Happy Christmas Everyone!

Firstly a big thank you to everyone for the cards and gifts. Caiden has really enjoyed his first Christmas and has had some brill things. We went up to Wales on the 22nd and stayed until Christmas day, after dinner of course. On Christmas eve we went out into Bangor and my folks looked after sproggy. Had a great time over the whole trip, including our return last night for a party near Bangor. I've put a few pictures on from the festive season. One of Caiden in his first Stoke City kit we bought for him, one of Caiden and me with my Nana, one of my goose dinner and one of Caiden in his Bumbo chair with his wooden crocodile. Happy Christmas to everyone and a happy new year.

Caiden finally meets Lisa and David

My cousin Lisa and her husband David have just been round to visit Caiden. They live so close just outside Stone but we hardly ever meet up. Hopefully we'll try harder in the new year.

Visit to Chez Jackson

Caiden and myself went to my Aunt,Uncle and cousin's house on the Wirral yesterday for a pre Crimbo visit. Their elder son Richard was there too with his daughter Emma. Had a lovely day despite the drive in the ice and fog. Took a picture of Caiden with Emma and one of everyone together.

Caiden's First Curry.............of many

Caiden had his first taste of a real curry for his lunch. Left overs of Rob and my dinner last night. A traditional African butter bean curry. It was spicier than some of my mates will eat it and he really enjoyed it. Here he is polishing off his helping with some cous cous.

Something silly yet practical

I discovered today while trying to prepare my lunch that a little used coffee pot makes a great vessel for jugging kippers. And very nice they were too.

Caiden Meets Santa

Just been to the Meynell kids Christmas party. We have to wrap Caiden a little gift for santa to give him. He got a Balamory dvd which is his fave prog on Cbeebies. Had a lovely time with all the other children too and we all got little prezzies from the pub and free food. This would never have happened last year with the old Landlord. The new people are so good to their customers. The older kids who played games even got prezzies too from the pub. Here's Caiden getting his gift and then unwrapping it with me.

Ste's Birthday night at The Meynell

Had a great night out last night at The Meynell for our mate Ste's 30th. There was much rejoicing and karaoke and dancing etc. Had a brilliant night. Just put a few pictures on of the evening of lads doing the karaoke and one of me with Emily and Laura. Caiden spent the night with his Nana and Grandad and slept through like a good boy.

Friends For Dinner

We had two school chums here this weekend, Jennifer and Alex. I made a crumble topped beef pie and some chocolate puddings for afters. Caiden had a nice time too with lots of fuss and attention. Think I probably had a little too much wine as I was feeling a bit ill this morning, but better now and looking forward to my nursery lunch of crispy pancakes with beans. Yum yum, just what the doctor ordered. Took a picture of us last night, I look dreadful, note to self this blue top washes me out something rotten. I like it too.

Caiden's First Oatcakes

Thought I'd include a picture of Caiden having his first Staffordshire oatcake meal. He had a blended version of our dinner from last night, baked oatcakes with roasted veg and cheese. He loved it and ate nearly two portions. Can't remember if I mentioned his health visitor appointment already, but he's 15lb 12. At the moment he is transfixed by In the Night Garden on CBeebies. Spoke too soon, he's seen me sitting here and is now complaining.

Caiden visits the reindeer.

We took Caiden to see some reindeer last night at a garden center in Clayton. I did take a picture of him by the enclosure but it didn't come out, so here's a picture of the animals. One was obviously very bored as it was pacing up and down, but they were only there for a few days. Caiden was fascinated by them, think maybe it was the antlers.
Other news, I've got a horrid cold now. Really throaty and nasty, worst one for ages. Hopefully it'll pass before the weekend when we have friends come for a meal on Saturday night.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree......

We couldn't be bothered waiting so we put up our Christmas tree. Here it is with all my wrapped gifts underneath. It's December, yippee!

I Have You in My Sights!

