William at 7 weeks

William at 7 weeks, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia turns 2 - twice!

Blowing out the candles, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Yesterday was phase 2 of the great 2nd birthday extravaganza - the party, as opposed to the actual birthday on Thursday. We took 8 toddlers, 3 babies and 15 parents to an hour of soft play at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre and then on to the cafe for cake. Definitely a good decision, having it away from our house. When we saw the debris after the toddlers had eaten, we were very glad not to be doing the clearing up. And Sofia had a great time so it was all good.

Sofia's latest phrase is "Fia needs more presents", which is quite clever but completely untrue! We were chuffed when she opened the scooter we got her and said 'It's Fia's scooter. Is pretty cool.'

Jules and I are a bit shattered, one way and another...

Grandma with William and Sofia

Grandma with William and Sofia, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Big sister, little brother

Sofia's first snowman

Snowman, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Lots more snow photos on flickr.

Our garden after the snow

Our garden after the snow, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Up to a foot of snow last night in London. Nursery closed today and snowman assembly to commence shortly.

We are all thanking our lucky stars William didn't arrive today on his official due date. Finding a cab to get to the hospital could have been tricky!

Our water baby William comes home

William comes home from hospital, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We finally left the hospital on Saturday afternoon, after 48 hours of antibiotics (William) and lukewarm, uninspired hospital meals (me). Very glad to be home!

On Wednesday evening I had gone down to the labour ward to be hooked up to the monitor just to check that William was ok, as I hadn't felt any movements all day. I thought this would be a 10-minute visit, but in the end I had the monitor on for nearly two hours even though everything appeared to be normal, because noone was prepared to let me go home until the machine said 'Criteria met'.

Eventually one of the registrars came around and said maybe it would be a good idea to try and do a sweep before I went home. So one of the midwives did that and said I was 1-2cm dilated already so things would probably kick off in the next day or two.

Jules and I got home about 10pm, had a pizza and went to bed. By about 3am I was feeling a bit crampy but not really having regular contractions yet. At 6am I got up and had a shower, then rang the midwives' team mobile. The midwife who answered said to see how many contractions I had in the next half hour. So at 7am I rang back and reported 5 contractions in 30 minutes so she said to come in.

Got to the hospital in a minicab by 7.30am. Only 3 contractions on the way this time, so a lot better than the nightmare cab ride to the hospital when we had Sofia.

We got one of the rooms attached to the birthing pool, and the pool was already being filled for me, so that was great. Around 8am I was hooked up to the drip for my antibiotics for Group B Strep, which took about 20 minutes. By that time the pool had cooled down again, so there was quite a painful half hour of leaning on the bed with Jules massaging my lower back before I could get in. Also threw up a couple of times around this point - the hot cross bun and cup of tea at 7am seems to have been a mistake!

About that point the midwives swapped shifts and the new midwife did an exam and said I was about 5 or 6 cm dilated. Got into the pool about 9am, which was a relief for the first few minutes and then after that I was in so much pain that I really couldn't tell if the water was helping or not.

Jules and the midwife sat around the edge of the pool and made encouraging noises and the midwife said she would let me choose when to start pushing.

The next hour and a half is a bit of a blur - I threw up again and made quite a lot of noise. Then eventually I couldn't help pushing. I remember feeling a big bubble as the waters broke and then having to not push too hard so William's head would be born slowly.

Then I looked down and his head was out and you could see his dark hair floating in the water and a few minutes later (10.35am) he came out in a rush, looking tiny and kind of blue.

The midwife picked him up, unwrapped the cord from around his neck and gave him to me to hold while Jules cut the cord. He seemed absolutely tiny but started crying straight away.

Then the midwife helped me out of the pool and the placenta was delivered on the bed. My only thought was relief that it was all over at last.

After a bit William got cleaned up and weighed and had his Vitamin K shot. Jules and I got a cup of tea each and then we were moved upstairs to the postnatal ward because someone else wanted the room.

The paediatricians insisted that William be given a 48-hour course of antibiotics because he'd only got 2 hours coverage from my IV antibiotics during labour. I wasn't exactly thrilled to have to watch my new son have a canula put into the back of his hand on his first day out in the world but he was very brave and didn't cry, even though it took them two attempts to get it in.

