Our Little Traveller

We're back from Italy. Alistair is a great little traveller!

Below you see him looking like a proper tourist, baseball cap and all. He now has a lot of experience on planes, trains, and buses.

People kept commenting on the way that we were pretty courageous to travel with a 3-month old baby (translation, a little crazy), and that they were so impressed with how good he was.  He just seemed to flirt with everyone along the way with his big smile and hardly ever grumbled. The Italians absolutely love babies, and Alistair loved all the attention! We learned that traveling with a baby and a push chair adds a whole new element to a holiday, but we enjoyed it in different ways. It's the food that always makes or breaks a trip for us - and you can get some great food (especially in Italy) even with a baby.  And if you're in-between meals, gelato is the way to go. We had it daily and learned that strawberry and banana, and coconut with pineapple are some pretty tasty combinations. 

 We spent most of our time in Prato, where Matthew attended a conference and delivered a paper. Then we went to Florence for the weekend just for the fun of it.  The one big issue was the heat. Alistair has not had a lot of exposure to hot weather (being born in the UK), so we had to find creative ways to keep the little guy out of the sun. We were pretty proud of the sun cover we rigged up on the push-chair- see top picture. However, Alistair kept poking his little feet and hands out as if to reach out to someone. Maybe we were a bit excessive. We never saw anyone else with such a comprehensive sun-cover! After this mini holiday, we are gearing up for our long-haul and hopefully long vacation back in the States this fall. Hope to see some of you then.

Bluegrass Baby

Alistair wants to thank his Japanese family for the lovely jimbe (men's summer clothes). He is feeling cool and comfortable and can't wait to visit Japan someday. Right now he has to settle with Italy as we are dragging him there on Sunday. Fortunately, his jimbe will come in handy for the Italian summer heat as well. Being a UK baby, he hasn't experienced much of summer just yet. Along with being introduced to new clothing this month, Alistair is also being exposed to bluegrass. He loves to stare at Matthew, especially when his giant father is playing the mandolin. He loves all kinds of music and was pretty keen to have a go at playing the old mandolin himself. So, if 

the anesthesiologist's prediction of Alistair 

becoming a goalkeeper doesn't work out, 

maybe he'll become a musician instead. 

Self Discovery

Finally, at nine weeks we were able to capture a smile. It was in a moment of self-discovery, and Alistair was pretty pleased to find himself in the mirror. Maybe just another friend- who knows what he's thinking. He's all smiles and giggles these days, and manages to get himself in a pretty relaxed pose at the end of the day. 

Happy Father's Day

At only seven weeks, Alistair remembered Father's Day and surprised Matthew with a lovely card. He dressed up in his polo shirt and waited patiently on the bed for his dad to finish showering and discover the card he was balancing on his chest. 
After Matthew showed his gratification by making funny faces, Alistair gave him a friendly bite on the beard to show his love. 

Retro Baby

It's hard to tell, but Alistair is wearing a hand-knit romper of Matthew's (obviously from when he was a wee one).  Grandma El brought over lots of fun clothes from the 70s! Luckily for Alistair fashion repeats itself, so we're thinking he will be one of the hippest babies on the block. He's not quite ready for them, but watch this space. 

          

Nearly Six Weeks Now

We can't believe how time has passed (although, sometimes when night and day blend together- it passes a little slower)! Alistair is now nearly
six weeks old and definitely one of the cutest babies in the world. He has started to smile at us, although we have yet to provide proof of this milestone on camera. Day by day he becomes more and more alert. He can lay on his own and play (i.e. move his arms about as if he is trying to make contact) with Mr. Googly face and other favourite toys (i.e. anything hanging above him). 

In turn, we spend more and more time staring at him in awe of everything he is learning to do. 
We hope these photos satisfy people like Liz, who "just needs to study the little guy!"  We tried to get a nice close-up, so maybe you can tell us who he resembles. 

Grandpa Jim and Grandma El Arrive

Our First Social Outing

We're back by popular demand, at least by Grandma Sue. Here are a few snapshots of Alistair's third week of life.  We dressed Alistair up in his overalls, courtesy of his cousin Atlas, for his first social outing. We went to Jamie and Eleanor's to watch the FA Cup final (that's football, aka soccer). Matthew is quite keen to get him started early on the sport, and he seemed happy to be facing the television. We also tried out our new "freedom sling" in a practice run for our trip to London tomorrow. We have to make the big journey to get Alistair his US citizenship and passport. It will be another day of firsts for the little guy, including the London Underground! 

Two-week Day

Alistair is now two weeks old.  We helped him to help us celebrate Mother's Day by joining the other legions of parents and push chairs at the park.  

Little Guy's First Outing

The other day we took advantage of the nice weather and took Alistair to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens.  It was really nice to get out, as we spend most of our time inside trying to figure out what raising an infant is all about!  The flowers were looking beautiful.

Welcome Home Alistair

After a few days in the hospital, Sarah and Alistair were ready to come home this past Thursday.  It was so good to get them here, and Alistair seems less fussy (at least in the day time) out of the hospital.  His skin is still a bit yellow in some of these photos, but he's really pinked up now :O)  In this post you will notice our friend Auntie Eleanor.  Here and her partner Jamie were a HUGH help, driving us to and from the hospital at all hours during labour, bringing Sue and Matthew food at the hospital, and for the big trip home!

Alistair is Born!!!

Big news in the past few days!  At 1:46am (British Standard Time), 27th April 2008 Alistair Matthew Coomber was brought into the world.  We couldn't be more proud, or more exhausted, and are very thankful for all of Grandma Sue's help!  Here are a few photos, with more to come later!

The Nappy Lady's Visit

So this is what we are doing in all our spare time: learning to fold nappies. Without a baby, we had to practice on this stuffed bunny. The plastic pants are a little big for the bunny, but are quite amusing!