Heidi in the last day or two has been a little unsettled, with a temperature on Thursday night that went up to 39.5c. We are nervous of temperature rises, having regard to what it meant for little Freddie, though Calpol sorts her rapidly. Soon she is fine again. The Braun “in the ear” thermometer gets an airing once again and we still have “Property of F J Wills” labelled on it, as there was always a chance that the thermometer would get borrowed by one of the nurses thinking it was NHS stock, and we never see it again.

Her rosy cheeks and hands in the mouth with additional drooling and a bit of grumpiness lead us to suspect that teething is occurring. They may not appear for a bit of course, but they must still grumble with her.

A side effect it seems is that she sometimes will not want to drink her milk, which again gives Rachel and I the wobbles. It appears to be gum-related and some local anaesthetic granules which lurk on her gums and seems to do the trick and she tentatively keeps drinking. Otherwise she gets very upset indeed and we have to try and console her to get her to take some feed. However a few hours later she will slurp with gusto, and apparently gums are no longer her concern.

Friday has seen her third day of trying pureed carrot and she now loves it. At least she smiles when eating it, some comes out of her mouth and is shovelled back in, and she seems fine with this. Its quite watery but at least gives her the opportunity to try something other than milk. Rachel reckons she likes it, as it all ends up gone, with no crying or protestation.

Friday also saw me take a call from my brother Duncan at 2130h. He was sitting in the Isaac Merrit in Paignton (a J D Wetherspoon pub) with a friend when he opened the Wetherspoon Magazine – “Wetherspoon News.”

He was not expecting to see a photograph of Fred on page 52 nor 1 ½ pages about our little boy and how CLIC Sargent helped us whilst we were in Bristol and then eventually in Exeter. I wrote the article in May this year and to’d and fro’d with both CLIC Sargents Press Office and J D Wetherspoons staff, to get the story right.

Today saw us rise extra early and head over to Newton Abbot to drop some stuff off at the CLIC shop and do some shopping. We headed in to the Richard Hopkins pub (Wetherspoons again….) and picked up a couple of copies of the magazine. It was strange to see Freddie peering out at us, and read the bits that Wetherspoons editorial staff had added in the introduction to my article. I was engrossed in my magazine, sitting drinking a cup of tea awaiting my breakfast whilst Heidi was fed by Rachel when Naomi appeared at our table. I used to work with her and she followed the ‘blog noticing on FaceBook that the article was now out, so sped down to the pub the following day to get the magazine. I handed her a copy which I had gathered and off she went to see what great words I had spun, with her family on another table.

Heidi is more active with her limbs now and we are beginning to lose socks and things as we go along the street. Today saw the first proper loss of a pink towelling sock. I re-traced our steps in the pub and found it carefully placed on the bar, where it was duly returned to her foot. Until now they have been found tucked away in the pram or the car.

Once back to home, Heidi was changed and fed and Hayley from the office popped by. They all had a good cuddle though Hayley experienced a period of heavy wind as Heidi obviously expelled windy carrots over a 30 minute time span. One burst resulted in a burp, fart and sneeze which even took her by surprise and gave her a fright. Eventually Heidi was carried off as she had had a poo in the excitement.

Afterwards I took Heidi off in mid-afternoon to go to Brixham to get a table cloth and napkins from the linen shop. It has been a nice sunny day and she has been very happy and observant. On the way past one of the pubs on the habourside I had to plough through the banished smokers who cluttered the pavement. I carried on regardless and “beeped” my way through, eventually passing clear of the human litter, when I heard one of them calling to me. I turned and a whiskery tattooed male lurched toward me waving “Milton”, Heidi’s pet cow which she had shoved out of the pram with her leg as she went by them. I thanked him profusely and we went on, this time with Milton safely stowed under the pram.

I bought my linen table cloth and half a dozen napkins (only 22” size though) and I noticed that we’d lost a sock once again. I re-traced my short journey and found a pink sock carefully sitting on a shop window cill. I wonder who picks these things up and worries that someone is looking for them. I had earlier handed my shopping list to Heidi to keep her occupied but when I went to search for it that too had gone. I found it in the gutter, where Heidi had dropped it.

