So, it must be over eight weeks now, and we’re still getting on famously!
Yep, I’ll have to agree with him. We do have a mutual appreciation society going on, especially now his cuddles are a little more gentle.
Here we are watching the Tour De France on telly with Dad. I don’t know why he watches it really, all he does is complain that they’re all cheats and they should ride real bikes.
Chris bought Nanny to see us while we were still car-less, I had a lovely sleepy cuddle and watched Postman Pat with her.
And then it was my turn:
Things were getting desperate in the afternoons what with the wet weather and the lack of transport so we finally cracked and walked to the bowling alley. I was really excited about it as we hadn’t been since Dad’s birthday. As soon as we left the house it tipped it down with rain. I had to huddle under the rain cover in Ellis buggy with her to stay dry. Sadly there wasn’t room for Mum and Dad so they got soaked. The bad luck didn’t end there either, we arrived at the bowling alley at the same time as three coach loads of exchange students who filled the whole place up. Dad asked about us playing and was told there would be a 2 hour wait…..oh no! We sat and had a drink and Mum spotted an empty lane….she went to the counter to ask about it and within two minutes we were playing, great work Mum!
I decided that we all won to save any tears.
And I decided to sleep through it all, just for a change.
I said i’d drive everyone home in a taxi to save us getting wet but didn’t get any takers:
So then, Friday was the big day…CAR! We used Andy’s again (thanks very much Andy) to drive to the garage and after a few phone calls and filling in a few bits of paper we had wheels of our own again. Mum drew the short straw and had to drive Ellis and myself home while Dad drove Andy’s car on his own. Poor Mum, she had to put up with my running commentary of everything we passed on the way home, and I mean EVERYTHING! My new high up vantage point is great.
It’s true, I thought he’d never shut up.
The weekend was party time, hooray! Mum and I made some cakes for Abi’s birthday:
And here’s a glimpse 15 years into the future, Max and I with a couple of snags and a few cold ones!
I had a lovely time in the posh ‘pavilion’ watching all the comings and goings.
Happy 1st birthday Abi, sorry we couldn’t stay long!
We had another barbecue to go to, this time with Dad’s family. Here I am with Nanny and all my Uncles and Aunties:
What a bunch! Dad was quite choked up after I pulled my first wheelie and jumped my first ramp on a borrowed bike. He claimed it was more significant than my first word or my first steps.
If it works, here’s the video!
I had a great time with Josh and Ben and we put on quite a stunt show for everyone.
I did nothing of the sort and spent the whole evening being passed about for cuddle after cuddle after cuddle, ideal.
I had a brief incident involving a glass of Pimm’s that was thought to be Ribena (I didn’t like it) before riding the bike long into the evening darkness and heavy rain. I hope your lawn isn’t ruined Uncle Den and a big thanks to Uncle Al who was running around the garden with an umbrella over me.
Sunday and I was tired out…so was Dad, but he had a bad head too. Just as well we were both quiet then really. We had a lazy old time and caught up on some sleep.
I didn’t have to ‘catch up’ on any sleep really, but you know me, always ready for a nap.
With the weather finally better we played in the garden yesterday.
I’d never really been in the garden before so that was all new. I found it a great place for a sleep.
Today was swimming day! I was really up for it as we haven’t been for so long. Even the outdoor section was open and we did loads of jumping off the wall into the water (I don’t even need to be caught anymore).
I decided to stay in my car seat, it looked wet and cold and not at all for me.
In other news, I can now reach the entry buzzer at nursery on my own because I am so tall. Nursery had better get plenty of batteries in!
And I can sometimes stay awake for upto an hour at a time now and again without crying at all. I think it’s the discovery that I can suck my two fingers like Ned (but with the left hand instead).
Okay, you’ll have to bear with us this week, we still haven’t got a car of our own so we’re struggling to get out and about.
So then last Wednesday, mum is still struggling into to nursery with both of us sharing one pushchair. Dad came to pick me up on the bike and it rained on us on the way home! Never mind we were soon dry again.
