Pontifications of an Armstrong

Growing up fast!

2012-02-12T20:59:00.001Z

My girls are rapidly changing before my eyes! Part of me wishes they would reach the next stages faster as I'm excited to see what they are going to be like when they are talking/running/using their imaginations... But part of me wants them to remain little for ages, as they are so adorable sometimes. (Dirty nappies, crying and tantrums aside!)

Here are some wee videos of them from recent days...

Olivia has been giving us fleeting smiles in between very stern stares, it really suits her! I can't wait until we're seeing them more frequently.

Hannah is growing fast too, she looks really different as the months go by. I'm sure it's because of her hair getting longer and longer! Here is a video of her playing with the tea set Granny Robertson gave her for Christmas. She loves pretending to pour tea, but I think it'll be a long time before I send her to the kitchen to make me a cup of the real stuff...

Reunion 2012

2012-02-02T15:03:00.001Z

Last weekend was the annual Robertson Family Reunion. The location this year was Dumfries, in the Cairndale Hotel. And this is the first year for a long time that every member of the family has made it along!!! I think that with the new baby additions, we totalled 29 people. That's a lot of Robertson to have in one place!

For me, the reunion was a little quieter than usual - Olivia is still up feeding quite a lot in the night, and I am definitely starting to feel the effects of sleep deprivation a little bit!

After a lovely dinner and catching up with everyone on Friday night, Saturday involved a circular walk around Dumfries for the majority of the clan. I tried to get an hours nap while Hannah had her sleep in the afternoon, but of course that's the point that Olivia decided to wake up and groan constantly for the entire hour. No nap was achieved.

We did have a lovely swim and a steam/sauna in the afternoon, and then the evenings entertainments began with a a bubbly reception and a lovely 4 course dinner.

I didn't manage to take my camera out once over the whole weekend (who knows what goes on in my brain at the moment!) but I did remember I had it right at the end of the weekend after we'd finished our Sunday lunch. So here is a few snaps of the clan before we dispersed through the country for another year.

The whole group

The "Singles"!

The "Marrieds"

Trying to organise the brothers for a photo - a little bit like trying to herd cats

The original Robertsons.

A lovely time was had by all - I personally hope to be a bit less tired by this time next year so will hopefully enjoy it more! Lets hope Olivia is sleeping through by then.

Visits and accidents

2012-01-22T22:01:00.002Z

This week we made Olivia's first trip through to Glasgow to visit Grannie Cathie and Grandad Bob. It was a nice surprise to see Auntie Mairead there too! She was a very sleepy girl the whole time we were there (Olivia, not Mairead!) but this meant plenty of peaceful cuddles were given to everyone. Hannah was a little shy on arrival, but soon remembered where the biscuit tin was located and happily dug into the pile of (noisy) toys in the toy box.

Hannah and Olivia smiling with Grannie Cathie

Hannah catches up on her correspondences

More cuddles

You may have noticed from the photos that Hannah is sporting an impressive bruise on her chin. We haven't enrolled her in a jitsu club just yet, the bruise was caused by a near-accident on a bus last Wednesday. A white van pulled out in front of the bus we were on, causing Hannah to fly off the seat next to me and hit the seat ahead, not once, but twice with her face! It all happened so fast there was no time to grab her, but I'm very grateful that a bruise is all that happened, it really could have been a lot worse.

The bus driver was really lovely and came to make sure she was ok before driving on, and I initially thought that all she had suffered was a fright, but as the day went on it became evident that a deep bruise was appearing. It makes me think that there is a definite argument for seat belts on buses, as even if I'd been holding her on my knee I suspect the same thing would have happened! Thankfully she has happily got onto a bus since, so I am confident that she's not too traumatised by the incident!

A close up of the injury

Hannah gets on the phone to her lawyer

Welcome!

2012-01-12T21:34:00.004Z

Welcome to the world Olivia Catherine Armstrong!

She was born in the early hours of 30th December, weighing 7lbs 9oz. So much for the growth scan which told me I was having a "larger than average baby"!

All has been well since coming home, she has slotted into our family life really nicely, and thankfully Hannah has taken to her really well. Let's hope the next few months go as smoothly!

Sleepy Bunny

2011-12-23T18:16:00.002Z

For the last week or so I've been feeling a bit more tired and lethargic, and have been trying to think of lots of indoor activities to do with Hannah once she wakes up from her afternoon naps. Also by the time she wakes up it's almost dark outside and with the weather being a bit miserable we've had to get used to staying at home!

Some of the activities have included icing biscuits, baking cupcakes (which she didn't like as the noise of the electric whisk clearly brings back nightmare memories of bathroom hand-dryers!), playing with bowls of water, bouncing on the bed, and more recently dancing around to songs I find on YouTube.

Here's a video of her absolute favourite song, complete with enthusiastic actions. It is really funny to watch her get so excited for the first couple of times, but on the 6th time in a row of listening I get a bit fed up with it. Hannah will NEVER tire of it apparently. Try watching this video 6-7 times in a row and see how much you like the song afterwards!

Christmas is coming

2011-12-08T08:48:00.001Z

We put up our Christmas decorations on 3rd December this year, a little early perhaps but who knows when Baby 2 will arrive and stop us from getting on with tasks like this!

Hannah has been really excited by all the festive sparkles this year, a big change from this time last year when she barely even noticed anything had changed in the living room when the tree went up. Now each morning she runs into the living room and immediately shouts "Tree! Tree!" in order to get the lights switched on, it makes me quite excited too!

Excited girl!

She has also been helping with the festivities by making her own decorations at the various playgroups/creches we go to (perhaps with a little help from mum!)

It's lovely having a star for the top of the tree this year, the last 3 years we have put a fluffy penguin on top which inevitably falls off several times. Thanks Hannah!

All these crafts have developed Hannah's love of gluing and glitter, something to keep in mind for rainy days in the future! Rainy days much like today... I am sitting listening to the howling gale outside (80mph predicted by the MET office!) and I am feeling very grateful for the central heating and cosy lighting inside our flat at this time of year.

Merry Christmas to all!

Baby 2

2011-11-08T17:02:00.000Z

New baby is due to arrive in about 6 weeks time! I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone past, I suppose all my focus is on Hannah so No: 2 is already neglected.

So today I decided to buy some supplies so that we're slightly prepared if he/she arrives soon. After much searching, Marks and Spencer turned out to have the nicest neutral coloured things, everywhere else I looked is obsessed with pinks, blues and a token white which was never that interesting.

So here are the delightful purchases - very cute, and have made the whole thing seem scarily real. I think I've been in a slight denial up until now...!
Of course 6 weeks until baby, means only 6 weeks until Christmas eve! So I hope that hasn't made you all scared like me :-)

Obesity in Pregnancy

2011-10-06T14:18:00.000+01:00

At my first antenatal appointment, I was asked to take part in a research project for Tommy's charity - an organisation which funds research into pregnancy related problems. Their mission is "To give every baby the best chance of being born healthy" and in order to help try and achieve this, they organise and carry out LOADS of research into various pregnancy issues. The project I am involved with is "Research into Pregnancy and Obesity."

http://www.tommys.org/Page.aspx?pid=363#1

Of course I'm far from obese (at the moment!) - in order to be asked to take part in the obese category you have to have a BMI of >40. Mine was 23 which is bang in the middle of the "normal" range, so therefore I was asked to be in the control group.

My first appointment was in July where they weighed and measured me, did a body fat analysis, took blood samples and gave me five different questionnaires to fill in asking me about every aspect of my life!

Today was my second appointment. I had to go to the hospital fasted from midnight the previous night, and was given 410mls of Lucozade to drink in 10 minutes. Apparently this amount was worked out to give a precise amount of glucose per fluid ounce! I then had to fill in more questionnaires and had a growth scan of the baby. It was quite difficult to see much because I guess the baby is so much bigger than the 20 week scan! It was also VERY wriggly and the radiographer was having real trouble getting the measurements. However he managed eventually and plotted the results on a graph for my notes.

Head circumference on Left, Abdomen circumference on Right

Baby is slightly bigger than average at the moment, but hopefully it'll level off or at least not grow above the top centile line. Hopefully avoiding too many cakes and chocolate bars will stop this from happening!

I was weighed and measured again and told my body fat content had gone from 28% to 31% since the last visit. Yuck. It's horrible to think that nearly a third of your body is made of fat! But I'm told this is still lower than average...!

Hopefully the research project will do some good, but I suppose people are not going to stop being obese and getting pregnant. And I'm not sure whether publishing the findings will make people realise they need to lose weight before conceiving. If my job is anything to go by, I see a lot of the health advice given by the government being ignored - people still smoke like chimneys, eat nothing but greasy fast food, inject drugs into their veins... and with the media being so prominent in our lives there is no excuse for ignorance any more!

But perhaps if the research means that just one child born with better health prospects for the future, then it's worth it?

Rainy day

2011-10-02T22:27:00.002+01:00

While England basks in glorious sunshine, Edinburgh had to put up with horrid drizzle all day today. We met friends for some lunch but were back home by 3pm, and couldn't face going out in the damp to find something to entertain Hannah.
So we pushed the coffee table back and spent a while playing in the space.

Here's a video of Hannah enjoying her new favourite rhyme. A couple of questions though...

- Can anyone translate what she is saying?
- Can a child psychologist explain the decisions she makes?
- When will she learn to say "Yes" instead of flapping enthusiastically when she wants to do something?

We certainly find her very entertaining these days!

New haircut

2011-09-30T20:07:00.001+01:00

Here is a photo of my new hair cut for those who I won't see me any time soon! Not much different apart from the fringe. Some of you many remember the fringe disasters of my childhood, which for the past few years I have successfully blocked from my memory. But now that effective hair straighteners are on the market, I am a little more willing to give the fringe another go!

I'll no doubt regret it and end up in tears the first time I wash my hair following this cut as it will inevitably fail to do what I want it to, but at least there's one picture where it looks semi-decent!

And to make myself feel better at the time, I will just refer back to one of the following pictures to make me realise things could be worse...

Age 8 - The uneven fringe. Who thought a multi layered fringe was a good idea? Teamed with the worlds fattest hair band for extra beauty.

Age 11 - The Frizzy fringe. This picture doesn't do the frizziness justice, and it really is WAY too short.

Is that Alex in the background?!

Age 13 - The Splitting fringe. I spent years battling with my fringe to get it to go straight forward and it always always separated and ended up like this. Perhaps this is something I'm going to have to deal with again...? Also, check out the jumper on this one! Snazzy!

Age 15 - The flicky fringe. The sides of my fringe always use to flick off to the side, as if gravity doesn't apply to fringe, or that gravity infact turns on it's side and makes things go horizontally? Again I'm hoping straighteners will help me avoid the flicking problem this time round. (It probably didn't help that members of the Stranton church YF had dressed me up as a chav in this photo, hence the scrunchy up high.)

As an extra little treat today I used a voucher I had to get eyelash extensions! They should last about 4 weeks apparently, and it means I have a few weeks of not having to bother with mascara. I just have to remember not to rub my eyes for four weeks.... wish me luck!

Grandad's 91st

2011-09-27T21:26:00.000+01:00

On the 13th of September was Grandad's 91st birthday party! A few of us travelled through to Glasgow and met at the House for the Art Lover for morning coffee and delicious cakes, then went back to Grannie and Grandad's house for a bit of lunch. Here's some of my photos from the day, which have taken me a ridiculously long time to take off my camera!

Grandad entertains Colin with a hankie - it's the simple things!

Mairead and the gorgeous Lucy

Group shot

Colin has a quick shower after lunch

The Great-Grandchildren

Little Bo Peep

Hannah and Lucy share a moment. Perhaps discussing Lucy's fashionable new headgear?

Spinning class

2011-09-12T19:20:00.003+01:00

A couple of videos from our weekend visit to Hartlepool....

Daddy and Hannah take full advantage of the space in the garden to enjoy some spinning activities. We can assure you she enjoyed every minute of this despite looking a little queasy at times!

