Well behaved Emma

Emma's been extremely good since we got back from Tisbury. We've been getting at least 6 hours sleep each night (normally in a couple of three hour blocks) and during the day she's been either asleep or alert and looking around. The few cries have been for food or a bit of wind, but they haven't lasted long.

Today we went to Eastgate shopping centre next to Ikea in Bristol. We couldn't face Ikea though. We bought a sling in Mothercare called a Marsupio, which seems very snug. Helen had a bra fitting too. You have to wait 3 weeks after giving birth before buying bras because your rib cage takes that long to contract back to its original size! We also went to a large Mama and Papas on the same complex. We got this activity mat which looked like fun. For the whole four hour shopping trip and drive she was as good as gold!

Here's some nice pictures we've taken over the last few days. Click on them to make them larger. Also click on the counter to the left to see how many visits the site's been getting and where from. We've had a few Americans and one each from Turkey, Japan and Singapore. Welcome to all of you!

Ode to my Alfa

Alas poor Alfa. She had to make way for a family car. Here is my tribute to an exciting car! Here is where I sold her on EBay . Her cornering and acceleration were amazing.










Here is a photo of her a little off colour when some, ahem, lady drove into the back of me...














And here when she accidentally met a BMW on a roundabout. Not looking her best in this one either..











She finally made way for my brother's Vauxhall Astra. We can get everything we need in her boot and she drinks diesel at half the rate of the Alfa's petrol consumption. It was the sensible thing to do. Darn it!

Chinese at Wallmead

It's now Tuesday morning and I'm sitting up with Emma to let Helen get some sleep. Emma slept from 8pm to 11.30pm, then again until 3.30am. She was still up at 5am trying to settle. Feeding at night has become complicated by too much milk being ready for Emma. It means Helen is engorged and Emma can't latch on easily. The breast pump is becoming invaluable as it allows some milk to be expressed and the pressure to be relieved.

We got to Tisbury at 8pm on Saturday. Helen had had a good morning until about 11am when Emma became noisy. She managed to get some sleep in the afternoon. My old school pal Ben had arranged to meet us and Emma after his medical exam in Cardiff on his way through. We cancelled the meeting in the end which was a shame, but we all had a lot of travelling to do and a busy weekend ahead.



At Wallmead we were greeted by enthusiastic grandparents bearing quiche and garlic bread!













We managed to smash a nice portmeirion jug washing up after breakfast. I'm going to try to win this one on EBay so please nobody bid against me!

For lunch, brother John ordered an ENORMOUS takeaway from the Chinese in Tisbury. It would have fed the ten adults twice! Our theory us that he never gets to order chinese normally as his family don't go in for it so he was getting in a whole life time's worth. It was delicious, especially the duck. Emma slept throughout. She'd impressed her Great Granny B earlier by feeding, then staying awake until being lulled into sleep by a pram ride over the cobbles. She was promptly sick over Helen and nearly Edith when she got back. She needed a bath and there were several volunteers to help!


















In case you're having difficulty reading mum's expression in this one, she's saying: "Why do always photo me holding her when she's crying?" It was so good for Emma to meet her cousins. Only Ria was missing (presumed holidaying in France) so they numbered six - quite a houseful with all the adults too! We stayed Sunday night too - so nice having the Monday off work. We'd planned to go at 2pm on Monday and drop in on Nanna and Omah, Emma's two other Great Grandmothers (she has 4!) We eventually left at 8pm! I spent much of the day configuring Mum's new computer. Its so quiet i didn't realise it was on at first! All the Dell adware needed deleting, then I upgraded the media player, fitted a new CD-RW and linked mum up to MSN Messenger 7.5. I also loaded her music collection onto her computer, a real pain because it didn't recognise most of the classic music CDs, so they needed manual entering. Should make her computer a nicer place though..

A Health Visitor Calls

Our Health Visitor, Liz, paid Helen and Emma a visit today at 2pm. She rang to confirm at 11am but unfortunately interrupted a nappy change. Helen managed to get to the phone just after the answerphone kicked in so the whole thing was recorded. Emma was crying, or rather screaming, Helen was unsuccessfully trying to hear a single word of what Liz was saying. Half way through, Emma peed all over Helen and the office chair in her state of undress. It'll be a while before we clear the answerphone messages!

Emma had been very good up until that point being very contented and sleeping lots. Last night was good too with one feed in the middle, but otherwise quiet and letting us both sleep for at least 3 hour spells. I came home for lunch and found a sleeping baby all ready to go out for a walk. The walk had been planned for noon, but had been postponed due to feeding! Eventually Helen and Emma went along the seafront at about 3pm all the way to Scarletts for an ice cream and back which went extremely well and gave Helen a good sense of freedom. Except for the hat straightening incident which accidentally tugged Emma's hair and gave her a fright!

