1 year on....

From this...

To this............

To this...............

Our Baby Natalie Mary is 1 TODAY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE!!

We will be back soon with an update, both girls have been ill over the past few weeks (it's Holly's turn just now), so no time for blog updates.

Hannah

End of Part 1

Hello All,

Well that's the base work done so we are now waiting for the joiners to come in, which is not meant to be till May the 4th :(. Hopefully it will be brought foward as I think it will be very frustrating looking at the bricks for 3 weeks! Anyway photos are below, not an awful lot of change from yesterday but at least the garden is tidy again!

Ciao for now!

Ian

Day 3

Hi All,

Well they're cracking on and it's looking pretty good to me! :




Just to say as well poor Natalie is ill again :( She has a temperature and is quite bunged up so we think she may have a cold or flu and also a wee stomach upset - but you don't really want the details on that part!

Bye for now

Ian

Day 2

Hi Folks,

Here's the photos from day 2's work. Starting to take shape now! :)




Ian

We've got the builders in!

Hello all I'm going to be hijacking the blog over the next few weeks to keep you all updated on the progress of our new conservatory/family room! So unfortunately no cute photos of the kids I'm afraid.

First photo was taken at 07:23 this morning. I cleared the patio myself last week prior to the builders coming in:

and just after I took this picture a man turned up to dump this in the front garden:

Then not long after that the builders turned up. I went to work and left them to it for the day. Then came back to this:

So that's Day 1.

Bye for now

Ian

Easter Sunday

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely Easter Sunday and are not too stuffed from all that chocolate!

Thankfully we had a much better night with Natalie last night so all woke up feeling much better than yesterday. Once we were all up and dressed, Mum, Dad and Sarah came up. Mum and Holly decorated eggs for rolling later on, which Holly loved doing...

After that we went out in to the garden to see if the Easter Bunny had been, which he had!! Holly was delighted and hunted out the Easter Eggs. The Easter Bunny had left arrows to where the eggs were hidden, which Holly thought she had to pick up too!!

Tucking in to her findings!!!

Here is Granny and Holly rolling (or throwing in Holly's case!) their decorated eggs....

Poor Miss Natalie slept through all the Easter goings on, but here she is with her Granny when she got up, wearing her bunny ears (provided by Auntie Sarah!)

Once everyone left we had a quiet afternoon, then a yummy roast dinner provided by Mum!

Both girls were very tired tonight, so are sound asleep, I think they enjoyed Easter though!

Bye for now,
Hannah

The Chicken Spots are back....

.... And this time they're serious!! Poor Miss Natalie has the chicken pox now. She was very fed up on Monday and Tuesday this week, she had her injection on Tuesday mornng and cried for 15 minutes afterwards, which is very out of character. On Wednesday morning we woke up to her having several spots on her head and the next day she had loads. She now has many more and is very very fed up with it. We have had 2 terrible nights with her, and she is very clingy to me, she just wants her Mummy. I have been giving her lots of baths (with Bicarbonate of Soda in them!) and putting on Calomine lotion. We really think that Holly was very lucky when she had them as she was nowhere near as bad as this.

Anyway you can kind of see how bad her spots are in this photo of them sitting together yesterday, Holly told me she wanted a 'Shot' of Natalie so I put her on her knee...

So it's just been a quiet few days, we did go over to see Liam and Emma on Thursday, as Liam has the chicken pox too (probably got it from Holly as they had been playing together the day before she got it!) and Friday was a quiet day. Of course it is Easter weekend, we were going to do something tomorrow as Mum and Dad are through, but that's off now Natalie is so poorly. I have told Holly that the Easter Bunny will still be coming though and we will have an Easter egg hunt for her tomorrow.

Last weekend we had both sets of Grandparents through as they were all going to see Lionel Ritchie (?!) in concert. Holly and Natalie were just delighted to see everyone. Here is Nat playing with the ball which both Grannies were throwing to her.

