Not a great day to start with as had to shell out loads to have the car brakes fixed (only had the car six months!). However it improved immensely this afternoon when Dad and Paul came round to see Connor, then Debs popped in with the dog she's looking after at the moment. Connor was fascinated with Jemma the dog, as he seems to be with most things...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUCE!

Birthday morning larking about

Mission Bay after brunch with Bruce's family (including Bruce's Grandmother Nan, who is 91 years older than Connor!)

Playing with Nan and Aunty Debs

Saturday morning was spent at a wonderful French market in Parnell, where Bruce was in seventh heaven choosing cheese, olives, salami and all sorts of other delicacies to be washed down with large quantities of red wine on his birthday (Sunday). Nana and Poppa came over in the evening to look after Connor while Bruce and I had a gorgeous dinner out as the first part of his birthday celebrations.

I was going to buy Connor one of those trolleys that babies use to practise walking, but yesterday he managed to walk along pushing a cooler bin, upturned washing basket and the vacuum cleaner so I'm having second thoughts - if I give him something specifically designed for the task he's bound to take one look and head straight for something else...is also now climbing stairs.

Connor and Heidi examining toddles

Yay yay yay JD Fortune won Rock Star INXS!!! (yes I know I'm sad but I've been cheering for JD for weeks, he's awesome!!!)

We had a great day yesterday with Pat (Bruce's Mum and Connor's Nana), who gave Connor a very special present. 'Toddles' was the little ride on horse (I think it's a horse) that Bruce used to zoom around on when he was a little toddler. Connor seemed very taken with toddles, as was I. It had been suggested he might need a coat of paint, but I think he has so much character that he should stay just the way he is.

Can't believe the weekend's nearly over again! Some very blustery and wet weather has seen us inside for a lot of the weekend. Managed to get out for a walk in the park yesterday and voted on the way. Last night Ange and Rick came round for dinner with Nick (3). Most of the night was spent in front of the telly watching the election results unfold. If only the initial percentages could have continued for the rest of the night! Unfortunately it looks like we may be stuck with Labour for another three years, but who knows what the next few weeks could bring... knew it was going to be close, but wow how close!
Today went out for a coffee to blow away the cobwebs from last night, then picked up some paint test pots for the inside walls. We're so excited, as have been wanting to change the interior colours for ages, but weren't sure about all the different shades of neutral etc. After spending an hour with a wonderul colour consultant a couple of weeks ago we think we may have found the right shades! We managed to confine speedy gonzales crawler Connor to an 'ultrasaucer' so he could watch the action rather than taking an active part (thanks to our neighbours for lending us the saucer!).

We had a lovely day today. Jo and gorgeous little baby Zoe visited this morning and we had a walk in the park, then this afternoon Granddad came over to play/bounce/zoom Connor around and generally spoil him rotten. Connor has just started 'giving' things to us (mostly clothes pegs at the moment). Very sweet.

Very first post, about time as I've been meaning to create a blog for months now - thanks Christy for the inspiration, I love reading yours every day. Connor (now 10.5 months) has started saying mama mama mama in addition to his other 'words', which is so cool! Don't know whether it's still random sounds, but he seemed quite definite about it earlier, made my heart melt! Had great fun feeding pigeons and roosters up in the park yesterday and it was hilarious seeing him trying to chase them.