The Health Visitor was extremely encouraging, weighing Emma in at 8lb 2oz and saying how healthy she looked. She gave Helen some advice on feeding and how not to be too cuddly at night time, and to avoid too much bright light in the night.

We were invited to Rob and Becky's house in the evening for a barbeque. We were treated to sausages and burgers, chicken and sweetcorn and some delicious coleslaw that Rob's mum, Liz, had brought. A baby cuddle was had by all. Emma woke up and gave some long stares and a rather explosive nappy filling when sat on Rob's lap. He seemed unperturbed, even congratulatory of Emma's achievement.

Not many photos taken today, just this one of Emma when we got back, achieving a good deep sleep pose. I'll make up numbers with these: the first was taken the day we got back from the hospital, the second is Emma at 3 hours old, and the other is an amusing cartoon I found.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now so night night all. I may not update for a few days now until I get back from a visit to my parents this weekend.

Blast from the past!

Hello Blog readers!

Here is a beautiful picture that fell into my inbox this afternoon from Robin. It is Rob and Leila with Helen in 1977 when she was a very ickle baby. They are in Nanna's garden in North Petherton.










This is Emma yesterday in the evening. Her Auntie Jane (Dave's sister) described the pleasure of seeing her two (Billy and Rosie) in this pose with arms up around their head as she knew they were sleeping very deeply.


















Last night was another good one. Emma went down at 11pm taking a while to settle, but then slept through until 7am with just one feed albeit with extended winding session.

I went to work again today and poor Helen had quite a difficult morning, especially when Emma cried through Helen's bath. Emma had a lovely bath herself, then would fall asleep in Helen's arms, and be put in the moses basket, but only sleep for 15 minutes before waking up and need feeding or winding again.


I came home for lunch, then Auntie Becky visited bringing Helen some nice soup and apple turnovers. Very welcome! Emma was quite good after that, letting mum sleep for an hour and being quieter herself. She didn't really settle in the moses basket for more than an hour at any time though.












Many thanks to Susie from Skeeles for this lovely romper suit that came with matching teddy.
Here's Helen enjoying a cuddle with Emma. After we'd eaten our sausage and veg, she became very alert and was looking deep into our eyes and taking an interest in what was going on. We've noticed her taking an interest more today than ever, and it is giving us real pleasure as parents!

At least she was quiet for the football!

Emma's redeemed herself today after a rather squealy, hungry, unsettled day yesterday. I went off to work after Helen had had a difficult night, and things didn't get better. It was hourly feeds please mummy, poor Helen was emptied out. This continued until midday. Helen had expressed some milk the previous evening, so noisy Emma and milk were taken around to Rob and Leila's. Through a combination of cuddling, Mozart and resting on shoulders, they were able to calm her whilst Helen went shopping in Tescos. Helen called the Health Visitor for advice and was suggested that perhaps rich and spicy food could be causing it. Whilst Helen hasn't had hot curry and has avoided too much onion, she was recommended in addition to avoid fizzy water, tomatoes, peppers and to keep everything she eats as bland as possible. I got home to the delicious smell of a cottage pie in the oven. So I'm not complaining!






The football seemed to transform Emma, she slept right through it. I hardly saw any tears at all. We enjoyed the England vs Sweden game and weren't entirely surprised when the Swedes equalised in the last minute. Sven should have played Theo Walcott though imho.

The day of crying had the effect of exhausting Emma so she slept from 11pm until 4am, then from 5am until 7am. I took her at 7am and gave her a wind, then she slept whilst I watched GMTV. She needed a feed at 9am, lucky Helen had had nearly 9 hours sleep with only an hour's feed in the middle. Luxury!

I ran Helen a bath and did us some toast. At 11am, as she was about to get in, she made a "just remembered" noise. Her appointment at the beauty clinic was in 35 minutes! After a mad dash which included a bath, and expressing more milk in case Emma got hungry, not to mention packing the car with all the stuff, we got there just in time. Helen had a relaxing facial and I had a wonderful 2 hours pushing Emma around and showing her off to all and sundry. The time flew past. Amy in Indulgence had had her wedding photos back. The photos and reception were held at a wonderful stately home in Chepstow and they had the perfect weather. Everything was white - the bridemaids dresses, flowers, even the chairs making for a very elegant wedding.


I'm back to work again tomorrow. We're hoping all the upset of yesterday could be put down to a growth spurt, making Emma hungry all the time. Today's been a wonderful day so far. Long may it continue!

