Now I Really Feel Like a Dad

Hello all! A bite-sized update with no photos today - but wanted to share this with the gang!

I mentioned in a previous post that sometimes I catch myself in a situation and really feel like a dad.  Well, last night I had one of those moments.

Ceri booked up for us to go to Bexhill-on-Sea for the weekend (of which more - and pictures - in a future blog).  The weather, as those of you in the south of England will know, was amazing - the hottest October weekend ever!  You won't be surprised to hear that we were not the only ones who left London to go to the coast!

The dad moment?

Last night I find myself driving home in a car that is crammed to the rafters with stuff.  Literally, sagging, bulging and groaning at the seams,  A boot that only shuts by sitting on it.  Plastic bags full of baby clothes and Alice's dirty milk bottles in every corner I could possibly find. The bottle of water that I want to drink somewhere in the car - but goodness only knows where.

There is sand everywhere from our visit to the beach the day before.  One of those little plastic windmills that you put on top of a sandcastle is lying on the floor behind my seat.  Ceri, is no longer sitting next to me (she never does in the car these days); but is sitting on the back seat instead because a) the buggy only fits in the car if it sits on the front seat and b) Alice hates her car seat so needs mummy to distract her on the journey. 

Alice is screaming her little head off having not had enough sleep, having got too hot by the sea and (as we found out later) having done a whole weekend's worth of poo in one volcanic eyjafjallajokull-style explosion that has not just filled her nappy, but has come out of the edges, top and sides and has worked its way up her back and almost up to her neck on her front as well as down the legs of her baby-grow.  It smells.  Bad.

We are sitting in traffic that has not moved for 30 minutes and shows no signs of moving.  Another dad has driven his car straight over the grass on the island of the roundabout in an attempt to escape.  We are sitting in this queue because I tried to take a short-cut on a road that was clearly signed as closed but that I decided in my dad-wisdom, must really be open.  Nope.  It was closed, just as the clue in the initial (and subsequent) Road Closed signs suggested, and I now have to join the busiest road in the south east as everyone heads back from the coast.  Nice one Matt!

I have Classic FM gently caressing my ears at a sensible volume on the radio.  I've told Ceri that it is the only radio station that I can find but am secretly listening because I am enjoying it and it helps to block out the sound of screaming blasting from the back seat.

I remember when I was in my early twenties driving past cars just like the one I am sitting in now and thinking - you poor sod!  Well, now I am the dad in the car with the wife and crying baby on the back seat - and the twenty-somethings are staring at me instead.

The big question is, would I want to swap cars and be the 20 year old again?  Not for the world.  I'm the cliche dad driving his family back from a day by the seaside and I LOVE it!

Weigh to Go!

Ladies and gentlemen, the results are in. 

Alice went to the Townley Road “Weighing Clinic” yesterday and she topped the scales at 18lb 6ozs.  By my reckoning, that’s a smidgeon under a stone and a half!  Good work little girl!  No wonder I have a sore back from lugging her round London zoo in the Bjorn on Sunday.  The health worker at the clinic commented when she saw Alice:  “Oooohhhh! She must like her milk!” and went on to say that they would need to put her in a bigger set of scales next time around. 

Speaking to Ceri, I understand that it is something of an unwritten rule amongst mums that you do not boast about your baby developing quickly.  Bad form.   It’s the equivalent of coming out of an exam in which you think you have done well and saying “Yes! I did brilliantly....it was way too easy!” instead of the more acceptable “Oh, it was quite tough....we’ll have to wait and see how the results pan out!”   As a result, the protocol is that Ceri must stay quiet on such matters.

I, on the other hand, am not a mum; rather, a proud dad.  I can boast all I want.  Hoorah! 

Check out this stat for starters:  Alice is 18lbs 6ozs.  The average 4 month old baby girl is 14lbs.  So, our little girl is beating "the competition" by 4lbs 6ozs!  C’mon! Alice, Alice, Alice! 

Second Stat:  the average 8 month old baby girl weighs 18lbs 7ozs.  Alice is 4 months old and 18lbs 6ozs.  So Alice is the same weight as the average baby who is twice her age!  Nice one ATB*! 

Final Stat:  Alice is in the 98^th percentile for weight.  This means that if you lined up 100 babies in a row, she would be fatter than 97 others!   She’s the Buddha at the end of the row!  Hmmmm, might need to re-phrase that for it to sound like a positive thing, but you get the idea! 

Gosh, I can’t wait to get my tape-measure out to give you equivalent length stats...she’s a tall one alright!  Definitely going to be in the back row in school photos!

