Bad morning, good afternoon

It was a strange night. Tom woke up crying at 11pm, he was completely unconsollable. We tried the gel and dummy trick- no luck, gave him some calprofen - no luck. The screaming was really bad. No amount of hugging was helping. In the end I thought that maybe I wasn't helping, so I put him back in his cot and left the room. He carried on screaming for about 15 seconds, then it died down to a whimper. All was quiet within a minute. He did cry again but it only lasted about 10 seconds. That was it, we didn't hear from him again Lesson learnt, leave him be if he doesn't show any sign of wanting a cuddle.

This morning wasn't the best. He ate his breakfast really well and had an early nap. When I went in to get him, the smell was there, so I changed him - solid poo - yahoo. I gave him breast milk for his last drink last night (still have some in the freezer) as breast milk is easier to digest than cow's milk, I was hoping it might help with his digestion. Not sure if it was the catalyst, but I was happy. Tom, on the other hand wasn't very happy. One cheek was very very red. I got him up and took him to Asda to pick up some bits. He wasn't too bad there, but once home he went into full grizzle mode. Nothing would help him, teething gel, calprofen etc, so I gave him his lunch (very unenjoyable) and put him to bed.

I got him up at 1.30 ready for Gymbabes, and found a different baby. The red cheek had gone and he seemed happier. Got to Bridgnorth dead on 2pm and joined the Gymbabes class. He was a diamond, had a lovely time. Hogged the tunnel as seems to be usual - definately his favourite piece of kit. Had drink afterwards with Amanda and Sam before coming home.

Had an OK afternoon. Spent some time on the phone with Jake (his second birthday today), his talking has really come along, he managed to say Hello Auntie Nik and Bye Bye Auntie Nik which was really nice.

Once again, he didn't have a very good dinner, anything with any texture is still evil! He then had a little play before an early bath (he was obviously tired), bottle and bed.

Matt is out with the guys tonight - curry in Shifnal.

Oh, I weighed myself this morning, after one week of Slimming World diet I have managed to loose 2lbs. Was a little dissapointed as you are supposed to loose loads in the first week. However, when I think how long it takes Tom to put on 2lbs, I guess it's not that bad. Fingers crossed the motivation remains with me, only problem is that we are off on holiday on Friday so all the good work might go to pot...

Sorry, forgot to take a photo today.

Severn Valley Walk

Blimey, it's the end of the weekend already - time really does go fast when you are having fun.

Saturday morning found us swimming at HLC. All went well until Tom was given a woggle to swim with. He didn't like it and cried. The cry then turned into a scream and he wouldn't be consoled, so he ended his lesson early. As soon as he was out of the pool he was fine - typical. He and Abi spent a good hour playing with each other in the breakout area, crawling up and down, grabbing food from one another etc. All very entertaining to watch.

We then dropped into Wellington to The Beacon for lunch. We decided to have a big lunch today as dinner was going to be a rushed affair. So, pasta for me and chilli for Matt. We then did a quick round of Wellington in the drizzle which wasn't particularly fun.

Came home, Tom had a nap and we sat in the office, Matt catching up on photos and me on cake duty trying to get some marketing material together.

We had a shortened afternoon, we had to get Tom in bed for 6pm rather than for 7pm as we were off to see the Hairy Bikers in Wolverhampton and wanted to get Tom settled before we left. Didn't want Michelle (one of the NCT mums who very graciously offered to babysit) to have to do anything other than listen out for him. We managed it.

Hairy Bikers was brilliant, at one stage I was crying with laughter! It was a show with them bantering and cooking inter dispersed with some film footage (most of which were outtakes) Was a lovely evening, so nice to have a 'proper' night out, doing something other than going for dinner.

Got back home at 11pm (what dirty stopouts). Michelle said she had a good time, had had to check on Tom a couple of times, but nothing too bad. She said she got lots of work done (she's a primary school teacher). We left her a whole array of drinks, she didn't touch any naughty girl.

Sunday dawned lovely. We decided to make the most of it and go for a walk. Ended up parking at Maws Craft Centre and walking on the railway path towards Bridgnorth. Was a lovely walk, very secluded, alongside the River Severn, just us and nature. We walked along to the restored station at Linley (which is also opposite where Rachel and Errol live - although being a Sunday, the bridge across the river to their house was closed- private toll bridge) Sat down on the grassed over platform for a picnic in our t-shirts. We had Tom in the pram as he is still producing squirty poos and we figured him being in the rucksack wouldn't help matters.

We stopped off for a quick drink in a pub on the way back (figured we did 8 miles in the end), beautiful setting, rubbish pub. Got home at 3pm, Tom went for his nap whilst we tried to catch up on house work. 4.30pm saw Jude and Richard popping round, then at 5.30 we had a skype chat with Grannie and Grandpa London. Tom decided to do a big sick up whilst on line which caused some merriment.

Then bath, bottle and bed.

