Mummy and Daddy portraits

We thought, at this juncture in Noah's life, that it might be a good idea for Cheryl and I to create portraits of each other for the sake of posterity. In years to come, we could say to Noah, "Look what mummy and daddy looked like when you were 9months old."

We wanted accuracy and demanded of each other nothing but drawing of the highest calibre. In order to ensure we got accuracy, then, we got the profile by laying with our faces on the paper and drawing round them.

Here they are:

Stephen

Cheryl

This speaks for itself...just like Noah!

Fat-burning time

Summer holidays bring a lot of bad habits. Daddy has been eating too much Ben and Jerrys and too much wine; whilst Noah has been eating anything in his path. We've had a good summer, but now it's time to work it off. So we have been running. We never stop running.

Well-rounded and knowledgeable

These are a couple of traits we would like Noah to have. You may notice, then, that on most of the videos we upload here there is one of two things on the tele:

1. Jeremy Kyle. So that he can absorb the wisdom of JK and the pathos of his guests' situations ("I slept with ten other people at the time. Are you the Dad?") for example.

2. The news. So that he knows what's going on around the world and which of the ageing celebrities is really a paedophile.

As you can see from the following video, Noah was far too preoccupied with the plight of the Egyptian people to play 'bang on the table' with mummy.

We thought we had a water baby

Noah loves the bath. Noah loves the bucket in the garden. Noah loves the cold hose. Noah loves the shower. Noah loves the swimming pool.

Noah doesn't like the sea.

Or at least he respects the sea (we think). It's just that it cost mummy and daddy the fuel and the 3+ flipping hours drive for him to decide. Not a problem though because we got to see Auntie Dawn, Uncle Tom & his lovely cousins.

P.S. Noah does like eating stones.

Noah smells of poo

Not all of the time though.

Clarification

Stephen queried the last blog entry. He correctly argued that the first image was not Philip Mitchell, but a look-a-like. I didn't see the importance, but Stephen wouldn't let it lie. So for Stephens sake, here is the real Phil Mitchell.

Oops! Only joking.

Hard man

We took Noah to the park and were surprised to see the new friends he has made. 

Mugshot

Noah has asked us loads about what it was like when we were travelling. Time and again, we walk into his room and he has one of our iPads and is giggling away at our travelling blog. "I wish I could have come with you", he always says. Truth is, we can't wait to take him on a plane and show him all the mad shit the world has on offer. So we're applying for his passport. It's tricky now though because there's load of people trafficking and abductions so he can't be on our passports, he needs one of his own. The fact that all three of us are ginger apparently isn't enough. Here are his first mugshots...

Criminal in the making.

In the mornings, Noah turns his cuteness to 11

We have a routine in the mornings.
1. Noah wakes up and chats to himself.
2. We go and get him and spend some time in bed, playing and making him laugh.
3. We take off his night time nappy and give him as much freedom as we dare before putting on his next nappy.

Sometimes, we give him a bit too long. Like today.

His 'jumping up and down' trick is something he just learnt today.

Relentless Noah

In the mornings, Noah is at once completely adorable and utterly relentless. It's as though someone has told him, "Noah, all the stuff in the world could disappear at any second so you must try and touch all of it before it's gone forever." At one point he cries and laughs AT THE SAME TIME.

We're trying to sell our stuff and decided to use Noah as a model

Now we're just waiting for the barrage of bids on eBay. Thank you, Noah.

At 8 months and 3 weeks old, we have tooth number 5

Whilst we don't have a picture of it yet, Cheryl and I have seen it with our own eyes: Noah has a new tooth. Already. It is one next to his top teeth.

No wonder he has been so pissy the last few days. And chewy.

He has become such a biter recently. Just look at some of the damage.

Here was the postman. whilst I was signing for something, Noah did this:

Then the neighbour came round to borrow a cup of sugar and BAM! He struck again.

I told him off so much. He just laughed a very toothy laugh.

We realise that the angle of this photo. coupled with his lack of hair, makes Noah look like Thumb-Head Man here...

Probably one of the greatest photographs of all time.

Half way down the stairs is the stair where I sit

These speak for themselves.

A few choice pictures from the last week

Top teefs

I gots them now

McGrandma's 60th birthday surprise

The McG's made the long trip down from Bute so that Grandma could see all of her children and grandchildren for her very special birthday.

We had told Noah that they were visiting and that we would be hosting a (kind of) surprise party for her. Noah had never had to keep a secret before so he wasn't quite sure how to behave around Grandma. He just stared and made her laugh a lot. He knew what he was doing.

It was such a long day for him but he refused to go to sleep. He was having too much of a great time getting attention from everyone.

What's more, there was an astounding cake, made to look like a basket of chocolates, by Noah's great grandma. Noah particularly loved that.

All in all, it was a brilliant day. Noah did eventually get to sleep. He was in the bath at the time, though.

What an eight days!

It's been eight days since we last updated the blog and already we don't know where to start. With that in mind, we should take things one step at a time. The most monumentous of these steps is the introduction to planet Earth of baby Adelaide: Noah's beautiful, new cousin.

On Monday we threw our stuff and Noah into the car and made the journey north to Stafforshire where the great hospital is. But it's not just famous for that, it's also the new home to baby Adelaide. Cheryl and I were so intrigued to be seeing a brand new born baby as it's been nearly 9 months since Noah was one.

She is an absolute treasure. Her little head is perfectly spherical  and her fingers are so dainty and long. Her face is so small and delicate and completely beautiful. For all the time we were there, she pretty much slept, saving all of her energy for the night time when mummy and daddy want to sleep.

Noah seemed largely non-plussed and when he did show an interest, we had to guard Adelaide and hold Noah back like you would a large dog. He is just too big and strong. We did get some good pictures of them together though.

We can't wait to see her again.