Tom slept through!

I have asked Mike and Michelle to have Seren blessed everyday as last night Tom went to sleep around 6.30pm and didn't wake up until 7.20am! - hallelujah. Now all we need is for him to do that when we have a normal day.

Not much to report for today otherwise. We went to group in the morning and then went for walk in the afternoon down to the post office to post Judy her photo and then Asda for bits for the week - not very interesting. I did notice though, that Asda's baby event which was supposed to start tomorrow was already running, so went back home to pick up the car and Matt and bought a trolley load of nappies, wipes and a travel buggy - all for under £50 - should keep us going for quite a while and will mean that we won't have to lug the big pram down to London this weekend.

That's about it for today. Tom was ok today - not particularly happy and not particularly grizzly - somewhere in between. He had a one hour sleep in the morning a hour and a half for lunch and 20 mins in the afternoon. Not confident that he will sleep through again tonight, especially as today he kept rolling onto his front, waking up and crying during his naps.

Ring of Babies at 6 months

Last night was a one wake up night - 3am for feeding once again. Tom went straight back to sleep though as I did, so wasn't too bad. Matt had disappeared before Tom woke me up, apparently I was snoring?! I don't know about that but I slept well when I was asleep. Tom didn't wake up until 8am which was nice.

Today was Seren's blessing, so 11am saw us at the Church in Lilleshall. Was a nice service, and the babies behaved themselves quite well - the boys were much better behaved than the girls - Mae decided to shout and Jessica did a nice loud burp. Seren did very well.

The afternoon was spent at the reception in Newport. The NCT crowd were the last to leave (is this a symptom of the fact we don't get out to socialise that much anymore so make the most of any opportunity). We did the usual: lots of baby talk, all babies are being weaned now so tips are being passed from mum to mum. As you can see from the photos we managed to do the ring of babies again (it's getting harder as the babies are more mobile and wanting to roll and move) and also a big group photo. As has become the norm, Tom would not sleep, meaning he got very tired. He fell asleep as soon as we put him in the car, but unfortunately didn't sleep for very long, meaning he was grouchy for the rest of the day.

Funny today, even though I had a good sleep I feel absolutely exhausted. Not good as when I'm exhausted, everything seems like hard work and I get irritable very quickly, still waiting for that time when Tom sleeps through. I wonder when it will happen...

My first non grizzly swimming lesson

Funny that I commented on the old cat's behaviour yesterday. Last night she showed herself to be even more of a mother to him. Whilst I was out getting our Friday night curry, Tom woke up screaming and screaming. Matt tried to calm him down, but nothing would work. Jodie must have heard her "little brother" in distress, as she came hurtling up the stairs, jumped straight into his cot (not bad for an 18-year old cat) and proceeded to give him a love. Within 10 seconds Tom was calm and within 30 seconds he was chuckling. They really do have a bond. Tom went straight back to sleep again without any trouble.

Of course he was awake again at 3am and once again he wouldn't go back to sleep, so I had to feed him. That's the third night in a row I've had to do feed him to get back to sleep. He is quite hungry when he feeds, he takes quite a bit. I'm wondering if he is having another growth spurt and genuinely needs some more food in the night. When he wakes, he is full of beans, very pleased to see me. If I don't feed him, then he stays awake and his chatter gradually turns to crying, oh hum.

This morning was his first lesson with Waterbabies after the summer holidays. He was a different Tom. All the work we put in during July and August has certainly paid off as he was very happy, not even a suggestion of a grizzle from him. He went underwater a few times without a murmur. He has learnt the signals and closes his eyes and mouth when I tell him he is about to be ducked.

Had coffee afterwards with Rose and Martin and then went off to Wellington for lunch and to get some paint for the house - yes Mum, we are finally doing something to the house (mainly in preparation for putting the house on the market). The porch including the gas and electricity meters is now looking good (we were letting the street down so had to do something about it) and Matt is painting the wall alongside the first flight of stairs to cover up the hole we gouged in the wall when we moved in. It's only taken us 5 years...

