Being mobile

At the grand age of 7 and 1/2 months, Alice has decided that laying and doing nothing is for chumps and that moving around and being mobile is the way forward.

Alice has been rolling around for a few weeks and attempting to crawl for a few weeks, which has now turned into dragging herself along with her hands. She will also happily walk up the stairs whilst holding you hands. This last week or so she has been climbing up anything and everything she possibly can, including me and her favourite... the sofa.

Video of Alice standing

The funny thing is she won't climb to a stand on the edge of the sofa whilst you are looking, as soon as you look away she stands up and is extremely pleased with herself. Then the funniest part, she looks towards you and waits for your congratulations for her being so clever.

I can't believe she is so grown up already and how clever our little baby is.

Laura

Sleep! At last!

I am probably just about to jinx this now, but I am going to say it...

Alice is asleep!

The last few days our poor little baby has been a nightmare to settle because she was cutting her first tooth. Last night Lucien tried taking her for a walk as this worked at 10pm the previous evening but to no avail, So we waited for a little bit and tried other things like giving her a little bottle and rocking her this also unsuccessful, it was my turn to take her for a walk.

I decided, in my wisdom, that I would take Ali for a long walk so, I walked from our house in a big circuit past little Tesco, up Brixington hill, up Ivydale and onto Sherwood Drive and then onto Valley Way, Parkside Drive, Birchwood Road and Marions Way then back to ours again (1.20 mile circuit). In theory this was a brilliant plan because Alice usually fall asleep in the pushchair when on a nice walk, however, when I got to the top of Sherwood Drive she decided that sleep was most definitely overrated and that she was going to scream and shout as loud as she could, because we were now about the furthest point from home...

So, if you live on this route I will now apologise for my darling daughter ruining your evening.

This walk was extremely unsuccessful... Lucien then tried a drive along the seafront, another bottle and another walk, needless to say Alice was definitely winning the battle as they came through the door with her crying still.

I took her upstairs as I had had enough of that evening and I sat and sang to her and she eventually fell asleep around 11pm.

This evening however, seems to be back on track and she has settled down and stayed down so far... hopefully this will now be the norm again and we will have a lovely happy and contented baby girl again.

I hated seeing her in pain and discomfort but glad it was only short lived. I really don't know how normal parents cope with getting up throughout the night doing feeds etc. I admire you all.

Laura

We have a tooth!

The last few days our little lady has been a bit more grumpy than usual and hasn't been sleeping as much. So, we wondered what on Earth could be wrong with her.

I felt in her mouth yesterday and felt something sharp, so I tried to look in Alice's mouth, she reluctantly after lots of tears and screaming showed me. I saw to my excitement a little tooth sticking out of her gum and it all made sense.

We are now hoping that this tooth won't take too long to come out and she will be back to her normal chilled out self.

Laura

Tough decisions

As most of you will now know, I have indeed resigned from being a Teaching Assistant at ECC to look after my beautiful baby girl. So, as of 1st September, I have decided my job title is going to be 'lady of leisure'.

This was such a tough decision to make and I really didn't want to leave, as no matter how much I whinged about some things I absolutely loved being a Teaching Assistant and working with all my lovely colleagues. I have made so many awesome friends in the 5 years I have been there and I hope to stay in contact with you all.

There was only one reason for leaving and that was childcare... If you speak to anybody that has had children they all say the same thing, childcare is too expensive. This was very true in our circumstance too, especially on my wage.

Never fear, I hope to be returning (if I am allowed ;) ) when Alice has started at pre-school. In the meantime, I will miss working with you all, my lovely friends and colleagues :(

Laura

Paignton Zoo

Alice and I are having a busy week so far, Crealy yesterday and Paignton Zoo today. Alice got to see more animals than me today, she saw some orangutans, gorillas and lots of varieties of monkey, whilst I was having a cuppa and catch up with my lovely friend Suzy, Alice didn't wander off by herself ;) Granny took her for a walk.

After Alice had a feed I then took her for a walk to see some of the other animals, and to look at the lovely gardens.

We found the crocodile swamp and saw some crocodiles and snakes. After the crocodile swamp we walked round to see the giant tortoise, baboon rock and the pelicans.

