a little green thumb

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

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!

summer vacay in the States

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:

playing the organ with Grandad!

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!

christmas and baptism

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:

 

quick trip to Eastbourne

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



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

Nana came to visit!

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

Nana-Jamie time:

Fun with food:

Practicing our standing:

Went to a petting farm:

 which I think Remmy enjoyed more than Jamie:

 We met all the Woodwards at a pub for lunch:

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



go Cards go!

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!

Sam and Sian come for a visit

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!!

we're back!

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 :(

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!!