...and then there were 4!

snow day!!

2012-02-06T07:44:00.000Z

So we didn't realize, but apparently it was supposed to snow on Saturday night with some accumulation, and that it did. We got a few inches. And it was the first snow of the season, unlike last winter where it snowed in November and a lot in December too. But like last year, we had one who loved the snow and one who wasn't so keen. It's not hard to guess which was which...

We did manage to stay out and play a little, including building two snowmen as someone destroyed the first:

did you guess right?!

2012-01-25T22:34:00.000Z

Jamie is going to have a little sister!!

We had our ultrasound this morning and it all went well. She (still weird to say that, I actually wrote "it" first) measured pretty much bang on average for everything they looked at. Sweet little thing weighs 13 ounces right now. We're halfway through the pregnancy but definitely not halfway through the growth, crazy to think about. Jamie was 6lb 13oz when he was born. So potentially 6 or more lbs to put on (for her) (and a lot more for me-on average, I should now be putting on a pound a week!)

We are all pleased, if not a little bit in shock. Over the last week or so, I've thought she was going to be a girl. Most of my friends are having boys this time round (when they had girls the first time) and everyone, apart from one, is having the opposite of what they had first. And so the pattern continues.

I can now ask Jamie where is his baby sister and he will point to my belly and give it a kiss. So cute!

Here are the photos from the ultrasound:

She is sitting breach at the moment (head up) and she had her hand up near her face most of the time and was waving or sucking her finger/thumb. You can see her waving fairly clearly in this last one.

We haven't picked out any names yet, Paul wanted to wait until we knew the sex so we'd only have one to contend with. Don't get any big ideas though because like last time, the name will remain a secret until she's born.

Some good news is that the fibroid is measuring 8cm at it's largest point which is 4 cm smaller than it was at this point with Jamie (it also didn't grow after this point). We have another ultrasound scheduled for 32 weeks and we will be meeting with the ob/gyn in February to talk about the fibroid and see what he says about the birth. But for now we will all get used to the idea of a she and are thankful that everything looks healthy and normal.

Oh yes and here's a belly pic taken yesterday (21 weeks). You can see me at 19 weeks with Jamie here. As you can see I'm already much bigger than I was around this point last time.

guessing time

2012-01-19T12:52:00.002Z

So it's been nearly a month since I've posted. We had a lovely time over Christmas celebrating with family. We didn't take too many photos this year sadly, but there are some from our time in the States, including some cute ones of Jamie paddling in the ocean on New Year's Eve. See the link to the right or go straight to our Flickr page. We are back in the swing of routine here which now seem to involve more tantrums and also obessive train playing.

Next week is my next ultrasound where we will find out how the little one is growing and also if it's a he or she! You can cast your vote on the poll on the right, and we'll reveal the results next Wednesday...if you're lucky!

jamie loves the bath

2011-12-20T08:32:00.000Z

Last night I took this video of Jamie in the bath. It all started because he was trying to drink the water from the cup and I told him it was yucky, but it just turned into a game...

oh dear!

2011-12-15T20:53:00.001Z

Jamie is talking more and more everyday. He hasn't said much that is funny yet as mostly he just says one word at a time, sometimes two. We haven't filmed him much (or at all yet) talking but we captured this tonight which was just too cute. If you can't tell what's going on, the cover to the iPad has come off...

Some photos

2011-12-13T21:13:00.001Z

Here is a photo of Jamie in 'the' t-shirt. This was taken right before bed tonight and he was very tired, but it ended up being quite a funny shot, which is what we used to announce the pregnancy on Facebook:

We entitled it: We have some news. Some are more happy than others.

Jamie actually doesn't really understand what's going on. He went to the ultrasound and we explained about the baby in mommy's tummy, but who's going to understand that about a black and white moving image. We'll try to explain more as time goes on, particularly after we find out the sex.

Here is a photo of my bump from this morning, which is much bigger at 15 weeks than last time.

the cat is out of the bag...

2011-12-12T21:23:00.000Z

Anyone notice a blog title change?! Well, our family of 3 (plus Remmy) is going to be a family of 4 (plus Remmy)! We are expecting another little one in June! (Due date 6/6/12!)

We took the pregnancy test on October 2nd, which was the day I ran the half marathon. I did have my suspicions a few days before. I had similar symptoms as with Jamie (meaning I had to pee more than normal, which is a result of increased blood production.) The timing worked well as Jamie and I were flying out to the States two weeks later. I wanted to tell everyone in an unusual way like last time. So we bought a t-shirt for Jamie that says: "I'm not lion, [picture of lion], I'm going to be a big brother!" Unfortunately we don't have a single photo of it! But everyone loved it. Christine wanted to know if it was true, Kim screamed, my mom noticed straight away, my dad didn't notice for 2 hours (until my mom asked what he thought of it!). Everyone is thrilled.

I am now nearly 15 weeks, and into the second trimester. So far I've been sicker than I was with Jamie. With him, I was only ever nauseous, but I've been throwing up a few times a week, mostly first thing in the morning after I open the fridge or encounter certain smells like dog food or moldy food. Like last time, I had to eat all the time to stop from feeling sick. I think I'm nearly out of it. I don't feel nauseous as much. I am also much more tired. I take a nap when Jamie does, nearly everyday.

We had a scare a few weeks back when I spotted for about a week. I was referred to the Early Pregnancy Detection Unit for a scan and everything was ok. We got to see our little one a few weeks earlier than normal:

It's not as clear in the photo, but we saw it in action wriggling around. The baby is about an inch long here.

Our normal 13 week scan was at the end of November. I had blood taken and they measured the baby to check for any abnormalities and also to assess probabilities that it might have Down's or another disorder. Everything came back normal and here is the baby 3 weeks older:

Quite a difference! The also measured my fibroid, which is back and growing again. It's about 8cm now, which is 2cm smaller than it was at this stage with Jamie. It continued to grow until 20 weeks last time, so we'll see how it is a the next scan.

I have had one midwife appointment so far, where she took my history and we discussed the last pregnancy/delivery and plans for this one. Since I had a c-section last time and lost a lot of blood, and because of the 'large' fibroid (greater than 10cm), I am considered a high risk pregnancy. It doesn't really mean all that much except that I'll be closely more monitored in delivery and I wouldn't be allowed to have a home birth (not that I'd ever want one!). I am several extra appointments with the obstetrician to discuss fibroid and delivery. I will have a choice if I want to have a c-section or try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I haven't made a decision what I want yet, and apparently don't have to decide until 36 weeks. I'll keep you posted on that.

A bit of a long one, but a lot to catch up on in 15 weeks. I'll try to update more regularly. The next ultrasound is at the end of January, which is when we'll find out the sex!

happy halloween!

2011-10-31T18:13:00.000Z

We missed the church (non) halloween party last night, but we had plenty of opportunities to get in the halloween spirit back at home:

Who's that coming up the hill?

It's Crocodile Jamie!

Happy Halloween everyone!

PS interesting article about the origins of Halloween here: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/open-book/no-28-concerning-halloween/

visit to St Louis

2011-10-31T16:56:00.001Z

Jamie and I have just returned from a 10 day visit to St Louis. We had a great time with the family. Jamie had fun playing with his aunts and uncles and of course Nana and Big Daddy. I got to go to the four World Series home games, which included perhaps the best postseason baseball game in history in Game 6, and also Game 7 of course, where the Cardinals won it all! Some of the daytime highlights include tailgating at a Mizzou game, Jamie's first visits to the Zoo, pumpkin patch and transportation museum. The mail reason we came in was to support Kyle in his capstone dinner, which is a final project for his degree at college. He was general manager of a team of people that put on a 5 course meal for over 80 people. They had to order, prepare, cook, and serve all the food. It was very professional and very tasty. We are very proud of him.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Mizzou game:

This kid loves any slide:

With Nana at the pumpkin patch:

Petting a goat at the Zoo:

The Transportation Museum was a big it. Can you see all the trains he's lined up?!

Thomas the Tank Engine is Jamie's favorite cartoon character. He loves trains!

And bonding time with all his aunts and uncle:

All the photos can be found on Flickr as usual: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwoodward/sets/72157627894011193/

a little green thumb

2011-10-04T21:58:00.003+01:00

Christine (Paul's mum) came over today to have a massive pruning/tidy of our garden (backyard). We got a substantial amount cut back during Jamie's 2 hour nap--we easily have 2-3 carloads that need to go to the green recycling. When Jamie did wake up, we found we had ourselves quite the little helper. He obviously has his Nanna's green thumb. (Let's hope so!)

Woodward family vacation

2011-09-13T14:11:00.001+01:00

Last week we went to the Dorset/Somerset border with the extended Woodward family. We rented a cottage in a small village and did lots of trips out in the surrounding area. Jamie really enjoyed getting to know his grandparents and aunt and uncle better. We took trips to a steam fair, farm, a safari park, and monkey world. The ladies had a morning at a spa/gardens while the men went to the motor museum. There are tons of photos to go through on Flickr if you're interested, and we might add some from the others' cameras in the next couple weeks. Jamie is a great animal lover so really enjoyed all the trips out. A few highlights are below. The rest can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwoodward/sets/72157627661070806/with/6143830754/

Sam and Jamie exploring the motor museum:

Sian and Jamie at monkey world:

Two other monkeys spotted at monkey world:

David and Christine at the steam fair:

Family shot a Longleat safari park:

Jamie and the muir cats:

Jamie "drives" a tractor:

Hey, come back her ducks!

Hold on, is that a monkey on our car?!

