Holiday in Lossie

Hello everyone, where do I start!! I am so sorry again, I know you have all been looking out for a blog update but life is just too busy!! We have been up to heaps but I won't go in to every detail or we will be here forever! I have got loads of photos from the past month or so, so I have picked out the best ones.

Above is a photo of Holly and Natalie the other night all ready for their beds after bathtime. This is as good of a photo we can get of the two of them as Holly never sits still long enough for photos these day! Speaking of baths, here are the girls sharing their first bath, which they both seemed to quite like!

Right so over the past month we have done our usual stuff, going to baby group, going to Creche (which Holly is coming round to), and catching up with our friends. We also got our new car which is fantastic! It is very spacious and one day I had 3 kids, 2 adults a sandpit and 4 bags of sand in it, nae bad!!

Unfortuanately last week poor Holly came down with the Hand Foot and Mouth virus, which isn't as bad as it sounds, but made her quite miserable. Luckily it cleared up within a week and she is OK now, although has a runny nose so she must have yet another cold! Natalie also got HFM whilst we were away and was very unsettled with it, poor baby. She hardly slept and had difficulty feeding but is much better now too.

So on Saturday we headed up to Lossie as Ian had this week off work. We stayed with my Mum and Dad and saw Grannie and Granda Stewart over the weekend. On Monday we headed up North to my Grandad's to visit him and introduce him to Natalie. We had a lovely time, Holly especially, she loved running around the village. Here are a couple of photos with him.

On Tuesday we met Leona for lunch at Brewsters which was lovely. I do have a photo of her with Natalie but she would probably be mad at me for putting it on here! So here is a photo of Holly playing there instead.

On Wednesday we packed up the car and headed home to Aberdeen, popping in past Garmouth to see Grannie and Granda Mclean first, here is Grannie with Natalie.

On Thursday I had my usual trip around the shops with Angela and Natalie, although instead of Holly and Matthew going to creche, Ian babysat!! They had a good time by all accounts and Ian managed fine. Here is Natalie before we went looking a right wee dude in her tracksuit that Uncle Steve got her.

On Friday we went to see the people about our proposed house extension then yesterday we went to storybook glen again as it was a nice afternoon. Holly loves it there and RUNS all around it. She totally wears herself out, the place is huge. Here she is in the Postman Pat van with her cheeky face on...

Today we went swimming in the morning, Ian takes Holly most weekends but today Natalie and I went to watch too which was great. Then we did our Asda shopping which was a total nightmare as both girls screamed at the checkout and everyone was looking at us, oh well!

Natalie is doing so well, I can't believe she is 16 weeks already. Here she is sitting in the bumbo seat that Kory loaned us, she looks so grown up!

And playing on her playmat....

Holly is really growing up, she is saying loads and copies everything we say. We can ask her what her name is and she says 'Holly' which is the cutest thing ever! She loves stickers at the moment and insists on us putting them on her nose.... dafty!

So that's all the photos for now, hope you like them. I am sure there is heaps I haven't told you but I honestly can't remember!! Ian is back to work tomorrow which is a shame as it has been great having him off with us. Natalie gets her final injection tomorrow and Ian is in hospital for his kindey biopsy on Thursday, which we aren't looking forward to.

Will be back soon

Hannah XX

Update!!

Hello everyone. So sorry it has taken another month to do a blog, things have just been so busy with the girls. I have heaps of photos to show you though, so that should make up for it! The one above was last week when I was trying to get a nice one of the girls together (which was a disaster as Holly wouldn't co-operate!!) Anyway I think this one is quite funny because of the way Natalie is looking at Holly.

So what have we been up to? Well we have had our families visiting, here is a photo of Holly with the Daisy Chain that her Grannie Marlene made for her...

Here is a nice photo of Natalie sleeping in her pram (something she doesn't do that often!)

An nice photo of Holly looking cheeky.....

Holly is getting really good at feeding herself now, she loves pasta (who does that remind you of?) but insists she has to eat it with her hands which makes her a bit messy....

For Father's Day we all went to Storybook Glen. It was a miserable day so we didn't stay long but just had a wander around. Holly had such a great time and we are going to take her back on a nice day for a proper look around...

Holly walking with me on her reins, which she didn't mind TOO much!!

The Teletubby statues, which Holly loved, she was hugging and kissing them, how cute!

Daddy and Holly on the slide

Last week Ian took a couple of days of work and we went up to Lossie to visit everyone. We had such a great time, the weather was great too, so Holly had lots of fun outside at both her Granny's houses.

Holly holding a flower or 'Daisy' as she calls all flowers!

Here she is in the make-shift ball pool (Granny Forbes's washing basket!)

And finally a nice photo of Natalie smiling at me!!

So the girls are doing really well. Natalie is growing heaps, she was 12 pounds 8ozs when I last had her weighed. She has had her first injections which she was really good for and her 8-week check up and the Doctor said she was perfect (but I knew that already!). She is smiling and co-oing now too and likes playing with her toy arch or playmat.

