Oh yay for Turkey...

Happy thanksgiving eve everyone... we are heading down to Alex's Tia Holly and Tio Jimmy in Fort Myers - we go every year. Alex's parents, Nani and Hap, sis Barb and bro Marc and the cousins with their other halves will all be there - this will be the first time the cousins meet Seb... exciting. Barbie is riding down with us so Seb has some company - as this will be his longest car ride yet!

Mmmmm... i LOVE turkey - got my organic cranberries and making some sauce and cookes and banana bread tonight... fun fun!

Some pics of Sebastian at Halloween, the first one was taken when we finally had some cool weather... I LOVE babies in jeans... and am a cow collector - of interesting ornaments/figurines of cows. So, before Sebastian was even born I got him this cow hoodie and he finally got to wear it.. see it has ears!



Seb in his hand me down costume from Skylar... too cute....



However it was hot on Halloween so he wore the one we got from Carter (son of the Studio B photographer - see side link)... a cute lion... and Jamie wore his Liverpool strip as you saw in pics below.

Seb's first jack o'lantern

Seb's first Jack O'Lantern...



Day outfit - 3-d pumpkins and candy corn - courtesy of granny Fleener



pulling up and cruising...



crawling.. and can you see the start of his first cold in those eyes? i can...



Jamie dressed up as a Liverpool player - ready for tick or tweat...

Made some strides...

Well, blog - here we are and Seb is 8 months and 2 weeks - how did that happen? He is crawling now - as fast as a formula one car - had 4 teeth with more on the way (OUCH) and is pulling himself up and beginning to cruise (NOT in the George Michael way - thank you).

He is babbling lots and now sleeping with us pretty much all the time... he settles in his bed for MAYBE 2/3 hours on a good night and then will not go longer than 20/30 mins - after getting up a few times every 20 mins we just decided to go with the co-sleeping plan... although our bed is not very big - Seb is a snuggler - he lays with a leg and arm draped over me and if i even try to move he wakes and scoots over and into me again... I am now used to it and enjoy it.. actually the couple of times he actually stayed in his own bed I woke up in horror to not find him there and assumed he had somehow flung himself over one of us and fallen...

Anyhow - we have to be secretive as my mother in law would have a heart attack and originally even i was against it... but Seb has decided where he sleeps on his own.. i have to say this is a more recent development... he always slept well - in his bed by 9 and through til 2.30 - sometimes til 4 - up for a 15 min boobie break and then back to sleep until 6.30 - then this happened...we tried cry it out - we tried soothing - we tried all sorts - and nothing worked... other than snuggling with us... he will nap in his cot during the day, but won't stay there all night. And now he is so big that we don't squish him or anything...he holds his own... and usually he is in the crook of my arm anyhow - so i can't roll and it keeps alex at bay!

He is saying some more words - and he is now doing a little song and dance mum taught him - he LOVES to sing and dance - always has from a few weeks old - but now his shoulders roll, he sways and one of his legs goes with the beat... this is hardly a surprise considering who is parents are... I mean i went a clubbing a couple of times while he was in utero... dancing with a big old belly was odd and created a bizarre swing... i.e. my body following wherever my belly swung... haha...

Marc was here from the UK this month with 2 friends - Mark and David... was lovely to see him as always... I adore my Marcie Marc... and his friends are fab... we had some meals out and i got some quality beach/pool time with them - one day on my own as Mum had Seb - was great to have some me time...

This past Saturday a group of us from work did the making strides breast cancer walk... i started this a few years ago and the group has grown - we got double the $1k we wanted to raise - so it was a good event - we then had a yummy breakfast at the broken egg.... num!

here are some pics:

Sebastian and Skylar - ahh - young love...

showing support for his team tropics:

F - Skylar, Claire, Kelly, Seb, Lorna, Amy and Jamie

B - Joe, Elaine and Joanne

The End:

Mommy Magazine Ad - featuring Sebastian

So, Seb will be in an advertisement for Beth's photostudio - Studio B in the November/December issue of Mommy Magazine here in Sarasota... very cool!

September 2009

So, here we are in September already - almost at 2010 - almost... where has it gone... it really does go faster as we get older. I remember the summer holidays feeling like an eternity... would they ever end - won't school start already. Now I keep thinking I am going to go to bed on New Year's Day and wake up on New Year's Eve of the following year without knowing what came in between!

We are still muddling through a VERY hot Florida summer, the rain comes and goes - torrential usually, although we did have an odd 28 hours where it drizzled the whole time - made me a bit nostalgic for the UK.

