De Silva Family Blog

It was Izzy's first birthday party this afternoon and all the family came to celebrate. After such a bad summer, thankfully the weather was perfect. Little Miss was on great form and loved being the centre of attention. She received lots of lovely presents, including the beautiful dress you see her in here and a wonderful monkey cake. She actually seemed just as interested in the wrapping paper as the presents themselves! Leo also had lots of fun at the party as he got to eat all of her new presents, met his Aunt Cathy for the first time (technically first cousin once removed if you're into that sort of thing) and even received a present of his own. From all of us here at the De Silva Family Blog: HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, IZZY!!!

After six months, last night I did my first full night's duty. Just my luck, it also coincided with Leo's worst ever night - he was up every half hour!!! I'm sure he was just doing it for the novelty value. Thankfully, Mary took over at 6am and I spent the rest of the morning in bed. Little Monkey was looking a little sheepish when I saw him, but he made up for it with a lovely smile and a big sloppy kiss on my nose!

I received quite a shock today... Apparently swimming wasn't enough excitement for one day so, in the changing rooms, our little adrenaline junkie tried BASE jumping for the first time. He dived off a bench without his parachute and unlike his namesake landed on his chin rather than his feet! (Do big cats always land on their feet?) As you can imagine this wasn't his desired result and he let everyone within a three mile radius know. Poor mummy was distraught and even though she's just completed some research into head injuries, did not realise that he showed none of the signs ( Glasgow Coma score of 15)! Luckily they'd just been swimming with the NCT class babies and Mike, Sebastian's dad, drove Mary and Leo to hospital, left a message on my mobile ("It's Mike ....crackle... Mary and Leo ...hiss... accident ...static... QE2 hospital ...crackle ") and stayed with them while I manically made my way there. Thanks Mate! It turned out that Leo w

I'm tired of hearing that announcement at Kings Cross station every day this summer. Well we've had a few nice days recently and as you might expect those barbecues have been lit and are raring to go. Unfortunately today's, at Claire and Alex's, has been affected by that inclement weather! Nevertheless it was a lovely afternoon even though poor Alex was stuck outside cooking under his umbrella! The weather was much kinder yesterday, when we went to Mog and Ed's for another get together. There was certainly lots to celebrate as Mog's pregnant, as is Katie who's due in six weeks. Here you can see them both showing off their bumps. Congratulations girls! We also had two engagements: Caitlin and Dan, and Louise and Martin, both due to get married next year. So there were plenty of beers and champagne going around - shame it was my turn to drive.

Issac, our dinosaur-loving neighbour who lives two doors down, was three today. He kindly invited us to his party today - Leo's first ever! It was our first children's party too and we thoroughly enjoyed it. There was so much to do - trampolines, tunnels, slides, swings, pin the tail on the dinosaur, etc. The entertainment was provided by a lady from Kindaroo , a local company that specialises in "educational movement for 2 to 5 year olds." Leo was a little too young to fully appreciate it, but joined in anyway as best he could - dancing, playing with a colourful parachute, flying like a bird and making lots of silly noises. He was so excited! Just when we thought all the fun was over and everyone was leaving, he received a party bag (we'd forgotten about those)! In it, was a little seal-shaped water squirter which will be a great bath toy. As you can see, Leo was fascinated and spent much of the afternoon imitating it!

This sleeping in his own room may actually be working - Leo slept until 6am this morning! So the day started well. Leo sat up unaided for the first time today. Previously he would topple to one side or the other and it was fun trying to guess which way he would fall! Here you see him playing with the stacking blocks Grandma and Grampa bought him. As you can see, he's still not particularly stable as he frequently overreaches. Leo spend most of his waking hours trying to put everything into his mouth. Now he's started to take after his old man and learning to put his foot in it! That's my boy! I joined Mary and the other NCT girls on their weekly swimming trip for the first time. It was great fun splashing around with Leo in the pool. I even summoned up the courage to dunk him, though it took some coercion. Leo had a go in Sebastian's inflatable ring and he loved it, kicking away like a maniac. Finally this afternoon, Leo became mobile for the first time - h