The big boy

Well, Erin is getting bigger (almost reached Angus' birth weight when weighed last Wednesday), but it's my big boy that I've really noticed growing up over the last few weeks. He seems to have grown both in stature and maturity. Here he is up in the loft with Peter, where he found a hobby catalogue and picked out a plane he thought they should have. Then a day or two later he decided he should build one himself...

So far (touch wood!) all is going well between Angus and Erin. He has his moments of not wanting a baby sister, but they are few and far between. The main problem at the moment are his sloppy kisses!

The next two weeks should be interesting though... it's school holidays, so no pre-school for Angus either, and on top of that, Peter is in Vienna for work for the first of the two weeks. What timing!

Erin Heather, born 0140, 2nd March

Well, she's certainly taken us by surprise! We weren't expecting her for at least a couple of weeks yet, but Erin decided to make an early appearance. My waters went at 8 on Monday evening, but nothing else was happening. However things suddenly started happening quickly at about 11pm, and by midnight my yells woke Peter (I was in the shower). He timed my contractions and got 3 in 5 minutes... oops, well and truly time to get moving. Got out of the shower, and made it to the car, but was already ready to push. Made the trip to the birth centre in record time, and made it in the door, but that was it. So much for my planned water birth: Erin was delivered in the reception area of the birth centre - good thing it was the middle of the night!

Unfortunately I lost a fair bit of blood after the birth, so I had to be transferred to hospital. Luckily it had stabilised by the time we got there, so I got away with just monitoring for a few hours, then they let me transfer back to the birth centre (on the proviso I take massive iron supplements for the next few weeks). I've spent a few days there (which was lovely, although I did miss Peter and Angus), and came home yesterday evening. Suffering terribly from sleep deprivation already, but things are pretty good.

Who do you think she resembles? I think she looks like her paternal grandmother.

Awww!

Angus is quite enjoying the prospect of the arrival of his little sister. He kisses and cuddles "her" on a regular basis (although gets a bit freaked out by her wriggling... and boy is she a wriggler!). Yesterday while we were waiting for his swimming lesson I was looking after the little sisters of two of his friends while they were getting changed, and Angus was very interested. Speaking of swimming lessons, yesterday was his fourth. He's gone from spending the first lesson clinging to one of the instructors and screaming (this from a boy who's been to the pool regularly since he was six weeks old, and loving it), to being so eager that we get there early and he then sulks because he can't join in the lesson before his. At the end of yesterday's lesson, the class had a race across the pool, and Angus was very proud to jointly win with his friend Tilly. (Sorry no swimming photos - cameras are not allowed at the pool.)

Sorry :(

I've been terrible at keeping this up-to-date, and only a bit better with my photo albums. But once again, I've finally caught up, so now you can catch up on, amongst other things, our Christmas pictures. Oh... and I suppose you heard we've had a bit of snow?

Judging by my photos, the snowfall started on the 17th of December. There was a partial thaw just before Christmas, but it snowed again on Christmas Eve. Then another almost complete thaw on New Year's Day, with a heavy snow fall the following day. The last time it snowed was the 13th of January, and the snow has now finally gone from the village (although you can still see some up on the tops). I love the snow when it is fresh and crisp, but it's horrendous when it partially thaws then refreezes. The last few days before it finally disappeared were the worst, when the footpaths were like ice rinks...