Thought I'd put this picture on I took last night of Caiden eying up the poor cat. I think the fact that the red eye reduction didn't work makes it better. I've also put one on of him having his lunch after a 3h power nap. He'd been feeling very poorly and had woken up with a very sore throat. He wouldn't eat his breakfast, so I gave him his milk and a dose of Calpol. He went out like a light and stayed asleep until I got him up for lunch. He was then chirpy all day. I took him to a pet shop just to look at the animals. He was fascinated by the rabbits. Don't worry Mum and Dad not going to buy another Louie, just yet. May get him a little fish tank though for his room after Crimbo.
The mink is presumed dead as Kanoute has moved out again, he just turns up once a day for lunch. Think we have quite a quiet weekend ahead really. I'm feeling quite smug as I've bought and wrapped nearly all our Christmas gifts. Think I've got one or two little things left to get now. Have a good weekend.

Serbian Meal

I've decided that each Monday when we have our 'random country' night with Anna and Derrick that I should take a picture for the blog. Last night we had Serbian home made sausages, made with beef and lamb and various spices served in pittas with a traditional Serbian salad. It was very yummy.

Finally got on the blog

I've been trying to blog for a week nearly and the page just said 'connection interrupted'. Cheeky t'internet. Anyhoo, been quite bust recently. We had some family portraits done this weekend which had been a birthday present for Anna. One thing I forgot to put on the last blog was that we'd had a visitor in the garden, a mink. I've put a picture of it on. A mate of ours also saw it in his garden on Sunday and shot it. Quite glad as they are very dangerous. Other animal news, Kanoute has moved in and even has his own bed in the kitchen, I've put a picture of that on too. The only thing with Kanoute is that he's not been in for a few days as we had a roof man here mending the gutters and he had a cable through the cat flap. Kanoute scarpered and has not been back as the cable jammed the cat flap. This also had the down side of Suzy not being able to get out and subsequently doing a poo in the bath. Clever puss though doing it in the bath and not on the bed or carpet. 10 out of 10 for initiative! Caiden is well and is now 7 months old. He's being very experimental with his food and is still sleeping well through the night. I've also put a picture of him on from the other day eating his favourite brekkie, Weetabix with banana and milk. Hope everyone is well.xx

Baby Cage

Here's Caiden in his early Christmas prezzie from my folks. A play pen come fire guard, it's great and lets him see out much better than the travel cot he'd been playing in before.
We've not been up to a huge amount since the last blog, just general business and some Christmas shopping. had a productive shop in Hanley on Saturday and managed to buy most of our prezzies and I've wrapped them. Highly organised me! Well with some things more than others, usually the least important.
On Monday we had our weekly 'random country meal night' with Anna and Derrick. We pick a country out of the 'hat' and I cook up a traditional meal each Monday. We had Holland this week and next week it's Serbia. Should be fun. Not to optimistic about Guam!

Busy Weekend

Rob and myself went to a wedding this weekend, his mate Craig and his girlfriend (now wife) Jess. It was a lovely day, despite the freezing weather and rain. It was all indoors inside Crewe Hall, which would be a much prettier building had the Victorians not got their hands on it. If you've been you'll know what I mean. Caiden spent the day and night with Anna and Derrick and apart from a late night he behaved and slept though for them, well done Caiden. Like I mentioned briefly before, he's now started crawling, well sort of shuffling. He can really get about at an alarming rate. He's also had a lovely cold kindly donated by his cousin Liam. So snot and grumping all round. I've put a picture on today of the happy couple Craig and Jess and one of Rob and me.

Quickie Bloggie

He's crawling! - cue film suspense music

Close Encounters of the Feline Kind

Here's Caiden this evening having a nose to nose with Suzy who was at the time to trying convince anyone who she could find that she was suffering from the debilitating feline illness of 'empty bowl syndrome' Caiden of course was unable to assist. On the weening front, he's now having slightly lumpier food now. We sometimes have coughing issues and retching but overall he's doing well. I discovered that he loves pesto sauce and also Nutella when he stuck his hand in my toast this morning. He certainly liked the outcome when sucking his fingers afterwards. We're off to a wedding on Saturday of one of Rob's mates. I hadn't got anything to wear for a wedding so I had to pop to the life saver of all skint people Tesco and buy a little black dress, which is actually lovely and will do for lots of things. Will post pictures after the weekend. Caiden will be spending Saturday and overnight at his Nana and Grandad's around the corner, hopefully he'll behave again and his nasty cold will have gone. Happy Christmas shopping to you all!!