Jules went home and came back with Sofia and Grandma about 5pm. We gave Sofia her present from William and she seemed excited to see him so it went quite well - no screams of outrage or running from the room.

Today we've basically had a quiet day at home. Jules and Sofia went to the farmers' market in the morning and Sofia and I took a very quick walk to the charity bin with my maternity jeans (yay! good riddance) in the afternoon.

Snow has been falling since about 5pm (stopped now) and there's a severe weather warning over Eastern England tonight and tomorrow - expecting up to 15cm of snow in some places. So it may well be a pretty quiet Monday too!

B2 Arrives

Hiya Jules here. 

Just to say William Robert Heath arrived at 10:35 am today weighing 3.095 kg. 

He was delivered in the birthing pool (I'm sure Rac will blog more on this).

Here's a piccy of him after he was tidied up. The bandage on the arm is to deliver antibiotics to him (More on that later as well).

Here's another when Sofia met him.

More pregnant than ever before!

More pregnant than ever before!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

At this point I have no vanity left, so I'm sharing my enormous belly with the world. I hate all my maternity jeans with a passion - they all creep down and get very frayed and muddy around the bottom in this weather. I tried a skirt the other day thinking that would be better but no, it crept down too, taking the tights with it and revealing a builder's crack!

Nearly sent all three pairs of maternity jeans to the charity clothes bin at the end of the street today but thought better of it. If B2 hangs on for another couple of weeks I will be heartily sick of my yoga pants too.

And then of course there is the possibility that some of this hugeness is chocolate-related and will not disappear instantly on B2's arrival. In which case my ordinary jeans will not fit. Sigh.

I'm going to have a bath now. Any tips on bringing on labour gratefully accepted.

The birthday boy and his cake

Jules's birthday cake, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A busy day today - one cake to make, one Grandma to pick up from the airport, one little girl with an upset tummy (a virus already in evidence yesterday, and NOT related to excess cake consumption...)

In the end I made the cake while Sofia slept in the pushchair and Jules went to pick up Grandma. It seemed too risky to take all of us to the airport, considering Sofia's delicate condition - not to mention B2's imminent arrival. 

Nothing so exciting as Grandma arriving has ever happened before, or at least that's what you'd think from Sofia's reaction.

Grandma and Sofia have both gone to bed, and now and then you can hear Sofia calling 'Hi! Hi Grandma!' hopefully. With any luck Grandma is so tired from the flight she will sleep through it. And now everything has suddenly gone quiet - a good sign??

The chocolate sensation cake was a modest success, if I do say so myself. Although not exactly slimming, with sour cream and dark chocolate filling and dark chocolate and butter icing, and extra whipped cream on the side...

36 weeks pregnant

36 weeks pregnant, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Yes, I am HUGE. For comparison, here is Sofia at 38 weeks, the day before she was born.

Went to see my midwife today - B2 is doing fine and is engaged (about 1/3 of the head at least) but his spine is facing the wrong way apparently so I'm allowed to sleep on my right side for a change, in the hope of turning him over. Yay - I get my side of the bed back early!

Also got a tour of the labour ward and postnatal ward, neither of which are as bad as I had expected after the brief and stressful visit we had to the labour ward a few weeks back. Looks much better in daylight and when you're not worried about losing the baby...

Then I went to see the physio about my hip, which is not malaligned after all, just a bit flexible due to pregnancy. Anyway it is already a lot better than when it was I made the appointment. I have a new support belt thing and lots of exercises to do, mainly to do with core strength.

Quite liked the physio - she expressed great surprise that I was 36, which was nice of her. I'm pretty sure I look my age, if not more, especially at the moment!

Jules has just rung from work drinks to say he's at GBK having a kiwiburger. I note there has been no weighing in in 2009 - wonder how Harold's doing?

Cheers - here's to a very happy 2009!

Cheers - happy 2009!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a lovely New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, even if the temperature stayed around freezing the whole time.

