Monday 26th May 2008

Well, I'm finally back in good old Blighty after my 2 week break to Austria. I had a lovely time and met lots of new people, but I must admit that it was all a bit unsettling for me, so I am very pleased to be back at home with all my things around me. Daddy completed his bike ride in 4 hours, 44 minutes and 28 seconds, so I was very proud of him. He's raised a whole lot of money for research into premature birth, so well done to him. You can still sponsor him by clicking on the link to the left. After he got back from Scotland, daddy flew out to be with us for a few days in Austria. We had a nice few days, and the weather got very nice and hot towards the end of our stay. On Thursday we went on the bus over to mummy's friend Susanne in Hörbranz. We went for a lovely long walk and I met some Austrian cows and horses face to face. Mummy tells me we saw some goats too, but I managed to sleep through that part! On Friday we went with Karin, Alissa and Aaron on a boat over to Lindau in Germany, as little medieval town just over the border. It was great fun. We sat and had 'Kaffee und Kuchen' on the harbour before getting the train back over to Austria. I must have gone back and forth across the borders with Switzerland and Germany at least 10 times during my stay - what a well travelled baby I am already! Whilst I was in Austria, I noticed on my boyfriend Oscar's blog that his mummy had started putting him on a potty, so I decided to try one as well. I didn’t do anything in it, but it was great fun to sit in it, and pretend to be a big girl. We flew back to England from Zurich yesterday evening. Alissa and Aaron's daddy drove us to Zurich airport and our flight left at 19.20. I was very good on the plane and slept on daddy's lap the whole way back. I enjoyed the airport. I even went down an escalator in my buggy. It was an extremely tall one, and it was very exciting. Daddy thinks I'm a thrillseeking baby! We got home late, but I was good and went to sleep in my cot straightaway. It was great to be back in my own bed, and to see all my cot pals again. I woke up at 6am this morning, but I can be forgiven, as it was 7am Austrian time! I miss Austria already, so I'm watching the Sound of Music on the TV this afternoon so I don't feel so bad. I taught my friend Alissa the song 'Edelweiss' when I was in Austria, as it was a song that mummy used to sing to me when I was in hospital, so I'm looking forward to hearing that one. Mummy has decided that she really needs to start talking to me in German now, as it's the best time for me to learn more languages. I heard a lot of German when I was in Austria, and I've started to try and make lots of new noises with my mouth. Maybe my first word will be a German one! Anyway, I've got daddy at home all week this week. He'll be babyproofing everything for me for when I start crawling, which I don't think will be far away now. I start nursery full time next week. Can you believe it? And then a week on Saturday I've got my first birthday party. I'm so excited. My friends Oscar, Gene, Harry and Isobel will be there, as well as my cousins Daniel, Georgie and Joseph. I can't wait. Lets keep our fingers crossed for good weather.

Friday 16th May 2008

Well hello from sunny Austria. Mummy and I arrived here on Saturday. Terminal 5 was very nice and new, and everything went very smoothly. It was my first time on a plane and I was very well behaved. Everyone thought I was very sweet and even the pilots came out to meet me. I was a bit of a flirt with them, I must admit! Mummy's friend Veronika came all the way to Zurich to pick us up from the airport and take us over the border into Austria to Bregenz. Bregenz is the main town in the province of Vorarlberg in Austria, and mummy lived there for 8 months during her degree, teaching English. We've spent the last week catching up with old friends, and meeting new ones too. My new best friends are Alissa and Aaron, who are the children of mummy's friends Emanuel and Diane. Emanuel is Veronika's brother.You can see Alissa with me in all the photos. You can also see a photo of Karin who is Emanuel and Veronika's mummy. Mummy lived in a flat in Karin's house when she lived in Austria. Whilst we are here, we're staying in a flat in the house next to their's, but we can go to Karin's to have our breakfast every morning, which is lovely. I can tuck into some freshly baked bread with my morning porridge, which is yummy. True to form though, I've become ill since I've arrived here. I've had an eye infection, diarrhoea, and now I've got a new cough, plus to top it all off I've now got nappy rash! I guess it's taken me a while to get used to being somewhere new, but I'm sure I'll be okay by the time daddy gets here. Talking of daddy, he's gone off to Scotland today with his bike ready for the big ride on Sunday. He's raised over £500 already, but wouldn't it be great if he could get to £1000? We'll see, but anyway we wish him lots of luck. Mummy and I are very much looking forward to seeing him on Tuesday, when he comes out to join us in Austria for a few days. Wir wünschen Dir eine gute Reise daddy. Bis bald. xxxxx

