Sad time

Hi Everyone. I am really sorry there has been no update for 2 weeks. As some of you may know, my Grandma Forbes was very ill last week then passed away on Monday morning, very peacefully. We are all incredibly sad, she was such a wonderful, funny woman and we will miss her so much. I am so glad that she was here to see Holly born but am sad she will never know the new baby, but she knew it was coming. Here is a photo of her and Holly taken last time we saw her........

Obviously I haven't felt much like updating the blog whilst this has all been happening. I can't remember everything we have done over the 2 weeks, so I'll just give you the highlights (or bits I can remember)

Back to almost 2 weeks ago and I had a midwife appointment to check everything with the new baby, which I forget is there half the time, poor thing. All was fine, although I was referred for Physiotherapy again because of my recurring pelvis pain. I got to hear the heartbeat, which sounded exactly the same as Holly's, so it must be another girl!! Holly went to play with Kory whilst I was there, here they are, they were having fun honest!

So on to last Saturday and we went to Holly's friend Keira's first birthday. Here is Holly playing with Matthew....

Rosie came to stay with us on Monday as Dad obviously went down to Glasgow. Holly just loves Rosie and chases her around the house. Poor Rosie, I don't think she feels the same about Holly, well apart from when Holly is having food and Rosie becomes her best friend. Here is a couple of photos of them together.....

On Wednesday we had Julie and Kory over, here are the babies playing, Holly wasn't paying attention when we were taking the photo and was trying to look round me to see the telly!!

Thursday was Gran's funeral, which was very sad, but a nice way to say goodbye. Ian and I just went down and back to Glasgow in the day. Holly went to play with Matthew all day and was perfect (apparently!). I don't think she missed me at all, but I missed her heaps, I think it was the longest I have been away from her.

Rosie went home on Friday and Mum and Dad came to get her and stayed a couple of hours. This weekend has just been quiet, we went in to town yesterday (which was heaving!) and then today we went to Duthie Park. Here are some photos.....

Holly finally has produced another tooth, yipee! However it is not one of the front top two as expected at this stage, it's one on the top right, very odd!! We do think her front ones won't be long as you can really see them. I hope they do appear, the dentist told me she would be referred to the hospital if they hadn't come in by March. She is also doing really well with her 'talking', she is repeating HEAPS of words now, the latest being 'Balloon' (which sometimes comes out 'Baboon'!) She is obviously too young to be properly speaking, but I don't think it will be too long!

So sorry there are gaps missing here, I will try and do a better update later in the week.

Bye for now,
Hannah

Long overdue update!

Hello Everyone, I am really sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog again, I hardly get online at the moment, Holly keeps me so busy through the day then I'm too tired at night or working!! Anyway I will make up for it with lots of photos of Holly!! The first one, above, is of her doing clap-a-handies, which she mastered a while ago, but does it ALL the time now!!

So what have we been up to? I'll see if I can remember!! Back to LAST weekend, and we went shopping in town on Saturday, Ian's favourite!! It was actually really busy so I don't think we will be going back on a Saturday before Christmas. On Sunday we had another 1st Birthday Party, this time for Niamh, here is Holly in her pretty dress before we went...

The party was held at a restaurant in town and there were heaps of people there. Holly had a ball playing with all her friends from Baby Group. Here is a photo of all the Mummies and Babies, hard to believe it was just over a year ago we all met with bumps!

On Monday we had Angela and Matthew over for lunch then we all headed in to town to get the babies one of their Christmas presents. It was a bit of a disasterous trip to be honest, I couldn't get Holly's present, she screamed most of the way around town because she hates her buggy, then when we got back to the car we managed to immobilise it, so we had to wait for Martin to come and get us, and Holly was still screaming!! Funny now though!!

Tuesday was Baby Group at Angela's, then I got a bit of a night off and went to the Boots Christmas Shopping night in town with Angela and Julie. I managed to get the majority of my Christmas Shopping done (!) and enjoyed having some time to myself. Afterwards we went for a pizza and gossip and it was great to get out.

