Today was a much colder day so it was an opportunity for Fidget to try out her proper coat that she was kindly bought.

It has a nice cosy lining and so she was toasty warm in her pram as well as very stylish and pinked up to the max with her pink hat on!

If you are interested, you can follow the link to Mush's blog entry for our Westonbirt day out: http://topflumps.blogspot.com/2007/11/westonbirt-arboretum.html it has some super videos.

You can also see more of Fidget (and her chum mini-Mush) on the postings "suprise visit", "from-pumpkin-to-dunkin", "happy halloween", "mothers meeting" and "yoga".

A good weekend with much achieved, M cleared up lots of little jobs and then today Mr Mush came across with Mush and Mini-Mush to help move our remaining furniture out of storage, so it is great to be reunited with it all again!

We have been trying to encourage Fidget to sit up, her legs are getting strong and she likes to be standing or in her baby bouncer, but seems to dislike sitting and will arch her back to stretch out whenever she is sitting. But this evening she sat for a good while playing with Mr Giraffe, and was pretty good at supporting herself, though it may be awhile till she does it all herself.

If you click on the picture below you should be able to see a gif that was very kindly put together by a friend, that compiles images from Fidgets 17 Fridays so far...

Fidget is 17 weeks old today...

Today we went out to Westonbirt Arboretum with Mush and Mini-Mush. I managed to pack most of Fidget's possessions including several coats and blankets, but forgot my own coat! Fortunately pushing the pram along the paths let me work up enough of a sweat to keep warm.

It was really a lovely day, when we arrived we set out on the "Seasonal Trail" and found a beautiful spot where we all had our lunch.

Fidget and mini-Mush were reasonably blase about the autumn colour and it was Mush and I acting like we'd never seen a pretty tree before, with much ooing, photos and kicking up of leaves.

eventually the fresh air and beauty was all a bit much for Fidget and mini-Mush so we headed back to the cafe for a cup of tea, and not before time as it threw it down!

Last night we enjoyed the fireworks in fine comfort, sat in our upstairs front room on the bean bag with a mug of hot chocolate, snacks, the lights off and Fidget sleeping soundly in our room...

Fidget has not really been bothered by the fireworks, but I will be glad when the evenings quieten down for a while.

Time for a quick update on the kitchen... by Sunday evening, M and his dad had indeed finished laying the floor in the dining room and it looks glorious, here is a quick pick of Fidget enjoying the space...

Also at the weekend we also had the carpenter back to fix the glass splashback. The one under the shelves had cracked when the socket was put in as the wall wasn't straight and the hole was too small, but thankfully they were very happy to come back and rectify it and so now I have finally got that corner of the kitchen organised and looking pretty special. Just a few bits remaining now - fancy covers on the sockets, skirting and bit of cleaning and that is it!

This weekend M's dad has been here, helping with laying the bamboo floor downstairs, as I sit here and write this they are very close to having most of the work on the dining room completed, but the hall and front room must wait for another weekend.

so why bamboo? When we set out to source the floor for downstairs our thoughts were to replicate the Swindon floor with the cheap but delightfull FSC parawood parquet from Wikes. But the world of biomass is a different place to what it was 5 years ago, with wood harder or more expensive to source now it is a fashionable source of power. Bamboo is a fast growing grass, that can be engineered into cheap hardwearing planks, that are very sustainable, and you can get it everywhere now, online, and also at B&Q and ikea.

It is all looking good, attractive, fairly easy to work with, it looks like a good surface for Fidget to learn to skid about on! She can't wait to try out her baby walker on it!

Fidget is 16 weeks old today...

we've had a busy old week, on Monday after breastfeeding support, we made a fundemental error, and decided to go to Ikea with Mush and Mini-Mush not realising it was half term...it was as I imagine the 7th circle of hell... but I did still shop!

then on Tuesday and Jolly babies in the morning and a trip out to buy the materials to make the invitations for Fidget's christening (which if you want to put it in the diary will be 20th January).

Wednesday is "mothers meeting" and then this week we met up in the afternoon with a chap who will be doing ours and next doors drive...

so shouldn't be long before that gets done.

Yesterday was relatively quiet, Fidget had her 3 jabs, so that bit of the day wasn't quiet! Today we have been swimming again with Mush, mini-Mush and her mum, sister, niece and nephew, I may pinch some photos from her blog later!

And to finish off a little vid of just how pooped out little Fidget is after all this fun...

aw... little sleepy head!!

This weekend has been another where we have made a big and visible step forward on the house. M nailed down ply in the front room, hall and dining room. This is a job that in Swindon took 5 people a whole weekend on less floor area! The secret this time?... the tool!!!













It is amazing what they will let you hire out!


M made great progress yesterday, so this morning we were able to have a leisurely breakfast, M made some delicious thick pancakes


and Fidget impressed us with a new skill...sit-ups!

by lunchtime M was done, so we all had a wander down to the co-op which just about finished M (and Fidget) off!

Fidget is 15 weeks old today...

what a cutie!

M is home today getting the ply base down for our new floor downstairs, hiring a nail gun tommorrow... cripes!!

This evening Fidget was getting rather Fidget-ty while waiting for her feed, as I was running around sorting bits and peices out, so M introduced her to someone she soon found almost as fascinating and attractive as her to keep her occupied....

our little girl is certainly getting used to the camera!

This afternoon Fidget tried out her baby door bouncer for the first time (handed on from a kind colleauge), she was delighted with her new perspective on the world and seemed to be a natural at being upright under something more like her own steam!

It isn't really possible for a video of Fidget having her first go in a bouncer to get any cuter, but she also had hiccups!!!

We've been saying it quite a lot, but after this weekend we are now finally ready to start laying the downstairs floor! So hopefully we should see some real progress.

Today Fidget and I had lunch with Mush and mini-Mush, M had prepared some delicious food for us at the weekend so we feasted well.

Here are some cute pics of Fidget and mini-Mush chilling out!