Sunday 26 April 2009

Sun again

This weekend was sunny - perfect weather for the sailing club open day and a visit from Sue and Drew. We spent a happy Saturday morning in the garden playing:




The open day went well - sun and wind - a perfect combination for persuading people that sailing on the river is worth the effort. It was pretty busy in the morning, and so we were stuck on the shore talking to people and didn't get much sailing in. We might have over prepared on the gear side of things:

Friday 24 April 2009

Eating out

I'm not a great fan of chain bars, but sometimes they are very useful. Particularly when you are looking for somewhere for some lunch and are sure that your 7 month old is going to want to share and is therefore going to make a mess!

So the three of us had lunch today at the Slug and Lettuce who insist that they are child/baby friendly. They proved themselves to be just that. We all ate Mexican burgers - burger, bun, cheese, guacamole, chili, chips and gerkins (not ian). Nathaniel enjoyed chips the most, but tried everything, and even ate the gerkin! I wish I had taken a photo.....!

Thursday 23 April 2009

Evidence

Not only does Nathaniel have one tooth appearing, the second one is now cutting through the gum! He's not enjoying it terribly, but it is enabling him to tackle whole apples which were rather beyond him before. He doesn't really get anywhere, but I think he finds it satisfying to slowly gnaw at them.

You can just see the teeth if you look hard

Sunday 19 April 2009

Hole of Horcum

Its spring, so its time to go on walks on the Moors. We haven't really done much walking with Nathaniel, so we decided to do something short that we've done before so that he was the only unknown variable! So we poddled out to Levisham and walked to and around the Hole of Horcum. Its a good walk because its got lots of good bits; a bit skirting the edge of a valley in a pretty wood, a bit in a bouncy grassy valley, a bit where the amazing view keeps appearing as you turn the corner and a bit of high moor with lots of heather. Ian decided to be a cave man and see whether he collapsed with exhaustion if he carried Nathaniel all the way round, which was great, coz I got to skip up the hills carrying nothing but some water and our food!

Nathaniel was full of cold, but he seemed to really enjoy himself. Most of the time he was being really interested and looking around and smiling. Except here:


It was really sunny and warm and generally summer like which was just as well. NB If you don't find new parents' obsession with bodily functions palatable, skip to the next paragraph now! We thought we had packed lots of nappies, but when we stopped for lunch we found we only had one with us. This would have been fine except about 2 mins after we put it on, the inevitable happened! The idea of keeping him in it for the rest of the walk was pretty gross, but fortunately we had our lateral thinking brains on! We took out the old wet nappy and removed the wet inner sections (yuck), then we hung up the fast drying outer nappy in the sun and when it was dry, filled it up with muslin squares! It worked brilliantly! Apart from the fact that they are a bit bulky, I can't work out why we've spent so much on fancy nappy inners!

Anyway, here are some photos of us being all smiley and enjoying being out in the fresh air.

Fun in the woods

The Hole is just around the corner

A spot of elevenses

Raaaaahhhhhh!

Lunch in the Hole. This doesn't do it justice!


To round the day off, we ate dinner in the garden in the sun. Here is Nathaniel enjoying the perfect post-walk food: sausages, potato wedges, brocolli and peas.

Saturday 18 April 2009

This week

Nathaniel is still a bit grumpy because his gums are bothering him, but he does at least now have a tooth! It hasn't stopped him learning to drink from a spout cup:

He's not terribly good at it yet. He chews on the spout for a bit and then does a big suck and dribbles most of the water down his chin. When he does remember to swallow he pulls the spout out of his mouth and looks into the distance thoughfully until his is ready for another mouthful. It is very entertaining!

He has also started charging around his cot at night. When we come in in the morning, he is often at right angles to where we put him down and in an entirely different bit of cot. He's always jolly though!

Sunday 12 April 2009

If the wind doesn't blow...

As is traditional, there was absolutely no wind on Easter Sunday. However, that didn't stop a good number of people turning up at the sailing club. We spent most of the morning chatting, stroking our beards and watching the river drift by. We took the cover off the boat in the hope that the decks might dry out a bit, and Nathaniel explored the sheets.

Eventually we gave up the pretence that it is a sailing club and got down to the serious stuff - watching Colin mowing the lawn and some barbequing!

Saturday 11 April 2009

An Upstanding Citizen

The favourite activity of the moment is most definitely standing!

Although he can't get anywhere near that position himself or stay there very long on his own, Nathaniel would generally rather be standing than doing anything else...


  


Or of course, as standing on it's own is only so interesting, this often quickly gives was to the second best activity, standing whilst doing something else. Such as trying to eat plants...!




Getting a Bit Long in the Tooth...

Nathaniel is definitely teething.

We have both thought we felt something hard/sharp on his bottom gum in the last day or so, but haven't then been able to find it again or see anything to corroborate this. Today however, there was definitely evidence of something emerging. Nothing like white enamel poking out, but he has certainly got something on it's way.

The Sky At Night

The new camera can do exciting things...


Moon!

Thursday 9 April 2009

Grumble grumble...

Nathaniel has been a little grumpy the last few days - we think he may be teething! However, as we haven't got any pictures of him being grumpy, here are some jolly photos instead!


Excited at the guitar playing


General jollyness



At least he's still jolly in between the grumbles.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Finger Food

Nathaniel is developing his pincer grip! The baby-led weaning seems to have helped this along a lot and he can now pick up pretty small bits of food, like the salmon we had:


Grab!


"ok, I've got hold of it, now what...?"


"I know....!"

Wednesday 1 April 2009

Perks of the Job II

It was warm and sunny today, so we went on a trip to Knaresborough with Esther and Maisie! We had so much fun! We wandered around the town and admired old churches and antique shops full of interesting wooden things, and then walked along the river and had a picnic. This is what maternity leave is all about!!!



All set for an adventureThe viaduct
The picnicMaisie takes a likeing to Nathaniel's hat

Nathaniel is not so sure about Maisie's hat but eats pear anyway!