RAMBO

Another first last weekend. After Joshua had gone to bed I had a rare lads night out to go and watch the new Rambo film. I had heard all the stories in the papers and the news about just how violent this final episode of the Rambo story was, but I have to admit that the level of violence was on a whole new level and was extremely graphic from the start to the end. Anyway I suppose you wondering why I am writing about Rambo on Joshua's blog. Well the weird thing was that this is the first time I have ever watched a movie and all I could think about is "there is no way in hell I would ever let my son watch a film like this!". It made me realise that I am really starting to adapt to being a responsible parent by already being aware of censoring and protecting Joshua as much as possible (so no Rambo for you buddy, but you can still listen to Scuzz with Daddy - after all they blank out the bad words!).

So that was a new first experience for me. The new first for Joshua is that he has reached a new milestone with the dirty nappies. Since the introduction of baby rice his poo has changed from korma yellow to camo green (and boy does it stink).

Humm, do I suck on my thumb, the teether, or both. So many decisions to be made in a babies life.

Still smiling even after the nasty nurse gave me 3 more jabs this week.

Immunisation Pt.3

Today Joshua had to have his 3rd lot of immunisation jabs. I really felt for the poor lad today. Previously he has been pretty sleepy during his injections and has only endured one in each leg. Today he was wide awake and had to have 2 in one leg and 1 in the other!!! He cried in pain after the very first one and then it just got worse. He ended up crying all the way home and was not a happy boy. Luckily plenty of kisses, cuddles and daddy snugs soon calmed him down (oh and the Calpol might have helped a bit).

Unfortunately the nurse informed us that they have changed suppliers for one of the drugs used and a lot of parents have reported upset babies after having it administered. It is supposed to have exactly the same content, but for some reason upsets the little ones. So we are expecting a hard time with Joshua tomorrow because last time he had some immunisations they really rattled him the day after.

Anyway slowly Joshua is getting used to his Bebe chair now to help him with learning to sit upright.

And as you can see his Sport Relief ball is far easier to mouth/hold than daddies 49ers ball.

And finally the baby rice is still being lapped up........

Lucky Mascot (AGAIN!)

Looks like Joshua is becoming a real lucky Mascot for me. After the second place in my last X-Training race in November, yesterday Joshua cheered (well cried) me on to my first individual male open win in the season opener Calso event. It was a tough 48 min race which saw me up against my friend and training partner (Nik) in the final race of the day. We are both so competitive that I knew this race was going to hurt, and sure enough Nik set a blistering pace at the start. But hearing Joshua's cries in the background must have spurred me on and in the end I topped the table with over 1900 points and a nice trophy.

PS Do you like Joshua's little Adidas track suit?

Does my head look big in this?

Not much to write today.......Joshua is a bit up and down with his baby rice. Some days he laps it up and seems to really enjoy it. Other days he just cries and spits it out. I think it depends a lot on his mood, obviously how hungry he is, what distractions are around, whether he fancies sitting in his chair or not, if you have it the right temperature and consistency - it seems there are a lot of variables to consider!! Apart from that he would appear to be getting close to doing a back to front roll, he really arches his back and twists onto his side - so it is only a matter of time.

Anyway today's pictures are some of Joshua sporting his new "Lightning McQueen" cycle helmet to go with his bike seat we purchased last week. As you can see his head needs to do a bit of growing between now and the end of April - but this is the smallest size available on the market.

4 Months Old

Yep, how quickly the time has gone, Joshua is 4 months old already. Today he went to the health clinic for another weigh-in and topped the scales at 14lb 5oz, thats an increase of 6oz from two weeks ago. The health visitor said the slower weight gain is normal as Joshua starts to become more active. She also said that it is too early for him to start on solids yet (so we decided not to tell her that he had already started!). Today Joshua has enjoyed yet another two servings of his baby rice. It is too early to see of it will help his sleep just yet, last night was no better as he still woke at 3am for another feed.

It would appear that young Joshua is also becoming a bit of a ladies man already. I forgot to mention on here that he received his first valentines card this year (Mummy was not impressed). Who could it be????? I wonder...........

Steak & Chips Please!

Joshua will be 4 months old tomorrow and we have felt he has been ready for solid foods for some time now. Having succesfully given him formula milk for his dream feeds over the last week, we decided today was the day to try the baby rice. So he had his first helping around lunchtime and then a second lot for his evening meal. It was amazing how quickly he took to the new experience of A) eating from his high chair, B) eating from a spoon and C) the new textures/flavours. As you can see from the pictures and the video clips, Joshua seemed to thoroughly enjoy the rice and very quickly learned to open his mouth for the spoon. The mess wasn't too bad either, as you would expect he dribbled/spat some out, but the tongue action is there and he was gumming and swallowing no problems. Only a matter of time now before I get the lad eating my plain boiled rice with tuna in spring water! Fingers crossed now that he is eating something more substantial than just breast milk, he might start sleeping through the night a bit better.

Superbowl XLII

OK so I know I am a little late with the Superbowl update. But for those that didn't hear the result, my team (The New York Giants) beat the Patriots by 17 to 14 in the most watched superbowl ever with 97.5 million viewers. Eli Manning was clearly the star of the show for making that final play to score the winning touchdown in the final minute of play. Anyway what has all this got to do with Joshua - well your never to young to start playing ball games. Do we have a young NFL star in the making. OK so its a 49'ers ball and not a Giants one.