Hummingbird baking

2011-08-24T21:15:00.005+01:00

We have a book box at work brought by "The book people" company. I always sift through the books, then go back to ignoring it. But last month, this cookery book caught my eye...

When I looked into it, it turns out it cost £5 down from the recommended retail price of £12.99!! And after flicking through the delights inside, I decided it would probably be £5 well spent. It arrived on Monday, so yesterday during Hannah's naptime, I tried my first recipe - Chocolate Brownies... and they are GOOOOOOD!!!

On an unrelated topic, Hannah picked up my camera and passed it to me yesterday, so I pointed it at her and asked her to smile - and for the first time she did it when asked!

Or perhaps it was because she had just finished a tiny bit of the brownie mentioned above and was pleased with me.

Baby photos!

2011-08-10T19:42:00.008+01:00

We had our 20 week scan on Tuesday morning. Everything was absolutely fine (as far as she could tell) so we can relax a bit more now! Baby was very active and strongly reacted to the cold of the gel on my tummy. It better get used to cold if it's going to make an appearance at Christmas time in Scotland!

We forgot to ask the radiographer if she could ask the baby how relaxed and chilled out it was feeling, as we feel we are due a baby who is laid back and doesn't enjoy crying non stop. Thinking back however, the body language the baby was expressing makes us think it is fairly chilled - it had it's hands clasped and resting on it's tummy, and it also had it's legs crossed in classic "lounging" position.

Following the scan, we were trying to think of fun activities for the day as Hannah was spending the whole day with her grandparents. We stared at the list of daytime festival shows for a while and made no decision, as so many things are hit and miss! We didn't want to end up spending money on something that would be a complete waste of time and cash.

We wandered to the High Street to look at the performers and when we got there we remembered Camera Obscura, a museum right at the top of the High Street near the castle. It's a really cool, interactive museum with loads of optical illusions, holograms, machines that change your appearance, and sparkly light tunnels!

We had been told about the infrared video camera which shows up the different intensities of heat on your body. The room had an icy bottle in it that you could hold against yourself and see the difference it made to your skin. But the most exciting thing about it for us, is you can see the baby through my tummy!! The reason for this is that the baby blocks out some of the heat from my internal organs so you can see a slightly cooler shape of the baby's body, the yellow colour in the bottom of my abdomen. Amazing!

We're going to go back in November/December to see the effect a bigger baby will have on the image, we might even catch it moving!!

I'd also like to point out the angle of the camera isn't very flattering, it makes me look a LOT rounder than I actually am...

Budding artist

2011-07-22T20:10:00.005+01:00

Hannah and I were in the Jenner's toy department one rainy afternoon last week, spending some quality time looking at stuffed animals and making the appropriate noises. She came across a small table with crayons and paper on, and an invitation to enter Jenner's colouring in competition. She of course set about on her entry with much enthusiasm.

I decided not to give her entry to the staff as I felt it just wouldn't be fair on all the other children, Hannah's colouring in skill is obviously far superior. (Plus... we don't really have room in the house for a jeep and horsebox she would inevitably have won).

Hannah has been very busy over the past few weeks perfecting her drawing, she is extremely creative. I'd now like to showcase some of her pieces of work on the blog, to share her artistic talent with the world.

"Spring garden"

"Woman in Black"

(sponsored by redhat)

The artist herself hard at work on another masterpiece

Hannah the performer

2011-07-19T21:28:00.003+01:00

Hannah LOVES getting a round of applause. If we give her a clap once she does something well, she inevitably does it again and again to get the same response. This means when she starts learning a new skill, our applause means she practices said skill until perfected.

At the minute, the two things she's been practising are standing up from the floor (most babies learn this before they walk I think, but Hannah likes to do things backwards), and eating with her own spoon.

We will try to catch the standing practice at some point, but at the minute please make do with Hannah's debut "eating alone" performance. Enjoy!

No: 2

2011-06-22T20:29:00.005+01:00

Here is our second little bundle of joy! Baby is due on Christmas eve, although I'm really hoping it will arrive a significant period of time before or after then - I don't think NHS Christmas dinner will compare to mum's home cooked one!

It's currently 7.1cm long and very wriggly whilst being scanned, the radiographer was having trouble doing all her measurements.

Thankfully I've hardly experienced any sickness during this pregnancy, unless the kitchen bin hasn't been changed and is a bit stinky... My only complaint is extreme fatigue, but this is much easier to deal with than the throwing up :-)

Fickle cat

2011-05-09T21:25:00.003+01:00

Since we moved into this house 2 years ago, the little cat pyramid bed has sat un-used next to the tv cabinet. Mia has favoured a tiny round basket which she has to squeeze herself into, much to our confusion as the little pyramid is so squishy and comfy looking!

However for the last three nights, Mia has snubbed her usual basket for the pyramid instead. What has caused this change of mind, we'll never know. I am extremely interested to know what goes through the minds of cats, (and babies for that matter!)

Anyway, the point of this post is because I'm feeling very smug for leaving the pyramid sitting there empty for 2 years even though it's been taking up room. I guess I wanted to just give my little ginger babies the option :-)

Snug as a bug

A year and a bit

2011-05-07T22:01:00.007+01:00

Hannah has changed loads in the last month. She's much less like a baby and more like a toddler - given the chance she walks around almost all day long, she talks away to us (although who knows what it is she's saying!) and just seems to be enjoying life a bit more!

Here's a video of her from this morning.

She is also OBSESSED with books. It's getting to the stage where we have to hide them if we want to do something else with her in the living room, otherwise she just wants them read to her over and over again. I'm told I was like this as a child, so I guess things do come back around!

Her very favourite book is called "Pants", and is all about the different kind of pants there are. I think it's aimed at toddlers, but she seems to love it. Maybe it'll make the transition from nappies to pants a little easier...!

This is my 100th blog post! Yay!

Hannah is One

2011-04-21T19:14:00.012+01:00

On the 8th April, Hannah was ONE!! It is a scary thought that a year has gone past since this little lady arrived into our lives and turned everything upside down. I can't say that it's been the easiest year of my life - During her birth I have never been so scared, during the first months I have never felt so helpless. Hannah has challenged my patience to the absolute limit, pushed me to breaking point with the lack of sleep and has thoroughly tested our marriage.

But I wouldn't change her for the world, she has filled me with so much joy and happiness lately that I can hardly remember how difficult the first few months were. On her actual birthday she was obviously so excited she couldn't sleep. She woke at around 5am and would NOT go back to sleep, so was ever so slightly grizzly for the first part of the day. I guess the good thing about being a baby is that if you feel tired and miserable you can just whinge and moan about it - adults are so polite to keep how terrible they feel hidden! I can assure you I wasn't enjoying the early start!

However the rest of the day she was on fairly good form, she seemed to enjoy opening her birthday presents and has enjoyed playing with them since.

Here are some of the best photos Colin took on and after Hannah's birthday. I think they show how happy she (generally) is these days!

Hannah's new cat

Tree house from Mummy and Daddy

Pensive Hannah

A fun present from Bruce and Winkie

Black and White

Yummy chocolate, unfortunately she wasted a little bit

Happy birthday Hannah!!!

More tricks

2011-03-30T08:34:00.003+01:00

We were away in Austria skiing last week, and had a fantastic time! The weather was beautiful, the skiing was great, and despite being quite ill with a temperature and cough the night before we left, Hannah was on top form.

Here's a wee video to show some of her new tricks:

She has also added "fish" to her list of tricks, as well as walking about 5 feet unaided, but we're yet to capture this on film! Instead, here's some videos of Colin and I enjoying the slopes.

Sucker

2011-03-11T20:44:00.007Z

So the other day I was walking past the "Benefit" counter and noticed they had a new brand of lip balm called "California Kissin' ".

The Benefit website and the girl on the counter claims:

"The subtle blue sheen makes teeth appear whiter and the minty taste freshens breath."

So trusting old me thought I'd try it - after all, I can't afford chemical teeth whitening.

Here's a before and after shot.

Before - dull old lips

After - amazing sparkling whitened teeth.

Yes. We can't tell the difference either. Jeni is suckered in by clever marketing once again....

Plus - Colin says my breath smells like wine. Hmph

Boots!

2011-03-08T20:06:00.005Z

When I was in Hartlepool a few weeks ago, mum very kindly threw out my 10 year old boots. I loved them so much that I knew if I took them home with me, that I'd never throw them away. But they had gone from lovely black suede to a bedraggled grey suede having protected my feet from the elements for the best part of a decade. They were also ripped to shreds inside and were actually beginning to damage my heels a bit.

So after weeks of searching, I finally got some new boots!

I was trying on a pair of comfy looking DocMartins which actually didn't turn out to be that comfortable, and the guy in the shop suggested I tried these ones on. I thought I'd just humour him, but I'm so glad I did because I loved them on. And the best bit is that I walked a couple of miles in them today and felt like I was wearing slippers, they were SO comfy!! I am a Blowfish convert, and think you all should be too.

Excitement

2011-03-04T20:09:00.004Z

Everything in Hannah's world is massively exciting at the minute. It's quite a lovely phase to watch, as she's just so thrilled when something she recognises crops up in her day to day life. A couple of things she's particularly excited by...

Waybuloo

But so much more exciting than that, is the doorbell!

This video doesn't quite do her normal reaction justice, she doesn't really perform for the camera on demand. But you get the idea...

Peace treaty?

2011-02-16T21:19:00.005Z

Since moving into our flat, the friendship between our two little cats has suffered massively. They used to sleep together in a basket, play fight, wash each other - but when they started being outdoor cats they became very territorial and the bond of sisterhood was shattered! Now when they come across each other on their day to day travels, fur flies and growling and snarling commences.

They have VERY distinct boundaries on our property, which they guard fiercely, and if one strays into the others' territory then they are promptly chased away. There are a few neutral areas that they do not fight in, and simply pass each other quickly.

Cat territory

So this evening, I was genuinely gobsmacked to come across this scene in the hallway:

This is the closest the cats have been to each other without ripping fur from each others haunches for almost 2 years! I am hoping this is the beginning of the healing process between them, although I know there is a lot of work to do. I may have to send them to a counsellor to get through some of the really deep seated issues.

Please leave us alone mum

Bruises

2011-02-14T18:10:00.003Z

Note to self - Next time you think about going back to jitsu after 2 and a half years of NOT training, take a look at this picture and think twice.

Ouch.

I think my body is a different shape compared to my pre baby figure, and the new lumps and bumps were definitely catching on the ground/on my jitsu outfit in ways that didn't bother me before. I really enjoyed the training session, I felt really nostalgic and was pleased that I hadn't entirely forgotten everything I learnt in the 7 years before I stopped.

It's now 3 days since the session and I'm now managing to get up and down off the sofa without thinking of taking painkillers, and now I'm starting to think that it wasn't all that bad and I'll probably do it again someday. A bit like labour really!

Balance

2011-02-12T06:58:00.004Z

I don't think it'll be very long before we need to seriously baby proof our house. Hannah has been able to work her way slowly around the furniture for a little while now, but can only do so as long as she's keeping a tight hold to either the coffee table or the sofa. This means the rest of the house can remain as dusty/cluttered/tangled with cables as we like.

However, in the past few days, Hannah has perfected her ability to balance. Observe:

I'm predicting that she'll be off before she's 1. Watch this space....

The perfect bath

2011-02-02T21:54:00.006Z

On our wedding anniversary last year, Colin gave me this:

I have been putting off using it, as I wanted the "perfect" day to use it - one free from disturbance from Hannah/Colin/phone/cats... anything really! And it can't be a day that's too hot/too cold outside, otherwise I don't enjoy baths either. I'm so fussy.

Anyway, today was the day I used it!

At first, it just looked a bit like the bath water had gone mouldy....

But after a few minutes it started to look a little more inviting...

Candles lit.... a good book.... bath toys easily accessible...

I would highly recommend a jelly bath!! It felt so weird at first, but it was like pulling a warm duvet over yourself which just heated up my cold bones perfectly!

The only criticism - I'm finding un-melted jelly around the place since I got out. It's been sitting in my collar bone, and I just skidded on a bit on the bathroom floor... But it was definitely worth the mess.

