Grin

We like this picture quite a lot... It also has some new teeth visible, we're up to five now and naomi has discovered that they make a noise when they clash, so she's started clicking them frequently :-)

Just Jay!

Once you have a baby life is always changing and just recently I have implemented a change of my own.  I've been trying for weeks now to think of a way I might be able to make a little money to help ease the financial strain of our favourite expense, Naomi!  I really didn't want to do anything that would mean extended periods of childcare for Naomi, partly because I didn't want to pay but also because Sandy and I want me to be a stay at home Mum, that was the plan and that is how we'd like to keep it.

I toyed with various ideas for "cottage industries" from baking gluten free food to sewing of various things, but for various reasons none of those ideas were quite right.  I was getting quite frustrated as Naomi was napping much more predictably and reliably and I wanted to be able to make better use of that time.

Well, a few night's ago I decided that I was going to make two birthday cards for some friends here in Loughborough, I got down all my card making stuff and started to put together some designs.  I was very happy as it is something I enjoy doing and I loved the end result.  As I did this, it came to me.  I make lovely cards, there is no reason I couldn't sell them.

So that is where the idea began and now it is a little business for me.  Albeit so far only from friends I know, but I have already had orders for 21 cards and will happily take more.  I am more than happy to personalise them for you!  So if you want to see what I am up to, or even if you want to buy, then have a look at Just Jay's blog or even the facebook page.

One of my favourite creastions

I'm really excited about this little venture, I really hope it works out :-)

Crawlier

Okay, here's a slightly longer distance crawl, with some shoelace fun at the end too.

She's also started to furniture-surf. We will try to post that soon too.

Crawling

By popular demand, here is a brief clip of Naomi crawling. We promise we'll get a longer-distance clip when she allows one to be filmed! It also demonstrates her primary motivation for crawling: playing with something we'd rather she didn't play with (okay, mummy's bag isn't too bad, but such objects include dirty nappies [while still not yet in a fresh one], hairbrushes, bins, computer 'off' switches, and pans [on a shelf mind]). The house has become considerably more tidy over the past few days as a result.

We also thought you might like to see the fun that can be had with a sock. She was going mental like this for about 20 minutes! (depressingly we also know every note of the tunes that the flashing device behind her can make, except for when Naomi figures out how to get it to play a previously-unheard tune, which happens surprisingly often.)

Sand

We recently invested in a box and some play sand for Naomi to have a go with. This is particularly useful because Loughborough is almost as far as one can get from the seaside in Britain.

To start with, she seemed to be more interested in plants, rocks, beasties and other things on the ground outside....

However, once she'd figured it out she seemed to have quite a good time. She's getting the hang of how things feel just now - this occurs with food too - where she grabs a handful of something and intently opens and closes her fingers on it. Sand works well for this! She also likes picking it up and throwing it about - which is why proceedings took places outside.

Last night she had quite a cheerful moment, so I thought you all might like this:

She's also getting better with moving about all the time. She can now sit herself up after having a crawl - and her crawling range has increased to nearly a room's length now, dependent on her mood. She can also pull herself up to standing some times, though it's clearly pretty tiring as she falls down again pretty quickly. (this makes bathtime for more "interesting"). If helped into position she can now stand for quite a while, using something as a prop:

She's growing all the time :)

To conclude, a quote from a helpful video played in Springfield Elementary School...

"So the next time you're walking on the beach, enjoying an hourglass, or making cheap, low-grade windshields, think where we'd be without sand!"

Monza

As per the previous post, I was in Milan last weekend for a stag do. This was organised for James, one of my good chums from uni. I've wanted to see a race for quite a long time and this was a good excuse to do it - plus catching up with some of my friends who I've not seen in ages. (though possibly more often since I've moved!)

It was a pretty good weekend - we went to see the Grand Prix at Monza, one of the fastest circuits in the F1 calendar. I've not really followed F1 for a few years now, so I'd been trying to catch up with the sport before the weekend; the last time I was in to it, a German driver was pretty much guaranteed to win any race, there was strong competition for places 2-4, there were a couple of reasonably good British drivers, McLaren and Ferrari were pretty good teams and people were always moaning about rules changing. Hmm, turns out not much has changed :)

Disappointing as a non-baby-picture post is, here's a brief roundup of the weekend...

Here's Monza's old track; it used to be an oval with some pretty high banking. That nearly-vertical wall with a crash barrier at the top actually used to have cars driving along it.



We had pretty good seats for the race - at the end of the starting straight, so cars were going pretty fast when they went past us, but we also got to see plenty of action at the bends. Every time a Ferrari went past the Italian crowd went wild!

