May Bank Holiday at Wallmead

What a face!!! We had a nice trip out on friday to see Grandma Annear in Clevedon Hospital. She is making great progress now & is starting to make plans to return home. We persuaded her to go out into the great outdoors for the first time in approx 7 weeks. Luckily it was a glorious day & Grandma enjoyed the light wind & sun on her face - beats the hospital air by miles!!

There were two lovely cats in the hospital grounds - a black & white, and the one pictured. Emma thought they were the best things ever & chased them both shamelessly for about half an hour! Becky arrived as we were enjoying the great outdoors, and we had a nice gossip.


We are starting to let Emma loose on food. As you will see in the photos above & below, she is getting the general idea. It is a very messy, loud & sticky experience that Emma enjoys with relish. She is beginning to become a little more independent & is getting a bit cheesed off with me shovelling food into her mouth. She now has a spoon of her own to slime the table with baby food and flick it onto our hair and clothes. She is a fairly good shot!!





We travelled down to Wallmead on Saturday to spend the Bank Holiday with family. We met David & Liz Spiller at the farm on Sunday to catch up after their wedding day of the 9th March this year. They seemed really well & were taken around the dairy to smell the smells and coo at the calves. We all wore waterproofs as it was hammering down with rain. It was generally agreed that Dave looked like a Hampstead Heath flasher in the fetching coat & hat!


On Monday a big family get-together was held in the Farm. We has a huge Chinese meal that was superb! We all needed to sit down and digest for a bit afterwards. Granny Blackburn is seen below teaching Emma elementary xylophone playing!!

Emma had her dinner before us with Billy trying to put a pirates patch on her!


Our daughter, the champion show jumper...



Emma with her cousins, Ria (left) and Rosie.


Mike got carried away after watching 'Pirates of the Carribean 3'?


Emma tries on some of her cousin Rosies' winter hand-me-downs!



Martin explaining the benefits & versatility of his leather hat.



Dave & John catching up.

Billy making a dash!



Ria 'Speedy Gonzales' in action.


Martin modelling his hat after discussing its' virtues.


Phew! What a lot of photos!

What is it with Emma & Olives?!!

Hooray for the summer weather! Today was glorious & we enjoyed a day out in the garden. Emma was busy walking with her trolley, laughing at the cat & re-organising the pebbles in the potted bay tree.




Emma was given a free rein with a large tub of olives. Here she is below putting her audition together for 'the most olives in a babies' mouth' competition! We think that she bears a passing resemblance to Chorlton.




Sorry Emma - you are allowed to delete this when you become 16!!




This afternoon we went for a trip out to collect elderflowers for wine making. We now have future elderflower champagne fizzing away in a bucket in the kitchen. Emma made some friends whilst Dave was picking the flowers, but she would only make friends if she was being held. When we put her on the floor she got very unsettled!


Grandma Annear is still in hospital. She has experienced numerous ups & downs, but seems to be making a steady progress this week. Fingers crossed for discharge home in the not-too-distant future!

Little Girl of Calm

Here she is on her changing mat reading her Little Book of Calm. Her changing mat is where she most often needs calming as she gets bored quickly. Unless distracted by something VERY interesting she tries to roll over and find something to play with. Often with very messy results.


She's been very helpful this week. Here she is spooning out Tigger's breakfast.

The weather's picked up again. We've spent some time in the garden.

Emma has been enjoying bashing the radiator next to where we feed her. It tends to get smeared with food! Emma has branched out from enjoying fruit lollies to Mini-milks. Not sure how much calcium they have but she certainly enjoys them.



We had a surprise visit from Grandad Shallcross (Martin) on Sunday. Emma enjoyed playing with him. Her favourite was the tongue sticking out game.




Emma and Tigger have been enjoying the garden all week. Most of these smiles were directed at the cat!




The wooden playpen is good at keeping Emma in one place but unfortunately very difficult to move. It has snapped in a few places from moving it about.

Helen's Grandma Connie is still in hospital but apart from a few bad days seems to be getting better and better. Rob and Leila have arranged for their neighbours who are plumbers and builders to redo her bathroom. She now has a deluxe walk-in shower! Should make life easier when she gets home.