When I Grow Up I Am Going To Drive A............

Since the weekend's weather was so beautiful I decided to give the old Corvette some TLC with a nice clean and polish. After finishing the car it was the ideal opportunity to give Joshua his first experience in some American Muscle. So here are some memorable photo's of some Little English Muscles in some big American Muscle!

"Now this is what I call a proper baby walker!"

"Hummm, what do all them buttons do?"

"Now just how do I reach the steering wheel and pedals from here?"

"And I've got just about no chance of seeing out of the windowscreen"

"Dad, I am confused and need some help"

"Have you got a booster seat for me?"

"Oh I give up, I think I'll just chill out on the bonnet and catch some rays until Dad gets back!".

"Now that this bonnet is polished it would make a really good slide, I wonder if Dad would tell me off if he catches me????"

Its time we have a father and son talk about respecting another mans vehicle (Transporter 2 - for those that have seen the movie)!!!

Tour-de-Wick

Firstly before I get into the subject of this blog update - two MAJOR new developments. Firstly Joshua rolled over for the first time tonight. I think it was more by accident than anything else. I had him laying on his belly and somehow he did a mini push-up lifting his head fairly high, then sort of swept one of his arms out of the way to roll onto his back with a little head bump. He didn't know whether to cry or just sit there in amazement wondering what had happened!

Secondly, last night we started Joshua on a supplement of formula milk just for his dream feed. The idea being that he digests this a bit slower and we get a better nights sleep. Last night I gave him 125ml of formula at 10:30 and it was enough to see him through to 4am when he woke for another feed. We will keep the formula dream feed up for a week and see if it helps his sleeping.

Anyway onto this blog update: Well as you all saw from a the previous updates that it will be sometime before Joshua is riding my bike. However we have now booked our first holiday as a family to Centre Parks in Thetford and whilst we are there our main mode of transport will be push bikes and therefore I was challenged with finding a suitable way of accommodating Josh. Anyway I stumbled across this neat little bike seat called a Quokka and thought it was really cool. The major benefit with this design from most others is twofold really. Firstly Joshua can see more than just my backside as he will be sitting in front of me (there is an added advantage here in that he is no longer downwind of my farts!). Secondly I can see Joshua all the time and can talk to him and point things out etc. which would normally be extremely difficult in the traditional rear mounted bike seats. The next challenge is to now find a small enough child cycle helmet!

Anyway check in for tomorrow's blog update as there are some corking pictures to go on here.

Year of the Rat

Well as you all know last week was Chinese New Year and the start of "Year of the Rat". Joshua had the pleasure of meeting a Chinese dragon in town on Saturday and having his eardrums tested by the rather loud drums (fingers crossed that will be the last of his encounters with drums - so no drum kits for b'day/xmas presents please!). Anyway here is the little dude with the Dragon.
And here are a few more recent pictures of Joshua......

Joshua seems to like watching Scooby Doo in bed first thing in the morning...... I can see in the near future many hunts searching the house for missing remote controls.

First Train Ride

Joshua was weighed again this week and showed his smallest weight gain yet. Only 3oz in the last 2 weeks which now takes him up to 13lb 15oz. I have to admit I was somewhat surprised by this as his weight gain has been so consistent and he seems to be so much bigger. At least its moving in the right direction. Isn't it funny how for the 1st year of life all we are concerned about is gaining weight, then pretty much for the rest of your life you are fighting to keep it off! Below is a graph of his weight gain which if you look at the blue line it just shows a downturn in the last 2 weeks.

Anyway another big first for this week - Joshua had his first experience on the UK's public transport system with a trip up to the city on the train and tube. Tina and the Mad Auntie took the little lad to the Leon Paul Fencing shop in Hendon (Dad was stuck at work all day). Here's a lovely picture of Tina and Joshua outside the Tower of London. Now that we have Joshua it would appear that it is cheaper to buy a family one day travel card than it is to pay for two adults - how mad is that! So even though Joshua could have travelled for free, he has his first ever train ticket anyway!

Superbaby

Last week Joshua achieved a major milestone and not a soul noticed! The little man reached 100 on Jan 25th 2008. Normally when someone reaches 100 they get a birthday special card from the Queen, Joshua didn't get a dickie bird for his 100th. Who cares if it was only 100 days and not 100 years.

Anyway I guess you have all been wondering just how long it would take before the little dude appeared dressed in some kind of Superman/baby attire. Well wonder no more, how about this for a sleep suit (came complete with Superbaby bib and vest as well!).

And how about this for another milestone - holding his milk bottle on his own! Also we are really getting into these 11pm dream feeds now and its amazing to watch Joshua down 150ml of the good stuff whilst remaining completely zonked out and not even opening his eyes!!

Joshua doing his strecthing before going swimming today........... ps Do you like his new Shark swim suit (keeps him much warmer in the pool than his little trunks).

Dad also got Joshua his first bike, ok so we need to adjust the pedals and handle bars a little, but he should be ready for the "Tour-de-Wick-Park" later this year!