Tom (8 weeks) and Martha (2 years, almost 5 months)

It seems appropriate to combine the two kids into one message this time around, as they are not growing up independently of each other and both go everywhere together.

The big news of this month is that we've decided to move house! We felt we needed something else to fill in those idle moments between caring for two small children by getting another house then moving into it. It is, needless to say, very very exciting, and we'll be in one month to the day after first spotting it.

Adrian

Here Martha and Tom are on the Ann Johnston quilts:

Tom has started smiling quite a lot, and responds to smiling with more smiling. He also makes a series of different coo-ing noises when he's happy which is very endearing. Here he is smiling:

And here he is again:

On a visit to the Farm in Tilden Park, in Berkeley with Jilly:

A recent gathering at the house (which unexpectedly turned into a house cooling party). Note lots of children all over the floor:

I decided that I could take Tom's passport photo for both his US and UK passports, and did quite a fine job of it. The rules say that his eyes need to be open, he be looking at the camera, no-one else be in the picture (not even a little bit) and the background be white. Also his head has to be a certain size within the frame.  It seemed to work as they approved his application and sent us the passport within two weeks.

The New House (note "Sale Pending" sign - now removed).

Coo-ing

Martha and Tom on the window seat in our old house. I'll miss this house as it was a very pleasant place to live, as well as being the place where we first brought our two children home.

Martha reading, Tom hiccupping.

Tom at 31 days

We're finding Tom quite an easy baby so far. I had to look back in our journals to make a comparison with his big sister at this early date, and it seems that I was feeling a lot wearier when she was a month old than I am now. Not that Tommy's sleeping through the night or anything--far from it! It's possible that things are working well for us because we're now baby veterans, or it may just be that we don't have time to feel tired--Martha won't let us! Having two kids by the way is a lot of work, and while not especially difficult, it is tiring and non-stop. Sleep is the most important thing of course, and we are lucky (so far) in that Tom sleeps for at least some of each night. His being so large at birth may be on our side here.




Which brings up the fact that this blog really must become the Adventures of Tom and Martha, as big sis continues to create more news than young Thomas--so stay tuned for the change in upcoming weeks...


Here's Thomas out for his first restaurant meal, at Zza's. He wasn't a huge fan of the olive tapenade, so all the more for M!


We had a great visit with Uncle Chris and Auntie Rachel, and are still fielding Martha's daily questions: 'Where IS Rachel? Where Christine is?' It was great to have them here to read, make forts, and do puzzles with Martha while I fed Tom (currently in the never-stop-eating phase).