Babies Among the Bluebells

Wednesday, as you all know, is our day for meeting up with Coby's chums - Alicia, Jasmine, Lola, Louis and Oliver. And we had a spectacular time today! We went to a village called Preston near Hitchin and had a pub lunch at the Red Lion. The sun was really hot and we had to rely on the factor 50, sun hats and parasols. Coby, Alicia and Lola all had their Baby Banz sun shades on, but eventually mummy and Michaela relented and had to sit in the shade of a glorious oak tree.
After lunch we all drove in a convoy to the most beautiful wood filled with a carpet of bluebells. We managed to take some fantastic photos and here is the result...

Alicia: "don't mind Coby, he's had one too many shandys"

Louis: "milk comes first, bluebells can wait"

Who's that hiding under that hat - it's Jasmine!

I wonder what bluebells taste like?

"So my mum was telling Coby's mum about Alicia's mum..."

Beautiful bluebells

Little Britain

"Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but..."

"Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, not around the eyes..."

"Computer says no"

"I want that one"

Coby Loves Cuddles

Does Coby look like his mummy?

Or perhaps his daddy?

Cheerio for now...

Auntie Toni is flying back to Toronto this morning, so we said our goodbyes last night and she and Coby had some last minute hugs. It was a lovely warm evening, so I took this picture of them in the garden at grandma Wendy's house. We were joined for dinner by auntie Esme and auntie Marcelle as well as uncle Justin and auntie Stacey. As usual, grandma Wendy cooked a splendid dinner and we all went home with rather full bellies.

Cheerio for now Toni
Have a safe and pleasant journey back to Canada with love to Uncle Ivan and all the family

Baby Thomas

We are delighted to report that Coby's friend, Thomas, who was born 12 weeks premature, is a step closer to coming home to his mummy and daddy. Despite numerous setbacks including apneoas, desaturations and a brain bleed, Thomas clearly wants to be home in time for the World Cup.

His parents, Cass & Chris have been through the toughest time of their lives and I am sure you will join me in wishing them all the best over the next few weeks. We found it agonising when Coby was in special care for 5 days, we can't begin to imagine what Cass & Chris have experienced.

We are meeting up with Cass on Tuesday in London which means we can give her a cuddle and a present to pass on to Thomas. Love to you all guys!

Beautiful Day

Today was so beautiful! The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Coby started the day by being weighed for the first time in six weeks - he is now 19lbs and 7oz - a perfectly rounded little Teplet.

Coby prepares for his encounter with the scales

Then it was off to the Music Train in Hitchin where we sang 'Ring A Ring of Roses', 'London Bridge' and Incy Wincy Spider among many other songs. Coby is making lots of new little friends there including Noah, Beatrice, Olivia and Che.

Auntie Michaela and Lola came to meet us at the class and we walked into town and supped frappachinos in the sunshine. Coby was happy to watch the world go by while Michaela and I discussed the joys of motherhood and the fact that we are able to sup frappachinos in the midday sun!!

However, the best thing about today? Well just check out these pictures and you'll see...

Coby is overwhelmed by the garden - a new place to play

"Mum, you better order some factor 30"

"Wow, its so green out here"

" I can't wait to start exploring"

The talk of the party

Coby meets his great auntie Toni

Toni arrived hot off the plane from Canada this morning. She brushed aside any signs of jet lag and came with us to Fellini's restaurant in Hatch End to help Irene and Cyril celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. Coby was mobbed as soon as we came in and mummy had to stand in the doorway for about 10 minutes with the pushchair before the pandemonium caused by his arrival slowly subsided. Coby thoroughly enjoyed the attention and will be available in future for weddings, birthdays, bar mitzvahs etc

With grandma & Toni

Baby's progress: 5 months, 3 weeks

According to our favourite baby website, Babycentre, we should notice Coby becoming much more sociable now, thriving on attention and learning how to get more of it as well as initiating attention from others. He is mastering more physical skills such as lifting his head and shoulders off the ground, arching his back and extending his arms and legs. As you may have read earlier this week, Coby has now started Music Train classes where he can listen to rhythmic tunes and touch and listen to musical instruments. To encourgae this area of his brain, I also play music to him at home and tap out the tune using his hands or feet, clapping them together in time with the beat. I also read at least two books a day to him and although I try not to encourage too much TV, we do watch the occasional film and I go for colourful ones such as Shrek, Finding Nemo and the Baby Einstein range.