Jelly-tastic

Trip south

2011-02-01T21:01:00.013Z

Last weekend we headed south to stay with Granny and Grandad Robertson for the weekend. It was also a good excuse to try out Hannah's fancy new Recaro car seat (which we are both incredibly jealous of! It looks very comfortable.) She was quite upset when we first put her into it, but once she realised we were able to turn round and entertain her whilst on the move she decided it wasn't so bad after all...

It had been mum's birthday earlier in the week so to celebrate I had decided to have a go at making some cupcakes. I made white chocolate and raspberry flavour (with the peach and white flower decorations), and then lemon flavoured ones (with the pearly balls). I can honestly say I've never baked before 7.30am before! The joys of motherhood...!

Unfortunately the yellow food colouring I used on the lemon ones didn't give the frosty lemony look I was going for - instead they look like they are canary flavoured. This didn't seem to affect the taste though! I will definitely be making them again - YUM.

On Saturday after a long lie (thanks mum!) we headed out to Yarm. We stopped for lunch in a little Italian restaurant, it was a nice chance to have a good catch up, and now Hannah sits in a highchair happily mealtimes are much easier!

We stopped in Preston Park on the way home, somewhere we used to go a lot when I was younger. I had a sense of excitement as we drove up, as it really was a fun day out in the past - but I have to say I was quite upset at how much it had been allowed to fall into disrepair! There used to be loads of animals in various enclosures, which are all now empty and overgrown. Hopefully the park will be improved at some stage as I'd love to take Hannah there at some point in the future!

We did get to go on a very muddy woodland walk however, which we had to abandon half way round. Prams just don't seem to be made for off-roading.

Hannah doesn't seem bothered by the bumpy ride

The pram gets a clean off before going back in the car

On Sunday we had another lovely lie in, then went for a walk in the local park in Hartlepool. It was a cold day but Hannah was quite happy watching the world go by! She is fascinated by ducks, to which we fed ONE WHOLE SLICE of bread! We are so generous.

We then stopped at the cafe for a hot chocolate and took the chance to give Hannah a shot on the swings, which she LOVED.

Weeee!

Back at home, Hannah spent some time shredding some tissue paper, a new much enjoyed activity.

On Monday we headed back up north again, but not before stopping at a farm shop/cafe near Hartlepool for some lunch with mum. The food was home cooked and so tasty, but the highlight was probably the piglets and calves who were sitting in a barn near the carpark. Hannah was very confused by them and the noises they were making! She was quite happy as long as they sat still, but inquisitive animals soon started coming over to the fence and snuffling about so we had to take a few steps back.

Hanging with the coos

We had a really lovely time in Hartlepool and felt very rested upon our return! It does however make the 5.30/6am starts that little bit harder when you've been spoilt with lie-ins for three days.

Family reunion 2011

2011-01-14T16:22:00.008Z

Once again, the new year heralded our annual Robertson family reunion - this time it was held at the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel near Peebles. It was very comfortable and provided us with absolutely delicious food (although some hungrier family members would say that the portion sizes were a little meagre... But I thought it was JUST right!)

We all arrived from our various corners of the country throughout the Friday evening, and after dinner had a good catch up with one another - for some it has been almost a whole year since we last saw each other! We were very sad that our Dutch cousins Alexis and Joanna couldn't make it this year, but hopefully it won't be long before we see them again.

Saturday morning we awoke to this view from our window:

The snow had been falling steadily all night and the scenery was absolutely beautiful, with the sun making everything sparkle. We decided to set off on a walk along a disused railway to the village of Peebles.

This was not before we came across some evidence of some night time activity in the car park: Most cars had a frosting of an inch or two of snow, but one car in particular seemed to have taken the brunt of the snow fall and was buried underneath SEVERAL inches... Ian and Moira's car was almost unrecognisable!

The moral of the story is - don't upset David Nichols, by say... throwing a snow ball at him unexpectedly... revenge is served cold and snowy.

The rest of the walk was lovely (although most of us were unprepared for the snow and so had very inappropriate foot wear.)

Some of the clan

The gorgeous river bank

Unfortunately my pictures just don't do the views on the walk justice!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing mixed activities - we took Hannah for a swim with several others, which she LOVED. She was so excited to see everyone in the pool! Then all three of us had a much needed nap before dinner.

The evening meal was served in a separate private room so we were allowed to make as much noise as we wanted! It was lots of fun, and someone came to babysit Hannah so we didn't have to worry about disturbing her night too much.

Hannah herself seemed to LOVE the attention she received at the weekend. She almost had a permanent smile on her face and was constantly making her new favourite noise (which we think is a laugh) - it can only be compared to a baby dinosaur.

Hannah and daddy waiting for lunch

The clan

A fantastic time was had by all, and this time next year we will have yet another addition! It's very hard to tell by the photo, but Elaine is baking a little friend for Hannah who is due to arrive at the beginning of February. We're all very excited to meet him!

It's been a while...

2011-01-02T13:16:00.003Z

We have been missing in action for a while! I guess with the excitement of Christmas and an ever growing Hannah the blog has been very neglected.

So for your entertainment here is a selection of videos of Hannah from the last couple of months...

Hannah spinning

Hannah sings with mummy

Hannah gets it right this time. (Kind of)

Running girl

Water thief - (listen out for the rude noise)

Happy baby

2010-11-05T22:06:00.003Z

A happy Hannah is incredibly entertaining! I wish there were more times like this, but with the amount of spit she produces when happy she'd probably dehydrate herself too much to do it regularly!

Nursery

2010-10-20T13:19:00.003+01:00

Hannah has been moved into her own room. This is far more traumatic for me than her apparently, as she sleeps normally while I'm up and down all night checking to make sure she's ok. Hopefully I'll get used to it soon before I go mad with even less sleep than normal!!

Anyway, here's some photos of our transformed spare room...

Lovely cot

Beautiful jungle curtains - courtesy of Grandma Armstrong!

Close up

Hannah's bedtime friends

Animal art for the walls!

What do you think of your new room Hannah?

"Plenty of room to practice walking around in... so I love it!!"

First family holiday

2010-10-11T22:14:00.004+01:00

Last week the three of us went on our first holiday away together on our own! Mum very kindly gave us a two night trip to Crieff Hydro as a joint birthday present and we had a fab time!!

Our room was lovely and spacious with room for a cot for Hannah, and a lovely view out over the hills (and a car park).

Hannah had never seen such a large bed, and spent several minutes enjoying herself sitting amongst the many cushions and pillows, enough time for daddy to get some lovely photos of her...

We also had a lovely chez lounge to sit on by the window, a perfect place for Hannah to enjoy a conversation and cup of tea with us.

We had beautiful weather the first day and took a lovely stroll around the estate. We made the mistake of taking the pram with us, which became extremely difficult to handle over the rocky tracks, so eventually we took Hannah out so Colin could carry her and make the pram a bit lighter. She enjoyed her new vantage point for about 2 minutes before falling fast asleep for the majority of the walk... She then woke and spent the rest of the walk scratching the back of Colin's neck with her tiny sharp nails. (Not as pleasant as you may think!)

The rest of the mini break was lovely - we had babysitters both nights, which meant we could have really lovely dinners together without the worry of entertaining Hannah. It was very nice indeed! Apart from the price tag of £12 an hour for the babysitter - I'm sure I didn't charge this much when I was a teenager! Think how much I could have made!!)

We also popped Hannah into the creche on Wednesday afternoon and took advantage of the adults only Victorian Spa at the hotel - a beautiful pool with steam room, sauna and jacuzzi. We truly felt much more relaxed when we had spent only 1 hour in there!

We don't really have any photos documenting the rest of the trip away, apart from a handful of arty Hannah pics. Check out these ones Colin managed to capture - Mummy about to get a face full of Hannah drool....!

Here it comes...

Well aimed Hannah!

Hannah not bouncing

2010-09-30T22:19:00.011+01:00

Hannah was kindly given a door bouncer by her Grandma, which up to now she hasn't really enjoyed being placed in. But after a few grumbling noises as we tried to get her in to it last night, she actually seemed to be enjoying herself!

Not a lot of bouncing is done (without help from onlookers) but I think it gives her the impression that she's standing on her own. (This is Hannah's ambition!)

Clever baby

2010-09-27T20:44:00.003+01:00

Hannah has never been the kind of girl who likes to do things by the book! She would rather stand holding onto things than lie down or sit on the ground. She can't roll over, and yet she can walk around holding onto someone's hands. The health visitor saw her on Wednesday and said she has "advanced motor skills". Watch this video and see if you agree!

Learning to eat

2010-09-14T21:01:00.009+01:00

Yesterday it was my Grandad's 90th birthday party. Many relatives and friends all turned up at their house in Glasgow to wish him a happy birthday, and loads of fun was had by all.

Lots of plates of sandwiches and cakes were being passed around, and a few of us were very entertained watching little second cousin Colin (who is one this week!) eating his sandwich by stuffing as much of it into his mouth as he could with a whole hand. We found it so entertaining, because of course none of us stuff so much food into our mouths when we're eating...

However photos have been found on my dad's camera which suggest otherwise...

Jeni devours an entire sandwich in one

Catherine stores some in her cheeks for later

A lovely picture of Rachel and Hannah. But check out Colin in the background!

Better put in a sensible one, including the birthday boy himself. Here he is with the great grandchildren!

Happy birthday Grandad!!

Air time

2010-08-30T21:46:00.002+01:00

If you are a faint-hearted grandparent of Hannah - look away now.

Because daddy and Hannah have found a new game to play together...

Despite the nervous look on her face in this photo, the laughter and smiles she gives after each throw suggests she seems to enjoy this game!

Hannah at 4 months

2010-08-27T22:25:00.008+01:00

Hannah is 20 weeks old now - (or four and a half months for those who aren't counting the weeks anymore!)

Everyone may be happy to hear that over the last couple of weeks she has become a fairly contended, happy little baby! She does of course have her grizzly bear moments, but I assume most babies do at some point every couple of days?

These days, Hannah mostly enjoys hanging out with daddy as he goes about his business...

She spends hours practicing her standing, so that she can run off as soon as the balance and coordination centres kick in...

But her new favourite thing to do is to sit in her shiny new Bumbo seat whilst mummy and daddy get on with day to day tasks - something they've not been allowed to do before! The house has never looked tidier, the food has never been more freshly prepared...

Hannah's favourite spot to observe us is from the top of the cooker as we go about preparing things in the kitchen, she watches and listens very intently! Perhaps she'll be a master chef someday. Until then, we're quite happy with the smiles and laughter which come from a happy baby!

Happy slapping

2010-08-18T22:10:00.005+01:00

We have a happy little cat called Mia. She likes sleeping and eating and chasing birds, but none of this compares to the happiness she feels when we slap her haunches repeatedly.

Just in case you think we're being cruel, just wait to the end to listen to the purring and you'll see how happy she is. I'm sure she'd run away if she was upset, instead of coming back for more each evening!

Pink or blue?

2010-08-04T19:38:00.005+01:00

Society dictates that baby girls wear pink and little boys wear blue. I always thought "Pah - girls look like girls, it doesn't matter what they wear." But today I proved myself wrong.

Here is Hannah in her lovely pink baby grow (about to be trampled on by her mean uncle and daddy in this photo). She definitely looks like a little girl.

Pretty in pink

Now here is Hannah in a navy striped t-shirt. I have been looking at her all day and thinking she looks just like a boy! Poor thing. And she's been mistaken for a boy twice today by strangers who have said "Ahh what a lovely baby! What's his name?"

"I'm so confused!"

It's so strange what a huge impact societies' rules have imprinted on our minds! My dad has told me recently that boys used to wear pink in years gone by, as it was much more expensive to produce than regular clothes dyes. So of course the less favoured girls would not have been graced with such beautiful clothes! An interesting fact!

Hannah herself thinks she looks smashing in blue.

Wow. I look super cool.

Smelly cat

2010-06-27T20:19:00.004+01:00

Neko has a new favourite spot to sit in on these sunny days - the communal garden compost bin. It's certainly warm and comfy because of all the rotting garden/kitchen waste, but it's also stinking! She's really weird.