We are both a little worried about Tom. He has been having these bad poos, then of course today he was sick. He isn't very ill, but he definitely isn't himself. I still think it is a big dose of teething, just hope it passes soon, I want the old Tom back. Will give the Dr a call if it goes on for much longer, especially as we are off to Iceland on Friday.

Poo

Tom had us awake and seeing to him when we went to bed, but settled down and surprisingly we didn't hear from him until I went in to get him at 7 (I felt sure we were in for a bad night).

He had a good breakfast and a very good play - full of energy and then went for a nap. When I went into his room to get him up, I could smell that his nappy needed changing. I opened him up and found a lake of poo. The biggest to date - oh my god! I ended up having to get Matt up to help as he was putting his hand in it and then trying to eat it! (It got all over his cheek - yuck!) We ended up hosing him down in the shower to get him clean. It confirmed the fact that he isn't 100% at the moment. Let's hope it's his one and only!

As you all know, I am going to try to set up a celebration cake business. However, it has been proving almost impossible to get organised whilst looking after Tom 24/7. It has got better since he has been sleeping properly, but still it has been almost impossible to find time to put together some marketing material, cost analysis etc. As Tom is now over one, we've decided to enrol him into a nursery, starting with 2 mornings a week. It should be good for his social skills and will give me time to try to get organised.

I made a couple of calls earlier this week and made appointments to see two nurseries today. First one was in Hollinswood (where Abi goes). I really didn't know what to expect, having never seen a nursery before, I was also a little clueless with questions to ask. A member of staff showed me round. I wasn't wholly impressed. The baby room was tiny and included cots, so babies would have to sleep in the same room as play was happening. They had an outside play area, but it was shared with the attached school, meaning it couldn't be used during school playtimes. Food was brought in from outside caterers (I know not to trust them!), they didn't even have a dedicated change area, meaning babies had to go to the disabled toilet for changing. They did have programmes of structured play etc, but I left feeling uneasy about the whole set up.

After Tom's lunchtime nap, we went to Leapfrog Nursery in Priorslee (where Jessica goes). It was completely different. The staff were a lot more professional, my show around was fantastic, very knowledgeable lady, they had separate rooms for eating, playing and sleeping. A dedicated nappy changing room, a room for storing milk, all food is made in house (I saw some and it looked good). They also had an outdoor area for each stage of development. There were lots of nice little touches, each baby has a photo box (a box covered in photos of their relatives, so if they are feeling insecure, they can hold it / hug it), they have their nappies changed every 2.5 hours, food of some sort every 2 hours and drinks every 2 hours (better than Tom gets at home!) Anyway, I came away feeling much better about the whole thing. Will make some phone calls on Monday to arrange to whizz round some more before making a decision. I'm hoping that some time away from him will also refresh me.

That's about it for today, we were going to go for a walk around Priorslee Lake after visiting the nursery, but it started to rain and we didn't have the right gear on us, so we went to Asda and picked up a curry instead.

Tom's in bed, he's been grizzling every hour or so, but just a little yelp, so we are hoping he will eventually settle and have another good night.

I can drive my car

Another good night, Tom had a yelp when we went to bed, but that was it for the whole night, what a good boy. We did slightly better as well, although Matt disappeared downstairs at 3am as he couldn't sleep.

Tom had a good breakfast, nap and then we went off to Jungleland for Bosom Buddies. Tom still isn't quite himself today and spent most of the morning sat quietly on my lap which is very unusual.

Came home, gave Tom his lunch, but he refused it. All I could get down him was a bit of rice cake with Philadelphia - as you can see from the photo, he did quite enjoy it. Once done though, he dropped everything on the floor and Jodie licked all the cheese off.

Tom woke up during his afternoon nap today which is highly unusual. I managed to settle him back down though. I spent his nap time loading Photoshop on my laptop and started to edit some cake photos ready for my portfolio. Felt really nice to be doing something constructive about my 'new business'. I haven't had any orders for a while, so really need to start getting my name out there.

The afternoon saw us in Asda getting some bits, we then came home for dinner. Once again Tom wasn't really interested, I managed to get some rice cake down him, a sachet of puree and a fromage frais laced with blueberries. I also changed a nappy this afternoon, he had a squirty poo, so something definitely isn't right with him. However, he isn't too out of sorts, I still think it is teething as his hand is constantly in his mouth.

After dinner, Tom spent some time on his car. Until now, he has only gone backwards on it, but today we had a breakthrough and he managed to go forwards. He did a couple of lengths of the kitchen. I got the camera out to video it, of course he stopped, but you sort of get the idea.

Not much to report

Sorry for lack of blog yesterday - cake course got in the way and nothing of note happened anyway. In fact I'm thinking that maybe I won't blog every day now that Tom is one, if nothing of note happens then I'll just write drivel anyway!