Coby on canvas - the big unveiling

About 8 weeks ago, we took Coby to Venture photographic studio. Over 200 images were taken of us as a family and some of Coby on his own. A week later we went back to the studio to view the pictures, which had now been whittled down to just 30. It was tough to choose the images we wanted - the photographer was good and, quite frankly, we looked stunning (ok, so we were wearing hoodies and were shot in soft focus)

The centre piece of this example will give you an idea of how Coby's canvas will look
(image copyright of Venture)

We selected two glorious products. One large 29 x 29 block canvas featuring Coby and a 30 x 18 collection of 9 images featuring all of us. The artwork is almost complete and we will be revealing all on Teplet pretty soon.

Friends

As you all know, we made some friends for life when we joined the NCT ante-natal classes in August last year. As a result, we now meet every Wednesday to catch up with the babies and we are so happy that we have each other to share our experiences as first time mums. We all get along like we've known each other for years and last Saturday we took the opportunity to go for a girl's night out, leaving the babes with dads and grandmas. The dads too have met for a few lagers to swap their tales and regale each other with their anecdotes as first time fathers.

Left-right: SJ, Paula, Vicky, Maddy, Michaela, Angela

The best thing is that Coby has five little friends, all born within days of him, that he has a special bond with. Alicia, Jasmine, Lola, Louis and Oliver are amazing and we love them very much.

With the exception of Olly and Jasmine, feel free to check out the blogs of the other babes, especially as they often include extra pictures of Coby that may not have appeared on Teplet. There are links to each of them on the left of this page and below.

LOUIS

LOLA

ALICIA

It's Friday!

Hello, it's Coby here. My mummy went mad today doing all sorts of things around the house. She cleaned the kitchen window, mopped the floor, hoovered and polished, did some washing and ironing and mowed the lawn. While mummy was in the garden, I slept the entire time. Mummy came in to check on me about fifty times, but I slept soundly and allowed her to get it finished. She still found time to take these pictures of me...

As you can see, I am almost sitting up.
Mummy thinks another week or two and I will not need to hold her hand any more.

My great auntie Toni is coming to visit from Canada this weekend and I am very excited about meeting her. Mummy and daddy are taking me to a posh restaurant on Sunday too because auntie Irene and Uncle Cyril are celebrating their Golden wedding anniversary - that is 50 years! Wow!

Have a lovely weekend everybody!

Kiss & Tell

I'm not usually one to kiss and tell, but I have to mention something that my lovely husband did today. He only went to work with my house keys, as well as his own, in his pocket. Coby and I had to go to our first Music Train class, so once we left the house, there was definately no going back. We had a lovely time at the Music Train, singing lots of rhymes and playing with lots of toys and musical instruments. Coby got a little t-shirt and welcome pack too. Because we were 'locked out by daddy' we headed over to grandma Wendy's. We stopped at the petrol station on the way, only to be blocked in by a huge lorry and when we attempted to make a detour to the health centre so Coby could be weighed, there was not a single parking space to be found.

I'm sure daddy will not be amused that I've shared this little anecdote with you so, to be fair, I will allow him to retaliate at some point...meanwhile here is Coby modelling his Music Train t-shirt.

Good news all round

We would like to wish Stacey & Justin a very Happy 3rd wedding anniversary. They have gone to Barcelona to celebrate - lucky people.

We would also like to congratulate Michelle & Jason who got married last Sunday - hoorah!

And finally, big congratulations to Paul & Debra who are expecting a little baby in September - double hoorah!