Feeding himself, sort of

Here's Caiden this morning feeding himself with his handled bottle. He was quite good but did get a bit lazy from time to time and then threw it on the floor. But it's a start.

Lunch Update

Just as a follow on from the previous post. Caiden hated his roast squash and screamed so much I had to take him out of the chair and give him just milk. He then fell asleep. So maybe not total hatred of squash but just tiredness. Silly baby will have to have something else for lunch later.

Caiden's Halloween Pumpkin

Here's Caiden with his pussy cat jack-o-lantern. Didn't want to make it too scary. Quite a good one really as they eyes I cut out made good cat ears. He seemed to like it anyway. He's even got a miniature autumn squash for his lunch, roasted with olive oil garlic and rosemary. Blended to a pulp obviously.

Just stuff

Caiden had a health visitor visit on Monday and was weighed for the first time in ages. He's 15lb 1 now and is going up nicely on his growth curve. Now he's over six months he's having more variety in his food and enjoying petit filous for pudding. His Nana has bought him a pumpkin for Halloween which I shall cave into a funny face. Hope it doesn't scare him. Took this picture this afternoon of Caiden in his bouncer. I videoed him too as he found it hilarious when I jumped in front of him.

Weekend in Wales

Just got back from Llanfairfechan after a good but windy weekend. Bloody hell it blew a gale over night on Saturday! Caiden didn't sleep well as it was so noisy. Didn't do a huge amount really but did go to see my school chum Emma who's just had a baby girl called Sali Mair five weeks ago. I've put a picture up of them. We also went to see my Nana and Rob and his parents went to collect their boat from Pwllhelli for storage over winter. We got stuck in the ludicrous A55 traffic on the way home. Got a few busy weekends planned now as Rob has a stag do next weekend and then the wedding the following weekend. Busy busy busy!

What a Bargain!

Bought these in a junk shop in Bedford this week while with Kate for less than £10! They're 6 Royal Doulton dinner plates with their matching serving dishes. What a bargain, I love them. I also got some beautiful silver plated serving spoons and some other bits and bobs all for just over £10!! I love junk shops! Off to Wales this afternoon to see my parents, sounds like it's going to be a bit blowy in North Wales this weekend.

I'm staying in Bedford with Kate until Thursday as it's her half term hols. Brett took this last night of Caiden and me. The meat feast on Saturday went well except for being ill after too much champers. Whoops! Caiden spent his first night at his Nana's on Saturday and it was a success. Slept right through. Good lad.

Our Game Feast

Vegetarians look away now! Tomorrow we're having some friends round for dinner and we'll be consuming a feast of local game. Here is the plate of the dead in all its glory. The rabbit on the top is not moldy by the way its the only bit that has been in the freezer and still has a few bits of ice on it. Can't wait!

Snoozy Rob with his Mini Me!

Just took this of Rob with Caiden on the sofa having a doze. Thought it was very cute.

Cot Success

Here is Caiden first thing this morning having slept from about 9 until 8 in this cot without the moses basket. What a good boy!

Blog slackness rears its ugly head once more

Sorry not done this for ages again. On the Caiden front he is now moving about, well sort of. He rolls around and can find his way from where you put him down to another area of the room alarmingly quickly. He is still sleeping in his room, but an attempt to get him to sleep in the actual cot failed last night as he threw up all over the cot sheet as we put him in bed. Everything else is ok here i think. Suzy has a new bed, which she actually loves. It is an old wooden box with a rather expensive faux fur cushion inside. She has no room to sleep in now at night as Caiden's room is shut, the lounge is shut to stop the hamster being eaten and our door is closed most nights so as she likes this old box Rob bought a nice soft cushion for it. I've posted a pictue of her in her posh bed and two of Caiden. He's coming up to six months now!! Can you believe it?!

He's a big boy now!

Here's Caiden this morning after his second successful night in his own room. We have no cot sheets yet so he's in his basket in the cot, but he's slept like a log for two nights. What a good boy. He's always like this when you get him up, so you can't sneak in without him noticing if he's awake.