On New Year's Eve we had booked a babysitter so we went into town to celebrate. Had a pleasant if not outstanding meal at About Thyme, a little place near Victoria Station and then walked along to try and see the fireworks at midnight. A LOT of people had the same idea - all the viewing areas on the river were full by 11pm.

So we ended up in St James's Park, which is quite different after dark. From where we were you could see the top half of the London Eye, which was where the fireworks were let off from so we got an ok view and it was not crowded in the park at all. In fact it was kind of eerie and still, as this photo of the pond shows.



Then on New Year's Day Sofia and I went to the park while Jules prepared a roast lamb, with sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, brussel sprouts, carrots and broccoli, which was completely delicious. We chased it all down with trifle, just to make sure there was no danger of starvation!

Today we babysat Sofia's friend Millie, who has a new baby sister, so her dad could spend some time at the hospital. An interesting experience taking TWO toddlers to the park but we managed to avoid serious injury. The two girls walked along hand in hand, which was endearing, and then played 'Row, row, row your boat' from their highchairs in the cafe. Just as they were in the middle of that, Millie's dad arrived to pick her up, so it was nice that they were both looking so cheerful at that moment!

All the family on Christmas Day

All the family on Christmas Day, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Things to spot in this photo:

• Sofia's fabulous Christmas stocking, courtesy of the Nanny
  
• Mallowpuff the polar bear (star Christmas present of 2007, now slightly off white)
  
• the last recorded sighting of the intact London double decker bus, before Jules stood on it while trying to avoid some other debris later in the day
  
• Sofia's delight over Grandma's present, clutched firmly in both hands. Tragically the little sheep are still a bit big to be worn this year but they are getting lots of airtime as toys anyway!
  

Our daughter was a model citizen at Alison and Stefan's traditional Canadian turkey dinner, remaining cheerful all evening and sitting in her chair for the entire main course. After that she did admittedly get to her feet, bellowing for ice cream, but luckily there was some on offer so we got some excellent quiet baby bird behaviour at dessert time too.

It really felt like we were proper grown-up parents this Christmas. Jules was kept busy preparing our Christmas duck on Christmas Eve and then taking Sofia out on the bike to the park on Christmas morning, so I could make the pavlova and buche de noel I was taking to Alison's for dessert. For one nasty moment it looked like the pav was going to disintegrate completely before I could get the greaseproof paper off the bottom of it, but somehow I managed to upend it onto the plate without smashing it to bits and smother it with enough whipped cream to hide any minor collapses!

Anyway it was very nice to change out of the clothes that were all covered in icing sugar and cocoa and shut the door on the debris-strewn kitchen to go and eat somewhere else. I suspect I may have eaten too much of Alison's wonderful turkey plus all trimmings (even though eating for two!) as all I could manage was one slice of pav for dessert. I blame B2 for occupying valuable space that could otherwise be used for stomach expansion.

New regime mark 2 starts on Monday - once we've eaten the trifle, the remaining mince pies, the Christmas pudding and the ham!

Jules and Sofia ride past our house

Jules and Sofia ride past our house
Originally uploaded by Racmol

The bike came out of its shed again at the weekend, and there was great rejoicing.

It's now parked in the communal hallway and every time we go in or out the front door there are shouts of 'Fia's bike! Dad's bike! Fia and Dad's bike!'

A very merry Christmas and a fabulous new year to everyone from all of us here in London. See you in 2009.

Love Rachel

B2 at 32 weeks

B2 at 32 weeks, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, I promised a photo so here it is. It's pretty poor though - the sonographer didn't charge me for the photo as she couldn't get a good shot.

The important stuff though - he's growing well, all measurements within the normal range. Estimated weight: 1.878kg. Abdominal circumference is not quite as average as it was, but still normal. That's the one they were really looking for, as that shows whether there are any problems with growth. Also the placenta appears to be functioning properly.

And dammit, no urine test! So I might as well have had a fruit mince pie for breakfast after all, instead of sensible porridge...

Comments - should I just disable this feature or what?

Doesn't anyone have anything to say about Sofia's stage debut? And by the way I have a scan tomorrow and if noone comments on the fabulous 32-week photo of B2 I shall be posting afterwards I really will disable comments.

Noone has said anything for the whole of December. Which is a bit disheartening, really.