Our main news was taking advantage of the cash for clunkers scheme and trading in Alex's (beloved) Lexus SC400 and getting a new white, VW Passat Wagon... I am so in love with this car. Coming into our relationship I had just aquired my first new car since 1992 - and it was a basic Ford Focus 3 door - I LOVE that car - but I didn't have any bells and whistles... and Alex had his 1994 Lexus - so although it has luxury - for 1994 standards.

Well - cars can do so much now - and the things VW have thought of... the top of the rear doors hide a little compartment containing window blinds that can pull up and cover the window... the car an automatic (boo hiss - Flex would not let me get the 5 speed i wanted) has an autostop button which you can set to default as on. This feature means if you take your foot off the brake at a stop - you will not roll - you will sit until you accelerate.. I LOVE this feature as I get so upset with all the yank drivers constantly lurching forward into the intersections as they wait for green - GRRRR...

We also have 6 months of free sirius radio - I will have to keep this feature... I am listening to my old UK stations so I can keep up on new international music other than Beyonce and Finger11 (who I do like - Finger 11 that is). When I get sick of the UK stuff I can flip to 80s alternative... FAB - or just plain 80s - or reggae for Sebi - or some electronic dance/techno - just to satisfy my craving for a good beat! ; )

Other than that the summer has been about watching the boy grow and evolve.. people ask if I miss having a small baby - and yes in a way - but no in general I enjoy every phase of his existence... watcing him learn and absorb new information... as I make blurby and rolling noises with my tongue seeing him watch intently and then position his tongue like I did and try to imitate the noises I made... to be called mama - and have it be something other than a noise experiment and realize he is referring to me... realized also that as the dog passed by him and he kept saying K, K, K he was trying to say Chiron (pron Kyron) - crazy.. i swear i heard him say hola last week too - lol!

It has been a joy watching him enjoying some chicken, potatoes, fruit and having fun blowing raspberries as we try to shovel it in. I am trying to be the good mama and make all his food homemade from organic produce... I made lots on Saturday and freeze in ice cube trays to go to granny's for the week... so far he gets way too farty artimous on green and cruciferous veg, so we are sticking to carrots, sweet potatoes, plain potatoes and oatmeal... the farts aren't the issue - its that they make him ball up and groan and NOT SLEEP... BAD...

I love snuggling up in bed with his arm draped over me - keeping him there as long as possible before moving him to his own bed... savouring that time.

He is now pulling himself up on things and starting to get on all 4s and rock - both started in the last week - so it will be a race as to which one he masters first - will he walk or crawl first... hilarious - but horror - our house is NOT baby safe... must get that sorted - reality strikes.

Seb adores dancing - just like Mum and Dad - when a song he likes comes on he stops whatever he is doing and sways - sometimes even adding in shoulder rolls... and sometimes sings along - which is more of a wavering keen at this point - but so exciting...

Some of the more challenging aspects have been sleep training - sleep through the night - HA... nap somewhere other than warm arms - HA... we are getting him to stay in his bed about 75% of the time at night now - but he still wakes 2 or so times - as a minimum... and this past weekend he napped in his crib both Saturday and Sunday - YIPPEEEEE!

He started pinching this last week - at 7 months... finger and thumb together - a milestone... yet painful when he likes to do it to me while he breastfeeds - yowza... and yes I do take his hand and firmly say/uhm yell NO - no pussy footing about for me...

We had some photos taken by the same photographer that did our maternity shoot - she is the bomb - Beth McCaa of Studio B - BIG shout out - we went to a park on the water near our house where there are majestic old banyans and the water... here is a preview - just waiting for all of them to be provided... she is using our shots on her website for advertising so we got a big discount... wonderful!

Enjoy!

25 weeks...

Can you believe it, 25 weeks since I was grunting, swaying and pushing in a hospital room? I can't...


Since i last blogged Sebastian has grown to a whopping 19.6 lbs... his hands are massive and his thighs are fabulous fatties! He is sitting up and only ever wants to sit - or stand... he pulls himself up on us and in his walker without using hands (don't freak we have no stairs and only tile floors) and from his first attempt goes forward, backward and sideways. He he is rolling every which way - has been rolling over since 3 months... but now he throws himself from sitting and rolls over and starts to push onto his knees - or does swimming motions... not long now... and we are still procrastinating the babyproofing... argh. Well unless you count the baby gate across the laundry room... which was in fact to stop the beagle eating the cat poop... so we are ahead on getting the baby to stop eating that too then!


Seb got his 2 bottom teeth - the first one came in about 5 weeks ago and now they are definitely teethy looking and can be seen without prising his lips apart. He has only bitten me nipples once, which isn't bad - but likes to bite our fingers, esp Granny Reid's.

