Where did the last 4 months go??

Somehow our time in England is at an end. We are in our last week at home in the UK and I am not entirely certain where the last 4 months have gone!

Our last week has been a great time of seeing family and here are one or two photo's of our family as it currently looks...

All dressed up for Aunty Abby and Uncle Rob's wedding.

The Mottram clan, bigger all the time ;)

The Osborn clan, also growing almost daily!

The snow came the day before we were due to leave and having missed all the snow over the last couple of years we were very happy to see it. Plus we got to leave before all the chaos of closed schools and icy roads. (We really need to learn to cope a bit better with 'adverse weather' don't we?!)

Anyway, we have had a fantastic time back in the UK catching up with friends and family but we are about ready to get back to life as we currently know it in a mildly warmer climate!! We will miss everyone lots so keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.

Bye for now x

Learning curve (and some cute pics :))

Over the last 4 1/2 weeks life as we knew it has been altered beyond anything we could have imagined with every decision affected by the arrival of our little one. We are on a steep learning curve as we are frequently reminded, from the big things to the smaller things like figuring out how to get tiny baby clothes over our dear one's head as demonstrated in the picture.

Bath time in the kitchen sink

Watching the Grand Prix with Dad

1 month on...

Our little girl passed her one month-iversary on Monday. She is piling on the weight, even though I have to strictly time her feeds to make sure she doesn't over do it and bring it all back, and seems to be growing very quickly. In our own (perhaps a little biased) opinion, she is getting more and more beautiful every day and we are loving every minute of being her parents :)

Here is our little beauty wearing a special vest all the way from Canada, just to show the world that she really is 1 month old!

Rich playing with the camera...

With a new subject at hand (who is unable to protest), Rich has been enjoying playing around with the camera (and our daughter!) to get some unusual photo's.

Anna and her cousin Zenia, apparently not so thrilled to be meeting each other!!

Anna Grace

Our beautiful little girl Anna Grace, arrived with us on 25th September just in time for lunch at 11.49 am. The delivery was quick (all things considered!) and uncomplicated. I was pretty chuffed that I managed to power through with just gas and air, which although it makes you completely high, actually doesn't do much about the pain!

Sadly, although the delivery was 'text book', complications after Anna was born meant that I ended up in theatre with a spinal block anyway having lost about 2 1/2 litres of blood. Praise the Lord for the skill of the midwives and doctors who were looking after us, and that Anna was unaffected by the after birth complications.

Here are some pictures of our precious little girl (spot the proud parents!!)

Anna at just a few hours old.

Daddy and his little girl. Surprisingly he didn't mind that she wasn't a boy and it didn't take long for him to be wrapped around her little finger :)

First family portrait the day we were released from hospital.

A long absence

Shocking, I know. Almost two months with no word from us. Flimsy excuses such as having no internet connection where we are staying and doing A LOT of travelling in the last eight or so weeks since we returned to the UK but I am sorry that I have not updated sooner. First of all I should probably let you all know that there's no baby O just yet. 39 weeks tomorrow so we are standing by! The cutie in the picture is our new niece who was born at the beginning of August, a very real reminder of what we are waiting for!!

So, a bit of a taster of what we have been up to since we got back. We have LOVED spending precious time with our families and being spoiled by them all, vegging out on their lovely sofa's, raiding their fridges and watching TV; Visiting and spending time with our church family and friends all over the UK in Eastbourne, Horsham, Winchester, London, Preston, Bristol, Hove, Selkirk...; Eating a lot of really great food - roast dinners, fish and chips, Nando's, good pub food, Trevaskis Farm (amazing place in Cornwall); trying to get our house in Winch ready to be re-let (lots of painting and cleaning); Rich playing in a mixed netball tournament; trying to get organised for the imminent arrival of baby O; squeezing in a last holiday without Tiny in Cornwall and Rich getting to do some surfing; about a million appointments with midwives, doctors, ultrasonographers and people who want to take my blood...

Here are a few pics from our recent get away to our favourite place in the whole world - Cornwall.

Rich's brother and his family were also in Cornwall visiting family so we met up for a day at the beach. Top of the list of things to do was burying Rich in the stones!

Noah also found himself up to his ears - literally!

James and Anna, our wonderful friends who don't seem to be able to get away from us! Love the sunnies Jim!!

Rich was loving the surf and it just got better as the week went on.

Our favourite surfing beach - Godrevy. Not least because of the cafe by the car park where I can get a decent cuppa while Rich surfs on!

Surely it isn't possible for Tiny to get much bigger?!?

While we continue to wait for Tiny to make an appearance we are looking forward to being mostly in one place (other than a trip to Winch next weekend for a wedding...) and getting ready for the exciting day we meet our baby!

Guard Dog!

Our dog, Simba (which means Lion in Kiswahili) died unexpectedly on Saturday. We are not sure why as he was only 2 years old or so. However, as we are due to leave our house here for several months this weekend, we needed to find a replacement guard dog fast. I sent an e-mail to all the women ex pats I know here and got several responses about dogs and puppies they were trying to find homes for. Amongst the replies was an e-mail for this lovely little lady.

Fierce she aint but she is VERY cute!! As yet she does not have a name... Suggestions welcome, just hit the comment button and we will let you know the winning suggestion!