The nursery nativity play (extended version)

Sofia is the white sheep with ears sitting next to the more major players, the gold and silver stars, on the far right.

A stray sheep in the Chaston Nursery Nativity Play

Here is our daughter making an unscripted appearance as a stray sheep in the Chaston Nursery Nativity Play last night. I'm also uploading a longer video on youtube - you can see Sofia sitting off to the right in her sheep costume, next to some more major players (the silver star, the gold star, Mary and the donkey). 

You would never know to look at her that the night before she was down at the hospital again getting more antibiotics for another ear infection. I did actually consider skipping the play, but she was so excited watching me make cupcakes for it that it seemed mean not to let her go. So I strapped her into the pushchair and forcibly administered the antibiotics and some nurofen and off we went. 

As you can see, she had a great time. Several people said to us afterwards 'Your daughter is so smiley!' and 'what a happy little girl you have!' Next year will be interesting - the kids in the big kids room (where you go when you turn two) had actual speaking and singing parts. Some of the boys in particular were very good actors and singers - we were very impressed (when we weren't howling with laughter...) 

A busy Sunday in the garden

Post-gardening tantrum, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a frost on Saturday night and a beautiful clear sunny Sunday. About 4 degrees, mind you, but still.

Tasks accomplished:
Leaves raked up and binned (both of us)
Garlic planted (Jules)
All remaining tulips, daffodils and crocuses planted in tubs, the lawn and the borders (me)
New gumboots worn in and trike ridden up and down the lawn (Sofia)


And then Sofia had a tantrum because I wasn't running to carry her down the steps. This photo was taken as the tantrum reached its peak! You can also see Jules planting the garlic and Sofia in her party dress after Saturday's party on flickr.

A family day out at the Christmas market in Winchester

All the family in Winchester , originally uploaded by Racmol.

We've just spent a lovely relaxed Friday at the Christmas market surrounding Winchester Cathedral with our friends Adam, Angeline and Millie.

We took the train from Waterloo on a groupsave 4 ticket, which took about an hour. It was a bitterly cold day but the market was lovely - with more than enough mulled wine, hot chocolate, fruit mince pies and Belgian waffles to keep everyone happy!

We bought a few small presents and three Christmas decorations for our Christmas tree. We're hoping to pick up a tree tomorrow at the farmers' market as advent starts on Monday.

Sofia and Millie had a lovely time running about at the market and as it was in a big enclosed courtyard with no cars, they couldn't come to too much harm. Sofia is tall enough now to help herself to the free samples of cheese, jams and so on - but she still ate a big lunch when we finally found somewhere to eat.

There are lots of big dogs in Winchester - Old English sheepdogs and big shaggy black ones, for example.

Only one complaint - the cathedral toilets didn't have a nappy change table, which seemed like a massive oversight when you consider how many pushchairs there were at the market. At only 5 degrees celsius, Friday was not a good day for changing nappies on the concrete floor!

I fell asleep on the train on the way back. Sofia sat on Adam and lifted up his jersey saying 'baby' and 'tummy' - I think he was a bit offended!

Today Jules went to the rugby at Twickenham and Sofia and I went to the post depot to pick up a parcel - containing one very beautiful Christmas stocking from the Nanny. Jules said: 'I guess we're responsible for filling that for the next 20 or 50 years'...so I suppose we'd better buy some more items than just the Upsy Daisy socks that are hiding in my wardrobe.

A Jules and his fish soup - the new regime week 1

A Jules and his fish soup, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had an impromptu dinner out at the pizza place on the corner (aka Pomodori e Baci) tonight, just to celebrate the fact we both still have jobs despite gloom and doom everywhere in London. It was a lovely one hour and ten minutes, with Sofia on her best cafe behaviour for once, as you can see on flickr.

In other news, I took Sofia for her first swim since St Lucia this afternoon and it was a roaring success. She blows bubbles brilliantly now and even submitted to having her hair dried with the hairdryer afterwards.

Oh, and for anyone following Jules's new regime or competing with it, I think the fish soup and the forgoing of a tiramisu may be the start of a seachange in our eating habits. Or not. Watch this space...

