1st Christmas

Well our first Christmas with Joshua was amazing, despite the little man only being 2 months old and not really understanding what was going in - having a child made our Christmas wonderfully special. I thoroughly enjoyed opening all of Joshua's presents and then enjoyed even more playing the Dad role of building and assembling all the toys etc. as you would expect for Joshie's first Xmas, he has been spoilt beyond belief by all friends and family - and now my only dilemma is where to store everything!

Christmas dinner was slightly interrupted as Josh obviously got the hunger bug with the smell of the turkey and decided he needed a feed literally just as dinner was dished up! So as usual it was a cold/rushed dinner for me and Tina. Next year should be better as the little dude will be joining us at the dining table in his fancy new high chair which Dad and Diane bought. Anyway loads of fab pictures for you all to enjoy.

PS Don't forget to leave your comments for Joshua on this blog. All blog entries are being printed off into his scrap book and your comments get attached the the entries and make it even more special.

Now that's what I call a Xmas cracker!

Here's Joshua in his little reindeer costume.

This is what I call finger Licking good!

Here are all Joshua's present under the Christmas tree.

And this is little Santa having a super stretch.

Here are just some of Daddies (I mean Joshua's) new toys.

This is a picture if little Master Santa (Joshua) with little Miss Santa Clause (Mia) and their great Nan and Uncle Steven.

Just a cute picture of baby Santa with one of his new rattles.

First attempt at sitting in his new high chair, not a happy bunny at first.

This is Joshua's new kick and drive toy from Uncle Steven and Joshua's great Nan. He seems to be fascinated by this and has no problem making all the electronic noises by kicking it.

Here's Daddy fulfilling his new role as a parent by assembling endless amounts of babies toys.

Who needs babies chairs, I want to sit in the big boys chair!

Me and Joshie pulling a Xmas cracker.

More kick and drive.......

2 Months Old

OK pop quiz................who remembers what you were doing on your two month old birthday? Well for Joshua it is easy - we took him swimming down the David Lloyd for the first time. The little man absolutely loved the pool and was in there for around 25 mins. In the end we had to take him out because the life guard was leaving for lunch and its adults only during lunch break. As you can see from the photo's he was a happy little bunny and seemed just as comfortable outside his floatie ring as inside it. The dive camera came in handy for the water pictures! Anyway the 25 mins swimming really tired the little man out, once we got him showered, dressed and fed - he slept for over 5 hours solid!!! PS What do you think of his cool Nemo swimming trunks?

Immunisation

The word immunisation sounds bad - and today I found out why. Poor Joshua had to go for his first set of injections which protect him from DTaP/IPV/Hib and PCV. The brave man had one injection into each thigh and I didn't envy him one bit when I saw the size of the needle. In comparison to his little legs it would be the equivalent of someone sticking a javelin into your thigh! But being a tough little King he just shrugged it off with a little cry and then went back to sleep. When we got home he had 2.5ml of Calpol just to make sure his temperature does not rise and to stop any pain. The nurse who administered the immunisations is also doing well, she was rushed off to A&E for hurting my little boy but should be out in time to see Christmas!

We also took Joshua back to the Health Clinic for a weigh-in today and he is now a whopping 11lb 10oz (so nearly a pound weight gain from his last weigh-in). The increased weight explains why he now hardly fits into the moses basket part of his travel system (see picture below).


Daddy has now got Joshua exercising at every opportunity. Here's the little man doing his two armed chest expansions using the toy caterpillar that Auntie Shahinah bought him. One rep....


Two reps.......is that enough yet Dad or have I got to do more.


And just when Joshua had finished his chest expansions - it was into his gym for some lying one arm rows with the caterpillar.

PS Did you notice the nice blue knitted jumper he is wearing - this is one of the many knitted by Joshua's Great Gran.

Joshua meets his Great Nan

Yesterday we took Joshua to meet his great Nan for the first time. The little man was spoilt with lots of lovely home knitted baby clothes which will keep him nice and warm over winter. Joshua also got to briefly meet Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Martin as well, so a very eventful day which seemed to tire the little man out (he didn't get out of bed until 12:30 today!!! - definitely takes after his mother there). Anyway here are a couple of pics.

The 8 week old Picasso

Well Joshua was 8 weeks old yesterday. He has pretty much outgrown his Moses basket now and as a result of this we have started to set him down in the cot after his bath or wash in the evening to slowly get him used to sleeping in his own room. It seems weird going to bed and not having Joshua in our room, even though we can hear him with the baby monitor. Last night was a major break through as he stayed in his cot all night, only waking at around 4.30am for a feed and change. The picture below is evidence of his night in the cot.



Joshua also really enjoys his white chocolate from his advent calendar. Unfortunately Tina does not like white chocolate so I have the burden I melting small bits on my tongue and then feeding them to the little boy (such is life). Its become part of our evening ritual now to sit on the bean bag and chomp away at some white chocolate together. But check out the advent calendar below which we bought for Joshua, how cool is that (PS the rest of the boxes are on the other side of the train in case you thought we short changed him with only 12 days of Xmas advent).



The little man is also starting to hold his head up unassisted and have a good look around - he loves looking at the Christmas decorations and lights. This is really noticeable when you have the little man sitting on your lap to try and wind him - his little head is bobbing all over the place. Speaking of decorations though, Auntie Lisa has been creative with Joshua and created his first Xmas decoration for Mum and Dad (see below). How cool is this from an 8 week old. Could we have a budding young Picasso in the making.



