Busy couple of weeks....

Two weekends ago Auntie Mandy and Auntie Sam came to visit. Above is Summer holding hands with Auntie Sam and below playing with Auntie Mandy. We had lots of fun playing games and reading books together.

Last weekend we went to stay with Granny and Grandpops. Summer got to play with her cousin Isabella - they had lots of fun crawling after each other round and round Grannys kitchen! Below Granny is looking after both Summer and Isabella!

A busy couple of weeks....

Well its been a busy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago Oma came to visit which was lovely. Summer and Oma had lots of fun together often bursting into laughter for no apparent reason!!

Last week we went to stay in Dawlish with Granny and Grandpops. We had a lovely week with great weather. We visited the Model village in Babbacombe as well as taking Summer on a steam train and a ferry to Dartmouth.

Summer spent most of the holiday wanting to walk everywhere as you can see from the picture above! So when we got home we went to buy her first pair of shoes which are pictured below. She loves them and doesn't want to take them off at all!

Below is a video of Summer walking up and down our sofa which is her latest trick!

Vote for Summer......

Mummy has entered Summer in a cutest baby competition in the Sun newspaper.

Voting starts tomorrow 9th September 2009 . To vote click on go to:

http://sunbeams.thesun.co.uk/index.php

Type in Summer Hope and you will see a picture of her. If you click on the picture you should be able to vote.

Much appreciated!

Raising money for Southampton Hospital

We have finally decided that the time has come to start raising money for Southampton Hospital. They have done so much for Summer that we would like to give them something back. We have started a fundraising page that you can find at www.justgiving.com/summerhoperudd.

Any donations will go straight to Southampton Hospital and will help so many more babies and children.

Summer with Auntie Mandy and Auntie Sam

Summer's first haircut....

Yesterday Summer had her first haircut. She was so good at the hairdressers - maybe because she got to sit in a car whilst they trimmed her hair! She has now got rid of the hair that kept getting in her eyes and the back is very neat.

In the last couple of days not only is Summer trying to walk but she has also started crawling forwards. She has been able to go backwards for quite a while but she is very pleased that she can now go forward! The video below shows her crawling.

She'll be running next......

This week Summer has been practicing walking more and more. Here she is in our friends garden with a baby walker.

This week Summer hasn't been feeling very well. She is still teething with her four molars trying to come through all at once. On top of that she has picked up a chest infection and has been started on antibiotics. This hasn't stopped her trying to pull herself up on everything as you can see above. I think she was after the CD's in this picture!

The video below shows how Summers walking is progressing . She is holding onto mummy but is getting quicker!

A busy week...

This week has been a busy one. Summer has managed to work out how to pull herself up from sitting to standing and has been practising over the last couple of days. The video at the bottom shows her having a go at walking in her cot.

The picture above shows her trying out her new swing in the garden and below is Summer on her trike. We all went for a walk at Hengistbury Head. Summer is not longer very keen to sit in her buggy for long periods of time but she happily sat on her trike for an hour - waving at people and saying "hiya".

Summers 7th tooth popped through this week and I think numbers 8, 9 & 10 will be shortly following as I can see them just below the surface of her gums. It has disturbed her a sleep a little so mummy and daddy are a bit tired!

She knows my name!!

Well after waiting a year to hear Summer say "mama" she has spent the past couple of weeks perfecting it!! She now has four words that she uses regularly - dada , mama, hiya, yeah.

Having spent a long time trying to get Summer to let us brush her teeth - she now brushes her own as you can see from the above picture.

This week Summer has started trying to pull herself up on the furniture and loves to stand. She has been enjoying playing with all her new toys from her birthday and has had a great week at nursery. One of the entries that the nursery wrote in her book (which they give to us at the end of the day to let us know what she has done) was "Summer spent the whole day laughing and smiling" which I thought was lovely and a perfect description of our daughter!!

Latest Hospital Update....

Today was Summers latest hospital check-up at Southampton Hospital. We met with her Consultant/Surgeon Mr Burge to discuss when they plan to operate and to check on Summers progress. They were very pleased with her general progress and were happy with how much she had grown. Mr Burge said he thought she was beautiful (Matt and I agree!!!).

Mr Burge checked her scar from the diaphramatic hernia operation and it is already fading which is great. He then tried to feel how much muscle Summer has surrounding the exomphalos but she wasn't too keen on that so I think he struggled a little!!

The doctors have decided to probably wait till Summer is three before attempting the operation. This is because they only want to perform it once and if they try it earlier they may end up having to do more than one operation - which we certainly don't want. As Summer uses her muscles more with crawling and walking they will get stronger and this will also make it easier for them to join them when the time comes.

Mr Burge does not need to see Summer for another year which is fantastic.