On Wednesday we went swimming with Kory and Julie, which Holly quite enjoyed, it was only her 3rd time, but she seemed to like it more than last time. On Thursday we went in to town again with Angela and Matthew and for a coffee, which Holly hated again as it involved being in her buggy! On Friday it was Art Class again and we (well I) made a rocket for fireworks day. Holly just crawled about and played with her friends! We popped down to Asda in the afternoon.

We had a quiet day on Saturday, just went to a few shops, then of course it was bonfire night. We didn't go to a display or anything, Holly would have hated it as she is such a wimp when it comes to loud noises!

Here is Holly on Sunday morning with a great big cheesy smile!!

And here she is with our cat Talia, who I don't think has had many appearances on the blog, coz she is never in!

Holly just LOVES the cats and chases them all over the house, which they don't always appreciate!

On Sunday afternoon my Mum came through which was lovely as we haven't seen her for ages. We had Sarah and Mike up for tea and then we went outside and had a shot of some sparklers, although Holly just watched from the window as it was so cold!

And here is Holly with her Granny....

So that's our update on our goings-on. Holly can do so much now, she is repeating noises and really beginning to understand what we say to her. She definitely has a wee temper, it must be that red hair!! I blame Mum!

And as for the bump, he/she is doing fine, I have been feeling it wriggle for a couple of weeks now. I am 16 weeks already, so off to the midwife tomorrow for my blood tests and I will hopefully get to hear the heartbeat too. It's a shame I hardly remember I am pregnant because I am so busy with Holly, the baby will be before we know it!

So, sorry if I have gone on a bit, I hope you like the photos!

Hannah X

My Little Pumpkin!!

Hi All. Holly had her first ever Halloween party today at the Baby Art Class. Doesn't she look cute?! Her Great Auntie Karen had sent her this outfit a little while ago so I was really pleased she had a reason to wear it today. There were heaps of kids at the party, it was really good fun. The older ones played games and Holly and the other babies just played with the toys. There was heaps of party food, which Holly wasn't that bothered about, well until I started eating it! Kory and Matthew were there too, here they are.....

We have just been up to our usual stuff this week, Ian was away to Shetland on Wednesday but is back now thank goodness!
Well I had better go,

Hannah X

Here we go again!!

Hello Everyone, 2 updates in a day! Well we just wanted to share our surprising news with you all that we are expecting another baby. We had our 12 week scan today and all was OK so it's time to let you all know. The baby is due on the 24th April 2006 although may come earlier if I have a C-Section as I have been advised, but we will decide that nearer the time. So here is the little baby....

We are very relieved that everything was OK and exicted (if not VERY scared) about having another baby. Yes we know we are mad before you all say it!

I have been feeling OK this time round, just a bit sick and very tired, but Holly's early morning starts may have a lot to do with that. The lack of blog updates has been because I have been so shattered at nights, but hopefully that will improve.

We have our 20 week scan on the 5th December, which isn't that far off really.

So that's it, I'm sure you are all a little surprised by this, we sure were at first!!

Love, Hannah, Ian and Holly XXX

Birthday Update

Hi All. Just thought I would update you on our weekend. It was my birthday on Saturday and I was very lucky and spoilt rotten so thanks for all the lovely cards and presents. The best thing was getting a card that said 'Mummy' on it from Holly, I know I'm sad!! Here is a photo of me and Holly....

We just had a lazy morning then Angela and Matthew popped round at lunchtime. After lunch we went out to Banchory to the Falls of Feugh, which is a lovely waterfall. Here are some photos....

It was absolutely beautiful there and we stood watching the poor fish trying to jump up stream for ages. Holly just had on her confused face, as she always does when we do something different! After that we went to the wee coffee shop place and I had the biggest bit of sponge cake you have ever seen, it was YUMMY!

On Saturday night we had a nice quiet night in front of the telly with a Dominos Pizza, my favourite!!

Yesterday we were just around the house trying to tidy up a bit (which is always a waste of time as 2 minutes later Holly has destroyed the place again!) Later on in the afternoon we went to see Sarah and hear about the wedding she was at over the weekend.

