Welcome Home Baby........Simon

Some of you reading this will by now know of the very late arrival of baby Simon. For those that don't, now you do....

So, here I am at the helm of the blog once again, I do this once every new baby to make myself feel useful. I'm not as soft and snuggly as mum and I don't have boobs, so there isn't much else for me to do for the next few weeks.....or so I'm told...

I'm very pleased to announce the arrival of Baby Simon James Hawley, this is his full title, which he goes by if you ask his big brother Ollie. For the rest of us it's simply Simon, (that's "simply" not "simple", Bernie!)
He was born at 14:06 on Saturday 22nd November and weighed in at a reasonable 9lb 3oz. Most would consider this large, but after Emma (9lb 13oz) Simon seems like a bit of a light weight.
Everything went very well.....eventually. Rachael was admitted to the hospital on Saturday morning after we received the phone call instructing us to come in at 06:00. Rachael had originally been booked for induction on the Friday, however we were told there was no room at the inn and we had to wait to be called in.

Ollie and Emma came to the hospital for a visit last night with Nannie Frances and Grandad Bernie and were very excited to finally meet their new baby brother. Ollie was desperate to give him a "two arm hug and a kiss", let him know that he doesn't need to worry because "he is going to take care of him", and lastly that..... "he doesn't have much hair!" Emma simply stated that "he was cuuute" then because of being in a strop with her mean daddy, almost whacked little simon over the head with her shoe.....nice.....this is going to be great fun!

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes, flowers, cards and everything else, Rachael I am sure will be updating this before too long, I just wanted to get some pictures up of the new fella for all too see.

Thats all from me...hopefully I will be able to get some pictures uploaded....until next time......

The Birthday Party!

As promised here's some photos from the "Dinner Party". Emma had a great day at school with her mates. She shared her cupcakes that she and Ollie had decorated and received a lovely dolly from Teresa which then had to go to bed with her!
When she arrived home....there were presents galore on the kitchen table from Nanny Carol which arrived today!!
Later Uncle Mike and Nanny Frances arrived for a delicious meal that Daddy had prepared followed of course by ice cream cake....Ollie and Emma managed to eat 2 pieces...greedy piggies!!
Bedtime was great as we had all sorts of new stories to choose from...for once we haven't heard any peeps from the shared bedroom!
I mentioned to Ollie and Emma that they needed their rest because tomorrow is also a very big day as we will be celebrating our new baby's birthday...to which Ollie responded, "Are we going to have a cake to celebrate???"...you see...his father's son!!
Enjoy the photos!

I'm a Big Girl Now!!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY EMMA CHARLOTTE HAWLEY!!
Emma turned two today....my how time flies! She announced to us this morning that she is a "big Girl" now. Which is good as she quite often aspires to be a big boy just like her brother!
She and Ollie are sharing a room now so she was woken to a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday to you by her big brother (after reminding him that the reason the day was so special was not because he was going to able to have cupcakes at daycare with his mates but rather because his sister was turning 2 which is the actual reason for the cupcakes...apparently when you are three and a half the only good thing about birthdays are the edibles...he truly is his father's son!!).
Ollie and Emma incidentally are sharing a room because Ollie's room is now home to a monster. The monster arrived one night approximately 2 weeks ago leading Ollie to fly out of his room and scramble over his sleeping father into our bed...only to refuse to ever go back. He has kindly suggested that he stay in Emma's room so they can keep each other safe and the new baby can have Ollie's old room...nice welcome isn't it sacrificing the one you don't know to the monster inhabited room!! The sharing of rooms has not been without hiccough as Emma loves to chat and sing to her roomate well past 9pm and would sleep in if her early morning rising brother would let her...so suffice it to say we have late to bed early to rise scenario which Mum and Dad are hoping will change in the near future!!
Below are some pics from earlier this morning...Emma woke to presents and balloons and a pancake breakfast. From Mum, Dad, Ollie and Baby (tba tomorrow) she received some dollies which she calls "princees" that she can dress and undress (the shoes are a favourite) and a beautiful dress. From Nanny Carol she received her birthday dress that she is wearing in her pictures.
She will be having a "birthday party" tonight with Nanny Frances and Uncle Mike. She has kindly promised to save Grandad Bernie some Birthday cake although Ollie stated that he wouldn't since Grandad Bernie isn't here....it's a good thing for Grandad Bernie that it's not Ollie's birthday he is missing!!
There are also some pics below taken by my cousin Claire Kugler (nee: white) who has recently taken up photography with a special interest in "big bellies" so the pics of the family below were taken on a beautiful day in October (the 13th I do believe)...Enjoy.
Barring any emergent trips to the labour and delivery ward I will upload pics later tonight of the birthday cake and party!














Birthday Girl




Helpful Big Brother














Thanksgiving Day....36 weeks




















Highlight of Ollie's Day...Tree Climbing!

Oooohhh Gross!!