Holly is great too, she can say so much and is putting words together. It just amazes me how much she communicates now, which isn't always a good thing! She has had great fun in the garden in the nice weather, but it is totally miserable now so is a bit fed up being stuck in the house.

So what else? Well we have bought a new car, which we get next Saturday, it's a Mazda 5 which is a big family car which we need because we are squeezing in the Focus since Natalie came along! So we are selling our 106, which is a bit sad as it was our first car.

I can't think of anything else to report, we have just been so busy with normal life!!

Well i hope you like the photos and I will try and be back soon.

Hannah XX

Our Girls!

Hello Everyone, wow where has the last month gone? I am sorry we haven't put any photos up for a while, but as I am sure you can understand we have been kept very busy! I won't go through everything we have done, because I can't remember, but will just put a few photos and quick update! So the photo above was taken yesterday of Holly and Natalie in their 'Big Sister' and 'Little Sister' outfits that Julie got for them, they looked very cute!!

So here are some photos taken in the last month....

Natalie at just over 3 weeks old.

Holly and Natalie - Holly looking very cheeky and Natalie chilling out!!

Natalie 'smiling', well with wind really!!

So as I say we have been very busy. We have had lots of visitors which has been nice. On Friday we had my friend Leona to visit which was great. It was such a gorgeous day we took the girls to the park, where Holly had a ball. Here she is playing.....

Yesterday we took a walk over to the Cove Gala, here is Holly playing with the duck pool, trying to hook one!

Above is a current photo of Natalie, as you can probably see she has lots of spots on her face at the moment, which is normal. She is doing really well, she was 11 pounds when I got her weighed on Tuesday big girl!! Both her and Holly have been poorly this week with an awful cold, so she isn't sleeping that great. Poor Holly has been really fed up but is now hopefully on the mend.

Well I hope you like the photos, we will try and update the blog more often now things are beginning to settle down.

Hannah XX

Natalie asleep in her pram just now!!

Home Sweet Home!

Hi all. Well after a looooong wait on Friday, Hannah And Natalie finally got home!! I'm sure Hannah will do a blog update herself at some point to say hi but till then I'll do a quick recap on the last few days.

We had lots of visitors in the hospital so thanks to everyone who came and brought cards and gifts. Here's a nice photo of Natalie taken on Friday morning.

On Thursday I looked after Holly and Matthew whilst Hannah's Mum and Angela went to visit Hannah and Natalie. They really were a pair of stars and really funny to watch. Here's a picture of the two friends on the sofa watching cbeebies.

As I said we got Hannah and Natalie out on Friday. Holly was pretty chuffed to see her Mummy and was also very intrigued by the 'Bee' as she called it!

Today we've had the midwife in and also Grandpa Forbes, Rosie, Aunte Sarah, Uncle Mike, Grannie Stewart and Uncle Steve!!!! A busy day indeed!!! I also got a chance to take out the new pram. Here's a nice photo of Holly and Natalie - who is in the cocoon pouch which slots in to the pram!

That's it really. Everything is fine so far with Natalie so fingers crossed that will continue. I'm sure there's more too say but I'm too tired to remember!

Bye for now

Ian

Introducing.....

Miss Natalie Mary Stewart!!!!

Hi Folks - well she's here!!! Hannah gave birth to Natalie at 8:13am this morning(26th April 2006). She's a big girl weighing in at 9lbs 9 1/4 Oz, but both her and mother are doing well -though mother is dead on her feet after a fairly intensive 11 hours! Well done Mummy we are all proud of you!

Does she remind you of anyone?;)

More later.......

Ian

x

I think it's gonna be a long long time

Hi Folks Daddy here - and to answer the first question - no the baby is not here yet! Hannah is rather fed up to say the least but there have been twinges and such like over the past few days so hopefully it will not be a long, long time before we're blessed wit the new bairn's presence!

So what's been happening since the last post. Well just a combination of nesting and waiting for baby to arrive. Holly's new room is pretty much done so big thanks to all who helped out there. I also got a chance to cut the grass(did I mention I now have a petrol lawnmower? It's way cool) which then allowed me to put up Holly's outdoor play gym. Here's some photos below of firstly Holly helping to put it up, then her going down the chute.

"Here's the spannner Dad!"

The day after we did that Auntie Sarah and Uncle Mike came round to help us 'nest'. Holly seems to take after Auntie Sarah in the cleaning stakes if this piccie is anything to go by!

Holly has also got a wee car for playing in the garden. It was her easter present from us seeing as she got plenty of chocolate from other sources. She quite likes it:

Anyway that's pretty much it really. We hope against hope the next blog update will be to announce the arrival of the new baby - but who knows! I'll sign off with a piccy taken of Holly out in the garden. She really does love playing outside and this is one of my favourite photos of her that we've taken.

Bye for now

Ian

Not long to go now!!!

Hello everyone, another month to do an update, terrible I know, it's just fallen to bottom of the list with everything we have to do!! Only 2 weeks on Monday until the bump is due, not long at all, very scary!! We have been beginning to get things organised, more on that later.