So that's it for now,
Hannah X

New Shoes!!

Hi All. Well today Holly got her first pair of proper shoes from Clarks. As she is now officially 'Cruising' and it's getting cold out there we decided it's time for her to have proper shoes. We got her feet measured and she was a size 4 and a half, which is quite big for a little girl, but mind you I have HUGE feet so I guess she was never going to be that small. We chose a lovely pair of bright pink ones which are specially for cruising. They should last 6-8 weeks, which isn't that long really! They took her photo and I have it in a little frame to keep. So here she is wearing them.....

So what have we been up to? Well on Monday we had Kory and Julie over for lunch then we went a big walk round Cove which was nice. Tuesday was Baby Group, then on Wednesday we went with Angela and Matthew to visit our friend's Lesley and Liam in their big new house, which was gorgeous!

Ian has been on holiday since Thursday, so in the morning he and Holly went in to town birthday present shopping (his favourite!) whilst I went to do some training for work. After that I went back in to town and we met Granny Forbes for lunch who was through for the day, so it was lovely to see her. Last night I got a treat and had my hair cut, which is nice (and not too short, Dad!) Today we got the shoes then went for a wander round a local garden centre and for a nice cup of tea!!

Here is Holly giving Fimbo (a Fimble if you didn't know?!) a big cuddle on the telly, cute!!

Well that's it for now, I will update you over the weekend especially as it's my birthday (21 again!)

Bye for now,
Hannah X

Never work with children or animals......

Hi Folks,

Just an update on the weekend.

We had Granny & Grandpa through on Saturday. They had kindly offered to babysit Holly whilst Hannah and I went out for our Anniversary on Saturday night. We had a great time out - went for a lovely meal at Pavarotti's then went to see Joseph at HMT. Holly was good and didn't cause her Granny & Grandpa any problems. Rosie was through aswell and Holly, as usual, was delighted with her. Rosie's even more fun for her now that she can crawl! Anyway we tried to get a picture of the two friends together but getting them both to look at the camera was a challenge:



After Granny, Grandpa & Rosie went home on Sunday we went out for a walk round Hazelhead park. There's a wee place called 'Pet's Corner' there where you can see different kinds of animals. We took Holly round, she wasn't sure what to make of it all really as you can guess by the pictures:



When we got home from the park Holly did another 'first'! She can now manage to walk with her baby walker! She's a wee bit unsteady and needs watching to prevent a disaster but it's a start and with pratice I'm sure she'll be off an running!



Anyway that's about it really.

Bye for now!

Ian
xx

9 months yesterday!

Hello All, sorry I should have posted yesterday but I was working last night. Anyway Miss Holly was 9 months yesterday which means she has now been with us longer than she was in my tummy !! (well give or take a few days, she would have been if she hadn't taken 5 days to arrive!). Anyway it's quite amazing, it feels like her proper birthday is just around the corner!

So what have we been up to this week? Well Holly has been crawling everywhere and it has been quite a nightmare as she is in about EVERYTHING, we have already had to take down Ian's speaker stands and we are going to have to clear away a few other things too. She really enjoys exploring though and it's much better than just sitting on the rug playing with toys (or watching telly!). She has started going a bit further and here she is crawling over to see Frank, which was quite a long crawl for her!

We haven't been up to an awful lot really, we had a quiet day on Wednesday, yesterday I was working in the morning, so Holly went to play with Matthew for a while (and was a total angel I hear!), and today we went to Asda with Julie and Kory.

Mum and Dad are coming tomorrow to babysit Holly at night, Ian and I are off to see 'Joseph' at His Majesty's to celebrate our anniversary, which was earlier this week. I am REALLY excited as I am a Joseph addict, I can't work out how many times I will have seen it now, either 9 or 10 we think! Yes, sad I know!

So now doubt we will have some more photos over the weekend,

Bye for now,

Hannah.

Eureka!!!!

Hello all. Well here it is, the moment we’ve been waiting for!

