What a busy month for our little bear. He has sprouted another five teeth, started to crawl, and learned how to blow raspberries. He is 10.2 kg (22.7 lbs) and 72.1 cm (28.4 inches).

He claps at every opportunity, even using it to self-soothe during a traumatic experience such as having his nappy changed. He will now tolerate having his nose cleaned, simply blowing a raspberry to register his disgust. His new pet peeve is lying on his back, which means that I now have to attempt to dress him while his is clambering around on the floor. This is especially difficult now that the crèche has suggested that he might find it easier to crawl if I stopped dressing him in one-piece rompers and started putting him in pants and a top. Boo.

He loves to eat solids, and is happy to be either spoon-fed (opening his mouth up like a baby bird) or feed himself. His favourite foods include strawberries, bread, lettuce, quorn, and cheese. He likes clearing his plate, even if that means deliberately dropping food onto the floor rather than placing it in his mouth. After a serious post-meal clean-up, we often read a book together. Hayden enjoys turning the pages in both directions, which means that often the story progresses in a very non-linear fashion.

Hayden and I have both had constant runny noses and coughs this month, but he still generally slept through the night, after a dreamfeed and bottle around 10pm. Hayden will now only breastfeed when he is asleep, he much prefers a bottle when he is alert.

Adrian continuous to be an amazing father. I swan off to work most mornings leaving Adrian to feed and change the baby, then take him on the train then on bus to the crèche, only to turn around a few hours later to pick him up and take him home again. If Adrian goes off for a few drinks with his colleagues he always takes Hayden with him, which gives me the evening alone to socialise or to relax with a long hot bath. Even on the weekends Adrian is now in charge of most of the feeding, though I must admit he is terrible at getting Hayden to fall asleep as the little bear is usually too excited to calm down and close his eyes.

My two guys make me laugh and smile every day. It is wonderful to see more of Hayden’s happy and chipper personality emerge every day.

Today Adrian celebrated his birthday with TinTin, Dr Seuss, Mint nudges, beer and chocolate cake, phone calls, and kisses.

Adrian has achieved many extraordinary accomplishments this year. A last author paper in Nature Immunology, the recruitment and retention of some fantastic lab members, and numerous grants, all the while being an astonishingly hands-on, involved, and superfun dad and husband.

Some friends came over for a playdate and to share some cake with us – thanks to Michael for snapping this shot.

Happy Birthday Adrian.

During the long weekend, the Hasselt Japanese Gardens celebrated o-hanami, the Cherry Blossom Festival. It is the one day of the year where one is permitted to sit on the grass underneath the sakura trees. Kim and Adrian colluded in order to create a suprise picnic for me that was accompanied by bubbly, green tea, and sake. The sun even came out for a few hours to we could sit in the warmth and watch Hayden enjoy some colourful hard-boiled eggs. (Interestingly, in Belgium, they seem to celebrate Easter by eating actual eggs rather than gorging on chocolate like we do in Australia.) After Adrian had peeled one for him and Hayden had taken a few mouthfuls, Hayden decided it was a lot more fun to just crumble his up and roll around on top of it until both he and the picnic blanket were covered in tiny specs of yolk.

The Hasselt gardens proclaim themselves to be the largest Japanese gardens in Europe, however at 2.5 acres by my research they come in fourth, after the 39 acre Valley of singing stones in Lithuania, the 29 acre Parc Oriental de Maulévrier in France and the 3.3 acre Kaiserslautern in Germany. Still, it was a fun way to mark the time of year in which Spring is supposed to arrive, and I hope that the sun will decide to spend some more time in Belgium sometime soon.