One week already since the birth.

The photos won't always come thick and fast but in these early days the camera isn't far away.

Sophie's first week has been amazing and things couldn't have went much better - thanks in part to Hilary staying with us for a while, some supportive midwives and us just about being able to cope with sleep deprivation.

All our friends and family have been amazing, showering us with gifts and cards - all three of us really appreciate it, thanks to everyone.

We've had visitors aplenty already - please feel free to let us know if you are planning a visit, we'll try and tell you a time that's best. We wouldn't like you to turn up at the "zoo" to see the "panda" and find that she's sleeping, feeding or hiding. ;o)

Sophie has been piling on the weight and she's back at her birth weight already which is great news - she seems to have an appetite to match her pizza eating champion Mother and like her Father she needs to eat every 2-4 hours.

Auntie Caroline, Auntie Shirley and Great Aunt Isobel

Taking the new pram for a spin

"on the changing mat again, oh man!"

"Thanks for my bath Mum."

Katie the new Mum

First Bath

Visitors

We've already had lots of visitors to see Sophie but yesterday we had Uncle Ewen, Auntie Andrea, Uncle Crisps, Auntie Laura, and super cousins Emily and Niamh.

(l-r) Steph, Emzo, Xavi, Uncle Crisps

Auntie Laura

Uncle "Crisps"

Uncle Ewen

Auntie Andrea

Emily, Andrea and Niamh

We also had Auntie Pam and Uncle Alan with cousin Olivia but unfortunately I was so delirious with tiredness and Sophie was needing fed so they had to leave fairly quickly although they brought amazing gifts and food so they can definitely come back any time.

There's a new adventure in town....

I have so many posts sitting here as drafts that haven't been published due to an incredibly hectic year) and many still with photos missing).

This blog however (and life itself) has now changed for ever with the arrival of our baby wee girl Sophie Elizabeth on Tuesday the 3rd of June 2014 at 5.52pm at the Southern General. Sophie weighed in at 7lbs 3oz (hospital said 7.5) and Katie was absolutely amazing during the whole thing.

Here's how the media broke the news.

We'll now be using this blog to update those that are interested in how she is getting on - we don't want to use facebook for this so please join us here for baby photos and general self indulgence. ;o)

Although convinced she was going to be late Katie finally had to give in and accept she was in labour (and going to have to cancel her shopping trip with her Mum) after experiencing pains and "feeling different" all night the night before.

We rushed to the Southern, via the house because Katie wanted to be prepared, and Katie was told that if she was wanting a pool birth then she would have to get into the pool immediately.

The birth was absolutely amazing and to see wee Sophie coming out was an unforgettable experience - especially as she looked about twice her actual size because she was underwater!

Sophie Elizabeth Brown

Proud parents

We're all home now and enjoying settling into as much of a routine as we possibly can - we'll post some more pics for now and then update you with any other stories as we feel necessary. (please ignore the date stamps from my Mum's camera - the date and time say a.m. but actually it should be p.m.)

Proud Grandad

Proud Grandparents

Proud Gran

Proud Grandparents

Proud Gran

Mum, Son, Daughter

Proud Uncle Paul - photo of Auntie Nicole to follow!

Proud Auntie Karen

Smug smile in my new pram x

Is anyone still out there?

In a year of setting personal bests i can also confirm this is the longest without a post since 2008 - i'd like to thank my manager, my parents, my team, everyone involved but above all my wife Katie for always being there......

Ok, so it's not really something to celebrate never mind do a speech about but we have (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) been pretty busy.

On 27th july 2013 we were married at Machrihanish and after a crazy year of planning we were looking forward to being able to sit down and just enjoy a year of doing very little - perhaps start the search for a
 house or something.

However, on returning from our honeymoon we went back to work, started to think about thank you cards and by the start of October we realised that perhaps all was not normal with Katie. A trip to the shops to purchase a bottle of wine and a pregnancy test was to herald one predictable result (me drinking the wine) and one surprising result ( a positive test).




A shock to the system but a very welcome one - no point in hanging around is there when this is what you want to do anyway.

So, all of a sudden we were on a mission to find a house, buy a house, get a house ready for a family - we must have viewed over 30 crazy houses all over the city but in the end settled for a nice area just outside Glasgow which feels like the countryside, is closer for getting to and from campbeltown and will be a great place to raise kids.

Unfortunately though the house needed A LOT of work .........

Wedding Personnel

The Wedding is fast approaching and we don't want to spoil anything for you but we are very pleased with the people we are bringing in to help us on our big day.

Our band is led by a friend of ours who attended the music course at Jordanhill - a very talented musician called Colin Train.

Colin Train @ youtube

You can check out more of Colin at his own website as well

http://www.colintrain.com/

Things are starting to get pretty exciting all we need to do now is get something to wear, arrange some food for everyone, get a big tent, make sure people are coming, do invitations, survive our stag and hen do's and ................actually, there is still tons to do - I best go and get on with it all.

Good, Eyes, Good.

I recently visited an optician voluntarily for the first time in my adult life, just out of interest and in the spirit of making sure everything is working ok as I hurtle towards my 40's.

Turns out my eyes are still actually remarkably good which I was delighted about.

If I spend more time on the blog though perhaps that will not last long!

Trip to Man City

I recently led a school trip to Man City v Chelsea - these trips are generally pretty simple to organise and the company that we used was excellent.

Man City really have everything worked out pretty smoothly, you step off the bus, walk up to the stadium and there is entertainment, their own bars and food vendors etc - and of course a massive club shop.

Our seats were great, especially given the way the game turned out with two home goals scored at our end. In this picture you can clearly see our group behind the goal - if you want to play spot Steph then you'll be doing very well if you see me.

8 hours on a coach for 90 minutes of football between two teams who you don't even really like though..................don't think I will be doing it again for a while.

Auchrannie

For Christmas Katie surprised me with a weekend trip for two to Auchrannie resort in Arran. (I say surprised me but what I really mean is that I knew all about it due to there being open tabs on the ipad confirming the details of the trip - and Katie knew that I knew)

However, now that we have finally arrived in February that story is all forgotten and we were in desperate need for a wee break. (after all, our last break went far too quickly and was a massive 5 weeks ago).

So, on Sunday we set sail for Arran for some rest and relaxation:

For those who don't know about Arran, it's a wee island off the coast of the West of Scotland. It's roughly a 50 minute ferry journey from Ardrossan. Auchrannie is in the town of Brodick.

We had a great time spending some time with each other, eating good food, relaxing, swimming etc - we even played a game of badminton. Katie's last game of badminton was believed to be some time just after the last Ice Age. Thankfully I play a wee bit more regularly than that at school every day. At times however we both hit the shuttle into the net so often that we felt like that match at the Olympics were neither team wanted to win.

Auchrannie is a spa resort - you know the type of place that charges you £80 for a 60 minute massage. The massage only lasts 35 minutes and the girl that is doing the massage is a local lassie who just talks non stop about everything and nothing when all you want to do is relax. We didn't go for any treatments this time so can't comment on specifics of our experience of Auchrannie's spa quality but we did speak to someone who we know who was also there this weekend and their experience was identical to the one I just described.

Anyway, as a break Auchrannie scores 7/10 overall from us - food quality 8/10, food price expensive/10, room 7/10, bed uncomfortable/10, leisure facilities average/10, staff very friendly 9/10

It was perfect for what we needed however - apart from the screaming weans and noise outside our room when we trying to sleep in past 8am.

Thanks for the Christmas pressie Katie - was great to spend so much time together - almost like we were off travelling again!!