Bliss

2010-06-23T16:52:00.002+01:00

A very kind person who had a colicky baby has donated us a new piece of furniture for Hannah - a battery operated swinging seat. It is fantastic! As well as swinging back and forth at varying speeds, it has the option of silence, birdsong, soothing waves or a really terrible version of "Rock a bye baby". I like the waves personally, and Hannah appears to as well!!

Perfect peace

The seat has meant that I've been able to get breakfast or lunch without having to carry Hannah with me and do everything one-handed. It even soothes her off to sleep, meaning I can watch awesome films like New Moon (pictured!) while Colin is out the house. He doesn't want to watch it for some reason...

Hannah changes...

2010-06-18T22:51:00.011+01:00

I have seen a massive difference in Hannah in the past couple of weeks - She is far more alert and interested in the world, and has been slightly calmer too! I don't want to get too excited about this, as she still has days when is SO upset at nothing, but on the whole she is much more pleasant to have around!

We have been out and about visiting lots of people, and have been up and down to Hartlepool to see Grannie and Grandad Robertson a couple of times. It has been lovely to get a bit of help with her while Colin is on call at the weekends.

Hannah gets to congratulate Uncle Andrew on passing his exam

She joins Grannie in some sunbathing

Discussing gaming strategies with Uncle David

In order to try and get Hannah's attention, I found a couple of toys off Amazon which are meant to be stimulating for young babies - and I think they are brilliant! They are so brightly coloured and noisy to touch, it's no wonder the babies love them.

The two toys are called Captain Calamari and Jacques the Peacock - Captain Calamari is massive (he's an pirate octopus in case you were wondering!), but Jacques is handbag sized, and perfect for entertaining Hannah when we're out and about.

Meet Jacques

Conversing with Jacques while we have a coffee on daddy's birthday

And the best thing about Hannah's new found love of the world, is the smiles and squeals she's now producing! It's great!

Cheeese!

Vroom

2010-06-12T23:18:00.005+01:00

We have finally bought a car! We've done well up to now to remain reliant on bikes and public transport (and the kindness of parents who lend us cars!) but now Hannah is here we've been finding travelling slightly more challenging. I have felt there was also the potential for me to feel slightly isolated and trapped as it's not so easy to get out and about if you have to have a pram in tow!

Anyway, check out our beautiful new baby!

It's a Seat Leon 2.0 TDS. I think. I can definitely tell you that it's black, shiny and when you turn on the windscreen wipers, they come down from the side rather than up from the bottom! It's rather cool!

So if you live within driving distance of us - expect a visit soon!!

Scary

2010-05-20T20:49:00.008+01:00

I opened a kitchen cupboard the other night to search for dinner ingredients, and got a terrible fright, as I thought a beastie had moved into it. After I had picked myself off the floor, and looked a little closer I realised it was just expired food products. I suspect the product had been there since before Hannah was born, so perhaps I can be forgiven for not looking in that cupboard for a while.

I think they used to be potatoes, but on first glance they resembled some kind of giant crustacean I saw on the news recently... Scary!

Potatoes?

Crabzilla in my cupboard?

To take our minds off such horrors, let us look at some photos of cute babies!

Catherine, Rachel and Colin came to visit on Tuesday bringing with them some delicious muffins. Hannah very kindly refrained from screaming for the entire visit, and even posed nicely for some pictures with Colin and Rachel. Colin is so sweet with little babies! Just look at the protective hand on her head. Ahhhh!

Flip fun

2010-05-15T23:28:00.007+01:00

I bought Colin a present. It's a Flip HD video camera, a pocket sized digital camcorder which makes capturing events extremely easy.

He has been having lots of fun following us all around the house filming everything we do, much to my annoyance. But it does mean that we're able to easily document the things Hannah does as she grows and changes!

Here's a clip of his first Hannah related masterpiece, of which I'm sure there'll be many more.

Presenting - Hannah doing nothing. With a twist.

1 month down...

2010-05-10T19:46:00.006+01:00

There hasn't been a lot of activity on our blog recently, the main reason being that Hannah spends a LOT of her time like this.

"Waaaa."

The health visitor thinks she has a bad case of colic, meaning she cries more often than not. When she does settle and fall asleep on us, if we transfer her to the cot, she tends to wake up fairly soon afterwards and the crying begins again! Fortunately at night this cycle seems to stop and she only wakes up once or twice for a feed, but it's quite difficult to cope with during the day! I was so wrong when I thought that looking after a baby couldn't be all that difficult.

The cats aren't overly impressed with the new arrival into the house. Mia likes to watch proceedings from the highest possible vantage point she can get to.

"I'm not sure I approve of this."

As the post title suggests, Hannah is now just over a month old, and she IS showing signs that the colic is improving, she does have spells when she seems almost contented - Colin even got a smile the other day! (Or perhaps it was wind...)

Just to prove it, here's a little video!

Warning - It is a 1 minute 20 second video showing a baby doing very little (because she really doesn't do that much at the moment!) So if you're not a doting grandparent then you may not find it overly entertaining! If you watch carefully though, you might spot her doing a little chin quiver half way through, it's quite funny :-)

New addition!

2010-04-25T15:13:00.007+01:00

It's been a few weeks since I've updated the blog, but that doesn't mean we've got nothing to report!

Introducing our lovely new daughter, Hannah Grace Armstrong!

She was born on the 8th April at 8.06am by an emergency C-Section, after her heart rate became a little bit erratic during the labour. Thankfully she screamed the minute she was pulled out, and all the blood tests confirmed that no harm was done to her following the drop in her heart rate. And at 9 lbs 4 oz she was a healthy size and has had no problem feeding since then!

Cuddles from daddy

We got home from the hospital on the 10th and have been learning how to be parents since then. She has been fairly well behaved so far, although like all newborns she has her moments! Hopefully these will get fewer and further between as time goes by.

This photo was taken two weeks after her birth date, she is looking so different every single day! She has so far met most of the family, except for her Uncle David who she'll hopefully meet next weekend when we visit Hartlepool for the first time.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of posts documenting all the significant points in her life!

Snazzy curtains

2010-03-30T15:37:00.003+01:00

After 9 months of living in this house, we have finally got around to getting some curtains up in our bedroom. Jaqi very kindly taught Lee and I how to make curtains, and with Dunk and Colin's help we managed to get them up this weekend.

Quite a boring blog update for most probably, but I'm so pleased with them I just had to share! Check them out!

It's now a bit scary at night, because it's totally pitch black in the room. Perhaps this will make baby feel the room is more womb-like when he/she finally arrives.

And here's a close up - beautiful!

Practice baby

2010-03-24T17:38:00.006Z

Our baby's new pram arrived in store this week, and has now been set up ready for the new arrival. We ended up going for a very beautiful pram from Mamas and Papas, called Cityscape combination switch.

It arrived in pieces, so Colin has managed to put (most of it) together - there are some bits that we're a little confused about where to put them! It comes with a car seat, car seat installation unit, nappy bag, parasol and foot muff. It's very exciting! I might need some practice with it, as the first time I tried to fold it up, I failed miserably and one of the wheels fell off.

After putting it together, then leaving it unsupervised for all of 2 minutes, the pram had it's first occupant make herself at home...

She was of course chased from her new cosy spot soon after the photo was taken, much to her dismay, as she was obviously VERY comfortable. So the pram will remain folded up in the corridor until we have a little human to make use of it... That's a scary thought!

New kitchen

2010-03-16T19:42:00.008Z

Since moving into our house, we've been furiously saving our money in order to get a new kitchen. The old one wasn't TOTALLY offensive, it was a nice enough colour I suppose - but in reality it was so impractical. The layout of it was terribly designed, making it difficult to store all our kitchen accessories and food. The fridge which came with the house had a tiny freezer compartment and also the seal on the door was a little dodgy. Having been used to a dishwasher in our old house, we really resented having to wash up our dishes by hand in this one! And I won't even get started on how much we dislike electric hobs.

Just so you can remember the old one, here's a picture to remind you! Note the beautiful Venetian scene depicted in the tiles above the cooker...

Work started in the kitchen on the 8th, and the first day involved ripping out the old one, and putting up some of the cabinets around the walls. The age of the house made this slightly difficult apparently, as the room doesn't have straight walls, or a right angle at the corner. The plaster under the tiles was also pretty crumbly.

Luckily, we had some resident kitchen inspectors to make sure the work was up to standard...

A VERY thorough inspection...

So after only 5 days of building work in the house, here is the beautiful result! (Minus a couple of cupboard doors, which are still due to arrive from the supplier at some point this week).

We are totally delighted with it! Especially the sparkly granite work-tops...

It seems SO much bigger than the last kitchen, it just shows how good designing and efficient use of space makes all the difference. And it is LOVELY to have a dishwasher back again!!!

The "sizeable" baby

2010-03-08T17:28:00.003Z

I had to go for a scan today as at my midwife appointment last week, the midwife felt that the baby was presenting with it's shoulder first. She wouldn't really answer any of my questions about what this meant, so of course I googled it when I got home - I learnt that you can't have a live birth with a shoulder presentation, as the baby just gets stuck. So I've spent most of the weekend feeling a bit nervous about what this might mean.

Anyway, we had the scan today and the baby has turned itself into the right position with it's head pointing down, (although it's still quite high up) but it's also turned over so that it's in a back-to-back position - this is apparently painful during labour! So it's my mission over the next couple of weeks to get it to flip back over.

It was amazing to see the baby at this stage, it's like a proper little formed person now, as opposed to the alien-like foetus at the last scan! And it was so active, it didn't stay still for the entire scan.

The midwife gave us an unexpected picture of his/her little face. It's quite a chubster! And I'm a bit worried that I can see teeth already?!?!

In this picture it actually has both arms up and it's hands at it's face, which I think gives the impression that it's cheeks are chubbier than they are...

When I asked the midwife if she could tell how big the baby is, she didn't really give us an estimation, but she did say it's "quite a sizeable baby!" Is this midwife code for "massive baby"?!

My girl

2010-03-05T20:09:00.003Z

I think someone is going to miss my bump. Mia usually takes her position on my knee each night, but in recent weeks the space on my lap has become increasingly smaller. She has now decided her position of choice is directly on top of baby.

It must be very warm and snuggly because she repeatedly makes her way back there each night. Baby tries his/her best to kick her off, much like the cups of tea, but she is blissfully unaware - I assume she thinks it's some kind of tummy massage going on.

Cutie kittie

Big kicks

2010-03-03T11:56:00.002Z

I have found my pregnant bump quite annoying in recent weeks, as I feel so immobile. It is a particular trial at night as I am unable to turn over without making noise similar to farmyard animals and movements similar to a flailing fish out of water. (Colin is enjoying this experience as much as I am!)

It has been quite useful at times too though, particularly as a support for resting my arms, or even better - a table for cups of tea/juice!

However, in the last week this joy is becoming increasingly more difficult, as baby's kicks are now strong enough to dislodge the cup of tea from it's resting place... as demonstrated in the following video.

Robertson Family Reunion

2010-02-16T17:13:00.006Z

In keeping with the yearly Robertson family tradition, we all descended on the Green Hotel in Kinross last weekend. With the entire family being able to make it this time, there were 26 of us in total! I hope we didn't ruin a romantic Valentine's weekend for other hotel guests...

Friday evening involved catching up over a pub dinner.

Saturday was filled with fun activities, unfortunately most of which were not very pregnancy friendly! The choices were either an 8 mile walk around Loch Leven, working out at the gym with the men folk or taking part in an hour long Curling lesson. I was quite up for the curling, but my dad informed me that I was absolutely not to attempt walking round on the ice for an hour, as my balance would be off. (I suppose he would know best!)

So I opted to be the official photographer for the day.

The red team won this round

After the curling, most people were keen on going to see Scotland lose the rugby. I then went for a relaxing swim with mum, where were swam 2 lengths in total, followed by a 30 minute blether. That's the kind of exercise I enjoy at the moment!

The evening entertainment was a big three course dinner, followed by several quizzes, and then some traditional wink murder.

