Naomi at play

Naomi is getting better and better at playing with things, for now this looks like batting at anything you hang over her, though her holding-onto-things skills are getting particularly good and she enjoys working out how to get her hands to go where she wants them to be!

Here is a video of her playing in the terribly deluxe bouncy chair she had the use of while staying with Granny and Granddad McIntyre last week.

Scotland

So the Brownlees are back in Scotland.  This is our first trip back here since Naomi was born, we had hoped to do this when she was about 8 weeks old but with one thing and another we have had to wait till now, though we are only 4 weeks late, she was 12 weeks on Monday.

Naomi hates the car, she is the only baby we know who rather than finding a moving vehicle soothing sees it as a reason to cry, cry and cry some more.  eventually she will fall asleep but not before she has done a lot of crying! Therefore the 8 or so hours of driving (excluding stops) were not really a thought we were relishing.  So we stopped overnight with Sandy's cousin Pamela who lives near Darlington, which is about a third of the way here. Then today we travelled the rest of the way with a stop in Dalkeith allowing my Auntie Anne and Uncle John an opportunity to meet Naomi for the first time.  Naomi did really well with only limited crying (not that it is any easier to cope with when it is happening), I think she exhausted herself as she fell asleep almost as we arrived and then didn't hear from her till the next morning!

We have a busy schedule while we are here, we are really looking forward to catching up with as many of our friends and family as we can manage, although there are so many people we would like to see that I am not sure we will manage to fit absolutely everyone in!

So, till we see you! Though we have some photos of Naomi with some of the people we have seen so far!

Uncle John cuddles Naomi, although she is more interested in the TV!

Naomi continues to watch TV as Auntie Anne has a hug!

And "Auntie" Cat has a hug too!

Weeeeeeee

Doesn't this look like an innocent face?

Definitely not one associated with a cunning plan to wait until nappy was off, and lifted into the air by mummy, prior to weeing with maximum coverage taking in mummy, daddy and most of the bathroom too.

Oh no....

Paris

As you can see I recently paid a visit to the Blackpool of the South...

A benefit of being at a university again is that I get trips to research conferences paid for, without using up leave, so I'm just back from the Symposium Series on Computation Intelligence 2011. (well, I was when I started writing this last Friday!)

Before going I was in an odd place, I do really enjoy these things as it's great to learn about what other researchers are doing and usually provides some good motivation for what I'm doing, but this time I'd have to leave Jay and Naomi behind. Not that I haven't missed Jay when I've been away in the past, but I can at least speak with her on the phone which is harder to do with te 12 week old baby!

As it turns out, I had a great time - though not without missing my girls! There were a few good ideas which I've come back ready to have a shot at, and as importantly some encourgement in the form of seeing others doing stuff which is similar to what I'm doing (this is important to a researcher - it means what you're doing is important to others, and probably not as crazy as it first appeared...). I also caught up with a couple of people from my old department at RGU included my PhD supervisor and we had a good talk about a lot of things. John (as good PhD supervisors should be) has been a real mentor to me and it's always good to talk about how things are going. There were of course a couple of fringe perks to the trip too - a lovely dinner on a boat sailing along the Seine and a ride on the Eurostar. As someone with an unhealthy interest in railways I've been keen to do this (and ride on the French network) for years, I remember seeing the channel tunnel construction on TV when I was much younger and now I've done it :)

On returning - it might seem odd to someone who's not been around a child at this age - Naomi has obviously changed in the four days (really that quick!). She's become far more deliberate in her movements, grabbing on to things much more ably - getting increasingly interested in the world around her and making every more cute burbling sounds.

Good thing my next work trip isn't until August, but I'm sure she'll be developing even faster then so maybe not...

Girls Together!

When I was a kid, if my Dad ever had to go away with work, as happened from time to time, my Mum and I would be girl's together, or girl stickers! Well, the time has come for Naomi and I to be girl stickers as Sandy has gone off to Paris for a work conference.

We knew when he took the job that a few times a year he would need to go away, but if I'm honest it has come round a little quicker than I would have liked and despite the fact that he would not normally even be home from work yet, we (I) miss him lots already.  It will be a great opportunity for him though, and for the first time ever he is not presenting a paper and so can just concentrate on the work that everyone else has done and on making some contacts.

Naomi and I have lots of things planned over the next few days to keep us (me) occupied and I am sure it will be Thursday before we know it and we'll have Daddy back with us and making the world a better place!

Now, for the photo you are all reading this for!

sporting her shoes from Auntie Fay!

Scenic

I had reason to head round to the university library today, and it's a really beautiful day (at least to a Scot who's used to it being a bit fresher at this time of year) so I made the most of it and went for the scenic route. I really appreciate being able to work on a campus that's got a lot of relaxing green :) I hope RGU's riverside campus comes out like this, even if the weather means it won't be as easy to enjoy!

Okay, why do all university libraries have to look odd? Lboro's one is an upturned pyramid (you can see the corner of it in the first picture), RGU's one is a shopping mall and Aberdeen Uni's is a shoebox possibly designed by the creators of Tron.

Anyhow, for coping with my ramblings about my rambling, here's another Naomi picture...

Naomi is progressing

So, we are really beginning to see Naomi progress in lots of things.  She is starting to sit for longer without wanting held constantly and she is taking EVERYTHING in!! She is learning and is doing new things all the time.  We thought we would share a couple of videos (if you don't have sound don't worry, they are definitely for the seeing not the hearing!).

This first one is of her playing with a toy, she is engaging with things around her much more now!

This second one is of her staring intently at her hand, she does this for ages every day, every time she sees it she seems to be surprised it is there, about half way through you'll see her be distracted and then rediscover the joy (and surprise) of having a hand!!

Teepee

Since the last post was so awesome, we weren't sure how to follow it up.

So here's a teepee.