Doing the garden two weeks ago

A hard shift in the garden and Sophie comes out to have a look

Phone post practice

New phone and the September weekend

I'm now on my September weekend holiday and I have a new phone. one I can blog from and everything. Expect more photos and posts but probably worse spelling and grammar. ; o)

A week of Yes and No.

This week was the week where Scotland was going to vote for independence and life was going to be a massive new adventure for the whole country - but then Scotland decided not to bother and life kind of just went back to normal.

Don't worry, I'm going to keep politics out of the blog, it's not the place for those types of discussions, we're only here for a bit of a laugh. Here is a photo of Sophie and I voting anyway, just for posterity. The guy with the dog was our local Yes campaigner.

Sophie votes for more sleep -
 the motion was passed
and I had to clear it up ;o)

Sophie had some more visitors this week - she finally got the chance to catch up with Great Uncle Robin and Great Aunt Judy. Unfortunately I was at work but they all had a great catch up and I am sure I will get to see them soon.

We've also been shooting some video this week - we have quite a lot but just haven't posted any here yet - it turns out the videos I have shot need to be compressed to fit on here - so I will be back with some videos in the very near future.

Here are some photos from bathtime instead. As you can see from the photos, Sophie continues to pile on the pounds - she is now over 15lbs ;o)

This week was also a week in which Katie had a works night out in Glasgow on Friday night to catch up with colleagues. We were also able to have my Mum over to baby sit Sophie on Saturday night and let Katie and I go out to a leaving party for our dear friends Alan and Pam who are moving down to England-shire for a new exciting job opportunity. Sad to see them go but excited for them and can't wait to go and see them.

I've been busy again in the house and garden - after a weekend of mulching last week I have been continuing the clean up job outside. I have also been re-grouting the bathroom, fixing the toilet roll holder and fixing the plasterwork. Another busy week what with staying up all night to see the referendum results roll in.

Here's the progress in the garden, I'll spare you the photos of the toilet roll holder and the grout ;o)

Anyway - that's the end of the week - feels like this week lasted for a really long time, next weekend I get a long weekend with the September holiday, I think I may be looking forward to it much more than usual for some reason.

Sophie, all dressed up and trying
to eat a bottle of lucozade.

To finish - here's a photo of Sophie this morning with a banana......

"Does this meet EU regulations?"

And there's more

My Mum has sent me some photos from the weekend - here is Sophie sitting up in a wee chair by herself for the first time!

tummy time

Been a quick week this one - so not too much news and not many photos for you unfortunately.

Just a quick update -

* Hilary was with us again this week, she had a great time and so did Sophie - lots of smiles and another visit to the swimming.

* I had some help at the weekend in the front garden - thanks to Chris, Paul my Mum, Dad and Nicole. Photos of the garden (or what's left of it) to follow.

* Katie and Sophie went to baby sensory classes and baby yoga this week and had a great time.

That's it - hope to get you another update and more photos perhaps midweek this week.

Concentrating on tummy time

Watching the TV again - can't get enough of the referendum

My first swim!

Our fantastic guests from New Zealand (Trevor and Meryn) left today to continue their trip - it was great to see them both and we hope they enjoy the rest of their trip. They are off to see their son represent NZ in the canoe water polo championships in Germany.

They had a great time here in Scotland (an exceptionally busy one it has to be said) and they even had a surprise visit to Linlithgow Palace (due to a cancelled train) which turned out to be a highlight of their stay - will need to include that on future visitors itineraries!

We had an early Sunday brunch with them this morning in the West end which meant we had the afternoon relatively free so we decided to go for our first swim with Sophie.

Here she is getting ready at home.......

"So, it's like a big bath you say?"

"Sounds great"

"You're coming in as well right?"

Swimsuits on, under our clothes, we trooped down to the swimming pool which is only a five minute walk - we took the car though just in case we had to abort the mission and get home quickly.

The staff at the pool kindly let us take a couple of photos - probably because they knew my phone was so crap that it wouldn't work very well. Here's our first family swimming photo.

The swimming itself was great - all very smooth and straightforward with no tears. Sophie especially liked getting whizzed through the water. Sophie also had her wee "suspicious enjoyment" face on that she had at first during bath time. Almost like she was spending the whole time trying to work out what was going on. We are hoping she'll get the chance to go with Gran sometime this week when Hilary pays us another visit.

After the swim Sophie was all tired out and fell asleep almost immediately - almost the time it will take your eyes to move from one photo to the next.

Now we are home and we're all having a well deserved wee snoozey afternoon.

Out for a wee walk to meet other babies

I'm ready to go!

NZ comes to Glasgow for a visit

Trevor and Meryn from Hawkes Bay are here and are whizzing around Scotland as I write - I thought you'd like a wee update.

      

Whilst I am giving you an unusual term time school night update, here are some other photos from the last brilliant visit from Gran and some from our Sunday brunch with Alan, Pam, Olivia and Michael.

Always great to have visitors and for Sophie to meet new people - she has enjoyed all the cuddles from everyone, especially over the last couple of weeks. Many thanks to all the cuddlers and all those who have phoned/spoke to us to find out how we are all doing.

Back to normal?

Well I'm pleased to report that Katie is almost back to full fitness, Sophie continues to pile on the pounds (14lbs give or take an oz) and that after a very hectic start to the school year I can now catch a breath, get back to running and try to get myself and our house in some sort of shape before the winter.

"Someone told my Mum that cabbage leaves would help
her get better, I'm not sure this is what they had in mind." 

Thanks must go to Hilary along with my Mum and Dad - they have all been amazing at supporting us through the last couple of weeks. We really appreciate it and Sophie has enjoyed spending so much extra time with you all.

The main highlights of this week have been:

* Grandparents coming and going, helping us all get better
* everyone feeling better
* stuffing fingers in the mouth (Sophie) - we think teething may be upon us
* grabbing things with both hands (Sophie)
* new noises (Sophie)
* new smiles (Sophie, Dad and Mum)

The highlights of the upcoming week are plentiful and going to include a visit from some Kiwi friends who we stayed with when we were in Napier (click to follow this link) It will be a flying visit from them so we're just going to be a base camp for them really. It will be good to see them though and it looks like the weather may just come out for them in a late summer flourish (or is it early autumn?)

And we're also continuing to make progress with the house although you won't be able to tell from these photos.

We've almost got a dining room - well we have a table cloth!

Just the fire to be removed, the walls all prepared, the walls painted then the floor done and the dining room will be almost finished - until we knock the kitchen wall down and start again! Arrgh.

My Mum and Dad have certainly been putting in a shift lately....

Just when I thought the back garden was a job that I didn't really need to start yet,  I have kind of decided that the devastation of the front garden is in order to make us all have a better outlook and try and put a smile on face of the house.

Today my Dad and I removed most of a huge tree, two bushes and lots of extremely prickly brambles. Oh, and I re-homed a large frog that was in the front garden - when I say re-homed, I think i probably mean evicted. The garden is certainly starting to look very different though to when we moved in.

I have quite a few other photos to go up from this week and I will get them up as soon as possible but for now, here are a few more of the star of the show.

"Hi Grandad, my hair is too long for a spikey hairdo now."

"I'm enjoying eating my hands these days - won't be long until
I'm eating everything i can get my hands on!"

"I've had so much fun this morning I think I'll just sleep here."