28 weeks pregnant

28 weeks pregnant, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We suddenly realised we haven't taken a single photo of B2 yet so here he is, better late than never!

For comparison, see when I was six months pregnant with Sofia.

In other news, Jules is aiming for a(nother) lean Heath Christmas. The new regime starts tomorrow!

Snow in October?

IMG_2083, originally uploaded by Racmol.

First time in London since 1934, apparently.

Sofia's artwork

IMG_2073, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's portfolio

We've brought Sofia's "portfolio" i.e. artwork home from nursery to 'show the family' so I took some photos as I have to take it all back tomorrow.

We're quite impressed with the amount and variety of art she's done at Chaston Nursery. Bebi, her key worker, is very keen on painting, which definitely helps.

Yesterday when I picked up Sofia, I asked her what she did that day and she said 'Painting! Stars!'

So she's having a good time, which is the main thing.

All the photos of the artwork are now up on flickr.

Ruby Wedding

Ruby Wedding, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Autumn review - the novice gardeners' first season

Well, it really is going to be a lean Heath Christmas this year, or at least it would be if we were trying to be self-sufficient from our garden! I can't help noticing that our entire autumn harvest fits into one Abel and Cole weekly organic mixed box, with space to spare...

So, to recap, in the Spring we got two raised beds and filled them with topsoil from Norfolk. In one I sowed spring onions, carrots and leeks. The spring onions were smothered by the carrots but, after the carrot harvest, we seem to still have about 10 leeks. Hurrah!

Being short on space, we also squeezed in a butternut squash plant into the corner of that raised bed. 'Apparently, your butternut squash needed to go in in March,' said Jules the other day having somewhat belatedly read up on it on the web. Me (snappily): 'Yeah, well you didn't buy them until May...'

In the other bed we had a big patch of salad leaves, some broccoli and two courgette plants. The salad leaves were a runaway success - we didn't buy salad leaves at all this summer. The broccolis did produce some very small calabrese broccoli and we did eat one or two of them before they flowered but they weren't great. Maybe we overcooked them.

The courgette plants grew amazingly and had small yellow courgettes. Only two made it to harvest without being eaten by slugs. I put one of them in a vege chilli and it wrecked the chilli - Jules sat there picking pieces of small, hard courgette out of his teeth, which was a bit dispiriting. The other, about the size of a small carrot, we put in the vege crisper in the fridge where it got squashed up against the side and hidden under some apples and then half of it went mouldy and I couldn't be bothered saving the other half - so who knows if yellow courgettes are better than green ones or not? I suspect not - and not worth the bother. Plain green zucchini for us next year.

The apples were moderately successful - apart from the James Grieve which lost all its shiny red apples in about June and was left with maybe one on the tree. More Bramleys than Windsors this year but that is probably because we had the trees pruned in January and the guy said they were well overdue so the pruning was quite drastic.

Some of Jules's 12 sweetcorn that I put in in May survived to adulthood although most were destroyed by slugs and snails. We got one cob and when we opened it up it only had about 12 kernels of corn, so we didn't bother to cook it. Yet again, maybe May was too late.

The tuscan kale (cavolo nero): every leaf eaten by slugs.

Rhubarb: ditto, plant destroyed.

Sunflowers: ditto

Cucumbers: ditto

Garlic: got some bulbs but they were about the size of one normal clove of garlic.

Hydrangea: (bought in desperation when I was trying to think of a shrub the slugs wouldn't like) barely hanging on to life. May see out the winter if the slugs die down before it does.

Nasturtiums: thriving, smothering the struggling hydrangea.

Tomatoes: pretty good - definitely several large punnets of cherry tomatoes.

The compost however is brilliant - about 50 worms to every spadeful. So the bed where the salad leaves and broccoli were has been dug over and I planted mustard seed as a green manure, so we'll see how that goes next year.

The plan from here:

Crocuses in the lawn for February and the new baby.

Pots on the patio: tulips and irises (but will the squirrels eat them, like some got eaten last year?

More daffodils in around the beds at the edges of the lawn (some still left from last year.)

The roses were a success - especially the Ruby Wedding - which we have a cutting of on our kitchen windowsill. The two small pink patio roses were quite prolific too.