Mum and I had the food shopping delivered in the morning, we’re ladies of leisure. We’d borrowed Andy’s car (thanks Andy) so we were able to go and see some more cars in Swindon, how lucky! It was rubbish as usual and we didn’t buy one.
Thursday we had to take Ellis to be weighed. She weighs 10lbs and 5oz’s, whatever pounds and ounces are. After that we went up the woods for a bit, I rode my bike:
Then we found a dead bee:
The woods were rubbish though as there weren’t any puddles to splash about in.
I had a lovely walk round in the buggy, I’m loving all the fresh air I’m getting with out daily walks to nursery.
Friday was wet…very wet. I didn’t go to nursery so I helped mum make spaghetti Bolognese (my absolute favourite). We made a much better job of it than dad does.
Dad came home from work with wet trousers and feet, his office had flooded, it’s then Mum realised just how much it had rained. We were lucky and didn’t have any flooding at home although the television was showing plenty of pictures of peoples houses full of water. In the afternoon when it had stopped raining we went out for a bit of a walk:
The river had come up over the road and there were ducks swimming on peoples gardens! Mum had to explain to me several times where all the water had come from.
It was Dad’s turn on night feeding duty Friday night, so I decided to sleep right through! Saturday was car shopping again. This time we went to Wantage where we didn’t buy one and Kidlington where we did! I know, I couldn’t believe it either. We took a really smart one out that had seats nice and high up so I could see right out the window and into the fields, it was brilliant. The salesman sat on a seat in the boot and when I asked Mum what he was doing, she told me we were taking him home! I don’t know who looked most worried. The bad news is that we can’t have it until this Friday! Later in the afternoon Kin and Andy came round to collect Andy’s car, it was nice to see them.
Dad’s turn for the night feed again, I slept through all night. We have an arrangement. Sunday Grandad and Anne came for dinner and a spot of maintenance:
They even came bearing gifts, thanks! We had a great time with them, Grandad was brilliant at pushing me round the garden in my wheelbarrow but Anne was too good at skittles.
Well it’s taken 7 weeks but here’s one of mums speciality close up shots, Ned tells me he’s had to endure his fair share of these in his time.
After getting her up in the night for a feed (Dad was off duty),I had a massive spew on Mum just to really test her. She passed.
I did some painting in a special colouring book, you paint it with a wet brush and it colours itself in!
So then, another week done and dusted, I finished it off by amazing mum, singing pretty much all of the A,B,C song and doing my alphabet jigsaw.
And I had a good work out on my gym, I’m determined to get rid of the bingo wings mum said I had.
We’re back, but first things first…they’ve sold our car! I couldn’t believe it, someone drove it away to London. We were supposed to be going on holiday two days later, smart move. Once the deal had been done we went out for a walk to the shop, I got a lollipop which I decided I could draw with on the pavement, mum wasn’t too pleased with my artistic endeavour and said I wasn’t allowed to eat it anymore.
Thursday with no car meant no nursery for me, so I did my best to drive mum to distraction all morning. We played dominoes and all went well while I was winning but things took a turn for the worse when mum won and I ended up getting sent to bed. Nanny and Auntie Chris appeared at tea-time (I think they can sniff it out) so I showed them what a good boy I am by eating all my food up.
I decided I’d actually be awake for a bit and gave Nanny a little smile, she liked that!So Friday then, holiday time. Dad disappeared off out and returned with a big shiny blue car, it was apparently a hire car (which meant he wouldn’t have to spend hours cleaning up our sandy footprints from it when we got home). I helped him pack all our stuff into it, it had a much bigger boot than our old car so we could get the really important things in with ease (bikes, skateboards, buckets, spades and kites). Rach, Ben and Kimi came round and we set off for Cornwall!
I’d never been to Cornwall before, so I didn’t know what to expect at all, Ned seemed to be pretty excited by it though. We stopped at Exeter services and Dad did his usual ‘public’ feed, this time accompanied by Ben giving Kimi his dinner too, we drew quite a few glances!
We were soon at the caravan and ready for bed!
Next day and the sun was out and we hit the beach:
‘My’ Andy turned up later in the day, so that was me happy. In the evening we had a barbecue, here I am with the correct and cornwall approved set up:
And here’s Kimi and I taking refuge from the choking smoke their singed meat was producing, we had milk instead:
Sunday was sunny again, so it was more beach action.
