Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Little Green Man

We squeezed loads in to our Tuesday today. First up we went swimming with Louis and Olly at Hitchin pool. Mummy dunked Coby under the water very quickly to get him used to the sensation and although he looked a bit baffled, he didn't seem to mind too much. Getting dried off and dressed is always interesting, but we had Maddy and Vicki on hand, so we took it in turns to watch the babies while we each dashed off to the changing rooms. We had a cappuccino on the terrace before zooming off to Great Chesterford to see uncle Paul and auntie Su. While mummy and Su did some light yoga, Coby watched with great interest and kept himself entertained with his alien friend...

After a spot of lunch (thanks uncle Paul for the tortillas and wrap), we headed out to Grantchester, a village just outside Cambridge and home to poet Rupert Brooke, politician Jeffrey Archer and the legendary Pink Floyd. In fact we walked right passed Jeffrey's house. The gates were wide open, so we paused to survey the outside, a beautiful house and garden but no sign of Jeff. We ended the afternoon back at Paul and Su's with chips and curry sauce for dinner - yum, yum, yum, yum!

Monday, June 26, 2006

Strawberry Shortcake?

Coby is going to love me for this in years to come!

Here he is striking a pose in mummy's shower cap and looking somewhat similar to the 1980's cartoon character, Strawberry Shortcake.

Friday, June 23, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY!

Mummy celebrated her birthday today and I made sure she had a lovely day.
She was born on this day in 1975 in Mile End Hospital in Stepney which makes her a true cockney. I don't know what that is exactly, but mummy seems quite proud to be known as one, so I'm happy if she's happy.

Yesterday, auntie Teresa bought mummy a birthday cake made up with a picture of mummy when she was a little girl....

Can you see how little she has changed over the years? She still looks pretty and youthful don't you think? (mummy told me to say that but I think she is right anyway).

Back Seat Driver

And here we have Coby adjusting to a new perspective while travelling in the car. His new car seat is forward facing and reclines in three different positions. We can keep a closer eye on him, while he can see out of the window at last and watch the world go by...

Monday, June 19, 2006

Riding Along On My Pushbike Honey!

Congratulations and well done to our friend Mario who completed the London to Brighton bike ride on Sunday. He raised over £500 for the British Heart Foundation - marvellous!

We'll be seeing Maz in a couple of weeks and will get the low down on everything. Was it tough? Any punctures? Saddle sore?

Seriously though, fantastic achievement Mario - well done!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY...

Its A Boy!

Many, many, many congratulations to my good friend Simone. She gave birth today at 12.18 to a baby boy weighing 7lbs 12oz - a fantastic first Father's Day gift for new dad, Anthony!

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Just thought I would mention...

I have recently passed my exam and qualified as a reflexologist. Should you wish to use my services, please click on the link to Herts Reflexology on the left hand side. This has been updated and while my website is under construction, my contact details are available on the holding page.

Big Brother

Day 29 in the Big Baby House. The babies have been up for 1 hour and 39 minutes..

Coby is in the Diary Room talking about Louis...

"I'm going to nominate him because he burped in my face and he has more hair than me, which I'm totally not happy about"

Incidentally, grandma Wendy lives near the Big Brother house and on the final night we can see the fireworks from her back garden.

Who goes? You decide!

Milestones

As Coby turns 7 months old, lets see how he is doing:

He is 30 weeks old and weighs 20lbs and 11oz
He has brown eyes and fair hair
He is sitting up completely unaided
He can roll from his back to his stomach
He loves to screech very loudly and can say "ma"
He is grabbing EVERYTHING - yikes!
He likes to watch Friends, Hustle and Deal or No Deal
His favourite foods are Weetabix and Petits Filous yogurts

He is always smiling

Most of the time

November Babies

Here is just a little reminder of Coby's gang...

First born: Louis on 1st November 2005

Followed by: Alicia on 14th

Then: Coby on 16th

Then: Jasmine on 20th

Then: Oliver on 22nd

And finally: Lola on 25th.

Interesting fact: all conceived on or around Valentine's Day.
Love really was in the air!

Birthday Girls Start Early

We had a lovely lunch at Paula's house today - that's Jasmine's mummy.

Maddy and I share the same birthday and although it isn't until next week, Paula is unable to make the girl's night out that we have planned, so she bought us a cake instead to get the celebrations rolling early.

We asked for 21 candles, but just got laughed at

It's a thumbs up from Jasmine

"Don't look now Jasmine, but they're stuffing
themselves with cake again"

"Don't worry, I'll order some cakes for us"

Alicia doesn't need cake when she has her thumb

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Happy Birthday Great Grandma

On Tuesday I took Coby to visit his great grandma who celebrated her 91st birthday. She lives in East London, so it was a long, long drive involving the A1, the M25 and the A12. Luckily we arrived just before a big thunderstorm errupted.