We went and picked up Granny and carried on our walk to see the tigers and lions. We all saw both of the tigers...sleeping.

All the lions were visible too, the new male walked towards us and laid down in the sun for a nice sunbathe.

Only thing was, Alice fell asleep just as we got to the lions and missed them all.

On the way out we spotted this fella by the main entrance.

There is still more animals for Alice to see in the future, so Lucien and I will have to take her again to see all the animals she missed this time round.

Laura

Crealy

Alice and I fancied a visit to Crealy to see Granny and my work colleagues on their Activities Week trip. I haven't been since this time last year, I secretly (not so secretly now) love going to Crealy. 

Granny took Alice and made a base camp for us all to sit around for the day and she told me and Rob to go and have a walk around. So, we went to the log flume and rode that, thankfully I didn't get soaked which was the first time ever. After the log flume, I went and found Granny and we went for a walk with Alice.

Alice found a swing just the right size for her and had a little go on it, before continuing on our walk.

 We found the new ride that Crealy have just opened and that Urban and Rural Plants planted.

After all the swinging and the walking around Alice thought it was all too much and fell asleep. Granny and I found a bench next to the log flume and had a sit down to watch the kids get soaked.

After lunch, Alice and I went and had a look around the animal shed. We saw some really cute ducklings, Shetland ponies and piggies.

We had a really nice day out and I really can't wait until Alice can do more of the rides and enjoy herself.

Laura 

Exmouth in Bloom

We have decided, last minute, to put in our entry for Exmouth in Bloom 2014, we have entered both the front garden and the back garden. Previously, we have won back garden and have been runner up for the front garden quite a few times.

The judging for Exmouth in Bloom will be in the next week or two. So, we have had a very busy weekend trying to clear up the borders, dead head and clear the weeds out of the driveway.

Our lovely cat, Scrappy came out to help us with planting out new plants and getting rid of the weeds in the driveway.

Lucien hard at work clearing up the borders.

New plants waiting to go into their new home, in the garden.

The garage roof was also tackled by Lucien today. Lucien weeded the borders on the roof and cut back the Wisteria and the grapevine.

A very well deserved coffee for my lovely Hubby :)

.

Hopefully we will get a good score this year for our garden. However, we have let it grow out quite a lot. I will keep you all posted.

Laura

One laptop ah ah ah.... two laptops ah ah ah...

We have recently been using our tablets to do everything, well, apart from when we are using the main machine. Also, after starting the blog posts again I was finding it hard to type them on my tablet. Lucien also decided that he wanted a laptop to use so he could sit in the lounge and do things as well as being slightly more sociable. 

So, Lucien had been looking around on the internet to try and find a laptop that would be perfect for the use it would get from us, after lots of trawling the internet he wasn't satisfied with what he had seen. 

One of Lucien's work colleagues and our friend, Steve, recommended having a look at second hand Dell laptops. The result of this was a very nice, blue Dell e6410 laptop for Lucien and I to share.

Laura's laptop

The good thing about choosing these second hand Dells was that they are just coming off business lease, so they are top the range business laptops for 10% of the original price.

However, Carol (Lucien's Mummy) is after a laptop as well and so Lucien had a search for the same model of laptop. He managed to find one and win it, when it arrived Lucien decided that he was keeping the laptop that he was going to give to his Mum. So, now we have a blue Dell e6410 and a silver Dell e6410, with Carol patiently waiting for another one.

Lucien's laptop

 Don't worry everyone, Carol said it was fine to keep for ourselves and to find her a different one ;)

After having a laptop each, I said I wanted the pretty blue one, so Lucien has the silver one. My laptop is decorated with a Lego Unikitty sticker just to ensure that Lucien remembers whos is whos. Woo his and hers laptops!

Apparently these laptops are so good (and probably seeing the two arriving at Lucien's work), Lucien's work colleagues are also ordering them.

I am finding this blog posting so much easier now that I have a proper keyboard to type on :)

Laura

Beach shenanigans

I thought today, as it was nice and also a weekday, that it would be nice to take Alice to the beach for the first time. She has previously been on the beach with her Granny and Grandad, but Lucien and I haven't taken her before.

