Happy Birthday Owen!

Here is Owen, on his first birthday - looking gorgeous for Grandma. He spent the day having fun with her after Mum and Dad went to work. Before that, though, he enjoyed opening his presents. Here he is with the baby laptop Mum and Dad got him, so he could be like them.

Being a one year old, he also had a lot of fun playing with the wrappings and boxes from his presents!

After Mum got home from work, he had a joint party with Michaela, since they share their birthday. She had been a bit ill, but was very brave and back to normal by party time. The party was just a bunch of babies crawling and cruising around the living room, just like Cerys's party which we all enjoyed so much last week.

Since it was his birthday, though, it was also an opportunity for Owen to experience small amounts of cake and biscuits, which he enjoyed very much. He didn't like being up at 2am with a sore tummy, but we can put up with it if it is only once a year!

He had a really great day. It is hard to believe he has been around a year, and that he has come on so much from when he was born. When he was so peerie, we thought he would be about 5 before he got this big! He had an appointment through the week with a doctor at the hospital, a one year check to see how he was doing. He was on his best behaviour, cruising and even crawling a bit and shouting and chatting and waving at me. She said she didn't think his coming early had had much of an effect, and he wasn't very different from any other one year old. It is what we thought anyway, but it was nice to hear her say it!

baptism

Here's Owen in his cute little suit, right before he got baptised. He was very good in church, even turning round to look at the priest to listen when he was talking. He did reach up and try to push his hand away when he saw the water coming though. His pal Michaela was also perfectly behaved in church, and she looked like an angel too!

Owen loved spending time with his Gran and Di, it was a shame they were only here for such a short time. He liked everyone being in the house for his special lunch, too. We all had a really nice afternoon, but a bit too nice for mum - next time, a bit less wine for me! He didn't stay clean in his white clothes for long, and here he is enjoying himself by trying to pull Michaela's hair. He liked opening his cards and presents too.

Gran and Di let him open his birthday present from them, while they were with him. He LOVES his bike, he thinks he is king of the castle in it. He holds on to the handles, and he has a good look around, he really prefers it to the buggy. He has a much better view, and a little bell too! The lovely outfit was an early present from Mum and Dad.

We're ill again!

Not much to say this week, since we have all been suffering. Here is the picture of his teeth that I promised last time. I got it because he was trying to steal the camera out of my hands. He still thinks he is entitled to everything he wants - he is starting to learn the word 'no' but he is not too happy about it.


This week, he came down with the tummy bug which has been going around the nearby babies. I had to come off work and take him home from nursery on Friday afternoon, but he didn't need too much looking after, just lots of cuddles. He was really tired and I didn't want to disturb him, I will know next time to get a book before I cuddle him in, so that he doesn't fall asleep leaving me with nothing to do but watch daytime TV. It is no wonder he gets ill, when you see what he does with his socks - even if he has been walking around on them all day.

On the Saturday, I came down with the gastroenteritis, so we all had a terrible weekend, especially poor Alex who had to look after us. Owen got a bit better - feeling well enough to be really whingy and need a lot of looking after, but I can't blame him, cos I felt a bit like that myself! He went back to nursery on Monday, but had a relapse and I stayed home to look after him on Tuesday. I wasn't quite well yet myself, so it wasn't easy, but we managed to squeeze in some fun. Here he is during nappy off time, playing with his garage which came from Grandma. The garage has a lever which he loves to pull, but he hasn't yet figured out that when he lets it go it makes the cars spin. He would get it if it spun when he pulled the lever, I think. I like to watch him being a bit thick, he is so surprised when everything spins around!


Can't think of too much to say, we are all too tired! Will post again soon with pictures from tomorrow's baptism.

Lots of coughing..

Here are a couple of pictures of Owen playing 'tickle mum's feet', he is really enjoying this game right now. It is quite hard to take pictures while he is doing it though, it is an akward position to get the camera to, also it does actually tickle quite a bit!

Not too much to report this week. He had a good week at nursery, then enjoyed himself over the weekend. We all went shopping on the saturday - he just loves the supermarket, then home to enjoy the good weather (yes, we do sometimes get good weather). We sat outside for a while on the grass, playing with toys. We were also outside through the week looking at the horse and Shetland ponies which appeared in the field outside, and to chase next door's cat. It was nice to get some fresh air. He liked the cat best.

Also at the weekend, we had the sandwich incident. After looking in the book we use for recipes, we discovered that Owen is big enough to eat sandwiches. We thought we would give it a go. The book suggested tuna mayonnaise.. and we forgot completely that mayonnaise is made with eggs. D'oh! He only had a tiny bit of mayo, and only a little bit of that would be egg, so he didn't have a reaction, which was good, but he was extra cranky that day, and he had nasty nappies for two days afterwards. Lessons learned there. Here's a picture of him in a happier moment, eating his first sandwich, just before Hoodiehoodie (who was lunching with us) mentioned that there might be egg in it. It does actually look a little bit like he is saying 'look what they are doing to me! See how bad their parenting is!'

He is off to the doctor tomorrow, because he has a bad cough which we want checked out. He has had a bit of a temperature, too, also runny nose and not feeling too great, but he has managed to stay cheerful. He is such a good boy.

Next time, I will try and get a photo of his top two teeth which are through now. Still no progress on crawling or walking without help, which is great! We see what happens when you try to change the nappy of a mobile baby, or leave them alone for a moment and come back and they are gone. Owen's waiting for the world to come to him attitude is definitely the best way for us!