How not to do an imprint?

Sadly, I'm back to work today. Leila will be visiting to help Helen during the day which should ease the change a lot. In fact, Leila's suggested that if Helen could express enough milk, she might be able to take her all together for an afternoon and give Helen untold freedom. Or lots of sleep... A few nice pictures from yesterday: A beautiful selection of roses, peonies and others from Leila's garden. Its been 15 days now since we got home to cacophony of flowers which have since died. So its nice to get the blossom levels topped up!















Our visit to the potter was a mixed success. We got there and he was halfway through setting up a wooden horse for a display. After 10 minutes he threw a disc for us (first picture). Then placed it on a the end of a plank for us to press Emma's delicate little hand into (second picture.) Which would have been fine had it been putty. However, this was firm, unyielding clay. The first attempt was a disaster, Emma clenched her hand and dragged it away. The potter looked grim and Helen suggested we go home. Unbowed, I pushed Emma's hand once more into the ruined clay. This time, fingers were visible, but only just. The palm mark was scuffed. The potter sighed saying "I was thinking if this was a success I'd ask you to do a second one for me to show in the shop but..." and left the words "but this is a disaster" unspoken. At my insistance he sat back down at his wheel scrunching up the disastrous attempt and flinging it back on to the wheel. I asked whether the clay could be made any softer, but he assured me this was the softest that could be worked with. I started to suspect that the John Lewis service might have involved soft putty and a cast. On the second attempt, a decent, if a little shallow and smudged, hand print was produced. By now Emma was covered in brown clay! And we still wanted a foot print next to it! So off came the romper leggings and in plunged her foot. It was a lot easier with the foot and we got a really nice mark. The potter even cheered up a bit. After 15 minutes of deciding on colours, glazes, writing, pictures, outlines, etc. we were quite glad to leave.

The rest of the day involved laundry (with Tigger helping), thank you cards, a little sleep for Helen, watching Spain beat Tunisia (just!) and some rather nice food. Stuffed pepper, cheese and bread for lunch, then pasta with roasted veg for supper.

Last night was blissful sleep until 3.30am, then Emma was a bit noisy after that with wind and asking to be fed. I managed to sleep through most of it. And now I'm off to work, shucks!

Dave x

A Visit to GG

An incredibly short day to report on yesterday. After the antics of Saturday night, Emma and Helen slept in until well after midday. They didn't miss much weather - it was overcast and looking like rain outside. I prepared a brunch of scrambled egg on toast with bacon, tomato and mushroom, then when i came back upstairs, i found Emma had been busy wrapping up my first ever Father's Day presents! She'd got me a chocolate ipod from Indulgence and a photo album with a silver frame attached to the front.
I also received a lovely card and balloon!

We dropped by on Rob and Leila to say "hi" and wish Rob a good fathers day too. He said he's ambivalent about Father's Day, being caught between a natural cynicism of a merchandising plot by card manufacturers on one hand. and receiving lots of liquorice on the other!

Our next stop off was GG's - as Connie, Emma's Great Grandmother would like to be known. I have some amusing photos of the two of them taken last week. I left the camera at home yesterday.


We had a lovely cup of tea and an egg custard. Connie was treated to a feed, then a nappy change, then hunger, then another nappy change, then another feed. We were there for over two hours! Emma was generally extremely well behaved though, looking calm and contented throughout and alert enough to fix her GG with some big blue eyes. Her eyes are certainly lightening to a striking blue from being quite dark initially. Connie said her husband, Geoff, had very blue eyes and long slender hands which both Helen, and now Emma seem to be inheriting.

We took Emma for a push along the sea front, past the Walton Park and back. The sun was getting lower over the sea and reflecting on the water. It was a beautiful evening for it and the 30 minute walk was enough to relax Emma into sleep. She cried when we transferred her back to the car, but slept for the short trip back.

We contemplated a pizza delivery in the evening but settled for homemade pizza on some of the copious amounts of gorgeous bread left over from Saturday. We had cheese and onion bread with cheddar and bacon topping, with some pepper and mushroom sprinkled on top. It took all of 10 minutes to assemble as it had all been prepared the night before. We settled down to watch some Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring. Emma didn't seem bothered by Orc or Balrog noise, just fed then slept and burped. At one point I had both Emma and Tigger sat on me!