So, in summary, although there are no official metrics that I can use to absolutely confirm this, it looks like our little girl is well on her way to becoming a supermodel.  And she’s been sleeping through the night for the last 5 days in a row!  As a dad, I am allowed to say I am VERY proud.  Ceri would say the same I am sure, but she is “waiting to see how the results pan out!”

The only worry is that one of the babies in our NCT group has started crawling – and Alice hasn’t:  YET!  It’s not that Ceri and I are competitive, but if Alice wants to have some milk tonight, she is going to have to crawl to her bottle!

Speak to you soon for a "proper" update. 

Much love

Matt xxxx

*Note ATB is “Alice the Baby”: nickname courtesy of Helen and Rog

Twice as Old as Last Time We Met

Ooooh nooooo!  I'm in trouble, aren't I?  Almost two months ago I promised you a live video of Alice and here we are, half of her life later, and.....nothing! Not a dicky bird!  I am a bad person and deserve to be bent over your knee and walloped with a slipper; Beano-style.  However my tactic is to distract your understandable wrath with a knee-wobblingly cute family photo from this weekend's Upland Road Street Party, so that you forget you were ever cross and re-instate me promptly to your Christmas card list.   If that doesn't work, and you are still hacked off, feel free to take your revenge by petrol-bombing the pink Vauxhall Corsa with the flat back tyre parked outside the house (actually, you'd be doing me a favour!)

The Shepherds at the Upland Road Street Party - Alice has grown a Mohican to mark the event

Where to begin?  Well, I'm going to persevere with my attempt to keep you updated chronologically, but would have to give up the day job to do so in detail, so we're going to have to skim a bit.  The next couple of updates will be like the original Growing Upland posts, but as if you are watching a "series link" that you have recorded on Sky+ on the x10 speed setting.....so you get the benefit of skipping the adverts, but you'll also miss a bit of the plot too.  Ho hum...such is life!

Continuing the TV series simile, let's have a recap on the last episode.  When we last met, me, Ceri and mini-Ceri were down visiting my folks in Winchester.  We'd been to the farm and Ej and Roo had been more interested in Alice than the other animals.  The following day, Ceri's folks came up for Sunday lunch along with Clary and Shirley; Ceri's grandparents and Alice's great grandparents.  It's not everyone that gets to meet their great-grandparents.  I still remember my great-grandma (Nana Shepherd) sitting in bed with Sal and I, smoking like an industrial chimney, and making origami swans out of the silver foil from the top of her fag packets. To this day I miss the thrill that the combined potential health risks of burning polyester bedsheets and early-onset lung disease used to bring to our childhoods.  Happy days.  Times have changed and Clary and Shirley don't smoke - so no foil cigarette swans for Alice....just little Pokemon figures made from the wraps of their crack-cocaine (only kidding....Jeez!)  We actually had a lovely roast dinner in the King Charles pub in Kings Worthy and here are the pics from the day to prove it.....

Alice with her Great Grandparents - Clary and Shirley  

Four Generations of Girls........  

Hugs with Justin Bieber (I mean Ej)..... 

And with Roo....  

Not forgetting Aunt Sal
  

Gosh, writing this and looking back at these pictures it seems like ages ago.  Ceri and I genuinely find it hard to remember what life was like before Alice came along.  I'm writing this lying in bed and I can't believe how life has changed.  Alice is already sleeping in her own room as of yesterday; having outgrown her crib.  She has learnt to sit up, to snore, to giggle, to wrap her daddy round her little finger, and to appreciate the finer things of life (beer, rugby and Italian men....of which more later).  Ceri has taken up Colin's role as the "Mayor of Dulwich" and has become an ambassador for all things East Dulwich...she and Alice seem to know everyone in every street in the area and certainly do know every single purveyor of food and beverages within a two mile radius.  Anyone who sells a cake, sandwich or decent bowl of pasta salutes my girls as they approach as if they were war heroes returning from a two-year stint in the trenches and then looks slightly bemused and crestfallen as they walk past (no doubt on their way to a rival establishment).  

Other changes:  Our kitchen has been overtaken by baby-feeding bottles in various states of "sterlisation". On top of microwave = sterilised, beside the toaster/kettle = waiting to be sterilised next, sitting on the draining board = waiting to be moved to the toaster/kettle "holding area", in the sink = washed, next to the sink on the right = waiting to be washed.  Clothes that Alice has been wearing follow a similar path through various strategically placed wicker baskets, plastic washing baskets, areas of the hall landing for "dirty clothes", piles at the bottom of the stairs and ultimately end up in small, neatly-formed heaps underneath the washing machine where they queue like polite, nattering grannies at a bus-stop waiting for the privilege to end up in the washer. Unlike the baby bottles I have not got the faintest idea how this system works.....all I know is that Alice never seems to wear the same outfit twice so my suggestion would be to follow this system instead: Alice wears it - Alice shits on it - Mummy chucks it in the bin and heads down to Jo Jos for a new one!

