Gums no more!

Yes, this is a blog about my little boy and it may be trivial to you, but as for as our family records go, its a big one... Our baby has just gotten his first tooth! After many days of red cheeks, sore gums and lots of munching on hard objects (as shown) our Adam has his first baby tooth on his bottom jaw, at the front. He certainly has been getting his daily does of calcium, but breastfeeding may come to a very abrupt halt if more teeth follow. Just in time really as he already has a passion for meatballs, bread, fruit and vegetables. Gums just weren't cutting it (no pun intended) when it came to dinner time, and you can only suck on tough food for so long! Both mum and dad are over the moon, and are already saving for future visits by the tooth fairy!

Invasion of Giant Peppers!

Walkers Crisps are creating a new advert to promote its Vote for your Favourite Flavour idea, where are they filming this? Hollywood? Pinewood Studios? No Barking High Street! Extras included giant chips, peppers, ladies in Chinese dress and men in Hi-Vis jackets. Having seen the advert in production I'm keen to see the finished result and desperate to see if the Sense International Shop makes it into any of the frames - the shop is directly behind the action.

Oh and yes I've entered my flavour too - well its a competition!

BabyWatch

Adam was born under the star sign of Aquarius (the watercarrier), so it was so apt that last weekend we took Adam swimming. Armed with his swimming nappy and dark blue Bob the Builder swimsuit, with orange high visibility arms, he was dressed for the part!

At first all the ruckus, in and around the pool, had Adam spooked and he was all too keen to give and receive some very serious and tight cuddles. Turning away from the screaming children and active parents, but looking over my shoulder to keep any eye on activities. When he sat down in the calm of the isolated baby pool and began splashing about, giving Adam praise for whenever he copied us, he didn't take long to get into the spirit of the swimming pool.

Within minutes and without prompting he began crawling across the circular pool, from shallow edges to deep centre, pausing to notice the water being circulated, then across to shallows of the other side, then back again.

When a baby girl joined him, using the tiny slide to slip into the shallow water with him, Adam was transfixed. The baby girl after three slides, some kicking splashes and a tumble, toddled off into the shallows of the main swimming pool with her mum.

Adam was then ready to follow the crowd and head into the adult pool. We first sat as a family in the shallows, getting him used to the ripples, waves and splashes of other swimmers. Then we took him into the deep end of the pool, so that Odette and I could stand up and support his first attempts to swim. Holding Adam at arms length, his back against our chest, we took it in turns to let him splash and kick for all he was worth. Then, after a little break, we then put him in the water on his back and instructed him to kick, left, right, left, right - which he did like a real trooper. Then on his belly, head just out of the water, he’d splash and kick, soaking everyone around him.
Had we the courage to let him go, I’m certain Adam would have swam off into the distance!

Odette and I had a wonderful time, but I think Adam got the biggest kick from watching slightly older boys and girls put their splashes to more effective use and you could see his brain ticking, trying to work out why their splashes generated movement, whilst his splashes just wet his face.

After drying off, we headed home to de-chlorinate and have some dinner. We had expected Adam to collapse with exhaustion, but no, like the Duracell Bunny that he is, he kept on going until 20:30hrs and this morning he was up before Odette or I.

Steady steady

Adam has just set a new personal best with 10 Minutes of sitting up unsupported. I've mixed feelings about this as it was my 'Well Done!' that shocked him and caused a startled tumble back onto the mattress and prematurely ended his practice session.

Sadly no awards for such skill, just a 6 ounce bottle of Mothers Best Milk and a cuddle of course!

With a very heavy heart and much sadness, on the 3rd of July 2008, at approximately 6pm Odette, Adam and I said our fond farewells to Harry our beloved cat for the very last time.

In the short time that we knew and loved Harry, he transformed himself from a grubby diesel covered outdoor cat, who didn't know how to play or even clean himself, into a very hygienic indoor cat that not only enjoyed to play. but spent most of his time sleeping on the leather sofa,
which I'm sure reminded him of his former favourite spot - on the seat of a motorbike).

Harry has been such a real wonder and a true member of our family, he has always had a place in my heart, but that place was made even larger when he became lovingly protective towards our newborn son. Harry is in almost every photo of Adam and I fondly recall when I gave Harry a stroke and cuddle and he spent all the time checking me over and licking me clean before I went near our newborn son.

No one knows just how old Harry actually was, having been previously abandoned and adopted. But he seemed to have a newfound life and playfulness when he moved in to our new home with us. It was therefore very hard when, following a suspected stroke that appeared to have caused Harry some physical distress and blindness in one eye, Harry's health deteriorated quickly over the following weeks, leaving him disorientated and frightened, unable to recognise us at times. It was a painful and hard decision to euthanise Harry, but I hope it was the right decision for him.