Mom, there's something strange outside!

big boy in the woods

2011-08-18T20:47:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I took Jamie to a local park where we like to walk Remmy. Lately we've been going through the woods to visit the horse fields. Jamie loves seeing the horses. Unfortunately, they were on the far side of the field and didn't come visit, so I just let him down to run around. He loved running up and down this empty creek bed. As I watched him, I was struck by what a little boy he has become--something about they way he was dressed and how he could climb the steep incline. Here is a video I shot of him playing:

And here are some photos of him playing and also some of the horses he likes (taken on a different day):

Besties:

Jamie is fond of the horses:

This horse is fond of our buggy:

Remmy thinks they are big playmates.

What have you done to my room?

2011-08-16T22:54:00.000+01:00

We are getting new carpet in Jamie's room this week and have had to strip everything out. Here is his reaction on seeing the empty room the first time.

You can also view this video here: http://youtu.be/NCkX4Nn8diE

summer vacay in the States

2011-08-03T22:17:00.000+01:00

The first two weeks in July we spent in the States. The first weekend was at Sugartree where sadly we took no photos. I'll have to rely on my aunts and uncles for some good phtos from there. We had a great time there visiting with my mom's side of the family. Floated down the river, swam with Jamie in the pool, saw some fireworks. On the 4th we went back to St Louis and had a pool party with some of my dad's side of the family. Another great day visiting with them. The next day we flew to Hilton Head for some time at the beach. Jamie learned to LOVE the beach. By the end of the trip he was constantly making a beeline for the beach path so he could go play in the sand and water. He also liked being thrown about in the pool. Paul and I even managed a 24 escape to Savannah-my first night away from Jamie-and we all survived. Jamie had a great time with my parents. At the end of the trip we flew back to St Louis for another pool party with my cousins and some old friends of mine, Shay, Erika and her adorable son Patrick whose a year older than Jamie. Good times all around. All the photos are on Flickr as usual. The can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwoodward/sets/72157627215213433/

Here are a few of our favorites:

Beach time:

Lounging by the pool:

Fun with family:

J making friends with a goat at a petting farm:

bye-bye for now:

current calming techniques

2011-08-02T15:37:00.000+01:00

Jamie has become very tech-savvy. He knows how to turn on iphones/ipads and scroll through photos. He stops and videos he wants to watch. They are an excellent distraction when he is very cranky. Especially on VERY long plane rides to the US. Episodes of Thomas and Friends was also a big hit, even without sound. Here is one of Jamie's current favorite videos of him and his best friend Remmy:

the BIG slide

2011-06-02T14:49:00.000+01:00

We've just gotten back from a fantastic vacation in Italy, but Paul's gone down to Eastbourne for the week with all the photos, so you'll have to wait until next week for those. We're trying to keep busy at home and went to the park this morning with some friends. There is a very long slide which I took Jamie down today, and he couldn't get enough. Have a look...(warning, you need sound for full effect).

It can also be seen here: http://youtu.be/LvAkVP7NS5E.

playing the organ with Grandad!

2011-05-11T13:39:00.000+01:00

After our Bluebell railway trip (see previous post), we drove down to Eastbourne for a flying visit to see Nanna and Grandad. While we were there Jamie had his first organ lesson, which was quite an acheivement for him.

A while back (January I think), when David was in the hospital, we tried to show Jamie the organ and he was terrified of it once he heard it. He wouldn't go near it and basically tried to crawl up to my shoulders if we put him near it. He also let out the most terrifying cry too when you played a note. It was the saddest thing. This time, we had Grandad here to help him along. He was very tentative at first, but after some encouragement and slow introduction, Jamie was fascinated. He was a big fan on the pedals too, once he realized that he could make noise by crawling on them. Grandad did a great job improvising when Jamie's chosen key, C#, which I'm told is quite a difficult key to improvise with. Way to go, Jamie--giving Grandad a run for his money!

first train ride!

2011-05-11T13:21:00.000+01:00

Our friend Victoria celebrated her 30th birthday by inviting us down to the Bluebell railway, which is a steam train railway. Jamie and Remmy both had their first train ride and enjoyed it thoroughly.

More photos are on Flickr.

I can stand up!

2011-05-11T12:07:00.000+01:00

Even though Jamie has been able to walk for about a month, he hasn't been using it as his main mode of transportation. Crawling is just quicker and also, he hasn't been able to stand up by himself when he falls down. He can very easily pull himself up with even just a tiny amount of assistance, but has shown absolutely no attempt to just stand up on his own...until today that is... I took Jamie and Remmy to the park and let Jamie out of the buggy to have a little walking time and after about 10 steps, he fell in the grass and then just stood himself back up and kept going. I was shocked. I took a video which shows his many attempts to get his balance, but I swear the first time he did it, he just got straight up. Clever little man...

You can also see the video here: http://youtu.be/UVdLz9M3OH4

i can do it myself!

2011-04-27T14:58:00.000+01:00

Jamie has decided that it's much better if he feeds himself, despite the fact that it takes twice as long and is twice as messy.

Happy (late) Easter!

2011-04-27T13:15:00.000+01:00

Last weekend and this weekend are 4-day weekends in the UK, so Paul is making the most of the time by redoing our staircase, which had some damaged spindles. You can see the results of last weekend on Flickr, it's looking very nice so far. Needless to say, it was a busy weekend for us, I was on baby/dog watch most of the time, but we did manage to celebrate Easter in the madness. We had breakfast together, followed by chocolate Easter eggs for dessert and then church. We then went to our friends' the Shelley's for Mexican lunch. Random, but very fun. Here are some photos:

A Caramel Easter Egg in my own motorcycle egg cup (that Anna gave me last year). (Wasn't it nice of me to donate the egg to mom and dad?!)

Don't worry, they let me have some chocolate:

The Easter bunny brought me a big yellow duck:

Nana bought me a lovely Easter basket and Betsy (Wheeler) gave me a dancing bunny which I like a lot!

jamie's birthday(s!)

2011-04-09T19:47:00.000+01:00

The end of March was a very busy couple of weeks for the birthday boy. It started with the first celebration with Nanna and Grandad.

We spent some time planting in the front garden while Jamie got cuddles from Grandad:

And then we opened and enjoyed presents:

And of course there was cake (it is a Remmy version of Clifford, handmade by me--I don't think I have a future career in cake-making!)

Who doesn't love a photos of a child covered in chocolate cake:

The next big event was a last minute visit from Big Daddy. We had lots of fun with him. We went to the playground , practiced his walking, and played with new presents outside. Unfortunately, our nice camera broke the morning of his birthday, so our photos are limited, but here is a nice one:

While he was here we had a birthday BBQ with some of our friends. He really enjoyed himself and got lots of nice presents, and, of course, another cake:

He was also spoiled by all his aunts and uncles. Lots and lots and lots of fun presents, including a few which we have especially enjoying in the warm sunshine this week. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so special.

our little Frankenstein

2011-04-03T18:25:00.000+01:00

Still sorting through the birthday photos, but in the meantime, here's a video we shot of Jamie walking today. He's up to about 10 steps or so now. He still chooses to crawl for transport, but I'm sure it won't be long now...

You can view it on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKlY1a_5vn8

holy cow...12 months!

2011-04-01T22:45:00.000+01:00

We've got a lot to catch up on...mainly surrounding a certain little mister's 1st birthday(s!). We had a special visitor too...Big Daddy! But before I get to all those, let's carry on with tradition and see the last set of birthday blocks! It's been a big month for the J-ster. Biggest excitement...walking!!...well taking steps. We've gotten 4-5 steps at a time. He's still fairly wobbly, but he knows what he's doing and always claps for himself after he does it. It is too cute! He's now very good at standing. He's really coming along with his hand eye coordination. He's become much more vocal, with lots of different babble sounds coming out all the time. He's developing his temper (not fun) and some separation anxiety (also not fun), both come out particularly when he's tired. And, he's finally got his two front teeth!

Now on with the photos. Sadly, Paul's fancy camera broke the morning of Jamie's birthday so we were left with my old one, which doesn't take as nice photos. I took a few, wasn't happy with them, so we borrowed a friend's camera the next day, but only had time for a few. Here are the best:

The point and shoot camera:

Showing off his stacking abilities:

The best:

Don't I look like such a big boy?!:

I can stand!:

and we're standing!

2011-03-13T13:54:00.000Z

Over the last few weeks Jamie has been caught standing but it's only ever been for a few seconds and when he's accidentally let go of something. This weekend though he's really made some progress. He's going for longer and longer. Doubt he'll be walking before he's one, but we're once (stance) closer:

It can also be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/user/st4cyw#p/a/u/0/LQbiBlXdPXQ

11 months old!

2011-02-28T18:20:00.000Z

Friday Jamie turned 11 months old. I tried to take his block photos on my own, but that is increasingly difficult given how quick Jamie is these days. So, as we were spending the weekend in Eastbourne, we did a few more there where there were more hands and faces to distract him. You can see the best below.

This month Jamie is definitely the explorer child. He loves crawling into other rooms to see what trouble he can get into. He particularly loves Remmy's crate, opening and shutting drawers, doors, cupboards. He's getting pretty good at nesting his stacking cars in the right order. He's got two more teeth, you think it would be his front two, but nope...no front teeth yet, it's the two either side of the front two--we just call him vampire baby. This weekend he learned to go down stairs on his own. Paul's parents have a split level house with several short flights of stairs and we were following him up and down them all weekend. He's also getting very steady on his feet these days and has stood on his own several times after letting go of something and not realizing. Oh and he started swimming lessons. He was very nervous and clingy the first week, but each week he's gotten more confident and this week he was even jumping from a seated position off the edge into my arms.