Final change to note before we get back down to business.  The phrase "Gina says!".  Grrrrrr.  For those of you that are unaware, there is a woman who prowls (actually I prefer to think that she limps) in the darker places of this earth called Gina Ford who, when not gnawing raw-meat from the bone in her dark, cobwebbed, festering cave, writes books crammed with practical advice on how to be the best parent ever. She has no kids of her own.  No pictures of her exist - presumably to avoid her being recognised and getting lynched.  Gina believes in routines.  Her books plan out every minute of every day in your baby's life into routines and makes you feel like a bad person if you don't follow them.  Gina says "Baby" should be having her nap at 2.17. Gina says "Baby" should be eating 214 ounces of milk at 17.32.....Case Study:  Ethel is 26 and she fed her baby, Hank, 7 minutes later than my plan suggests:  now both mother and baby, as a result, have been shunned by society and stay in all day, alone, watching the Jeremy Kyle show......you get the idea. I am not going to dwell on the subject.  I am not going to refer to my friend Gina in this blog again.  My last word on the subject is that if Gina has something to say, she can come round to our house and say it to my face......

Goodness!  Good to have that off my chest.....On with the show.  The week following the Winchester trip saw us celebrating Hannah's 30th Birthday on a rainy day in the Windmill on Clapham Common and Gareth and Lara coming over for what proved to be the penultimate BBQ of the summer.  As ever, our gorgeous little girl was on best behaviour and adding to her ever growing fan club by agreeing to be cuddled by anyone who will hug her.  She is such a happy, sociable little soul.  Hard to believe it's possible, but I really do feel more proud of her and love her a little bit more every day.  

With Uncle Gar and Aunty La 

Post BBQ Face (Alice that is - no offence meant Lara!) 

Lunch on Hannah's Birthday 

With John Cook on Hannah's Birthday 

Chilling in her chair after a busy weekend!

Lord!  I've been writing this for almost two hours.  I'm on bottle duty this evening and Gina says that I'm due to feed Alice in the next 14 minutes!  Tell you what, I'm going to do the five plus one as a preview of all of the other outings/events that you've got to look forward to in my next update (ok....more likely updates...I'll never squeeze it all in one!)  Here's what's up next folks....

Alice visits the seaside - for the Whitstable Oyster Festival no less 

Alice gets selected for the second row on the Wales/England Rugby Weekend 

Alice learns to swim in Italy

Alice parties hard at Charlotte's wedding in Ravello

Alice meets here lookalike at the Upland Road Street Party

Alice - gorgeous as ever

Folks, for all of you that are still reading, genuinely sorry that I took so long to post an update.  I guess all you really need to know is that Ceri and I are loving being parents - Alice is turning into such a lovely, smiley little character an we are enjoying every minute.  I just wish I could pass her over to you for a hug right now.  Anyway, a hungry little girl beckons...speak to you soon (I promise).  Matt x

Is that a smile Alice? Is it? Is it? Part II

It's like winter outside today in London.  The sky is slate grey and the rain is bouncing off the pavement on Upland Road.  Puddles are forming in yesterday's puddles.  It's wellies weather.  It's DVD's you've seen before weather.  It's stay in your PJs weather.  Nevertheless I promised you a Summer Special in two parts, so here we are, back again, to see if Alice can brighten up a drizzly day.  Here's a photo of her hot off the presses this morning to bring a smile to your face:

Smiles on a rainy day

When we last spoke we had just finished celebrating Father's Day.  The following weekend was Charlotte's Hen-Do in Brighton; so Nanny, Gruncher and Harvey came up to London to give a hand in looking after Alice while mummy went off making cocktails.  Nanny came up with a bag full of pressies for Alice, including a Fisher Price Activity Centre which has doors to open, rattles to rattle and plays tunes when you press a bell-shaphed button.  Imagine our surprise when Nanny started playing with it "for the first time" with Alice, and knew all of the tunes it played off-by-heart!  Something tells me that Nanny might just have had a sneaky little practice at home!

Before Ceri set off for the Hen-Do, we all took spin around Dulwich Park.  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon that gave Gruncher the chance to crack out his 70's Police Issue sunnies.  So, here's Alice, with her mum, Nanny and an extra from The Sweeney:

The Shep/Adams clan

Gruncher was not the only one looking cool that day.  I decided to put Alice in "The Bjorn" to let her see a bit of the park from outside of her pram; but hadn't figured out how to keep the sun from burning her.   As if you needed proof that all sense of style goes out the window when you become a parent, here I am making sure our little angel doesn't burn on one of the warmest days of the year:

When can we start using sun-tan lotion?