Wednesday 7th May 2008

Well I am all better finally. I was ill for a long time. I had a nasty virus, and then I got a tummy bug and to top it all off I then got an ear infection so had to have antibiotics last week. They did the trick though, and I feel loads better now. That’s more than I can say for mummy and daddy though, they are both still coughing away - I do feel sorry for them. Whilst I was ill I was sick all over the laptop, which means that some of the keys don’t work properly. This means that it takes ages to type, which is why I haven't updated my diary for such a long time. I ended up not seeing my friend Amy or going to see my cousins last week because of mummy and I being ill, but we did make it to Oscar's birthday bash on Saturday, which was great fun. I caught up with my mates and met a nice doggy in the pub too. I did think he was funny, but I don’t think he liked it when I poked him in the eye! I was feeling fit as a fiddle on Sunday, so I went over to my friend Nia's house for the day to help her daddy in the garden, or rather my daddy helped her daddy, and Nia and I had a jolly good time playing together. Yesterday I enjoyed a visit from granny and grandpa Meikle, my mate Isobel and her mummy Jayne, and today my good friend Poppy came to visit. I'll be thinking of my friend Ava tomorrow as she jet sets off to California. She'll be there for 3 years with her daddy's work. Good luck Ava - we'll miss you. Talking of jetsetting, we're off to Austria on Saturday. It will be my first time on an aeroplane outside of mummy's tummy. How exciting! By the way Daddy has raised £100 sponsorship so far, but needs more people to sponsor him to raise money for premature babies. There's still time to sponsor him by clicking on the link on the left. Go on, you know you want to!

Tuesday 29th April 2008

Well, I've been poorly for over a week now with a nasty virus. It started off disguised as a cold, but developed into something horrid that included sickness and diarrhoea - yuck. Mummy and daddy and I thought I'd got over it at the end of last week, so I went to nursery on Friday, and all seemed well, but then I started being sick over the weekend. I'm feeling a bit better today, but I missed my visit to Granny Judy's so I feel sad about that. My friend Amy is coming to see me tomorrow though, so that will cheer me up a bit. Daddy's bike ride is less than 3 weeks away, so he needs some sponsors quick. If you click on the link on the left, you'll be able to donate online and help him raise money for 'Action Medical Research', which is a charity who pioneer research into premature birth, to find out why babies like me, Oscar and Gene were born early. A worthy cause, I think you'll agree. Talking of Oscar - it's his first birthday tomorrow - can you believe it? HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSCAR! I'll see you at the weekend for celebrations down the pub!

Tuesday 22nd April 2008

I've got another cold. It's becoming quite a normal thing now that I get a new cold every week! This one is the worst yet I think, and I've nearly lost my voice, so I can only croak now! Anyway, enough of me feeling sorry for myself, what have I been up to? Well, I went to see my cousins last Thursday, and we went to play in the park. I went on the swings and on some rocking animals, and had great fun. When I'm a bit bigger I'll be able to go on the slide and the climbing frame with my cousin Daniel. Then yesterday after buggyfitting in the rain, mummy took me over to my friend Nia's house so that I could have my photo taken with all my NCT pals. Nia's mummy Lisa took some super photos of us all, so I'll put one on my blog for you to see soon. Today Granny and Grandpa Meikle came to see me. They think that I've come on a lot in 2 weeks, and were impressed with my clapping and chatting (or should I say croaking). I'm off to Cheltenham to stay with my cousins again tonight for a couple of days, so I'll really miss daddy, but I'll see him again on Thursday. I hope I feel better soon, and that this is the last cold of the winter - fingers crossed!