Here's racing legend Jackie Stewart doing his best to look cool in the crowd. (he's the one behind the fence in a tartan cap)

Here's a particularly cool bit - after the race you get to go on the track and wander round. We all had Scotland flags on for extra fun!

The winners doing the champaign bit at the end of the race.


Milan also has some nice stuff to look at. This was on the first day before any racing or much beer consumption (of which there was surprisingly little - for most of us...) And that's the weekend. Good fun - if you ever get the chance to go to a Grand Prix, it's well worth it!

Oh, yes - Naomi crawled for the first time on Tuesday, right after I'd come back. She is now perfecting the art. Next up - pictures of her playing with sand :)

We've been on our own!

Many of you will know that this weekend Sandy has been in Milan for the Formula 1 Grand Prix.  He was there for a friend's stag do and Naomi and I have been home alone! We've had quite a nice time though, who needs Daddy!!

On Friday we just went about our normal business, which on this week meant going to Mum's group (a few Christian Mums who get together once a fortnight to discuss being Christian Mums!) although afterwards we also hung out with our good friends Lucy and Bethan (Bethan is only 3 weeks younger than Naomi).

On Saturday I was a bit worried about filling the day, we normally have fun with Daddy and of course there are no groups or anything like that at the weekend.  About half way through the day though, I found enough get up and go to take us swimming, and as usual Naomi really enjoyed herself and we had a blast.

That night I had a chinese take-away (thanks Mum and Dad) and made the most of having the remote control all to myself (although the TV was still rubbish, I did get to see Doctor Who, though)

Sunday was a lovely day, with Church in the morning.  For the first time Naomi went into the creche on her own (without me, or last week my Mum!) and she was good as gold.  She didn't make a fuss at all and this meant I could listen to the talk without being distracted by her various (and increasing) wriggles!

Afterwards we went to have lunch with Lucy and Bethan and also Finlay and Phil (Lucy and Phil are Mum and Dad, Finlay and Bethan the children) so I stocked up on some lovely beef stew and Naomi thought it was delicious too :-) we came home and played and before we knew it bedtime was upon us.

Today we went to the baby group we normally attend on a Monday, although it was the first one back for us since the summer holidays.  Then this afternoon we played with our friends Melanie, Daniel and Grace (who turned one today!).  Many thanks too, to Melanie for replacing the music box I broke over the weekend, Naomi found it much easier to fall asleep tonight.  Why do these things always break when you are on your own?

One thing that hasn't been quite so easy over the weekend is that Naomi is going through a bit of a phase with food.  She doesn't want me to feed her because she is in "independent" kind of girl.  The trouble is she isn't very good at feeding herself and so she has been kind of hungry some of the time but still not letting me help.  That said, she is willing to make an exception for some foods, yoghurt and custard being very near the top of the list.  Many of you have seen this photo but here is my beautiful girl plastered in custard after her dinner last night!

I think you've got a bit on your face there, Love!

Daddy gets home tonight and we can't wait!

Restaurant

A few days ago we had a great day for Naomi, she had her first ever trip to a restaurant (well technically she has been before, but slept through one experience and played on the floor for the other).  My parents were staying and we wanted to go for lunch to celebrate Naomi as it is unlikely they will be able to join us for Naomi's dedication in November.  I'll be honest though, I was nervous.  Would she be good? Would she eat? And more to the point, would she scream?!

She was, however, a trooper.  We borrowed a special booster seat for her as the restaurant (carefully chosen for its being right round the corner from the house) didn't have any high chairs and she sat right up at the table between Mummy and Daddy.  She loved it and she sat patiently waiting for the food to arrive (with a little help from a few breadsticks and sultanas!)

choosing what she will eat, perhaps she will just eat the menu!

She ate all her food (stolen from the plates of all the grown ups) with not even a hint of a fuss and then even waited patiently for our puddings to arrive, she had a little Grandad's custard and one of Mummy's strawberries.

I assume I am trying to lay down the rules here, from the look on my face!

I couldn't have been prouder as people leaving noticed her and told me they hadn't even realised there was a baby in the restaurant.  In total she sat at the table for 50 minutes and I was incredibly grateful she was so good natured and that she took it all in her stride.  We'll need to think of another reason to go to a restaurant now!

Today was a sad day as we had to say goodbye to Granny and Grandad, we probably won't see them again until Christmas time but it was lovely to haev them visit us here in Loughborough

Naomi loves her Granny and Grandad