For the record, it was on the morning of this sunny Saturday that Alice "officially" smiled for the first time.  I'm trying to keep this blog in chronological order (so that I can embarass our little girl by sharing it with her for the first time on her sixteenth birthday), but I got sooooo excited about the smiles that I posted them last time around.  Ceri will probably whack me around the head with our wooden rolling pin for putting this picture up, but here is Alice on that morning in bed with Ceri and Nanny, learning how to grin for the very first time......

Sorry readers!  Ceri banned me from showing the planned picture due to lack of make-up!!!

The following Wednesday and Thursday, I was at a trade show for work in Olympia - the Insight Show.  It's the top Market Reseach show in the UK.  Very glamourous!  I'm so surprised I didn't see you all there!!!  Anyhoo, for me it was a good chance to catch up with clients and boast to them about our gorgeous little daughter (oh! and to do some serious business deals of course).  Ceri made sure that I was well and truly stocked-up with boasting photos on my phone by texting me with "Alice Updates" throughout the day.  Why am I telling you all this?  Well, I showed a picture to a colleague of mine from Greece, Stavrula, who made all of the appropriate noises and said what a beautiful little girl Alice was.  She stopped at one particular photo and said "Matt, you're wife is very beautiful as well."  The picture in question?  Alice being held by Nanny Lyn!  Good work Nanny! I hope Alice inherits the Adams/Jarvis wrinkle-free skin!

Next weekend, Ceri, Alice and I had a quiet one - saving our energy for the following weekend when we were planning to go to Winchester for a big family get-together with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sal, and "the lads".  Saturday morning saw us down at The Gardens cafe opposite Peckham Rye - with Alice on top, photo-friendly form.

Alice and Daddy in The Gardens Cafe

Alice and Mummy waiting for their breakfast

After breakfast we stopped in at Just William's toy shop on Lordship Lane.  Impossible not to buy something.  I really liked a couple of sweatbands with bright, smiley rattley insects stitched to them that are supposed to teach babies to wave their hands - so I snuck them into the shopping bag.  Reading back that last sentence, I'd better make it clear that I did pay actually pay for the sweatbands before putting them in the bag - the pressures of fatherhood have not yet driven me to a life of crime.  After the toyshop, we wandered up to the Heber School fair to gauge it against Westbourne and others in the area. Whilst there, I fastened the sweatbands to Alice while Ceri was not looking.  Ceri's response:  "Matt, take those things off her hands - she looks like she has special needs!!!".  Hmmm....a big hit then!  Seems out little girl was just as impressed as her mum:

special needs?



After checking out another school fair (St Anthony's RC) where Ceri won a bottle of JD in the raffle (yay!! - this school gets my vote!!) we ended up in Dulwich Park.  Jealous of the hot-dogs we had been scoffing, Alice overdid things a bit eating her own tucker.  What a greedy-guts she can be sometimes!  Here are the results of her excessive snacking:

The results of "Binge-Drinking" on milk!  Alice later bought a kebab and fell asleep in a bush with her clothes on!

Poor Alice.  The next day we took her back to the scene of the crime to redeem herself, and she was much better behaved.  What a little cutey!.......

Sunday in the Park

During the week, Ceri met up with some of the NCT girls at a cafe called "All Fired Up" where you can paint cups, plates etc and have them fired (hence the name!) so that they look like Royal Doulton.  Well, that's the idea.  The plan was to get Alice's footprints done on a little plate as a souvenir of what a cute little lass she is.  Seems that the lady in the shop took one look at Alice's feet, one look at the "baby-foorprint" plates on offer, and said "Oh, dear! I'm not sure if her feet will fit on this plate - we normally only do footprints for newborns........." and went off to get a massive serving platter for Ceri to use instead.   Very tactful!  Ladies and gents, we have created a monster!  

In the same week, Ceri's friend Justine came over from France laden with French baby-clothes (Alice owns every outfit available for 0-3 month old girls in the UK) and spent the day with the Sheps, Kara and Evie in The Plough.   As you well know, no Growing Upland blog instalment is complete without Alice hanging out in The Plough - so here are the girls boozing in our local:

Hugs with Justine in The Plough

Ok, last time we spoke I promised you an update on Alice meeting her cousins and Aunt Sally.  So, without further ado, let's get the obvious joke out of the way (and by doing forfeit any forthcoming Christmas and birthday presents from my sis!!!):

Aunt Sally - boom, boom!!

Phew! I think we're all glad that's out of the way, never to be revisted. 

