A Peacock in a Christmas Tree

We had Xmas at Granny and Grandpa's this year with uncle Rob. I don't really understand about presents yet, but I think they gave each other a some presents, which were under a tree with a Peacock on the top and lots of sparkly things and lights. You can just see it in this photo taken from a few days after Christmas with my great Auntie Lis next to it, but mummy and daddy were rubbish and didn't take any photos on Christmas day at all!

They all ate loads of food and drank champagne, so I guess they just forgot about the camera. I've had so many presents that it was nice to see other people getting them too.

I went to a pub for the first time before xmas dinner and then mummy and daddy took me for a snowy walk in the park with granny. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of that to show you either :-(

The day after xmas was something about boxing? Anyway, we were supposed to go to see my great grandparents, but couldn't because our car was broken and there wasn't room in granny's car for all of us. Hope we'll see them soon, though, as it's a tradition to see them at Christmas.

Eve

Apparently, if I'd been a girl, I'd have been called Eve, but it's a different Eve today - something about Christmas and if we had a chimney, some large beardy man in a red suit might come down it to leave me some presents. No, doesn't make sense to me either.

At least Christmas does bring something good, though. My uncle Rob arrived from Japan earlier this week and I met him for the first time.

 We'll be spending more time with him at granny and grandpa's when we go there later today.

The snow has been fun so far, but yesterday it started melting and causing us a problem because water was coming through the ceiling in the living room. daddy had to try and fix it, but it was dripping into a bucket all day. Here's a picture of daddy with a big icicle he took off the roof:

Looks dangerous, doesn't it?
Last weekend we listened  to some very strange music at grandpa's house. It was called Captain Beefheart and we put his album on in tribute, because he'd left the building. Rather different to all the Christmas music I've been hearing recently, anyway.

Moving, More Visits and Broken Car

My first ever car is no more. Mummy's car that she's had for nearly 7 years and which brought me home from the hospital broke down the other day (luckily I wasn't in it at the time, only daddy) and they say it can't be fixed, so we now have no car.

Mummy and daddy are now talking about whether they should buy a new one or not. I think it's a bit cold and dangerous to take me on a bicycle at the moment, but daddy says cars are very expensive, so it would be cheaper to take taxis or rent cars when we need them. It's so snowy now that we wouldn't drive our car if we had it anyway - very slippery roads but nice for walking and looking at!

These are photos taken from the computer room at granny and grandpa's house where I'm writing this blog now. We came here yesterday and stayed the night, but I didn't sleep very much again at night, because that's when I like being awake.

Mummy's oldest friends from Stoke came to visit on Thursday. They didn't stay too long because they were worried about getting back in the snow, but it was nice to meet Emma and Ann.

There are going to be lots of changes in our life soon as next year we're moving to the 'burbs. Mummy has a house out on the edge of Birmingham, where we can go for nice walks and have a garden, so we're leaving the house we live in now. Our friend Roxanne came round to see us on Friday and she says she'd like to live in our house, which is great - good to keep it with friends! Here she is with me and also Ben who came round with her, too. 

He was a bit worried about holding me to start with, but soon got the hang of it and looks quite happy here. Roxanne's mum knitted me some socks, which are great, so I'll post a photo of me wearing them later.

Despite lots of things going wrong, like the car breaking down and England forgetting how to play cricket I think we're going to have another nice day at granny and grandpa's and daddy says there's a new political movement growing against nasty business people who don't pay taxes, which might start saving people's jobs, so that sounds great!

Off to sleep now it's day time.

Out of Birmingham

Yesterday my mummy and daddy took me out of town for the first time. We went out into the countryside where there weren't lots of buildings and people, just lots of trees and fields.

Out there live my great granny and great grandpa in a little village called Priors Hardwick. Daddy says they used to live in a house on the hill (called Hill House) - glad they don't live there now with all the snow coming back again as we would have found it much harder to get there.

It was lovely to meet them though and to find out that my great granny had a grandpa called Frederick, too! Mummy and daddy had tea and scones and I got to sit around in their cosy bungalow having lots of cuddles - it was great.

I hope we go out there again when the weather's better and we can have a nice walk too!

Named and Proud!

So, it's official I am now a legally named person with the name Frederick Ifor Edward Peacock.

Mummy and daddy took me to the registry office yesterday and we filled out some forms, so I now have a proper birth certificate and everything. here are the pictures of daddy and mummy outside the office with my certificate:

I like my name, even if it is quite long. Mumbee looked up what Frederick means and apparently, it's peaceful ruler, so that's quite something for me to live up to - leading the world to a peaceful future hmmm. Ifor is very Welsh, which is because my mummy wanted to honour her grandad whose birthday was the same day as mine and who was a real Welshman - he even spoke the Welsh as his first language. Edward is a tribute to my grandad, who has the same middle name and it was great grandad's first name and Peacock is my daddy's family name, so I'm the next generation for them.

