We've been away for a month...

...back to England. Wow! It's been amazing to see our lovely family and friends but, hey a month is a long time to be staying at other people's houses and we are totally exhausted. In fact, Mat, Alfie and myself all have strep throat and tonsilitis so we've been lying around groaning - but at least in our own beds. Poor Noah found it especially hard staying at so many different homes and is only just getting back to his normal chatty-quirky-silly self. Anyway, after a week in bed I have struggled down the stairs to post a few photos of the boys with their cousins Ben and Tom, and Louie (with my sister Kate). There's been so much going on in my head I don't know where to start back with my blog.

Well, I'll start with a worry - poor Alfie is ill AGAIN! He has his tubes appointment scheduled for next Thursday so please can you send him some wellness. If we have to reschedule his appointment this will be the 5th time it's been changed due to ill health in the last six months. I wouldn't worry so much but his hearing is very up and down and I think they might not believe me if he's ill AGAIN!
Hey, on the good side though - he is crawling backwards! A month ago I noticed that if I was in the room with him he'd just sit smiling at me, but whenever I left (even for just a moment) he'd have moved ages across the room. He was using a clever rolling technique but has graduated to a consistent backwards crawl now - bless him, he keeps getting stuck under the sofa! I'm going to make some grippy knee pads because he's not getting a proper purchase on these shiny wooden floors and his legs are prone to splaying outwards - I think something with shammy leather - any ideas?
He's also started babbling which is a really good sign for talking - I was thinking it might never come. I try and get him to repeat the noises that I make (as the speech therapist showed me) - he never actually does copy me but loves it when I make "ba ba ba" noises and he tries to look right inside my mouth - with his eye right up to my lips if he can - to see how I do it - SO SWEET!
He and Noah are practising for the Canadian Brothers Baby Wrestling Championships. Noah is so adorable with his bro and lets him grab him and pull his hair for hours. Bless.

Anyway, Alfie is 1 year old next week!
That is bringing up lots of stuff about this funny old year and what we were doing this time in 2006. Blooming heck - it's been one of the best and worst years of my life! Thank goodness for my lovely boys. I'm so proud of Alfie and I can't really believe he's made it to one year old already. He really makes our family whole and I can't really put my emotions about this into words - I just know that with him and Mat and Noah in my life, the world is a million times richer for me than I could have ever hoped.