What have you done to my room?

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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