Alex is killed off by his loving mother

On Sunday after a hearty breakfast, we went to the hottest church in the world, and then had a final cup of tea with cake before heading off in our separate directions.

Clan photo

All being well, next year there will be 27 of us!

More cake

2010-02-11T22:41:00.003Z

I have been commissioned to make a cake for a colleague's mother-in-law/sister-in-law's joint 90th & 60th birthday party. We were chatting on night shift a couple of weeks ago about Christmas, and I mentioned Colin had bought me a book on cake decorating. After a bit of cake chat I somehow offered to make the cake for the birthday do.

However, I have been feeling a little nervous this week, as I've only ever made cakes for close friends and family before, who I suppose wouldn't be too upset if I got it wrong. So I have felt the pressure has been on a bit to make a successful job!!!

She said that she wanted a "classy" cake, but left the design to me. So I eventually copied a Charles Rennie Mackintosh design from the internet onto a plaque and painted on a wee birthday message. The black piping looks ok from a distance, however on closer inspection, it's a bit wobbly due to my shaky hands (Nerves perhaps? Or should a blame it on the pregnancy?!)

Classy cake

All this cake decorating is exhausting, clearly I'm not the only one who's feeling it...

Everybody needs a baby for a pillow

Mini holiday

2010-02-04T10:39:00.008Z

One great thing about being pregnant is being FORCED to relax. We went away to Cameron House hotel on Loch Lomond last week, for a short two night break - and despite trying to go out and get some exercise, I found myself breathless and exhausted after a short walk. Therefore we were forced to go back to the hotel and enjoy the amazing facilities!

Cameron House (I'm informed) is regularly used by footballers and VIP's like that. Despite this, we were surprised at how nice the room and breakfast was for the price we paid!

The room was beautiful and really comfortable. In reality it did have a straight bed, I think that the stitching-together of the photo Colin took has gone a bit off!

The hotel kindly provided extra pillows at my request, as I'm having trouble getting comfortable at night at the moment. Colin however took this as a challenge to use all of the pillows at once...

On the Wednesday morning we attempted our walk around the section of Loch where our hotel was situated. I didn't realise how beautiful Loch Lomond is, as last time we were there, it poured with rain and we were being eaten alive by midges. With constantly running for cover, we were perhaps too distracted to notice the lovely Loch!

Jeni and bump by the water

A small shower caused a beautiful full rainbow over the water - amazing!

We would highly recommend Cameron house, but also recommend avoiding the alcohol while you're there - £9.15 for a white wine spritzer and £6 for a bottle of beer are definitely footballer prices!!

Baby's new wardrobe

2010-01-25T19:55:00.006Z

Now I'm 30 weeks pregnant, we thought it might be time to start getting some supplies, just incase Baby Armstrong makes an early appearance into the world. Up until recently all we had were three knitted garments, very kindly created by Granny Armstrong! However, we felt this probably wasn't enough to sustain a newborn. Every shop we've looked through so far seem to only have gender specific items in either pink or blue, which will only be useful to us if we were the gambling sort.

So today we went to Asda on a friend's recommendation to have a browse through their baby range... and came back with these to start us off!

It's amazing how buying a couple of garments for baby has made it seem more real!!! The packet contains 3 sleep suits, 3 bodysuits, 2 scratch mitts, booties and a hat, all for the bargainous price of £7!!!

Even though the sleep suit is for newborn, it still seemed to be awfully big to me. So I held it up against the bump for comparison...

When comparing it to the bump, I guess it seems a little more likely that it's going to fit - although I've still got over 2 months to go and seem to be large before my time! People at work have been making comments like "Are you sure you don't have two in there?!" which is making me a bit nervous that I'm going to give birth to a giant. So hopefully if it stops growing so fast and is born a normal size, we'll be able to use the cute wee sleep suit for at least a few nights!!!

There's certainly one member of our little family who's making full use of the big comfy bump while it's still around...

(Not so) New House!

2010-01-14T14:31:00.014Z

As promised to a several people - I have finally got round to taking some pictures of the new house. It's a bit messy, but refer to the previous post and you'll see why I refuse to do any proper tidying up today.

Hall...

Living room...

Kitchen...

Bathroom...

Bedroom....

Baby's room.... (although I'm sure this will look a bit different in a few months time!)

Utility room....

Garden and patio area.

Kitty enjoying the freedom!

Duvet day

2010-01-14T14:06:00.004Z

I'm enjoying a well earned duvet day today, as by tomorrow evening I will have worked 62.5 hours in the past 6 days. Quite an impressive amount of time to ask a nearly 7 month pregnant woman to stand I think!! So my one day off this week is being spent on the sofa, watching films that Colin hates - taking advantage of time alone while he's at work.

I decided to watch Phantom of the Opera this afternoon.

After getting the dvd case off the shelf, I noticed some interesting critics comments on the front of the box....

Of course, the critic was none other than Andrew Robertson, who decided to voice his own opinion on the film before giving it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago. It makes me wonder why he'd give me a film that he obviously hated!

Weird film

2009-12-09T21:20:00.006Z

We watched Burn After Reading the other night. The general consensus about it was that it was a little strange, and we couldn't quite understand where the plot was leading... and were a little surprised where it did eventually lead!

But I made an observation half way through which I found incredibly distracting. The lead woman who played Linda Litzke looked exactly like Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Linda....

Johnny...

What do you think? Most distracting!

What a mess

2009-11-25T15:00:00.014Z

Today I spent my afternoon arranging this....

Into this...

Quite a few of the wires in the first picture weren't even connected to anything! It obviously just needed a woman's touch to get everything in order.

Evil cat

2009-11-11T22:46:00.008Z

After installing a cat flap in the back door so that our beautiful little kitties can go in and out to explore the Great Outdoors, we have unfortunately had to put up with an unwelcome visitor in the house. The visitor is a massive black cat, which would be fine if it just came in and said hello and had a polite conversation... but instead it eats our little cats' food and then attacks them. Three cats in a fight make a horrible din, it's not the most pleasant way to be woken from sleep.

I haven't been able to get a photo of the evil cat, but I found a picture which is a fairly accurate depiction...

Anyway, we've never been able to frighten the cat enough that it stays away, because every time we run after it, it just shoots out the cat flap. Most people tell us we should squirt it with water because that is a sure deterrent for all cats. We however felt that a water pistol just wasn't going to be accurate enough to ensure the cat was suitably scared.

So one night last week, we heard the familiar wailing of our poor little darlings being attacked by the black beast. Colin crept through to the back door and set the cat flat to "in only".

I won't say exactly what we did incase Peta turn up at the door tomorrow shouting animal rights laws at us... but I will say the cat ended up looking something like this:

You would think that treating a cat in this fashion would deter it from coming back... (and believe me, we took no pleasure in doing this, but our little cats are covered in scratches!) ... HOWEVER, who should rear it's ugly head in the house just two days later?! Evil cat!!!

If anyone has any suggestions for ways to stop it from coming in, please let us know. Special cat flaps are no good, as our cats lose their collars within hours of going outside and would therefore be locked out.

Or maybe we should teach our cats some ju jitsu, or assertiveness techniques. Surely two ginger girls could take on this evil black demon?!

Ace of Cakes

2009-11-07T14:21:00.010Z

I've been very busy on a little project over the past week, preparing a birthday cake for our friend John's birthday party. He's 30 in a couple of weeks time, and we felt there was no point in giving gifts of wine or champagne, as we imagine that's what everyone else is going to give him! So my gift is to make him an awesome birthday cake to mark the occasion! Jess his wife suggested an iPhone 3g cake, as that is John's little obsession.

And here's how I did it....

First, I made two rectangular sponge cakes, and filled the middle with buttercream and jam...

Then I put them together to make an iPhone shape...

Then I covered it in Marzipan.... the whole time trying to fend off Colin from picking at it. (He's a big marzipan fan.)

Then I covered it in black fondant icing - not an easy task with one pair of hands!!

Then I fixed on the little icons which I had made previously out of coloured fondant icing...

And then I finished it off with a little detail and a birthday message. I hope it tastes ok! Although I suppose the novelty of the cake is more the point at a big birthday party. More importantly, I hope John likes it, and that it was worth staining my hands a dusky shade of grey with the food colouring. Note for next time - steal latex gloves from the hospital to protect skin...!

Cat yoga

2009-10-27T16:53:00.003Z

We've found our cats hanging out in some wierd and wonderful positions over the last couple of years, but this one has to take the biscuit...

Neko spent at least an hour chilling out in this bizzare yoga-like pose. We were beginning to get worried that she was actually stuck like that, when she just got herself up, stretched and wandered away.
I think if either of us attempted that position, it would be the end of our ability to walk at all...!

Big changes

2009-10-03T21:41:00.004+01:00

A lot has happened to us in the last 3 months.

We've moved house, into a lovely ground floor terraced flat with a little garden front and back... The cats are loving it, they have both lost weight and gained a new lease of life running around outside.

But our biggest news is perhaps the new addition to our little family!

Baby Armstrong is due 2nd April 2010, we're very excited, but a little aprehensive, as neither of us have even held a baby at any point in the last decade! I'm told it'll come naturally once the baby is here, and I'm sure the wealth of knowledge from an Obs and Gynae trained father, and a health visitor mother will come in really useful!

My fear

2009-05-09T09:57:00.004+01:00

Unfortunately, I have a recurring waking nightmare during the night, that Colin has died in his sleep. Perhaps it's because I've heard of cases where a person has woken up to find their spouse dead next to them (usually because of something called Sudden Adult Death syndrome, usually caused by heart arrythmias.) And it doesn't help that Colin's favourite sleeping position is face down on the matress...

Whilst very sad, the sudden death syndrome only happens to a tiny percentage of adults, so I really shouldn't get myself worked up about it.

Colin got a terrible fright one morning when I looked over to see him very corpse-like, and realised he was stone cold to the touch - so instead of gently shaking him, I chose to flip him over onto his back in order to begin CPR. Luckily he wasn't actually dead, and just got rudely awakened from his sleep instead.

I have recently got the same fear over the cats. They sleep on the bed so still that they don't look alive anymore, and it's even more terrifying when you touch them and they still don't move.

At work, when a patient isn't attached to a cardiac monitor, I also get the same fear! I think I've got so used to watching someone's heart beats on the screen, that if they are taken off it for any reason, I constantly watch their chest to make sure they're still breathing.

Perhaps being a nurse has just given me that little bit TOO much knowledge, as I always assume the worst with regards to medical problems, as I've seen how bad things can go..

That still doesn't stop me having panic attacks in the night over my dead spouse and pets. So I was thinking, perhaps I could just get a cardiac monitor for the house, so if Colin did have a cardiac arrest for whatever reason, I'd be alerted of it immediately, and therefore my fears of him dying without me realising may be put to rest. Perfectly sensible!

I have also discovered you can get cardiac monitors especially for cats!

Reverse crime

2009-02-25T11:09:00.004Z

Despite the great views and city centre location, living in Dumbie Dykes comes hand in hand with the higher risk of crime. There's no denying that council estates are havens for crime, particularly amongst bored kids and teens: This is not just speculation and accusation, we have indeed witnessed teenagers smashing into cars on the street below the house, and graffiti often appears in the hallways and walls around the estate. So when we leave the house mostly unattended to go on holiday, we are both prepared that we may return to find we are missing posessions (and I'm not just talking about the food that Alexander snaffles from the cupboards).

However, having just returned from a week on the Isle of Mull with Colin's parents, I was surprised to find that the opposite had happened.

An extra chain has been added to my bike! The one in the middle of the frame doesn't belong to me, to Colin or to Alexander. No note has been left in the house, no key has been posted through the door. One of two things has happened ...

- EITHER someone noticed that I hadn't chained the bike too securely with my lock, as it is only going through the back wheel (admittedly this was a bit foolish of me). In an attempt to stop anyone from theiving it, some kind hearted soul has chained my bike more securely to the railing, and has forgotton to tell me about it.

- OR... some really annoying person has chained my bike to the railing in an attempt to be infuriating and disruptive, as I can't remove the bike without cutting through the chain somehow.

