Using time wisely

William is asleep so I have a spare second. I am meant to be using this opportunity to pack, ready to head across to Wales this evening, but I thought that instead I'd stick a few more pics of William up on his blog. Or, I should be eating breakfast, brushing my teeth and getting ready for the day..... oh well, I just like looking at pictures of William! These were all taken in the last week. :) Jo

I gave him a rusk to eat this week, and it required much concentration. I am pleased that he is able to make the connection between hand and mouth, and explore things with his mouth (and his nose, bby the looks of it) when he wants to.


There is a new G&D's icecream shop in Cowley Rd that William and I have started frequenting. It is a local Oxford business. Here he is sitting on the couch there....

....and then trying to eat the camera!

More map reading with dad

But which way shall we go???

Mothers' Day

I was sooooo very proud of William today, when the ladies at nursery gave me a gift that William made for me. I instantly forgave him for all the waking during the nights. How lovely, to receive my first Mother's Day card. He made it himself (well, the blue bit, anyway). What a sweet, darling little baby he is. Mwah! I would kiss him all over and hug him all day!

A new phase....

30 weeks old

William is very curious and loves picking things up to examine and explore them. He is also very good at passing things from one hand to the other and back again. His legs are very strong and he loves trying to stand up (which he can do) and then try letting go of whatever he is holding (which always results in a 'plop' onto the floor).

Standing with help

Today was his second afternoon at nursery, which he is enjoying. He happily plays, sleeps, drinks and eats there. He goes four afternoons a week, and I work three afternoons a week. I think that he particularly likes the new selection of toys and other kids to play with. Well, they don't so much play with each other as sit in a bit of a circle playing with the same toys. It was my first day back at work today and I loved it. There is nothing like 7 months off to kindle enthusiasm and focus the mind. I thawed some cells and started researching which grants I'm eligible to apply for.

William has started reading (well, interacting with books, he he he):


He is eating 3-4 meals/snacks a day.


This is him after his first taste of beetroot, which he enjoyed. In fact he has liked everything so far, and we've tried potato, broccoli, pumpkin, swede, turnip, leeks, spinach, parsnip, sweet potato, cauliflower, zucchini, capsicum, cabbage, apple, pear, banana, sweet corn plums, and even fish and chicken!


He is an adept map reader, as we found out in Cambridge on the weekend:



And he has taken up playing/eating the drums this week:

William can eat an elephant's head…

Hey mum, stop taking pictures of me when I'm busy eating an elephant! And get rid of that flash!


And that is not all. He is very smiley, social and beginning to put his arms around your neck when you carry him, in a sort of hug. A hug however, which is accompanied with a dribbly neck snog, earing-pulls and neck pinches. What a joy.... One of my other 'mum friends' asked me this week whether he was always this smiley, which I liked, as I thought that he might have been on the 'very' end of the smiley spectrum for babies his age, but it is always hard to tell.

William has been very well behaved today and a real joy to look after - what a treat! We planted some garlic in the garden, he ate some leek/carrot/parsnip mash and has been doing lots of 'standing'. He is so pleased when I hold him in standing position, his whole face lights up. He loves that he can do it and his legs are really strong. His sitting is coming along well also and he can no sit unaided for over 10 minutes. He sits and plays with his toys, picking them up, shaking rattly or noisy ones, looking at whoever is in the room to check they have seen him make a noise. The noisy ones seem to be his favourites at the moment.

I’ve taken some nice pics recently. These are all from this week.





Weaning continues:


We have a little routine each evening, starting around 6ish, were William has a drink, then he has his bath. He really enjoys sitting up (with my hand behind him, in case of a wobble) and playing with his bath toys, feet, face washer, the edge of the bath etc. After I've cleaned him, he usually plays for 10-15 mins while I sing to him, then I get him out, he gets dried, new nappy, pjs, and a bottle (these days, fingers crossed he keeps taking it) before burping and bed. His first patch of sleep lasts 1-4hrs, and each night seems to evolve differently from then onwards. Last night he first went to sleep at 8.30pm and woke at 1am-ish, 4something o'clock and 7.30am. The night before he went to sleep first at 7.30pm, and work at midnight and thereafter hourly until 8am. Tonight he went to sleep at 7.30pm first off, and has woken at 9 and 10.30pm so far.... cheeky monkey.

Yorkshire Dales and William the bouncer

Last weekend we stayed in a cottage nearish to Skipton in the South Yorkshire Dales. Clare, Jen, Dawn and Aaron came along and so there were lots of willing hands to cuddle and play with William, hence Andrew and I had a relaxing time! Aaron cooked delicious breakfasts while Dawn whipped up chilli and cornbread for dinner on Saturday evening. We had a lovely walk around Malham Cove on Saturday and a pub lunch on Sunday (I had suckling pig!).

Jo at Malham Cove - 400 years ago there was a waterfall going over these rocks, and now, if I listened to Andrew and remember correctly, there are clints and grykes formed as water wore fissures in the limestone.



Yesterday I bought a second hand door bouncer for William, and he loves it. Here are the first pics of him in it. I've taken some video footage also, which I can out up when I work out how. He seems pretty pleased with himself each time he bounces and looks over to me with a big smile.

Weaning begins....

The weaning seems to be going very well, so far. William didn't need to wait a second to learn that a spoon near the mouth equals food and is loving eating things. So far we have tried baby rice, pear, potato, carrot and butternut squash. I think next I'll start combining things together - like baby rice and pear, baby rice and apple... and keep on trying a new vege every few days. It is fun, but slow and messy. Ah, but that is babies in a nutshell really.

The weather forecast suggested that we might get our first snow of the Winter today. It hasn't really snowed yet, but some tiny, tiny white specs fell from the sky, so it is trying. We'll keep looking upwards as the afternoon continues.

These pics are hot off the press - fresh today (although, I have to admit that by now, there is a lot more spew on his clothes....). Can you spot the resemblance?

Last few images from 2007

What did you do for NYE? We shared a bottle of cider, then Andrew went to work at 11.30pm and I went to bed! I did feel a bit old really, but loved having no hang over on 1 Jan (apart from last year, when pregnant, I can't remember when that last happened!). Here are a couple of pictures taken last year.

I am half Aussie, and I have the blue shearer's singlet to prove it:


William with his dad:


William doing push-ups, on his dad:



William checks out the Christmas baubles - and looks like he is travelling in outer space.....