Here are the headlines:

Baby grows, sleep suits, designer zip tops, T-Shirts, jackets, shoes.
We ask
'Are our babies now trendier than we are?'

Sam has been lucky enough to receive a whole wardrobe of amazing clothes from family and friends. He is going to look so cool over the next few months. I can't believe how much genuinely nice stuff you can get for babies now. It wasn't like that in my day (I think that could well be the first time I have ever used that phrase...)

Making a Dramatic Entrance....Are Cesarians on the rise?

Yesterday night I went for a couple of drinks with two of the guys we met at NCT. It was really interesting. Out of six couples, five had Cesarians and four of them after more than a day of contractions. I guess we were lucky.
We all concluded that NCT is fine as far as it goes but the techniques you learn assume everything will go 100% smoothly which it rarely seems to do.

Grizzly bear tamed (for now)

After a couple of days of being really grizzly - we nicknamed him 'The Griswald', Sam was fine again yesterday.
We have noticed that every time we take him out for a walk in the fresh air, he falls asleep only to wake once we are back inside. He must think we don't make an effort to take him anywhere. If only he knew.....

Godfather goes extra mile

Sam's other godfather is a very old and very good friend of mine called Rowley who is now living in Chicago with his lovely wife and 9month old son, Fin (my godson!). This weekend they (Rowley and his brother, not Fin) are running the Chicago marathon to raise money for The Toxoplasmosis Centre.
It's a brilliant cause. Really good luck mate.

Finally here's a lovely picture of my family. I think they both look great.
Have a great weekend.

Sam and friends

SuperSam

This morning we took Sam to the Baby Clinic in Chiswick. He is now 10lbs 7oz which means he has gained about 20 oz in just 3 weeks. Amazing really. We knew he was special but is he in fact some sort of.......Super Baby?

Walk in the park anyone?

Phone - check
Wallet - check
Blanket basket - check
Video camera - check
Digital camera - check
Baby car seat - check
Baby - check
Massive Blue Tank that barely fits into back of the car unless it pokes me in the back like a sharp stick whilst I'm driving - check
Appalling weather on the one day we decide to go on our first out of town road trip - check
Lots of 'ho, ho at least it will be an adventure' type comments to each other - check
Road map missing the one page we actually need - check
Feeling that we might be about to embark on a journey of Basil Fawlty-esque proportions - check.

So off we set, not for Kent as planned (too far) but for Wendover Woods in Buckinghamshire. The weather forecast for today was horrible and for once they got it right. It was pi**ing down as we left.....and er, also as we returned after 5mins because I'd forgotten to print out the map, as well as ten minutes after that when Jo thought she might have left her hair straighteners on. Must be lack of sleep.

When we arrived at Wendover, we realised that we had, despite a check list as long as our arms, also fogotten the papouse (sling thing), the one thing that we could have put Sam in and walked about freely. We were going to have to use a forest trail suitable for a pushchair....

Amazingly they had one - the All Standards trail. Hilariously though, it was bascially a tarmac and wood chipped track that circled the Forestry Commission car park. So we did it. Twice.

I think it took us longer to get Sam in and out of the car than the walk itself. He was out for the count pretty much the whole time. The longest he has ever slept between feeds. Last night he didn't stop crying so I'm not surprised he didn't have much energy.

I am beginning to realise what 'outings' from now on are going to need military planning if they are going to go smoothly. We looked as if we were off on some round the world expedition today and we still forgot some of the most important things.

Still we felt triumphant as we headed back to town, soaking and hungry. We had made it out but it was no walk in the park.

Paternity Leave

Paternity Leave is a strange thing. I haven't quite got my head around it yet. It's full of contradictions - time off without it being a holiday, a break without a rest. You think you should be seeing friends but you don't really feel up to it. You feel you could be getting stuff done around the house but would rather spend hours looking at your amazing new baby.
I love doing not very much but unless I am on holiday, I can't do it for long without feeling that there's something I should be doing or that I'll look back and think 'damn, if only I'd sorted out X or Y'.
I am half way through now and already thoughts of work are creeping in and making me tense. Carrying a Blackberry around and having the web on all the time doesn't help, of course...
I really need to try and clear my head and enjoy this next week having quality family time because I know how tricky that it is going to be when I'm back. We are going to try and do a couple of (shortish) road trips. We read an article in the paper today titled 'Golden Wonder'. It was about some the most best places in the UK to see Autumn in all it's glory, so tomorrow we are going to try and drive to a big country park in Kent. We both enjoy getting some fresh air out of the city and there's nothing like countryside for head clearing.

Sam has been a grumpy little thing for the last day or so. I wonder if it has anything to do with my new haircut and glasses? I must look completely different to him every time I pick him up.
Last night Sam and I ended up sleeping on the sofa when he wouldn't settle after his 2am feed. I had Sky plused Match of the Day and as soon as City went 2-1 up against The Toon, he did the most enormous poo.
Clearly a Newcastle fan in the making. Good boy Sam.