Onto the photos:

Showing off some of his tricks:

How big is Jamie....SO BIG!

Bang! Bang!

The only two good ones from the photo shoot at home:

this one is for you kimmy!

2011-02-19T21:24:00.000Z

Auntie Kimmy bought Jamie his first car for Christmas (hoping she'll buy his first actual car at 16-hint, hint!) and I think he's getting the hang of it. He must be learning from his mommy who passed her UK driving test earlier this month:

The video can also be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Aryh3HsFc

jamie's new hang outs

2011-02-19T17:44:00.000Z

Jamie loves to explore other rooms. He gives me a cheeky look over his shoulder and goes crawling as fast as he can out of the living room. If he goes for the kitchen, he either climbs to stand under his highchair or, more likely he goes to splash out the water in Remmy's bowl. I'm just thankful Remmy eats all of her meals, or I'm sure he'd be helping himself to that too. His other favorite destination is Remmy's crate in the dining room. The first time it happened, Remmy just sat outside and watched. She's getting used to it now. Here are some photos and there are a few more on Flickr:

And here's a cute one just for good measure:

clap-clap, bang-bang

2011-02-11T19:38:00.000Z

Jamie (finally) started clapping on Monday this week. The 'books' say clapping can begin between 6-8 months. Guess he's been too busy motoring around to be bothered to clap. But now that he's got it, he's definitely got it. I can't stop him, he's so pleased with himself. He also has learned go bang-bang too, though this has been going on for a while now. Here's a video to show you his new tricks:

You can also view it here: http://www.youtube.com/embed/wC-eOuAgC1o

one step closer

2011-02-02T20:17:00.000Z

Jamie is getting around like a bullet these days, on all fours and on his two legs...with help. Here's some proof:

Also viewable here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiIsu4W1v3Y

And...

Also viewable here: http://www.youtube.com/embed/1BUrVG2ebiY

scoot scoot scoot

2011-01-30T20:23:00.000Z

Jamie got a Little Tikes scooter for Christmas from Nanna and Granddad, which he was a little bit too short to actually ride on. Thus far, he's enjoyed pulling himself up on it, but today he was on it properly and it appears he's grown and is just working out how to make it move. He is very near his bedtime in this video, so forgive his crankiness:

You can also view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxEYtWz2o20

10 months old!

2011-01-27T22:07:00.000Z

Can you believe it? We can't. It's been an eventful month. Jamie was baptized. He got his first two teeth (finally!). He is crawling on all fours more than he goes commando. He moves around all the furniture and I've even seen him stand unsupported (accidentally and very briefly) when he lets go of something and isn't paying attention. He is babbling away. He can climb up and down (with help) stairs, though we don't let him do it here as our steps are too steep. He waves hello and goodbye when prompted. He loves lift the flap books. He loves playing games and doing things to try to make us (including Remmy) laugh/smile, like instigating peek-a-boo, or handing me his pacifier or something he's eating. He understands more than we think too. On Tuesday, he was sitting by the tv, doing something I didn't want him to do, so I told him to bring me his book which was next to him, and he pushed it over to me while crawling. I was shocked! This busy boy made photos really difficult this month, as I was on my own taking the photos. As soon as he was close enough, he was grabbing for them, or putting them in his mouth. See for yourself:

The best two (of 130+!):

The reality:

Don't you just love his little tiptoe!

So focused, can't get him to turn his head...

This one doesn't help...

As soon as he reached them, he flopped to his belly and flipped every single one over...

nom...nom...nom...

2011-01-24T07:57:00.000Z

Jamie can be a particularly noisy eater. He was cracking me up this morning. I don't think he'll be doing any fine dining any time soon:

You can also view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzly_VJlHE

besties...

2011-01-20T22:21:00.000Z

Recently, Jamie has begun playing with Remmy, often laughing when he does. It's so cute. I took this video the other day at the end. It's not the greatest viewpoint, but it gives you the idea:

The video can also be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-XagHhW_x4

christmas and baptism

2011-01-20T21:22:00.000Z

We had a wonderful and very special Christmas this year. We had ALL the family at our house for Jamie's first Christmas. All my family made it...barely...a 'big' snow shut down Heathrow for 4 days which only ended up affecting Courtney who spent two days drinking Guinness in Dublin. (Not such a bad diversion!). We had all the Woodwards and Hamachers on Christmas Day. Lots of present opening and eating. Jamie was spoiled and he loved all the attention. Here are some of Jamie's highlights:

Boxing Day was even more special because Jamie was baptized that morning. We were joined by even more Woodward family, plus Jamie's godparents and some friends. After church we had everyone (19!) over for lunch, followed more family time and present opening and more eating. Photos from the service:

Jamie was one tired boy:

9 months on Christmas Day!

2011-01-11T15:25:00.000Z

Jamie turned nine months on Christmas Day, so we took some seaonally appropriate birthday block photos below. It was a busy day. Not only did Santa visit, but we had all of our mine and Paul's family over too. It was the first time we've all been together since our wedding, so it was extra special for us. This month Jamie has really been on the move. He's crawling, still mostly commando style unless he's close to something or someone to pull up on, and he gets around like a bullet. He's also pulling himself up onto everything and everyone and cruising around like a champ. He loves to walk when holding on to someone's fingers. He's a very good eater, has perfected his pincer grasp, drinks from a cup, and STILL does not sleep through the night on a consistant basis. We love him to bits!

I can now pick up lots of blocks at once!

And flap my arms about excitedly!

Christmas card fun!

2011-01-07T22:15:00.001Z

So Paul and I took A LOT of photos this month, trying to get something good for our first family Christmas card. Here are some of the runners up/outtakes:

Unfortunately, I can't upload the actual card as we designed it through a website and they didn't send a pdf, but the front said Merry Christmas and had this photo:

And the inside:

Shh...Don't tell Santa I've been naughty!

Wishing you all the best this Christmas and New Year!

The Woodwards

Paul, Stacy, Jamie and Remmy

24 hour trip to scotland!

2010-12-13T21:53:00.000Z

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

2010-12-13T14:31:00.000Z

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...

2010-12-10T15:07:00.000Z

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!

2010-12-07T21:00:00.000Z

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!

2010-12-05T16:21:00.000Z

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...

2010-11-06T19:29:00.000Z

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!

2010-11-01T12:31:00.000Z

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!

2010-10-25T16:06:00.000+01:00

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

2010-10-21T17:50:00.000+01:00

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!

2010-10-18T21:32:00.000+01:00

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!

2010-09-28T16:33:00.000+01:00

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!

2010-08-27T09:30:00.000+01:00

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?

2010-08-26T15:42:00.001+01:00

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!

2010-08-20T22:30:00.000+01:00

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).

bouncy bouncy

2010-08-14T08:49:00.000+01:00

Jamie got a new toy yesterday...a door bouncer. I think he likes it:

chatting up the ladies

2010-08-13T19:17:00.001+01:00

Jamie and his friend Madeleine took a trip to the library today for the first time. We were going for a baby bounce and rhyme session, but unfortunately they only run during the school year, so instead we registered the for their first library cards and checked out some books. Afterwards, we went to Renee's for tea and cake (for the moms) and playtime for the babies. Jamie discovered a new part to his voice today and it just cracked us up (pardon my laughing at the end!):

i love my toes!

2010-08-06T20:29:00.000+01:00

A little food update for the week. Jamie was doing a bit better with the rice cereal, but I found that it was making him a little constipated (which is common for breast fed babies), so the health visitor suggested I introduce some fruit and veg into his cereal. We tried pumpkin I had roasted and pureed (homegrown in Christine/Nana's allotment), and he didn't swallow as much of it as he had the rice cereal. And today we tried apples that I pureed. I think he pretty much spit all the apple out, though he kept opening his mouth for more so I keep feeding it to him. It was always met with a scrunched up face upon tasting it. After the apples he decided to reward himself with a new treat...sucking on his toes. It was pretty funny, so I shot a little video on my phone and snapped a few pics:

Experiencing pumpkin:

real food...

2010-08-02T21:59:00.000+01:00

...sort of...
Jamie has started waking (a lot!) for feeding during the night, so we thought we'd try our hungry boy on some rice cereal on Sunday. He seemed to like eating off the spoon, though I'm not sure much ended up in his tummy. (and he was up at 11, 12, 1:30, 3, 4:30 and 7! three of which were for feeding). He'll get there though. In the meantime, we can all be entertained:

YUM!

go Cards go!

2010-08-02T17:24:00.000+01:00

Here are some pics from Jamie's first Cardinals game:

Outside Busch Stadium

With the biggest Cardinals fan in the family, and giver of J's first uniform::

With Nana:

And Auntie Court:

Hooray they won!

three and four months!

2010-07-28T14:47:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend Jamie also turned four months, and I've also realised that I never posted his 3 month shots, which were taken in St Louis. Milestones for the last two months include rolling over from front to back (just before three months), grabbing at his toys, finding his fingers, tongue and toes, blowing raspberries and laughing. He's a general charmer. Here are some of the photos, there are more in Flickr (see sets Jamie-3rd month and Jamie-4th month):

And the outtakes:

Kim may or may not have played a role in the above;)

Showing off his new tricks:

If you take one more photo...