I need the bike to get to work this weekend, as on sundays the bus service is so poor, I'd have to wait at the hospital until 9.15am after my 8am finish after nightshift. I'm not prepared to do this, so hopefully the culprit will reveal themselves and explain their motives before I take a hacksaw to it on friday afternoon. I am looking forward to moving house.

Christmas treat

2009-02-03T16:45:00.008Z

As I had to work this Christmas, and feel very sad about this, I decided to treat myself to something I've always been very interested in trying out...

See if you can guess what I had done.

Before:

After:

In hindsight, I should have also used mascara in the before picture, but you can probably get the idea...

I have had my eye lashes permed! Oh yes, no more eyelash curlers necessary for the next 10-12 weeks, it should save me a whole 40-50 seconds per morning! Totally worth it.

Joking aside, it was lovely to spend 45 minutes lying in a room with my eyes closed, with lovely relaxing music playing while I waited for the perming solution to do it's magic. And the brochure assures you that the procedure makes you look more awake - something which I really need during my shift work.

Here's a closer look....

Robertson Family Reunion 2009

2009-01-26T16:55:00.000Z

The month of January, since 2003, has been the time of year when the Robertson family descends upon some unsuspecting hotel somewhere in the UK. This year, it was decided that Hawick should accommodate us. Instead of a hotel, we were in a Christian Retreat, which was a lovely house in the middle of nowhere, meaning we could make as much noise as we wanted. And when the Robertsons get together, that means a LOT of noise!

My highlight was the attempt made on Saturday night to play a game of "Mafia" - a slightly more complicated version of wink murder. It descended into a flurry of accusations and shouting (all good humoured of course). The problem with my dad's brothers is that none of them can be quiet and listen to the others, they all have to shout at once, which means that they have to get louder and louder to make themselves heard. It's hilarious!

Lots of fun was had by all

999 Emergency... party

2009-01-02T14:35:00.003Z

Jaqi and Dunkan host a fantastic New Year's party every year, the theme always being something to do with the number of the approaching new year. This year was "2009 999 Emergency". After much thought, we decided to dress as the cast of the hit tv comedy Scrubs. See if you think we pulled it off...

The party was a lot of fun, and full of very imaginative emergency services.

There was a CSI lady.....

A mountain rescuer...

The game of operation plus a surgeon to play it....

And an emergency minister!

I'm not entirely sure that you'd manage to get all these emergency services if you dialled 999, (particularly the minister) but 10 points are awarded for imagination.

Our Christmas

2009-01-01T23:29:00.002Z

Seeing as we've made no posts since September, I feel it should be our new year resolution to update our blog a bit more regularly. I'm going to use the festive season as something exciting to write about.

I was working Christmas day unfortunately, and Colin was also on call, so potentially could have spent the whole of Christmas on the phone to work. It did work out very nicely for both of us however!

I spent the morning at work wearing hilarious reindeer antlers and trying to convince my confused patient that it was infact Christmas day. My persuasive skills were not so sharp however, as he refused to believe me, or accept the present we tried to give him.
After a huge buffet lunch we continued our work in the afternoon, but at 3.30pm the charge nurse came over and said I was being set free! (I had to take a few hours holiday for it, but that was ok!!!)

Colin and his parents were on the way back from Fife, where they were visiting Dunk's parents, so they swung past the hospital to pick me up. And by 4pm we were opening presents and sipping Prosecco. Very nice!

Boxing day was our real Christmas as we thought we wouldn't have a proper one on Christmas day! Jaqi put on a real feast for us...

And we went for a lovely walk around the Braid Hills....

Then unfortunately, Dunk started to tell a really dull story about a computer...!

Happy Christmas to one and all :)

Excited cat!

2008-09-20T18:44:00.001+01:00

For some reason the cat get's massively excited at the prospect of the kitchen counter. Maybe it's forbidden fruit?

Mobile blogging...

2008-09-19T18:03:00.001+01:00

Jeni's the star of my first mobile blog! Let the privacy invasions commence!

My family and other creatures

2008-07-14T14:58:00.008+01:00

I went back to Hartlepool with mum and dad after their trip to Scotland. My school friends and I had planned in advance to meet up for a reunion this weekend, so the timing was perfect.

I have noticed, that each time I go back home, David's behaviour is becoming stranger and stranger. Perhaps he's just a little eccentric, or perhaps there's something not quite right. You decide...

On arrival, David was dressed like this:

As the picture isn't so clear, I'll explain that he's cut the sleeves off his t-shirt, and is wearing the sleeves around this neck, ready to pull up over his face to make him look like a ninja/terrorist.

He then appeared from the kitchen drinking this ambiguous liquid from a jam jar:

He claimed that this was chilled urine, and is part of his new fitness regime. The scary thing was, that I didn't actually feel suprised by this!

So I decided to go out and spend some time with some slightly saner people.

NB. Just so you don't all feel nauseated, it was apple juice, not urine.

Captain Neurotic's Wedding Plan

2008-05-21T00:37:00.006+01:00

Whilst cleaning out wedding files from the computer, I came across this painting, which my brother Alex designed whilst "helping" me to arrange the seating plan in the chapel. I thought that seeing as he worked so hard on it, it would be a shame to delete it. So here, preserved forever, is Alexander's contribution to my stress levels before the wedding. Just click on it to see it in better detail.

Key:

Pink blobs = Women

Clear squares = Men

Black circle with weird white squiggle = Minister

Please not the beautiful depictions of my veil and train of my dress, and also the musical instruments which were so accurately drawn.

Alexander's talent is wasted doing a biology degree. Perhaps he should put his efforts into architecture, or perhaps become a wedding planner?

Oh and finally- just so you can all know how much Colin enjoyed my wedding planning, he put all these files into a folder on the computer named "Wedding crap."

Kitty learns a new trick!

2008-05-11T19:41:00.000+01:00

So we left our cat's in the safe hands of a qualified Vet and her medical/army trained husband thinking they could have a nice tranquil (well, as tranquil as they get...) holiday whilst Jeni and I went on honeymoon. Our first mistake was forgetting the mischievous streak present in almost all our friends....

When we went to pick them up they were hiding in a cupboard 8ft off the floor, which at first sight looked impressive, but there was a nice easy entrance at the back, so we passed this off as entertaining. Picking the cat's up was nice and easy with a vet helping pack them into the carrier, and even though there had been mention of teaching the cat's to climb we thought nothing of it and carried on our merry way.

So, one day when we were unpacking/relaxing on the sofa, Neko (the more adventurous) was doing her usual ritual of attempting to reach the purposefully out of reach plant pots to dig up the soil and eat the leaves. We of course thought nothing of it as it's generally fruitless and sometimes entertaining as the cat overreaches and falls off her perch. On this occasion, however, the aforementioned new trick was demonstrated as after a particularly high reach Neko decided that the plant pot's were possibly a lost cause, but the top of the door seemed quite appealing.

I laughed as I saw her eyeing up her new target, and decided to keep the camera handy in order to catch the failed attempt. My laughter soon faded however as the death defying leap paid off and the cat now looked at me triumphant from her new vantage point.

This new look afforded Neko other advantages of course. The before out of reach plants now an easy stretch from the door. The lookout provided a nice platform, apparently, from which to discover other new favourite seats as her curiosity didn't stop there. The next test was to sit on my projector shelf, luckily strong enough to hold her now ample weight as well as my projector!

Hopefully this is the extent of her new exploration, as there certainly isn't anywhere higher in the flat, and definitely nowhere as hard to reach as the door frame!

I'll have to have a word with the "innocent" cat-sitters.....

Day 14 - Jet ski fun

2008-04-26T15:13:00.001+01:00

Today we had a bit of a lie in because we were tired. After another delicious breakfast we had some "mocktails" by the pool, (very tasty non-alcoholic cocktails!) Other guests were chugging proper cocktails, I don't know how they manage strong drinks at that time in the morning!

After the cocktails, we went to the island wildlife park. It's quite small, and they only have a few species of animals living in it, but it's really cool because it's interactive. The park woman came and asked if we wanted to go on the tour. She let 3 dingo's out of the cage and we got to pat them and Colin even got to hold one! They were so cute and friendly, but apparently wild dingo's are very dangerous, and will attack humans if they come across them. However, these ones were just like giant puppies.

We also got to meet and touch a 28 year old cockatoo that talks, and stroke a baby koala. If you paid you could hold him and get your picture taken, but it cost about £20.

In the afternoon we went on a Jetski tour of the island. It was so much fun! Colin and I shared a jetski, and I was in the drivers seat first. The instructor took us out around the island in a zigzag path so we could get used to controlling the machine. You can pick up a really fast speed, it was very exhilerating! At first we were stuck behind this girl who was on a jetski by herself - and she wouldn't go any faster than walking pace. We weren't techically meant to overtake each other, but we'd have ended up falling off with bordom if we'd stayed behind her. So I was very naughty and sped past her...

We got really sprayed with water, but it was brilliant! Half way through the tour we swapped places so that Colin could drive for a while. He was able to go a lot faster than me (as it was a bit less choppy on the sea at that point), but when we did hit waves he floored it, so that the setski was jumping through the air! It was so much fun!

After a quick shower, we went for an early dinner at the Manta Ray Cafe, where I had an AMAZING pork chop with sweet potato mash. It was so delicious! That night, we decided we'd watch a film in our room, but when we tried to work the tv, it wouldn't switch on. So we went and asked the reception to sort it out, and were given a free drink each while we waited. Colin taught me how to play chess. I almost won, but then he kicked my ass right at the end.

When we got back to the hotel room, Colin was delighted to discover that there was a Steven Segal film on tv. So he watched that while I fell fast asleep!

Day 13 - Relaxing on Hamilton Island

2008-04-25T00:05:00.001+01:00

We got up and had a delicious breakfast. There is a continental breakfast buffet, which has cereal, fruit, pastries and cakes, and then you can also have your choice of hot food made fresh for you! Colin had pancakes with fruit coulis and I had Eggs florentine, it was amazing, but so filling! You eat by the pool so you have the gorgeous morning sun on you, as well as the lovely view over the bay.

We wanted to go snorkelling this morning, but didn't realise it depended on the tides, so it was the wrong time of day to do it unfortunately. So we went and sat on some sun loungers. I read, whilst Colin took loads of pictures! We had a swim, and then a paddle in the sea. We also went and booked some of the activities that we wanted to do in the following week.

If you're a beach club guest you can get a lift wherever you want to go on the island by the staff in a golf buggy. And if you're away from the hotel, you can just go into any retailer on the island (even if you haven't bought anything!) and get them to phone for a buggy for you! So in the afternoon we decided to get a lift to the marina, where we had an explore and an ice cream!

The hotel had a drinks reception for all the guests this evening, with complimentary beer, wine or champagne. So we went for the champagne! It was quite nice, and the managers came and chatted to each couple individually. Guests also mingled, but everyone was was real grownups and just said things to us like "Awww - are you on your honeymoon?" We'd say "Yeah..." and they'd go "That's nice!" It was quite entertaining. Although there was about one other couple there who was nearly as young as us!

In the evening, we decided to go for fish and chips at the marina, and then went along to a local bar/nightclub for a drink. Unfortunately they had a strict dress code for the nightclub, so I don't think we'd have got in due to Colin's shorts and tshirt. We weren't that bothered though, as the atmosphere in the place was similar to that of a nightout in Hartlepool town centre - if you've ever experienced that then you'll realise we weren't to disappointed to go back to our 5* hotel for the evening!

When we got back, the hotel staff had left us a bucket with champagne and chocolates, with a card to congratulate us on our wedding and honeymoon! We were very touched!

Day 12 - Journey to Hamilton Island

2008-04-24T13:30:00.002+01:00

We got up early and went to Paddy's market to buy some tourist junk! I got a boomerang for Alex's birthday and some long socks. But we didn't realise that we'd spent almost all our cash yesterday so we couldn't really stay there that long! After returning to the hotel, we checked out and got the monorail to the town hall station, then got on the train to the airport. We had a massive luggage bag which we'd bought in the shopping centre in Sydney. It was so big I can fit inside it, and as we don't have enough stuff to fill it, we just put our existing suitcase inside it. It was heavy, I couldn't really move it, so it was down to Colin to wrestle it through the crowds!

