New hat

Found this hat in the sales. Should keep M's ears warm in the coming months and who can resist a pom pom?

Millie's 1st Christmas

Millie had a great day, lots of lovely presents and more outfit changes than an award show host. Here she is fascinated by her wrist and ankle bugs - thanks Prema!



After presents we went for a walk on the beach, a tradition in the UK. Not so much a tradition in the US - on account of the temperature perhaps. Needless to say we weren't out for very long.

The one where we put antlers on Millie but she doesn't seem to mind

So we couldn't resist turning Millie in to reindeer baby before a little rice cereal this morning. Looks like she enjoyed it.



She even blogged about it to her friends afterwards on her new baby laptop.

Give Peas a Chance

As noted by Heather, a dear reader, I have been a little remiss on the postings of late. Partly due to some unsightly eczema on our young star and partly due to flat batteries, both literal and figurative.

But we're back!

Millie just turned 6 months old - I know, can you believe it?! This means of course "solid" food! We started her off tonight with some peas and you can see here the results. She's stuck with peas for at least the next few days as we introduce foods gradually to watch for allergic reactions. Perhaps she'll grow to love them.

Feeling better now Little Red Riding Hood?

After a big scare on Monday night and a trip to the ER with Millie she is feeling much better today as you can see from the big smile below. We went out for a stroll on Michigan for some much needed fresh air and to see the Christmas lights.

Thanksgiving

This lovely sleepy babe is Millie's cousin Rebecca. The two finally met in New Hampshire and in the absence of any recorded conversation between the two (there was some tentative hand reaching and Millie was staring quite intently) we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they got on like a house on fire.



Presenting Arctic Millie! It was hard to imagine it being cold enough or her being big enough to wear this 6-9 month outfit when Uncle Jamie and Auntie Kat gave it to her in August, but it is cold and she is big.

High tea in the high chair

Well, we had our first go at 'solid' food today. Until Millie is about 6 months old this is just for fun, and practice. And as you can see from the pictures, we all need a lot more practice.

In goes the rice cereal...






Fun!

"Not a bad start"

So you may have already heard, a little thing called the election happened yesterday and we were thrilled to be close to the action here in Chicago.
Here are some pics from last night.

The view from ThoughtWorks over Grant Park - you can see the lights of the rally site off at the far end of the park.


Millie amazed at being out past her bedtime and all the people walking down Michigan Avenue.


Then, finally, the moment we were all waiting for...


On the long walk home, up a mostly pedestrianised Michigan Avenue, Millie attracted a lot of attention from the street party crowd. One lady walking next to us, smiled as she said to Millie "Not a bad start".

What an incredible night.

Millie at the weekend II

Although she is a long way off crawling Millie still manages to get around. She managed to roll off the gymini and shuffle across to eyeball her chum. She's stepping it up a gear - Mummy and Daddy really need to keep up.

Millie at the weekend I

Since I've been back at work I have been a bit delinquent on the blogging front. Here are some pics to make up for it. The weather is gorgeous in Chicago at the moment so we were out at the weekend soaking up the sun.

All wrapped up!

Glorious sunshine at the weekend, but getting cooler. Millie was toasty on Michigan Avenue toted by Daddy in her autumn outfit.

4 months old!

Seems unbelievable that she's 4 months old already. To celebrate we put her party frock on and went out for a cupcake. Sadly Millie's rapidly growing list of talents doesn't yet include processing solid food so I did the decent thing and ate it for her.

Beautiful day out in Chicago

The weather here was fantastic today 77f (that's 25c for the rest of the world) and cloudless blue sky. We walked down to Millennium Park en famille and snapped ourselves in the reflection of the bean.



The park was all gorgeous autumnal shades as the leaves are changing.

Timberrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

We're not quite able to sit up just yet...

We're back!

Well it's been a while since we posted, Millie and I have been stricken with daycare lurgy. We're both on the mend now and there's lots to report. The best news is that Millie has a cousin now! Rebecca Lily Gill was born this morning and looks adorable in her first photo. We're looking forward to meeting her at Thanksgiving.

We gave up on swaddles as soon as we found Millie in her crib one night rotated 180 degrees with the swaddle tangled up around her waist. We switched to sleep sacks which she's wearing as she (really) enjoys her mobile in the movie below.