Here is a photo of the girls I took one morning last week, Holly was lying watching Peppa Pig and Natalie kept throwing herself back on the floor to lie like her sister, very funny!

And finally Holly outside sweeping up the sand she kept putting on the step.

That's about it really, apart for the exciting news of a new arrival (no not Ian's Playstation 3, poor me I am a playstation widow!) our friends Angela and Martin are expecting a baby in November, I am just so excited for them and can't wait to meet Matthew's wee brother or sister. I was speaking to Holly about it the other day and she said "Alla have Natalie" (Alla=Angela) I think she is expecting Natalie to go and live with them now!

Well that's it, Happy Easter all!
Hannah

Chicken Spots!

Hi Everyone!

Well as reported last week, Holly has the Chicken Pox, or as she said to me the other day, 'Mummy I've got the Chicken Spots!!' She really hasn't been too bad with it, a little grumpy over the past few days, but she hasn't been itching too much and her spots seem to be healing up. Hopefully she will be well enough to go back to school on Thursday. She is really fed up being in the house, so Ian took her to B&Q today, where she wasn't likely to meet any other children and pass it on!

Ian has been off work since Wednesday which has been great. We obviously haven't done much but it's been nice just having time together. He got his tooth out on Friday morning, which wasn't much fun (as he keeps telling me!) so was pretty miserable with it all weekend, then he realised yesterday that there was still a bit of tooth left so had to go back today and get it out, but it was actually a bit of bone (YUCK!). I have been working and on Friday afternoon took Nat into town shopping, which was good. I have spent yesterday and today spring cleaning the kitchen, boring but necessary!

So apart from Nat having the odd trip out the girls have been in the house. Here they are playing in the garden yesterday....

Today, Ian and Holly worked on their rockery that they are building at the back of the garden, here is Holly filling it in with soil, she was a right wee Charlie Dimmock (right hair colour and everything!)

And this afternoon we baked 'Dora' cakes, which she just loved doing....

Apart from that we have just been trying to keep her amused so lots of drawing and Peppa Pig has been on permanently (come back 'The Wiggles' all is forgiven!)

Nat has been getting in lots of crawling practise, and is so fast now! She is just loving moving and exploring the house. Ian and I are finding it very strange seeing her move, maybe because she has always been such a baby. She loves going in the kitchen and goes 'Ooh' if she sees the gate open. I found her emptying a packet of spagetti on the floor this morning, which she was delighted about!

Well that's it for now, tomorrow is Ian's last day off, so I am going to work then to get my hair done, which I can't wait for as I am getting it coloured for the first time in 4 years!

Back soon,
Hannah XX

On the Move!

Hi All,

Well Natalie is finally on the move!!! As Hannah said it's not quite the traditional version of crawling but she manages to get about all the same! I'm sure she'll crawl properly in her own time but until then this is how she gets about - enjoy:

Poor Holly!

Hi Everyone. Well as the title says, Poor Holly is ill again. This time she has caught the Chicken Pox, poor baby. We noticed yesterday she had a few spots and today one has blistered and she has loads more. It has been absolutely rife Cove at the moment, so I am not surprised at all she has it. She is actually in really good humour at the moment considering. I am sure once the itching starts that will change though. I keep saying to her 'Are you poorly Holly?' and she says 'Yes my need to go to hopital, my get changed'. (My = I in Holly talk!) She only wants to go to hospital because she remembers the great playroom there was when Natalie was in at New Year! Natalie is showing no signs yet, but I am sure she will get it too. Ian is actually off on holiday for a week from today which is a shame really as we won't be able to go anywhere or do anything, but then at least he is here to help with the girls.

I decided Holly needed a present today as she is poorly, so I got her a Dora The Explorer Laptop, which she loves. She was funny though, she took it over to where our laptop is and insisted on using it there 'Like Mummy!'