Sam and Sian come for a visit

2010-07-28T14:09:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend Uncle Sam and Auntie Sian came for a visit. They hadn't seen Jamie since day 4, so he's changed a lot for them. Here are some pics. There are some more on Flickr too.

Bonding session on the floor:

Enjoying the nice weather outside:

Showing off my smile to Sian:

And using her for a chew toy:

They wore me out:

Come visit us again soon!!

17 weeks and all smiles

2010-07-22T20:16:00.000+01:00

Jamie is 17 weeks today, a mere few days off being 4 months. He's a growing little man too. Up to 15lb 7oz and he actually got measured today or the first time since birth and he's 25.5 inches long. He's in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Hopefully he's taking after Paul's dad in the height category.

We talked to the health visitor about a few more issues too. Jamie has traditionally been a very good sleeper, including sleeping through the night or most of it for quite a while. However for the last 2 weeks or so, he's been getting up in the night for two feeds and sometimes waking up more outside of that. I thought it might be the time change or a growth spurt, but since it hasn't eased I am wondering if it's time to start introducing some baby rice. She suggested giving him another week and then trying it if he is still waking for two feeds.

We also found out that poor J has baby eczema. He's had really dry skin for a while and recently he's started developing red patches in all his little fat creases. I had to go back to see the doctor and she prescribed some hydrocortisone cream for the red patches and she also prescibed some special moisturizer, baby wash and bath oils so hopefully it'll get sorted out soon. In the meantime, I took a little video of Jamie laughing today, hope you like it:

photos, photos and more photos

2010-07-21T10:27:00.000+01:00

I've finally posted all the photos to Flickr. I've recently started to arrange them in sets. You can see all the sets here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwoodward/sets/

New photos can be found in James Samuel Woodward, Jamie-3rd month, Jamie-4th month, Sugar Tree Club and Hilton Head. However, all the photos appear in multiple groups. I would suggest looking in Jamie 3rd and 4th months too see the new ones.

The photos include a photo shoot we did in our back garden before leaving for St Louis, as well as the best of the photos from St Louis, Sugartree and Hilton Head.

I haven't captioned them yet, hopefully I'll get around to that soon as well as writing some blogs about the highlights of our trip.

jamie's new toy

2010-07-16T18:33:00.000+01:00

We are going away this weekend and spending a lot of time in the car, so I thought I'd get Jamie a new a new toy for his carseat. I wanted to try it out first to see if he'd like it. What do you think?!

a new member of our family...

2010-07-14T14:54:00.000+01:00

Don't worry, I'm not pregnant...we're getting a puppy! A sweet little chocolate lab we've named Remmy. She was born 5 weeks ago and we got to see her for the first time on Sunday.The litter has two bitches and we will get first choice on July 31st when we'll pick out Remmy. Because we have a couple more weddings in August, we've asked to pick her up on August 15th so we won't have to leave her on her own or ask anyone else to watch her when she's so little. I'm under no disillusion, I realise this will be a lot of work, especially with Jamie being so young, but we hope they will grow up together. Paul's already promised to be in charge of any middle of the night cries from Remmy. We plan on crate training her and start very early with obedience training. Wish us luck! Here are some photos from Sunday:

we're back!

2010-07-12T21:30:00.001+01:00

So we have hundreds and hundreds of photos to sort through, so I'll be working on that in the next week or so, but we had a great time with my family in the States. We spent 2.5 weeks in St Louis, a long weekend at Sugartree (parents' place on the Gasconade river) with my mom's side of the family, and 5 days in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Jamie got to meet nearly all my family and spend tons and tons of time with his grandparents and aunts and uncle. They couldn't get enough of them. We will miss them, but I am looking forward to getting back into a routine. With all the new people, places and beds Jamie hasn't been sleeping very well, making me very very tired. I am hoping once we get some regularity back, he'll start sleeping through the night again.

Today Jamie had his overdue 3 month immunisations, hip check (follow up from 6 weeks because he had uneven fat creases in his thighs!), and a weigh in. Shots went fine. He only cried for 10 seconds or so, very brave little man! His fat creases have evened out, so no need for concern And he weighed in at 14lbs 12 oz! What a porker! He's moved from the 35th to 50th percentile in weight for boys at his age. Seems like we all put on a little too much weight while in the States. I don't need to be too worried as long as he doesn't jump up again but the doctor suggested I try giving him some water every once in a while, especially when it's hot here.

After the doc's, we caught up with our antenatal course friends, all who are getting bigger and more interactive like Jamie. It was fun seeing them all, even if it was tiring for poor jet-lagged Jamie and me. Next week we're thinking about driving to the beach for the day if it's not too hot (or cold!), so stayed tuned for that trip.

Father's day without daddy :(

2010-06-26T15:00:00.000+01:00

A week late, but last week we celebrated Father's Day in St. Louis. Unfortunately, we were without daddy who is coincidentally arriving today (can't wait!!!). Don't worry though we celebrated before we left and Jamie gave daddy a daddy+me frame and also an iron skillet for his bbq.
So in St Louis we celebrated with Big Daddy. It was a great day, with all my siblings in town for the first father's day together in 6 years. Here are some highlights:

First we read the paper:

The we had a little fun:

The we took Jamie for his first ever swim (complete with all the correct gear). At first he wasn't too sure:

But he seemed to take it all in:

He'll enjoy it more eventually:

After swimming, Kyle joined us and we took Jamie to his first movie, Toy Story 3. He slept through the whole thing, but Nana made sure he wouldn't forget it and bought him a Buzz Lightyear from Sam's Club when she was shopping for dinner afterwards (sorry no photos of it yet). We had a really nice dinner afterwards and my dad shared some of his favorite memories of us. It was a really special day and we all enjoyed it. Now we're counting down the hours til J's daddy arrives!!

We're in St. Louis!!

2010-06-18T18:29:00.000+01:00

We've made to hot and humid St Louis! Jamie did brilliantly on the flights. He slept most of the way on both, and he only cried when he was hungry and for a tiny bit on the descent into Chicago, but calmed down and fell asleep with his pacifier. It's been a little overwhelming for him with this completely new environment and all these new people, so he's been more fussy than usual, but he's also been full of smiles and cuddles for everyone he meets. Here are a shots from his first few days. Courtney has been on paparazzi patrol again and isn't failing in her duties, so it'll take a while to get up all the photos. I'll also put them all on Flickr when I have time to sort through the best ones.

Meeting his great grandma, Gammy, for the first time:

Four generations:

He's got some new tricks too including holding up his head and also trying to roll over (however this rolling over is more out of anger from being on his tummy than anything else):

Nana and Grandad visit

2010-06-11T22:49:00.001+01:00

Before we head off to the States, Nana and Grandad came up for a quick visit to see all of Jamie's new tricks:

He's found his hands and likes to see how much he can fit in at once:

His facination with his toys:

His cheeky grin:

And best of all, his smile:

Sadly, we won't be able to see them (in person) for six weeks, but I'm sure he'll have a whole new bag of tricks to show off by then.

chattering away

2010-06-10T14:08:00.000+01:00

Over the last week Jamie has become very chatty. He is cooing and gurgling away. We even got a couple of laughs over the weekend. I think he's gearing up for our visit to the States next week. Here is a little video I took on my iPhone a couple of mornings ago:

We'll have plenty to share in the next few weeks as Jamie gets to meet many of hid Us family and friends.

jamie and his ladyfriends

2010-06-01T23:26:00.000+01:00

Pink is the going colour around these parts. Jamie has his pick of the ladies, particularly at church. Check out this photo we snapped at a BBQ at ours yesterday:

From L to R: Izzy- 2 years old, Olivia-4 months, Jamie-2 months, Grace-3 weeks, Maisy-2 weeks.

We've recently found out that our friends Lizzy and Ben are also expecting a girl in late September.

Our antenatal group has a further 3 girls and thankfully 2 boys! Not that playing with dolls isn't fun, but at least there'll be a couple of boys to make mud pies and play with trucks...

first play date!

2010-05-28T12:35:00.000+01:00

Wednesday Jamie had his first play date with his friend Madeleine. Renee, her mom, was in my antenatal class and all of us from the class meet up once a week for lunch with our babies. We meet at the local mall and depending on the weather we either go to a restaurant inside or grab some sandwiches and eat outside at the park. The babies are awake at different times and usually feed at different points. They don't have much of a chance to interact besides on our laps. This week I went back to Renee's afterwards for a cup of tea and we put the babies on the floor together. They were so cute together. They even held hands at one point--not intentionally of course, but it was still cute. Here are some snaps and a video of them together:

They both loved this little noisy bee:

Jamie turns 2 months!

2010-05-27T16:02:00.000+01:00

Well the second month has certainly gone a lot faster than the first one. Jamie is just a joy to have around (most of the time). He started smiling this month which will just make anyone's day. He's becoming more alert and playful. He loves his bouncy chair. He's starting to bring his hand to his mouth and sucking his fingers/thumb. He stops crying (sometimes) when he hears my voice. And he's starting cooing. Here are some of the best photos from our shoot. Unfortunately, he wasn't particularly smiley on Tuesday, but he's still a cutie:

cute feet shots:

only one good outtake this month...a sneeze:

uncle hammy meets jamie!

2010-05-27T09:43:00.008+01:00

I have lots of posts to catch up on. It's been busy around here. First, and most exciting, is Kyle came to visit last week. A very quick 5 day visit. The first few days he got to experience a normal day in the life of Stacy and Jamie. We had some slow mornings and went out to run errands and to the doctor's in the afternoon. We went to have Jamie weighed on his 8 week birthday and he's now 11 lb 5 oz! What a porker;)! Acutally he's follow his projected weight perfectly, which I didn't doubt given how much he eats!

