The Happy Little Girly

Ana has now gone to sleep -hence the blogging. We have just come through about two weeks of quite awful nights - Ana wanting to be fed every 2.5-3 hours. Thankfully she is sleeping for a bit longer now - though I am still not sure how many full sleep cycles we are getting through.

Still Ana seems to be doing well on it - she is growing up as a bonny bouncing baby with lovely rosy cheeks.

Ana loves her Mummy!

Ana loves a lot of people, but especially her lovely Mummy. Mummy plays all day long with little Ana. Caught here with an increasingly common expression (smiling) Ana is telling her mother just how wonderful she is.

You should see the smiles she gives to her Daddy! (he said, not to be left out...)

(Though these are surpassed by those she gives to Mr. Turtle and Mr. Starfish)

Oh well...

Dancing with Daddy

Tim has discovered that if you hold Ana's hands she will happily wobble around all over the place, holding herself up on her little legs but unable to balance. This leads to a delightfully cute dance, made even more wonderful when she stomps her little feet too!

The Baby likes Music

It was discovered on a recent trip to the wilds of Cardiff that Ana likes piano music. Except when uncle Daniel plays 'twinkle twinkle little star' in a minor key...

At least she has discerning taste.

Smiling at Nana

We've known for some time that Ana is very popular with her grandparents, but now it's clear that they are also popular with her! Uncles, aunts, relations and friends also seem to go down pretty well...

The cutest baby in the world - ever

(you'll note this site is completely free from bias...) Ana's just got really smiley, which makes all those sleepless nights completely worthwhile. She's currently fast asleep on her daddy, curled up in a little ball being adorable. She is growing tremendously and is now in the 3-6 month sleepsuits; my little baby's all grown up!

Great-grandmother's day

Mother's day, Grandmother's day, Great-Grandmother's day!

We were pondering the effect that each of us has on others, and realised that, had it not been for Lara's Nana, 10 people would have never come into existence. Which is quite stunning really. And then on thinking about it further, there would be about the same number of people who would be really lonely without those!

So, a heartfelt 'thanks' to parent, grandparents and great-grandparents.

Horticultural exploits

The garden finally got some much-needed attention this weekend, made possible by Uncle Ben holding the baby and Uncle Gav assisting with the planting! Our lovely apple tree from Nana and Grumpy finally took up permanent residence in the border - we're now very hopeful of another bumper harvest in the autumn (nice timing - apple puree for Ana!).

Oh Canada...

Ana got all dressed up in the clothes of her Daddy's favourite hockey nation... they may have slightly clashed but neither Ana nor Tim seemed to mind!

Playing with Gran

Yesterday we had a lovely visit from Nancy, Hilary and Gran. After being put in her coat to go on our walk, Ana decided it was time for more standing - so standing she did!

Ana's favourite game

Ana loves standing; hold her up and she'll wobble away, arms flailing for balance, eyes gleaming with excitement, mouth half pursed in concentration, half smiling with the sheer joy of finding out she has legs. Though she does get tired sometimes and we end up with a crouching baby. We're thinking of making a new film: 'crouching baby, hidden...' - any suggestions?

Ye Olde Olney Pancake Race

Every year on Shrove Tuesday, the ladies of Olney have a pancake race through the town. They have to flip their pancakes at least twice - once at the start and once at the end. The prize is quite lucrative - something like £300, and importantly, a kiss from the Vicar. What a way to welcome in Lent. The photo shows the ladies running down the highstreet towards the church.

For Lent this year, we are trying to give up nights-of-broken-sleep, but as yet have not succeeded. We've got so many books on babies, and they all provide advice which seems sensible, until you read the next book which generally indicates that if you follow the first book's advice, you are a cruel and malicious parent and are probably causing permanent damage to your child by either rocking them to sleep, or not rocking them to sleep, letting them cry / not letting them cry...

We can but try our best. She may not be sleeping too well, but she sure is growing! Already up to 9lbs 8oz, and starting to fit into three-month old clothes!

Four Generations

Last Sunday after Church we headed over to Cambridge and had a lovely time with my folks and Grandad who had come up from Suffolk for the day. Here is a picture of four generations in the family.

Learning to smile

Ana is now five weeks old and beginning to smile at more than just wind. (Yes, we all know it can be very funny...)

Lara is certainly the recipient of the majority of the smiles, but as she is around more often (e.g. 24/7) that is probably to be expected. I wanted to show you all one of her gorgeous smiles, but this is the best that she could muster whilst the camera was available... still, pretty endearing.

Taking a break from changing the smelly nappies this afternoon, I thought I would tackle the (to-this-point-neglected) garden only to find that the local cats have been using our garden as their litter trays... delightful.

I prefer kids to cats. Kids occasionally smile!

Enthralled

Lara and I were watching Yes, Minister the other day, and Ana, who woke up half way through it was completely enthralled, particularly by Sir Humphrey, the scheming civil servant. Her gaze was completely fixed upon the box of moving pictures for a good minute or so - which is a long time for a baby!

Acting as a consultant

So Ana may only be a month old, but that does not stop her advising her Daddy on the pros and cons of different research techniques. Seen here, in a rarely photographed situation, Ana is briefing Tim on the most reliable indicator of overall classification success. With this type of help, the PhD will be done in no time!