Well what else do I have to report? It was Mother's Day at the weekend, so we had a lovely day. Mum was through for the weekend which was great as we hadn't seen her for a couple of weeks. We just had a quiet day, Ian cooked a cracking roast dinner then we just chilled out the rest of the day. Here is a photo of the Mummies and the Babies...

Monday and Tuesday we were just doing our usual things, school and baby group. Here is Nat playing at the kitchen yesterday, trying to give me the frying pan...

And here is Holly looking really daft last night in our shower, with my shower cap on....

The girls are doing great (except for the Chicken Pox!), Holly just amazes us with the things she is coming out with now. On Monday she was playing with Matthew's Doctor's set and was listening to my heart and then said, 'Mummy are you very better now?' and later on came up to me and said 'Mummy are you OK?' Am I not the one who is meant to be asking that?!

Natalie is coming on great too, she is crawling now, but it's very odd the way she does it, she has one knee in the air and kind of pulls herself along. Ian has it on video so will try and put it up here later (far too technical for me!). She can still only say 'Bye' but she definitely knows when to use it, if she sees people getting ready to go out she says it and if I am on the phone, once I finish the call she says 'Bye'. Pretty clever for 11 months I think (but then I would!)

As I said Ian is off now for a week, we didn't have many plans, just trying to get bit and pieces done and spend some time together. I managed to go and get a facial today, which was my birthday present from my Mum (yes my birthday was 6 months ago!) so that was a great treat!

We have a start date for our extension, 12th April all being well (we will see!)

That's it for now,

Hannah X

Swing and Park!

Hi Everyone, wow another update, are you all amazed? I am! Well yet another quiet week for us really, just doing all the usual stuff. We are creatures of habit us Stewart's! Anyway have a few photos to share....

Well this is Natalie having her first shot on a swing!! We were playing outside with Holly and Matthew whilst Angela was away at the bank, it has been quite nice weather this week, so it's been good to get us all out in the fresh air...

Nat wasn't all that impressed with the swing, she stayed in it for a few minutes then wanted out!
Yesterday we just had a quiet day on our own, so I decided to take the Girl's to Duthie Park. It was actually quite an event as it's the first time I have taken both girls to the park at the same time!! Ian has done it heaps but I was always too scared it would be a disaster. Anyway we had a great time, Holly loved playing on all the usual things in the park then we went for a cuppa and cake, here is Holly eating her cake and drinking her smoothie, looking very pleased with herself!

Today I was working so Ian took the girls their usual wander round Cove and we just spent the rest of the day in the house, here are the girls playing earlier, Holly was having a great time making Natalie laugh...

We have a house guest for a couple of weeks, Frank has returned!! Sarah and Mike are away snowboarding so we are catsitting! The girls keep pestering him which he is actually taking quite well, here is Nat tonight trying to pull his tail...

Well I hope you like the photos, we will be back soon.

Hannah XX

Not much going on!!

Hi Everyone, hope you are all fine. Well as the title says we haven't been up to much in the past couple of weeks, just our usual stuff. But I do have some photos to put up......

Firstly here is Nat and Ian, Nat loves going on her Daddy's shoulders. Oh and Holly loves his Celtic Strip whenever she sees it she says 'C'mon the Hoops!!' (I wonder who taught her that!)

Next is a photo of Holly playing with the packaging from one of my Ebay orders that arrived!! She had a great time pulling it all out of the box and throwing it all over the place, needless to say the place looked like a bomb had ripped through it by the time she finished!! (Nothing new in this house!)

Here are Holly and Nat playing one night before bath, Holly is actually giving Natalie a drink from her bottle. Holly is such a good big sister she will get toys for Natalie to play with, find her dummy for her and tries to make her laugh.

As I say we haven't been up to much, just our usual weekly routine of 2's on Monday then lunch with Angela and Matthew, Baby Group on Tuesday, Creche on Wednesday then 2's again on Thursday and lunch again. Yesterday we just had a quiet day around the house, although Julie, Kory and the bump came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Kory was really cute calling Natalie 'Naddy'.

