Honey, I Blew Up the Baby!*

It's official: Hugo is the Incredible Booming Baby! He had his first weigh-in since May last week, and clocked in at 11 lb., 5 oz! That's more than double his weight at its lowest. Go, Hugo! (and, erm, go me!). He had his first vaccination last week and sailed through that as well.

Generally, he is sleeping for longer stretches (usually 4-5 hours for the first go) and has become MUCH more chillaxed in temperament. He still has some quirks – he's quite agitated by sneezes, for example, regardless of from whom they emanate – still hates baths and wardrobe changes, and ejects poos the size of the Mediterranean. The good news is, he is gravitating in times of need towards his chosen (by Josie) transitional object, the aptly (and politically correctly) named "Soft Friend" (if you've had the good fortune to meet Josie's Pink Friend and Green Friend, you can imagine where her instincts in naming this cream-and-beige colored lovey were headed) so we can faintly envisage sleep training on the (still faraway) horizon.

It's you and me against the world, Soft Friend!

Most importantly, he continues to dazzle us with his smiles.

You think this is cute, just wait 'til I have teeth!

June flew by incredibly quickly -- we're taking advantage of the fact that Hugo is still basically a squirmy and smelly handbag, taking loads of day trips to local attractions. We finally made it up to the American Museum of Britain (renowned for housing the "largest collection of American art and collectibles in Southwest Britain"....uh, okay) for what was actually a drool-inducing special exhibit on Marilyn Monroe. The fabulous private collection included everything from the script for her memorial service to costumes from "Bus Stop" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" to knicknacks from her Hollywood home. I was in heaven! Even more heavenly were the views from the gorgeous grounds and cafe.

Not to be a narc, but someone illegally took this picture... probably an American.

In News from the Incredibly Ironic and Unfair, Jeffrey was invited as a guest by one of his vendors to the Royal Ascot! He actually was also offered a plus-one pass, but I just couldn't for the life of me find a fascinator that coordinated with a nylon, ebony breast pump (I can just hear the Hello! reporter now: "And Ms. Davidson, who are you wearing?" Me (blushing): "Medela.")

Go ahead, Rex Harrison, eat your heart out!

Still, I helped him choose a tie for his morning suit – top hat and tails, bien sur – and captured the moment for posterity. In return, he kindly texted updates, like when "the Queen and Duchess of York rode in" (what? who? Fergie? Not likely!! See? Unfair!)... "oh right, sorry, that's the Duchess of Cornwall." (yeah! Big difference! Lucky for you I watch the Oprah network so I know Fergie is off finding herself with Suze Orman and Dr. Phil!). Arg. Amateurs.

"And here we have Princess Grace and the Duke of Cornbread..."

After an incredibly soggy few weeks, the sun decided to again grace us with her presence, so we've been putting our National Trust membership to good use. We traveled to the coast to see the fabulous Dunster Castle, parts of which date to Medieval times, took a great stroll around its beautiful grounds, and then headed up the high street for a lovely pub lunch in the sunshine.

Dunster Castle makes Jeff and Josie look like leetle dollies!

Jo is completely stumped by the lovely nature stroll

And finally, a monkey-meatball lunch!

And, in a perfect illustration of what we've come to love about the U.K., we remembered spotting a pub with a huge playground and bouncy castle (??) on the way to Dunster, so we set aside time for a stop on the long ride home. Sorry, Josie has just reminded me that it was not, in fact, a bouncy castle but bouncy water.

Because you just never know who might, after a few Pimms, fancy a bounce!

For me, the pièce de résistance of the month had to be last weekend's trip to Windsor Castle. The castle is, as we learned, the world's largest castle still in official use as a royal residence. It's absolutely enormous, and, frankly, really freakin' cool. We couldn't photograph indoors, but the tour included Queen Mary's Doll House, which includes perfect replicas of famous books, running water in all the bathrooms, miniature copies of famous artworks, and a couple of dozen rooms. Josie was so enamored she pled with the guard to see it again. He of course agreed.

The State Apartments were gorgeous, albeit in the you've-seen-one-castle-you've-seen-'em-all sense, and rather than tour the gardens we opted to wait for the miniature Changing of the Guard. You could tell who's seen The Wizard of Oz by the various eruptions into screaming tears around us.

Josie, still a Wiz-Oz neophyte, instead uses the occasion
to utilise her current favored phrase, "O.M.G."

We also took turns, with a lovely couple from Scottsdale, capturing potential holiday card shots.


We were also impressed by one barkeep's incredibly quick work and entrepreneurial spirit:


This week is Josie's last week of school (can you believe it? It seems like yesterday that she donned that little uniform for the first time and posed for her slightly-anxious first-day-of-school shot.... sigh). The last few days have been filled with various end-of-the-year celebrations including the hotly-anticipated Final Ballet Watch, which I made sure to capture on film for our viewers at home. And no, it's not your hearing, you will indeed detect a trace of Josie's gradually acquired West Country accent.

At the end of the month we're off to Salcombe in Devon (on the southern coast), a bit like Nantucket in Old England, for a week's holiday. Then, because we're just that sadistic, we've decided to move three days after we return – to a house that's closer to Josie's school and with a bit more space and sunlight for our newest family member. We're sad to leave Great Pulteney Street, the Friendship Circle, and our Friday night pub dinners at the Pulteney Arms, but we're excited to have a bit more space and a much shorter school commute.

In the meantime, belated Happy Fourth of July to our American Compatriots, from the Bathian Rothmans, including our smiliest new member!


*"Dad, he looks like a badly-dressed beekeeper." (who's really down with the bad early-90's movie quotes?)