Then John, Sarah, Amy and Mark turned up, we had great fun playing football on the sand and collecting winkles from the rockpools. 
I decided I would be John’s shadow, he’s pretty cool and knows loads of stuff about dinosaurs and animals:
We raced our bikes up and down the road, I loved it.
In the evening I had my first outing to something called a pub:
Dad reckons his pink face is because of the reflection from my outfit!
Since the smoking ban has now been introduced we even hung around to have a game of pool (Dad was rubbish, but I did love seeing the balls go into the pockets and collect under the table).
We got out and about a bit, here we are at Fistral beach:
Of course, no trip to Cornwall would be complete without Mum’s pilgrimage to Polzeath:
We had a lovely picnic and an even nicer ice-cream, but dad moaned it was too busy.
The biggest thing of the week for me was that Dad let me drive the car, sat on his lap around the camp site, how smart is that? I didn’t even hit any other caravans.
Slim and Trace came over for a visit, ace!
Dad, Ellis and I found a pirates cave:
Turned out there was a big scary monster in it!
We took them to Constantine beach, Dad and Andy had a surf and I played in the sand with Slim:
And then I joined another group of kids to go sand surfing. It was brilliant fun.
It was actually a lot steeper than this picture makes it look and we were really zooming on the board, looks loads better than taking them in the sea.
Our last day on Friday was pretty wet, but I managed to get Dad and Andy to get down the beach to try and catch me a crab (the holy grail of rock-pooling). Andy tried to fob me off with a dead one but soon redeemed himself with a living one. Once it was captive in my bucket I decided I didn't like the look of it one little bit and made them put it back sharpish! It was good to see John and Sarah in the afternoon again. We watched ‘A night in the museum’ DVD, it was brilliant, all the animals and people in the museum came to life at night. John had broken his wrist and had a big blue plaster on it. It was really hard and looked very heavy, hope it gets better soon John! Once the film was finished, we said our goodbyes and headed off for home, until next time.
I enjoyed my first holiday, and fitted right in by doing lots and lots of lazing around and sleeping.
So back home and still no car of our own. We went out Saturday looking for a new one, how boring. We were out all day long and still didn’t get one, how difficult can it be? Still we did end up in Pizza Hut…Ice cream factory!
Sunday we went to Laura and James’ engagement party/gathering/drinks. I decided to wear my yellow star shaped glasses, everyone said I looked like Elton John, who ever he is?
I ran Uncle Den and Owen ragged racing them up and down the garden and then cleared off with James’ sister to see their new kittens, all finished off with crisps and Laura’s home made cakes, does it get any better than that? I made sure I told everyone we ‘only had a hire car’ to see if I could generate some pity.
I had a lovely cuddle with Auntie Gail and honoured everyone by actually waking up for a little while while Nanny had a fuss over me.
So Monday then, off to look at more cars, still nothing they like and the hire car went back….oh dear.
Mum has been taking Ned to nursery in the morning perched on the edge of my pushchair, I think I’m pretty good to let him use it all with smelly old bum. Dad had to pick him up on the bike and they both got soaked, ha! At least my buggy has a rain cover. In the afternoon we had a family outing on foot to the doctors as it was Mum and My six week check up. Everything seems to be working as it should and we’re both just fine by all accounts. I’ve also started gurgling occasionally when I see something I like (or indeed when I see something I don’t).
And I’m really into colouring at the moment, oh and beating dad playing pairs, he has the memory of a goldfish!
Hello once again, we’re back for another action packed dose of thrills, excitement and soggy pants!
Wednesday we went for a walk to the little park, I didn’t want my buggy so walked like a big boy while Ellis was strapped in some sort of contraption to dad’s front. Apparently they tried me in it when I was a baby and I cried like mad, hardly surprising really, would you want to be strapped to that man?
Well I actually rather liked it and soon fell asleep, I did think about producing a lovely milky puke all down his front but I’ll keep that one up my sleeve until he has his best top on I think.