As I said, yesterday nothing much happened. We were supposed to meet up with Kamila and Stella, but she blew us out, so we spent the morning running errands. I decided to buy retrospective birthday presents for Oliver and Sam after the fab birthday party on Friday, as neither baby managed to turn up for Gymbabes on Monday, I decided to deliver them in person. So, went to Oliver's first, to find Rachel still in her dressing gown (oops), Oliver had been unwell over the past 24 hours (severe diarrhea poor thing, spent a lot of time in the bath being cleaned) and then to Sam who wasn't in - I think down in London.

We then popped into Asda for some bits before returning home for lunch (Tom didn't eat much at all). Didn't do anything in the afternoon other than play. Tom launched into full bellied crying at dinner time, he ate his dinner, but it wasn't great. The screaming got louder and louder, until in the end I got Matt up to help. He suggested some teething gel, it worked immediately.

He then had a good bath, bottle and bed. I went to cake course for the last lesson, Matt reported that Tom wasn't at all settled on my return, waking every 20 mins or so for a little grizzle. I went up to see him, gave him some more gel which seemed to work. However, when we went to bed, we could still hear him cry. I went in to see him, he was crying in his sleep, but I woke him up, he was really really hot, so we gave him some Calprofen. Both of us were expecting to hear from him during the night, but as you know, babies aren't predictable. We didn't hear from him at all. Matt and I didn't do as well, both of us were worried about him and as a result didn't sleep - typical!

Today was also a bit of a non event. We went to aerobics in the morning, where Tom had a play in the creche and that was pretty much it. For some reason I was a bit down in the dumps today, which meant that I found it hard to stimulate myself, let alone Tom. Not sure why, but we all have our off days. Tom also rejected a feed from me this afternoon which didn't help.

He's still not that happy and we have heard the odd grizzle already tonight. I have noticed that one of his bottom molars is now completely through, but the two upper ones are still moving. He is all snotty, so we are pretty sure it is teething that is the problem at the moment.

Me and my sister

We didn't have a very good night last night. Tom woke up just as we went to bed, then again at 12am, and then between 1.30 and 2.30 he was awake crying every 10 minutes or so. I was just about to put him in bed with us when I didn't hear from him again. Not sure what it was, although I suspect it was teething as I noticed that the whole of a bottom molar is through today.

He had a massive breakfast, so it hasn't affected his appetite. In fact it was his biggest yet, he had 1.5 weetabix, a whole banana and a slice of toast. That's equivalent to an adult isn't it? I, in contrast had half a grapefruit. I am trying to go on a health drive and today was day one. I weighed myself this morning, am too ashamed to share with you how much I was, but it is the heaviest I have ever been (excepting when I was pregnant) so I really do need to do something about it. Let's hope I can find continued motivation to make sure I am successful.

I put him down for his morning nap as usual, but I'm unsure as to if he did actually sleep. Matt looked in on him after 10 minutes and he was sat in his cot playing with his toys. I peeped in 10 minutes later and he was still playing. When I went in to get him after an hour, he was still sat up and playing with his toys and didn't have a red cheek or look vaguely sleepy.

After a book session we strolled round to Asda, I needed to get some healthy food, so raided the fresh fruit and veg section as well as getting in some cottage cheese etc.

Came home, had lunch (Tom ate very well again), then nap for him prior to our journey to Bridgnorth and gymbabes. Tom wasn't the best behaved baby for the songs at the beginning, wanting only to wriggle and grizzle, but once let loose on the gym equipment he was pretty happy. Today, he concentrated on the tunnel, he must have gone through it at least 10 times. It was only us and Rachel and Mae today, not sure where everyone else was, but we had a lovely time and retired to Costa afterwards to recover.

Tom fell asleep in the car on the way back, but soon woke up when he knew dinner was on the way, once again he ate very very well. He then had a good bath, bottle and bed. We haven't heard from him yet...

We're all going to the zoo, erm , yesterday

Saturday morning saw us back at HLC for Tom's waterbabies class. He did ok, but waterbabies have been a little naughty and have now booked 10 babies on the course. If you could see the size of the pool, you would know why this is a problem. Only 8 babies turned up and there wasn't room to move in the pool, I have no idea how it would work with 10. I feel sorry for the teacher as much as for us. When HLC have the pool open for baby swimming sessions, they have a maximum of 6 adults. Matt has written to complain.

Anyway, Tom had a good time was mostly smiles. After some Hai Hai time with Abi (they are now more or less crawling at the same speed) we then went on our way to Chester to meet up with the Watsons at the zoo. Now we got the journey up completely wrong. Decided to go to a pub about half way for lunch. Tom was just about to fall asleep when we got there, unloaded him and food etc, to find the pub was closed! Then went to a tea room which was about 3 further miles down the road, it was also closed. We stopped at the next pub and were lucky. By this time we were running late, so ordered the easiest thing on the menu and managed to feed Tom quickly and were back on our way within 30 mins. Tom refused to go to sleep after lunch, which meant he didn't have any nap at all. (With hindsight, we should have stopped at Long Lane for lunch)

Got to the zoo dead on 1pm which was good going. Considering we were with a 5 year old, 3 year old and 3 month old, and stopped for a coffee we did actually see quite a bit and we all got to see our favourite animals. Tom stayed awake for the whole thing which was fantastic, and he did manage to focus on some of the animals. In the end he was awake from 9.30 to 4.30 which is the longest ever. He did fall asleep after about 5 minutes once back in the car, and I managed to transfer him from the car to his cot at the Watson's without any protestation.