For some reason they said there were 2 names they couldn't give me; Drew and Chris. They don't go well with my family name, apparently - don't understand what it means yet, but I'm sure I'll be grateful later when I get it.

Mega Weekend!

Sorry for my lack of postings over the last few days, but we've had a really busy time, so this will be a long one!!

Firstly, on Friday I was left on without my parents for the first time ever (not for very long, but even so). Mummy went for an Indian head massage and I went to granny and grandpa's. It's a nice house, but there was lots of noise because there were builders and people fitting curtains there. Daddy says we're going back there for Christmas (whatever that is), so I'll see it again when it's a bit different.

Then on Saturday mummy's family were here. Mumbee and Grandad came back to see me again and I got to meet auntie Amy and cousin Mia. Unfortunately, cousin Anya wasn't feeling very well, so she had to stay at home with her daddy, but I want to meet her soon too. Cousin Mia was lovely and she helped daddy change my nappy and held me very nicely, so I look forward to seeing them again soon.here's a photo of us with snowy the rabbit.

A rare picture of me with just mummy and daddy.

Grandad, auntie Amy and Mia.

Mumbee looking after me.

Grandad cuddles me in front of the window.

Cousin Mia holds me nicely and I pull a funny face.

I think mummy and daddy's brains have gone a bit funny recently as they watched this really weird programme called the X-Factor on TV. It's some sort of singing competition, but they spend more time crying on there than I do most days - I can't believe they take it seriously - there must be something funny about it!

On Sunday we had even more visitors! First there was Auntie Lily and uncle Peter, who came here before going off to rehearsals to play some proper music (not x-factor rubbish).

Then came Jacquie and Caroline for their turn to say hello and make me feel popular.

Later I got to see some more children. Esther came round with Danny and Sophie. Danny's just won a trophy for football and I want to wins lots of those like my daddy when I'm older, too. The green baby-grow I'm wearing used to be worn by one of them - Sophie I think, but she's too big for it now.

Then Chris and Sue came with Sam and Leia. They don't live very close, so it was really good that they could pop in and see us. Daddy was soon off playing games with Sam and Leia in the dining room - I think he can't wait until I'm old enough for playing games with him.

Phew, what a great weekend!

A spaceship, a warehouse, a university

Today mummy and daddy took me to a big building covered in silver discs. It looked like a giant space ship, and I although I spent most of the time asleep as we walked around it, I really enjoyed myself (especially the bit when we went up and down the electric stairs - mummy told me that these are called escalators). It seems that this spaceship is called the Bullring, and has lots of shops in it. There were lots of colourful things to look at. I hope mummy or daddy take me to buy toys from there one day. I was even carried over this very high bridge - oooh!

After that I was taken to a place called the Warehouse, where Friends of the Earth is, which is where daddy usually works but doesn't at the moment because I have been born. They all think that I am really cute and were trying to get me to open my eyes so that they could see how beautiful they are... but all I could muster were some snuffling noises, which is also very cute but not very awake. Still, I won a few hearts, and no doubt will be offered the opportunity to dazzle my audience again some day.

After our excursion to the spaceship and daddy's work we came home and watched the television as I had my feed on the sofa with mummy. They were talking about university tuition fees and the students who don't like it so they are smashing up windows in London. Mummy explained that university is a place you can go to to study when you have left school. Apparently, the government can now charge £9000 a year for someone to go to university. She explained that the £20 that my great-grandma in Hassocks has given me today will go in a pot of money called a bank account that mummy is setting up for me and that it will pay for one day's classes at university when I am 18. Wow, she's already thinking about my education. I think she's jumping the gun a bit though, I haven't even got to nursery yet! Now THAT I am looking forward to: playing around all day with other children and making things out of plasticine. I can make a big MESS and nobody will tell me off! Can't wait.

I got some more toys, too - a train that spells Freddie from Uncle Mark, Kim and Isabel - can't wait to meet them next week:

And also a bee, which makes funny noises from daddy's auntie Lis and uncle Peter:

Blimey I have a big hand in this picture!

I'm gaining weight too - 2.96 kilos, nearly the 3.14 I was when I was born. Hooray! Mummy is feeding me lots - every 3-4 hours, and during the night too, even when she is very sleepy. Daddy lets her go back to bed after my early morning feed and looks after me so that she can get some more sleep. It's nice to have some kind of routine now. Our house is very warm and it's cold outside, and we are all snug and happy. More later.... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

My Mummy

This is my mummy. She likes cycling and when I was inside her she still did it in all kinds of places like here on this beach. She wants to go out and do lots of exercise, but she hasn't been able to because of me and also she didn't feel very good when I was in her tummy. Apparently, she said it was "unbearable" most of the time, but she's happy now I'm here.