Wednesday 16th April 2008

Well, I think this is the longest I've gone without updating my diary. It's been hectic as usual, and I had finally stopped waking up in the night with my coughing, until last night, when I fancied some milk at about 1am. The reason I was hungry in the night is that I have become very awkward at mealtimes over the last few days. I have decided that I don't want to be fed, I want to feed myself. There is one small problem with this, however, which is that I can't actually use a spoon yet, so feeding myself proper meals is a bit difficult. So mummy has had to resort to giving me finger food. Today I have had some bits of chicken, some bits of avocado, some cherry tomatoes, some cucumber, hard boiled egg, broccoli, carrots, peas and sweetcorn! I showed mummy how cross I was about her trying to feed me by pushing all my liver casserole onto the floor. Nia's mum Lisa had made it for me, and I really like it (I ate it all the last time I had it), but I wanted to eat it by myself, so I tried to put my mouth into the bowl, which didn't work, and I just ended up tipping it all over myself and the floor. Oops. Anyway, lets hope I start to coordinate better soon, otherwise I'll start wasting away...and mummy won't get a good night's sleep! Everything is just so frustrating at the moment - I'm a 10 month old, stuck in the body of an 8 month old, and I want to get out! I'm getting really good at rolling around, and as I've now decided that I don't like having my nappy changed , I can roll away from mummy and daddy when they try to do it. I've been throwing some massive tantrums on my change mat, which I don't think they are very impressed by. I'm also making a bit of a mess of my nappy and my clothes, as I'm wriggling around so much, but I want to do what I want to do, not what mummy and daddy want me to do - start as I mean to go on and all that! I've also started to clap my hands which is great fun, I can even clap 2 of my wooden toys together to make a loud noise. And today I even waved at one of mummy's bellringing friends when we were in Sainsburys. Mummy was very surprised as I've never waved before, but I learned it from my friend Imogen who I saw yesterday and who can wave and say 'bye'. My vocabulary is still limited to 'da da', but I'm working on it! My cousins Georgie and Joseph are just getting over chicken pox, so hopefully they'll be well enough for me to visit them tomorrow. I seem to have avoided it so far, so fingers crossed for no spots. I'm going on holdiay to Austria in a few weeks, and I want to be on top form. Mummy and I are flying with British Airways out of Terminal 5 though, so we may not get there at all! I'm excited about Friday as I'm having my first Sleepover party! Nia and Amelia are coming to stay and Daddy is going to chaperone us all whilst our mummies go out for dinner with the rest of the NCT mummies. How exciting - we'd better all behave ourselves for him.....

Tuesday 8th April 2008

It's unseasonably cold for this time of year, don't you think? But it hasn't stopped me from being a busy bee. At the weekend I spent a lot of time with mummy and daddy, and on Sunday we went for a family outing to a local National Trust House called Buscot Park near Faringdon (where my friend Nia lives). It was very nice there, but I whinged a lot in my buggy, so that daddy had to carry me.

He wasn't very impressed, but he still cuddled and played with me later. Yesterday after mummy and I had gone for a walk with my friend Amelia and her mummy Claire, Granny Jude came down to see me, and we went shopping for curtains and bed linen for her spare room. We had a very successful trip, and I'm looking forward to going to stay with her in the pretty new guest room. Today I had more visitors- this time Granny and Grandpa Meikle. Mummy, Grandpa and I went to have a bacon buttie at a greasy spoon cafe whilst Granny had acupuncture with lovely Monika the Natural Health Practitioner. I wasn't allowed any buttie though :-(. I had some lentil and carrot puree instead - I was not impressed! We all played a lot this afternoon, which I enjoyed a lot. I've got a new trick of scrunching my nose up, so I practised doing that with Granny and Grandpa, and showed them how I can say da da too. I didn't see my friend Isobel today like I normally do, as her mummy Jayne is ill with Shingles. GET WELL SOON JAYNE. Tomorrow mummy and I are going up to Birmingham to stay with my mates Poppy and Ruby. Our mummies are going to see Godmother Jenny perform in a show in Birmingham. GOOD LUCK JENNY! Poppy and Ruby's daddy Mike is going to babysit all of us, so I'd better be on my best behaviour for him! I have a weight update on my cousins. They are growing fast just like I did. Georgie now weighs 7lb 151/2oz and Joseph weighs 7lb 15oz. Cousin Daniel has now recovered from his bout of chicken pox, but mummy is still not letting me go round to Auntie Emma's house on Thursday, just incase the Pox is still lurking around! Oh well, keep your fingers crossed I don't get it, and I'll catch up with my cousins next week instead.