By now his routine was shot to pieces, so we just ran with what we thought best. So, Tom stayed up and had his dinner with Maggie and Tamsin and then had a bath with them as well which went very well. He then was put in a cot in the box room and that was it until I went to get him at 7am the next morning.

Sunday was a lazy day. We took Tom for a walk in the village to the playground so he could have some fresh air. He enjoyed the swings as usual and was cackling away. We then came back and enjoyed a Mother's Day fry up courtesy of Cameron followed by plum crumble courtesy of me. A strange combination, but it worked well for us.

Matt and Cameron bottled up the cider, before we made our way home. Oh, almost forgot to say, I got a Mother's Day card and a gift (a giraffe puppet - I have a feeling that Tom was craftily shopping for himself!).

When we got home, Matt spent some time with Tom in the lounge whilst I was preparing his food in the kitchen. He used the new puppet to say hello to Tom, Tom responded three times in a row by saying 'ello', could it be a coincidence? I definately heard him. When I came into the room Matt tried again, but Tom would only giggle - is it another case of rolling - he would only do that for his Dad for about 3 weeks before he would let me see him.

Today's pic - me with 3 month old Jenny who I had a number of lovely hugs with. How things change. I didn't go near Maggie or Tamsin when they were babies as I was still very scared of babies then, now I can't get enough of them!

Tea Party

Today Tom was invited to Sam and Oliver's birthday party. It was supposed to be held last week, but Sam was ill, meaning that it got postponed which was good for us.

I thought it was just going to be a gathering of the mums and babies, but Rachel and Amanda had organised a proper tea party. There were heart shaped egg sandwiches, homemade chicken and apple balls and salmon balls, homemade cup cakes, jelly and ice cream as well as a cake. Tom was very hungry and scoffed everything put in front of him, in fact he ate more than all the other babies which makes a change.

We also played pass the parcel, during which each baby won a prize (of course), and then we were given party bags with books, more cake, a cookie cutter etc. I felt really guilty as I had come empty handed - I had already sent cards and thought that would be enough, not realising what was in store. I even took food with me for Tom expecting to feed him myself. I hope they don't think I'm mean.

Came home around 3pm, put Tom straight to bed, getting him up in time to take him to the Drs for his MMR and another booster. Tom didn't cry after the first injection - I was so proud of him. He did cry after the second one, but calmed down after not to long and managed a smile for the nurse.

He then had a late dinner (still ate quite a bit), late bath and late bed.

Photo - as well as a real tea party, there was also a toy tea party going on. All the babies loved it, especially the fairy cakes.

Another day

Another fantastic night from Tom, didn't hear a peep from him until 6.30am. We were awake at 5.30, which was better than last night, but still not great!

Not much of note happened today, Tom had an early nap and then we were at Jungleland for Bosom Buddies at 10am. Everyone said how much better I look and how good Tom is looking, so I guess the holiday really did do all of us some good.

Came back, Tom had a good lunch, then nap, playtime, dinner, playtime, bath, bottle and bed. Once again he grabed the bottle and fed himself which was good. Guess this means we can start reading stories to him at night if he is doing the work himself.

Tonight is the girls' meet up to celebrate one year of motherhood. We are off to a Thai, can't wait, will be nice to see them all and actually hold proper conversations without babies interupting.

A bigger boy (but not much)

Another good night for Tom, but I was wide awake at 4.30. Matt was snoring next to me, so I ended up playing on my ipod for over an hour to pass the time. Tom ate a huge breakfast and then had his nap whilst I did yet another load of laundry and tried to get the house in order (why is it sooooo easy to trash, yet so hard to tidy?)

11am saw us at St John's Church in Muxton. Being in Japan has given me the impetus I needed to do something about the extra pounds I'm carrying around (I felt soooooooo fat there). So I have returned to the aerobics class with attached creche that I did about 6 months ago. I was pleasantly surprised in that I wasn't as hugely out of breathe that I thought I would be, although the crunches etc at the end were very painful and I didn't manage the full set without a break.

Next week, once I'm completely over the jet lag I think I might start the Slimming World diet again - it seemed to work last time I did it, just need to find my book, study it, get rid of all the naughty food in the house and buy in some healthy stuff.

Came back, Tom had an enormous lunch and then a play whilst Matt and I ate ours. He then went off to bed, whilst I carried on trying to sort out the house.

The afternoon saw us at baby clinic as I was curious to see how much weight Tom put on in Japan as he ate so well. He is now 21lb 5oz, so he put 5oz. I was a little surprised, I expected more, but then again he has been quite active. Tom is enjoying standing at the moment. He will go into the lounge, pull out his toys, scatter them over the floor, and then spend the rest of the day standing - whether it be by the sofa, the table, using the banisters.