We travelled down to Winchester on Friday evening - having to stop off at the car park of the Cart and Horses pub up the road from my folks to try and stop Alice crying - well you have to make a good impression, don't you?? I had no idea what my little nephews, Ej and Roo, would make of Alice.  They are a lovely, lively pair of lads, but are interested (as young boys should be) in water fights, climbing lamp-posts and shooting aliens on the Nintendo DS, so Ceri and I were a bit concerned that they might find a newborn baby a tiny bit, well, how to put it....dull???  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Turns out that the lads loved Alice - and she loved them.  In fact, the boys seemed to be as good at looking after little Alice as I am- and spent most of the weekend cuddling her and reading to her!  What will they make of her when she is a six foot blonde?  to be continued.....

Sal, Grandma and Grandad were just as excited to see Alice.  Sal had brought some lovely presents including a cuddly giraffe, a fluffy blanket the size of a small country, and loads of gorgeous outfits - one of which I think will make its way on the Christmas Special blog (thanks the Cochranes!).

OK, ok I know you are all clamouring for some cute pics.  Beware.  The next selection of photos come with a government health warning for being so sweet that they could make your teeth fall out.  Dear readers, you have been warned.  Let's start with the gang in bed on Saturday morning:

Goooood morning!

Playtime at 7am!

Wakey Wakey Aunt Sal!!

The whole Shepherd family spent the morning playing with little Alice.  The lads had hundreds of books out to read to her that they had brought down from their extensive library in Haddington, and every toy that we could find was pressed into action.  Eliott and Ruaidhri were all over her until there was the slightest sign of a burp or a "pump" and would then run a mile, giggling and shouting "yuk!!!".  Here are a few of my favourite pics:

Proud Grandma with her Grandchildren

Three generations of Sheps!

Inquisitive Stares at Aunt Sal

Ceri and Alice meet Justin Bieber

After a morning of hugs, the lads decided to role out their candidate for the "Best Friends" competition.  Bring on the rocking horse that they had when they were younger.  Ej and Roo's furry candidate was rolled into the living room and Alice was encouraged to "saddle up".  What did she make of it?....well, you can see the results below:

Yeeee-haaaa! Alice rides the bucking bronco!

Looks like she was loving it right?  Wrong!  We had to dismount Alice from her trusty steed within a few seconds of this pic as she started to bawl her eyes out.  So not a contender right now, but one for the future I would reckon.  Watch this space......

Saturday afternoon brought a trip to the farm.  How exciting!  My little girl's first trip to the farm!!! The farm in question is Manor House Farm in Hampshire - a small, friendly place where the staff dress up as Victorians and show you how a farm would have operated a hundred years ago.  Kids are encouraged to feed the animals, milk the cows, collect eggs from the chickens.  You get the idea.  Normally Ej and Roo turn into would-be farmers when they get there - mucking in wherever they can.  Same again this time?  Nope.  When I told the lads that the cows were being milked and that they would then get the chance to feed the milk to the new-born calfs they shrugged their shoulders in complete disinterest and asked if they could take it in turns to push Alice around in her pram instead.  If I had told the boys a year before that they would choose pushing a pram around over feeding a cow they would have soaked me to within an inch of my life with their water guns!  Ceri said to dad that he could have saved himself £30 by dumping the boys in an empty field with Alice in a pushchair.  Here are the pics of our day at the farm:



Down on the Farm

Outside the Victorian Farmhouse

Ohh-Arrr!  Mum, Dad and Alice on the farm

Three generations of Shep Part II

And to prove we were on a farm - here is Alice reclaiming her Shepherd roots....

Folks, this post is turning into something of a marathon.  I can't believe I'm resorting to this, but we are going to have to make this into a three parter!!!  So, tune in next time and I will wrap up with the Aunt Sal and the lads and also, eventually, get to Alice meeting the great grandparents.  So much to pack in!

No five plus one this time, as I want to get this post up and out there, however if you will forgive me this misdemeanour, I might well treat you to a live video of Alice next time around.  You can't say fairer than that now, can you?

Love to all

Matt x

Is that a smile Alice? Is it? Is it? Is it?

Oh dear. 

I am so sorry that it has been so long since my last post.  Naughty, naughty, Matt.  I'd like to say that nothing has happened in Chez Shep since I palmed you off with my poem about sleeping, but I guess we both know that that is absolutely not true.  So here I am making amends with a bumper edition; a Summer Special, so to speak, to bring you up-to-date with everything that has been happening in the last three weeks (or so.....gimme a break if I stretch the timings....I'm a busy dad these days you know!!!).  So, strap yourself in for the long haul as we make our way through, among other things:  Ceri's 30th, Matt's First Father's Day, First Car Journey, First Smile, First Visit to the Farm, Meeting Aunt Sal and her Cousins Ej and Roo for the first time and Meeting her Great Grandparents!  Phew, if that isn't enough for you, then I wave the white flag in surrender, for I fear I can do no more.  Feel free to keep your receipt, but I reckon this is a satisfaction guaranteed instalment....and no phone hacking.  I promise.