Millie starts at Daycare

She's still very small, but this week Millie started daycare. She's doing a few hours a day until she (and I) get used to it. She gets a written report every day which is very exciting for Matt and me. Here is an excerpt from her latest report "Today Millie cooed to the other friends. She smiled as she kicked and shook the baby seat making the hanging toys shake."
Here's Millie, feet aloft once more.

Amazing feet

Millie recently discovered her feet and they are now her new favorite plaything. She's often to be seen with her feet in the air trying to suck on her toes.

Babypalooza

Last Friday we had two babies to visit; Rhys and Annabel. Annabel, the eldest of the group was mobile and scooted off during this photo opp. Annie and Joyce enjoy a cuddle with the more stationary (for now at least) Rhys and Millie.


Rhys impresses the ladies by reading.

Back from the road trip and up to Lincoln Park

We're safely back from our epic road trip. Millie can now add pins in the map for Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. We stayed in Cleveland on the way out and on the way back. The weather sure was interesting, heavy rains, thunder, high winds... On the last night there was a power cut so we were changing diapers by flashlight. A true test of our skills.
Yesterday Millie and I went for a walk in the Chicago September sunshine up to Lincoln Park. She looked so adorable in her sun hat I couldn't pick just one photo to post - so here's a couple...

American Grandma and Grandpa visit!

Last weekend American Grandma and Grandpa visited. Matt and I had a rare and much treasured night out, thanks to the expert babysitters.
Millie was all smiles, but sadly they are hard to capture on the camera, after several attempts we managed to get this half smile. I think it is still pretty cute.

Labor day fun

We were treated to fantastic weather over the Labor Day weekend (in fact all summer this year). On the Sunday we took Millie up to Lincoln Park zoo, walking up through the park and back home again along the lake shore. Chicago at its sunny best.

The BIG day!

Finally the day that we had all been waiting for arrived. The wedding! The groom had polished his boots up to a mighty shine and we were all raring to go. It was a truly fantastic day. A picture is worth a thousand words and the smiles below say it all really.


We were lucky to have a special guest in the ceremony - Prema interrupted her camping holiday and snuck in at the back of the church. Well who could resist a wedding AND a cuddle with Millie?

Rehearsal and bathtime

Last Friday was a big day - it was the wedding rehearsal and Millie had a bath! The picture above shows everyone going through their lines. Practice makes perfect. The vicar had to tell a very enthusiastic Jamie to stop repeating everything or they'd end up being married early. As Lucy pointed out it would have saved us some time, the old romantic.

Below is a post-bath, clean Millie...

Millie meets Mia

A momentous occasion - Millie meets my god daughter, Mia. There is 7 months between them, but they will be in the same school year. Hard to imagine at the moment. Mia's grown so much since March and is looking like a proper little girl these days. Hopefully it won't be too long until they meet again.

40 winks under the desk

Granny and Grandad's house has three levels. At night Millie slept in our room with us, but for day naps we popped her under the desk on the middle floor so we could keep an eye on her. She was very cosy under there and slept like a... er... baby.


Here's Millie and Daddy looking bright-eyed in the morning. Daddy didn't sleep under the desk or any other furniture as far as we know.

Back from the UK

Our little family just got back from our transatlantic trip. Lots to tell you about so expect installments over the next few days. Matt has put a couple of pics from the journey up on Millie's photo page. Here's some pics of Millie hanging out with her Auntie Lucy and Uncle Jamie and her new Auntie Kat.

The camera loves her!

In her debut performance Millie shows great on screen presence and good head control.





We're just back from the doctor. She had her 8 week check up. Apparently she is "long and lean". Not entirely sure where she gets that from. 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. Pre-school basketball here we come!

Sunday night fun

Millie has been enjoying her gymini tonight. It has music, sounds, lights and dangling jungle animals. Everything a girl could need for a good time really.
She's recently started losing her hair - we're assured that it will grow back, but in the meantime bald Millie is just as cute.

Millie's photo page

Matt has set up a photo page for Millie
I've added the the photo page to the links section on the blog so that you can easily check out the pictures from there.
Enjoy!

1 month old!

Millie is one month old today! We celebrated by getting this rather delicious cupcake, sang Happy Birthday (which she slept through), and then Matt and I took one for the team and ate the cupcake for her.