Ideal Man

More settled evenings with Ben have meant we've had some time to ourselves once more. Last weekend we curled up on the sofa and watched our Bridget Jones DVD, and Debbie even had time to complete the "Who is your ideal man?" quiz in the 'extras'. It turns out she chose well - she is "a Mark sort of girl". Mark is apparently the sort of man who "loves your wobbly bits", which is nice!

Manchester

It's amazing what can happen in a year: since we last saw Kay in January 2006 we conceived, Debbie was pregnant for nine months, and we now have a 12-week old little boy. Meanwhile, Kay has been working hard in Ecuador for the Baptist Missionary Society having plenty of adventures of her own. And she has even changed her name to Katty! Dave has been a bit closer, studying in Hertfordshire, but it had been quite a while since we had seen him too.
So it was quite a significant event when we met up with them both on Tuesday towards the end of Kay's fleeting visit to England. After lunch with Kay's parents, the five of us headed off to Tatton Park for a walk. Ben wanted to go to the "chaos meeting" but Debbie said they go to enough mums and babies groups already! The day went far too quickly and Ben can't wait for more cuddles from Aunty Kay next time she's home.

Weekend report

It's been another action-packed weekend for the Dawsons. Saturday we had a visit from Uncle Stephen and Aunty Lucy - luckily the worst of the snow was over, and we were able to enjoy a short walk at Hatton Locks where the remnants of the snow and ice remained to provide a skating rink for the ducks on the canal.

On Sunday we enjoyed sharing in the special occasion of Gayle and Steve's daughter's christening. Rebecca looked so beautiful in her 100 year-old Christening robe, although we think Ben was a bit in awe of her - he doesn't look too sure of himself under Rebecca's close scrutiny. Our trip home included an eventful detour to Draycote Water - ask us about it some time, particularly if you need tips on what to do when your car gets stuck in mud. Sadly no photo, but it makes for a good dinner party story... When we got back to Kenilworth, we found our way blocked by a flood caused by the melted snow, captured on Josh and Heather's blog.

Wild weekend

Yesterday we headed up to deepest Derbyshire to join Louise on her wild hen weekend. "We" means all three of us - it was the only way Debbie could manage it with feeding Ben. Mark gave up his Saturday to join Gayle's hubby Steve on babysitting duty while Debbie enjoyed some girlie time, including a blissful afternoon in the pool / spa. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones, and Ben certainly seemed to enjoy the attention from all the ladies. Ben's poor behaviour as the day went on meant he had to sit in on some of the festivities, although we whisked him away before it got too rude! One day he'll be the envy of all his friends for having gate-crashed a real life hen party...

Time flies

Ben celebrated his two month birthday on Monday - we can't believe how fast the time is passing. Debbie and Ben met up with some of their NCT group friends, and the photo shows the babies getting to know each other. The little one to the right of Ben was only 10 days old, and had the same birth weight as Ben - a striking image of just how much he has changed in these first couple of months. The little girl on the right was born just a couple of days before Ben, and we were in hospital at the same time. Two months meant it was time for the first set of immunisations on Tuesday - Ben was a very brave little boy, and Mummy cried almost as much as he did! It was hard to tell whether they affected him much as he was having a grumpy day anyway, but he made up for it yesterday by giving his Daddy some beautiful smiles when he came home from work - a rare occurence as this is usually his grumble time.