Eve's first trip to Blewbury

We've had our trip to Blewbury planned for a while, so Sam and I were both very excited as we drove out of Bristol on a very sunny Friday afternoon last week towards Oxfordshire.

Granny and Sam with Eve

Thankfully we managed to avoid most of the traffic and arrived at his mum's house on a beautiful summer's evening. Loraine cooked us a tasty dinner; stir fried rice with pulled pork. We relaxed with glasses of wine and took Eve around the garden, showing her the fish in the pond and various trees, plants and vegetables.

Daddy and Eve looking into the pond

Due to the heat Sam and I did not sleep that well on Friday night, however Eve being the trooper that she is, slept for a solid 12 hours! When she woke up she had a lovely time relaxing on Granny's bed. It's so good that she sleeps easily no matter where we are. 

Ben, Tom, Dave, Scarlett and Huxley all arrived for lunch on Saturday. It was a real scorcher so we ate in the garden - a feast of Loraine's amazing ham, various salads, coronation chicken and a lovely white bloomer, baked by her own fair hands.

Huxley, Scarlett and Ben

I fed Eve a jar of Hipp baby food for the first time (squash, carrot and chicken), as I couldn't bring my homemade frozen cubes of puree with me. Eve really enjoyed it. She's eating really well. Over the last couple of weeks we've tried baby rice, apple and cinnamon, pear and cinnamon, parsnip, sweet potato, butternut squash and banana and blueberry. We started her on purees when she was 21 weeks old. She is eating breakfast and lunch, with dinner to start at the end of next week.

When I spoke to the midwife about starting Eve on food I was told to wait until she was 6 months old as per NHS guidelines. However I was keen for Eve to have real food sooner as she's been purely formula fed for so long. I felt that starting 3 weeks early was fine. People had told me that lots of issues can arise with weaning, however I've got to say that Eve is just loving eating and sticks out her tongue and tries to eat her bib when she is getting hungry now. She enjoys sitting in her highchair with us whilst we eat dinner, it definitely makes her hungry watching us eat. I'm looking forward to some baby-led feeding soon too. I don't think that weaning is such a big deal as it's made out to be. I really enjoy preparing food for Eve and she likes eating it. Hey presto! 

Eve with her cousin Scarlett

Daddy and Eve chilling out in the garden

Aunty Katie-Jane turned up later that afternoon and had a lovely time hugging Eve. We are so thankful for all our wonderful family members who are so fun to be around and are always supportive and helpful.

It was so nice to see Eve sitting in the little highchair (really cool one that attaches to the top of the table) that Scarlett and Huxley both used to sit in. She loved seeing the dogs chasing each other around - the first domestic animals that she has come into contact with so far!

Eve slept in her pram in the garden on and off throughout the day but got a bit grizzly in the afternoon as her teeth were hurting (she was also tired from all the fun that she was having). Soon after this picture was taken she fell asleep after a good old spoonful of Calpol (sometimes those granules just don't suffice...)

Unfortunately we didn't get out for a walk with Eve up Blewburton Hill - so that's something to do for next time. Sam is looking forward to showing her around the area that he grew up in.

After a wonderful weekend with the Truby, Fergusson, Whitlock family we arrived back in Bristol bright and early on Sunday morning. We stopped off in Cabot Circus, wandered about and then had some lunch in Giraffe. This was our first real family lunch out together where Eve ate the rest of her Hipp meal and Sam and I had salads. Previous to this she had always been on milk of course! Giraffe is a real family-friendly restaurant, one that we've enjoyed going to prior to Eve's arrival, but now it's even more fun going with her. 

Upon our return home we changed the baby monitor set up so that she could start sleeping in her big cot bed in our studio/spare room - so far so good, two nights of blissful sleep for us plus we can now read books in bed, hurrah!

Hipp's partner company is Kinderhotel - a family hotel chain (Austria, Bavaria, South Tyrol and Croatia) that specialis in the wellbeing of children during holidays. I received some vouchers for free jars of Hipp baby food in the post, otherwise I'm not sure that I would have given them a go. The information that they included in the packet about weaning was very useful and I think the idea of the Kinderhotel is just great. 

http://www.kinderhotels.co.uk/hipp-partner-hotel.html