Here is Holly playing on her slide in the garden yesterday, it was such a gorgeous day you wouldn't think it was early March...

And finally a picture of Nat reading a book yesterday, she absolutely loves the camera and gives the biggest of smiles (unlike Holly!)

I had a rare day off last Sunday, Angela and I took a day trip to Glasgow to visit Ikea and the big Braehead shopping centre. We had a great day and didn't spend too much money!! And in fact all the things we did buy were for the kids!

Today I was working in the morning so Daddy was in charge. He took the girls out a walk and in to the library, which they both enjoyed. This afternoon we went to see Sarah and Mike and catch up on all their news. We also viewed their newly decorated bedroom which looks like something out of a showhouse, it is gorgeous!

Oh yes and I will save the most exciting news till last (no I'm not pregnant, NEVER again!) I am going to see TAKE THAT in November, I am SO SO SO SO SO excited!!!

Well that's it for now, I hope you like the pictures!

Hannah

Sisters!

Hello Everyone. Well another month has past since I have done this! Typical I here you say!! I cannot remeber what we have been doing really so will just share some recent photos with you.

This photo was taken today, we were having our friend's Kathryn and Steven up to visit as we haven't seen them for ages. So the girls had their bonnie dresses on and I managed to get this photo, which I think is quite good, or as good as I can ever get of them!!


Anyway we had a lovely time today with Kathryn and Steven, they are getting married in November so it was exciting to hear all their plans.

So we have just been getting on with life as normal. We have all been ill at least another twice since I last did a Blog, first a cold then last week a tummy bug. Poor Holly had it first and was pretty fed up with it. It really is amazing how easily kids pick up these things, but luckily they do bounce back pretty quick. Nat has the cold (AGAIN!) at the moment, so she is not happy either!

We have of course been catching up with our friends, especially Angela and Matthew. We took them all down to Brewster's a couple of weeks ago to play, here is Holly and Matthew on the Carousel, looking very happy. We did have a good time, although Holly turned in to a wee monkey at lunch and ran me ragged!





Holly is really enjoying her 2's group. Ian and I have both done 'duty', which is basically staying to help look after the 17 kids. Ian had a great time doing it, I think they loved having a man there instead of a boring Mummy!! I did it last week but it was a bit more stressful as I had Nat with me and she didn't like all the poking and prodding she was getting. So she got a bit fed up. It was great to see what Holly does there though and how she plays/interacts with other kids. Her speech is just great, she can talk away in sentences, which is great but it does mean she can tell us exactly what she wants all the time!!

I have started taking Natalie to creche in town. As you may know we started taking Holly and Matthew last year and have kept it up almost every week since, so a month or so ago we decided it was time for Nat to go!! She has actually done really well and been a lot easier to leave than Holly was, although Natalie is slightly younger than Holly was. It is great as I get a TOTAL break for 2 hours, which is very welcome!

Natalie isn't quite moving yet, she can get on her front (as you can see above) and push herself around a bit, but no crawling yet. She will do it in her own time!! She can clap hands, wave, give kisses and we were SURE we heard her say 'Bye' today, which is pretty unbelievable at 9 months, but 4 of us were sure we heard it!!

Last week we had Rosie Dog to stay whilst Mum and Dad were away in Italy (so jealous!!) so I decided to venture out a wander with them all one of the days, which was fine for about 10 minutes until Holly threw a fit but never mind!! Here are the girls on our walk...

I can't really think of much else to report. I was very lucky and got taken out for a Valentine's meal last night whilst Sarah and Muck babysat, so that was lovely. We got the planning permission for our extension last week, so now we are just waiting on a start date. Oh yeah and Natalie managed to sleep the WHOLE night on her own 2 nights in a row a few weeks ago. She unfortuanatley has never repeated it and is back to her horrendous sleeping pattern, but at least we know she can do it!!

Well that's it for now, Bye!!
Hannah
XX