Toby & The Teletubbies...

I suppose it was inevitable that one day Toby would 'meet' The Teletubbies, I found it on the TV whilst channel hopping and he watched it completely entranced, strangely though when the purple dinosaur, who's name escapes me, came on he lost interest and wandered off, what is the appeal with those 4 tubbie types?

We've been shopping today for Toby's first shoes, no such thing as a Clark's store here though, so I did the fitting myself after the assistant 'guessed' what size he was, and got it wrong! First stop when we get back to England is a decent shoe store, but we got a lovely pair of sandals, I think we'll have lots of practice walking today.

We've got a few people coming round today to look at the house, so keep your fingers crossed that we get an offer soon, I want to get on with the new house.

Thanks to my girls that have left messages in the guest book.

Swimming and another smash!

Well, we made it to the pool this morning, sun shone for at least 3 minutes before the heavens opened for the remaining 27 minutes of the lesson. Toby I'm sure is the instructors favourite, all the others are girls that cry for the whole lesson, Toby is the smiley happy to be there one who thought the rain was fab, that was until we got out of the pool, then it was really cold, especially as our towels and clothes were all drenched too, a big thanks to everyone that was standing close by and could have pushed our stuff further undercover!
I would have put some pictures of the lesson on, but the photographer decided to stay in bed!

Another lamp hit the deck, so now we have been plunged into darkness as all the others have been put away until further notice, who wants to read in the evening anyway when there is great American TV!

We've been spring cleaning today, Toby is a dab hand with the dustpan and brush, a little more training will have him putting the dust in rather than emptying it out, but I like to think he's trying to help, that really is wishful thinking.

Hello to Lizzie, my cousin, she is expecting her first baby in 6 weeks time, I'm looking forward to hearing the announcement, I hope you get to enjoy some maternity leave before she puts in an appearance.

This is a picture from a previous lesson, when the sun used to shine!

New Guest Book

All is well here in sunny Antigua, apologies to Mark and Nadia who, as usual, had rain and grey skies, the minute they leave we have lovely sunshine back, but they still went home with a suntan somehow.

All the babies were here again this morning, colds and sniffles all around so watch this space for news of our Toby coming down with something, at the moment all is well, teething is on a break for a while, hooray.

We start swimming lessons again on Saturday morning, so think of me in the freezing water, its alright for Toby he has a lovely warm wet suit.

I have installed a new guestbook which is on the right hand side, please take a minute to fill it in, we like to read all the comments too so keep them coming.

Lamps? what lamps...

We used to own some nice lamps, now we don't! Toby has been on a smashing spree, smashed 2 lamps to smithereens and Kevin's antique jam pot, which he was very upset about, Kevin not Toby. It was rather embarrassing when the house was being shown to prospective buyers when the Estate Agent picked up a shard of glass, they had all politely taken off their shoes at the door, I had vacuumed, honest, the glass is still appearing now.

Toby is getting more and more confident with his standing up, one of these fine days he will take that first step, we wait with baited breath each time he looks like he's about to do it, then he plants his bottom and speeds off on hands and knees.

We have had friends staying for a couple of weeks and Toby is proving to be quite the social one, must take after his father though as he doesn't stop talking, well jabbering a load of rubbish. He has been staying up late too, unfortunately that doesn't translate to a lie in.

Other little things that Toby has been doing recently are showing affection, he is a very cuddly boy, it's lovely when he climbs into your lap and wraps his arms around your neck, he also cuddles his teddy's. He has learnt to wave, well kind of, its in between a wave and a salute, but makes everyone smile and wave back.

Bumps and Bruises

We've been away in St Martin for a few days on the boat, I'm not sure that we will be taking Toby away for more than day trips now though, there is not enough room for him to crawl around and if walking is just around the corner he really will get fed up, but we had a good time and its always nice to get away for a few days. He has come back with bruises galore, the worst of which is on his forehead, when it first happened Kevin thought he had been shot, it was a perfect round black 'hole', he leant forward in his highchair in a restaurant and crashed straight into the corner of the table, a lesson has been learnt there! But he is fine, I'm sure you will all be pleased to know he polished off a homemade shepherds pie yesterday, always makes me happy when he eats my cooking!

We are going down to English Harbour today, the first of the 2 man rowers from England arrive some time today so we will cheer them on, and have a nice lunch and a swim in the sea.

6 Pearly whites

Well young Toby is much better now, hopefully talk of runny bums has come to an end, I'm pretty sure it is all teeth related he now has 6 lovely gnashers.

We are off to St Martin tomorrow for a few days, great place for shopping as its cheaper there than here, we'll stock up on nappies, wipes etc as well as clothes and wine, those are for me not Toby!

Here is a lovely photo of my two boys taken last week on the boat

First Saturday of 2006

Toby had a visit to the Doctor yesterday, his runny bum got explosive during the night. We have put him on lactose free formula until it clears up and pedialyte to ensure he doesn't get dehydrated. His poor bottom looks very sore too, but still our little trooper has a smile on his face. I'd have a smile on my face if he was to eat something other than cheerios, I assume its all related and he'll get his appetite back, he's beginning to look skinny!

Any day now we think he'll take his first steps unaided, he is getting confident pushing his walker along and can stand for a while without holding on... I'll keep you posted in his progress.

Well we're off to the beach bar for a sundowner...it's a hard life

Toby's friends

Some of the mum's in Jolly Harbour with little ones have started a playgroup, we meet once a week, taking it in turns at each others houses, it is great fun for us as well as being great fun for the babies to play together, I really hope it will teach Toby how to share his toys and play with other children, he already appears to be inspired, he is currently the youngest one and the others are all toddling around, this morning he stood without holding on to anything or me for quite a while, unfortunately he got a bit excited when he tried to walk and fell on his bottom, he's been pulling himself up on furniture for a while and walking around the sofa and coffee table but I've never seen him standing alone, he got a cheer from all the other mums.

We are having them all here next Wednesday, I am writing this so Mark and Nadia who arrive to stay next Monday, can plan to get the hell out of here, it's chaotic and messy, who knew that mushed biscuit dries like cement and is impossible to remove, I certainly didn't this time last year!

Cairn, Caitlin, Toby and Lily pictured

Welcome

I have decided to keep a diary for Toby so relatives and friends can keep uptodate with his daily life.

At the moment poor Toby is having a hard time with his teeth, they have come through in a strange order, his 6th tooth, which is one of the top middle is taking a long time to come out, and he has all the usual complaints, sore bottom, rash on his face, runny bum etc. Fingers crossed it will be over soon, all this waking up at night is wearing me out.

We had a reasonably quiet Christmas and New Year, we spent Christmas day at Nelsons Dockyard followed by dinner at our friends Ian and Moyra's. New Year was a bit of a right off, we had planned to leave Toby with his babysitter and go and party, unfortunately due to the 'screaming ab dabs' we had to shelve this, I was woken at midnight by Kevin shaking me awake to wish me happy New Year, followed by loud bangs when all the fireworks exploded overhead, amazingly Toby managed to sleep through all the noise.

I will leave you with some recent photographs...


Happy New Year