Baby Rachel

Last October, my precious friend Hannah, became a mummy to Rachel. I have been so blessed to spend a lot of time with them over the last 5 months, seeing Rachel learn to smile, hold her head, and giggle. 

For the last two Mondays, we have had glorious sunshine in Bristol, so Hannah, Rachel and I have gone for a couple of walks to two of my favourite places in Bristol - The Downs and Blaise Castle (where John & I went on our first date, and where he proposed). The sunshine has provided the perfect opportunity to take photos, although last week, Rachel decided being in the outdoors provided the perfect opportunity for a nap, which was not so conducive to photo times.

One of Rachel's latest tricks has been to burst into tears when Hannah gives her to me for a cuddle. Right on cue, the tears came on Monday as arrived. Knowing that I'm the only person that she does this with makes me feel brilliant - maybe she's so overjoyed to see me she can't contain her emotion! Anyway, she quickly got over her tears, and once we'd had a great time reading a lovely story, we ventured out to Blaise, and Rach was all about the smiles. 

Ok, so although none of these photos does her smile justice, I've posted these because I like the subtle yet obvious changes in her expression - she goes from intrigue at the camera to slight bewilderment, to smiling as she remembers that the camera is fixed on her pretty little face. And all the while, she keeps her little fist firmly attached to her toy. Babies are brilliant, especially this one.