As soon as I put Alice on the sand, she got really excited and started to pick handfuls of sand up. I thought it would be fun to bury her legs in the sand and see what she would do.

After bringing her legs back out from the sand she thought it was amusing, beforehand she looked slightly concerned that she had no legs.

Hmm, just like her Daddy and some other family members, Alice watched and stared to see what other people were doing. She especially loves watching other children and babies.

The beach was nice and quiet with only a few families on holiday or older people out enjoying the sun.

This was looking straight out from where Alice and I were sat.

Also decided to get her own back on me, for burying her legs. She started picking lots a of handfuls of sand and dumping it all on my jeans and picnic rug. This, apparently, was also highly amusing. Which it was, until I came to pack everything away finding sand everywhere.

We came home after an hour down at the beach and I found Alice like this.

She must of had lots of fun down the beach throwing sand around at her Mummy.

Laura

Bad nights and admiration

It doesn't happen often but last night was the rare occasion that Alice had a bad night of sleep. She woke up just after I had fallen asleep myself and so I had to go and give her a bottle and a cuddle, and I don't know about anybody else but I think the worst time to be woken up is literally just after you have fallen asleep. I know she can't help it so I wasn't too grumpy with her ;)

Alice also kept fidgeting and whinging/screaming in her sleep throughout the night, needless to say I woke up each time expecting to have to get up and sort her out, this didn't happen. However, when I woke up this morning, I felt like I was hungover, I didn't touch a drop of alcohol last night so I knew it wasn't actually that.

The first nap Alice usually has on a morning is around 9.30-10 but this morning she was falling asleep as I was giving her, her breakfast at 8. I guess she was shattered after her rubbish night, bless her.

I now feel like most parents do every morning, except that I only do it once every blue moon. I feel so much admiration to parents who have to get up throughout the night every night because I couldn't imagine doing it every night. We are so lucky to have such a good sleeper and I hope she stays like it.

Well done to all the Mummies and Daddies that I know, you are all brilliant :)

Laura

Grandparents and new experiences

Alice and I have had a busy couple of days with 3/4 of Alice's grandparents. Yesterday with Granny Sherwood and today with Nana and Gramps Caldwell.

Yesterday, Mum and me decided to take Alice up to Exeter and take Alice on her first train ride. She loved it! She got a bit fed up of being in the pushchair after a while because she wanted to see out the windows properly. She sat on Granny's lap and she was fine.

We had a wander around the shops and decided to have something for lunch, we decided that Debenhams would do ;) Alice was sat in her big girl chair whilst Granny and I had our lunch. I could feel Alice's death stare whilst I was eating, so I gave her a cherry tomato.

Today, Nana and Gramps came up from Cornwall and we took Alice to Bicton Park & Gardens. We hadn't been for a little while and it had been years since Nana and Gramps went. First things first, Alice had her brunch bottle and then we all had a train ride around the gardens, of course using our free train ride pass.

After that was lunch in the Orangery followed by a stroll around the gardens. Alice found the playpark and thought it was far too exciting to miss out on the fun that all the other kids were having, so she joined in. Alice went on the swing first...

As you can see she thought it was amazingly good fun. Then, Daddy spotted there was a slide for Alice to go down...

Lastly, Daddy spotted the climbing frame and that Alice HAD to have a go. It does seem that Alice was trying to climb it.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

Laura

Maternity ending...

It has suddenly dawned on me that I have only got 2 weeks left of maternity leave. I first went on maternity in November, 4 weeks before Alice was due. It seems like only weeks ago that I was wondering what having a baby would be like and how was I going to get through the delivering of Alice.

So most of you will know that Alice finally came on 10th December, which also happens to be Lucien's birthday (I know, best birthday present ever!). The transformation that Alice has gone through is massive. This is Alice at about 15 hours old...

And this is her latest photo this week, at almost 7 months old...

Where on earth did the time go? It feels like overnight that she has grown and developed into who she is. Her character evolves almost on a daily basis. She is still as happy and content as she was from the beginning and we are really enjoying this stage of her life. Alice seems to sometimes be almost like a toddler already.

We are off to see a childminder today and see whether we want to go down that route or another route. Alice is definitely growing up too fast already. I don't want to blink because it seems that time moves too fast.

We love you little lady! 

Laura