Dear James.... (part 2)

You are now 1, you have started the second year of your life!  I hope for you that it is as fun and full of learning and changes as your first year was.

I thought I would take the opportunity to record some James details and perhaps share some pics from your little birthday party.

You weigh in at just over 9lb or 1 stone 4.  As your Aunty Ali says - quite the arm work out.  As you enjoy to fly through the air either in a  swing or pretend plane or pretend drop by us it really is quite the arm toning session!

Cuddles with Fat Bert

You stand at 72cm tall.  We measured you last night and marked it on a door, a new tradition that your dad and I will do every year around your birthday and subsequent siblings too.  We shall have quite the collection in 20 years time!

You have an amazing 11 teeth, the last 3 all molars have come through in the last 3 weeks. Ouch!  You enjoy brushing your teeth but we have to distract you with another toothbrush so we can actually do the job properly.

You crawl very well now and can get up quite some speed when it suits you.  Your standing and walking get better day by day. You enjoy heading up and down the hallway with your walker and have a great smile on your face as you manoeuvre up and down, though woe betide anything or one that gets in your way as you just ram it or them until it moves or we move you.

You love the bath, in fact you love the bathroom.  To the point that you cry if we remove you.  Soon you will learn that parents need some private time in the bathroom and it is not a spectator sport....!

You understand the words push, arms (when getting dressed), cuddles and up. Cat is probably a favourite word and they have learned - very quickly - how speedy you can be now you are crawling.  Sadly neither have realised there is an escape route open to them, the back door, and for a couple of evenings recently you and Toby have been back and forth up the hall and into the lounge while he thinks he can hide behind the hall curtain and on the lounge windowsill while you follow and see him immediately.  Poor Toby!

We have all enjoyed celebrating your birthday this weekend and you have been blessed with some thoughtful and generous gifts.  You have played with them all and seem to find them all equally interesting, though the bath ones are probably high up on your list.
Your dad and I were overjoyed at all the noisy ones you received and are sad to say that we may not have batteries in the house for the next few, well, years...!

We headed out to The New Forest Wildlife Park on Friday and took a slightly chilly stroll round all the animals, you enjoy watching and chatting to the otters and we managed to stroll round the deer park without one stealing anything from my handbag this time!  Our afternoon and evening were pretty chilled out but we did sing Happy Birthday to you while you wondered why we were making such a fuss!

A homemade James sized cake

Unsure about the candle!

But happy to eat the cake

At the last moment, while doing paper plates and napkin research I decided we'd go for The Hungry Caterpillar theme for your party on Saturday and set too purchasing appropriate plates, cups, napkins...  Having done a little research on Pinterest I decided to theme the food towards the food from the book too.  The end of last week saw me whipping up various batches of cakes and doing a slightly peculiar shop in Sainsburys!  But it was definitely worth it, I was very proud of what I achieved and our guests were very complimentary.  I think that maybe you were impassive to the most but the balloons you did enjoy batting about for most of the weekend.

The table

Our family!

Happy Birthday my love and here's to another wonderful year,

Mumma xx

Dear James... (part 1)

Dear James,

You in your first few moments

How strange it is to be writing a letter to you.  One short year ago we had no idea whether you were going to be a James or a (insert girls name, ours remains under wraps in case you have a little sister one day) and now a year later it is as though you have always been here. 

We are now a beautiful family of 3.

Your dad and my life has changed in so many ways; we now get excited if we're asleep when the clock has a 7 at the beginning to name but one! 

During your first year...

We have moved to a new house, many of your nap times I spent packing up books and kitchenware and then unpacking because I needed something I had already packed...  As we were moving it made me sad that you will have no memory of our old house, your dad and I have many fond memories there, it is where your dad proposed to me and the house we brought you home too when you were 2 days old but I am sure one day we will drive past and share the stories with you.

Your dad has changed job and now has a very poncy job title, Deputy Head of Commercial Development, and I have had a promotion too.  I have gone back to work and you have settled well into the new routine that involves nursery and childcare from your Granny C, you also get to spend a day with your dad which I think is great for both of you.  I think you have fared best with this new arrangement, lots of attention all for you while I have felt torn with work, keeping house and looking after you and your dad.  It is more because I like things to be just so and it has been a big change but we are all getting there! I definitely value my time with you 100% more now that it is more limited.

We have taken you on 2 holidays! The first was to the Isle of Wight where you experienced sand and the sea for the first time, you were fascinated by the sand and non-plussed by the sea.  Your dad and I took you to lots of different places.

The sea

The sand

And the wallaby

The second was down to Granny C's "van" in Highcliffe.  We had a great week, we took you to Monkey World where you loved watching all the different species moving around and we took you "swimming" most days.  We fed the swans and I indulged in some knitting and cake eating while your dad managed to read the paper!

We shall go to the latter a lot more over the next few years and I hope to provide you with occasion to make many happy memories.








Thank you dear boy of ours for enriching our lives, we love you so very much and look forward for every year to come as we watch you grow and learn

Mumma xx