nanna and pop come to visit

Ron and Fiona arrived today to spend a week with their new grandson. I took them on a walk to a park I have been frequenting in the hot weather.

hampstead heath

After constant heat for weeks Woz and I headed off to Hampstead Heath for a picnic lunch and a swim, paying no heed to the advice that we may see thunderstorms and a cool change. By the time we arrived in the town it was raining and we along with hundreds of others bearing beach towels and a picnic lunch headed to the closest pub for shelter. Clearly Nate can't hold his drink as after just one he had passed out and spent the rest of the afternoon in a leisurely slumber.

rule britannia!

Today Woz offically became a Brit! We went along to a Citizenship ceremony for him at the local town hall where he pledged his allegiance and sang "God save the Queen" with great gusto. He is now eligible for a British passport as is Nate (which was the whole reason we wanted to go through with it). Somehow I think we may be kicking ourselves in twenty years time when Nate announces he's going to go and live in Poland for the rest of his life .... hmmm ..... but we wanted to give him the opportunity to make the choice. Anyway, by the time he's twenty we'll all be beaming up to different countries right?.

is he really mine?

Yesterday I took Nate out by myself for the first time. It was also the first time we've used his pram and having spent most of the morning getting ready to leave the house for a 2.50 pm appointment I finally locked up, placed him in the pram and started walking to my appointment. I'd only just wheeled the pram through the gate and I caught my reflection in an office window. I can't describe how surreal it felt to be wheeling a pram with a newborn baby, my baby, my son. Having him has been such an emotional rollercoaster, mourning the loss of my independence and the end of a time Woz and I have been able to spend together as a couple, but at the same time loving Nate more than I could imagine and wanting to protect him, and loving seeing Woz become a father. I also didn't think it would be so hard looking after a newborn (aren't they just supposed to sleep all the time?!) and now have an incredible admiration for anyone who has brought up one child let alone any more than that.

the three of us

proud mum

mum takes the tiller 

this was taken sometime during the week in a brief moment between throwing up!  

an epic journey

Where can I start? The last three weeks have been a blur, some of the most challenging times I've ever experienced and now that I am trying to write some of it down it strikes me that I have no idea what I did other than feed Nate, try to settle him and coax him to sleep and change nappies.

Mum has spent the last month with us, arriving just a day before I went into the early signs of labour. It was so good to have her here, especially in light of my caesarian to help out with Nate and with things around home. She flew out last night and so today is my first day home alone for a month now. A little daunting as I'm still not entirely fit and well but I'm getting there.

During the time Mum had here she was able to see quite a bit of London despite a good week of her stay being taken up with me being in labour and recovering in hospital, and another week of her looking after Nate and I while I had gastro. We had to resort to some formula feeds during the night once or twice that week as I couldn't keep anything down. Mum was able to feed him for me through the night and I caught up on some much needed sleep, though I've learnt how lightly a mother can sleep when her baby cries no matter how wiped out she is. Anyway, we couldn't have survived the last month without Mum and I'm sure she'll be going home now for rest!

Woz has taken to being a father like a duck to water and is absolutely besotted with his son! Over the last few weeks he's taken Nate on loads of walks by himself so that I can try to sleep and although I'd love to be out walking with them, without sleep I'm not much good to anyone.

I've posted a few random shots that were taken over the last few weeks, mostly taken by Mum. In between me being sick I was able to join Mum and Woz on a few outings. With Nate not yet a month old he's been out on two canal boat trips, a boat trip to Greenwich along the Thames and seen all the touristy sites in London; Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Oxford St, Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Portobello Market, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Modern ... need I go on? Too bad he can't focus on anything that isn't within 30 cm of him!

zzzz

Woz and Nate beat the heat with an afternoon nap.