8 weeks later

Magnus is eight weeks old already so I thought I would give you an update on how things are going. The main thing is that Magnus is a really good baby and is happy most of the time. He is feeding well and he's only had two formula feeds and all the rest from the breast which I'm pleased about. He usually wakes us up once in the night around 5 am so we are getting some sleep. He still gets a bit gripey but Woodwards Gripe Water seems to work. We are also using cloth nappies and that is going well too. Doesn't seem like much extra work and I keep thinking of how much money we are saving, especially since we didn't need to buy the nappies as they are from a friend. I think he's started smiling but I can't make him do it so these photos don't really show it but he was smiling within minutes of the photos being taken:

2008-03-30 More Magnus

I have managed to have two 2.5 mile runs with JogScotland and the second was a lot better than the first due to wearing two bras instead of one... I've signed up for the Baker Hughes 10k again so my first race back will be the same one as my last race befor having Magnus. I wasn't going to do that cos I thought I didn't want to get a slower time than last year; then I thought it doesn't matter, I just want to race again! I might even do Balmoral if my sister backs out of it! I also swam 36 lengths this morning so my fitness is getting back to normal. Now I hear Magnus crying upstairs so I'd better sing off.

A Bunch of Tubes

This morning, we went tubing at the Aberdeen Snowsports Centre.

 

It was great fun although quite tiring - Calum looked shattered by the end of the hour and was struggling to get up to the top. The best runs were where two people went down together - I'm pretty sure I could have said goodbye to Calum if I'd let go at one point when he was right on the edge.

 

Vikki and Magnus watched from the bottom and took some photos including this "inaction shot"...

 

Dreaming of a White Easter?

It's Easter, when the Lord Jesus gave his life to teach the world about eating chocolate. Lachlan and Calum each got about a ton of chocolate and Vikki has been trying to make sure Magnus gets a share as well.

 

The snow continued today, snow at Easter just seems wrong; Easter is supposed to be about bunnies, and daffodils, and spring and all that stuff. Of course, it doesn't help that Easter is very early this year - according to Vikki, Calum's birthday is the earliest Easter can possibly be, so it's only one day later than that this year.

 

One good thing about the weather was that we were able to sit around in the afternoon and build some of the Lego that Calum got for his birthday - in this case the Krusty Krab from Spongebob Squarepants. An intruder managed to sneak into the photo. Can you spot him? And no, I don't mean Plankton.

 

Happy Birthday, Calum

2008-03-22 Calum's 6th Birthday

Snow? On Calum's birthday? Surely not. Surely as it happens. At least we hadn't planned a barbecue or trip to the beach or anything silly like that. Calum had decided he wanted to go bowling with some friends, and then we went to Frankie and Bennys for lunch. It was good fun although the boys were quite boisterous, so it's nice now to relax and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. Calum got heaps of great presents including a skateboard (expect tales of cuts and bruises soon) and some cool Lego skeletons. More pictures if you click on the picture above.

Happy Birthday To Me

Thanks to everyone who left a "Happy Birthday" comment. It's very much appreciated and I raise a glass to you all. Not just figuratively either - who'd have thought Hungarian Pinot Grigio would be this good? We just had a wee bit of cake this evening since we were out for dinner at The Marine on Saturday which was very nice. I got some nice gifts - some running shorts, a gorillapod for the camera (used to take this photo), a new book, and a box set of 5 CDs of The Fall, one of my favourite bands of all time. Yay.

Vikki got a new Paul Frank/Lego t-shirt. On my birthday. What's all that about?

Boing!

 

Despite the cold winds and threat of snow (which came to nothing) last weekend, Vikki decided it was time to put the trampoline up. The boys were well pleased and have been out for a few bounces. Personally, I'm waiting for some warmer weather.

Important Lessons

Well, I've just about recovered from our trip to Newcastle, which turned out to be a rather tiring and stressful weekend, although not without its enjoyable moments. After a horrendous journey in the wind and rain, we got to our hotel and met up with Amy before heading out for dinner - we found a nice Italian restaurant (Il Camino) just up the road where we were made very welcome and had a really good meal. Magnus was a big hit with other diners and hotel staff alike.

Saturday got off to a bad start when we got to our car and realised we had a flat tyre. No bother, I thought, just get the spare out of the boot and change it in a jiffy. Umm, where's the spare? There is no spare? Just a compressor and a bottle of goo? What am I supposed to do with that? It turns out that the goo can be used to seal most punctures enough to get you going so we poured it in, pumped up the tyre and set off to see Tom, Catriona, and Kayden in Whitley Bay, only about an hour later than planned. We had been planning to visit the city centre afterwards but by the time we got back to the hotel with a new tyre from Kwik-Fit there was just time for Vikki to feed Magnus and get all dolled up for her night out. And off she went, leaving me and Magnus to a nice quiet night in front of the telly....

Except, of course, Magnus had other ideas and spent about the next two hours bawling his head off. Typically, he decided to settle down just before Vikki called to see how we were doing so she thinks I was having an easy time of it. And the next couple of hours were peaceful enough - I watched some crap TV and Magnus had a sleep before waking up for a bit of a feed.

And then Vikki called again - she and another girl had decided to leave early but the taxi rank was huge and could I pop into town and give them a lift back. No problem - jump in the car, drive down, pick them up, back to the hotel. Should take about 30 minutes. About an hour later, I finally found them (where they said they were, I should add) after driving round and round, completely lost, almost running over all sorts of drunken idiots and getting a couple of offers from blokes looking to use me as a taxi service (at least I think that's what they were suggesting). Thankfully, the journey back to the hotel was uneventful and we all got a decent amount of sleep.

Sunday was a bit of a slow starter - I had a lovely big cooked breakfast. Vikki didn't. And then we packed the car before going for a wee walk around Newcastle (which starts to make sense when you're walking and it's daylight) before setting off home - a much more pleasant journey than in the other direction.

Anyway, hope I didn't bore you with all that. Just want to add some things I learned:

• if you pour goo into your tyre, they can't fix it and you'll definitely have to get a new tyre


• driving into a city centre you don't know at night is not a good idea


• the Tyne Bridge at night look lovely - unless you're crossing it when you really don't want to


• people in Newcastle really don't feel the cold


• Earl Grey was a British PM from Newcastle who initiated parliamentary reform and drank lots of tea

Some pictures, including one of Earl Grey atop his monument....

2008-03-03 Newcastle