After a hugely eventful year, it's a massive CONGRATULATIONS again to Ross and Pinar this time on the birth of their daughter Amber Charlotte.
They had a stressful couple of days leading up to the birth, but Amber's here now so that'll all soon be forgotten about. Keep an eye on their blog for more updates, pics, videos......
*Sorry - I know that's a terrible headline, but it's Ross that's the journo!
Red, 'Amber'......GO!!! *
Star Wars Academy
I didn't have much fancy to go because I thought it would just be some plain clothed bloke signing stuff surrounded by annoying teenagers. (How old do I sound!). However one my mate's girlfriend lives at the school (Dad's the caretaker - still following this?!), and he rang to say there were load's of Stormtroopers there. Well that was enough for me to jump in the car complete with camera and Jen in Tow...!
I don't think the event had been advertised very well as there weren't many people there, - either that or the school decided it was too 'un-cool' or summit, but it worked out better for us! Photo opportunities galore!!
The costumed crew were all from UK Garrison, which judging from the website is of huge importance to it's members. They were certainly very accurate and imaculate costumes, and the way they acted combined with their digitally sythesized voices all made for a great effect.
Another of my mates turned up later with his 1 year old son, and the local press loved the photo's they got with the pair of them and the Stormtroopers. They'll be in our local rag next week.
I totally didn't agree with the way they were charging for David Prowse's autograph, but I wasn't too bothered as it's not what I went along for.
EDIT: It is worth pointing out that Jen is seriously not happy with being pictured in the same top in 2 consecutive blog entries!! (If only I was better with Photoshop!).
Where did the last 7 months go?!
Time is really flying now and all of a sudden there's only 7 weeks to go.
People have said that the last few weeks seem to take an age, but I'm starting to wonder!
Jen only has 9 days left at work (at the time of writing), and her hours are being reduced each week. - There's a lot to be said for working in the public sector I tell ya!
Plum
Her little Micra has been known as 'The Plum' from day one (for obvious reasons), and everyone knew it as her car.
We got the plum for free (a long story), and it's certainly served us well. It may have been basic and had literally none of the mod cons, but there can't be many other people who've gotten by on £20 petrol a month for the past two years, and paid just over £100 for a years insurance!!!
I've basically gone a full circle when it comes to cars; When I was younger I literally ploughed every penny (and more) I had into my cars. But as your priorities start to change I now see them as a complete drain and hate spending money on them. They're basically a constantly depreciating asset you chuck money at! Therefore no-one will appreciate the plum as much as we did. To coin Jen's favourite phrase, "There are other purple Micra's, but there'll only ever be 1 Plum" :o)
By the way she's now got a Focus Estate, and is perfectly geared up for transporting Button as well as Bertha, in what will feel like luxury to everyone...!
4D, - The Garlic Bread of scanning
We went to BabyView in Barnsley last Friday to have a 4D scan. Yeah ok, you could argue there are other things we could have done with the money but what the hell, money came from the sale of an old TV anyway!I wasn't too sure what to expect because there are some less than impressive examples of this technique on the internet. It also depends which way the baby is lying. i.e. if it's back is facing forward (if you see what I mean), there isn't anything to see. As is happens, Button was facing forward and awake so we got some quite impressive results. We got a DVD film of the scan and also a cd with 30 odd photos on it, - the best of which I've flickr'd. The images are all rotated through 180 degrees, i.e. baby is acually upside down - as it should be during the pregnancy. Yes it is possible to again find out 100% what the sex is during the process, but we chose not to. (The person carrying out the process had actually identified 5 cases in the last year where the sex he determined was different to that given by doctors in the earlier 2D scan!). To clarify the difference, - the pictures are classed as 3D and the DVD film is classed as 4D.
After the scan we carried on down to London for the weekend and attended the Baby Show at the ExCeL, London on the Saturday. Got there quite early before the crowds started around lunchtime. Was quite an interesting day, - obviously there were freebies galore as you'd expect at these things, but there were also some good stage talks; There was one from St John's Ambulance about Baby first aid, then another from Annabel Karmel about Baby nutrition. Flickr'd some pics of the event.
Then seeing as the Saturday was also my Birthday we did a bit of London exploring! We decided
I was surprised at how on every Tube journey there was always someone courteuos enough to offer Jen their seat! Not what I would have expected in London.
One of the most bizarre things we came across was a London transport employee who's job seemed to be to warn people about the dangers of standing under a ledge full of pigeons on one of the platforms....which was covered in their mess!
Went out for a meal with my family on the evening before heading home on Sunday to relax!
"Canny Ara's"*
After arriving and firstly being dissapointed at how far back our seats were, it turned out to be a good laugh. Yes the seats weren't ideal but if you think about it, how close would you actually have to be to properly see a dart board?! Luckilly there were 4 Huge screens showing the broadcast as it went out live on Sky.
The atmosphere was best described as mental! - It didn't take me long to realise that most of the people there had been out drinking all day. Anyway, I've stuck some of the photos online and have to say I'd definitely go again next year.
The only downer on the night was the Sunderland and Newcastle fans that decided to have a couple of fights, - erm Hello, it's a darts match. Who cares which football team you support! - Simpletons!!
*"Good Darts"
*"Good Darts"
EDIT: Just uploaded a video too, - gives a better idea of what the set-up was....
Blooming
Jen's now 25 weeks gone, and not everyone see's her regularly so thought it was about time we posted a pic of her bump.
Photo was taken at 24 weeks, and she's getting bigger by the day!
We're busy sorting the nursery now,- of course that involves decorating just about the whole of the upstairs of the house!
Also been getting rid of a shed load (literally) of furniture; Bookcase, DVD rack, Dining Table and chairs have all gone. Just a TV unit and a Sunbed to go now.....and takers??. I'll give them a week and then they're getting skipped!!