Tom had another very good dinner (last one in his present high chair as it is going back to the Watson's this week, his new one arrived today and looks very smart (nice wooden one which can be adjusted as Tom grows bigger - much smarter than ours anyway)). Then bath, bottle and bed. I gave Tom his bottle this evening, he decided that he was going to feed it to himself and took it off me. He did a good job.

Today's pic - as I said he likes to stand at the moment. It is really hard to get him to sit in the bath!

A new baseball star?

Another good night for Tom, we heard only minor grizzling from him at 9pm and 5am. Matt and I didn't do as well, were wide awake at 5.30am again. Maybe we should take some lessons from Tom?

Didn't really get up to much today. We went to Newport to do some shopping - I was on the look out for some Japanese ingredients. I have been inspired by our trip to Japan and want to eat more Japanese food as it is pretty healthy and fresh. I managed to get some mirin and some vinegar, but no soup base. I guess a trip to Setonikai is on the books when we get a chance.

We had lunch out (cake class tonight so I had dinner) and came home in time for Tom to have his nap. I spent this time cooking for Tom - bolognaise sauce with aubergine, mashed sweet and normal potato and I have cooked up some Japanese rice as he certainly loved it when we were over there and figure I should have a supply ready for him if he starts refusing other things.

The afternoon was pretty much run of the mill, Tom decided that he wanted to sit on my lap for most of it which is pretty nice as he is normally too busy to sit still. He had a good dinner, bath and bed.

I had a good cake class and have now made a posy of sugarcraft flowers. Quite proud of it, once Matt takes a pic of it I will put up on the blog. When I arrived back from cake class, Matt was asleep on the sofa. When he woke up, he thought he was at Dylan's in Japan and therefore very very confused. I sent him to bed as he was making no sense at all!

The outfit Tom is wearing today is from Matt's Japanese baseball team, he couldn't resist when he saw it in a shop.

Oh, I spent last night updating the blog from our holiday with some more photos, so might be worth going back to look at it.

Back to the old routine

Tom was a star last night. He woke up at 1.30, but got himself off. He then woke up again at 2.30, I went in to settle him and that was it until I went to get him at 7am. I did ok as well, woke up at 5.30 bright eyed so finished my book. Matt went downstairs as Tom woke him up at 1.30 and he was worried that it was going to be a bad night and he needed a good sleep as he's got a lot of work on this month and not much time to get it done (we are off to Iceland at the end of the month).

Today dawned beautiful again which I think put all of us in a good mood. Tom ate a good breakfast - he accepted Weetabix which was good, so polished off half a bix, a whole banana and half a hot cross bun. After his morning nap we scooted off to Asda to get some food in. His charm is still working well, about 5 grannies came up for a chat.

He had a big lunch after which I put him down for an early nap prior to driving to Bridgnorth for Gymbabes. He had a good session, he didn't want to climb anything, just wanted crawl around and whizz through the tunnel. He certainly wouldn't focus during the singing, squirming rather than sitting nicely. We went to Costa afterwards during which he was happy to sit still on my lap which was very nice, meant that I had a very relaxing drink and catch up with the girls.

Arrived home, Tom was very snoozy and a little fragile, but I managed to keep him awake, and he had another good dinner before bath and bed. He had a bath with me, during which he more or less refused to sit down. This meant that I saw him wee not once, but twice into the bath water. Fantastic! I had a shower afterwards!

Sorry, forgot to take a photo today.

Back home to sun

We had a much better night than expected. Matt and I were awake at 3.30 and 5am at which stage we gave up. Tom woke up at 5.30 and would not go back down again - so we had an early start to the day, but can't complain.

It was a beautiful day, clear blue skies which made being back home much nicer. After collecting Jodie from kennels we decided to go out for lunch in Ironbridge and then go for a walk with Tom in the pram. We all needed some fresh air and the two of us needed to stretch our legs. We had a lovely afternoon. Ironbridge was looking its best and we were all in high spirits. Tom had a good length nap in his pram.

He woke up when we put him in the car and then spent the afternoon feeling pretty tired. He kept trying to nuzzle into me for a sleep, but we managed to keep him going until 6pm when we gave him his bath. Matt joined him in the bath but soon called out to me as Tom was falling asleep in the water. I quickly dressed him (very floppy, not a wriggling octopus as usual), gave him his bottle and put him down to bed. I checked up on him later at 8.30 when Matt and I retired to bed to find him in exactly the same position as that I left him in - he hadn't moved an inch - must have been exhausted poor thing.

The longest day

So, our last day finally came. Not too much to say about it really. We had a lovely last breakfast with Hiromi. Tom disgraced himself by weeing on her carpet - she caught it on video as well - as you can see below. The naughty thing. Thankfully, Hiromi thought it was funny.