You may have noticed that I slipped in to my "contents" sentence above the fact that Alice is smiling.  I brushed it off like a crumb on my laptop after eating lunch at my desk, didn't I?  How casual of me.  Well, I reckon that smiling is a biggie.  Kind of the baby equivalent of one of the "Big 5" when you go on safari.  So, I think we should start with her first smile - and then, most likely, bore you to within an inch of your life with subsequent smiles.  You have been warned, dear readers!  You have been warned!

It seems that first smiles are one of those events, rather like Ceri finding out that she was pregnant, that you know are supposed to be life-changing but, at the split second that it happens, you are not sure if you are truly at a life changing moment or not.  If only one could be certain at these key times in our existence that you are actually experiencing what you think you are experiencing.  An alarm should go off.  Or someone should blow a hooter and release some balloons and glitter.  Or, well, something.  Just something to help you know that you have it right and that BANG - your life has changed.

I remember the night we found out Ceri was pregnant.  She came into the kitchen waving goodbye to our estate agent with one hand and waving a pregnancy test in her other hand, saying; "what do you think this result means?".  We both THOUGHT it was positive, but until she had peed on another few sticks (seven), we couldn't quite be sure - how can you?  Well, it's the same with first smiles.  The tricky thing is that there are smiles; proper ones, those things people do when they are happy, and then there are the faces that a newborn makes when it is trying to burp, fart or take a dump.  And, by a cruel trick of nature, these faces are - THE SAME!  Great.  So, when you think you are seeing a smile, you might simply be seeing your beloved daughter squeezing a warm one out. 

Now, the jury is well and truly out on this one, but I think that the photo below, taken on the Saturday five weeks after she was born (Sat 25th June)  is Alice's first smile.  Comments box please for your verdicts dear readers:

First smile?

Ok ok, I can tell that you are not impressed.  Well, I'm putting it down as her first smile, because if it was, then it means that I saw her smile first!  C'mon!  1-0 to Daddy! I can tell that there is the doubting Thomas brigade out there, though, who are saying that what we are looking at above is no more than a burp sneaking it's way out - and that I'm pushing it a bit here.  Well, I'd be inclined to be with you on that, and wasn't too sure it was a smile myself, until we saw this the next day:

Alice Smiling??!!

Oh-ho, happy punters now I see - I told you it was worth coming back on the Blog!  She's so cute you could cover her in gravy, serve her with carrots and eat her for Sunday lunch!!! And here, ladies and gentlement of the jury, I present my final piece of evidence, again from the morning of Sunday 26th June, that our lovely little girl has cracked it and can smile.  (gosh, I am soooooo proud!!!):

More grins from our little girl!!

I am sure that there are going to be plenty of moments along the way with Alice that will make her Daddy go weak at the knees, but when she grins I melt like a soggy Cornetto left out to bake in the Sahara sun.  She is just adorable.  One, two, three......ahhhhhhhh!!!!

Ok, before we move on to the chronological bit of the blog, a couple of bits of houskeeping. 

Firstly, Ceri and I would like to say huge "thanks" to everyone for all of the gifts that Alice has received.  You have all been so generous and, as a result, she is surely the best dressed child in Dulwich.  Quite an achievement.  Since I started the "Best Mates" competition to find Alice's favourite toy, I have also noticed a trend amongst the more competitive among you offering gifts of cuddly toys on the proviso that I put them up against Sophie the Giraffe and the Singing Seahorse.  It's rather like a cuter, fluffier version of Robot Wars.  I promise that the heats are still very much underway and I will update you with fixtures and scores on a future blog.  I am not going to divulge any results at this stage, but have to say I am fairly confident in my Psychedelic Snail.  He's going to be a contender!

Secondly, I wanted to update you, as every good father should, on Alice's health and growth.  The great news is she is very healthy and is BCG'ed up (so, no whacking the BCG scab off her arm as was compulsory in school when I was a kid - more evidence of the nanny state!). 

"Height and weight!",  "height and weight!",  I hear you ask.  Ok, if I must....

Seems our little girl ain't so little.  At her six week weigh-in she came in weighing slightly less than Lennox Lewis at 12lbs 2ozs and 61cm - which makes her chubbier than 91 kids out of one hundred and taller than 99 kids out of one hundred.  Ceri's "Gold Top" milk really seems to be working - we have created a monster.   She is guaranteed a place in the back row of all school photos from now on.  Alice is now in clothes for kids aged 3-6 months - at 7 weeks of age.  I blame it on that Guinness in the pub in her first week.  Ceri and I are loving the folds of skin that are now appearing underneath the folds of skin that have already appeared on her arms.  We have to check under the folds of her double-chins to check that no milk has got stuck there causing cheese to grow.  Honestly, this can happen!!! I have started calling her Spud after the little green spook that haunts the hotel in Ghostbusters!

