5/52

A more wakeful photo this week. Look at that head control!



At our antenatal classes we were asked to consider what attributes we would like our unborn babies to inherit/learn from our partners. I said I'd like our baby to be as inquisitive and curious about, well, everything, as Steve. It's one of the things I love most about him as well as one of the reasons I was sure he'd be a great dad. He likes investigating things and then shares his knowledge. Jamie isn't quite at the knowledge-sharing stage, but he is always looking around and taking things in.

4/52

Slightly late due to assorted family catastrophes... but this week's photo is another sleepy one. Well, sort of.



As you can probably see, Jamie is in fact wide awake.

This week was the beginning of the tentative effort to move from the little bedside crib in our bedroom to the Big Cot in the nursery. Overnight, Jamie will still be sleeping in our room for at least one more growth spurt. But to make the shift as non-traumatic as possible, I planned to start him having late afternoon naps in the Big Cot - overseen by the familiar Ewan the Dream Sheep and Monkey.

So far, it's been limited success only. The nursery is getting established as a safe, comfortable, quiet place, and Jamie hasn't been upset at all. He's cuddled up on the beanbag with me for a feed, then laid down in the cot, and... well... stared at me and Monkey for twenty minutes or more. Quiet. Calm. Content. But very definitely not sleeping! Meanwhile, my mind boggles to see my big strong three-month-old, twice the size he was in October, looking so very tiny-little again.

3/52

This week's photo is of Jamie having a cuddle with his daddy.



In the mornings, the Jamie-shaped alarm clock wakes up and has his overnight nappy changed, followed by First Breakfast (of breastmilk). Then there's a lovely sleepy interlude during which a much more comfortable Jamie chases the last of his zzzs, while mummy and daddy see about a slightly more adult First Breakfast (of tea/coffee, biscuits and ibuprofen). This photo was taken during that time.

I like this photo because despite both of them being really quite sleepy, neither of them are fully asleep and Jamie is genuinely cuddling Steve - in fact he was stroking him. I love that although I'm the stay-at-home parent, the two of them have a bond like that and that I get to watch it.

2/52

This week's photo is of Jamie in his crib by our bedside.



When we brought him home from the hospital, he looked absolutely tiny in here. With his feet at the foot of the crib as per the safer sleeping guidelines, his head barely reached the centre of the mattress! Now, at almost three months old, it seems to fit a lot better.

It makes me feel conscious of the fact that the crib is in fact a six-month rental, by which time he should have outgrown it, and we're halfway through that period already.

He has a bigger cot in the nursery, that should serve for the next couple of years as it converts to a toddler bed. Our plan for the transition is that Monkey and Ewan the Dream Sheep (pictured) will come with him to the nursery. But for now, this is basically what I see by my bedside every morning and evening.

Optimistically, 1/52

For quite some time now I've been enjoying Carie's 52 Project photos - one photo a week of each of her children. She's doing it again this year and asked if anyone else wanted to join in.

Truth be told, I'm rather intimidated by the mummy blogger scene and while I admire a lot of the events, projects, photos and of course blogposts that happen within... the community appears to be full of overachievers and that's not me. I like taking snapshots with my phone, but I'm not a great photographer and have no burning desire to improve. I like writing, but I prefer sleep, and when I do write, I rarely hit Post. I like cake, but I buy it from a shop. I can knit, but slowly, and not particularly well. My Kidston-fu is lacking. Online mums evoke an even more extreme response of admiration and fear than the cool kids at school did.

But, I have the great privilege of knowing Carie in "real life", and although the tag of overachiever would perhaps not be entirely misplaced... she's just too friendly, pleasant and cheerful a person to be scary with it. And I feel confident that if I join in with her on the 52 Project, she's barely going to notice the quality of my photography and won't give a hoot about my failure to change my blog template since, um, well, ever. She's just going to enjoy seeing Jamie grow in the same way I enjoy seeing Kitty, Elma and Pip grow.

So, I'm taking the plunge and hoping to stick with it. Here goes, with picture number one...



I like this picture because it encompasses all the best bits of having Steve at home with us for the holidays (that's his hand disappearing in the bottom right hand corner). While we tried not to disrupt the routine too much, having lazy mornings of the three of us all playing on the bed together was an absolutely brilliant way to start the year.