Mapping a Cat's Brain

On this funny website, I found this picture which made me laugh. So here it is for everyone.

Berkeley Castle

A beautiful day today at Berkeley Castle where the 5th annual Joust Festival was being held. We met with our friends, John and Rowan - I used to share a house with John at University in Nottingham. Rowan gave birth to Maddie 5 days before Emma was born, and it was the first time the babies had met. We also met up with Rob and Bex, and Rob's mum Liz and her friend. We all had a wonderful picnic together under a tree overlooking a battle ground.

In the morning while Helen was getting ready, I played with Emma on her activity mat and she was enjoying the dangling beasties.

We had baby arm wrestling.
Helen held Maddie.
Rowan held Emma.
John had his arms full.
And Helen had her leg full.
We saw a Cossack riding two horses at once!
We saw a breast plate getting shot full of arrows.
Bex's parasol was great for keeping the sun off Emma.

We left at 5pm, and watched Lost in Translation whilst eating pasta in a sauce with meatballs. Yum!

Little Kitty

We've had more good nights with Emma. She's been enjoying her new mobile and is quite content to gaze at it then fall asleep, and when she wakes it seems to keep her occupied too.

On Friday, Helen met with Leila, Bex and Jenny Hime for lunch, then set off for the new look Matalan in Weston with Bex and Emma for some shopping.

In the morning, we'd set up a pot roast in the slow cooker of a joint of Wild Boar we'd got from a butcher in Ashcroft. By the time I got back at 6pm, the house was smelling amazing!

Helen scurried around preparing veg and setting the table whilst I comforted Emma, who has started squealing a bit when i get back in the evenings. Leila came to help us eat it.

The dense tasty meat just fell apart under our knives - it was delicious. As I prepared strawberries, all three of our mobiles went off. It was an excited Bex telling us they'd bought a kitten from a family in Hutton.

The new arrival was brought to meet us so we quickly sealed the room to stop Tigger from coming in. We were suggesting names for the new arrival but no decision has been made yet. Aworking name of "Squidge" is being used. Here are some cute pics of her, and some of the hunt that ensued when she made a bid for freedom!
When they caught her and took her home, we started a game of scrabble, a close contest eventually won by a majestic Dave.

Saturday was a day of photo arranging for Helen. She scanned in various pictures from old family albums, enlarging and restoring, with the aim of producing a collage of photos of friends and relatives. She'd seen Bex had got a good collection and is hoping to emulate it. It was very rewarding, wedged in one photo album, she found £30 in Virgin Megastore vouchers!

We had a chicken and pasta salad for lunch, then Emma fell asleep on my shoulder as I ordered some more wine making equipment and a new sonicare toothbrush on the internet. Helen had some sleep, then we headed off to Waitrose in Portishead for a shop. Emma was very good and slept throughout. She's been sleeping a lot recently. She had a feed when we got back - feeds are 3 hourly during the day at the moment. She slept at 8.30pm upstairs and we listened in on the walkie talkie. We watched Carry on Cleo, then Big Brother to which we are becoming shamefully addicted. We got to sleep at 10.30, Emma woke at 5.30am, then again at 6.30am. I held her whilst Helen slept on until 9.30am. The plan is now to meet with Rob, Bex, Liz and her friend and John, Rowan and Maddie at Berkeley Castle for 11am for some Mediaeval Jousting...

A Flying Visit

Emma went to sleep at 10pm as usual, & was up at 2.30am and 6.30am. Both times she needed a feed, but went down again soon after. When she awoke again at 7.10am, poor Helen was tired so I held her for an hour, then had to get changed and leave in rather a hurry. Somewhere, I have a roll of undeveloped film from Nancy's wedding, and another from the stag weekend in Barcelona just gone. They've both mysteriously vanished. When I have some time, I will have a proper hunt, then I'll be able to share them.
Life with Emma has been 'revolutionised' with the introduction of two new wonderful things. The first is the musical mobile (as in yesterdays blog). This morning I (Helen!) was able to go downstairs, make breakfast and have a very small tidy up whilst Emma lay transfixed with lots of coos and arm & leg waving. Brilliant!! The second great thing is lovely, wonderful Gripe Water. Purchased by Dave, this has a startling effect on Emma. I would liken it to a mute button!! It seems to make Emma far more settled and happier.

Emma is really smiling now and responds brilliantly to silly noises and songs. She also loves having my hair brush across her face - she closes her eyes with a big grin and then beams at me...priceless!!

It was a busy afternoon today, started at 1 pm when I briefly met up with all the girls from the antenatal group. It was lovely to swap notes and see all the lovely babies.

Daves dad, Martin popped in on the way to picking up Claudia (sister-in -law) and Carola (her sister) from Bristol International Airport, back from Barcelona. It was lovely to catch up & for Martin to have a good long cuddle with Emma. Martin seemed to have a very calming effect on little Emma!!