Spud Shepherd chilling out after "second breakfast"

And lastly, general development.  I am sure the whole family is biased here, but our little girl seems like a bright little button.  She is chatting away to us when you speak to her in spitty gurgles and reads the pages of a book with you when she has her bedtime story (ok, she looks at the pictures in the Hungry Caterpillar - some exaggeration is allowed, surely??).  Not only that but she has started trying to crawl.  Here she is with cousin Roo at my folks this weekend trying to make her way to a biscuit that she has sniffed out on the other side of the room....

Sniffer Dog Shepherd on the Hunt for Food

Ceri told me today that she is going to start her on her Jolly-Phonics sounds next week.  If this little girl is not an Olympic athlete and a Nobel Prize Winner I will be amazed!

Before we move on, just an observation on parenthood.  I said I'd make a note of these as they crop up, and this is a prime example.  I now find, when I am speaking to Alice, that my voice is an octave higher than it used to be.  It starts off low; "hello Alice", is mid-pitched by the second "heeeelllooo Alice" and is positively eunuch-like on the third "heeeeeelllllooooooo Alllicccceee".  I sound like Aled Jones in The Snowman!  Linked to this is the compulsion to repeat everything that I say to Alice at least three times.   "Daddy repeats things Alice, doesn't he...Daddy repeats things, doesn't he....yeeeees.....yes he does.....Daddy repeats things doesn't he".  I'm convinced this, combined with cumulative lack of sleep, can't be great for my sanity - but, hey, Alice seems to like it.  So on we go....

Phew.  Tell you what, why don't you go and make a cup of tea and come back in a minute once you have got your energy up.

Ready?  Good.  OK, onwards and upwards.  Here's what we have been up to:

A month ago at the time of writing was Ceri's 30th birthday.  Friends and family congregated at 1pm at The Plough on Lordship Lane for what was a very different 30th to the one that Ceri and I started planning 12 months ago.  Out with the band and late night DJ.  In with the child friendly location and limiting drinks to no more than 3 pints over 5 hours.  Good job Alice is worth it!  I know that this is a blog about the little 'un, but here's Ceri looking gorgeous cutting the cake on her 30th in a dress that really shouldn't fit someone who gave birth less than a month before:

The ever lovely Mrs S

Alice was also looking resplendent at the occasion; dressed in Linda Adams from her "Nanny by the Sea" range.  A cotton frock in blues and greens, evocative of the sea, is paired with a shabby-chic faux crochet off-white cardigan and knee length pixie socks to complete the nouveau Victoriana look so prevalent this season.  Despite all this, she still cries her eyes out when daddy picks her up!!

Designer frocks for our little Alice

Alice cries wearing Linda Adams

Maybe I broke my promise of having no more than 3 beers? Maybe you guys were deliberately avoiding blog pics? or we simply were having too much fun to take many photos at The Plough?  Either way I am a little short of photos to show you.  Here are a few to prove that we were there though.  Happy birthday Mrs S....here's to a year of love and laughs with our little girl....

The Westbourne Girls with their new star pupil

The Dulwich Dads show off their nippers

Going Home Time at Ceri's 30th (8pm!!!!)



It's around about this time that we realised just how difficult it is to get a newborn baby (and a nosey one at that) off to sleep.  It seems you need all sorts of tricks up your sleeve to get them to settle down, and the rules of the game are that what works one night is absolutely not allowed to work the next.  For a while we blowing the mercury out of the top of the Smug-O-Meter by getting Alice to go to sleep by taking her for a walk in the Baby Bjorn.  Here I am looking unbearable pleased with myself as our little angel falls asleep beside a renowned Barbara Hepworth Sculpture in Dulwich Park....

Pride comes before a fall Matt!!

Sadly, our Swedish-Secret-Sleep-Weapon was only destined to work for two nights on the bounce.  After that, Alice had wised up to it and was challenging us to find different ways to get her to crash out.  We are still using the ol' Bjorn on occasion (you can do the washing up wearing it by using Alice's feet as dishcloths dunked in the washing-up bowl), but it is fraught with danger.  Having a baby so close to your ears when she is screaming her lungs out for 30 mins coz she is hungry/sleepy/bored/hot/cold would surely wipe the smile off even the smuggest Swedish face.

