Life with Niamh

Well Niamh has fitted in well. She loves giving cheeky grins and loves a good chat. It is getting easier at night time now that I usually only have one interruption during the night to feed her. If she goes to sleep at about 9pm she will often sleep through till 5 or 6am which is bliss.
Niamh is 3 months old today....now it seems that the time has gone really quickly!!

Beth and the cows

We spent Easter over in Masterton with mum and dad. Beth always has a great time out and about around the house and in the paddocks. She loves a good wheelbarrow ride...poor mum and dad have to hide the wheelbarrow otherwise they could be there all day!
She has now discovered the cows (thanks to her dad) and it is really cute watching her crouch down and clap her hands in front of her calling the cows just like she calls the cats! Thankfully these are some very friendly dairy cows that don't mind an inquisitive wee girl approaching them.

Too cute!

Imagine my excitement last night when after putting Niamh and myself to bed at 10.30pm I wasn't woken until 3am!! Four and a half hours of uninterrupted sleep! YAY!!!! Then she let me sleep for another 3 hours after that! I know I have probably jinxed it now and tonight will be the night from hell....but you can't blame me for getting excited!

Family photos

Just a few photos of the new extended family. Enjoy!

Baby Niamh Isabella

Here is our new addition, Niamh (pronounced Neeve) Isabella Bramwell-Cooke. A quick explanation of our name choices, Niamh is a name I have always loved, I like the fact it is a celtic name which links nicely with the Gleeson Irish roots. My middle name is Margaret which has been handed down from generation to generation linking us back to our Irish grandmother through mum's side. But because we really wanted to use a middle name from Dave's side, having an Irish first name kept us both happy. It took us a while to decide on the spelling....whether to go traditional or not and in the end we decided she is always going to have to spell it...just like we all have to spell our names for others anyway. Keeping the traditional celtic spelling means it keeps its Irish link.

Isabella is the name of Daves grandmother and Isobel is his mum's middle name. We both love Isabella as a name too. One of the reasons we didn't put the names around the other way is that at the moment there seems to be an influx of babies with Isabella as their first name.

Niamh is just over a week old now, this photo was taken today. She seems to be a very content baby so far and she has an attentive older sister who gasps every time Niamh makes a noise in the bassinet. Beth loved watching Niamh's first bath, she was very helpful, offering the loofer and trying to put on Niamh's hat and booties.

It has been great having Dave at home to help out and help me adjust to managing two little ones. So far so good....

So here it is....

I know I know it has been forever since I last blogged...and it's not because nothing has been happening, maybe it's because too much has been happening?

We are now living in (what we call) our family home in Whitby. Yes we sold Kedge lane (also in Whitby) and now have a lovely 200 square metre blank canvas we call home. Blank canvas because it doesn't look like it has been renovated since 1987 when it was built! Thankfully there are neutral colours throughout so nothing hideous that needs to be done immediately.

I am still pregnant! At 36 weeks I think my specialist is patting herself on the back pretty chuffed that we have got this far. Me on the other hand am thinking why would you do the third trimester unless you REALLY had to! It is nice to think of having a normal (well as normal as can be expected) new born that you can cuddle and feed straight away instead of the little bundle being whisked away and placed in a hot fish tank.

The pregnancy has gone well and now that I think about it I guess it has gone reasonably fast. I have another ultrasound tomorrow to check on the babies growth, the specialist seems to think the baby is looking quite small for my dates....I think I am supposed to be upset about this....but as long as the baby is healthy, having a small baby (considering where it will be entering the world from!) has to be a good thing!!!!

Our wee girl is walking and has been doing this since January, but since we moved into a spacious place she has taken up running too! The photo of Beth was taken a month ago, so she is 18 months old in it.

Beth amid the daffodils

Don't want to say anything really, just thought this photo turned out beautifully and wanted to share it!