You can almost feel the PhD writing itself...

Growing Alertness

With every passing day, Ana is more alert. She is watching us move around the room, loves looking at bright lights and is generally a lot more interactive. She is also starting to make gorgeous cooing noises and talks to herself - lovely!

Snow Day!

'Snow had fallen, snow, on snow... snoowoowoo on snow...'

Here we are on a lovely (short) family walk on the snow. With Ana all snuggled down nicely in Tim's coat everyone was very happy and warm. I do love the snow - rather miss it here in England, but today we have had inches already and it is still falling - almost Canadian standard for once! Wonderful!

Ana is four weeks old on Saturday. Incredible! A lot has happened in the past month.

Amazing Grace!

Ever wondered where that famous hymn; Amazing Grace, was written? The answer, is here - in Olney. John Newton - slave trader turned minister, wrote this song whilst based here in this gorgeous market town.

Amazing Grace has always been on of my favourite songs, with its brilliant tune and such a wonderful sweep through so much of Christian experience. From the initial realisation of our own wretchedness, the amazement of the undeserved grace, complete forgiveness and love shown to us, moving on to God's promised help and favour, then to our eternal joyful destiny with God... What a song! (Ana is getting to know it well as a lullaby!)

Did you know that John Newton himself was a slave for a short time? The things you learn...

Baby's point of view

Ever wondered what it would be like to be back in the pram once more, with your parents proudly gazing down upon your cherubic face? Well, we decided to show you. Placing our camera beside Ana's head, we bring you this baby's view of the world... What a beautiful place!

Three Weeks Old...

So, today Ana is three weeks old.
It seems AGES ago that she was born.

In these last few weeks she has brought about such a change in our lives, and in our key skills set! I wonder which of us is undergoing the steepest learning curve - Ana, or La and I?

Ana is getting to be a bit more predictable, but by no means is she a clockwork baby. Cute none the less. Thankfully, she is feeding really well now, sleeping tolerably well, and really chubbing up! She persists in being lady-like and not wanting to burp. Instead she loves to hiccup - probably as a result of her guzzling behaviour!

I think a part of getting used to having a baby is expectation management. If you don't expect the baby to sleep through the night at three weeks, you won't be (as) upset when you are woken up at 11, 1, 3 and 6! Those nights when she only wakes up once or twice, then, are beautiful bonuses!

The 5mm dash

Never too early to begin competative sports, here are Ana and I on the starting line of the 5mm dash - that hallowed race of the great and good. I won! (He said proudly and with a self satisfied smile, displaying his medal and larel wreath...)

What is this idea of not trying your hardest so as to build your child's confidence? As Dad has found out with Simon, they will eventually get to a stage where they can beat you anyway... or at least give you a real run for your money. So the moral has really got to be; 'Win while you can.'

With that happy thought, it is time for Church... 30 years old today, so we're having a bit of a celebration. Bring on the samosas! (We have a large number of Indians in the Church - makes for fantastic feasts!)

Who's a cutie?

Two weeks old today - amazing how time flies! Ana is already so much more alert, and can sometimes hold her head up and look around. It is interesting how these little things seem so huge advances, I mean, it isn't often that you go up to you friend and congratulate them on their ability to look around, or sit up, is it? Funny, but definately fun.

After a week or so, our phone is working again now, which is such a relief. The old phone wiring in the house had degraded to such a point that the different wires were crossed, and so we could not make outgoing calls. Thankfully, a nice BT man came and fixed this for us today.

We're all still pretty wiped, but ever so enjoying having a slightly larger family. 

11 days of sleep deprivation...

So, 11 days on, and we're all a bit tired. Nevertheless, my daughter and wife still look remarkably cute! This picture shows Ana mid-yawn and she really should have been sleeping all afternoon - instead, she prefered biting Daddy's nose and cheek, and perfecting her goal-scoring technique by booting her (very dirty and smelly) nappy off the changing unit at Mommy!

It really is remarkable. Lots of people warned us that we would have sleepless nights, but I don't think either of us really understood what that meant. Sleep - less. Pretty self explainitory, isn't it?

And other parents out there.... is it normal that babies, when you change their nappy, insist on attempting to wee on you, then after you change them, promptly fill the nappy once more? We got through three nappies in one change the other day -and she kicked over her top-and-tail bowl as well! Definatley lined up to follow in her mother's football footsteps. 

On the playmat

Ana's Uncle Dom and Auntie Crystal came to visit on Saturday and brought with them what I dread to think will be first of many large, brightly coloured objects which make noises... This was a playmat with actually quite a clever arch design from which you can hang toys. So we put Ana on it last night, and to my complete amazement, she actually started bashing the hanging toys around! (They may have just been in the way of her hands, but, perhaps not...) What a clever little girl!

Saturday night Ana did not sleep until 7am Sunday morning, so our plans to go to Church in the morning then were rather abandoned in favour of a few hours sleep. Last night thankfully, Ana was much better behaved. She took a long time to settle - I brought her downstairs and we listened to Mozart together, but by just gone 1 AM she was fast asleep, only waking between 3 and 4, and then again at 7:30. What a wonderful little girl. We hoped that we had the sleeping thing sorted the other day, but she still seems rather irregular regarding whether she will sleep or not!