Holly can crawl properly!!!!!

She just mastered it today and there really is no stopping her!!!

I’ve tried to insert a video here. Grannie Stewart will have to be patient I’m afraid as it might take a while to load on the old analogue line! In fact might take a minute or 2 for you broadband users! It'll be worth it though!


Enjoy!!

Overdue Weekend Update

Hi All, sorry no posts since Thursday! So I'll try and update you on our weekend, if I can remember! On Saturday, I was working so Daddy was on Holly Duty and they got on fine without me. In the afternoon we popped to Mothercare then to see Sarah and Mike, Sarah was just back from her latest trip to the US, what a jet-setter she is!

On Sunday we had our old friends, Kathryn and Steven, over. For anyone who doesn't know, they left Aberdeen last October for their 'Round the World' trip. I got a lovely surprise on Friday night when Kathryn phoned to say they were home. So we had them up for lunch on Sunday so they could meet Holly for the first time and we could catch up on their trip. They had a fantastic time and it was lovely to hear all about it. Holly liked meeting them too, 2 new people to play with!!

On Monday we went out a walk with Julie and Kory then to their house for lunch. Here is Holly all wrapped up before we went out....

After that we popped to Angela and Matthew's.

Today was Baby Group as usual, it was quiet today only 3 of us and babies there, but it was fine.
Well that's all for now, Ian is going to try and post later with a video of Holly doing something new... but I will keep you in suspense as to what it is!!

Hannah X

I'm Back!

Hi All, sorry there has been no post from me for so long, things were busy last week then we were struck down by this dreaded cold! Ian has kept you up-to-date on the weekend's goings ons, I was really upset I missed Dad and Sarah rowing, but I was in my bed feeling sorry for myself. I watched the video of it though, and Dad did really well. We had Kory for the day on Sunday as you saw, and I just about managed that, it was actually surprisingly easy having 2 babies, but then there were 2 of us!

The beginning of this week has been really quiet, we even missed baby group because I was feeling so yuck. But anyway I feel heaps better today and Holly is on the mend too, but still has her wee runny nose, poor thing.

We ventured out today and went and met my friend Kelly for lunch, who we haven't seen for ages. It was good to see her and have a gossip. Later on in the afternoon I took Holly a walk and to the park so she could go on the swings, which she loves!

Apart from that not a lot to report really! I can't believe how much Holly has come on in the last month, she is moving (although still not properly crawling!), sitting up from lying down, trying to pull herself up, taking milk from a cup, feeding herself finger food for lunch and chatting heaps!! She has started saying 'Da Da' and 'Ga Ga' and 'Ya Ya' it's very cute. I am sure she doesn't know what she is saying yet, although Ian phoned us at lunchtime today and as soon as I answered I could swear she said 'Da Da', but of course Ian doesn't believe me!

Well that's it for now, here is a photo of Holly trying to stand in the bath tonight!

Hannah X

Babysitting!

Hello folks! 2 posts in a row from me - must be a record!

We've had a pretty busy day today as we've been looking after Kory whilst Julie & James went to a wedding.

He's a pretty chilled out wee dude though so the day went pretty well.

We started off by taking Holly and Kory a walk down the beach. It wasn't as much as a carry on as you might think - the only difficulty we had was getting the two buggies in the boot of the car!! The two of them slept most of the time though so it was a breeze. Kory got a wee bit upset on the way home though as it was feeding time!

After that Kory had a go in Holly's Learn & Groove Station. He totally loved it and I managed to get some good piccies of the 2 babies having fun.




Hannah is now at Julie & James' looking after Kory. So it's just me and the cats! and Holly of course, but she's snuggled up in bed so nae much company!

Last thing - Hannah pointed out I forgot to say last night that Holly can now pull herself up onto her feet! It really is her new thing and she tries to pull herself up on EVERYTHING!!! It's amazing how quickly they develop....

Anyway, Ciao for now!

Ian
xxx

It's the weekend!

Hello all. Sorry for the lack of blog posts this week, but we'll try to make up for it with loads of photos tonight!

