First part of 2010...

It was quite a year, in March I went to a client site for a project I was managing. It was the first (and only still a year later) time I have left Sebastian, I was gone for 5 days and it was hard... but I have to confess to loving only having to get myself ready, finishing work - eating in the hotel restaurant, with a glass of wine, a book and then a bath in the room and bed... with no wake ups! But when I got home I was so happy to see my wee man - Sebastian and my husband and family. It did, unfortunately, create a period of time where Sebastian would not allow me out of his sight to even pee...

We spent memorial day at Alex's parents and Nani and Lisa and Nan were there also...

My mum continued to look after Sebastian at her house for the first part of the year - with our friend Mai having him at our house on Wednesday's for his Spanish day...

Sebastian is close to many members of his family - his Tia Jackie, both his Grandmothers - Granny (my mum) and Gaga - Alex's mum - he calls his Grandpa - JIM - just like we do... he loves his Nani (Alex's grandmother nancy) and his cousin James is the bees knees...

Here are a few shots from the early part of 2010!

Sebastian turns ONE!

It happened, a year passed and we made it alive! :) Sebastian turned one on the Friday and I took a day off work to get ready for the party and get my hair all chopped off! It was very long and had not been cut since before Sebastian was born and I went all the way up to my ears - it was TIME!

By Sebastian's first birthday he had all teeth except his molars... had been walking for close to 2 months and was saying quite a few words...

For his first birthday we had a bbq for our family and friends over at Arlington park playground/bbq area. Great as the children could play in the playground and us oldies could eat/visit on the picnic tables. We had lots of help from Nancy and Lisa who came to Sam's with me- helped with food prep, set up and Nancy bbqd! :)

The theme was WonderPets as Sebastian is in love with them and loves that show... Granny Reid got a lovely cake with Sebastian's picture on it as the decoration - FAB!

Sebastian's First Christmas

Sebastian’s first Christmas was fun, of course he was more interested in the bags and tissue than any presents – and knowing this we actually were sensible and didn’t go mad – he got a Sesame Street remote control and some clothes and bits we wanted him to have, more than things he would care about! Mum, Alex, Sebastian and I spent Christmas Eve at Nani's house having dinner.

Then on Crimbo day,after Sebastian and I went to church with my Mum (he slept the whole way through), we had a lovely lunch at my mum’s house cooked by Mum and myself… attending were mum, alex, myself, Sebastian, alex’s parents – Carola and Jim and his Nani (Nancy)… also joining us were Alex girl and her mom Cathy – which was FAB!

Dear blog... I have missed you...

Dear blog, I’ve been missing you…

Quite often over the last year I have been thinking of updating you, but somehow, something else comes up… I couldn’t believe it when I went back and read my last post – NOVEMBER 2009 – holy moly! Where has the time gone!?

A lot has happened in this past year and a half… Sebastian’s first Christmas holiday, his first birthday, a trip to Disney, many happy times with family and friends, Sophie turned 21, James turned 3 and 4 and Sebastian turned 2…

In that time my job has changed at work – I am now in the deployment team helping them and managing migration of our existing clients onto the new platform… it was a shock at first, but settling in.

We have been pregnant and, sadly, lost that baby – a very hard and sad time… but part of our history of life as a family now therefore in the blog…

We currently are having to re-home our beloved beagle, Chiron, as he bit Sebastian last year… he just did not adjust to life with a toddler and the constant harassment Sebastian heaped on him – truck chases and pushing things into him finally took their toll.

Anyhow – I am going to do some highlight blogs to catch up with some pictures and then hope to keep you updated, not that I am even sure if anyone reads you… but I like to go back and re-read them and see the pics and will, I think, print them up and put them in a book for future family reading and hilarity!

Xo

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!