Here's mummy with her mummy and daddy (mumbee and grandad to me). They like going on steam trains and have a flat in France where we can go on holiday to see them, so it's chooo chooo and chuff chuff.

Here's a picture of mummy with daddy down at the allotment. They look very happy and you can see me making a big bump in mummy's tummy. It was warmer then.

Mummy also had a hard time with me in hospital. They had to get me out early and mummy and daddy weren't quite ready for that. They went in to hospital on Friday afternoon and mummy didn't come out with me until Wednesday afternoon. Mummy wanted me to be born in a water bath, but that wasn't possible so I was born in an operating theatre at 4.10am on Monday 29th November.

It's amazing that after all that mummy still looks so good in these photos. I was pretty tired after all that getting wrapped up in the chord and being pulled out with forceps - ouch!

In the hospital, mummy and daddy had to change my nappy for the first time. Here they are finding it a bit difficult. They're much better at it now and sometimes I don't even cry!

Another thing that was difficult was getting me to feed, so to start with mummy had to use a pipette (which you can see here)

and then afterwards she progressed on to using this pump, which was given to us by daddy's friends Sam and Nic who went to Australia.

When we came home from hospital, mummy was so pleased because she could eat proper food again! here she is at the dinner table enjoying a nice meal cooked by daddy, who's sitting with me.

Even though I keep her awake all night, mummy loves me and likes to give me lots of cuddles. Here we are on the sofa - it's hard to tell how little I let her sleep, isn't it?

I'm looking forward to learning lots of things from my mummy and going out on lots of walks with her when it's not so cold.

The postman brings more treats :-)

This morning daddy heard a knock at the door at about 11am. We had to sleep for quite a long time again because I was awake for a long time during the night and only fell asleep on daddy's chest at about 6 o'clock, so we'd only just got up.
Anyway, he went to open the door and and there was the postman with 2 big parcels for me! One was a parcel from mumbee and grandad with some dinosaur vests - they're very nice and I look forward to wearing them. Grandad's coming down to see me again on Saturday with some more of the family, which is great. I've only seen him once when he rushed down to see me in hospital on the day I was born. I haven't got any photos of him to show you yet, but I'll put some up on Saturday. Here's one of the vests, though - I may not look happy, but I am!

There was also a parcel from Mary. She's a very green person and daddy says I'm going to be green Fred, too. She made me a really cool yellow and black hat (it's a little big, but I'll grow into it) and sent me a nice colourful blanket. Here's a funny picture of Mary hehehe! And a picture of me modelling the hat and blanket.

I'm finally feeling a bit sleepy now, so I'll leave you until later.

Some more presents! And sleeping.

Today I had a visit from my great aunt and uncle, Julian and Jane, all the way from Shropshire. They bought me a lovely wooden mobile to put above my bed (when I eventually sleep in it - I rather like sleeping with mummy and daddy at the moment) which has got lions and tigers and elephants and zebras dangling down from it. I think it's going to be really good fun to play with as I get older.

My grandpa also bought me a blue snowsuit with clouds on it. It has mittens attached as well. I'm going to be so snug and warm in it when mummy and daddy take me out in the snow - I'll post a picture when I go out in it. Thank you Grandpa! And to everyone that has brought me such lovely presents.

I would like to tell you about a typical night that I have round here. Mummy takes me to bed at around 10pm so that she can sleep for a little before I get hungry again. Even though she and daddy bought me a new mattress for my moses basket, with new sheets and blankets, I don't like sleeping in it really. I sleep on my mummy's tummy for a couple of hours and then any time between midnight and 2am I start grumbling - howling my head off even, depending on how worked up I get and how much I want to annoy the neighbours - to get fed lots of yummy MILK. Mummy then has to sit up in bed and feed me for anything between half an hour and an hour.

When I've finished she expresses still more milk for me to have later, or makes me finish it up out of the bottle, depending on how awake and hungry I am (because sometimes I can't breastfeed for too long and start chewing my fingers instead - it's because I'm still very little you see). Then she puts me back into bed between her and daddy, who sleep very still and don't move about so that they don't squash me, and we all sleep for a few more hours until around 7am, when mummy does the same thing again.

I feed for a little while, she expresses the rest, daddy gives it to me... and then we all fall asleep again! I usually sleep on daddy's chest for this last bit, and I simply love to tear the hairs out of his chest, it's so funny! This morning, we had a lie-in until 10am. Mummy and daddy get very tired looking after me you see, and daddy's not at work at the moment as I've been born and he gets to have some paternity leave (this is what he told me anyway - all it means to me is that I can sleep on my daddy a bit more every night! tee hee).

Then we all got up and they changed my nappy, and off we went for another day of feeding and sleeping. Oh, it's all such an effort.

Off for a nap now, before my next feed. Much love from Fred.