Charlie's 1st Christmas

What a brilliant couple of days we have had celebrating with our families. Charlie was so over excited and totally over stimulated by all the presents, paper, Christmas tree and seeing so many people. We had a great day at my parents with just my brother Rob and his girlfriend Tay as Lucy and Jon were away at their in-laws this year. Instead of having crackers this year I brought a lucky dip full of old fashioned stocking fillers. As usual, the childish side in us all came out when Rob picked the whoopie cushion and Mike had the hand buzzer. Dad got some magic balloon paste and won the prize in blowing the biggest bubble of them all. Charlie was given some great presents but he particularly liked his new walker which within a matter of days had figured out how to use, he loved his guitar that we gave him and a small stool that he has been using to lever himself up with. He also found he has a liking for a drop of mulled wine - good boy. Exhausted he and all of us finally flopped into bed Christmas night for a lovely nights sleep.

Candlelit service

We went to a beautiful candlelit service on Friday organised by the Neonatal Unit where Ruby was. It was a very emotional afternoon with carols and wonderful poems and readings. It was also a really good time to stop and reflect about Ruby and for everyone to remember their lost babies. At the end of the service we all released white balloons which glowed in the dark and it was such an amazing sight to see them floating away. It was great to see some of the staff again, who tell us that they think and talk about us all the time. They were so pleased to see Charlie and hear all our news and Shelley the paediatrician still has Charlies photo on her desk.

Fantastic Fish Pie

We had friends over for lunch on Sunday to kick off our Christmas celebrations. We had a brilliant day, champagne, plenty of wine and great company. We decided to make fish pie, courtesy of Jamie Oliver. It is always a winner, homely, filling and very very tasty. It has also been on the menu for Charlie. So much so he has taken to only wanting fish pie to eat. He has flatly refused, lips pursed shut, to eat anything else. But offer the delights of Mr Oliver and he is there mouth wide open, almost begging me for the pie. So not only did I make a giant one for our Sunday guests, there are now hundreds of mini pies stashed in the freezer for our fish loving son.

He's off

Yes it has begun. Charlie is officially on the move. Last Friday after a successful Christmas shopping trip, Mike and I returned home to get Charlie in bed and whilst running the bath, he crawled very effortlessly across his bedroom floor to get to his basket of books. It was an amazing thing to watch, one of those proud parent moments you wait for. The camcorder came out and there was Mike and I making Charlie do laps of his room so I could film him in action. Since then, he has gone faster and further and in fact although it may have seemed a nightmare in terms of not being able to leave him alone for too long, however, he is so less frustrated as he is now free to roam around and get to the things that he wants. Its brilliant.