The other good news is that Tina's Mum finally managed to get hold of the piggy bank we have wanted for Joshua for ages (see below). Now to start filling it. All donations welcome.



Anyway Monday will be the next major update as the little man is off for his first set of injections and also for his next weighing. God help that nurse if she hurts my little boy with that needle!!!

Xmas comes early............

Who wants to wait until Dec 25th. As you can see from the picture below, Xmas came early for us this year. And just look at the little bundle of joy that Santa left under our Xmas tree.


Joshua seems to love looking at the Xmas decorations and lights.

Speaking of Father Christmas, well for Halloween Joshua was dressed up as a pumpkin, so it was only a matter of time before the baby father Christmas outfit came out. I think this little Santa will fit down the chimney just nicely, although I am not sure he can carry many gifts.

But then who needs gifts when Santa looks this cute..........

"Damn, I forgot to bring presents on my sleigh, maybe if I just lay underneath the tree then Mummy and Daddy can have me as their Xmas present"

A nice bit of fresh air for Dad and Joshua. A chilling winter walk along Southend Sea front. Shame the little man had to miss out on the warm cinnamon donuts.

Last week we had the picture of the hands, this week its the feet. So here's Joshua's little pinkies up against Dad's foot. And yes as you can see, Dad has not butchered anymore of Joshua's toes!

More work on the grip, now nearly 8 weeks old and as you can see from below Joshua can grip an item in both hands. Anyone know where you can buy baby dumbbells.

Here's a nice little Christmas "Silent Night" outfit which Auntie Shahinah bought for Joshua.

And last but not least. Check out the top of the Xmas tree in more detail. Ignore the Taz, that's years old. But check out all the cool babies first xmas decs. The snowman and bear with his name on, the blue elephant saying "Its a boy", the middle dangly saying "babies first Christmas" and the 1st Christmas bauble.

First Blood

Well yesterday I had one of my worst experiences since Joshua was born over 7 weeks ago. I was clipping his toe nails before his bath and accidentally nipped his big toe. Joshua was very brave and didn't even cry, but there seemed to be loads of blood. I felt absolutely terrible afterwards, to think I hurt my poor little boy and drew his first blood. Luckily we had some tiny baby plasters to hand. So nail clipping duty is now over to Tina........

Speaking of hands Joshua has started to realise he has hands and often can be seen playing with his hands (as evident in the picture below). Or maybe he is just checking all his fingers are still there in case Dad has accidentally cut any off with the toe nail clippers!

Joshua also now gives off frequent smiles and even the odd laugh (or what appears to be a laugh). I may be biased, but this is just one of the most beautiful things you will ever see - his first smiles (not easy to catch on camera though).

There's no David Copperfield trick photography in this picture. This is Joshua laying with an elephant sitting on him!

Daddy is now trying to teach Joshua to grab and hold things. Today a yellow rattle - tomorrow a dumbbell!

Joshua and Daddy now fight over who gets to power nap on the bean bag (Joshua seems to win!).


Like my hat..........

When I grow up I want to be a race car driver.........

Its been another long tiring day..................time for a nap.

My Lucky Mascot

Wow, so much to write about today. Over the last 6 weeks on the very rare occasion you might catch Joshua pull a smile when he is sleeping - but he probably didn't even know he was doing it. Well now he has started giving the odd smile when awake, usually after feeding. I have to say it is absolutely adorable and just melts your heart. If possible I will try and get a picture soon.

Joshua's hand up against Tina's.

Now that Tina is expressing some breast milk I can volunteer to help out with some of the feeding. This is another real pleasure (especially now that there is a good chance you will get a nice smile out of the little man afterwards). Also as yesterday was the 1st of Dec - that means advent calendars! Since I have a white chocolate milkybar calendar I sucked a small piece of white chocolate and then fed it to Joshua for the first time. He absolutely loved it, so I guess I need to share the rest of it with him now! Anyway here are a few pics of some of his first bottle feeds.
Joshua has also started wearing some of his new clothes from in the week. I call the top he is wearing below his Freddy Krueger shirt as it reminds me of Freddies red and black striped jumper!
So onto the big journey to Southampton yesterday. Well Joshua was an absolute dream all day long. He was all geared up for the day in the gym wearing his new Adidas track suit. He pretty much slept all the way there and back, however we did have the pleasure both ways of feeding and changing his bum in a motorway service station. Unfortunately somewhere on the outward journey he managed to lose one of his Nike trainers (gutted). How in the blue hell does a 6 weeks old who cannot walk, crawl or anything lose a trainer????

When we got to the competition, Joshua was a bit of a superstar. Even though I have been X-training for two years now and know a lot of the people, Joshua was far more popular than his old man and seemed to have a remarkable knack of extracting coos, kisses and cuddles from just about every female there!

My expectation for the day was to just pick up a couple of points to secure my second place in the grand prix. However having Joshua (my new mascot) there cheering me on was obviously lucky for me and spurred me on even more. In the end I managed to come away with 2nd in the male open, 2nd in the teams and 2nd in the grand prix. So 3 trophies collected and as you can see from the pictures below, Joshua was more than happy to help out with the honours.

Daddy and Joshua collecting the 2nd place trophy for the male open.

The "Essex Boys team" from L-R. Me, Joshua, Millie, Nik and Nelson.

And finally me and Joshua collecting 2nd place for the Grand Prix.