Mike and Michelle came round to collect Seren's cake. It turned out ok, but I was a little disappointed with myself. The star upper layer turned out to be bigger than the base. Not by much, Matt said not to worry, but it wasn't the perfect cake I was hoping it to be. Oh well, I guess I will know for next time...

This afternoon we spent some time in the garden - it's such a lovely day today. One lot of potatoes were ready to dig up, so Matt got a trowel and started taking out the compost, throwing it over the veggie patch. This was the funniest thing Tom had seen in a long time. Every time he threw some compost on the patch he giggled and giggled, it obviously was very very funny. So a good way to occupy both my boys, and we got a decent(ish) harvest which was a bonus.

7 months old

Hi all, sorry I didn't post anything yesterday - been rushed off my feet with one thing or another. It was Tom's 7 month birthday yesterday. Other than that there isn't much to report on yesterday. We went to group in the morning and then I spent the rest of the day baking cakes ready for Sunday.

Today was a little more exciting. The morning was spent splitting and icing cakes (first one went a little wrong, but mistakes hopefully will be disguised later. Then we went to Newport to meet with Rachel and Amanda for lunch. Was really lovely, could have spent hours and hours chatting, there is sooooo much to talk about when rearing babies, so many problems, challenges, quesries etc and it is much easier to talk about them when there are only a couple of you. Tom was quite well behaved, he ate all his food without any trouble, normally I have real trouble getting savoury food into him. He even ate some of my salad.

Came home and finished icing the cakes. Managed to ice the star shaped one without too much trouble. Just need to put them together tomorrow morning with the dowels and do some icing. I'm going to attempt Royal icing - we will see how it goes...

Oh - one new thing that Tom is doing this week - when he sits on me he always lurches forwards, he seems desparate to go on his front. As soon as I let him on his front he starts crying and wants picking up, and so we go round in circles. I don't know if it is the beginning of his instinct to crawl?

Today's pic - Jodie really loves her 'brother', she is incredibly maternal towards him. She will choose to go and sit next to him. He will grab at her, pull fur from her, pull her tail, legs etc and she just lets him. There has been an odd cross word, which is amazing considering the amount of pulling that goes on. Put it this way, we would we covered in scratches if we treated her the same.

A happy day

What a difference a day makes! Tom still had a bad night - had us up from 3.00 to 4.30, but then he slept in to 8am. I went in to find a happy baby, coupled with bright blue skies, today has been a good day.

Spent the morning cleaning and tidying. Cleaning the kitchen and tidying Tom's room - both of which were well overdue. Had lunch and once Tom was awake from his nap, we went to baby clinic (Tom is now 19lb 4oz) followed by Asda to get lots of cake making ingredients in for Seren's cake.

Tom has been a very happy baby all day (except when I put him in the scales at Baby Clinic). Full of chuckles and smiles. His routine has gone completely to pot, thanks to him waking up so late, meaning he's one nap down, hopefully that won't affect his sleep tonight - I guess we will wait and see.

He's currently having his bath and I've a duck in the oven (half price again in Sainsbury's), can't wait for dinner...

Grizzly Tom

Didn't have the best night, Tom woke up around 2am and would not go to sleep. I ended up 'drugging him' ie giving him a feed to get him back off again. It was a good hour / hour and a half before any of us got back to sleep.

As a result Tom has been tired and grizzly today. He refused to eat his breakfast at the usual time, so I put him to bed and thankfully he ate it when he woke up.

We went to Tuesday Group which is toddlers and babies and very noisy. Tom at one stage was in a love nest with a 9 month old girl, but that ended when she poked him in the eye - oops.

Came home and had a quiet afternoon, well when I say quiet it wasn't really as Tom was in full grizzling mode for the whole afternoon. I could tell he was tired, he kept rubbing his eyes, but surprisingly he didn't have any longer than average naps.

He is sitting really really well now, hardly wobbles at all. And as the picture shows, he plays his drum now, he has worked out to bash it and spin it, so I don't get to play on it any more.

