Jacob's new bedroom in pictures

Wardrobe - for the bargain price of £5 once we'd doubled our Tesco vouchers for Easter. J-cub isn't particularly keen on Toy Story, but we thought this would last longer than In The Night Garden or Peppa Pig, which were the other options.

The bed - before we'd dispensed with the duvet. Star lamp from Ikea.

Nemo curtains (naturally), futon for guests.

Ikea Trofast toy storage with useful play surface.

Ikea Billy bookcase with all J-cub's crap most important Things.

Very happy J-cub on his bed, before all hell broke loose.

With the curtains shut, it looks like an aquarium. Note J-cub having a happy lie down in the bed, again before he decided that nothing was going to make him sleep there.

We're so very happy with it, it's calm and happy and useful and epitomizes J-cub's Jacobness. We've spent so much time in there over the weekend, playing and starting to put up pictures and wall decals (we didn't want it to be too exciting at first - we obviously failed on that front).

Day 19 - My beautiful sister gets married

(Saturday August 7th)

A day in pictures. A day with no tears at all, not a one. Certainly not a sister-of-the-bride who cried constantly throughout the service and barely stopped for the next couple of hours. And certainly not from all the family and friends gathered when my mum read her self-penned reading about her love for my sister, which was quite simply the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

And my sister was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. And I'm not crying now, remembering it, honestly I'm not.

Sadly, J-cub had a meltdown seconds before the ceremony was due to start, so he was banished to the foyer area with Jamie to watch live on the video link, and I acted as ring-bearer ;)

The ceremony was held at Haldon Belvedere, a stunning tower with views across the whole of Devon. Inside the tower, a spiral stone staircase leads up to the room where the ceremony was held. We were serenaded by music from the soundtrack of Amelie Poulain, which I didn't know about, and was very excited as it's one of my favourite films and it was a perfect accompaniment as Sebastien is half-French.

Photograph © Brendan Barry

By the time the register was signed, J-cub had calmed down (the lovely staff downstairs took time out from preparing the drinks to blow some bubbles for him) and he came back up for the signing and photos. He managed to wander in and out of most of the official photographs.

Photograph © Brendan Barry

My dad's sister Susie came over from Canada for the wedding, she sat next to me during the ceremony and held my hand throughout, which helped stem the tears a little. When we came downstairs again afterwards I kept making my mum and sister cry with my over-emotionalness, and I love this photo of us having a mummy-sandwich ;)

Photograph © Brendan Barry

J-cub was still a bit ratty after the service so we jumped in the car and drove around for an hour, trying to get him to drop off. It didn't work but he did retreat into a restful bubble which seemed to revive him a bit. It meant that again we missed most of the official photographs, but we've had copies of them all and they're amazing. This is one of my favourite shots, on top of the tower. You wouldn't know it was swathed in mist and drizzling up a storm.

Photograph © Brendan Barry

We had pink champagne with raspberries to match the flowers, and non-alcoholic raspberry punch for those of us who were driving. The bride got a little bit tipsy fairly quickly ;)

The wedding breakfast was held at the nearby Cridford Inn, and the food was gorgeous. Our dessert was a chocco cup - an edible plate, spoon and cup filled with the most delicious chocolatey yumminess I've ever tasted. I swear I took about 45 minutes to eat it, I just had to savour every mouthful (plus I had to change a rather disgusting nappy right in the middle of it).

After lunch we returned to my parents' house so J-cub could have a proper nap in his cot (for nearly 3 hours - yay!) and we could all have a rest. Meanwhile, my sister and her new husband went to their hotel in Exeter and quite possibly carried on drinking a fair bit. The sun came out at last, and they had some beautiful photos taken in front of Exeter Cathedral.

Photograph © Brendan Barry

The reception was just across the Cathedral green, at the Royal Clarence hotel, where Seb's uncle (Michael Caines, superstar) has his restaurant. The hotel was sumptuous, and we'd arranged for a cot as we weren't sure where J-cub was going to sleep. He came up to check into our room with us, walked straight over to the phone on the nightstand and picked up the handset. J-cub rocks.

