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:

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:

 

24 hour trip to scotland!

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

Watching Santa and the reindeer arrive:



photos, photos and more photos

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.

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.

We're in St. Louis!!

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):

Happy Easter!

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!