Anyway, it is 6.50pm and I can't hear anything from upstairs, so here's hoping he has a better sleep and is in a better mood tomorrow.

Dad's so funny

We got back to our usual routine today. As it is September the Monday Club reopened so we went down there this morning and had a good natter. Karen and Isabel were there as well as some little ones (not as little as Stella though).

Tom had his lunch (reluctantly - I had to cover his veg in fromage frais to get him to open his mouth) and went to bed. The afternoon saw us in Asda getting some bits and bobs (they have a cleaning event at the moment, so ended up with lots of bleach, sponges, dishwasher tablets etc at half price or less - guess I have no excuse now not to have a clean house???!)

He went for his afternoon nap with no fuss, so I spent the hour making Tom food. I made more cauliflower, carrot, tomato, basil and cheese mush which he likes so much and I made his first protein dish - salmon, carrots, tomato and cheese. He had this for his dinner, and it went down quite well, he kept opening his mouth for a while, which in my books means success. He was then a very happy chappy for the rest of the day.

Oh - I haven't mentioned, his hair is growing, it's still very fine, and we still can't work out what colour it is - blonde / brown / auburn, but it is definitely growing, he even has fuzzy bits at the back now. Some mums in the groups I go to think that he is going to have curly hair - strange, none of us have curly hair in the family.

Today's pic - Tom looking at his Dad. Looking at his Dad is always a good reason to have a chuckle.

Tom the Giant

Today was a real watershed for me in terms of realising how much Tom has grown and developed. We went to visit our friends Sam and Kamila, who have just brought home their 4-day old daughter Stella. I was obviously expecting Tom to seem chunky in comparison, but I was genuinely shocked at how light, tiny and (especially) delicate little Stella was. She was 7lb 4oz at birth, almost identical to Tom, but was he really ever that small? Incredible how much little ones develop in such a short time. Nik wasn't quite so taken aback, as she's had some encounters with newborns at the various groups that she takes Tom to, but it really blew me away.

It's been a fairly quiet weekend, which is probably what we all needed, having motored around the country quite a bit in the last week or so. We took Tom swimming at the lovely pool in Hadley yesterday, which he enjoyed for a good 45 minutes before getting grisly. The next Water Babies term starts there next Saturday, so we're hoping he's more receptive than term 1 in Shrewsbury, which resulted in some truly apocalyptic screaming fits. The water at Hadley is beautifully warm, which must help, but it's mainly the atmosphere that relaxes him. Soft lighting, appropriate music and, most important, no bigger kids charging around. Just after swimming, we bumped into George, one of Tom's Water Babies classmates from Shrewsbury, who has the most incredible piercing blue eyes and, much to his mother's delight, no teeth yet at 8 months old.

That's about it. Jude & Richard popped round this afternoon to have a play with Tom, which everyone enjoyed. Time to sign off now, as I can smell a roast gammon joint summoning me upstairs.

I'm very proud of our son.

Sorry we have been offline for a couple of days. We went down to Maldon to say goodbye to Gran. Not only did she not have a computer, but my Aunt also doesn't have one, meaning no access to the internet (how very backward, who'd have thought it and in Essex too!).

So, on Thursday it was Gran's funeral, we had an OK trip down but seemed to get stressed over time to get ourselves dressed, Tom dressed and all of us fed, however, we all got there in the end.

Members of the family that hadn't seen each other in 30+ years turned up to say their farewells. I must say I was very very proud of Tom, he was very well behaved. He stayed silent during the service, which included a fantastic speech from Dad, describing Gran. He pitched it exactly right and did her proud.

Tom then spent the rest of the day doing the rounds with the relatives, he was a great distraction for everyone and ice-breaker for those who didn't know each other. Ann and Richard from Harrow turned up, along with Julian (Dad's cousin) and Suzanne (no idea how related - but a link from the Branch's time in Grenada)

Tom napped on the dining room floor without any fuss, and later on had a bath and went for his long sleep back on floor with not even a murmur.