He loves to dance, dance, dance - music makes him sway and jiggle like a mofo bending at the knees and laughing along - yes what else would you expect from the child of one 'who loves a good beat'... and of course Alex is a big techno fan and club lover...

He said Mama last night when I entered a room - very exciting stuff.. he has been saying mam for awhile.. but last night when Alex was giving him his lavender post bath massage on the changing matt, I came in the room and he looked and me and said a definitive Mama... Alex heard it too and exclaimed before I did!

Unfortunately the baby that was sleeping through the night or waking only once for 10 or so minutes has spent the last 2 nights refusing to go to bed... within 10 mins of being laid down the eyes are open and the squinnying starts and he is wide awake again... 2 nights ago i slept for 3 hours on the sofa with him as that was the only place i could get him to settle... then at 3.30 a.m. we finally ventured into the bedroom and climbed into the bed with daddy... i am sure this is a phase... growth spurt, top teeth or something - but god it makes getting up for work a biatch... if only i could stay home and just lay prone on the bed with him sticking his toes in his mouth happily! :)

In other news my mother, Elizabeth, turned 80 last Saturday - 8/8... wow - can't believe it, she is just an amazing woman - still looks fabulous - no makeup other than lippy most of her life and just soap, water and oil of olay (or ulay as it was known in the UK back then)... apart from her bionic hips she is in good health and has Seb for us Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday - and what a love affair that is!

We also moved up to the world of family wagon car... well it is still smoking... we got ourselves a VW Passat wagon - the SE model... it has very cool features with window blinds built into the doors, trunk that opens and closes itself with the push of a button... and Sirus radio - hello Radio One and Chris Moyles and getting some international music flavour... oh and the good techno and 80s new wave stuff too! Anyhow, we are LOVING our car and i am working on seeing the highest mpg i can get per day - i had it at 96.4 going down tuttle the other day... but it is a turbo - so i do tend to then counteract that by occassionally flooring it just to shock all the others on the road as I FLY past! :)

It is white with black interior and will soon have dark as possible tinted windows... to match my fabulous little focus ZX3 alex now zips about in... I LOVED that car - and do miss the stick... but I enjoy the turbo... and the BEST part... no more 1994 Lexus SC400 sitting in the driveway! Thanks Obama - we LOVE cash for clunkers!

Sebastian and family - 13 weeks

Alex girl did some pictures of us at a friend's bbq recently - enjoy - we did - she did a great job and we love her for it.... she had an emergency back op last night so sending her positive vibes today! There are also a couple of pics of Marc's visit here and our lovely great-nephew Jamie for good measure!

Happy boy... but who wouldn't be in their Obama onesie - a pre-birth gift from Alex girl - purchased from a vendor on the fab streets of NYC.

some pics from Marc's surprise visit to meet Sebi (and get beach time! lol)...

and the gorgeous Jamie Bamie!

14 weeks in...

Well, here we are 14 weeks in on this crazy ride called parenthood... I LOVE IT... or should I say WE love it... watching Sebastian grow, change and learn has been the most amazing experience of our lives. Every little thing he does fills us with joy and amazement. He was smiling and laughing at 3 weeks... and I don't mean gas - I mean belly laughs... he has been rolling over from his back to his front - both ways and pushing his head up for 2 weeks now... he loves to play with his toys - grasping things with both hands and inspecting them - and of course mouthing them to death - and he is a drooler - bibs are our friend. He is now showing an interest in what the cat and dog are up to - watching them as they cross the room - when Chiron the beagle walks by he reaches out to run his hand along his fur...

Unfortunately Chiron the beagle has been afflicted with terrible pollen related allergies this season - he gets asthma attacks and his skin is just rife with hot spots and he is itching and slurping incessantly... I do feel terrible for the poor baby - we have tried organic baths in clove and cinnamon shampoo, oatmeal shampoos - and this last week I even resorted to head and shoulders as it says for dry/irritated skin... to no avail. We had him on antihistimines and steroids - to no avail... we are bathing him twice a week as his coat oil is getting out of control due to all the scratching - as the baby has me up around 6 a.m. (on a good day - lol) I did a midweek early a.m. bath last week... and boy does the beagley beagle HATE the water... I took him in a pool once and he made like Jesus and walked the surface back to the steps...

Anyhoo - the point I was making was that Seb sits out on the deck in his bouncer while we bathe the dog - and he finds this one of the highlights of his week - he laughs as chiron shakes and sprays and the spray from the hose finds its way onto him - I wonder if he is aware of Chiron's deep hate of water and laughing at his "brother's" torturous plight of twice weekly baths!