Some successes, some failures. Next year we'll have one bed just for butternut squashes. Someone on the web says you can get 32 from one plant - but we're just aiming for 10 squashes overall. We know our limitations...

B2 at 22 weeks

IMG_2064, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Lazing about in St Lucia

Our pool, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I've just uploaded a few of our holiday pics onto flickr - and I can't help noticing that they give the impression that we did very little, which is true!

There was a lot of lazing about on the beach, interspersed with frequent swims in the pool outside our villa and in the sea. Sofia ate far too many M&M ice creams and hot chips and not nearly enough broccoli but seems to have made it home again without scurvy!

We didn't do much sightseeing at all - our sole burst of activity was a motorboat trip to the marine reserve to go snorkelling one morning while Sofia stayed at home with a babysitter. And of course we got a great view of the island during the helicopter transfer from the airport in the south to our resort in the north. It's still covered with 70% rainforest, and where the rainforest has been cleared there are banana plantations instead so it's very lush and green everywhere.

After we had been there for two days we had three days of rain, which caused two large leaks from the balcony of our villa (quite basic, far up on the hillside) into our living room and bedroom. So we got moved to a 'superior' villa down by the beach, pools and restaurants which was a lot flasher and more modern, with its own hot tub and a smallish swimming pool about 10 metres from our front door. Then the weather cleared again for a week of hot sunny days and we settled into a gruelling routine of three swims a day, with occasional breaks for an ice cream or perhaps a nap in the midday heat.

We were due to fly home on Friday afternoon, and we got all the way to the gate of the plane before it was announced that our flight had been cancelled due to the plane hitting a bird as it came in to land. So, in the pouring rain, we were bundled into dodgy minibuses for a 90-minute drive along windy, flooded roads back up to another resort at Rodney Bay in the north of the island - a bit ironic considering all our careful planning of helicopter transfers specifically to avoid that drive!

Saturday was another lovely day, which we spent in the pool (for a change) and then it was back in the dodgy minivan to get on the plane at 11.30pm that night. We finally got home on Sunday afternoon instead of early Saturday morning but obviously Virgin Atlantic had to pay for all our accommodation, food etc so it wasn't the end of the world. Had to wake Sofia up at 8am the next morning though - and she insisted on taking Wom with her to nursery so she was obviously a little bit disorientated! Quite perky again when I arrived to pick her up - apparently slept for two hours after lunch.

This morning we were at the hospital again for another scan, which I will blog a picture of tomorrow. Everything looks normal - and we found out what sort of baby we're having too, which was quite exciting!

Rookie parent

For those with unlimited patience or just nothing much to do today, here is 5 minutes of quality footage of Sofia getting to grips with the new pushchair and baby doll.

A sailing photo, at long last

Jules on Hotstuff, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A sibling for Sofia

Bump 2 at 12 weeks, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Our new little alien, ETA 2 February 2009.

Sofia and Millie on the merry-go-round, London Zoo

Sofia and Millie on the merry-go-round, London Zoo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Dress-up dragons

Posing, originally uploaded by Racmol.

No, she hasn't eaten too many jaffa cakes - it is a padded suit. Some more photos from today's dress-up extravaganza on flickr.

Gardening assistant

Trying on the gardening glove, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've just put some new photos on flickr, including some from our holiday in Tuscany a few weeks ago.

It's all change at our house - I'm heading back to work on Mondays and Wednesdays and Sofia is going to nursery, which she absolutely loves so far. She has been settling in there all this week, culminating in a full day on Friday. Originally I was supposed to start work this Wednesday coming but the paperwork isn't complete so there may be a delay.

In other news, I saw Justin Hawkins from The Darkness on Salusbury Road today and I made my first pav - which you can also see on flickr.

Our garden in snow

Our garden in snow, originally uploaded by Racmol.

First steps - Action movie

Sofia learnt to walk last Thursday, 20 March. Some dodgy camera work, but we get there in the end...

Today we went shopping for her first pair of outdoor shoes - but there was not a great deal of choice for a girl with an H-width foot! Wonder where she got that from?