On Saturday we drove further out in the country and took Kyle for a pub lunch and followed it by a walk. And by walk, I mean a good English ramble in the countryside-through fields and up and down hills. I forgot to mention this to Ky as he assumed we meant a stroll through the park. We even came across a village fair and stopped for ice cream. That night our church was having a quiz night and hog roast. Much more high tech than any of us imagined. Lots of video clips and we had electronic buzzers to key in our answers. Scores were based on both correctness and also speed. Sadly we did not even come close to winning. Kyle held his own though, answering questions about Sponge Bob and Harry Potter that none of us knew.

Sunday we went to church and then had a BBQ with Dan (who was in our wedding) and his wife Skevi. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had to slather Jamie up in baby sunblock and keep him under an umbrella. Wish I had taken a photo...sorry. He left Monday morning sadly. Jamie loved meeting his uncle and you can tell how much fun they had because on Monday Jamie slept almost the entire day and followed it by pretty much sleeping through the night again! Here are some photos from his trip. More can be found on our Flickr site which is linked to on the right.

hello!

teaching him how to defend himself

comparing hand size (Jamie's got a way to go)

Hamacher shot

Bub-bye for now!

on video...finally!

2010-05-17T21:14:00.000+01:00

I finally managed to get Jamie to smile on video today. It's just from my iPhone this time, but it does the job. He's getting more smiley each day. I love it!

(US) Mother's Day

2010-05-10T21:08:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Mother's day in the States. In the UK, Mother's day is the second Sunday in March, back when we were still awaiting Jamie's arrival. Paul actually bought be a lovely mother's day card then and saved it for when Jamie arrived, so I consider that my true mother's day. However, I thought I'd mark the US holiday with a mommy/Jamie photo shoot. Jamie had other days. He was very sleepy yesterday, so between church and having our friends, Ben and Lizzy, over for the late afternoon/dinner we didn't get a chance to get any snaps until after dinner. Jamie performed his most recent routine of extreme fussiness for 1.5-2 hours before bed. So this is what we were left with:

Doesn't he look miserable?!

Shushing works sometimes...

This was the best we got!

By th way you can access full versions of our best photos through our Flickr page (accessible through the link on the ight. You can also sign up for email alerts from our blog on the right.

more family comes to visit

2010-05-05T12:01:00.000+01:00

The bank holiday was a busy one for us. Auntie Kim came for the weekend--that's right she came all the way from St. Louis for a two day visit with her nephew. We loved having her here too. She was a pro by the end of the weekend. Jamie even said thank you, by performing one of best tricks...weeing on her through his diaper. Here are some photos:

Lots of cuddles...

...and some also fun time:

We also had a brief visit with Cecily who was in town for the weekend.

Jamie didn't know quite what to think at first, but it turns out she's a natural.

The last visit of the weekend was from Nana and Grandad. They came for the day to see sweet Jamie, and also to help us plant up some yummy veg in our garden. They did a brilliant job planting everything up and mostly avoiding the showers. All while Paul mowed the lawn for the first time and while I fed Jamie. Can't wait for the summer to try out all the fun produce.

Grandad and James having a little bonding time.

Getting a cuddle from Nana.

After all these visitors, I think he was exhausted:

Jamie smiles!

2010-05-05T11:06:00.000+01:00

On Jamie's 5 week birthday (last Thursday), he started smiling. It is the cutest thing ever. He mostly smiles at faces, particularly those he recognises. He's been showing it off to a few others too. He cracked a couple for my work colleagues and also for my sister who came to visit over the weekend. We are still working on getting him to show it off for the grandparents. He hasn't given Nana or Big Daddy one via webcam and he also held out when Nana and Grandad when they came to visit on Monday. Here are a few shots of it we got over the weekend with Kim.

Jamie turns 1 month old!

2010-04-29T12:14:00.000+01:00

Sunday Jamie turned 1 month old, so we had a little photo shoot. Here are a few of the best:

And some of the outtakes:

routine...what routine?

2010-04-21T13:08:00.000+01:00

You always hear people talking about getting into a routine with your baby. I'm not sure at what stage this is supposed to start, but we're not there yet. My day is more or less dictated by Jamie's hunger levels. I'm still breastfeeding at the moment, and as much as I'd like to have a say in his feeds--he pretty much needs to eat when he's hungry or there will be no peace in this house. I'm attempting to try to get him to eat, then have some awake/play time, then sleep. This does not always work. Several books recommend this method as the precursor to sleeping through the night eventually, but it's not always that easy. Sometimes it works beautifully, but usually only for one portion of the day. Other times he eats-plays-eats-sleeps or eats-sleeps-eats or this morning (at 5:30am!) he played-slept-played-slept-ate-played-slept. These are all in 2-4 hour cycles. During the night, he's supposed to eat-sleep-eat-sleep-eat-sleep and then eat-play-sleep at the start of the morning.

The past couple weeks, from about 6pm onwards he has been eating nearly every other hour until bed and then it takes a long time for him to actually get to sleep. I think he's overeating and then overtired, and using the feeds for comfort. We were probably 'bad' parents and held him too much while he napped when we should be putting him down in his Moses basket. So I've decided to try to be a little more strict (well try to anyway). It's very easy to just let him sleep on me during the day--I mean he's just so cute when he sleeps-and I've just about managed to work out how to position him so I can still use the laptop and reach the remote at the same time. But I am vowing now to be more disciplined and make every attempt to try to get him to sleep in his basket. We're also going to introduce a new bedtime routine and make the last feed of the day an expressed bottle feed which Paul can do. We tried this last night for the first time and he did drink from the bottle (he had refused it the only other time I tried), but he didn't go down straight after-he needed a lot of holding/rocking/shushing, but once he did, he then slept for a solid 4 hours and then fed fairly quickly at 3:30 and went straight back to sleep, when usually it takes him 60-90 minutes of eating/dozing before he will go back to sleep. I am really hoping to establish some good habits before it gets too late and becomes really hard to break the bad habits. We will see. I've already let him break the pattern today as I couldn't keep him awake after his mid morning feed...

Guilty parents:

Happy baby:

Jamie on his playmat

2010-04-19T17:43:00.000+01:00

So I've finally made my first short video with my new camera. To be honest, it's not that exciting as Jamie is a little young to actually interact with his playmat, but he's focusing a lot more and is aware of it. He also gave you a little 'present' during the filming, which I chose not to edit out and I hope you find it amusing!

life as a new mother...

2010-04-15T19:19:00.000+01:00

...leaves you little time to blog.

I wish I had a bit more time to write about about how things werer going, but it seems if I'm not feeding or comforting sweet little Jamie, then I'm frantically trying to get something done that's been on my to-do list for at least two days. Blogging, sadly has fallen down the list of priorities. Over the last week, though, we seem to have reached a little bit of a routine from morning to late afternoon (evenings are a different story), so hopefully, once I knock off a few more of my to-do's, then I will have some time for some morning blogging.

Jamie is doing very well. We went to see the health visitor today and he had his hearing checked and was weighed for the first time since day 5. I'm proud to say he's a healthy little chap with good hearing. He's up to 8lb 4oz, up a pound and a half from his birth weight. He's definitely been eating like a champ, so I'm not surprised. He has been feeding like a crazy man in the evenings, which actually means I get a couple decent blocks of sleep at night. We usually go to bed around 11 or so and then he wakes up around 2, feeds for an hour, and then again at 5:30 or 6, and then feeds for another hour. Tomorrow I'm going to try expressing for the first time so Paul can have a chance at one of the multiple(!) evening feeds.

Speaking of evening feeds, he's just starting to fuss for one, but I thought I'd share our Flickr site where we're trying(!) to upload some of the better photos of Jamie. We have a premium subscription to the site so you can download the full res versions of the photos if you want to print any of them. We will try harder to take and upload more photos, but it's another thing like blogging, that is a bit harder than I expected!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwoodward/sets/72157623625531237/

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T21:35:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Jamie's first Easter and also our first outing. We went to church in the morning. Jamie was a perfect angel and slept through the entire service and the coffee/tea/chatting afterwards. He wasn't as perfect for the rest of the afternoon, but Paul took care of him while mommy had a nap. In the evening, I made him his first Easter cake:

It's a carrot cake with butter cream icing. The fur is coconut and the face is made of marshmallows, raisins and a cranberry. I got the idea off allrecipes.com. He didn't get to eat any of course. We saved it for lunch today with our friends Rob and Eilidh.

He also got his first Easter present on Saturday from our friend, Anna: a little yellow ducky that quacks:

I think he'll enjoy it more when he's a bit older! Mom and dad like it though! Mary and Anna came to pay us a visit on Saturday. Jamie likes to show off his good behaviour for his guests. All our visitors so far have seen him pretty much just sleep. It would be great if he was like that more for mommy and daddy. It's a good thing he's so darn cute!

Jamie's first starring role

2010-03-31T19:43:00.000+01:00

Big thanks to Sam (Paul's brother) for making this little video of our little baby:

Sweet Baby James from Sam Woodward on Vimeo.

The birth

2010-03-31T19:36:00.002+01:00

I thought I'd post a little (well probably a lot) about the birth of little Jamie. It was an intense couple of days, but I know people are probably wondering what happened and why I had to have a caesarean. This will probably be a lot more detail than some people want to know about, so I thought I'd warn you in advance. My friend Jill did this and which she said she found very therapuetic and I am sure I'll find the same.