I head over to mum and dads and she entertains them for a while. She is really trying to sit up now and in the right situations she can get up quite far, but does not have the strength. It’s good she thinks it is worth persevering with though, so at least nature is guiding her well. A few days ago I tried to pull her up off her back by holding her hands but her head was too heavy. Today I can do that exercise easily and she has worked out how to balance her head and can be pulled up in one easy movement to sit upright and marvel at the world from a new perspective…… She wobbles but laughs as she crashes back down on the duvet.

This week has seen Rachel’s birthday on Wednesday 10 and we planned a quiet evening in with a couple of friends, Mark and Emily.

Claire, one of Heidi’s godmothers popped in beforehand for a cuddle on the way home from work and we had a nice chat whilst Heidi showed off her social skills she has recently developed. Smiles masked her naivety in some areas, but she was rewarded with hugs and kisses for her efforts. Fat hugs really do work along with gooey, saliva-ridden smiles.

The evening was not meant to be too grand but we all decided on a curry theme so I started making three curries in the few days in the run up to her birthday.

This served several purposes; to keep fuss to a minimum on the night and to ensure that the flavours develop over a period of time. It was a trio of Red Lamb Thai Curry, Lamb Tikka Masala and Chicken Balti all created by me – with the help of some ingredients from the oriental food store. Once cooked they ended up in a foil container and stayed chilled to develop the favours for a day, and then were frozen for use on the day. A few naans, some pickles plus some fresh poppadoms made it a success. We started with jumbo prawns in a cocktail sauce though which may be a little 70’s, but always goes down well, albeit non-Indian….

Rachel had made a raspberry torte earlier in the day and so this was accompanied by some local clotted cream.

Heidi enjoyed the first part, but went upstairs as she could not hack the pace. The evening ended near midnight and hopefully everyone had a nice evening. Heidi had remained in deep slumber allowing us to chatter inanely.

Friday saw another gourmet gathering, this time at my mum and dad’s. It was fish and chips there, and was really nice. The six of us, including my brother Duncan sat down to plough through a mountain of chips. Heidi appeared briefly before retiring to the front room in her Moses basket and nodded off happily. We’d ordered five cod and four chips, but the portions were enormous as usual, plus I think they gave us an extra bag of chips. Five cod and two possibly three chips may have been adequate.

The weekend saw us shopping and we purchased Heidi’s cot for her. It only took a few minutes for me to build it, although when first unpacked I thought all the screws were missing, but this ended up not being the case. I was hopping temporarily.

The mattress we had for Fred fits perfectly although he only ever got to use it one night, the night before he was diagnosed.

Following the health visitors tips on starting weaning Rachel today gave Heidi her first taste of something other than milk. Heidi has experienced two lots of Calpol, and seemed to enjoy the change. Here it was heavily pureed carrot which looked really nice and orange, but clearly was not to her liking. Much face-screwing and tongue flapping by her, she managed to get ¾ of the ice cube sized portion down. We will keep on with the non-sweet stuff gently and see how she goes. I guess it will be orange poo from now on…….

I had hoped to post some photographs but again I have left my camera in the office so will add them tomorrow if I remember.

Today saw us go to the zoo for the day as it was sunny and we toured the usual bits in the what is likely to be the last of the nice weather. The new Crocodile Swamp is too crowded and far too hot and humid for her and it gets a bit congested in the area where there is the monsoon. It goes dark and there is lightning flashing, and the mists descend. In the gloom a little boy next to me wrapped his arms around my thigh presumably not knowing whose it was in the dark and what later appeared to be his terror. I shuffled nervously in the gloom trying to get him to go away, but when the thunderstorm stopped he wandered off out through the exit happily and none the wiser.

We headed over to my mum and dads and Heidi has started enjoying the rolling about bit on the mat. She is happier doing this now and is desperate to roll over though still does not know how to. She has progressed this week, and holds her head high for quite a while. Obviously babies heads must be heavy as after a while her head starts to droop, and it gets lower and lower. A bit like a battery running out. She finds it amusing and enjoys a different perspective on life.

Back home to a nice warm bath and a fluffy suit. As I type I hear Rachel getting her ready for bed, and dealing with a “bogey alert…”

She has big plans for the week and is looking forward to Rachel’s birthday on Wednesday, when she returns from the moors…..