The vet carried out a mini funeral ceremony for Harry and explained that the last senses he would be aware of, were sound and touch. So while talking to him gently, and stroking him, he was put to sleep.

He'll be missed for some time yet, and we're lucky to have so many photos of him as a happy and loved housecat.

BRAKE!!!

What is wrong with this picture? Look carefully at the parked vehicles, especially the Van. Did you notice the strange hatch openning and the '80s robot popping out its head?! Don't get excited kids, that isn't Wall-e. Parent's don't get hyper, it isn't Johnny5 from Short Circuit either. No this is in fact a clearly marked Speed Camera Van - you can tell because of the high visability stripes... oh, er no its unmarked. Well you can tell because of the clear and quite large sign on the, oh er no there isn't one either. Once you pass the van you can see a small poster on the drivers door!

Its parked off the road too, so you wouldn't notice it when driving. Well at least it comes in standard livery of, oh er, they can be white, red, blue or any colour, great. Don't they have to be noticable, like bright yellow/orange gatso cameras or something?!

Right, if you see a car in front of you slamming on its brakes then its because they've just noticed a camera and don't know what the speed limit is on that road or what speed they were travelling at.

Can we please all agree to fit tracking and tacho equipment so we can get these accident causing death traps off our streets!

Homosexuality can be cured

I've just read two separate articles and I'm really annoyed at present. Just when I thought equality was within man's* grasp, someone goes and digs up old Nazi ideas like 'solving genetic flaws'. The latest scientific report annoys me beyond belief not just because it is bad science, which is actually being written about in respected scientific journals, magazines and BBC website, but that the editors of these forms of media don't object themselves to the vitriol in the article, I quote... "Homosexuality can be ‘switched on and off’ by mutating just one gene. Research at the University of Illinois shows that male fruit flies with a mutation in the ‘genderblind’ gene can’t smell the difference between males and females. The [flies] get over-stimulated by pheromones released by other males, who they then attempt to court and copulate with. Genderblind mutants have a malfunctioning nervous system: glial cells normally soak up excess neurotransmitter from around synapses, but in mutants their broken transporters don’t allow enough uptake, so the neurones get over excited. The researchers say that the genderblind gene is similar to xCT genes in mammals, adding to the debate on whether homosexuality is inherited and if humans possess a ‘gay gene’. Pardon?! The first line/heading is a lie. Just to clarify, their own evidence states that it doesn't turn fruit flies Gay, it just makes then think that males are really females - because they smell sexy. Now for me there is a world of difference between males finding males attractive, or just misreading the signals. Secondly what is the difference between a gay gene or inheritance, I assume they are the same thing, unless you can leave homosexuality in your will?! Now why is anyone trying to isolate the gay gene, does it really matter. I love my four month old son with all my heart and if he turns out to be gay, I'll still feel the same way about him and I hope when I'm a grumpy old man I will still want the same things for him in the future - a good life and that he'll meet someone special to share his experiences with, I don't care if its a man or woman, as long as they love him as much as I do. I really thought we, as a society, had come to terms with living in a world filled with variety, colour and a wide range of sexual orientations. That we could now move on to higher and better challenges. Instead I find myself having to dig around in preparation for some felt fabric to start making yellow patches in the shape of the Star of St David and pink triangle patches. Do we never learn from the mistakes of the past?!

*The real meaning of the word man, as in Mankind, which includes woman and man.

Its Snowing!

Yes I'm talking about the weather but I'm british, so I'm allowed and anyhow this blog is really for Greg, who has spent many a recent day trying to clear snowdrifts in near whiteout conditions, over in the United States.

Here in merry old England the weather is much milder. Witness here the snow, this is the second day of it and not a single flake has settled yet - but I bet somewhere a TV presenter is pushing all the flakes together to create a suitable backdrop to his/her report on "the terrible weather we are having and the predicted traffic problems".

I'm so glad that the snow isn't hanging about, as I would hate to slip and slide on ice or slush whilst carrying our new born son.

Such a proud Father

I'm so proud, our four week old son has just done his first set of push-ups whilst trying to crawl. I've put a video of it on myspace and it has to be watched to be appreciated, I say push and up he goes. I love our son so much!

Tomorrow karate lessons and training for the Olympics ;-)

Spot the baby

This is Adam in the Out'n'about Nipper 360 (the most macho 3 wheeler pram a man can get). Just in case there was any doubt, we've gone for the British DPM cammo baby snuggle. If you look carefully you can just about spot our baby.