The Branch family has certainly got confusing now, as Tom has a relative (not blood, but treated as so) who is 3 weeks younger than him, but a generation below him. How does that work? Mark's daughters, Fern and Dana were all over Tom, playing with him, but then they are part of a big family and are used to babies.

Judy gave me Gran's ring - apparently she told several people that she wanted it to come to me. I had no idea, and before I saw it, couldn't picture it, however, I recognised it instantly on sight. I stupidly didn't ask about the history of it, so will need to make enquiries. It's a heavy old thing, but I will treasure it - I am very very touched that she wanted me to have it.

Tom slept well in the B&B - he didn't keep us awake, but I couldn't sleep, too much going on in my mind, duvet too thick etc etc. He did, however, wake up far too early so we had a long play in bed, before taking him down to mum and dad's room at 8.

The owner of the B&B was very good, provided us with a high chair, which we got Tom to sit in (with lots of blankets wedging him in) and even provided some food and a Peter the Rabbit Bowl for him (was China, so we used a tupperware instead!) The morning was then spent strolling around Maldon (very good cake shop which Dana told us about - purchased some bits and pieces for Seren's cake) and then in Gran's flat. Was very strange, Judy wanted us to take anything we wanted to remind us of Gran, but I found it very hard, was as if we were scavenging. I found her old china dessert bowels which really reminded me of her - Bread Pudding, Creme Caramels and Banana Custards were always served in them when we stayed with her in Folkestone. They really remind me of Gran so I took them. Judy insisted that I take the rest of the set as well - so I have. Not sure what or where I'm going to put them, but it will be nice to see them from time to time and be reminded of her.

We left around midday and drove home. Tom was asleep the whole way, except when we stopped for lunch, which was perfect. As it was a Friday, we got ourselves a curry after putting Tom to bed.

I don't have any photos from our time away, was so busy looking after Tom, I didn't really get a chance. I'm hoping that some will come my way soon.

I think I know where my mouth is...

I have asked Amanda if we can come over every night. Tom went straight back to sleep on returning home last night and I didn't hear from him again until 7am this morning - fantastic. However, we didn't get to bed late, so we didn't really profit from the good fortune!

This morning we went to baby clinic, Tom has finally put on weight, yahooo. He is now 19lb 2oz, so he put on 8oz last week. This afternoon found us at the HLC for another swimming session, there were only 4 of us in today, so loads of room for us to play. Tom was as relaxed as ever. He now knows the signals for going under water and screws up his eyes and purses his mouth - what a clever boy.

Came home, Tom had his nap, whilst I got going again on the WOSAs, they are in, so this means no housework for a week or so, whilst I try to get them done during Tom's naps.

This evening was spent running round the house trying to work out what to take tomorrow, it's only overnight, but there are so many what ifs, just in cases etc etc, and we have the added complication of food - what to take, how much to take etc etc.

Today's pic - Tom has worked out how to feed himself banana, admittedly most of it ends up on his clothes, on the floor, underneath him, on his head, but some of it does go in his mouth!

Ring of Babies?

Had a good day yesterday, but didn't have time to write blog. Tom was up around 3 times, humpfh! Today, I had a strict plan of action to ensure I got everything done for tonight. So during Tom's first nap I iced the cake - see pic. Am quite proud of it - think the babies came out quite well. Second nap I made the banoffe pie and during his third nap I cut and put the fruit together.

Why this rush of activity, well, all the NCT couples and babies were invited to Amanada and Tim's for supper. First time many of us have been invited out at night. Amanda and Tim have a very large house (5 bedrooms) but are due to move out in 2 week's time (it's rented and the owner has sold it), so decided to invite us all over. Had a lovely time, and the babies were very well behaved - the house was so spacious that they all had their own bedroom. Tom managed to fall asleep at the first attempt and stayed asleep for the whole night.

Amanda had made a fantastic lasagna and provided loads of garlic bread and salads, yummy and my desserts seemed to go down ok. We were going to do the 'ring of babies' photo, but it never happened - oh hum! Maybe next time...

