Here is a link to our birthday Flickr album.

Preston is ONE!! His birthday was today and we have had a fun celebration all weekend with all his grandparents visiting. Today we had a fun picnic in a park with all his baby buddies and family and friends - and Preston has been in the best mood all weekend. He is so excited to have so much attention! And PRESENTS! Didn't take him long to figure out the concept of presents, and he has been extremely spoilt. Now he has all sorts of amazing new toys and books to play with, so thank you everyone!  

Here is Preston's cool birthday cake!  

Preston is nearly ONE!

Preston is nearly one!!!! Can't believe it. Here he is studying bubbles floating down around him. He thought it was all pretty funny!

Just had him weighed and measured at Plunket today - his stats are 9.13kg and 74cm tall. His walking is getting better and better, so if you are coming to his birthday picnic this Sunday (let us know if you haven't had an invite and want to come as we don't have everyone's email), he will dazzle you with his walking skills!

Sorry!

Haven't posted in ages... sorry about that. The month leading up to christmas is my crazy season - lots and lots of work, and not enough time to do it all! Not to mention that all the cool toys start to come out before christmas!

Preston got to spend a week with a house full of people - Hayden and Darren came here to stay for a week for a break, watched me work and played with Preston when I was busy. He absolutely loved having people around and was his happy usual self.

But the great news for Preston is that he's starting to walk more and more each day. A week ago it was a pivot on one foot - yesterday he took about 5 steps, and today he took about 12. He's pretty much there - he's just getting used to it, and will hopefully be walking confidently in another week or two!

I'll put some new pics up on the flickr too - lost the camera for a week or so :)

Photos of Preston

If you guys haven't noticed yet, I've put a gallery of Preston photos on the right-hand side of the page. I've done my best to add in a photo every day for the last month, and have only missed a couple of days so far :)

You can view the full gallery at http://www.flickr.com/photos/preston2 or just click on the pics to the right

My operation

As mentioned quite a few posts ago, I was scheduled to have an abdominal cyst removed last week, so here is my story for those of you interested!

I had a mesenteric cyst which would have developed before I was born, and it was kind of 'floating' around in my abdomen, although was attached to various places. It was not inside any organs or causing any problems, but after I gave birth and all my insides redistributed themselves, I could feel a big hard lump so (eventually) went to get it checked out. Both the radiologist and specialist were most curious about it and thought it was a great find as apparently they are not common in adults (they are normally noticed in children while they are young). The specialist said that in 10 years he had never seen one quite like mine and it was very interesting.

So despite having an unusual specimen, it was decided better to be out than in, so that's what happened. Last Thursday I had my plum-sized cyst removed, and now I am recovering. It was done by laparoscopy, so i have two small cuts (about 1cm apparently - they are still covered) on my tummy where they could insert the tools, and a small cut by my tummy button where they removed the cyst. They pumped up my abdomen with carbon dioxide so there is room to see what is going on and not disturb the other tissue and organs. Probably the processing of the co2 afterwards was the worst part as i had pain in my shoulders and really bad pins and needles for about a day in my legs and arms, but it all went away once the co2 got out.

Now i just have to wait til my tummy heals, but every day is significantly better and i should be able to lift Preston today. I haven't been able to give him a proper cuddle for days and days - he had started to forget me a bit. When he first came to visit me in hospital, he really didn't recognise me which was sad, but i must have looked pretty weird. But after i changed out of my blue hospital clothes and put on pink clothes, he knew who i was! He had fun at the hospital, charging up and down the hall and charming all the nurses, what a cute boy.

So that is it really. Nothing very exciting, but just thought I would update you!

Preston is so close to walking - he has really mastered his standing abilities and can even stand up by himself from a crouching position without holding onto anything!

Preston is all grown up now and has a backpack. He can stand without holding on to things, so hopefully he will start walking properly soon! We hold his hands and he can walk and run. Current words: Dada, Mama, Puss puss, (ba)Nana, and lots of sounds. He's just figured out how to make O sounds. 

Watties & Plunket work together to make a wholesome range of baby food, because babies don't always know what's best for them. 

Preston is a star!!

Ok, the suspense is over - I'll tell you about Preston's ad! It was actually a print ad, not a tv ad (but he is shortlisted for a tv ad to be filmed sometime later.). The ad has something to do with babyfood, but they didn't really talk about how it was going to be or what they would do with Preston's pictures. I should have a copy of the ad soon and i'll post it here.

Preston had lots and lots of photos taken chewing on all sorts of objects (like my phone and a remote, both of which are his favourite toys!), so perhaps there is a series of ad, I'm not sure so we will all have to wait.

It was a fun morning, and Preston was given a bag of presents (yay!) and some Pumpkin Patch vouchers (also yay!) as payment for his cuteness :)

Anyway, here are a couple of cute photos of Preston helping himself to the baby food. He had such a great time being the centre of attention!

Preston very carefully scooping out his own spoon of food which he actually got to his mouth! 

Mr Mischief getting stuck into his food! 

Breaking News: This cute boy has been cast in a tv ad to be filmed tomorrow!! More details later :)  

10 months old tomorrow!! Not long til my birthday! 

Yo my homies 

This is Preston's new laugh, complete with a cute screwed up nose! 

Haven't had many pictures of Preston lately as he has had a rash all over him, but luckily it is all healing up and he is back to his cute self :) 

Preston's Photo Shoot

At long last, here are the very cute proofs from the cool photo shoot we had in Whangarei last month. If anyone wants a proper copy of any photos, let me know so I can order them. I think it was about $60 for a 5x8 or maybe 6x9, can't remember.

Click on any of the images (of 6) to see it bigger.

Preston is so cute!!!

Who's that cute boy? 

It's me! Preston!