On the plane to Hamilton Island, I asked for a Gin and Tonic, and it came ready mixed in a can! It tasted like lemonade. There's definitely a market for this in the UK I think.

We arrived at the Beach Club accomodation where we were greeted with a cocktail. The room is spacious and has a balcony. You have to keep the door closed or cockatoo's come in and open the minibar and eat everything they can.

We had a paddle in the sea, but it was starting to get a little cold so we came in. We had dinner at a Steak house that night, which was delicious! The temperature in the island is about 25-27 degrees, very comfortable most of the time!

Day 11 - Harbour Bridge

2008-04-23T14:21:00.002+01:00

We got up and walked over the the Paddy's Market, but unfortunately it was closed. As we walked back towards the harbour, there was a torrential rain storm and we got totally soaked through. I was so cold and wet, that we stopped in the shopping centre next to our hotel and bought a dry jumper and a top, as well as an umbrella!

As we'd had a late breakfast, we weren't very hungry by lunch time, so we just shared some chips and had a drink in a bar by the harbour. We then went along to the IMAX theatre for the 2pm showing of "Sea Monsters". The IMAX is a 3D cinema, you wear big grey glasses which make the pictures come to life. It was incredible, people were actually reaching out to touch the fish that looked as if they were swimming right past you, it was weird!

We walked up to the Harbour Bridge after that, where we went to the South Pylon. There was a museum inside, which told you about how the bridge was made, but also had a viewpoint from the roof which looked over the bay and the bridge. It was a great photo opportunity for Colin, who took another million pictures.

We went to a German themed bar as the sun started to go down as we were feeling a bit weak and thirsty. I had a coke for some energy, and Colin got a litre stein of beer! It was about the same size as my head!

We then went to a very posh restaurant for tea, which was a loosely Japanese themed restaurant. It was one of those places that made tiny portions and charge you about £25 for it! But then we ordered a pudding, and it was the best one that either of us have ever had! It was a chocolatey creamy minty honeycomb delight. Mmmm!

After that, I proved what a dedicated wife I am by walking miles in the rain so that Colin could take a night time panoramic shot of the Opera House and the harbour bridge. To be fair, he did tell me to go back to the hotel, but I was too afraid to separate, incase one of us got lost or mugged. I can't believe how reliant I am on mobile phones!

It was late when we got back and our feet were so sore! We packed and fell fast asleep.

Day 10 - The Opera House

2008-04-22T13:29:00.001+01:00

Today we went to the Sydney Wildlife World early, in order to miss the crowds. It was really good fun, and really interesting. It was such a contrast to the Aquarium yesterday, where we had to fight to see the exhibits - this time we bearly saw another human being for the whole morning! We saw lots of koalas, wallaby's and hopping mice, they were so cute! Colin took about 5 million pictures.

For lunch we were to a bar where Colin ordered a bucket of prawns. There was 400g in it, and he had to peel them all by hand, so he had to work hard for his dinner that day!

In the afternoon we went for a walk around the city. We then got a water taxi to the Opera House via Toronga zoo - the driver gave us a mini tour of the harbour too. The Opera House is amazing! We got a tour of it, and got to go inside the main sails of the building. The interior is incredible, every carving into the walls is designed to produce the purest and best quality sound. We also saw the largest pipe organ in the world, which takes 2 years to tune.

We had a walk through the botanical gardens as the sun began to go down. Colin managed to get some gorgeous panoramic pictures of the opera house and harbour bridge together as the sun went down behind them. After the good light for pictures had disappeared, we walked back to an area called "The Rocks", an are just by the harbour bridge.

We went to an italian restaurant for dinner, yet more lovely wine and food. After we walked back towards Darling Harbour, and stopped in a nice bar for a drink. Unfortunately, Colin spilled his "Schooner" of beer onto the seat and I sat in it, so we had to go home because my pants were wet.

Day 9 - Sea themed day

2008-04-21T00:38:00.000+01:00

Today we went for a walk along the harbour to see the sights. We had raisin toast & coffee for breakfast. For some reason, they only give you about 20mls of coffee in the cups, it's ridiculously small!

At 1pm we had a ride on the Harbour Jet boat. It is described as a "rollercoaster on water", and is definitely not to be mistaken for a sight seeing tour. It zooms around the harbour, doing 270 degree turns, fishtailing (going side to side) and doing a power boat stop (stopping dead in the water). We got well and truly sprayed with salt water, which meant our skin was very crusty for the rest of the day, and my hair was wilder than in Phuket - but it was fun!

We had lunch, and then walked along to Sydney Aquarium. It was quite good, but it was ridiculously busy. You had to actually fight to get near any of the exhibits, as if you waited patiently people just pushed in infront of you! I think it's the Sydney school holidays this week unfortunately. I was getting a bit fed up by the end of it, but Colin enjoyed the good photo opportunities! Due to my weariness (I think the flight had caught up with me), we went back to the hotel for a much needed rest and a snooze.

Feeling much better after a sleep, we went out for dinner to a seafood restaurant called Ice Cube. It was quite posh, but was very tasty! I had a tuna steak, which tasted SO good! And they did amazing puddings too. Mmmmmm...

We then tried to find a pub or a bar to go to for a drink afterwards, but everywhere was shutting! It was only about 11pm. So we went back to our hotel room and watched Superbad instead.

Day 8 - Welcome to Sydney

2008-04-20T00:13:00.001+01:00

We arrived in Sydney around 6.30am local time. By the time we found our bags and declared EVERYTHING through customs (including paracetamol, a wooden bookmark, and the previously mentioned Toblerone) it was about 7.30am. We found a train line that took us to the city centre, by which point we were both perhaps a LITTLE tired and grumpy...

The novotel!

We found the Novotel and following a swift check in, fell fast asleep in our room until the alarm woke us at 1.30pm. The view from our bedroom window was amazing. We were situated on Darling Harbour, right in central Sydney, and we could see the entire harbour area from our huge window on the 3rd floor. This is something we could appreciate much more when we weren't totally exhausted!

We walked into Darling Harbour and had lunch in a little cafe, then found a Chinese Garden tucked away next to all the tall buildings. It was very peaceful and beautiful, providing lots of photo opportunities for Colin! We walked around "Paddy's Market", which resembled the indoor market from Hartlepool where I used to spend many a Saturday afternoon, although on a much grander scale! It was full to the rafters of souvenirs and clothes.

That evening we went to the "Pump House" for dinner, where Colin experienced his first Schooner of beer. They look quite pitiful compared to the pints you get in the UK. The food and wine were really good in the restaurant, and we basked in the cool night air, something we'd obviously been missing! The temperature was only about 20 degrees today, a nice step down from the 35 degrees in Phuket! We slept very well that night, despite the long lie in today.

Day 7 - Long flight down under

2008-04-19T01:18:00.000+01:00

We got up early today and had our daily champagne breakfast! Although I am going to miss the luxury, I have to say I was getting quite worn out with the constant heat exhaustion - I can't imagine how people can live with this humidity day in day out! And even GHD hair straighteners cannot control my locks in this environment. As soon as I leave the air conditioning, my hair becomes bigger and bigger, and the frizz begins. Unfortunately my only bottle of hair product which could have averted this disaster was confiscated by the security staff in Edinburgh airport, due to me forgetting about the 100ml rule on flights now. Terrorists have just ruined it for everyone!

We went back to our room to pack, almost leaving all of Colin's clothes in one of the wardrobes. We originally thought we'd just done a really good job of packing everything back in the bag so neatly!

We then had a lift to the airport by a nice black Mercedes this time.

When we arrived in Bangkok airport, we had a few hours to wait, so we spent it just wandering around. It is HUGE! All the shops are designer shops, Thailand is just not that cheap! We expected everything to be pennies. So we bought a Toblerone.

We got on the flight to Sydney and Colin was brave enough to request an upgrade again, and this time we were moved up to World Traveller Plus. This means extra leg room and less seats across the width of the plane. So we were reasonably comfortable for most of the flight, and even managed to sleep for a while!

Day 6 - Lazy day

2008-04-19T00:54:00.000+01:00

We spent the morning sitting by the pool and swimming when we got too hot. When you arrive at the pool, someone runs over and gives you a tray in goodies. There's cold bottled water, frozen face towels, mints, fruit and peppermint spray! They pamper you rotten here! I could get used to it...

On the afternoon we went to the beach again and got a 40 minute foot massage each for £4! It was quite funny because they pull on your toes until they crack, and then they all laugh at you when you pull faces.

We played in the sea for ages, taking pictures and filming the waves knocking us over with my camera in the waterproof bag. It was a lot of fun. When the sun started to go down we got a little cold, so we walked back up towards the Banyan Tree. But on the way we decided to get a back massage - another £4 for 40 minutes!

After it was dark, we went to a seafood restaurant down the beach. It was really good food and quite reasonable. They had big tanks full of all the seafood, which was still alive. But fortunately I just had prawns, and being a very unadventurous choice, they didn't make me go and pick out my own!

Then we walked along the beach in the moonlight to get home. We got soaked by the waves unfortunately as the tide appears to come in faster than we can run! It has been such a hot day, we actually feel really uncomfortable unless we're swimming, or in our air conditioned room!

Day 5 - Patong Beach

2008-04-18T00:19:00.000+01:00

We got up a bit later today, and after a big breakfast, we went to the pool. I attempted to read my book (without neglecting my husband too much...) while Colin took thousands of pictures, (when not trying to get his wife's attention.) We had a delicious pizza for lunch - it was served in the poolside bar, where you can sit on concrete seats in the water, and they serve you food and drink while you keep nice and cool. We had cocktails after lunch too. I'm sure in the UK they'd be a bit stricter about how much alcohol you're allowed to drink whilst in a swimming pool, as the Long Island Ice tea we had was very potent!

We had another laze about in the afternoon in our jacuzzi, just avoiding the peak heat as much as possible, then we went for a walk along the beach. We were SO white compared to all the other folk we came across, even the British were all brown and leathery. Unfortunately my wedding tan had washed off by then. It was nice while it lasted!

In the evening we got a lift to Patong Beach (by private mercedes again!) It was a region hit very hard by the tsunami apparently, although you'd never be able to tell now. The only sign is that there are tsunami evacuation routes everywhere. I'm not sure you'd be able to outrun a tsunami would you?!

The town is obviously a total tourist trap. There were very few Thai people as far as I could tell, it seemed to be mostly Australians and Europeans walking about. There were hundreds of stalls selling tourist junk everywhere, and dozens of bars and nightclubs. Quite a few were Irish bars, or Aussie bars - not really within keeping of Thai culture! Some man chased us down the street trying to convince us to go to a "Lady Show". I'm not sure why he thought we were a good target, surely he'd be more successful running after stag parties or groups of young boys?!

Seeing as it wasn't a very Thai area, we decided to have steak and chips for tea. We were so hungry by then, I think we'd have eaten anything.

We were having quite a nice time, despite the humidity. Colin had to drink a lot of beer to replace the sweat he was dripping out. Then suddenly, out of the blue, we were attacked by the biggest flying bug we've ever come across - it was terrifying, and flew in a very unpredictable manner. While we were screaming and panicking, there were a gang of Australians on the next table who just laughed at us instead of helping! I'd like to see how they cope with a swarm of midges...

So we had a cocktail to calm our nerves before our mercedes picked us up and took us home. All these air conditioned cars aren't helping us adapt to this temperature!

Day 4 - Trip to Phuket Town

2008-04-16T12:04:00.000+01:00

After breakfast we got a lift into Phuket town. It was meant to be a shuttle bus that took us to the town, along with anyone else who wanted to go. But there was only us who were going so they took us in a private silver Mercedes! They give you water and cold towels when you get in the car, it's very fancy! When we got into the town, we wandered away from the touristy area and found a Thai food market. It was really interesting to look at, but it smelled so bad! Quite a lot of stuff being sold, wasn't even recognisable as food, it was really funny!