I had my sweep Monday morning and as I posted, I had progressed over the weekend, probably thanks in part to that awful Norovirus, which well and truly got my guts moving, just like they say spicy food should do. Nothing much happened during Monday, but Tuesday morning I woke up and I realized that I had started contractions. They started about 10-20 minutes apart and not very painful. Throughout the day they became closer and more painful. Paul had gone to work, and he wasn't sure when he should come home and I said to wait a bit, but after about an hour his boss said "What the f* are you still doing here, go home" and so he did. I mostly hung out with my mom during the day and watched tv when I could to try to distract myself. I was also using a TENS machine throughout the day for pain relief, which basically sends through little electrical pulses through electrode pads on my back between contractions, and when I start having a contraction, I push a little boost button which causes the pulse to become continuous until I depress when the contraction is over. In retrospect, I'm not really sure it did much, other than signal to everyone else when the contraction started and ended. I think it did give me something to focus on, but perhaps it caused me to focus too much on each contraction. I didn't really sleep much during the day as I was afraid I'd slow down the process. In retrospect, I think that was a mistake. I spent a lot of the day pacing the house, trying to get them moving along. Here's a photo of me with my TENS and a gingernut:

Most of the late afternoon and evening my contractions were 6-8 minutes apart, lasting for about 90 seconds. The hospital don't really want you coming onto the ward until your 3-4 minutes apart, lasting 90 seconds and are painful. We called to update them a few times and they encouraged us to stay home as long as possible. Around midnight that night, they were getting closer to 4-5 minutes apart and quite painful, and I was sick once with the pain, so I decided it was time to go in. My mom, Paul and I went in. We had our own room and the midwife asked us a few questions, took my blood pressure and disappeared for a long time. She said she was going to assign me a midwife (she was the head midwife on duty), but we're not really sure what happened with that. She came back a while later and asked me how things were going. Contractions had sped up and were more painful, she did an internal and said I was only at 2 cm. She said I wasn't that far along, so I could either go home or go to the maternity ward (where you're in a room with 3 others) and see if I progressed there. At this point it was 4:30am, and I was so exhausted (as were Paul and mom), that we decided to go home, hoping the contractions would go crazy on the way home and we could turn around and come back. Not the case...

When we got home we all were so wiped that we slept for a bit. My contractions did slow and for the rest of the day they became very erratic. In the afternoon, they were still erratic but more and more painful. I had my induction still scheduled for that night, so I called the hospital and asked if I should still come in and they said yes because they could progress the labor (why not the night before, I don't know!). Anyway, I was asked to come in the hospital at 8pm. When we got to the hospital, I was put in the ward with others being induced. They took my BP and hooked me up to a monitor to see how the baby was doing. Within a couple of minutes, I was surrounded by 3 midwives and a doctor, I assume someone pulled some sort of alarm, but had no idea why. Apparently the baby's heart rate dropped. They started talking to me about having to break my waters to see if the baby recovered or they'd have to an emergency caesarean. They rushed me into a labor room and the doctor broke my waters. Luckily he recovered and I continued with contractions, and I at that point I was at 3cm. I had to stay monitored throughout the night. The contractions became stronger and I used 'gas and air' or nitrous oxygen for pain relief. You bastcally just beathe into this tube when you feel the contraction coming on. It worked pretty well. However, occasionally I took too much on and threw up, but it was worth it. Halfway through the night, I was really getting exhausted (it had and decided to have an epidural. Man, that was worth it! I could still slightly feel them on one side (I found out later the epidural came out on one side). Unfortunately, my contractions slowed a bit, though I still progressed to 6cm.

Throughout the night, the baby's heart rate would drop after each contraction for 10s. That can happen as the baby's head descends down the pelvis. However, later in the night, it started dropping for longer, for 60-90s. The doctor said they needed to check the baby's blood oxygen levels, which they do by taking a blood sample for the top of the baby's head with a scope thing (he still has the scratches on his head, poor Jamie). They did this twice in 90 minutes and his stats were dropping, and as I was only at 8cm and progressing about a cm an hour, I wouldn't be ready in enough time and the levels would go too low. They tested one final time, but the machine wasn't working, so they decided they should progress with the c-section anyway. They said it could be the cord around his neck.

They prepped me, and had to give me a spinal since the epidural had come out on one side. Paul scrubbed in and was able to stay by my head. The baby came out pretty quick, they took him and gave him a once over, his Apgar was 9 at delivery and 10 one minute later. They gave him to Paul and put him on my pillow too while they stitched me up. Apparently I lost quite a lot of blood (1.4 liters), not sure why, but we both made it through fine. The cord wasn't wrapped around his neck, so they don't know why his heart rate was dropping, but as rough as I felt after, I don't regret the decision as we don't know what might have happened had we waited. And I have my perfect little Jamie, so everything is good.

They recovery wasn't easy, especially the first day, but I'm getting stronger everyday. Paul and my parents have been an extraordinary help. And we all have Courtney to thank for the hundreds of photos she's taken. They left this morning and we'll miss them a lot. I've had a lot of emotional ups and downs these past few days, but after having Norovirus, 46 hours of labor and a major operation, we're doing pretty well and I'm looking forward to motherhood.

Here's our first ever photo together (not that pretty!):

Introducing...James Samuel Woodward

2010-03-30T14:12:00.000+01:00

Here he is James Samuel Woodward, born March 25th at 6:32 am, 6lb 11 oz, 20 inches, and gorgeous:

We are calling him Jamie, and his name comes from family. James is Paul's dad's middle name and Samuel is my dad's name and also Paul's brother.

He has been a lovely baby. He's feeding very well and letting mom and dad have some sleep. Each night has gotten better actually with a little more sleep each night and definitely better feeds. I doubt this pattern will continue but it is reassuring to know we can cope. My parents and sister (aka the paparazzi) have been a massive help and their loving their little grandson/nephew. We will be uploading our photos to a Flickr site and I will share the address when they are up. Here are a few from the last few days:

Proud parents:

Big Daddy:

Nana (H):

Auntie Courtney:

Nana (W):

Grandad:

Uncle Sam:

Aunt Sian:

second sweep

2010-03-22T10:38:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and notes of concern. I'm much improved today. I had my second sweep this morning and...hooray...there's been some progression. I'm still not very dialated, but the midwife said the cervix was soft and she was able to get a finger through and touch the baby's head. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm going to try to be a bit more active and spur him on a little more. Otherwise, I'll go in Wednesday night to be induced on Thursday.

worst night of my life...

2010-03-21T18:53:00.000Z

Friday night was probaby the worst night in my life (at least in any recent memory). I apologize in advance that this post is not for the squeamish. You have been warned...

Before going to bed on Friday I felt a little funny but with impending labor, nothing is really that out of the ordinary. Flu like symptons are common in pre-labor. At about 12:40 I woke up and made a dash for toilet and started throwing up and until there was nothing left to throw up. We had chinese take-away for dinner, so I thought it might be related to that. I went back to bed, only to wake up 20 minutes later and repeat the pattern. This continued every 20 minutes almost on the dot until 6:00am. After the first few times, there was pretty much nothing left, so resorted to throwing up in a bucket the rest of the night (Paul, bless him, cleaning it out after each time). Even though there was nothing left in my tummy, the violent throwing up continued all night. It was also paired with diorrhea (lovely, eh?!). We rang the hospital a couple times in the night and they said to monitor baby's movement and try to keep hydrated (yeah, right!). The second time we called (about 5am), they said to ring back at 6:30 or 7:00 if it was still happening. We were one session away from going to the hospital. After 6am, I slept through until 9:30. As it was occuring every 20 minutes, I had begun to wonder if they were connected to contractions. My abdomen was going rigid, but it wasn't painful, so if anything, it might have been Braxton Hicks.

Later that morning, I rang the hospital again because I was concerned about the baby and potential dehydration. I talked to a very nice midwife who said it sounded like I had likely Norovirus (which the hospital recently had a breakout earlier in the month). She said their first priority is the baby, but because of the contaigousness of the virus, they'd prefer I'd stay at home. She said to drink something cold and eat something sugary and monitor the baby's movement. If he didn't become active, then I should ring back in an hour. Luckily, it seemed to work-I did feel him shift around. Though the toast and jam did make me ill again and I ended up going back to sleep. That was the last time though. I slept on and off all day and by the evening was feeling much better and managed to drink more easily and eat some crackers and a half of a banana. My energy also began to return. I had a full night's sleep last night and today I've been much better. I'm definitely on the mend and able to eat more normally today, though I'm of course taking it easy. I'm even beginning to hope labor starts again, as I had to put my wishes for that on hold on Saturday as I probably wouldn't have had the energy for it.

Thankfully, no one else in our house has shown signs of the Norovirus, so prayers that it doesn't spread would be greatly appreciated. We can also give thanks that this didn't occur after the baby came, so I've found a reason to be grateful for being 9 days overdue.

Tomorrow I'm back at the hospital for my second sweep and I got a call on Friday to say my induction has been booked for Thursday (check in will be Wednesday night). Of course I want to avoid induction, but it's nice to know I'll be meeting my little man by the end of the week. Hopefully,if nothing else, all this intestinal upset will have moved me further along.

the sweep

2010-03-19T11:03:00.000Z

I had my sweep this morning. The process itself was slightly uncomfortable but not too bad. What was unfortunate was hearing that I'm only 1cm dialated and my cervix was still pretty hard, which means Baby W is still pretty comfy in there. I've got a second sweep booked for Monday morning, and they are going to phone me with an appointment for an induction which will either be Thursday or Friday. It was pretty disheartening hearing I'm not that far along, but hopefully he'll surprise us all and speed things up for us!