A week at home, then back to normal

Our week at home when I got to pretend I was a stay at home mum was just fantastic. We met up with other mums and babies for tea and chatting, and swimming, and went to toddlers group, had long walks, spent lots of time rolling around the floor.. just generally having fun. Having more time meant that I could spend ages giving Owen his lunch, and let him feed himself a lot more. I usually give him a couple of spoonfuls, but now I let him loose on the bowl when he was nearly done. Lots of mess, but he really enjoyed it!

It was a shame it was just a week, then I was back at work and we all got back into our old routines. Owen was delighted to be back at nursery, upsetting his Dad by nearly leaping out of his arms in his rush to see the nursery girls. We take this as a good sign, though, it is nice to know he is happy during the afternoons, especially since he will be spending more time at the nursery with Dad's new job.

Owen isn't doing very much new. Still hasn't figured out crawling. If he is lying on him tummy and you put a toy out of his reach, he knows he should be able to crawl, and pats the ground with his hands, and can't understand why he is not moving. I think the other babies must make it look too easy.

He is still loving walking around, but only if he has two hands to hold on to. He still freezes still if you drop one of his hands. And turns his head to give you a dirty look for doing it.

He is learning to use his pincer grip, with the help of raisins and sultanas. He only started when he came back from Spain, and Austin was having some, and he is really good already. He just needs the right motivation to learn - if it is food, he is really good at it! He can use his cup now, too, he took his own drink the other day, for the first time. (He usually just picks up the cup and chews the spout).

He is making a lot more noise than he used to though, sometimes he'll shout for 5 whole minutes, mostly at his rubber duck, a favourite toy at the moment. He really laughs when you squeak it, I don't know why he thinks it is so funny.

Another game that makes him laugh is paying with my crocs. If he is on the floor in front of me, he will poke his fingers through the holes to tickle my feet and make me laugh. We spent about half an hour doing that the other day.

He was very amused today as well, we had some friends around with their Nintendo Wii, and we all jumped up and moved around and made a lot of noise. He didn't know what we were doing, but he did think we were performing for him. He did try to stay awake all day, but we had to put him in his cot when he got so tired he couldn't keep his eyes open.

He still gets nappy off time after tea in his baby gym. That has been our best baby buy. It cost us £5 from ebay, and we have used it pretty much every day since we got him home. We even took it to Spain with us. Here is a picture of him in it, where he is showing off his 50p shirt. His Di bought it for him from Sainbury's, where it was on sale because no one else would put their boy in a flowery shirt. We have no qualms about it though, in fact I think it really suits him. Gran bought him the trousers, along with tons of other things, despite saying lots of times that 'this is it, no more'. She is as bad as Grandma is with toys, but Owen is not complaining!

He was very pleased this week because Michaela is back from Australia, in fact we were all happy to see her family back home. Owen and Michaela have perfected the art of playing beside each other, without paying any attention to each other, except to occasionally swipe a toy or pull some hair. It is nice to be back to normal.

At Auntie Carol Ann's

After we got back from Spain, we had a couple of days before we flew home. We spent the time at Auntie Carol Ann's. Owen particularly enjoys spening time with big cousin Toby. Here we are paddling in the water at North Berwick beach, where the weather wasn't as warm as in Spain, but we made the effort!

Of course, he was also pleased to spend time with the rest of the family, and here he is enjoying some afternoon milk with little cousin Austin, helped out by Gran and Di.

We had a busy time in the couple of days we were there - a walk to the beach and town on Saturday, then Church, family day at the horse races and off to Mum's Auntie Mag's house for the night before we went home. We were so busy we forgot to take photos! Everyone was very nice to squeeze us in to their houses, hopefully next time we go Gran and Di will have a house to live in!

Fun in Spain

Owen really enjoyed his week at Grandma's house in Spain. He liked his Grandma very much, and was very well spoiled in return. He got to get up in the morning at whatever time he wanted, and he even got to get up and play and have a snack at 4am. He doesn't get that kind of treatment at home! He also was fascinated by Grandad John, and loved chasing Esme and Pepe the cats. He never caught them, but spent many a happy hour holding on to someone's hands and trying to run after them. The cats kept the game going by running off whenever he got near. Here he is in the garden, doing a bit of cat chasing. It was on Thursday or Friday when the weather was slightly cooler.

The area was lovely, and the weather very good for most of the week. The town and the seafront were nice, here we are out for a walk along the pier. It was breezy, which was nice, as anything above 20 degrees is too hot for us Shetlanders!

Owen spent quality time with grandma, while mum and dad went to the big supermarket (one of our favourite things, which we miss about 'South'), or the local markets. There we had to fight with our elbows to avoid being crushed in the crowds, but had fun and found a few bargains. If we had more money, we could have spent a fortune on tons of things for two or three Euros each. We went for lots of walks, as Owen needed a lot of sleep because he had a bad cough and cold, and we eventually realised we were doping him up with the medicine we got. We went to a great park not far from the house, and Owen liked the Spanish swings as much as he liked to local ones!

So we all had a good time, and are all glad that Grandma is booked to visit another couple of times this year. We hope to go back to Spain next year. We are going to save up and learn some spanish for next time, because we felt a bit ignorant and ended up in burger king asking for a 'double whopper, por favor', which isn't really experiencing the culture!