So I have put on a good few photos from the last month, and will update you on what I can remember!!

This is a photo that Ian took of Holly one morning when I was at work, we think it's really funny!

We didn't do too much in March, we had Granny Forbes through a few times and she has helped us out heaps looking after Holly and sorting the house out. We also had Grannie and Granda Stewart through one weeekend and Holly had lots of fun playing with them.

On March 25th we went to Kory's first birthday party, where Holly had HEAPS of fun!! She was playing on the slide and ran up and down the hall for the whole 2 hours. She didn't even have much time to stop for the lovely food there was, but I did, of course!!

The Birthday boy!!

Holly sitting in the play frame thing that they had, blocking anyone else going on the slide!!

Here she is again after her bath that night, looking all grown up I think!! Rosie Dog has also managed to make an appearance in the photo!!

We had a busy weekend that weekend as Mum and Dad and Sarah and Mike were here helping Ian decorate Holly's new bedroom, which is lovely. I will take some photos once we have finished it, there is still a few bits to do!! The Sunday was Mother's Day and we had a lovely day, we all went out for tea to the Inn at the Park, here are some photos....

After that Holly and I went to Lossie to stay for the week to stay with Mum and Dad. It was a great week, it was fantastic to have Mum on hand to help with Holly as I get really tired running around after her!! Ian came up at the weekend and on the Saturday he and Holly spent the day with Grannie and Granda, here they are going out for a walk with Holly....

Here are another couple of photos of Holly messing about in the house once we came back to Aberdeen....

Climbing in my washing basket!!

Sitting in her bid box, after throwing most of the CLEAN bibs on the floor, monkey!

We have been up to all our usual stuff too going to baby group and creche as well as seeing Matthew and Angela, Kory and Julie and our other friend's. Today we went in to town to meet Sarah for a coffee and Holly had fun running around Debenhams cafe!!

Holly is still doing really well, she is a right wee chatter box and is really mastering lots of words and even saying 'Yes' back to us when we ask her things. She is walking well too although still falls all over the place when she is tired!!

The bump is fine, ready to go I think!! I have had lots of practise pains, but none of them have come to anything yet!! I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. We are pretty much sorted now, just a few bits and bobs to do, it really is very different having a new baby second time around, we hardly have a minute to do any preparation with Holly to look after too.

I can't think of much else to say really sorry if I have missed anyone or anything out that we have done.

So who knows if there will be another blog before the baby comes, it's quite exciting really!!

Bye for now,

Hannah X

An update (at last!)

Hi Everyone, goodness me nearly a month without an update, I am really sorry. With one thing or another the blog has taken a backseat, but I will make up for it with lots of photos tonight.

So where to start? Well I won't go in to everything we have done over the past while (I can't remember anyway!) but will just put up some photos and a few things we have done.

So above is Holly when we all went out for lunch down at the Beach when Ian was still on holiday (feels like a lifetime ago!), we think she looks a right little madam in it!! Below she is an action shot from her playing in the soft play area in 'Ramboland' which she loved!

We have had Mum through a few times in the past month helping us out so I can work and we have had a couple of nights out too so she has been the babysitter! It was great to have her here especially as I am struggling more and more with things being pregnant. Here she is reading Holly a story whilst she is eating her hairbrush....

Holly has been doing so well with her walking she barely crawls anymore and is always on the go. Here she is having a wander around the garden when we went out to play one afternoon. She had found a golf ball and just kept throwing it and chasing after it, it's always the simple things that amuse her!

We have also had The Stewart Family through to see us and whilst they were here they went to buy Holly her first pair of walking shoes, which are gorgeous!! I tried to get them in this photo of her waiting for me at the front door one day when we were going out, I think she was trying to tell me to hurry up!

So for the past week Aberdeen has had a HUGE covering of snow, I have never seen anything like it in this country. It has actually been a real pest (as lovely as it looks!) as Ian has had bother getting to work and we have been pretty much house bound because I wouldn't have managed to move the car. I did get down to Asda to get Holly a pair of wellies and sledge to play in the snow (she didn't like the sledge!), here she is outside playing with her daddy and Frank!

Holly hasn't been all that well for the past week, so we have had quite a tough time. I think she has had a mixture of a reaction to her MMR injection and been very sore teething with her molar teeth, which have finally come through. She has been sick, off her food and generally miserable however has been a bit better today, so here's hoping she is starting to feel better. (fingers crossed, touch wood and all that!)

So what else to report, well the bump is doing fine, still growing! I did have a bit of a blip with my blood pressure last week going quite high, but it has been checked a few times since and all is OK. I can't believe how little time we have left now until the baby arrives, we REALLY need to start getting organised.

Ian finished at EDS today and starts his new job on Monday, which he is looking forward to, although is sad to be leaving EDS. He is out tonight for his leaving do, MAD in this weather!

Well that's all I can think of and I am getting tired so heading to my bed. We will be back soon!

Hannah XXX