Meanwhile it's back to pineapple, raspberry tea, spicy foods, walks, 'other activities' and I might look into acupuncture, but have to give that some more thought/looking into before I run out and get a bunch of needles put in me!!

Any news?!

2010-03-17T09:30:00.000Z

Everyone is dying to know if there is any news. My parents are getting countless emails. I'm getting emails and texts and phone calls. If there were any news, we wouldn't be hiding it...we promise!

Sadly, nothing has changed. I went to the midwife yesterday and the baby is still in the same position as two weeks ago (engaged slightly and his back is more to my back). I've had no signs of labor or even false labor. He's just too comfy in there I suppose.

My midwife has made an appointment for me to have a membrane sweep at the hospital on Friday morning. A sweep is basically what it sounds like--they will sweep around the cervix opening to try to separate the cervix from the membranes around the baby. This will also trigger the release of hormones which can help kickstart labor. The midwife said I'll have a 40% chance of going into labor within 48 hours. If it doesn't work then I'll be offered a second sweep early next week and if that doesn't work then I will be induced. Even though I'd really like this baby to come as soon as possible, I do want to try to avoid being induced as there can higher chance for complications. I'm starting to have those fears that I'll never go into labor naturally though...

Meanwhile, my dad arrived over the weekend, and we've been busy getting the house in order. My mom and I are making drapes for the living room and my dad is painting the living room and hallways. We'll take some photos of the finished products (should we not get interrupted beforehand!)

Sorry I haven't posted pictures of the sock monkeys in their final resting place yet. We've got this really cool light fixture for the room, but need to have it fitted properly by our electrician friend as the wiring was more complicated than Paul could handle. But, since I can't give you any baby news, I'll give you some sock monkeys:

the nursery!!

2010-03-11T21:13:00.000Z

I've kept our nursery plans under tight wraps until they were finished. And we still have some final touches to do tomorrow, but the painting is all finished and it looks amazing!! I can't take credit for any of it, my mom did it all and she's amazing. See for yourself:

The inspiration for it all started with the bedding:

This is the crib wall without the furtniture blocking the view:

This is how it will look normally:

This is above the changing table:

This is the dresser wall, minus the dresser:

This is how it will look normally:

And there is more fun to come with these monkeys tomorrow, so stay posted for more photos!

t- 4 days

2010-03-09T12:37:00.001Z

...until the due date anyway. We'll see when he actually makes his appearance...

It's been a busy week off work. Busier for my mom than me I think, but I'm feeling more ready. She's been working hard on the nursery and it's really coming together. I'm not going to post any photos until it's finished, which should be in the next couple of days. It's super cute though!! We've also been cleaning and shopping, trying to get all the last minute things sorted. It's so nice having her around! Now that my hospital bag is finally packed and my own bedroom has had a thorough clean, I feel better about him making an early arrival. He's going to be in our bedroom for a few months, so it's not vital that the nursery is finished on time.

Personally I'm getting more tired during the day. I have the energy to do about one project a day and then am taking it easy the rest of the time. I even took a nap yesterday. We haven't really seen any signs that he's coming yet. He was 2/5ths engaged at my midwife appointment last Wednesday (they measure in 1/5ths for some reason), so he's moving down. I'm also starting to swell more in my hands. My ankles started a few weeks ago and my hands started over the weekend. Dad arrives Saturday, and I'd like them to have as much time together as possible, so it would be nice if he came soon, but it's not really up to me. The midwife suggested drinking raspberry tea, eating spicy food and fresh pineapple(!), as well as some 'other' activities;). And now we'll be doing all we can to get this little guy out so he can hang with grandparents for as long as possible.

And last night we took a photo of the bump at 39 weeks. Sorry for the poor lighting and the white on white background. I'll try to take a better one later this week:

Baby pool

2010-03-01T15:39:00.000Z

I've started a little baby pool online so you can place your guesses on due date, weight, length etc. Sorry no prizes for this, just a little fun. All you have to do is go to this link: http://www.expectnet.com/games/babywoodward

Good luck!!

Officially off work...

2010-02-28T21:09:00.000Z

...and not going back until April 2011!!

It's a very strange thing to think about, but a very good perk about living in the UK. Here's we're entitled to take up to a year off work and return to the same job. I do get paid for some of my time, but not all of it and not my full salary. I also accrue my annual leave while I'm away, which means I have 30 days (at full pay) which I can only take after my official maternity leave ends, which is why I've got until April off. I am definitely looking forward to being a stay at home mommy, but it's hard to picture what life will be like, even in a few weeks.

We've got two weeks left (in theory), so our weekend was mainly comprised of shopping for all the things we haven't bought yet-both in store and online. We're nearly there...I think!?!?

The exciting part of this week is Wednesday when Mom arrives!! We've got lots of plans to paint the nursery and get some other things done around the house, so hopefully Baby W won't make too early of an appearance. Actually I'm convinced he'll be late--not for any reason in particular, but just a hunch.

doctors, midwives, hospitals

2010-02-17T19:10:00.000Z

Well it's been a week of appointments for me. 5 in 4 days. These include an ultrasound, consultant appointment, 2 midwife appointments and a hospital appointment. Most were routine appointments, but the abundance is due to us trying to change to a local hospital, and because I'm now at 36 weeks, everything has to happen quickly. Let's start at the beginning:

12:30pm, February 15th - 36 week ultrasound (actual time 12:55pm)
This was (most likely) my final ultrasound to track Baby W's growth. He's looking good. Unfortunately he was feeling a little camera shy and we couldn't get a good shot of his face, so we'll just have to wait for the real thing in a month's time. He's still tracking on the average trajectory (hooray!) and is currently estimated to be 5lb 14oz, which if he continues to put on the average 0.5lb per week, would make him around 8lbs around his birth--which sounds reasonable, right?! He's also still head down, which is good, and let's hope that fibroid is keeping him that way. The fibroid is still showing no growth since 20 weeks, so we're in good shape.
2:00pm, Februarly 15th - consultant appointment (actual time 3:15pm)
This was a follow up appointment about the fibroid to discuss what measures, if any, will have to be taken during the birth because of the fibroid's existance. The consultant said, as the fibroid is external and high on my uterus, it shouldn't affect me trying for a vaginal birth (as opposed to a cesearian)-good!. She suggested that during the delivery, they use 'active management' during the third stage of labor (which is the delivery of the placenta). There is a small risk of extra bleeding so what they'll do is give me a shot which help my uterus to contract faster to quicker delivery of the placenta. I was probably going to elect to have this shot anyway (who wants to wait around for up to an hour more for the placenta come out?!).
2:30pm, February 15th - old midwife appointment (actual time 4:00pm)
This was effectively my last appointment with my old midwife, Mara. We did all the normal bits-blood pressure (120/80 - normal), bump size (34 centimeters -normal), baby's heartrate (131 - normal), baby's position (head down-as seen in scan) and he's not started to engage (drop into pelvis) yet-I think this can start anytime soon, and urine (slightly elevated nitrate levels, so she sent off to test for urinary tract infection, but didn't think it was likely as I had no other symptoms. We also discussed our birth plan, which is basically a list of what we'd like to see happen during the birth. I think I'll save the details for another post closer to the due date, particularly as things might have to change when we switch hospitals.
2:50pm, Feburary 17th - new midwife appointment (actual time 2:40pm!)
So this was my first appointment with a midwife in Bromley. She informed me that I have to rebook with the hospital in Bromley and luckily when she phoned they had just had a cancellation, as there were no other appointments in the next month! No idea what would have happened if they didn't--a waiting list I guess? Anyway, that appointment is tomorrow and I'll have to give a full medical history, etc again as I did in my first midwife appoitnment 8 months ago. *sigh* such a waste of time. They may also go through their referral system for a final decision on whether doctors need to be involved with the delivery (normally midwives do all normal deliveries-and doctors are just on call in case of problems). She did all the normal tests again, everything, including urine levels were normal today.
8:30 am, February 18th - hospital registration appointment
This is tomorrow, so stay posted!

uk baby shower

2010-02-17T18:24:00.001Z

On Saturday, my lovely friends threw me a wonderful baby shower-English style! Baby showers are only just starting to catch on over here, but my friends were determined not to be outdone by their American counterparts. The 'English' way of course involves tea, of which there was plenty of variety as well as lovely little tea like sandwiches (cream cheese, sweet chili and cucumber, ham and cheese, egg and cress), scones and darling cupcakes (or fairy cakes as they're called here) with the appropriate blue icing. Here are a few food photos:

This was followed by a few games including: guess the flavor baby food (I was horrible at this-and I suggest everyone avoids a broccoli and cauliflour bake flavor-ew!), and guess the size of Stacy's bump, which involved everyone getting some string and then having to guess my circumference by cutting the string to size (I was not allowed to cheat and was equally horrible at this!)

And then we opened presents. Instead of writing who they were from, everyone had to put their baby photo on the present and I had to guess who they were from. Some were easier than others, of course! I hadn't heard this before and thought it was a super cute idea. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of all the gifts, but I can tell you they filled this Moses basket. Little baby W is going to be one well dressed little man!

It was a great afternoon, so thanks to all you who made it so special!

While us girls who oohing and aahing over cute baby things, we sent our boys to our house to move in our nursery furniture and put together our dining room furniture. I think we got the better end of the deal! I'm not posting any nursery photos til it's all complete, but here's a shot of our new dining room set:

Well done boys!