We got the bus down the hill to Rokko Michi station, then the express to Osaka where we said goodbye to Hiromi - we had such a lovely time with her, she, as usual was incredibly hospitable and enjoyed having Tom around. He is very lucky to have such a wonderful Japanese Aunt.

We arrived at Kansai, checked in immediately, found the restaurants (didn't manage to find them last time - note to self, don't go through security until we have eaten). Got through security with no problems, taking baby milk is fine in Japan, seems that it is just the UK that doesn't allow babies to have milk on their journeys (as you can see I am still very angry about that). Kansai also had a soft play area for babies, so we took Tom for a last Hai Hai before the flight.

We had an ok flight, unfortunately it was completely full, but we had a nice Mexican lady sat next to us who was very understanding. Tom fell asleep during take off and stayed asleep for 1.5 hours (his usual afternoon nap). We then tried to put him to sleep at the usual time for his night time sleep, but he wasn't having it. He fought and fought it for 2 hours until he finally nodded off exhausted. He managed 3 hours asleep (mostly in funny positions with bum sticking in the air) which was good. Arrived at Schipol early and had 3.5 hours to kill, so had dinner and then found some comfy loungers to rest in. Tom fell asleep on me here for a good hour.

Got the Birmingham flight out after an argument with security. This time because we had bought a bottle from duty free in Kansai, apparently you can't take a bottle purchased outside of the European Union through Europe. It is supposed to be taken off you and destroyed (Matt offered to open it and taste it, but that wasn't allowed). However, Tom worked his magic again, and the ladies bent the rules and allowed us to check it in using one of our hand luggage bags. Phew! Flight to Brum was fine, probably only about 20% full so very little hassle and our baggage was waiting for us on arrival.

Got the bus back to our car. Tom fell asleep during this time and didn't really wake up again apart from being put in and out of the rucksack and in and out of the car and being stripped, put in his pyjamas (oh he managed to wee on our carpet as well at this stage) and in his cot. He was a very tired boy.

Oh - video takes a while to load, but it is worth it.

Last day in Japan

So, our last blog entry from Japan - boo hoo!

Today we decided to go to Okayama so we could have a ride on the Rail Star (the nicest train we can use with our JR passes - basically a bullet train which is 100% business class). We gave Tom his morning nap in his tent (during which we went to the post office and sent off our box of Japanese goodies). We then walked down the hill and got the bus to Shin Kobe station for our train ride.

We had a very smooth ride, and as usual Tom managed to charm most of the people on the train. On arrival at Okayama, we nipped into Bic Camera for a quick look round (a huge electronics store). I fell in love with the Japanese fridges which are the biggest and tallest I have ever seen. Includes a separate drawer for vegetables. Matt said I wasn't allowed one because it won't fit in the luggage and the electrics are completely different from the UK - he is soooooo good at making excuses!!!!

Next stop was Takashimaya - a huge department store. We went straight to the children's area to find the soft play area for hai hai time for Tom. They didn't have one! How rubbish! They did have a baby rest room, so Tom spent some time crawling up and over all the baby change tables. They did have a cot in the room and the thought did pass our minds to put Tom in there for his afternoon sleep, but we thought better of it in the end. Next stop was lunch. We went to a cafeteria on the top floor: tempura for me and pork katsu for Matt. Tom had his usual rice and topping and polished it all off in no time at all.

We then wandered around Okayama, took us a good hour to find somewhere to buy baby wipes, but we got there in the end. Came across another 100 Yen store, so did our last shopping before heading back to the station. We got another Rail Star back. Tom and I enjoyed the private room so I could feed him - must be the fastest breast feed on record.

We stopped off in Osaka on the way home to pick up some more goodies before heading back to Rokko Michi and Hiromi's. Matt was on cooking duty, so he whipped up a stroganoff whilst I packed everything. We still have room for more - very strange!

Tom had a good playtime and bath, bottle and bed routine which was surprising but nice as he only had a 30 minute sleep this afternoon.

Some more things of note - Tom now has 11 teeth - I found a new one yesterday - a molar in his lower jaw. He has also started to play up when meeting new people and sometimes will go all shy. We have started calling him 'Tom the Tart' as he definitely knows what he is doing and plays up to an audience.

Oh, I've included a pic of our room at Hiromi's today. As you can see Tom has the safest place - under the table.

Baby restaurant!

Just when we thought Japan couldn't amuse us any more, we came across this. Th e Daimaru department store in Kobe has not only a big baby section and a baby changing area (see bare-arsed photo below), but also a baby restaurant where you can take your nipper for lunch. There's a wide choice of meals available, depending on the age of the diner, but Tom decided he'd like Oyakodon (chicken stew on rice), vegetable croquette with mushy peas and then biscuits for pud. A huge portion appeared, to which we all said "he'll never eat all that". He demolished the lot in five minutes flat and could have had more. We were both very impressed (again) by how well kids are looked after here.

