Box

Who'd have thought one could have so much fun with a box?

Shoulders

Pretty much guaranteed to make Naomi smile is a ride on one's shoulders. The first few times we did this she was in hysterics but even though the novelty's worn off a bit she still enjoys it :-)

Tired

Not just the parents! Although we are too... I noticed today that I've taken a few pictures of Naomi having a wee rest recently, and here they are.

I arrive home to this scene a few nights ago. After a quick feed things just seemed to peaceful she fell asleep. Jay thought that putting her down would wake her up, but apparently not.

Naomi seems to like holding on to things like the bars on her cot when asleep. This is her while we walked to church on Sunday.

She's not actually asleep here, just very tired! I was in the process of making dinner when my highly perceptive senses indicated to me that she might prefer an early bedtime. One uneaten meal later, this proved to be true.

Awesome

What's not to like about these pictures? The first one now graces my desk at work and while it's hard to concentrate with her beaming at me all day, it does help to cheer me up if research isn't going to plan.

Play

I love watching Naomi play. Below is a clip showing her engaged in one of her favourite activities of late, playing with a spoon. She's taken to pretending to feed herself with it, using anything resembling a cup or bowl. She'll even sometimes offer Jay or me a taste of whatever it is.

You can also see in this video why we've not posted more shots of her playing - as soon as she sees the phone out she comes in for a closer look. Daddy's toy is clearly much more interesting!

Boxes!

As you can see here, Naomi is quite partial to playing with the stereotypical baby toy, a box!

Well, yesterday I bought/got a couple of "toys" (a food processor and a sewing machine!!) and so there were some boxes left over.  So far Naomi has sat in them, crawled in them and put them on her head!

I thought, though, I would share these pictures with you, as I think they are just too darned cute!

Dancing

Naomi's been learning a few things recently. First one is that she now seems to be able to wave - and has been waving whenever the opportunity presents itself. Mummy or daddy leaving the house; contestants on Family Fortunes; you name it!

She's also started dancing. It's pretty much just a bounce, but she only really does it when there's music being played (or when I have the guitar out)... Here she is in action:

(by the way, the tune being played is a mixture of a human jazz trumpeter and a computer running a genetic algorithm. They take it in turns to improvise solos. One of the coolest demos of artificial intelligence at work :) You can find it here )

Pancakes

About a year ago, we visited my sister in London, and on the saturday morning her husband Theo made pancakes for breakfast. This inspired us to find a gluten free pancake recipe, and it turned out to be quite good :-)

Thus we have instigated something of a minor tradition, that we now tend to have pancake on saturday mornings. Jay makes the mixture, then I cook them. Naomi seems to like them too! Today's were particularly good.

Below is a sample of our handiwork. If you look closely you'll see that one of the pancakes has decided to resemble the previous night's curry in colour- it turned out to be slightly spicy too...

Working

For those that don't know, I have got myself a job!

It was never the plan to go back to work but money has been a little tight recently so I looked around to see if I could find anything that might work around Naomi.  We eventually heard of a job at Small World Nursery, it is only 1.5 hours a day Monday to Friday working as their cleaner.  It is done in the evening which means that Sandy can/does look after Naomi in the evenings after work and so I don't feel as bad about leaving her because I know she is having some quality time with her Daddy while I'm at work.

So our new routine sees me heading out the door almost as soon as Sandy is home and getting back just as Naomi is getting out the bath which means I can still feed her just before one of us puts her to bed.  I get back early enough that if Sandy or I have any church activities we can still do them and if not we can spend the evening together (or just sit staring at the TV because we are too tired!)

Those who have known me for a long time will probably know that I am a messy soul, I'm certainly not renowned for being tidy, so it is quite hilarious that I am now working as a cleaner.  If I'm honest, it is not exactly my life's calling and I've not really worked any job before where every day is the same and I'm not massively keen on this aspect.  I am, however, enjoying having some time each day where I don't have to worry so much for Naomi, I'm using the time to listen to worship music or a sermon on my MP3 player, I am trying to make the time count for me and God, as long as I remember to clean the toilets there is no reason this can't be really healthy for me and my relationship with God.

To end, this is Naomi in her cot, I think the look on her face is saying "stop taking pictures, I am trying to sleep!" Tonight she went to sleep without even a hint of a cry or even a moan!