Mobile Delights

Not a huge number of pictures for my dedicated team of professional blog readers today. We had another good night of sleep from 10pm until 4am, then again until 8am. We had a morning of getting the house together a bit, then planning a nice picnic mostly from leftovers from yesterday. We took it around to Tennyson Avenue where Leila ate her lunch with us. We had a pleasant hour catching up and chatting. I was particularly impressed with grapes growing up against their garage. If the weather holds for another month or two, there should be an amazing crop, and hopefully quite a few bottles of wine.We headed off at 3pm for a marathon walk around Clevedon, putting in some money for Emma kindly given by Nanna and her friends Ann and Morris yesterday. We posted off a sunshade to Portsmouth for Helen, Steve and Alex who'd been impressed with Emma's after their visit on Sunday.

We got some more nappies for Emma from Rejuvenate. We bought more biodegradable ones, but the next size up. They are for 4kg and over, so should fit Emma. If they do she'll be officially midi rather than mini! We've noticed the newborn clothes are now decidedly tight on her. After a bit of a spend in The Cellar restocking on cider and wine, we walked home.

I fitted the muscial mobile to the cot which we've moved through to the bedroom. This is the THIRD mobile we've had. All the same. From "Bloomin' Marvellous," a shop in Bath. Each one has not worked - the mobile has not rotated. We've posted it back to them and they've sent us a new one. Very annoying, but a cause for celebration today when we found we had one which actually worked! And Emma loved it. She watched it going round and round for ages. We took a video of her watching it using the camera. We uploaded it to photobucket. To see it, click here. Video. I hope you can see it alright. I was put on to photobucket by John Bell, who uses it to show pictures of his daughter, Maddie. Although born only 5 days before Emma, Maddie is very advanced in martial arts, here she is doing karate. It takes about 10 seconds to load properly on broadband.

The sky went down as we ate our Tescos finest vegetarian pizza. The sunset was another stunner.

Nanna and a BEAUTIFUL sunset!

Emma slept from 10pm until 4am during the night, then again until about 8am. We were very pleased.

After I (Dave) left for work she turned a bit angry, but fairly soon, Leila turned up and Emma had a bath which settled her right down.

Helen went to visit her Nanna in North Petherton for lunch and in the afternoon. Nanna had killed the fatted calf for her prodigal great granddaughter. Well, perhaps not a calf but there was a whole roast chicken, quiche, salad, profiteroles and catering as only Nanna can do. For two people. It's set us up for the week anyway - we finished off the chicken in an oven bake last night. The quiche should do for lunch today!

Nanna had a magical effect on Emma. Emma was cooing and smiling for her, despite getting a little fractious towards the end of the 30 minute car journey on the way there. Nanna's friends Ann and Morris, and Irene also met Emma and were very smitten.

We got back home at 6.30pm, and had an unwind on the sofa followed by a walk down to the Little Harp. I had a pint of Black Rat cider, and Helen had a gin and tonic. Emma was awake in the beer garden and we were playing with her as she smiled and laughed. She loves being tickled on the tummy, and smiles when we laugh and make happy noises at her. The sun was going down and the sky lit up orange and red. This pigeon made a nice silhouette against the sky. Not bad for a skyrat!

Smiles, Screams & Sitting!

Monday started blearily. Our optimism about a full nights sleep was squashed as Emma woke at midnight, 4am and 6am. Dave arrived back at 2am, tired but happy. There was talk of him spending sunday afternoon in a spanish police station though......

Emma was pretty poisonous all morning. I ended up marching around Poet's walk with her screaming until she was hoarse. I eventually relented and fed her standing in a shady spot on the pathway. She likes to let us know who is boss!!

After this we had some lunch & another feed. Emma was again very screamy. Dave took her out so that I could have a nap, and we later went up to the St. Andrews church field to say hello to a friendly donkey.

In the evening Emma was being very clever and starting to sit up unsupported (admittedly for 1 or 2 seconds only). She tends to sway in a drunken style when unsupported. She seemed to really enjoy this and gave some top smiles. These are the times that make you forget sleep deprivation & screams!!

We sat and watched 'Austin Powers' in the evening. It was often difficult to hear the TV over Emma, but she eventually settled down & slept 10pm - 4am. Not bad!!

Baby Love

Sunday started after a feed at 4am, then another at 7am. Emma was a bit restless, so I tried out parking her push chair opposite the washing machine as it churned around. Emma was fascinated & sat quietly watching with her arms waving about.

This gave me lots of time to prepare some lunch for friends visiting today. Helen & Stephen

Laws have a gorgeous little boy called Alexander McOlvin Laws. The happy family are pictured abovein our garden(nice shot with the bins!!!)

We tried some match-makingas shown in the photos above. Alex was fascinated with Emma and was looking at her intently & reaching out to touch her. Emma remained aloof and appeared to be in a world of her own!!

At 13 weeks Alex has really grown! He was a little dot when I last saw him aged 3 weeks. He is now being very grown-up. He is able to stand with support of one hand only & is starting to take one step. The fun begins when these babies become mobile!!!

In the evening Emma & I went out for a stroll with Mum & Dad to Clevedon beach. The sun was roasting & the waves were huge! Pictured in the pink top is Mum having a paddle. She was kind enough to lend me her 'turbo daps' so I could have a paddle myself. It was a moment of absolute bliss!

