DND

You wouldn't believe how long it took us to work out what DND stood for, I seem to remember someone at youth alpha had to explain it. If you know the lyrics (it's a Semisonic song) you'll realise just how stupid I felt when we were told (notice, I'm not telling you in the hope that someone is as clueless as me!)

Breaking news a week late: THE COT IS FINISHED. Whew, what a relief that is to me and anyone who's been avoiding coming over in case they were handed a paint brush. You are now safe to visit, it's up, has been decorated with transfers to match the walls, has a mattress and plenty of cot toys which are finally doing their job. Also, it's been christened by the top end so you're safe to babysit in the evenings too.

The more observant of you may notice that she's awake (this is due to me being too scared to take a photo while she's asleep in case I wake her up). You may think it's the eyes being open that give this away but actually it's the positioning of the body and a few other pointers. Notice the fact that her head is at the head end, there are no limbs sticking out of the cot at any point, both dummies are still in the cot, the blanket isn't scrunched up in a ball at the bottom of the cot, she's still almost on her back and, if I had a sound bite thingy, there would be no sound of snoring. Is anyone getting the hint yet, DO NOT attempt to share a bed with Naomi. She doesn't steal the duvet yet but that's only because she doesn't have one!

Mama, you got a daughter

How cool is this photo, I think it's the best I've taken yet. You may have guessed my opinion has nothing to do with photography ability (the blurry calculator should give that away). It has everything to do with the fact that Naomi is playing with a calculator and in the background you can see the shunned bike magazine. Woo hoo, she finally appears to have picked up something from me other than an amazing collection of grumpy/disbelieving looks and a cracking frown!

Anyone who's seen us in the last few weeks will have realised that she's been perfecting these grumpy looks and accompanying them with energy draining crying. If you haven't seen us in the last few weeks that's probably a blessing in disguise. As I think I mentioned before, there does appear to be another top tooth coming through but with the amount of grumpiness I'm rather hoping there are a few bottom ones on the move too. Again, I'm at work so don't have a picture of her toothy grin but I have this delightful meal time photo. Part of the grumpy baby syndrome has involved refusing to eat off a spoon. Finger eating and spaghetti bolognese don't quite go together.

Walk This Way....

Apologies to those people to whom I promised an update on Sunday, it turned out to be a bit of a 'getting nowhere fast' day as Naomi was in fine grumpy form (another tooth on it's way). Also, there will be a delay on the photo with this post as I'm at work just now (lunch break!) and I may not get a photo attached til tomorrow, you'll just have to come back again.


Anyway, as the title may suggest, Naomi is getting on well with the walking, though my arms would get really tired if I had to walk her way.

But actually (please igonore the bad grammer, very tired) the title is more to do with this. I'm coming to realise that nieces have a lot to answer for, I was going to say that keeping active wasn't one I would have attributed to Sophie but on second thoughts it fits in very well, along with eating your fruit and veg and showing Naomi how to cram as much food as possible into her mouth.

Anyway, we will be aiming to do the long walk. Russell will definitely be pushing me up any hills (although I'm sure I read somewhere it's fairly flat I'm sure I'll find a hill). Naomi is in training to walk the whole way but as we only have one day to do it in there is a high probability that she will be disappointed. Hopefully we'll have some good weather so that Sophie, Callum, Naomi and Russell can dry out after the water features.

If you feel like sponsoring us this link and the one above will take you to a just giving page which is really easy to use or alternatively you can contact one of us and we can write it down on a paper form which we will probably lose and then find in 6 months and chase you for payment then! More needed than sponsorship are probably prayers that we will all make it round in one piece and idealy not too bruised a one piece.

Ok, lunch over, got to go. I'll be back to add a photo or two and hopefully another post soon as I have a backlog of photos to update.

Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon

This is the perfect antidote to Winter.
Now, where's my bike.

And for those who haven't already seen it, there's a short video of Naomi here. I know some people are still browsing via dial-up, which is why I've not put the video itself on here. It may be a larger file than the average photo.