Sophie

Just for the sake of it, another picture of Sophie with me this time. We introduced her to her brothers and cousin the next day. Adrian and Damian adore her, James still isn't sure but he was the baby.

Cousin Jennifer thought she was a new toy and nearly garroted Sophie, as she tried to grab her by her babygro!

Tammy cat is completely underwhelmed, but keeping watch for an opportunity to hitch a ride on the buggy.( It aint gonna happen puss!)

My family just grows and grows...

After months of anxiety, Sophie Louise arrived to redress the gender balance in our family. Helen has 3 boys all of whom were born without fuss after uneventful pregnancies. This time Helen had a miscarriage that turned out to be a twin, Sophie survived. Spookily, Helen is a twin, the same thing happened to me. Then she developed gestational diabetes and acute fatty liver of pregnancy. The hospital decided to induce labour at 37 weeks as there was a risk to mum and baby if they didn't. Sophie decided to move to an awkward position and a C- section was necessary. For those who think it's the easy way to give birth , Helen says it's not! She can't believe anyone would choose this method. Mum and baby are fine, granny is really busy helping them both but I love it. Sophie looks just like her mum, slightly annoyed at being on the outside but I'm sure she'll get over it.

Almost there.

Christmas is nearly here, as usual everyone's doing a 'headless chicken' impression at the shops,laying in enough food for a siege. I've had a weird year, quite a few crap parts to it but outweighed by the good parts.In particular, the birth of my granddaughter who has been an absolute delight. I have a job to look forward to in the new year which is really welcome after a year of inactivity.So I would just like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a truly fortunate New Year.

Tommy is a ' Tammy'

After being with us a while, I noticed Tommy wasn't developing anything in the nether regions. One proper confirmed he was a she! We still love her, but getting her neutered cost more. Oh well, never mind.

Tommy

This is Tommy our new kitten, Adrian wanted to call him pinball wizard, but I really couldn't see me shouting that from the doorstep. I compromised with Tommy. He's a little sweetie, like all cats he already knows he rules the house. Therefore he's stolen my fleece blanket. That's what he's lying on in the picture. This is the first time we've had a pet without a houseful of children to distract it. We have both been behaving as if we have a new child, fretting over how much he's eaten, has he done a wee etc, etc. Hopefully we'll get over it soon and start treating him like a cat [unlikely]

The meeting

Adrian my first grandchild meets his cousin Jennifer. He came home full of news and emotion. "She's got a lovely little head with a bump in it" he is definitely enraptured. Adrian says he loves her because she looks cute.

Hopefully the admiration will be mutual as she grows up, her mummy and aunty have always been very close, so I think the cousins will be too.

First Grandaughter

Here's my first grandaughter, Jennifer Louise. Born at 14:32 on February 11th 2007. I expected to be happy when I saw her, but I wasn't prepared for the total deja vu experience. She is so much like her mum, my daughter, I was taken back 22 years to the day Claire was born. It was weird, my eldest grandson is very much like his uncle but I didn't get that feeling with him.
Adrian is very close to his grandad, so I must admit I'm hoping Jennifer will become my little sidekick! I sat and cuddled her while Claire went off for a ciggie, time seemed to stand still for me as I watched her face, counted her fingers and breathed in that gorgeous new baby smell.
I'm sure this little girl will have a lot of love around her, I sat and watched mummy and daddy together with her, they looked so full of joy I almost expected to hear angelic music!
Welcome to the world Jennifer, I hope you enjoy it.