Another month flies by

Yes despite my promise, it's been a month since I last sat down to update Thomas' blog. As usual, this is due to Thomas and his parents finding so much to do!! Since the last update, we've been to Cumbria, enjoyed a day's cricket, visited Thomas' neo-natal consultant and had visits from Auntie Frances, Auntie Sandie and Uncle Gary, as well as both sets of Grandparents.

Before I continue though, I'd just like to say congratulations to Roger and Gill on the birth of their new baby girl, Charlotte Sarah-Jane Burbidge on Friday 15 September. More congratulations to big sister Emily!!

Dr Otunla (his neo-natal consultant) was very pleased with Thomas' progress so far and thought he appeared to be developing normally. However because of the shunt, he will be referred to a specialist paediatric doctor for a thorough assessment. He explained that at this stage, the assessment will look for mild physical problems that can then be helped using physiotherapy and exercises. Thomas has been smiling and cooing for a while now and loves standing on our laps. He can hold his own head well and has good eye contact. The next step for him is lifting his head when he's on his tummy and rolling over but he's trying to do both already so it won't be long.

Thomas is now eating solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is steadily gaining about 5ozs a week. Sally, his health visitor, came yesterday to weigh him and guess what...he's now a whopping 12lbs 10ozs. Next month, we're planning to introduce fish and chicken to his current diet of baby rice, porridge and pureed fruit and vegetables. He's still wearing 0-3 month clothes but is already on his fourth size of nappy so it seems a long time ago that he was not much bigger than a hand.

At the end of August, Thomas visited his Grandma and Grandad in Cumbria. It was a long journey for such a small person which meant having a lot of stops for feeding. Normally it takes us between 5 and 6 hours but this time it took 8 hours to get there and 9 hours home. We are hoping to drive down to France for a holiday in October so have already decided that it would be simpler to drive through the night when Thomas is asleep!! Of course, the journey to Cumbria was well worth it as Thomas got to meet his Great Aunties, Margaret and Alma, and Great Uncle Frank as well as cousins Susan, Marie, Katherine and Matthew. He also met his second Great Grandma (the lucky boy has two) and lots of family friends so it was a very sociable weekend!!

His other exciting trip this month was a lovely day out watching cricket at Sir John-Paul Getty's private cricket ground on his estate in Buckinghamshire with Mike and Juliet from Caspian.

This month's photo is a family shot taken in Cumbria..