Sunday 6th April 2008

I've seen my first real snow today. When mummy and I got up she took me into the kitchen and we looked through the doors and this is what we saw. Lots of white stuff- and I don't mean milk! Snow looks very intriguing I think. I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to go out and play in it later, we'll have to see. If I do I'll have to wrap up very warm I think. I visited godmother Becky in Birmingham on Wednesday and met her mummy and daddy too. They were very pleased to meet me at last, and called me a 'lovely little bit' - which I think is a Black Country expression. I was very pleased to receive such a compliment! I went shopping in Swindon with some of my NCT pals on Thursday. I would normally have gone over to Cheltenham to see my cousins, but poor cousin Daniel has chicken pox. That's right, the dreaded pox. Mummy tells me that I may have caught it from Daniel when I saw him last, as he would just have started to be infectious at that time. I hope I don't get it, I don't want to be all spotty. But I think there's every chance I will get it, as one of the children at my nursery has it too, as there was a big sign on the nursery door when mummy dropped me off on Friday. Mummy had her first day back to work on Friday, which she survived - well done mummy! I dressed up in a new pink cap that Cousin Richard and his girlfirend Virginia gave me to go to nursery, and everyone said how nice it looked. Yesterday mummy and I went on a 'buggyfit circuit' while Daddy went out on a long bike ride. He cycled for 60 miles!!! He is training for the Etape Caledonia in May, and he'll be doing it to raise money for research into why babies like me are born premature, so watch out for a sponsor form soon. Granny Judy is coming to see me tomorrow, so we can choose some paint for her spare room, which is where I will sleep when I go to visit her - I can't wait!

Look who's talking

I forgot to say in my entry from earlier today that I've started to talk! Obviously I've been talking to my baby friends for ages, but now I can say some grown up words. Unfortunately everytime I try and say something it comes out as da da, so mummy isn't very impressed, but I'm trying hard, and I'm sure I'll say ma ma before long! I hear my mummy is rather good at talking, so I'm sure I'll follow in her footsteps. Poor daddy! I've also got a second tooth coming through next to my first one. How exciting.

Tuesday 1st April 2008

I've got another cold. Can you believe it? I've had one cold after another since I started going to nursery, but I saw the doctor today, and he said it was only to be expected, and that I was fine really. Mummy and daddy are not impressed with this coughing business though. I've been waking up in the night every night, and keeping them awake, so I'm not very popular. I am enjoying nursery though. I've met lots of new friends, and eaten lots of new foods, plus it's spurring me on to move around more. I'm getting better and better with my movement and coordination. I can now hold my water cup in both hands and drink from it without mummy's help, and I can bounce a lot better in my door bouncer now that my legs have grown a bit longer! I'm even sitting up in the bath by myself now. I had my 8 month check with Kay the health visitor today. I'm actually nearly 10 months old, but Kay wanted to wait until I was closer to 8 months corrected age to do my check. Anyway I'm 7 and a bit months corrected age now, so it was a good time to do it. I'm doing fine by all accounts, and Kay gave me a big thumbs up for my development. I was weighed again and I'm now a smidgen off 22lb. I'm 21lb 14oz, but I think my weight gain will slow down now that I'm sitting, rolling and bouncing so much. I'm off to see my NCT pals this afternoon and then tomorrow mummy and I are going up to Birmingham to see godmother Becky. I haven't seen her since Christmas, so I'm very excited.