The night was going the way of previous nights at half midnight when Emma was clamouring for her third feed on the trot. I took her from Helen and sat in the chair outside the toilet holding her arms down by her sides and gethering her legs up. She released lots of burps, then had a 5 minute hungry cry which I managed to ignore, reasoning she wasn't about to starve. A walk up and down the stairs settled her to sleep, albeit a twitchy light sleep. I held her for 15 minutes, then went downstairs to a more comfortable position on the sofa. I must have fallen asleep holding her and woke at 2.30am with her still asleep. I put her down then, and slept until 5.30am. Helen later told me she'd woken at 3.30am for a feed. At 5.30am she was making throaty noises so I cuddled and burped her for another 30 minutes, until she slept and then I put her down and she slept again until 8.30am. I reckon I slept for nearly 8 hours and Helen slept for 7 hours. Whats more we were up at 9am feeling a lot better than the last few nights. A much better night all round. See how fresh Helen was in the morning for a nappy change (the first for the mess to have gone right up Emma's back!)

Today's excitement will be the trip to the pottery shop to attempt an imprint of Emma's hand and foot. We hope to have lunch in the craft centre or a nearby garden centre, baby allowing! It's also the last day of my paternity leave. Neither of us are looking forward to my going back to work.

Dave x

Misunderstood Jacko?

As an afterthought, Emma seems a lot better in the garden and out in the fresh air. She can sleep for hours! I wonder if this celebrity parent came to the same conclusion? I can well imagine that little Prince Michael II wasn't sleeping in the hotel room, he'd been good in the garden the day before, there was no window basket to lay him in.....

And here's a link to the prodnose website. It's one maintained by Robin, Helen's father and it is the Coles family website. Our wedding and holiday photos can be found there too. The visitor count is currently 124 - lets see if we can push it up a bit!

I also have to share with you Becky's dip she brought round last night. It tasted of pine nuts and had a lovely lemony flavour. However, it did rather resemble the contents of Emma's nappy....

John & Helen Visit

We had a wonderful day yesterday, especially considering Friday night's disturbed sleep. We had a slow start, Helen enjoying a long bath and Emma being sleepy and good. Helen fed Emma at 11am, then went off in the car to go shopping on her own for the first time in weeks! She was a different person when she came back, laden with treats from The Cellar and Indulgence, where she had a nice chat with Amy the owner who got married last month.

John, Helen and Timmy arrived at 3pm in John's new Citroen Picasso. They had a nice cuddle with Emma who slept for the first hour or so, then woke up and was treated to a bath in her tummy tub. She was all ready to get in the tub in her garish yellow towel when she let rip with an explosion of poo, which was fortunately the same colour as the towel! Once cleaned up and dunked, she really enjoyed herself, and only cried when she had to come out. After bravely sampling some home made blackcurrant wine, they left around 5.30, giving us both time for a short rest.

I was also able to take a photo of Emma looking stunning in the new Minnie Mouse outfit they had got for her!

Gramps, Gramma and Becky came around 7.30pm and we'd all got some food ready - I think we'll be dining off the left overs for some time! We were able to sit out in the garden with the lovely weather still continuing and we had kebabs, roast chicken, lots of salad and bread. Becky had found some gorgeous peppers stuffed with cheese. We also further wetted Emma's head with some champagne that Liz (Becky's fiance's mum) had given us last week. Thanks Liz! Although we had some games on standby they weren't needed as we chatted, then moved inside when it got colder.

Emma had a go in her new Winnie the Pooh bouncy chair from ToysRus although she's a bit small to bounce it herself as yet.

Helen thought she might get a feed in before bed, but it was not to be. Emma wasn't interested until midnight when she woke us up for a feed. I woke up again at 3am, gave her a cuddle and changed a nappy as she was being noisy. By the time I was finished she was ready for another feed. Then she woke up at 6am again sounding hungry. Helen said she'd been up nearly all night being feeding her so I took her downstairs and tried to comfort and calm, Helen being desperate for sleep at this point and sore from all the feeding. I eventually resorted to some water from a bottle.














It worked - for a little while! She had about 30ml then looked a bit more contented. She needed another change, which I did, then held her without a nappy for a while to let her stretch and dry. Luckily she had a towel under her bum because then she wet herself - and me! Which explains the change of clothes for Emma and my topless state in the photo on the right. By 7am she was crying so I gave her to a protesting Helen who fed her, and since then (4 hours!) they've both been asleep, Emma in the office with me.

So thats us up to date. An awful night for Helen, I managed to sleep through most of it. I think a longer nap in the day would have helped, Helen only managed under an hour. And perhaps waking Emma in the day to feed would be good too. She sleeps in 4 hour stretches in the day time, especially in the garden in a shady spot. It seems to mean she's hungry in the night.

No big plans today. Perhaps a stroll along the sea front to where Emma's Great Grandma lives would be a good way to stretch our legs. And some sleep! Dave x