Sebastian, however, LOVES water, baths, swimming in the pool, rain - you name it... he will splash and kick and swing his arms for ages... I let him go under and he holds his breath as they should - this i learned from Swede Heidi - but I must get some good literature and learn how to get him really learning properly...

He is really a chatty little boy - he talks and talks and talks - hardly lets anyone get a word in edgeways... takes after both his grannies I think (and maybe his Mummy).... anyhow - for a while now he has been cooing and gurgleing and making fab vowel noises and something sounding like an mmm... sound... we lay in bed with him just chatting and listening and responding and teaching him the flow of conversation and laughing... when we laugh he laughs with us... we watched Marley and Me last night (almost as good as the book) and whenever we laughed he joined in with a belly laugh of his own...

Unfortunately he still gets up through the night repeatedly - which is normal - but hard when I have to get up and work the next day - but honestly - although I grumble when he first rouses and i stagger through the house to the couch - once we are there and I am feeding him - cuddled with him on the breast - I see how hard this is to give up once they choose to wean... that one on one time only I can share with him - making him strong and healthy... and strong he is - he is already sitting himself up - he will have a 6 pack in the next month.... and he can pull on things - mind you he did that from birth - causing me to tear badly - when he came down the birth canal he grabbed my hoohaw with his hand and did some class A damage...

My dear friend Marc came over from England for a long weekend - while his parents were also here - to meet Sebastian - it was a surprise... and a lovely one. Alex girl insisted on coming round on a week night to see Seb - okay so we got some take out from Shakespeare's and visited... at 8.00 p.m. there was a knock at the door - which Alex girl got rather antsy about... Alex dad got up to answer it and just stood there saying 'oh sh*t' over and over... well since i had assumed it was Jehova's or some such i was getting desperate to know what was going on... he swung the door round and there stood Marcy Marc... he came in and visited - then we all had dinner at his parent's condo the following night - both Alex's, Seb and myself... Saturday was a day at the pool with the baby and Sunday we all had dinner at Carrabas - was lovely to see him and spend some time. He got me some lovely rugby onesie outfits from Next for Seb... he went home Monday - but is back later on in September - CAN'T WAIT! Hopefully with Cameron as we want to meet him! :)

I am on the hunt for a new play mat/baby gym for him - with more to do and see for tummy and back time as he loves the one he has - but it is a bit feeble... suggestions welcome on which ones are sturdy, fun and interesting!

We had great nephew Jamie (2 years old) for a few hours last Sunday while Sarah and Tony went to brunch... he is just such a treasure to spend time with and LOVES Seb... he calls him Bastians and always wants to see him, hold him and 'tickle, tickle Bastians'... we had so much fun and took them over to the park - got some good pics of Uncle Alex and Jamie on the fab equipment at Arlington Park (a walk away from us) - to be uploaded soon - and even met Matthias and Isabel - who had just visited with SwedeHeidi, SwedeDad, Swedegirl and Swedebabe! Small world!

Seb is adjusting well to me being at work - he LOVES spending his days with Granny Reid and Snoopy the toy fox terrier... they have fun and walks and play time and she just loves on him - so does Snoopy - who squeaks and barks as soon as he hears my car in the a.m. On Wednesday's our friend Mai has the baby at our house for the day - so he has a day of Spanish (plus Daddy talking to him in Spanish at home) - and this gives me a break from driving to Mum's, to work, to Mum's at lunch to feed him, to work, and then back to Mum's at the end of the day - not that I am complaining as I know we have free childcare with family and people that love him to bits... and I would drive miles for that as I can't be at home... work are great about me pumping so I can give Mum fresh leche at lunch for his afternoon and at the end of the day for the next a.m.

Here is a selection of pics from April and May - there are more to come of the last couple of weeks - once I finally upload them! Now that I am back at work the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit at a computer - UGH.

Give me the camera...



I love my teddy bookmark!



Mummy and Seb on our first Mother's Day!



Auntie Alex and Seb



Marc came from England just to meet me (and get sun)!

Family pool time at Granny and Grandpa Fleeners...

Mummy and Daddy went out with Marc for some Guiness...

I do love Obama really...

Surprise guests...

So last night Alex girl came round to visit Seb and she, Flex and I ordered burgers from Shakespeare's - YUM... well at 7.30 the doorbell went and Flex went and opened it and kept saying 'Oh $hit, 'Oh $hit, 'Oh $hit'... by now I am thinking we have naked Jehovah's Witnesses on the door step - BUT, when he opened the door wide and I spied my beloved gay husband Marcy Marc standing there - he flew in from England as a surprise to see me and meet Sebastian for a long weekend... Wonderful surprise. Only Alex girl and my Mum knew about the plan...