Emma was asleep for most of this, but half way home started to scream constantly until she was hoarse! I gave her a feed at home, and she started to calm down. Emma was put to bed at 9.30pm, and awoke (unfortunately) at midnight, 04.00 & 06.00. Perhaps I was a little over-optimistic thinking she would sleep through the night again!!

On a lighter note, Dave came back home about 02.30 this morning looking very tired, but happy.

The Big Sleep!!

What a day!! After putting Emma in her cot last night she slept from 1015 pm to 0600 am!! I woke up in a daze of sleepy loveliness. After a feed Emma then slept AGAIN until 08.30. What a girl! Managed to get loads of jobs out of the way.

Here is a picture of Dad imitating Emmas arm dance - quite a funky mover!!



Visited Mum & Dad most of the day as my uncle & aunt, Jon & Shirley Annear were staying over. This was the first time that Shirley had met Emma. Emma managed to behave herself initially, but stuck to the tried & tested scream, feed, change & vomit cycle. To quieten her down we took her to Homebase & Argos to look for a swanky gazebo with Emma all papoosed up. The gazebo was a costly £150. Jon managed to make a wily bid on E-bay for the same thing at about £80 - well done there!!

Below is Emma pulling a cute face with Mum. Emma has really come on with the smiles & responds to familiar voices and singing. She is also focusing a lot better and appears to be able to track items that are large & distinct. She focused on a nearby blackbird with her eyes and moved her head as well to follow the bird this morning.

I would also add that our little porker is growing out of her newborn baby suits. Her toes will start poking through the stitches in a few weeks. Time for a new wardrobe!!

In the evening we had a very nice barbecue at Mum & Dads place. I managed to eat once someone could hold Emma. She was a little madam all night & griped and screamed.

I left for a few minutes to take Grandma back home about ten, and when I returned back Emma's Gramma and Great Aunt Shirley were getting panicky as Emma had screamed the house down for food. After a very short feed she was still a bit unsettled, but after the one minute car journey home she had puked all down her front. After a change and a walk to stop her hiccups, she conked out in the cot at 10.50pm. Here's crossing my fingers that we get a repeat of last night!


Sounds as if Dave is having a very jolly (& alcoholic) time in Barcelona. He has seen the sights....one of these being in an establishment called 'showgirls'. Probably best if we stop there!!

Going Solo!

Emma was a little dream last night!! Went to sleep at 10.15 & reawoke at 03.00, then 07.00. Felt moderately human this morning!!
As you can see from the picture, Emma has been a hungry girl today - she left a slight 'love-bite' on my arm after sucking away this morning!!
Dave flew off to Barcelona at 08.00 - received a text this afternoon stating that he was fully clothed, but having a beer on a nudist beach full of Germans..oo-er!!

We walked over to Mum & Dads today using the papoose. Below is mum holding Emma who slept for about 20 minutes only after a feed. We were given a lovely rosebud baby clothes set by friends called Alison & Andrew - she will look a stunner in that get-up.
As per yesterday, Emma became a bit noisy, so we marched off to the sea front. Below is the infamous Clevedon minature train. Emmas reaction to this says it all. Clevedon was voted the third crappest sea-side resort in FHM magazine because of this. It circles the playing field once for the bargain price of £0.80p. Go on, you know you want to......













In the evening we visited Dad who was very pleased with his new SLR digital camera. He took some great photos that we may be able to blog at a later date.
We had planned to go out for tapas at a very nice wine establishment called 'The Cellar', but every other Clevedonian seemed to have the same idea. We tried three other pubs, but they were all packed!!
Many thanks to mum for a top tagliatelli at home, finished off with Marshfield Farm honey & ginger ice-cream. Yum!!

Emma has been very unsettled today & has only slept 20 minutes here and there. I put her in her cot 40 minutes ago and she is now spark out. Lets hope this is a good omen for tonight!!

On a final note, we would like to wish Louise & Sam Nyman the best of luck with their forthcoming arrival - their baby is due today. Hope the birth is sooner rather than later in this stifling heat!!

Blogged off to Barcelona!!!!

Well folks, its just me (Helen) & Emma until late Sunday. Dave is off on a stag weekend in Barcelona. Hope that he comes back in one piece!!!
Emma & I went for a special shop at Tescos today to buy some yummy food to spoil ourselves whilst Dave is away.
Emma started the day with a big feed and big smiles. Unfortunately the flash on the camera makes her look a bit dozy!



Emma had a bit of a squeal after her feed, so I papoosed her up and went for a stomp along Poets Walk. As you can see from above, the walk had the desired effect!!
On our walk we saw a kestrel hovering and swooping down on its prey over land and sea. We took pictures of both, but the kestrel came up as a minute & indistinct dot!!

We had a reunion this afternoon for all the antenatal group. It was lovely to meet all the new mums and their bouncing babies. Also a great opportunity to show off our little Emma!!

Here is the chief blogger & top dad off on his travels. He is staying with our good friends John (also off to Barcelona) & Rowan in Berkhamsted. I am very jealous that he will get to meet their beautiful daughter Maddy who is 5 days older than Emma, before I get to see her!!