Phuket town isn't a very pretty town. There's lots of concrete and sewer grates everywhere. It smells quite bad a lot of the time, and there were loads of electricity wires buzzing away. The locals either ignore you or ask for something once, then leave you alone when you tell them "No". It's great, we were worried that we were going to be harrassed as we were western.

We had a swim in the afternoon and played with the camera in the waterproof bag, it was a good buy, lots of fun. Then we had dinner in the Tamarind restaurant in the hotel that night. Wine is ridiculously expensive here, about £40 a bottle at the cheapest!

We took advantage of our outdoor bath tub that night, with loads of bubbles and salts. It was very luxurious!

Day 3 - Relaxing at the Banyan Tree!

2008-04-15T20:00:00.000+01:00

After some broken sleep due to all the imaginary insects that were in our bed, we had an amazing buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. There is more food than you can ever manage to eat, and they give you free champagne with your breakfast! It's very nice.

After breakfast, we went to the spa and booked ourselves in for a Balinese massage with a full body scrub. We were taken to a villa, and told to have a shower then a steam. They washed our feet, whilst we sat in some comfy chairs, then they told us to lie down on these beds which were side by side. They scrubbed our entire bodies with a sugary solution, so we were very exfoliated and smooth! Then we were told to shower the solution off, and then given the full body massage. Colin had asked for strong pressure, and despite it being a very small woman who was doing it, I think he found it pretty painful! We both fell asleep at some point, which is a shame, but it was so relaxing!

Afterwards, we had a shot in our personal jacuzzi which was situated in the private garden infront of our room. It was very cool! And nice to get out of the heat for a while!

We wandered along to the beach for dinner that night, and found a local Thai food restaurant. We had dinner on the beach as the sun went down. It was very yummy and cheap!

Day 2 - Journet to Phuket

2008-04-14T19:42:00.000+01:00

We arrived at Bangkok at 4pm local time and transferred to the local Phuket flight. The airport was so hot and sticky, we were dripping with sweat very quickly! In Phuket we were picked up by a car and driven the 30 minutes transfer to the Banyan Tree resort. On arrival, we were speechless! The lobby was so beautiful, everything was so luxurious, lit by candles. The staff are so friendly, they bring you water and refreshing towels that had obviously been kept in the freezer. Everything was decorated with purple orchids. They drove us to our room in a golf buggy (which we were told we could phone to drive us around any time we wanted!) The room was spectacular as well.

We had dinner in the Saffron restaurant, which was very nice, but similar to UK prices which we weren't expecting. We then had some cocktails in the hotel bar, which was next to this lovely water feature that ran the length of the bar. It was really hot and stuffy, but the cocktails were nice and refreshing! There was also a massive rain storm with thunder and lightning, but unfortunately it didn't freshen the air that much!

I didn't sleep very well that night as I think I was still on UK time. But also, ther was a massive cockroach running about before we went to bed. I managed to sweep it out the door, but of course I was having dreams about it being in the bed when ever I turned the light off!

Diary of an Armstrong honeymoon

2008-04-13T20:00:00.000+01:00

To make the best pictures a little easier to look at, we've decided to make a blog from the diary I wrote on our honeymoon. Also, I'm more than likely going to lose the little book I wrote it all in at some point, so it'll be much safer online!

The morning after the wedding, the weather was beautiful, so we were able to sit out on our veranda looking over the loch on Dundas estate while we had breakfast. Unfortunately due to excitement and being generally overwhelmed with everything that had happened the day before, we could bearly touch the mountainous breakfast hamper we'd been given! We should have crammed it all into our suitcase and taken it with us...

We had a delicious lunch in Orroco Pier hotel then took a taxi to the airport. at 2.30pm. When we mentioned to the BA staff that we were concerned about losing our bag in Terminal 5 as we were on our honeymoon, she put a Priority Ticket onto our luggage, and let us wait in the business lounge before boarding. There, we were given a bottle of free champagne as a gift! Having already had one for lunch, we were in good spirits when we eventually got on the plane!

When we got on the Bangkok flight in London, Colin was brave enough to mention again that we were on honeymoon, and "could we possibly get an upgrade?!" She said she's try to find out , so we sat down in the coach class seats. But shortly later, she came along and offered to move us to Club class! It was great - nice food, all the free drinks we wanted (ie. more champagne!) and best of all, horizontal beds! We slept very well that night!

July 22nd & 23rd - Mangroves and Rain

2005-07-22T22:16:00.000+01:00

I was too tired yesterday to write the diary and now I can't remember why.

We went down to windsurf at Satan's again, but he didn't have enough equipment to lend us because it was either out or being repaired, so myself and Rona went swimming for an hour or so.

Satan then agreed to let us have a couple of boards - minus sail - to paddle across to the mangroves on the next island. This took much less time than expected and we returned complete with cut feet from the rock oysters covering the underwater Mangrove stumps.

Then there was tea at the cheap place again with the standard pint's of fresh squeezed juice. A new experience was some lime juice (I don't think they put any sugar in it, unlike the orange!) and Rona decided upon a strawberry milkshake. When this arrive I'm sure it could have lit the town in the event of a power cut! Luminous pink, obviously made from syrup, with an aftertaste like bitter tar. Horrible stuff!

On to the next morning and something in that meal had upset the stomach and bowels to give my first nasty bowel experience of the holiday.

The day started off badly when I was offered breakfast and didn't get any. For various reasons I descended into a bad mood an hopefully this will be gone by tomorrow.

The main event of the day was going to be a fishing dhow trip with associated barbecue on a beach somewhere with the catches of the day.

However the weather turned against us (as did my bowels) and we decided not to fish in the pouring rain in the middle of the sea!

Instead we opted for some juice, obviously and some food, before visiting the Lamu museum.

This was almost interesting, filled with some history of Lamu and some relics found from the ruins on Mamba Island, where we visited on the 20th.

There was a reasonable view from the top of the museum, which was originally a fort, where we could watch part of the main street as well as the ongoings at the seafront.

After this I retired to the roof to bask in my misery till dusk whie the others did something unknown to me.

All thats left now is to feel better, get some food and go to bed.

July 21st - Windsurfing

2005-07-21T19:51:00.000+01:00

The day started predictably with fruit already laid on the table when I emerged from my bed; with pancakes close behind. The first mission of the day was to communicate with the world via email. Reliably informed, we set off to the post office in Lamu to find three of their computers down and two long winded German women on the other two. After leaving Miranda to queue I went and fetched Rona, returning to find a longer queue but no progress.
As we sat in wait a middle aged American woman entered trying to get to her emails on one of the broken computers. At one point during her fruitless efforts the phone next to her went & she picked it up as though it was her own work desk. The fact she had been babbling away in a strong American accent, with dreadlocks & henna tattoos didn't stop her speaking to the caller fluently in Swahili, to our amazement; then continuing to fail to check her emails as if nothing had happened.
Finally we got on the computer & I managed to send a message while Miranda & Rona set off to get phonecards instead.
We then decided, over a pint of passion, to take advantage of the windsurf base along the beach between Lamu & Shela. The place was run by Satan, who happily gave me a board & proceeded to teach Rona in the art of windsurfing. Getting frustrated by the strong tide and seeming lack of progress by myself I eventually got back to base at the cost of being able to grip anything, and took over Rona training.
After drifting some way she handed control of the board to me, who attempted to sail it back to base! This was fine till I hit stronger wind when I discovered the board was defective & sail not properly attached, so I was rescued (by Satan).
We then med up with a friend of Miranda's (and some woman he had found) and went for a meal; a new place this time. I got the best curry I have ever had here, let it be known.
A short walk followed down the front to sit and wait for Miranda to phone her other half whereupon we were engaged in conversation with a dhow captain, at the end of which he gave me a flower. Quite random!
Now as I write this, a small lizard has run across my bed, so I'm going to see that it's gone! Then go to bed!

August 4th - A long day

2004-08-04T10:30:00.000+01:00

Having been woken by R during the nightseveral times and being told to be quiet because of nearby animals, hyenas, I was a bit tired on rising. We had arranged an earlier start of 8 o'clock to try and get two transects done, and so complete the first area.

Everyone appeared on time and we headed off. Using the GPS, we happened upon our first quadrant fairly quickly, and now were far more efficient, starting measurements before the area was marked completely.

We carried on like this up the transect, completing it before noon, with plenty more filming of fallen or cut trees and disturbances etc..

Our next task was to traverse across to the top of the next transect. Assured that it was an easy enough route we set off following the GPS as the crow flies to the next area. Maybe not the best plan, this took us down into ta valley and up the steep opposite slope. Up through thick bush we struggled, still not acclimatised to the altitude, we came across an area that had some time ago been accidentally burned because of fires lit to get at bees honey. The locals use the smoke from the fire to flush out the bees so they can harvest the honey. These fires are usually extinguished properly but this once, it wasn't. We got a nice shot of the regenerating part of the forest as well as the view.

There followed a bit of a scare when we were told that a lion had been spotted on the path ahead, and now was hiding somewhere in the bushes. Now trying to stay close to the rangers we cautiously clambered up the steep slope.We reached the area where the animal had been sighted, to find hyena footprints, so the scare was relieved.

My route following the GPS took us directly over the summit of the hill we were climbing, so we at least got a good view!

After skidding down the other side, we finally came to our next quadrant and the start of the third transect. Our route was slightly notched due to having to avoid a lone buffalo bull who had lived in a cave on our route for six years.

Once again, buts and pieces of filming ensued, along with calls from different parts of the quadrant to Rach consisting of a badly pronounced samburu tree name followed by it's measurement. All of this being very amusing to the local workers, which in turn entertained us wazungu (White folks).

The third transect went quickly aside from a second steep but short ascent to the final quadrant. We returned to camp with aching legs and empty stomachs, eager to see what the chef would make us.

He came through in style again, adding some pumpkin this time, donated to us by Roselie. We did , however, have to ask him to make more as we were all very hungry.

To make us sleep easier after last night me and R with the help of the KWS guys, constructed a knee high corrugated iron fence round our tent, to deter animals from coming too near. This done it was almost pitch black so we gathered a bit of water and headed for bed.

A few minutes later Chambers came over to warn us that elephants were going to come past soon (our tent was in a clump of trees in the middle of an elephant corridor), and if we wanted him to scare them away. We told him only if it was dangerous, to which he told us that if we heard shots fired not to worry, they were only blanks.

August 3rd - Survey Starts

2004-08-03T20:17:00.000+01:00

Up at dawn again to watch the sun crawl across the plains. This time I got both M & Rach up when the cook arrived to make us pancakes again.

By the time we had finished, the only surveyor missing was Solomon, who appeared shortly after 9 on his bike.

A short break followed when R informed us that a troop of baboons was marching past her tent, of which Rach had to get pictures.

So excited about starting, we all then marched off to the forest leaving our rangers to run after us.

Finding our first quadrant, we marked it on the GPS and set about measuring the 3 or so trees within this highly distrubed and overgrazed area.

Still unsure as to how the GPS could be used, I figured out a way that would do, and we headed on tot he next quadrant location.

En-route there were several stops when Solomon had to repeat an explanation of a phenomenon so that it could be filmed. Soon enough we were at the next quadrant, this time in thicker forrest. We marked out the area with the tape and, in a slightly more organised fashion, set about pairing up to log species and disturbance of which there was still plenty. Finally completing this area (we were getting quicker) we headed onto the next and final quadrant of this transect, filming all the way.

The final quadrant had quite a lot of disturbance and was done fairly quickly, so we were soon heading off to the top of the next transect. By the time we got near it it was after 2 o'clock, and we decided we could not do another transect today. This was due to the extremely slow start as none of our recruits knew what was going on!

Anyway, back to base and our chef had arrived early and got the fire going. We asked him to wait to cook while we got ourselves rested and made a corn snack.

Whilst we watched our chef cook tea, we observed a samburu shepherd, about 10 years old, struggle to control his heard as they caught wind of our discarded food pile and were not going to part from it easily.

On we went to eat another excellent meal and head for bed.