The other thing we had heard that helps a baby to nod off is a car journey.  Given that Alice was growing out of outfits by the evening that she had been comfortably wearing in the morning, Ceri and I had to make an emergency dash to Mothercare the weekend after the 30th celebrations to get our little Bumper (thanks Garry!) some new babygrows.  So, a chance for Alice to have a nap, another chance for Matt to misread the instructions for baby equipment when fitting the car seat (it was fine when we left - I promise), and also a chance for some cracking pictures (babies, for some reason, always look cutest in car seats as my nephew EJ demonstrated when he was a bairn):

Yes! not long 'til I can buy the Volvo estate now!

cute in car seat part I

part II

Part III (not sure why the David Dickinson Bronze glow here)



The car seat worked like a dream, and wee Alice nodded off for most of the journey on the way to the Old Kent Road.  It was a different story when we got to Mothercare.  When we pulled up in the car park we saw a shopping trolley with a perfect little seat for Alice perched on the top.  An ideal opportunity for us to cruise around the store picking up a few bits and bobs while our lovely lass continued her doze.  HA!  yeah right!  The best laid plans and all that.....

Proud dad and happy daughter ready to go shopping

Alice hating her shopping trip (and ruining that guy's mobile phone call)

Daddy resorts to "The Bjorn" and the promise of a shiny new bike to calm Alice down

The day after the Mothercare trip was Father's Day.  My first Father's day.  How exciting.  I bought Ceri a Mother's Day card that Alice somehow managed to sign from the womb (don't ask how), but this was something else.  I woke up to cards and a pile of Alice relate gift memorabelia.  I am now the proud owner of a personalised Alice-themed Father's day card, an Alice photo-album, an Alice mouse mat and an Alice mug. The Alice matching tie, socks and boxer shorts kit must either be lost in the post or being saved for Christmas.  I have taken the mug and the mousemat to work....only to find that nothing is sacred and one of the chaps from the office was drinking from the Happy Father's Day Daddy Alice mug the very next day.  I can only assume his daughter looks very similiar and has the same name!  Anyhoo, here are the Father's day morning pics:

Revenge! Alice gets woken up by daddy on Father's Day!

5 pictures of Alice and 5 pictures of me!

The Limited Edition Alice Mouse Mat

On Father's day afternoon, my girls took me for lunch at...you guessed it, The Plough.  I think that Alice, at the time of writing, has now been in a pub for all bar one of the weekends of her life.  Alice very kindly treated me to a lovely Sunday roast, a couple of large glasses of Pinot Noir and an Eton Mess for pud.  What a girl!  I told you she was clever!  Here she is with her lovely mum in the Plough.  I promise that this is Alice in this picture and not a waxwork of our daughter.....

my gorgeous girls on Father's Day

Thanks Ceri and Alice for a lovely day.  One I will never, ever forget!!!

Do you know what, folks, it's coming up for 11pm now and I have been writing for a good couple of hours.  Ceri is sitting next to me "pumping" (not as exciting as it sounds), and I have a cup of Ovaltine going cold by the side of the sofa (every bit as exciting as it sounds).  The glamour of parenthood eh? So, here's the deal....I'm going to make this Summer Special into a two parter.  We've done Ceri's 30th, Father's Day, First Car Journey and First Smile, so let's leave the farm, my sister, "the lads" and the great grandparents until later in the week.  I promise to get this done by the weekend if you promise to check in.....deal?  Oh, you are good.

Seeing as I'm a man of my word, I promised to give you a five plus one every time we met.  Well, given that you've stuck with me for something of a marathon this time, I think you have well and truly earned it.  And the benefit of me updating the blog less often?  I have some truly cute pictures rather than scraping the barrel for somewhat cute ones taken five minutes before posting.

So, here we go with the five plus one and speak later in the week.

Matt xx

Splat! Looks like she just fell from the sky - but also our little girl is starting to look like a proper baby!

Dinner Time Again!

Concerned in her car seat

Thousand Yard Stare - step 1 of 320 to a good night's sleep

Keep those grins coming gorgeous!

Cool dude

Our little family this weekend

What do you mean that's more than five.  OK, maybe I got a little carried away.  I guess that means you don't want a plus one then?  Well, if you don't...look away now.....

Ooohh! My favourite Alice face.  She doesn't do this much anymore....they grow up so quickly!

And as a little sign-off note, I just want to say that this week in particular,  it feels that Ceri and I are really getting into the swing of being parents - and every day just gets better and better.  C said to me last night that it was hard to explain, but somehow you love Alice more and more every day.  I know exactly what she means.  I feel just the same way.  She really is the most lovely little thing I have ever set eyes on and I am so very, very proud that one day she will call me "daddy".  She is precious.  Love you Alice x

This post is dedicated to Liam and Sadia who have all of this to come.  Very soon. 

Hang in there guys...almost there!  See you on the other side - love the Sheps xx