A draw at Highbury

Well, the result in the last derby to be held at Highbury was 1-1, but only after a cheeky goal from Robbie Keane that caused a bit of controversy among Arsenal fans. Arsenal had a man down but Davids continued to play, passing the ball to Keane who slipped it into the net. Arsenal's manager was enraged that the ref did not stop the game for an injury, but no whistle was heard and Spurs took the lead. Of course, Thierry Henry soon put Spurs in their place with his equaliser 6 minutes before the end. So, Arsenal remain four points behind with a game in hand - the tension mounts.

Coby can barely stand the anticipation as the crowd gather for the big game

The North London Derby

Tomorrow sees Spurs take on Arsenal in the closest contest the two teams have had for many years. Arsenal are only four points behind Spurs, currently 4th place in the premiership. And with only two games left to play, it's going to be a thrilling end to the season. Arsenal have a game in hand plus two Champions League matches to fulfill, so all Spurs have to do is win, win, win. We have lots of friends coming over tomorrow for the 12.45 kick off, a delightful mix of Spurs and Arsenal fans, plus Coby will be there with his Chirpy Mascot. I'll be commentating from the box and taking some pictures, so check back here on Sunday for all the gossip!

Happy Birthday Grandma Wendy

Not only is it the Queen's 80th birthday today, but grandma Wendy also celebrates her birthday too. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Funnily enough, we have a picture of the two of them together. Grandma Wendy met the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2005.

Grandma eyes up the Queen's pearls!

Daddy's new suits

My daddy bought home some lovely new suits this evening and guess what? He has had my name stitched inside them all

Waiting for the gardners

The garden has turned into a tropical wilderness and as much as I love gardening, there is simply no time for me to tackle it right now, so we got the professionals in to give the garden a glamorous make over. Coby and I waited in for them and passed the time by cleaning out the fish tank following yesterday's tragedy. We zoomed out to Pets At Home and bought some new plants, some sponges for the filter and a tasty treat for Mr White, then headed back to get to grips with the job in hand.

Coby keeps watch out back for the gardners

Mum, if they don't turn up, can I have a go?

They're late!

Hey mum, lets go take some 'before' pictures of the garden while we're waiting

The garden looking lush, but in need of some tender, loving care

We did have 50 million frogs in the pond,
but the overgrown ivy and weeds seems to have scared them away

R.I.P. MR BLUE

Yesterday we lost one of our little fishkins. Mr Blue passed away after four happy years in the family and now the fish tank is a lonesome place, with only Mr White remaining now. We will definately be adding some new fish to the aquarium soon and Coby will no doubt pester us in years to come for puppies, kittens, rabbits, hamsters etc.

Where have all the fishes gone?

Mr White gets used to his own company!

If it looks edible, why not try and eat it?

No time for blogging

Last week was so, so busy, we had hardly any time to ourselves. On Tuesday I took Coby to daddy's office on the Kings Road in Chelsea. It was interesting travelling on the tube, especially as mummy thought she had avoided rush hour, only to realise that it was half term and all the children in London were on our tube! On Thursday, Coby experienced his first passover dinner with Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Lipa. Meanwhile mummy and daddy were naughty and headed to Brick Lane for a curry with Uncle Martin who was celebrating his birthday.

And on Friday, Nanna Ann and Grandpa Les came to stay for Easter. They had such fun catching up with Coby because they had not seen him since he was 9 weeks old and now he is 21 weeks old! We had a lovely weekend although mummy was a bit poorly and 'had the mother of all headaches' which consequently made her feel sickly, so she put her feet up and let nanna and grandpa take charge.

Nanna & her special grandson

On Tuesday, daddy took an extra day off work, so we went to visit our friend Guiseppe and his son Gabriel. They moved from London to San Francisco last October and are here for a two week visit.

Uncle Pep shows Coby how to look cool the Californian way

Gabriel leads the way

Hmmm, which way to run?