Had a nice relaxing day yesterday. We watched a film in the morning and then took Joseph to the park in the afternoon. We came home via the pub, and spent an hour in the beer garden!

Joseph is into everything now that he is mobile and is becoming a real handful at home! We're having to be very careful where we leave him and certainly can't turn our backs for long. Yet if we take him to a play area he is happy to just sit there and take everything in!

Today we are off to the Trafford Centre, just waiting for Joseph to wake and we'll be off



-- Post From My iPod touch

Oh dear, I have been a very bad blogger! I'll try and do a quick catch up now, which will be a series of short back-dated posts, with pics

1 year old!

In June our friends Sally & Shaun got married and we went to the evening reception. It was really lovely, although it was a shame that neither of us knew anyone apart from the bride & groom! I think if we'd known people we'd have had a really good time, but it was fun watching everyone and seeing how happy the newlyweds were.

The following day I went on a spa day with the girls at work. We recently received an outstanding Ofsted report which is really rare for day nurseries. We were the first and only in the Stockport borough to get one, so it really is a big deal. As a reward for being so fabulous, we got to spend a day at Carden Park. It was a wonderful relaxing day.

Joseph had his 2nd hair cut on the 16th. Like me, he has a lot of hair, and cutting it takes a long time and he lost patience and got very grumpy at the end! When it was styled, my little boy looked about 6 and so grown up. I have a picture, but haven't downloaded it from my phone yet, so will share it another time.

I've started taking Joseph swimming now. A friend of mine told me about a mother & baby swimming session at a local hotel so we gave it a try. The pool is nice and warm, not too big, not too deep and there's no older kids splashing etc and no serious swimmers to get in the way of. Joseph loves being in the water and has really enjoyed it both times we've been, so we're going to continue going.

On the 15th, my lazy boy finally decided it was time to start crawling! It was just a few "steps" at first, but he now has loads of confidence and really goes for it. Now that he is mobile I'm ready for him to walk, but I think that's still a way off. He is pulling himself up, but only on to his knees at the moment, so now furniture cruising for us yet.

The 19th was Joseph's last day in the baby room at nursery. I took in birthday cake (a day early) for the staff, and some chocolates for the children to take home. I have some lovely pictures but they still need scanning in, so again, will share them another time. We left at 1pm as we were heading to Leicester for a weekend of birthday celebrations, so there was lots to do before we left.

We arrived at mum & dad's around 9pm on Friday evening. Joseph stayed up and showed off for a bit before heading off to bed. On Saturday morning I had a long over due haircut, which I was really pleased with. Adam, Joseph and I then headed over to Adam's mum's house where we had party number 1. Elaine had done a lovely cold buffet and Joseph was able to eat the same as the rest of us, which he loves doing. He sat on the floor with his little bowl and helped himself. He made a real mess though, crawling all over the room at the same time!

It was then time to head back to mum & dad's for a BBQ. The rain held off and the weather was warm enough for us all to sit outside, which was a good job, as Joseph wasn't too impressed with his salad and through it all on the floor! He loved the meat though.

We finished the weekend with a visit to Adam's gran's house on Sunday, where we also saw Adam's dad and girlfriend and their little boy, before popping in to see Natalie on the way home.

Our little man had a marvellous weekend and was thoroughly spoilt. Thank you to everyone who made it so enjoyable.

After such a busy weekend, we took Monday off work/nursery and spent the day together. We went to Fun4All for lunch, and Joseph played on the soft play. It was funny, as at home we're constantly telling him "no" and "don't touch that" etc, yet at Fun4All where he could do whatever he wanted and go wherever he wanted to, Joseph was happy to just sit, taking it all in!

That's us up to date now, and I'll try my hardest to be better in the future

11 months

In May both our cameras died, so the quality and quantity of pictures declined as we had to rely on our phones.

I went to my very first baby shower at the start of May and it was really enjoyable. I know it's very American, but it's a lovely way to spoil a mum-to-be. The shower I went to was a little bit unusual, in that baby arrived a couple of weeks early so joined us at the baby shower! He was such a cutie and very tiny, just over half of Joseph's birth weight.

A week after we saw dad, he flew out to join mum for her last two weeks in New Zealand and together they came home on the 15th. Joseph and I went down to see them the following day, as I had missed mum so much. It was lovely to have them both back, and mum enjoyed seeing Joseph as he had grown up so much while she had been gone.