Bababath

Naomi's been starting to do proper baby-babble for the last few days. Mostly sounds like babababa and mumumumum, and it's all very cute. We've tried recording it several times, but she's very good at spotting the camera and going silent straight away. Last night during bath time I got a successful capture of some of it, plus as a bonus we can see her enjoying her baths once again... (the really talkative bit is about 2/3 the way through)

She also gets bouts of laughter from time to time for no apparent reason. Here, the mere sight of mummy was enough to launch into hysterics that last 5 full minutes...

Finally, we are more than a little disturbed at the fun she gets from one of her new-found toys. She even points it in the right direction! At least the TV stays off quite a bit just now so she doesn't get used to it being always on in the background.

courgette

Is this the biggest courgette you ever saw?

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Megablocks

I'm very proud of this. I have many happy memories of lego and other such constructions materials (and still don't miss an opportunity to build something!) - and thanks to the excellent Loros kids stuff charity shop Naomi now has the next best thing to lego - megablocks. Here she is having a play with some, she seems fascinated by it and I can sit for hours watching her figure it out.

Of course, as she's only nearly-seven-months-old she's not built much (well, anything) yet, and here's some classic baby-like behaviour.

She is pretty clever though. My Uncle Stuart bought her a toy train into which you put plastic animals and it plays a tune. Naomi has figured out that it plays the tune equally well if she just pushes the pad on the bottom of the train! She also looked most pleased with herself after that.

Please also note the abundance of cushions that now adorn our living room. Baby proofing at its mediocre best.

Other holiday news

So, we have been back from Scotland for almost a week now and have been busy trying to get back into the swing of things, hence the lack of posting this last week or so.  One of the things we did was to go to  soft play place, this photo has nothing to do with the post as a whole but I like it so much I just have to share!

Anyway, what did we do in Scotland? Lots of things, though, for me, I was trying to use the time to rest as much as possible so making use of the babysitting services that come with being around the grandparents!

One day I was in desperate need of a nap so Sandy, Ian and Grandad Brownlee all took Naomi to Aden Park for a walk while I lay down (I didn't manage to sleep, but I got a rest at the very least!), here are some pictures from their exploits

Daddy makes sure Naomi is warm enough

then manages to work out the buggy!

Let the walking commence!

Beautiful girl

Doting Grandad

Naomi, going places

Sitting in the sun

 

 

 

She loves being outside

There was one day in particular I was pleased to have family around, from Naomi waking in the morning to taking her first nap was 7 hours!!! And that nap only lasted 30 minutes!  Thankfully she wasn't too grumpy though and we even got what might be my favourite picture of Naomi so far.

she loves swinging!

Naomi was really good over our time away with being in lots of different houses and places, she is so laid back and is very good at just getting on with things.  We stopped off in Edinburgh on the way back to break up the journey, unfortunately the Donalds, whose house we were staying in couldn't be there (for the very happy reason that their son was getting married that day) but Naomi still got stuck into making the house her own!

me looking tired as Naomi rolls her way around the place

look, I have FEET!!

Well, I think it is time for us to go now, so Naomi will show us how it is done!

Got to be safe

Imagine

Most of my first week of holiday was taken up with Imagine - where several hundred young people from across Scotland (and beyond in some cases) come together for a few days of worship, teaching and generally good fun. It's been going a few years now, and looks a bit like Soul Survivor. It's held at the Thainstone Centre at Inverurie, which is also an operational mart - and the selling of cows and sheep continues in one part of the place even while the festival's happening! It's always a great week, and the testimonies from young people on the last night always reflect that God's been doing a lot in their lives over only a few days.

For the past few years both Jay and I have been helping - Jay on the information team (ie registration and general administration of a lot of stuff), and me on the technical team (PA, lighting, visuals and most things electrical). This has usually involved camping on site too. This year, with a child to look after, things were a bit different. We stayed at Jay's parents instead of camping (not so far from Inverurie), and only I joined the team with Jay and Naomi coming for visits each day, in part to see Daddy, and in part to see all the goings on and meeting numerous friends (Also Jay helped with the DNA stall while numerous friends did a little babysitting). Clearly Naomi loved meeting all the new people, she must be wondering if there's anyone in the world still left to meet!

Here's a few snapshots of the main tech desk, a place that was home for me for 16 hours a day, Tuesday to Saturday. Sorry they're a bit dark; best get someone in lighting on to that...

Travel

We're on holiday in Scotland - more posts to come but here's the first bit of catching up :)

Travel in the car is always fun, but more so on the long trip to Scotland. We thought Naomi looked particularly comfortable during a rest stop at Coldstream (on the border)...

Here we are enjoying being back in Scotland...

Finally, she seems to be really getting the hang of when a photo is being taken. Rather than always smiling or otherwise, she just changes from whatever she was doing as soon as the camera comes out. This is why it's proving hard to get a video of her being desperate for broccoli! Anyway, here she is in the midst of being grumpy...