Anyway, didn't get home until after 11pm (the latest we've been up for ages).

I won't sleep if I'm not at home

Not an ideal night, can't remember how many times I had to get up, maybe three, maybe four.

We decided to try to do the walk again that we had to abandon a couple of weeks back. As we drove over to Ironbridge, the clouds were threatening and for a moment we thought it would be rained off again.

However, the weather ended up being ok and we completed the walk. Was a short walk, but very very steep, I struggled just carrying a rucksack, not sure how Matt did it with Tom attached to him. View from the top of the hill was really good, and we got a new view of the Ironbridge. We found quite a few trails leading off from the paths we followed, so think there is quite a bit of exploring to do.

Once completed, we had lunch at Cherry's Cafe at the Greenwood Centre where we left the car, before coming home. Afternoon was spent baking a cake for tomorrow and then whizzing over to Michelle's to talk about the cake I'm going to make for Seren.

Because we were round Michelle's Tom refused to nap, so was quite grumbly. He fell asleep instantly in the car, but woke up on arrival back home as he couldn't go to his cot - sheets being washed due to nappy leakage during last nap. However, saying that he had his bath and drank his milk up before going to sleep so wasn't too bad.

This photo - another favourite outfit - from Vera. I think he looks like a budding pilot in it, Matt thinks he looks like a superhero, 'Chopper Boy'. This is age 6-9 months and he fills it, I can never understand the grading of baby clothes, he still fits in some 0-3 month clothes as well. How can that be?

I'm a big boy now (almost)

Had a good night. Tom woke up screaming around 9.15, took a good half hour to get him sorted - lots of cuddles, some Calpol (we think he is teething and has the sniffles) lots more cuddles, comfort feed, he went down again without any complaint. We didn't hear from him again until 5.50 so I had a 6 hour sleep (I didn't wake up at 4) yahoooooooooooooooo. He of course wanted to get up at 5.50 so we had a bit of a battle of wills until 7am which is getting up time.

Tom was pretty happy this morning, but refused to eat his breakfast. Well I think that is a little too harsh, he ate some but only about half his usual. I offered him some fruit, but he wouldn't eat that either. I think he was too tired, he had been up an extra hour after all.

Today we went down to Bristol to meet up with Mum and Dad and Simon, Clare and Jake as it is Mum's birthday tomorrow. We had found a pub at Littleton Upon Severn, a couple of miles from the M5 and M4. The others had got there early for a walk and to expend energy before lunch. We had a good lunch, unfortunately they didn't have their regular menu on but the food was good enough, the puddings were amazing - both Matt and I had chocolate mousse - not sure it was a good idea, especially thinking about our last experience of chocolate mousse. (It is now 7 hours later and I can still feel it - ooops) Tom and Jake were very well behaved. Tom was in a high chair for the first time and did very well. He ate his lunch without too much bother and was very well behaved whilst we ate ours, we all had a two handed lunch. Mum liked her cake - we didn't get to eat it - were too busy enjoying our 'token desserts' but that wasn't the point, it was the making of it. Will be quite a challenge for the two of them to eat it!

We went to a park afterwards so Jake could expend some more energy. Tom had a go on the swing but it was a little too big for him. Jake on the other hand absolutely loved them. Came home without too much bother, traffic good and Tom slept more or less the whole way.

All in all a good day, and Tom behaved very very well.

A happy day with Auntie Jude

Bloody awful night. Tom was awake every half hour from 1am. I tried the old tested method of feeding him to sleep and even that didn't work - first time ever. He wasn't crying, but noisy. I tried to ignore him, but as time went on the noise got louder and louder until I had to do something about it. He, as always was very happy to see me each time, but towards the end of the night I was getting very short with him.

Today we went up to Chirk to see Jude - haven't been to her place for ages, since before Tom was born anyway. Had lunch and then a quick walk along the canal. Tom was in great form, laughing almost constantly. His laugh has changed recently from a small chuckle to a dirty man laugh - i.e. no sound as such just heavy breathing, is very endearing. He has a snotty nose today, so that might have something to do with it.