1 month to go!

2010-02-12T11:42:00.000Z

That's right I'm 36 weeks today! Crazy to think how different life will be in a month's time. I haven't yet reached that point of 'get this baby out of me' - I think mainly because I have so much left to do. I also have two more weeks at work left, a big part of me is wondering why I'm not finishing sooner, but I know I'll be glad to have those two more weeks next year at the end of my maternity leave. Anyway, I thought I'd first share a photo, which my family has been asking for. So this is me a few days ago:

I've generally found pregnany quite enjoyable. It's amazing to think there's a little boy growing inside. He's been making his presence known as well. Kicking and stretching out all over the place. I think I've been having more (non-painful) braxton hicks contraction this week. We learned on our course that you have contractions from about 20 weeks onwards and when your belly feels compact and hard, that's most likely a contraction-well a practice contraction anyway. Pregnancy hasn't all been fun, of course, there's been some weird and not-so-wonderful aspects which I think are probably related to pregnancy. I've probably shared some before, but here's a little list (particularly for the many friends I've just found out are expecting this summer!):

excessive trips to the bathroom to pee (first and third trimester)
leg cramps-side and back of calves (all 3 trimesters)
occasional sciatic nerve pain in lower back (first and third)
sneezing (first)
occasional lower abdominal cramping (all 3-only very painful once)
decreased fitness, shortness of breath-especially going up stairs (increasing over pregnancy)
difficulty rolling over in bed or getting off the floor/deep sofa (third)
groin/pelvic pain-making crossing legs or standing up after sitting a long time painful (since running through airport at Christmas)
dry eyes/contacts feeling irritated (6th month only)
itchy rash on lower legs (for last week)
shortness of breath when talking quickly! (new this week-particularly when I'm first on the phone to someone or kicking off a meeting)
wine (particulary red) tastes cheap, and still no cravings (all 3)

To be honest, none of those are particularly bad and I don't seem to mind-especially wen you compare it to all the fun things about being pregnant-I'll try to post about that another day.

A fun weekend ahead with a baby shower tomorrow and our last ever Valentine's day as a childless couple! And, Monday is our last ultrasound and consultant appointment (about the fibroid), and I also have my first midwife appointment at my new GP in Bromley, so expect more news next week!

antenatal course #2 and midwife appt

2010-02-01T21:57:00.001Z

Sorry blogging has been a little more quiet lately. Wish I could say the new house was taking up all our time, but I don't feel like we've gotten much done here either. Busy with who knows what, but we haven't been in our house long enough to get anything substantial done. The end of February is looking less busy (so far...) so hopefully we'll make some progress then.

One thing that has taken up our time is another antenatal class which was all day Saturday. Another very helpful session. We talked mainly about the birth and some postnatal care. We covered things pain relief options (which will be necessary), ceseareans (which hopefully won't be), and birthing positions (I'll spare the details). In terms of pain relief, we covered four main options:
1.TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machines-specifically for childbirth, which you can buy or rent. The send electric pulses which can block pain gateways to the brain and also help to release endophins. They are drug free of course and have no side effects for baby.
2. Drug similar to demoral-which is IV based drug, effecting whole body rather than a localized numbness and can sometimes slow labor. It can also cause nausea and sleepiness. I probably won't elect to use this drug.
3. Gas and Air-which is a mixture of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and oxygen. I don't think they use this in the US, but it's commonly used in the UK. Good thing about it is that it only takes 20sec to kick in and 20 sec to leave system, so if I don't like it, I don't have to use it.
4. Epideral-low or high dose. Directly into spine which numbs lower part of your body. There are lots of potiential side effects, plus you have to be tied to monitors constantly, which limits mobility. But you feel a lot less pain.

I want to keep an open approach to the birth. I don't want to go in with a set idea of I definitely want or don't want certain things. Paul and I are going to write up a 'birth wish list' at some point this month which will outline how we want to approach the birth.

This morning I also had another midwife appointment. Everything seems to be in order. My blood tests from last month were back and all was good. My iron levels were high which is good. Blood pressure (118/64) was normal and so was urine test. We heard Baby W's heart beat which was strong. His position is head down, which is perfect and let's hope he stays that way for the last 6 weeks. My bump measured 34 cm which is perfectly average for being 34 weeks. Our next appointments are on Feb 15th and include my final ultrasound, a follow up appt with consultant for the fibroid and another midwife appt which is where we're meant to write up our birth plan with her. I say 'meant to' because I'm in the process of most likely changing to a local midwife so I can go to a local hospital rather than have to drive an hour+ to the hospital closest to our old flat. I've got an appt at my GP on Thursday who will refer me to the local midwife services and then we'll see how the first appt with her goes before I make a final decision.

We finally bought our nursery furniture today and just making final decisions on bedding. I won't reveal anything though until it's all put together. Maybe you can bribe my mom to give you hints as she's helping plan everything and we'll do together when she comes over early next month. Can't wait!!

antenatal course #1

2010-01-23T22:02:00.000Z

Paul and I went to our first of three antenatal classes today. These are put on by the National Childbirth Trust which has local branches. Our class was made up of 6 couples all who live in our area, all due in mid March with their first child. One couple lives even lives one street over from us and kindly gave us a ride home. The facilitator was trained as a nurse and midwife and had moved to teaching antenatal courses after have two children. She has been teaching courses for 23 years now! She was very knowledgable and encouraging.

The course started with some getting to know everyone chats and then we split into groups of men and women and brainstormed things we wanted to get out of the course. She started with some general questions and moved more specifically onto late pregnancy. The bulk of the rest of the course was on the the different stages of the labor process. We went over signs of labor, when to call your midwife and when to go into the hospital. She went over what happens and why and what can help. This included practicing different positions, breathing and also, my favorite...massage techniques.

Paul and I feel a lot more informed already. We are seriously considering changing our birth hospital to one down here so we can stay at home as long as possible and not have to worry about driving all the way up to the hospital I have been going to, which could take an hour or more to drive to in heavy traffic.

I won't go into all the details of what we learned today, but I think the most surprising thing we learned was that you are encouraged to stay in an upright, forward leaning position as much as possible throughout labor and even during the birth. This can be standing, sitting, kneeling or squatting. It isn't all about laying back with your feet up in stirrups like they make it out to be on tv. Being upright and forward allows for greater assistance by gravity and also is a much better pelvic position for moving the baby out of the birth canal. They also want you to do what's most comfortable for you throughout the process. I think the course was also very helpful for the guys in preparing them and enabling them to know how best to help us get through it all.

8 weeks to go!!

2010-01-16T09:46:00.000Z

I celebrated entering my eigth month with a 32 week scan. Everything looked good. I must have been eating well because he's gained over a pound and a half and is up to 4lb 3oz. He's still on the average trajectory in all his measurements, which is great. He was head down and facing the fibroid (left) which is good. And the best part...he had the hiccups! I've felt them a few times this week actually, they don't last that long. They also measured the fibroid which hasn't grown anymore which is good news.

Because he was facing the fibroid it was hard to get a good shot of him, but this will have to do. You can see his profile right and his little hand is resting under his chin. How cute!?

And, as promised, here are the two snaps from the 28 week ultrasound.The little circles above his mouth aren't bubbles, it's the cord:)

The secret to maternity pants

2010-01-12T19:44:00.000Z

And by pants I mean trousers for all you UK readers.

So from about month 5 or 6 I've been wearing full on maternity clothes, and found that I really hated most pants because they were really saggy once you start moving around. Maternity pants have basically two types of stretchy bands at the waist-ones that go under the bump and ones that go over. Neither fit very well. I've even tried different sizes. I always feel like I want a belt, but unfortunately there's nowhere to put one. But after Christmas I had an idea. I started using my stretchy band that I used in the in between stage when I just couldn't quite button up my regular pants. I put this on over the stretchy band on the maternity pants and it works like a charm. If you don't know what I'm talking about, have a look here: http://www.motherhood.com/Shop_MotherhoodMaternity/Tummy_Sleeve.asp. (Looking at that link I'm realizing I'm not the first person to think of this. Guess I overlooked that feature when I first got this thing--oh well nevermind.) I'm so pleased not have to walk 10 steps and hike up my pants. I'm sure it wasn't an attractive look.

mid wife appt #5

2010-01-10T18:39:00.000Z

This post is slightly overdue, but we since we aren't in our home yet we haven't had regular internet access and we were out a lot last week furniture browsing. I had another mid wife appt last Monday. This time in the office. I know now why they do home visits. Their offices were not very nice or welcoming. I ended up having to wait 5 minutes in the freezing cold waiting for someone to arrive to open the office. I was the first appointment of the day at 10am! It was all normal stuff. Blood pressure (normal), urine test (normal), bump measurement was 32 cm (12.5 inchces), a 6 cm growth in 4 weeks. We also did some routine blood tests, which I think were for hemoglobin levels. I'll get the results next month (unless there's a problem).

My mom has been asking me how long I'm likely to be in the hospital after baby comes so I finally asked. Apparently you can be discharged as soon as 8 hours after giving birth if both mom and baby are ok. Seems quick, doesn't it!? I've got my antenatal classes in two weeks, so I'll find out more then.

I've got another ultrasound on Friday so stay tuned for photos. Need to also post the photo fromt the last one, but I don't have access to a scanner, so you'll just have to wait a bit longer. Sorry!

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-26T01:29:00.000Z

From Snowy St. Louis!!

Lots of love, Paul, Stacy and baby W