He then sat as good as gold as we went to a posh Chinese restaurant for our lunch, after which Hiromi took us to an unusual cafe called Harimaya for a post-prandial coffee and snack. What is unusual about this chain of cafes is that everything is free, snacks and drinks. They make all their money from people buying boxes of their (rather excellent) rice crackers to take away. Interesting concept.

Tom then nodded off in the rucksack, but only managed half an hour's kip before he was woken by a couple of squealing tee nage girls. This would prove costly later on. We visited Sogo, downtown Kobe's other big department store, to see whether their baby facilities matched those at Daimaru. No nippers' dining room, but they did have a very good soft play area, where Tom was befriended and then thumped by two very fat young local lasses. I strolled around for a bit and managed to get him a pair of shinkansen pyjamas at half price. It's been quite a good trip for new clothes for him.

We decided before the trip that we'd buy a load of non-perishable Japanese food here and send it back to ourselves by sea freight, so we braved a big supermarket to stock up with mochi (rice cakes) and a variety of ingredients for Japanese stews, curries and other delights. They'll be dispatched tomorrow morning and should be with us in a couple of months.

We then made the usual train & bus journey back to Hiromi's flat, arriving just in time to give His Nibs his dinner, which he took well enough. His good humour ran out immediately thereafter though, and bath time was a very unpleasant affair, with Tom screaming as if in complete agony for a good 10 minutes. A bottle of milk seemed to placate him, however, and we haven't heard from him since he was put in his tent. Fingers crossed that tonight is as good as last night, when he only woke up once and went straight back to sleep after being re-plugged.

Back to Kobe

So, we've completed our whirlwind trip of central Japan and are now back in Kobe for the last two full days of our holiday. Such a shame it's gone so fast; I really wish we were all here for longer.

We bade farewell to Dylan, who could not have been more hospitable, at Fukui and caught the "Thunderbird" express down to Kyoto. Again, exceptional service on the train. The guard not only told Nik which car had baby-changing facilities, but broke off from his ticket-checking duties to escort them there in person. She couldn't get the toilet door to close as every time she hit the close button the guard bowed or waved, breaking the infrared beam and making the doors re-open! Then, a bit later on, he re-appeared with a special "Thunderbird Express" kiddies ticket especially for Tom as a souvenir of the trip. What a star.

We then toddled two stops up the line to Otsu to meet Barry, an old friend of mine from Kobe, who married a l

ocal girl and is still living in Japan. They fed us a very nice lunch in their lovely 8th floor flat, co mplete with Steinway grand piano, which overlooks Lake Biwa, whilst Tom slept in his tent, and we spent the afternoon just catching up and talking about this and that. We went for a walk along the lake, they live in a lovely location, Sarah, their 6 year old daughter accompanied us on a bike - apparently there is a cycle path right round the lake. Unfortunately Tom didn't really enjoy it, maybe it was too cold, or too windy, or he was tired or hungry, but he grizzled for most of it which was a shame.

On our return, we got a taxi back to the station ready for our trip back to Kobe. By now it was 5pm, so we decided to have dinner at the station - my new favourite dish "nabeyaki udon" for me and "niku udon" for Matt, while Tom had a ready made Japanese baby rice meal followed by an Ella sachet. We then took a deep breath and caught some commuter trains back to Kobe. We were expecting it to be hectic, but were pleasantly surprised as it wasn't that bad.

Also, Tom made a couple of friends on each train which kept him (and them) amused. He was a little bad in that he decided to be sick on me just as we were leaving one train, so we both smelt quite bad for the rest of the trip!

Got to Rokko Michi and the bus up to Hiromi's. She wasn't in so we got everything organised as quickly as possible, gave Tom his cough medicine, a very quick wash with a warm flannel, then bottle and bed. We haven't heard from him yet, but he must have been tired, it was 8pm before he finally got to go in his tent ready for sleep. Let's hope he has a good sleep.

Another onsen!

That's 3 in less than 48 hours for us, but we're very aware that they'll soon become impossible again.

It wasn't a great night last night. Tom was up several times, simply by coughing himself awake. He went back down fairly quickly each time, but it's not nice to see him suffering. Still, as usual, he's been bright and cheerful today, but hasn't eaten so well, probably because of his throat as well. Either that, or he's finally fed up with rice.

Anyway, we decided to head slightly further afield for a day out today, so headed just over the border into Ishikawa Prefecture, to a little hot spring town called Yamashiro. We booked a private onsen suite for just the 3 of us in a very plush hotel, which was extremely pleasant, although Tom was being a bit of Mummy's boy and cried every time Nik gave him to me in the bath. As I said, he's not quite himself at the moment.

Still, after we finally emerged from the hot water, I got chatting to a couple of university professors and Tom had his best ever crawling session up and down the hotel's vast and luxuriously carpeted lobby. This caught the attention of virtually all the hotel staff, who came out to watch. Tom put on a superb display of crawling, standing, grinning, clapping, waving etc., and when we finally got round to leaving, almost all of them were at the front bowing, waving and pleading with us (well, just Tom probably) to come back.

