24 hour trip to scotland!

Paul's very generous work had their Christmas party at Gleneagles in Scotland. They put on an excellent weekend for the whole family. First Santa on his sleigh with reindeer come up the front entrance to the hotel, then each child gets an age-appropriate present and a photo (or two) with Santa, they also have cookie decorating for kids and soft play for babies. There is high tea at 4 for kids and then babysitters show up at your room at 6:45 and stay until 1 so moms and dads can go to a drinks reception, dinner and further drinks after. Jamie's favorite part was most definitely the reindeer--he was fascinated. I think he thought they were Remmy with antlers! He was very tired when it was his turn to visit Santa so the photos aren't great. He was a perfect angel for the babysitter so Paul and I had a nice evening downstairs. Here are a couple of pics:

Watching Santa and the reindeer arrive:



quick trip to Eastbourne

The three of us went up to Scotland for the weekend for Paul's work Christmas party (post to follow), but Friday night we drove down to Eastbourne to drop off Remmy for the weekend and it was Jamie's first trip to his grandparents' house. Jamie had his first piano lesson from Grandad. See below to see how it went--it will melt your heart! We will definitely be going down a lot more next year! He loved it and can't wait for Grandad to give him an organ lesson next time!



Video can be seen here too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdO93wRg9kw

what to do with snow days...

I nearly forgot! Jamie wasn't really up for playing in the snow so here's something he learned on one of the snow days:



It can be viewed here too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK4jJC7_Wss

snow days!

So Jamie and I apparently made it home in the nick of time. It started snowing in Southeast London on Tuesday morning about 4am. Our flight landed at 6:30. Paul picked us up at the airport and as we drove the 60 miles on the motorway the snow became more and more visible on the ground. By the time we got off at our exit, it was really coming down. We were only 8 miles from home, but it took us 2.5 hours from that point to get home. We literally crawled down the road to get to our house. It snowed all day long and then again the next day. We ended up with 12-14 inches of snow. A first for Jamie and for Remmy. Can you guess who enjoyed it more?

What fun!

Hmm... 

 I love it!

I'm bored...

Our backyard after Day 1:



8 months old!

We've had a busy few weeks, including a visit to the States for Thanksgiving. On the big Turkey Day Jamie turned 8 months. We were in Hilton Head with absolutely perfect weather. We even ate Thanksgiving outside. We spent the entire week with my family. Jamie really enjoyed all the attention and cuddles. This month we've been perfecting our commando crawling, pulling himself to standing when holding on to someones fingers, working on his pincer grasp, eating like a pig and still not sleeping through the night (sigh!). Here are his birthday block photos and outtakes:

Ships Ahoy!

 I think I'm starting to get seasick:

And we're done with the blocks:

Roasted Jamie...

 I mean roasted turkey and Jamie:

everybody jump..jump...

Jamie has figured out a new trick in his exersaucer this week:



If you can't see the video here, try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO_t9AhxSsg.

Happy Halloween!

So in the US, Halloween is a much bigger event for kids. It has none of the negative connotations that it does here. Though, it is starting to become more commercial here. I had 4 trick-or-treaters come by, including one on Saturday when we were totally unprepared. In the States, all kids dress up and go door-to-door getting candy from all the houses in the neighborhood.

Our little panda:

He wasn't really a fan of wearing the hat. These photos were hard work--Paul was out and he just kept pulling the hat as soon as I put it on. A lot of distraction tools were needed!

7 months old!

Jamie is 7 months today! We cheated and took the photos yesterday because I wanted to do them at the park to capture the fall colors. Not sure if this was the best idea...here's how it went:

Test shot, ooh how cute am I going to look in my orange vest:

Ooh a leaf...

Not sure this tastes good.

Mommy and Daddy didn't see, but I actually swallowed one, them promptly puked all over my cute vest...time for a wardrobe change (ditch cute vest, don cute hat).

Ooh leaves are fun...I like to pile them up in my lap:

Actually, this hat may be a bit big for me...

Let's try without the hat...ooh blocks, let's eat one!

Let's try one on the tummy...oh yeah I like to work on my crawling, this won't work.

How bout one of the bench...nope, I look like a fat old man:

Here are the best ones:

And as always there are more on Flickr in Jamie-7th month: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwoodward/sets/72157625190214398/

commando jamie

Jamie is on the move. He's really started going for things this week. He is particularly fond of the dog toys and remote controls. Won't be long before he's crawling. Time for me to start baby proofing:

Nana came to visit!

Last week my mom came to visit us and we had a great time. She helped me get a lot of jobs done around the house and brought lots of fun clothes for Jamie. It goes without saying that she got lots of Jamie cuddles too, including some middle of the night rocking sessions with our poor sleeper (I think he's teething...well i hope that's it!). Here are some of the highlights:

Nana-Jamie time:

Fun with food:

Practicing our standing:

Went to a petting farm:

 which I think Remmy enjoyed more than Jamie:

 We met all the Woodwards at a pub for lunch:

more photos on our Flickr site. There are new photos from last week and various other times in these sets: Xmas tree farm, Jamie 7th month, family and Remmy.



half a year already!

Well I'm super behind on blogging, seeing as the last one was Jamie's 5 month birthday. It's amazing how much time a puppy and an active baby take up! Jamie turned six months on Saturday. We had a super busy weekend so took the photos Sunday night. Remmy tried to eat the '6' block so had to run up for a replacement. I also got a taste of trying to photograph two kids when trying to get a nice photo of Remmy and Jamie. It was not easy and the blocks definitely could not make an appearance in those, but we eventually managed with the help of our toy tweety bird. Jamie is quite a character these days. He's sitting up on his only with some supervision. He will fall over when he gets excited or lunges for something. He is back on solids and is not enjoying them as much this time round. He is a fan of bread though and likes to feed himself. He is reaching for absolutely everything and really rolling around and pulling himself about when he wants something. He smiles all the time and loves to blow raspberries. No teeth yet, but he had his first cold, poor guy. Here are his birthday block shots for this month:

I love to pick things up:

and eat them...

5 months old!

Jamie turned 5 months on Wednesday. Developments this month include a love for standing, grabbing at his toes, toys, Remmy-pretty much anything within reach. He tried and stopped solids--poor guy way getting indegestion so I am giving him a little break. He's laughing, smiling and chatting more. He loves seeing himself in the mirror. And this week he's starting sitting in what I see as the tripod position--only for short periods. Here are his birthday block shots and outtakes:

All smiles:

These are my toes:

See I can sit when I support myself with my hands:

Sometimes I get tired of sitting:

I do love standing, honest, just not immediately before my bedtime:

No more photos:

How are Jamie and Remmy adjusting to each other?

See for yourself:



I don't think Remmy is too phased by Jamie's advances.

This is the link if you can't see it on the blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vupbMuz9nYo&feature=channel

Remmy has arrived!

We picked up our 9.5 week old puppy, Remmy, on Sunday. She very cute. She's very active in the morning and generally sleepy in the afternoon. Housebreaking her is an ongoing battle. I think she's cracked the pooing, but definitely not quite there with the peeing. Hopefully she'll catch on soon. She's been great with Jamie, no nipping, just some friendly licks. Jamie just seems to watch her. No doubt they'll grow up best friends. Here are some of our favorite shots from her first week home:

like father, like puppy

her favorite resting spot

her favorite escape spot

future friends (I found Remmy here after I went to answer the doorbell).