Handyman Weekend - and the trike's first outing

We've had a very handyman weekend, with the new electric drill in constant use. Friday night - sawing of little round holes to thread cables through underneath the fireplace. Saturday morning - assembly of trike (with helper) and then two raised garden beds (now in place but awaiting topsoil delivery). Sunday - paint samples (many and various) for living room.

Here is the trike being assembled:





And here is Sofia trying out her new gumboots:




The trike's first test run down the hall:




And finally the first outing to the park:

Cake demolition in progress

Cake 3, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's first birthday

Happy Birthday Sofia, originally uploaded by Racmol.

You know how people always say to children: 'No, you can't have cake now, you'll spoil your dinner'? Well, we fed Sofia cake right before dinner - just to make sure she wasn't too full or tired to appreciate it - and she wolfed down an entire large slice and then washed it down with a full bowl of spinach, kumara and peas. So it turns out the cake spoiling dinner thing is an urban myth and we shall not be paying it any heed in our household.

There is a full sequence of birthday pictures, including all of us in St James's Park at lunchtime, on flickr. But I'll also post the final cake picture, so you can be sure I'm not making this up.

We've all been on a summer holiday...

Well, we've been around the world and home again - swapping the English winter for three weeks of New Zealand summer. Here we are, relaxed and happy on the beach at Whiritoa on the Coromandel Peninsula - just before we left to fly home.

We flew into Christchurch on a Monday night and started the holiday with five days in Akaroa with Nanny and Lolo. Surprisingly enough, there was a small festival of consumption as we got reacquainted with some old friends (mallow puffs, burger rings, fish and chips, Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc etc...) and made some new ones (various local cheeses and wines). Aside from all the eating and drinking, we went on a boat trip around Akaroa harbour and saw lots of Hector's dolphins, went swimming in the harbour and walked along the beach at O'Kain's Bay.



Here is Sofia on the boat trip with Nanny and Lolo.



And here she is at O'Kain's Bay.

After Akaroa, we drove down to sunny Dunedin (no, really, it was quite hot) for a few days with Grandma and Grandad, a visit to the Speight's Ale House and a swim in the salt water pool at St Clair. Here is Sofia enjoying a leisurely breakfast with Grandma and Grandad.



Next on the itinerary was a brief stop in Wellington - highlights: pavlova at Nana and Pop's and a quick dip at Scorching Bay - and then on to Westport for a few days with Jeremy, Ruth, Temo and Caoimhe. And here are all the cousins in the bath together after a swim at Carter's Beach.



To finish up, we flew from Westport back to Wellington and on to Rotorua, then drove to Whiritoa for a beach holiday with Annie. A perfect hot, sunny, beachy end to the holiday - even if I have sustained a sports injury (gammy wrist) from the boogie board. Here is Sofia testing the surf at Whangamata.



A new selection of holiday photos are now up on Flickr, including Red Bear in flight, for anyone who's interested.

Back at home, it is 8 degrees with a severe white frost this morning - but the crocuses coming up in our lawn seem to think spring is on its way, so here's hoping...

Sofia and Caoimhe at the beach

Sofia and Caoimhe at the beach, originally uploaded by Racmol.

How to unwrap a present

If the above is slow to load, here's the link to it on Youtube

New Year's Day pancakes

So that's a pancake..., originally uploaded by Racmol.

Got teeth!

Got teeth, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I think a halo would suit me...

I think a halo would suit me..., originally uploaded by Racmol.

This is my favourite picture from our trip to New Zealand, taken by Harold on the lawn at Hawea Flat. A wider selection can be found on flickr, including Sofia's first meeting with Vino. (They got on well - he was very licky, but she seemed to like that in a dog.)

Our first week at home was a bit of a trial, with Sofia waking up at least once every night. At 4 am on Friday she was particularly vocal, which turned out to be due to the emergence of two front bottom teeth.

We're all off to New York for a long weekend on Thursday morning instead of a Christmas holiday, as Jules has agreed to work between Christmas and New Year.

We've also booked our New Zealand holiday and will be jetting in again on 21 January.

Bathtime

After the bath, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...was much easier when Sofia was less mobile!

Another visitor to our garden

Robin, originally uploaded by Racmol.