Our bed was massive, and our massive baby was dwarfed by it. He quickly found that it was big enough for him to stand up and run across (*argh!*).

After a bottle break, we joined the reception fun and my slightly-the-worse-for-wear sister happily sat and blew bubbles for J-cub. I'm sad these photos aren't better, as it was beautiful to see.

After more tearful family reunions (most of our extended family didn't come to the ceremony as it was very small, but everyone came to the reception), we sat down and dug in to the buffet while my Uncle Billy's fiancee Sue ran around after J-cub. It was great having so many baby-wrangling hands on tap.

I may have eaten several of the wedding cupcakes, they were AWESOME.

After the dinner we let off fire lanterns on the Cathedral green, and J-cub was transfixed by them.

J-cub then spent about half an hour running around in the dimpsy light on the green in his PJs while dusk fell. We went back in to join the dancing and J-cub danced for the very first time! I managed to get some of it on (very dark) video:

He ran out of steam not long after, and we retired to our room to try and get him down. Less than half an hour later (when he was still bouncing on the bed), my mum rang to say they were going home and they'd take him with him. He happily went off with them and we were left with no responsibility for the rest of the night. We carried on dancing until the end of the reception (and not drinking at all, oh no, as you can see from this photo):

Photograph © Brendan Barry

And after the reception was over, Jamie and I decided to go out for some proper dancing in an Indie club. And that's the last I remember...

A Day in Pictures (3)

Life is moving too fast for me to keep up with blogging at the moment, I have so many things I want to write about but I'm so exhausted by the end of the day that I can't summon the energy to write. I'm going to try and make more of an effort, I promise.

In the meantime, we've had another glorious summer's day here (which was not at all marred by the 4.15am wake-up call from the nursery), full of family and loveliness and the crazy adventures of a brand-new toddler. Lots of photos, so here's another day in pictures.

J-cub getting to know his Great-Grandad. He lives in Gravesend so we don't get to see him very often, but he adores J-cub to pieces

80-odd years difference

J-cub with his Great-Auntie Pauline, who objects enough to the term 'Auntie' when used by her niece and nephew, and is mercilessly teased with her new position as a Great-Aunt

Maeby had been curled up fast asleep in the shade under a tree in the garden, when she suddenly leapt up and started stalking something around the (entirely land-locked) garden. Close examination found it was a frog who seemed to be suffering an identity crisis - he squeaked loudly every time the cats came near him. This mouse-like behaviour strangely did not deter them

By the time the afternoon rolled around, J-cub had refused to go to sleep and was suffering in the heat - it was 25 degrees even in the living room which tends to be cooler than anywhere else. He screamed if we tried to encourage him to do anything other than sit on us and watch CBeebies. So that's what we did

A little later on, some Calpol and some chocolate cake started to perk him up a bit

Toddling around on our gaming duvet

Giraffe-mania: J-cub sporting his giraffe ears, and holding Jemaine, Not-Jemaine (who I'll write about soon) and his new friend Olaf who came all the way back from Auntie Rachel's holiday in France

When the afternoon cooled down a bit we went for ever such a long walk to the shop to buy Welsh cakes, then to the pond to see the ducks, then back home. J-cub walked all the way, apart from when a nasty gravel path bit his knees and he had to be carried onto the grass

Looking at the ducklings

Quack!

Walking excitedly towards a bench...

...and getting a bit close to the birdies

Just before bedtime J-cub disappeared into the hall, a shriek of delight and several thumps later he knee-walked back in with a football he'd unearthed. It was very exciting and his Daddy was very proud

After listening to J-cub playing in the cot and refusing to go to sleep for nearly 2 hours, we finally managed to eat dinner and settled down to an evening of Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the associated Nintendonitis

Despite it still being 23 degrees in the living room, Rachel is happily sitting on her cushion wrapped in the gaming duvet as I type. Jamie is 'helping' her, and I'm itching to watch the finale of Doctor Who. We're planning on getting up really early in the morning to go to the beach before it gets too hot, before returning via an NCT Nearly New sale and then coming home to watch some sort of relatively important football match which is apparently on.