Came home via Sainsburys to get some food. We were a little behind schedule so Tom didn't get to bed until after 7pm . He didn't manage his usual quota of sleep today being out of routine, so maybe, just maybe he will sleep tonight?

Swimming really is fab

A better night last night, Tom only woke once. Not sure if it has anything to do with the amount of food he has, but last night for his dinner he had half an avocado mixed with half a banana. It was a huge portion, I didn't expect him to finish even half of it, but it all went down and he still managed about 6oz of milk just before bed.

Anyway, was nice to have a fairly uninterrupted night. Had a boring morning - went into Newport on the hunt for some things for cake making, but failed miserably and came home emtpy handed.

Had lunch and then all three of us went to Hadley for another session in the swimming pool. Had a wonderful time, we had the pool to ourselves for the first half hour which was fab. Matt couldn't get over the change in Tom, we all had lots of fun.

I love my new bath toys

Not a great night last night either, I ended up feeding him to get him back to sleep after numerous visits to settle him. It worked, but really don't want to make it a habit for him to get back into.

We think he may be teething again, he doesn't have red cheeks, but he is drooling, stuffing his whole fist in his mouth and chewing EVERYTHING he can get hold of. I have had a good look in his mouth and can't see anything, but that doesn't mean they aren't moving. This afternoon he was shouting a lot so I tried him on the teething powders Lisa recommended and I had in ready (yes for once I was ready in advance!) Looked like I was giving him cocaine as they were white powders wrapped in a paper. I think I got most of them in his mouth - bit hard to say though.

This morning we went to the Oakengates group - haven't been for a while so it was good to see everyone again. We were brave today and went into the 'big room' for 6 month to 1 year olds. Was very very noisy, Tom rather than looking the biggest looked the smallest, there were lots of babies crawling, some walking and all very noisy. Not sure if we will go there next time or go back to the smaller baby room...

We had a quiet afternoon, not up to much. Oh forgot to mention, Michelle has asked me to do Seren's cake for her blessing next month - very scary, but I said yes. It needs a star theme (of course - Seren is Welsh for star), to be yellow, and consist of two cakes - one sponge, another fruit. Certainly a challenge, but one I hope to rise to, I certainly need the practise and am very flattered that they have asked me.

Today's pic - well Tom has finally made it to the big bath, and now he is able to sit up, we figured he would like some toys to play with. Ann, one of Matt's friends gave Tom some Amazon vouchers for his Naming Day, so we spent them and this is the result (I think Matt will be wanting to have a bath more often now...)

Toys - pahh! I love spoons

Tom was a little bugger last night. I'm not sure, but I think he woke up at 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am and 5am (not sure because it all rolls into one after a while). I did try to leave him on his own to go back to sleep, but he wouldn't and the noise just got louder and louder. Every time I went in there was a big gummy grin on his face - the little bugger - it's so hard to angry with him when he is like that.

Today is buggysize day, but the weather is horrible, my joints are very stiff and I didn't think any of the other girls were going, so I knocked it on the head and decided to do the Asda, Library and Baby Clinic run instead - Tom hasn't put on any weight, but I'm not surprised after the amount of poo he has produced this week. He, hopefully has regulated himself now, and will put on some weight next week.

This afternoon saw us at the HLC for another swimming session with Rachel and Mae. As usual it was lovely, Tom spent a full hour in the water and was very relaxed and cooing at the end.

He had a nice long sleep on our return, then dinner - today he ate my cauliflower cheese (I mixed it with butternut squash which seemed acceptable). I gave him a big lump of banana to play with as usual, today he managed to pick it up and put it in his mouth and take a chunk out of it. He suprised himself and spat it out, but I managed to convince him to take it again and he ate it - so chunks are now offically ok (well if they are made from banana). He then spent a good 30 minutes playing with a spoon in his high chair which was fantastic as it meant I could get things done.