Slow, but uneventful journey back, pausing only for a session at the local 100 yen shop, which wasn't quite as good as the equivalent shopping frenzy last time we were in Japan. We may have another bash in Kobe on Friday. We did stop at a clothes' shop on the way to Yamashiro this morning, where we managed to get 4 outfits for Tom at very good prices.

So, a pretty good day all in all. Back to Kobe tomorrow, via Kyoto to see another old friend of mine. It's been a nice 3 days here in Fukui. Shame we didn't have a bit longer.

Sorry about the lack of a photo today. We forgot to take Nik's camera. We did get some "live" onsen footage in Yamashiro, but I can't upload it from the camcorder here.

Nik here, finally got a chance to get on the computer. Thought I should add that we have had a developmental break through today. Whilst Matt was chatting with the professors in the hotel lobby, Tom decided to play with a coffee table. He pulled himself up at one end and cruised to the other end so he could try to pull the no smoking sticker off it. He did this more than once, so it wasn't a fluke. Since we've been back at Dylan's he's been pulling himself up on the sofa and cruising to the end, dropping down then crawling back to the start to do it all over again. So, I think we can now say that Tom is officially cruising. I would have taken some video evidence, but my camera wasn't to hand and I didn't want to move and potentially disturb him (especially as I was one of the pieces of equipment in his route)

His cough hasn't been too bad today, it was pretty bad last night, he got himself into coughing fits that just wouldn't end a couple of times last night, meaning I had to get up and sort him out (he has his own bedroom here) We are hoping that the onsen today will have helped clear his sinuses. I guess we will find out tonight as it is always worse when he lies down.

Oh, I would also like to add that the onsen last night was complete and utter bliss. Matt and Dylan took Tom on their side, leaving me free for half an hour of complete relaxation. I had the longest shower and then dips in 3 pools before lying down in a strong bubble pool to be pummelled for 5 minutes. I ended up looking like a lobster, but was very very relaxed, in fact I think it was the most relaxing thing I've done since Tom was born. As I don't speak Japanese I didn't have to make small talk to anyone and not being responsible for anyone was lovely. It was pure heaven, just a shame it couldn't have been 30 mins longer and include a massage...

Buddha Tom

We're now back from our trip to Eiheiji, and very enjoyable it was too. Not many people about, so everything was quite serene and, erm, Zen-like. It's a lovely spot up in the mountains, with loads of snow still on the ground; it's been a cold winter here apparently. We did a fairly quick tour of the main buildings of the monastery, some of which were covered with plastic wrappings to protect them from the snow, which can be up to 5 metres deep at times. We had one fascinating episode where we "ran the gauntlet" of at least 50 monks chanting sutras at us; presumably some sort of blessing. It was an amazing noise and rendered a hitherto very shouty Tom completely silent.

I did make a bit of a fool of myself, as I managed to lock our umbrella in a combination lock without remembering the combination. I mentioned this to the slipper-wallah at the exit, who said she'd get someone to sort out the problem. I imagined she'd ask a janitor or someone, but no, it was a Zen monk in all his finery who demonstrated that Buddhists are nothing if not resourceful by (eventually) picking the lock with a match. I was apologizing for rousing him from his sutras, and he was apologizing back for not being able to pick the lock quickly enough. All very surreal and I'm not sure who had the redder face when we finally parted.

We then trundled our way very slowly back to Fukui, stopping at a couple of shops to get stuff for dinner tonight. We're all hoping to hit the onsen again after Tom's dinner and before ours.

By the way, Tom hopes you all like his impression of the Buddha he did at Eiheiji earlier.

New experiences

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. We were travelling all day from Tokyo to Fukui, where we are now, and I didn't get a chance to find an Internet connection. The journey, which involved 5 trains, was a fairly trying affair as Tom refused to go down for his morning nap even on the super-smooth bullet train. The afternoon leg was a bit better, but we were mighty relieved when we finally arrived and were chauffeured to our accommodation. We're staying with Dylan, a friend of mine from my days in Kobe, and after we'd settled in and given Tom his dinner, we all ventured out to the local onsen to give Tom his first taste of a hot spring. He was in the ladies' part with Nik while Dylan and I chatted away and caught up, but we'll take him in with us when we next go (probably this evening) as Nik had trouble changing both him and herself with only 1 pair of hands (Tom was doing a very good impression of a Kamikazi, he kept trying to jump off the baby change station (its straps didn't work) which meant she had to grow extra arms to restrain him whilst dressing herself - fun!). Still, he apparently enjoyed the experience very much and charmed all the other bathers with some good splashing.

Tom's cough isn't getting any better, despite his medicine, but he slept very well again last night and seems bright and perky again today, so I don't think he's suffering at all. We're off up into the mountains today to visit Eiheiji, a working Zen monastery, so we'll have to wrap him up warm as it's still quite chilly. Will post again later on.