Coby had his biggest lunch ever - a whole bottle of milk followed by a medley of rice, vegetables and chicken. And as a special treat for dessert, great auntie Doreen gave us strawberries which Coby happily destroyed followed by some vanilla yogurt. You can guess the outcome...

Gymbabes

As promised, here are some pics of Coby at Gymbabes. He is making lots of new little friends including George, Rafferty and Jessica.

At the end Coby is presented with his weekly sticker. Last week we received 'Gymbabes are lovable' and this week we received 'Gymbabes are simply the best'.

We are all signed up now for the rest of term and are members of Tumble Tots UK which means Coby will now receive his Gymbabes t-shirt. I'm sure he'll be happy to model when it arrives.




One Too Many Ice-creams!

On Monday, Coby and I headed over to Great Chesterford near Saffron Walden to hang out with Uncle Paul and Auntie Su. With the sun shining, the wind in our hair and the radio blasting out tunes, we drove through the countryside, weaving our way through the little villages until we arrived in Great Chesterford. After a spot of lunch, we all went to ye olde village post office and bought ice-creams. We sat outside in the sun and munched our way through them contemplating whether we should have another - so we did. With full bellies and chocolate around our mouths, we took a stroll down by the River Cam. Thank you Paul and Su for a lovely afternoon.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Coby's whiter than white

"There's my England shorts, ooh, there's my blue socks,
ooh there's my towel..."

"The washing machine is so cool, it fills with water and spins very fast
and my clothes come out nice and clean"

Build Me Up Buttercup

"Ok nobody move, the top is going on"

"Steady, don't even breathe"

"Noooooooooooooooooo"

"Ok, here we go again"

Picture of the week

Coby on Sunday 11th June
Five days away from his 7 month birthday

Sshhh...there's a hedgehog in the garden

I followed him all the way down the garden path as he took very graceful and dainty steps...




At this point his spikes came out in defence, so I retreated inside and left him to his business.

Catch up!

Sorry folks, but we've been a little behind in updating the website this week, so let me fill you in on what's been happening in Coby's world.

Coby started his first Gymbabes class last Wednesday and we had so much fun. There are lots of apparatus for the babies to use depending on their stage of development. After a chat with one of the staff it was agreed that as Coby's next natural step will be towards crawling, this should be the area to concentrate on, so we popped Coby on a skateboard to introduce the idea of being able to move while on his tummy. He also loves to stand up on those sturdy little legs of his, so we stood him beneath some mini monkey bars and let him grab hold and keep himself upright. We have been given permission to take some photographs next week so you will be able to see for yourself exactly what he gets up to.

On Thursday we headed to the Health Centre to check Coby's weight - 20lbs 11oz - he's sticking to his line just above average and should start to even out when he starts crawling. The Music Train followed and we sang loads of songs this week and ended with 'Lets Go Fly A Kite' while waving red ribbons.

By Friday, the sun was really beating down, so we took the opportunity to spend some time in the garden. Mummy tackled the lawn and cleaned out the shed which was full of cobwebs and dead bugs. She felt very itchy and uncomfortable afterwards. Coby observed from his lookout point...


Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Water, water, everywhere

I took Coby swimming for the first time today and we had a truly magical time.

I felt a little emotional too. Since Coby was three months old, there have been a number of plans to take him swimming. We kept delaying for various reasons and a couple of dates arranged with Maddy and Louis had to be cancelled, this morning being one of them. I decided to just DO IT anyway.

By my own admission, I'm the queen of putting things off until tomorrow, but this morning I thought, no way! Tomorrow, schmorrow!

Not only did we go swimming but, spurred on by my now or never attitude, we were in the leisure centre car park by 9.a.m. I bounded up to the receptionist with a wide-eyed Coby strapped into his pushchair and said:

"Right, this is the first time I have bought my son swimming and I have lots of questions"

She looked a little scared but was extremely helpful, answering all of my questions and even phoned the centre manager to check I could take my camera to the poolside.

Now, the main reason I was quite emotional, aside from the fact that it was my son's first time in a swimming pool, was because I am petrified of water and cannot swim. I know that a little paddle in the baby pool is hardly facing up to my fears, but the whole idea of stepping foot in a public swimming pool fills me with dread. I cannot recall a particular incident from my past that has caused me to feel this way, but the smell, the sound, everything just makes me nervous. For Coby's sake today, I faced up to my fears and I think I may even go one step further and take lessons and learn to swim. I don't want to pass on my irrational fears to my son. Which means the next thing to conquer is....moths!!!!

Anyway, the experience was a little bewildering for Coby and I think he just saw it as having an extra special bathtime. We did forward stroke, back stroke, diving and jumping and some synchronised swimming too!

I also discovered that the chlorine strips the nail varnish off your toenails. Interesting.