner - very fruit heavy as he wouldn't eat anything savoury, then bath, bottle and bed. He didn't drink much milk, but then dairy isn't that great with a cold is it.

Nice day in the garden

Hi there, sorry I haven't blogged for a couple of days, nothing new or exciting has happened and rather than bore myself and you with run of the mill stuff, I thought I would wait.

Today we had waterbabies in the morning. I went in with him today to see if he has recovered from his 'clingyness'. We did alright until I had to do horsey horsey (when I put Tom on my back), then we had intermittent crying so not a complete success but not a disaster either. Matt took some video footage which has turned out well.

We then did some bbq shopping (NCT crowd coming round for a bbq on Monday so fingers are crossed for good weather) before going to the Lamb Inn in Edgmond for lunch (another excellent one). Tom spent some time on his bus on our return as it looked as if it was going to pour down at any moment. However, the rain held off for most the day, meaning we spent the rest of the day in the garden. Matt strimmed the grass border and tilled the veggie patch. Tom and I played in the sandpit, wendy house etc. As you can see from the photo, he doesn't seem to be afraid of grass anymore which is a shame.

Anyway we all had a good time, although Tom got absolutely revolting. I know, it will only get worse.

Oh a couple of new things this week. Yesterday, Tom managed to stack the rings on his ikea lighthouse thingy. I have shown him countless times, but with no result. Yesterday, he just picked it up and started to do it. It took him ages the first couple of times, but today he is able to do it quite quickly. Matt said that he managed to put some shapes in his shape sorter all by himself as well today. Seems as if he is beginning to problem solve.