Connor had his first real taste of freedom today down at Mission Bay. We had lunch with Mike, Christy and Alex and took his trolley down there to try and wear him out before we went to the cafe. As soon as Bruce put him down he was off to the other side of the reserve, and wanted to walk around constantly. Unfortunately not long after he got going we had to stop to go to lunch and he threw a bit of a wobbly, which continued while we were sitting down (first time that's ever happened, so was a bit cringeful). He finally calmed down, just before I noticed that sitting directly behind us was Dianne Levy (who stars in the NZ version of those shows that show you how to control tantrums in unruly toddlers and children). Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!! Connor spent the half hour or so after lunch pushing his trolley round and round the (quite large) reserve, he must have walked for miles!!! Stupid me forgot to take a photo. Needless to say he was rather tired tonight and practically fell into bed.

Connor taking Dad for a walk on Saturday while Bruce was painting - he has now finished painting the bedroom which is great! The only problem now is that the new colour doesn't go with the old carpet, so now I'm desperate to change that (we were planning on changing it anyway).

We visited Pat (Nana) today and spent some time in Deb's fantastic veggie garden. Photo is of Connor inspecting the broccoli we picked to take home for dinner

Connor loves walking, but hasn't quite managed it on his own yet. He has a little wooden trolley that he pushes around the house and absolutely loves being chased or chasing us with it, to the point where he is now running with it, I can't believe how fast he goes! If he can't find his trolley, he will use whatever is at hand to walk with, including the vacuum cleaner, upturned washing basket or the dining chairs (I found him halfway down the hallway with one this afternoon and had to take a photo!).

The weather has been gorgeous this weekend, so after spending a lot of the day inside yesterday (while Bruce was sanding walls) we had a great morning in the park with Rachel (hence a rare photo of the three of us!). It's so wonderful having such a beautiful park just around the corner, and Connor and I have been making the most of it during the week now it's getting so hot.

Sorry I've been bad at updating this week We've been out and about doing lots of visiting as usual but I keep forgetting to take the camera. Today was spent with Jo and baby Zoe, then decided to have a quiet afternoon for a change (the house was getting to the point where I couldn't ignore the cleaning any longer!). Connor has just started enjoying toys like blocks and stacking rings and we spent about an hour this afternoon trying to build towers. Up until now he has taken great delight in knocking down any block towers then racing off to the next thing, but he actually sat in one place for about 45 minutes while I helped him try to stack the blocks. I was amazed that he managed to sit still for so long! He started getting quite frustrated in the end so I took him off for a game of chasey round the house which soon fixed that! This morning he spent ages putting his stacking rings on their post, it's so cool to see him thinking about things and figuring out where things go etc, with such a serious look of concentration on his face!

Bruce and I had a lovely dinner out on Tuesday night for our ninth (!) wedding anniversary, and happy anniversary to Pat and Bob for yesterday (16th).

We took Connor to the zoo today, for our first visit with his birthday present from Uncle Paul (a family yearly pass so we can go whenever we want - great prezzie!!!). He loves animals so had a great time. The photos of animals in the distance weren't very good, so here are a couple of a curious creature he found lying on the grass. On trying to remove it's sunglasses Connor was attacked and tickled into submission.

We visited Uncle Philipp, Granddad and Uncle Paul today (Paul tried demonstrating how Granddad's present worked, and amazingly didn't break it in the process!).

Feeling extremely pleased with ourselves, as we've finished painting the hallway and dining room! Bruce took yesterday and today off work so we could get them done, and they look really good. Connor had a fantastic two days as he had Granddad all day yesterday and Nana all day today, so undivided attention for him and time to get on with the painting for us!

A gentle reminder from Connor that we need to put childlocks on the bathroom cupboard (he did this in the space of about one minute - I could hear him but thought he was throwing his bath toys into the empty bath, which is a favourite). The locks are now fixed!

We had a birthday picnic with friends and family today, which I was slightly nervous about in the morning as the weather was pretty awful. By the time of the picnic it had cleared up and was a beautiful hot day! I spent most of Friday making the big'1' birthday cake
















General picnic shot. We had it next to the playground at the park near us, which was very popular with the little ones.

















Connor opening presents (which he seems to have been doing since the 1st. I'm a bit worried that he might think this is now a normal daily occurance!).
















The '1' was a chocolate cake covered in Connor's favourite food, strawberries. I think he was quite taken with it...


















... and was quite happy to eat as much of the topping as he could!

1ST BIRTHDAY - ONE TODAY!!!!

It's hard to believe that our little boy is one today! Amazing to think that a year ago he was a tiny wee thing tucked up in his plastic box in the hospital. He's such an awesome little guy and so much fun, thanks for a awesome year Womble from your two biggest fans!! Had a very busy birthday with Nanna, Nan and Aunty Debs visiting this morning, Jumping Beans at lunchtime and Granddad this afternoon. He took it all in his stride though...
















Playing with the large lego blocks we gave him this morning














The wooden digger seemed to go down well (anything that can be pushed along the floor at the moment is a great favourite)











Family photo this morning (at least two of us were facing the camera!)














Opening one of Nanna's presents










At 'Jumping Beans' this afternoon

Dad thinks Connor should have been a bat, as he loves hanging upside down














Granddad's prezzie was a big hit












Bruce and I celebrating this evening with one of the bottles of French Champagne we'd been saving for a special occasion (Being the 1st of the month Bruce would normally not be home from work til around 10pm, but thankfully it was quite quiet so he was home a couple of hours earier).