Monkey See, Monkey Do

Can't really say that we have done a great deal of exciting things over the last few week. Time seems to have been spent drinking cups of tea and eating cake in various locations such as my Nan's, Barton Grange and The Potting Shed in Bolton-Le-Sands, most of which with Gabi and Logan, or finishing off the Christmas shopping. I am pleased to say that all my presents are wrapped and ready to go under the tree :)

On the 19th however, I went on my first night out since pre-pregnancy. Not exactly an adventure with Louie but worth a mention non-the-less. The evening was spent with a collection of fabulous girl friends that I have made along the way ready to 'wet Louie's head' as such. The boys get to do it, so why shouldn't we? Having drunk a large amount of wine in The Sun Hotel we made our way to some other establishments....one of which being Yates's. It even bugs me that they put an apostrophe S after their name - that's not correct grammar! Yates's consists of ever trollop in town wearing next to nothing (see girl in the background wearing gold in the photo below), dancing on the poles, a permanent fixture in Yates's...Classy, for free bottles of 'Champagne'. I use the word Champagne loosely as I am 99% certain that it will not have been made in the Champagne region of France. More like Chateau de Shit! All in all this place is a shit hole where you are likely to catch an STI just by touching a door handle, but for old times sake, as I was out with some of my original drinking buddies from way back when, we took part in a chavvy drink of VK and took in all that was going on around us. Then I demanded that we left to go somewhere more suitable!

After more wine in Dalton Rooms, singing along to some decent music and a cocktail in Revolution we all decided that we had had enough and set about heading home at 12:15! Shocking I know, what is wrong with us all. We had been out since 7:30pm though and a hangover and a baby don't mix well so that was it. Can't say I miss going out in town but it was great to spend the evening with the girls child free!

As Ste is off at the moment we went on adventure up to South Lakes Wild Animal Park yesterday which was bloody freezing, slightly wet but lots of fun. Louie was wrapped up snugly in his snow suit ready to see the animals.

Upon arriving at the zoo we were greeted by a very elegant monkey balanced on a pole practising some ballet moves (or so I'd like to think). The good thing about here is that a lot of the animals are allowed to run about freely so this allowed for me to get some really nice, close up pictures of the little critters. They were all so tame and used to people watching them, but not touching to my disappointment as they will evict you from the park if you do!

If you go in the afternoon you can watch the tigers, lions and jaguars being fed, which sounded fun but I was slightly disappointed that there wasn't much action. The meat is balanced at the top of the pole and the cats climb up to grab it and chow down. They were all absolutely beautiful, even when gnawing through the bones of the carcass that they were munching on. The tigers that are at this zoo are Sumatran and apparently these are only about 300 left in the world - poor buggers :(

All in all a fun day out that I would recommend to anyone, especially as its free for visitors until February!

To poo or not to poo that is the question

After the second visit to the swimming pool the other week, which ended unsuccessfully with one very grumpy Louie screaming, I decided to purchase a very dapper wetsuit for my little chap. This my friends is a godsend! I'm slightly annoyed that I hadn't thought about it earlier to prevent the chaos that unfolded the previous week. Who would have thought that they'd make such mini, teeny weenie swimming cossies for babies - god bless www.amazon.co.uk and www.solesupfront.com. Louie the fashion guru extrodinaire now gets to float around in his cosy and stylish wetsuit - quite the trend setter I think you'll agree :)

Thursday was the impending doom that was in the form of 2 giant needles. Yes thats right, Louie's second lot of injections. Steven couldn't attend this appointment *gulp*, so who do I call in as back up...mother of course! Good old mumsy would hold the little man down whilst they stabbed him. Ok, so its not quite as dramatic as that but I find the whole ordeal traumatic. Mum initially said I was being soft, then after experiencing the bottom lip wobbling and high pitched squeek/squeel that came from him I think she is now on Team Holly for not wanting to be involved in injections again. Can't believe that there's another lot in a few weeks :( On the plus side, Thursday also saw the long awaited arrival of the lovely Katie Thompson (bestest bud from way back when) and the first introduction to Louie. Theres always a silver lining I guess to a crappy day!

After much persuasion I managed to get Mumsy to consider having a more reliable and prectical car now that she's a Nanny. Yesterday we went on a journey up to see the lovely Emerson Smith at www.batemans.toyota.co.uk in search of a new, shiney brum brum. You might notice I used the word persuasion, it was quite an effort to convince Mum that she needed to look at other cars and part with the silver baked bean can she currently drive. I think the icing on the cake was when we loaded up her car with me, Mum and Louie plus everything that goes with him - car seat, pram, chaging bag etc. The scene below was enough for Mumsy to commit to purchasing a new Yaris :) And yes, she does have a fetish for plastic bottles in the boot of her car. I hope she doesnt hord as much crap in the new one!

And tonight...never have I been so happy to have a poo-filled nappy! Why? Well Louie decided to go on poo-strike from 5pm Thursday and wasnt quiet about it at all - lots of grimaces, grunting, straining and crying. After countless tummy massages, knees being tucked up, cooled boiled water and cooled boiled water made that little more exotic by adding fresh orange, I gave in. At approximately 30 hours sans pooey nappy I called the NHS helpline who then got a nurse and a doctor to call me. We were told to go to the hospital for an appointment with a doctor who examined Louie. Obviously Louie was an absolute darling to the doctor, cooing and smiling without a grunt in sight. To cut a long story short the suggestion was continue with everything we were already doing and give him some Lactulose as a last resort. At approximately 72 hours and 10 minutes since the last poo we had some action! Hurrah, and I can now relax and stop worrying about shit! :)

12 Weeks Later...

So, this time 12 weeks ago I was sat in the Maternity Ward of RLI with the tiny (8lb 4oz) new man in my life. As I stared down at the little person, snoozing in what can only be described as a tuppaware without a lid for a baby, I seemed to be able to forget about his dramatic (and very long winded) entrance to the world! We were now responsible for this little chap and this was where all the fun began.

Louie Steven Armer is quite possibly the most photographed baby around and has certainly done an awful lot in only a matter of weeks. At 3 weeks old he could hold his head up and steady all on his own, at 6 weeks old he was smiling and at 11 weeks old he started to try and roll over - I think he will be running circles around me sooner than I think! We've done quite a lot of baby massage, been swimming twice, had 3 photoshoots with Gary Hill, visited Barton Grange to look at the Christmas displays, been out to Bowness and Ambleside and even attended a Wedding Fair at The Midland Hotel. Its no wondered right now I feel quite exhausted to say the least!

Why have I decided to blog? Well...12 weeks later, my head still seems to be partially filled with fluff, and although I am now used to broken sleep I still seem to be a bit forgetful. What better way to remember what we did by promising myself that I will blog each week to keep a track of what adventures we get up to.

And so it begins.....