Dad went out on his bike with Owen in the evening, it’s nice for him to have a little play mate I think. I helped load the stuff into Owens car without any trousers and pants on, much to everyone’s amusement.
Friday afternoon and wet weather boredom struck them badly and we went to town to buy a computer game, called a Wii apparently? It’s ace, there’s a little controller you can waggle about in the air to make things happen on the screen.
I’m particularly good at the tennis and the bowling so far, I love the golf as well but apparently I’m not doing it right. I hit every shot as hard as I can and I’m not interested at all in getting the ball in the hole. In the evening all the cards players turned up so I had to show them how to play Wii before going to Bed to listen to Abi next door in Ellis’ room, I think she was having a wrestling match in there. It didn’t keep me awake for long though…
I got lots and lots of cuddles, thanks everyone.
Saturday I helped Dad clean the car again, he’s still trying to sell it. We waited in for hours and the bloke who was supposed to be coming to see it never turned up. There were some colourful words muttered…In the afternoon Grandad and Anne came over to play while Mum and Dad popped out for a bit. We had a lovely time but it all went a bit sour when we couldn’t figure out how to get the video of the Lion King to play, it’s hardly surprising really, there’s so much equipment stuffed under the telly and about 400 remote controls to muddle through. Never mind.
I had a lovely restful time and Anne made sure I was fed, clean and dry much more efficiently than Mum and Dad ever manage.
Sunday was carnival day! I had no idea what a carnival actually was but I was excited about it nevertheless.
There’s no point in asking me what a carnival is either!
We went down the park where there were all sorts of things to do and see (in between bursts of rain) and then headed into town. There were loads of people either side of the street who all seemed to be waiting for something. Eventually a marching band came through followed by a fire engine and then loads of lorries with back’s all dressed up! The best ones had pirates on them. Mum gave me a few pennies to give to the people collecting with buckets but I decided to keep hold of them for myself.
Just for a change, I thought I’d sleep right through it all, even the noisy bands.
After the parade had finished it was the main event….the fair. I went on bumper cars for the first time ever:
They were brilliant fun. Dad let me drive and ram the car into anyone I fancied. We had so many crashes I lost count and Dad could barley breathe as he was laughing so much. After that I went on the swings, a big covered bouncy castle (I was the last one out, the man had to shout at me) and a massive slide:
I caused quite a bottleneck on the climb up (that’s me, the little yellow speck)but came down as quick as anyone else:
After that I had a go on a little roundabout. I chose the bus and sat down ready for the ride to begin….
and then decided I’d have a wee:
Oh dear, I had a look to see what I’d done! Sorry to who ever went on it next.
I slept through all this too, I love the fresh air.
Monday the health visitor came to see me, I was weighed (9lb 6oz), so I’m doing well. They don’t need to come and see me anymore!
After nursery we went to JJ’s in Basingstoke. I had a great time playing with mum who hasn’t got her belly anymore. I did have a little dispute with one older boy who thought he was in charge of the soft building bricks. He built a car with them and cleared off, so I thought I’d play with it. He didn’t like that at all and wanted me off. I took refuge in the pink princess castle and every time his back was turned, I’d nip out of the door, run over to his construction and push it all over before running back to the castle. This happened a few times before Dad bribed me away with a Freddo chocolate bar.
Dad continued with his policy of feeding me in public places and took charge of bottle duty. I’m sure he only does it so all the ladies come and speak to him….
Tuesday and we had another Wii session. We played bowling. Dad won, I came second and poor old Mum came last. I know this is not what would happen in the real word though…..
They say a picture paints a thousand words apparently, I don’t know a thousand words, in fact I don’t know any, so here’s a few pictures:
Okay then, I’ve been told it’s that time of year again…holidays!
Due to my early(ish) arrival Mum managed to secure us a week away. It won’t make any difference to me, I can sleep, Eat and fill my nappies anywhere. So there won’t be any updates next week, providing dad doesn’t sell our car!
That’s right, we’re off to Cornwall for a change, but none of that farmhouse with hot-tub's rubbish, we’re doing it properly in Andy’s caravan and I can hardly wait….
