This week Carolyn's parents were down again - they just couldn't stay away! - and it was wonderful. We'd begun to find it all a bit much, and they allowed us to get a night's sleep, and helped to burp him and entertain him, and generally allowed us to catch our breath and get back on top of things. It's good to learn from them, too - they've done it all before!

Carolyn and I managed to go out for an evening on Friday night (1st), our first night out on our own since the birth, to celebrate Keith's 29th birthday. Grandma and Grandpa looked after the baby, and we had a great time.

We also succeeded in finding a new place to live - our current lease expires on 26th Aug. We've found a lovely place not too far from where we are presently, and a lot of our friends live very close by. Moving will be exciting, especially since we have a one week gap before we move in to the new place!

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Image 0011-1553 Canon PowerShot S45 1/199 sec., f/2.8 2003:07:31 14:09:15 UTC

This was Aidan's first time out to lunch (Thu July 31st) - he went with Carolyn and Grandma and Grandpa to Café Uno, at Quayside in Cambridge. He seemed to enjoy it, and was much admired by the staff!

Carolyn bought this U-shaped Boppy pillow to help with breastfeeding, and it's great. But it has other uses too - one of which is illustrated here. Excellent for developing his arm and neck muscles, which otherwise don't get enough excercise, given current advice that babies should sleep on their backs. As long as he's otherwise feeling OK, he enjoys it, but after a few minutes he usually wants to be put somewhere easier. (Fri August 1st)

Image 0011-1555 Canon PowerShot S45 1/3 sec., f/2.8 2003:08:01 08:35:32 UTC

Image 0011-1559 Canon PowerShot S45 1/4 sec., f/2.8 2003:08:01 13:36:46 UTC

We couldn't resist including this shot of Aidan playing on his playmat. It's got lots of exciting stimuli - the left ears of each animal squeak, the right ears rattle, the elephant's ears rustle, the four squares are different fabrics as well as different colours, everything has happy eyes and a smiling mouth - and it's washable! (luckily we haven't needed to yet, but we will...) So far he hasn't really done much other than sleep on it, though. (Aug 1). [Later: now, at five weeks, he is beginning to enjoy us squeaking the ears, and is happy entertaining himself for a while on the mat.]

On Sunday (3rd), aged four weeks minus one day, he made it to church for the first time. His parents must confess they arrived an hour late, and only caught the last 15 minutes of the service, but they hope they can be excused. As is his usual reaction to new things, he mostly slept peacefully, but he did enjoy meeting Kelly and her son Ollie. You can also see here his favourite toy, Monkey, who follows him everywhere he goes.

Image 0012-1571 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2003:08:03 11:56:31 UTC