The first trip out in the pram started, consisted of, and ended in, tears. I'm not sure if its the pram, the cammo or the off-road route, but he wasn't happy. As you can see from the red face here, he wasn't happy about being in the pram just for a moment today either.

Mum is now housebound, until about form of baby transport can be arranged.

I'm not fat I'm big boned

The 1st of March 2008 and proud mum & dad are very pleased to announce, having just had a visit from the midwife with her scales, that our bouncing baby boy is doing very well and has gained 9 ounces in just five days - well on target to become a chubba like his dad.

Having breast fed and knowing that modern weight gain guidelines are actually based on powered milk results (which aren't so good for health, but do put the pounds on), mum is very pleased to find that Breast is actually best.

Let's hope that this elated feeling lasts, at least long enough to mask the future back aches we'll get from carrying around our little chubba.

Don't believe the hype

It is a great track from Public Enemy, and also good advice, especially when it comes to the media coverage about the QE2 Bridge, which spans over the Thames in Dartford. You see when the QE2 bridge was first built, the local public were told that a toll fee for crossing it would be payable, this funding would be used to maintain the bridge and once the bridge had been paid for, future crossings would be free. So we all waiting and counted down the days, I like so many other people spent £500 a year on toll fees getting to and from work and the shops, but we were happy knowing that one day we'd enjoy the free bridge.

In 2003 it actually happened, well the paying off of the debt bit that is. The toll fees stayed, in fact the costs of such have gone up a few times since it began. So why isn't it free to use a bridge we already paid for? You'll have to ask the Government, who chose to continue getting cash from drivers or at least pay Le Crossing to do so on the Department of transport's behalf. But fear not, there is now a new idea to make the QE2 Bridge more environmentally friendly, a plan so simple an idiot could have come up with it and probably did. Ready, brace yourself they are going to...
Charge drivers £1.50 instead of £1.

But wait there is even better news if you are a moron, local residents will only be charged 40p per journey (20p each way), the catch is that they need to buy 50 journeys worth of credit at the start of each year (earning Le Crossing extra interest on £10 per resident). So the number of local people travelling across the bridge will go up and because of all this added congestion, we all sit in a longer queue pumping out fumes into Dartford & Thurrock and eating up more costly fuel, which adds to the income from fuel tax.

Hmmm perhaps they aren't so silly after all! If anyone with a bit of power and integrity is reading this, here's a better idea...
Make the crossing free to all and build a bridge that bicycles and walkers could use.

Dr Who Equipment is biological

Today I discovered a T.A.R.D.I.S in the form of our little baby boy. Although small and cute outside, inside must be massive in order to house the amount of wind he releases after every feed. Thankfully there is a cure for all this trapped wind called 'Daddy Bounces'. Daddy Bounces consists of gentle movements up and down whilst our son rest on my knee or arm, with all this happening whilst baby is in a perfectly vertical position. I've therefore come to the conclusion that the perfect gift for new parents is either a pogo-stick or trampoline. Oh, that and blankets.

When we first started equipping the nursery we both went out and bought rather a lot of blankets each as well as other baby essentials and when we put our baby items together we thought it foolish of us to have bought so many of the same items. However, with baby excretions now coming out of every orifice at a phenomenal rate, we find ourselves wishing we had more - the majority of blankets are in the wash, in the dryer or being removed so that they may be washed & dried.

Oh, don't forget to obtain and use vest and socks for baby, worn under his or her sleepsuit. These really are another must have item, it makes changing nappies/diapers so much easier. When you have to undress your little bundle of joy it stops them from getting cold and screaming the house down as a result. It also means that when you do have to remove outer clothing, which is wet (for one of five possible reasons), baby doesn't mind as much.

As you see from the photo, I'm now just waiting until our little boy can challenge me on a console game - I just hope that I can lose gracefully!

On Tuesday the 19th of February 2008, a little bundle of joy was brought into the world by my wife. Weighing a healthy 8 pounds and 13 ounces, Adam, was actually a ceasarean birth, having failed to make an appearance after many hours of labour at home in the birthing pool. Mum & Baby are now resting in hospital after their huge ordeal and both will be home on Friday.

Mr & Mrs Pease

On Saturday the 16th of February 2008, Michelle Bilby & Rob Pease were married at Ashwells in Brentwood. For me the best part was gaining a little brother (in-law) who I can torment - just kidding. The whole event went really well, Michelle looked stunning and as with everything she turns her hand to, the whole day ran like clockwork. I won't bore you with family talk, suffice to say the venue was lovely and staff extremely helpful. We arrived home and at 4am Odette went into labour!

Photo's from the day taken by myself can be found at...
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Clive.Bilby/

Professional photo's and those taken by other guests will probably appear on Rob's page.