Goodnight ;)

A Day in Pictures (2)

We've had such a lovely day today, and I had too many photos to choose from, so I'm doing another day in pictures. Last night was awful - we've had 2 nights of pure, unbroken sleep from 7pm-7am, which has obviously lulled us into a false sense of security which needed shaking up. We put J-cub down at 8pm last night, he immediately fell asleep but woke up 10 minutes later and grizzled and groaned and descended into full-blown screaming over the course of the next hour. We gave up and brought him down for some extra playtime. At 10.30pm, he went back to bed, and eventually drifted off. Result, we thought, that means a lie-in tomorrow morning.

J-cub hadn't finished toying with us though. At 3.30am, the screaming started again. We were up, and down, and rubbing his back, and cuddling him, and trying everything under the sun to get him to go back to sleep. I don't know when he did, I just know that I've once again been floating on a cloud of exhaustion today (and he wouldn't go down for his afternoon nap, just when we really needed a break).

It didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves though...

J-cub having his first go on the climbing frame. It's built in a square, with different surfaces and sides on each section. He went round and round and round, while we ran round the edge to block the exits and stop him from falling off.

Crawling through the tunnel, full of giggles.

Riding a very evil looking horse.

My favourite moment - we walked round to the park for the first time with J-cub between us, holding our hands. He got tired a few times and we carried him for a while, then he'd be back down for another go. It's like we're proper parents all of a sudden.

New walking skill - holding just one hand.

Bad Mummy - J-cub's first taste of ice-cream (and it was a Magnum - nothing but the best for our boy).

Picking the flowers.

Adapting our game from a few days ago - "What's in the boot?".

Covering the car with a sarong makes it even more exciting.

Building a den under the Jumperoo.

Rescuing Jemaine from inside the den.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today's Look Up photo: J-cub enjoying the swing with tiny chuckles and wide-mouthed grins, lots of pointing and staring up at the sky.

A Day in Pictures

I've started writing about 20 different blog posts today, but gave up on all of them. Instead, I've decided to share some of the hundreds of photos I take of my boy each day. Today has been (of course) marred by coughing, runny nose, diarrhoea and vomiting. When will it end???

We've still managed to have a lovely day though. I thought maybe there were too many photos here to post, but I don't really care. This blog is for me, as well as you, and I like them. So there.

07:00 Up at the crack of dawn, we decide to beat the Easter crowds and get our shopping done early after dropping Jamie off at the train station to go to Manchester to see his beloved United

07:15 - J-cub has a power nap

07:45 - Home and smug with all the shopping done

12:41 - J-cub is feeling poorly and hungry and tired

13:02 - Happily eating rice-cake, houmous and salmon before being sick everywhere

13:20 - Back to his favourite spot, resting on his fleece blanket

13:32 - Streaming with cold

13:34 - Playing some music

13:38 - Tired and grumpy and ready for bed

15:04 - J-cub went down for his nap at 13:45. At 14:30, after my lunch, I went back to bed too. It takes me ages to fall asleep, and I was just dropping off when I heard him banging around. New favourite game = balancing Things on Other Things. Jemaine and Blue Ted on the cot rail.

15:05 - Slapping the wall (J-cub is experienced at making the most noise possible in his cot)

15:06 - Waving for the camera

15:36 - More balancing - squishy ball on the back of the chair...

15:37 - ...and dummy on the back of the chair

16:42 - Walk to the duckpond with giraffe ears in place to quell the angry sobs caused by having his nappy changed

16:43 - I join in the giraffe-ear fun. I meant just to walk to the duckpond and back, but he kept looking up at me with such delight that I kept on walking. We walked for an hour, all around the woods surrounding our village. I was unprepared for the mud (wearing suede boots), the 2 massive hills (forgot my inhaler) and the effort of the walk (I managed to switch the Mei Tai from my front to my back without taking J-cub out, never done that before). We saw 2 ducks and 3 dogs and it was VERY exciting

18:06 - Tea of toast, yoghurt and pear to prevent any further bad tummyness. J-cub adores pears.