Kate's Birthday

We have spent the weekend at Kate's for her birthday party. It had a 90s theme and I dressed as Madonna. Rob bought a Nirvana t shirt and some black combats and a pack of glow sticks. Caiden was a bit of a pest as his lunch had disagreed with him and he spent the evening throwing up and crying. Obviously not his fault really. We all had a great time except on Sunday morning when I had to don the rubber gloved and unblock Kate's toilet u bend as someone had stuffed a whole quilted loo roll in it! They had also smeared sick all over the bathroom. Lovely these house parties! Anyway a good time was had by all. here's me in my Madonna gear. I didn't take any pictures so I got this one from a mate. Caiden is still loving his solids, the faves at the mo' are banana for brekkie and sweet potato for dinner (with garlic of course)!

Wilease Woger

Suzy brought us a lovely little rodent last night.I thought he was at deaths door but decided to put him in a cardboard box with some hamster food and a bit of bedding. We left him to it over night and in the morning he'd made a full recovery so he was released. Here he is in the morning having made a lovely nest.

My posh lunch

I decided to make myself something posh today, so when I went to the market I bought some huge prawns, they were so fresh and yummy looking. I had them with a warm potato and spinach salad with garlic mayo and organic toms! Yum yum, if I do say so myself.

Plums

Here's Caiden this morning after his breakfast. He had some stewed plum, which he liked, but was not overly keen on. Anyway, the main issue is what happens when plums are mixed with babies. A large mess is what happens! It looks like I've been attacking him! Everything else ok with Caiden at the mo. He loves his food and only seems to dislike Cauliflower so far. His fave is banana and carrot with garlic. He does love garlicy things, like his parents.

Lunch

Here's Caiden after his lunch today, no need to say it had carrot in! It was actually a jar, when he had some last night he was not very impressed so I grated a bit of garlic in this time and it went down better. He had managed to cover himself in it though.

Food Time

It was decided at 5am that after another restless night for Caiden it was time to give him a go with something more solid. So out came the baby rice this morning. Overall it was a success. He didn't have much but what he did have he seemed to enjoy. There was quite a lot of grinning anyway. I'll give him a bit more with his lunch time milk too. Here he is after his first ever helping of solids.

One of those situations

Just a quick blog to report an incident from last night which was one of those situations where you have no idea what to do! Caiden was asleep in his basket and I was just off to bed. I came into the bedroom to check on him and found him snoring with a huge ( I do mean huge) house spider sitting on his head. In my silly mode I decided that the best thing to do was grab my camera but when I returned, the spid had scuttled to the other end of the basket. I decided to abandon the photo opportunity and try to remove it. He did at least 6 laps of the basket, pursued by my hands before whizzing up the wall. He was finally trapped in a glass and released. Caiden slept through the whole thing.

Suzy's Sleeping Bag

Suzy has decided that as Kieran and Matthew's sleeping bags have been put away, she needs here own. Fortunately she has stumbled across this perfect cat shaped bag, ideal for quiet snoozing and generally baby avoidance. The handle secures around the neck to prevent loss of bag in the event of sudden movement.

Caiden's New Toy

A huge thank you to Aunty G'an and Uncle Trevor for this brill high chair for Caiden. It's great for when we're having dinner and anytime I suppose. Can't believe he's now big enough for the high chair, time flies.

A Few Bits

Once again I'm so slack with this blog! Caiden is now about 14lbs and is nearly 5 months old, so only month until curry for the baby! The health visitor said once he's past 6 months don't be silly with the food, try him with everything including curry and chili etc. Well we'll give it a go. Suzy is still wearing her collar with pride and has made no attempt to remove it. Think I'll start pricing up these collar activated catflaps. that hamster eating ginger tom cat keeps waiting outside for Suzy, poor puss. She does give as good as she gets though. Anyway, she's obviously not doing her job as this little bugger ran across the lounge carpet while I was changing a nappy. He was very sweet but I decided to let him go rather than keep him. Also we went up to Pwllhelli with Rob's boys for a few days, had fun despite the weather being a bit poo. We did take some pictures but I cant find my camera so you'll have to wait. Ooo the excitement!!