Park, Park, Park & Park

As is our routine, we fled London for the country on Saturday. West of Guilford, we found a secluded lake with a bit of sand around it. Although we were unprepared for sand and sea, we did make the best of it (C frolicked in his pants/underwear). Here is Bells with D, who is getting well used to riding on her front.

Bells found us accommodation at a restored farmhouse on a working farm, complete with another American staying there. That meant tractors and animals. The tractors were more impressive than the chickens and a goat.

We took ourselves out of London for part of the long weekend- out to Kent. Bells found a quaint little steam railway as a outing for C. And he had an opportunity to practice his Czech language skills- there was a tour of Czech steam train enthusiasts on the same train.

After the graduation C, and I took ourselves off to the allotment to harvest courgettes. Under the leaves, we found this thing: We left it as an offering to the vegetable Gods in hopes of a favorable crop next year. PS: A marrow is just an overgrown, over-ripe courgette.

Friday afternoon, C's nursery had a small graduation ceremony for the parents. For some reason, it was a bit of a costume party- so C wore his Bobby (policeman) hat, complete with flashing blue light on top. Here he is dressed to the 9's. And here are some of his classmates at one of the few controlled times. Dorothy slept and ate through the event.

As of a few days ago, Dorothy was 9 lbs, 13 oz, and 58 cms.

The feet of a future beautiful woman. Three days old...

Here's a picture from about 10 days after D was born. Viv, the fantastic doula, came bay to see how she was doing. Here we all are together.

D is maybe slightly less impressed by sailors... And C always makes a good impression with the ladies...

C and I went to the huge sandbox at the park over the week-end, and he shared his tractors with all the other kids.

We attended the christening this weekend for Charlie Hampden-Turner, for whom Bella is the Godmother. As a sidelight, C was a real handful- I had to drag him kicking and screaming from the baptism. With Dorothy on my shoulder. Then stand in the rain. After the service, we all retired to Mike and Di's house for champs where I took this shot of beautiful B&D.

Our routine has included a feed for D in the middle of the night. Which means that I give her a bottle at 3am. Here's both of us getting to the end of it. This should only last for the first few months, and then it is back to a good nights rest. There must be a few years in between the up-at-night feeding and the up-all-night worried about your daughter time.