Granny and Grandpa Forbes have been visiting this weekend. They came through yesterday and we all went out on Friday night to celebrate my glorious victory in our family fantasy football league last season! Poor Holly didn't come though. She was tucked up in her bed with Angela babysitting - big thanks to Angela there!

Holly has got a wee cold at the minute so is a bit grumpy and has a very runny nose:(
She still manages to put a brave face on for the camera though!

So today was a big day for Grandpa Forbes as Auntie Saz was taking him rowing. Grandpa used to be a keen rower in his day but this was the first time he'd been on a rowing boat for 20 years!! Here's some photos

So that's about it really. I think Hannah has picked up Holly's cold as she is off to bed feeling very under the weather:( I'll sign off with a nice pic of Holly taken this evening.

Bye for Now

Ian

xx

Sunday night update

Hi All, hope everyone has had a good weekend, it has passed so quickly for us worse luck :-(

So yesterday I was working for a few hours so Daddy was in charge. Grannie Marlene came through to visit too, so Holly was well looked after! They had a wee play in the morning, here is Grannie and Holly, who had managed to pull herself up on her knees herself, clever girl!

They all went out a wander round Cove then after Holly's lunch came and met me in Westhill for a late lunch, which was yummy! Grannie headed off via Alford and we came home for a quiet evening.

This morning Holly was very grumpy from the moment she woke up at 5.30am! We decided to take her swimming though, which was good fun. We went down to the Beach Leisure Centre, which was good, it was very family friendly! It was probably not what Auntie Saz would call fun as there was HEAPS of kids there. Holly was pretty tired (she nearly fell asleep a few times in her float!) and was just sitting looking about with a daft look on her face! She was more interested in watching everyone else than swimming herself. The pool has a wave machine which came on before we left, but I was a spoil sport and wouldn't let her go in it for long as it was too rough. Daddy wasn't too happy as I think he was having fun! Here she is in her swimsuit before we went in...

This afternoon we went to visit Auntie Saz and Uncle Mike to hear all about Mike's sister's wedding, then spent the rest of the afternoon at home in Cove, which incidently has been covered in a thick blanket of fog all day!

Well that's all for now,
Hannah X

Quick post

Hi All, Just a quick update tonight, and only one photo for you! I know everyone will find this VERY surprising but I am taking less photos of Miss Holly these days! So here is a photo of her yesterday morning at the crack of dawn, probably about 6am! I wish I looked that good in the morning ;-)

So we have just been up to our usual stuff this week! On Monday morning we saw Julie and Kory for a little bit and heard all about their trip to Cyprus. In the afternoon Dad came through with Rosie Dog, he was picking my jet-setting Mum up from the airport (she was in Verona, Italy) so Dad came to see us first, which was nice. He was very impressed with Holly's backwards crawl!

Yesterday morning we popped over to Angela and Matthew's in the morning then Baby Group in the afternoon. I was working at night, but it wasn't too late a night.

Today Holly went to play with Matthew for a couple of hours whilst I went back to work. She was apparently a good girl and they had lots of fun together. Then we just had a quiet afternoon.

So I guess it wasn't that quick a post after all!
Bye for now,
Hannah X

Return of the happy baby!

Hello Folks, Daddy here for a change.

Mummy is having an early night as she's been grafting all day doing stuff like cooking Holly's food. I'm sure Holly will pay her back one day by cooking us dinner every night - aye right!!!

Anyway nae much happening. Holly is still perfecting the moonwalk before she decides to move forwards! She's getting really good at getting on her front by herself though, so as soon as she works out forward motion - 'wur doomed!'.

Here's a nice smiley photo of her just after she woke up from a snooze. A bit more appealing than the grump she had on the other day!

And one final one of her in her bouncer thing- mummy's saviour as it let's her get ready in the mornings!.


Anyway I'm off to watch 'Extras'. Holly has her 8 month MOT tomorrow so no doubt Mummy will be on with an update tomorrow.

Bye for now

Ian

xx