You know who your friends are from this kind of thing... 2 of my best friends, Marc and Lizzi, have flown in all the way from UK over the last 8 weeks to meet the baby - and friends from around the country have been in constant touch with love and advice - HOWEVER, people that live within miles of us never call or came round... interesting!

Back at work...

Well, last week marked my first week back at work with out the boy... I had thought about it and tossed and turned over it for days, no weeks... if someone mentioned it or asked when I was coming back I immediately choked up and and teared up. So the day came, we had a run through with Granny Reid the week before and all went well... Sebastian did not bat an eye lid - and he is such an easy, happy baby all went well.

Up in the a.m. and over to Granny's - on the boobs so only one bottle would be required til lunchtime - in the car to the office. Dry eyes mostly - until I glanced in the rear-view and saw his empty car seat base and I blubbed. It had been he and I against the world for 8 weeks - the 2 of us toodling around town from appointments, family homes and to lunch dates... fabulous.

I got to the office and they had decorated my cube with signs and confetti and had tissues at the ready - so that got me a bit sniffly again. I spent the morning being overwhelmed by the amount of work already waiting and fighting the urge to call and see how he was - knowing I would get a call if things were not well...

At 12.30 I dashed out and drove to my Mum's - Seb was fine and hanging with Granny, Tia Jackie and cousin Jamie... I gave him each boob and had a french bread pizza made by Mum and then he and I hit the road. Mai met us as our house and took over and I headed back to work aware that it was so much harder for me than him... he knows his carers and they love him - what more can I ask?

I got home at 5.45 and he was with daddy chilling - we went with Chiron round the park and had dinner, a bath and then went to bed... easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Tuesday is another story - around lunch time I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach and by Tuesday night had stomach flu - I stayed home on Wednesday and Mum came round to watch Seb so I could rest. I felt a bit better Thursday a.m. though still had not eaten or kept the cup of soup or crackers in... I left work at 3 on Thursday and then stayed home Friday - what a crazy first week.

Come Saturday Mum was terribly ill with this and Jamie had suffered in the week too - bless him and poor Sarah as he was out both ends poor little mite.

So week 2 came - I got lots of rest this weekend which was lovely (also mastitis in the right boob from switching to more pumping less sucking), but got through that with hot compresses, hot showers, lots of massage and putting Seb on the boob - thanks Flex for all your support and making me stop and get in the hot shower when I needed it!

Seb is spending his mornings this week at Granny Fleener's doc practice - in the back with some of the gang there who are spoiling him rotten - his great granny goes over to help too so he is in his element - plus then I get to pass Starbucks en route back to the office... it is going well and we will be back to Granny Reid's next week when she has had some flu recovery time...

So there we are - back at work - crazy stuff going on and the baby is the most unphased of all... they truly are amazing - everything about them... just watching him process things and know in his head he too can do this... Alex and I were poking our tongues out at him the other night and he watched and then kept moving his mouth in the funniest ways - we just KNEW he was trying to copy... FANTASTIC!

8.5 weeks on

hello again all, sorry to have been absent, but i have not been on computers much... as my mother had a hip replacement 10 days after Sebastian was born i have spent a lot of time there with her... and as she is on dial up i have not used her computer.

my 8 weeks off work were fabulous and i would happily have stayed at home enjoying every moment of his development, but it is not to be. Happily my mum and a venezuelan friend will be splitting the days between them until Mum's hip is stronger in a month or so and can do full days. It is nice as i can get home to feed the baby at lunch and work is being great about me pumping so he can stay on mama's leche...

Sebastian is a lovely, mellow, happy baby - he smiles and laughs and is just a joy... he is awake most of the day with some scattered half hour naps... at around 8 one of us has a bath with him which he loves and then he chills until he gets his last feed around 10 and then he sleeps for around 5 hours... unfortunately after this 3 a.m. feed he does not settle and is up once or twice more - not sure what to do to combat this... will work out i am sure, but as i am back at work today am quite tired as up 3 times a total of 2 hours last night... no more going back to bed until 10 a.m. now.

he is growing like a weed - his doc appointments on Friday showed him as 91st percentile for weight, lenght and head - 13bs 1oz, 23 1/3 inches and 16 inches respectively... the size of a 4 month old... and wearing his 3-6 month clothes already.

the dog and cat have been great and adjusted perfectly to him and act like he is not there - although if someone looks in or goes near him on walks Chiron gets on his hind legs and sticks his head in too to see what they are up to - and when we get home from somewhere and chiron comes out of his kennel he immediately looks in the carrier to check Seb is there and in one piece! :) Cleo just smells him occasionally and then goes about her business.

here are some pics from the last 2 weeks!