Tom's toy box has arrived

So, no repeat performance from Tom last night. We woke at 1am (took 3 attempts to get him back to sleep) and then again at 4am. Oh well, I didn't really expect him to sleep through again, although it would have been nice. His rash is even better today, 2 big blotches on his tum, and a number of smaller spots here and there, but nothing really to worry about - so I won't!

We don't have much on this week, so we went along to a mother and baby group this morning, was good, met a couple of familiar faces, so had a good chat. Came home, fed Tom, fed self, then opened the big big package that had arrived whilst out. Tom's toy box has arrived (this is our present to Tom for his naming day) we had it custom made (those of you who went to Uni with me - remember Mel - who can forget him! His girlfriend did it for us) we asked for it to include our favourite animals - tiger for Matt, frog and giraffe for me and then of course Wilberforce had to be included. I know you wouldn't normally find these animals together but it works well doesn't it?

Sleep - we are getting there...

We all had a good sleep last night. Tom didn't wake up until 5.45 - hurray! Unfortunately I was awake at 4 as usual waiting for him to call, but he didn't. It took 4 trips to settle him back to sleep again when he did wake up, but he did nod off again around 6.30. So, a successful night, just need to convince him to do it again and tag on an extra hour...

Had a look at his rash this morning and it has very nearly disappeared. He still has some blotches on the back of his head, some around the top of his legs and a couple on his tum, but nothing like how it was so we decided he doesn't need a trip to the drs.

He was a good baby this morning, he wasn't too loud and get this - he ate his weetabix and prunes up without even one dab hitting his bib, I guess he was hungry.

After his morning nap we went out shopping. First stop the cake shop to pick up some bits and pieces for my next couple of cakes, then to Asda to stock up on bits and pieces for the week. Got home just past 12, gave Tom his lunch, but he really wasn't interested, so I put him down to nap instead.

To give him his dues, he more or less finished his lunch when he woke up. We were going to go round to see Carol, but she was on her way out of the office when I called, so we stayed in. Unfortunately Tom decided he was going to shout, I think he disturbed his Dad a little - he was pleased when he went for his afternoon nap.

So we are now all happier now that the weaning is going better, although I can tell that I'm producing less breast milk, my body unfortunately is reverting back to how it was pre- birth. So, my hair is mad in the morning, my nails are brittle and break at the slightest thing and my knees are crunching and legs are stiff which is horrible, horrible, horrible. Time to go back on the cod liver oil (can you take that if you are breast feeding? Another one to look up). Unfortunately, the appetite has not calmed down at all - I'm doomed to be forever fat, or to go on a diet which won't work as at the moment I don't have the motivation for it.

Blotchy boy

As you can from the photo, Tom's rash hasn't got any better, it's just moved north from his nappy line to his chest. It looks ghastly, but he still doesn't seem aware of it in the slightest. Thank God. Still, I think a trip to the health centre tomorrow is probably in order.

It's been a fairly quiet day for us. We popped into Newport this morning to spend £20 worth of Waitrose vouchers we had. That's about 5 items in Waitrose, but as I write this, I'm being tormented by the droolworthy smell of a belly pork joint roasting slowly in the oven. I've also opened a nice-looking bottle of French Merlot. Oh yes, it's gourmet nosh tonight.

Community spirit took over in Eastwood Drive this afternoon, as all of us (including Tom and Jodie) and all four Gouges set about mending the railings that Nik, ahem, encountered in the car the other day. We were busy wondering how on earth to bend them back into shape (they're quite thick and very stiff), but our genius neighbours from no. 53 suggested just swapping the panel in question with one that's hidden by the hedge. So that's what we did. How did we not think of that?

I did a bit of indoor refurbishment today as well, and Tom's lovely wooden aeroplane mobile is now hanging directly above his cot instead of just dangling from the light-shade. He seems very happy with the new arrangement and spent a good few minutes transfixed by it.

Right, time to go back up and see if dinner's ready.