Welcome To Your Life

Baby Contortionist

2006-05-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

Hello my darling….. It has been a while since I have written to you and for that I am sorry. There has been a lot going on for you and me, mainly growing!!

You are now 17 inches long (ish) and doing a fab job… I feel that I need to write purely because I have been sending you some bad vibes lately, and I just want the following noted for the record….

I am overjoyed to have you in my life, and can not wait for the magical day when we get to meet properly. To see you in your Daddy’s arms will bring me so much happiness I can’t even begin to tell you. Lately I have been grumbling a lot… felling really tired and hot, and I have at times become frustrated with you for being such a little fidget bum!! I am sorry baby!! Really I am…. It is just getting herd – no less so for you I should imagine, being squished can’t be all that much fun.

Daddy and I were at the hospital the other day and during our visit there was a bit of a clue to your long debated flavour….. Girl – this is based on your heart rate being above 140 (you average 150) I’m not so sure – old wives tail maybe!! A couple of our friends are also expecting babies…. Both are having Girls so maybe this is the year of the ladies… we shall see.

Position wise (a use of words which you will probably find highly disturbing) you are head down… getting ready to go… your bum is sticking into the right/front of my rib cage and you have found a nice little nook for your feet. As long as you are happy and healthy it is no hardship to share my body with you for the next 8 weeks.

It will all be worth it once you are here. Enjoy your wriggling little one.

Your Daddy, and why he is rubbish...

2006-04-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

I won't make up any excuses, I've been completely rubbish, and have absolutely NO excuse for not posting on the baby blog in 4 months... none what so ever. I have dedicated most of my time to maintaining my webpage and neglected this one. Even that link is a shameful plug :P

Silliness aside, I thought (well, Mum suggested) that I should chronicle this morning's event, as it is a pretty major one. For the first time in your so far very short life, you woke me up! I felt a short, but firm *thud* in the lower part of my back, and immediately assumed it was your Mum, wanting me to roll over, or something similar. It was still far to early for me to be getting up, and seeing that I didnt seem to be ontop or squashing her, I ignored it. *Thump* There it went again, and when my enquiry into what your Mum might have wanted was replied to with snores, I knew then what it was. Mum's tummy, pressed up against my back, was allowing you to beat your old man up!! There were a few more *thump thump thump's* before I finally gave in, rolled over, and gave you a rub and a stroke, which always seems to calm you down.

So thanks, I had plenty of time to hang out washing, have a shave and get to work this morning, because I was up so early, and I was having a bad dream anyways!

We went up the coast for Easter, and stayed at this lovely little hotel, looking down towards Fuengirola, and although the weather didn't hold out for the entire weekend, it was still a lovely little break, with good enough weather to jump in the pool for a little while... Or in the sea, like your crazy Mum did... I hope it wasn't too cold! We also visited Fuengirola Zoo and had a good walk round, looking at all the animals, of which I particularly enjoyed this little guy:

I hope you enjoyed the little trip too... it must have been nice having different sounds around you. :)

All my love
Dad

Kickboxing, rugby or figureskating?

2006-04-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

Well here we are again…. Over due update o’clock. So much for my past comments about your quiet nature when it comes to wriggles, you are officially a strong little wrigglemeister. I wouldn’t be surprised to find you come out wearing a gymnast costume or boxing gloves. Not that I mind, it’s nice to know that you are ok in there.

Not a lot of news really… the house is filling with gifts for you… every draw has something baby related stuffed into it. Kleo (who alas you will never get to meet – but is the most glorious cat in the world) is in full investigation mood and is doing his damdest to familiarise himself with all that will soon be yours.

All the paperwork has been finalised for work and you and I are to begin our feet up time as of 4^th June…. Exactly one month from your due date. You can expect to hear lots of swashing sounds as we bumble around in the sea :)

Your Granny Myles came to see you (or more accurately the huge bump I am now sporting) and couldn’t be more excited. You got lots of affectionate rubs and fond glances.

Rightly well back to work for Mum to be here. Sleep well my little wrigglemeister. xx

Mum is Rubbish, but she loves you.

2006-03-04T01:57:00.000-08:00

Hello my wee lovely,

There has been so much happening for you, Dad and me lately that I have neglected your blog….. sorry little baby.

You are now 22 Weeks and 4 days old (depending on who you go by) and are a really healthy little boy/Girl. Dad and I went for your second and final scan on Tuesday. And to quote your uncle Bob… you are a little dude (not in the gender sense, in the coolio sense)…. alas your flavour remains a mystery, still we only have three and a bit months to wait.

Great shot this, the oval shape to the right of the image is a cross section of your head, which was about 50mm in diameter. The two little chunks to the left are your feet, which were crossed. You sort of found your self in a hole, bum stuck and just chilled. Very relaxed indeed!

Great cross section shot this! You can see your little spine along the bottom, your hand behind your head, laying like your Daddy does, with your legs pulled up towards your chest.

*text stolen from Andy’s website*

I was a little worried about you before the scan so it was a great weight off my mind. You hadn’t been doing an awful lot of wriggling. In fact I hadn’t felt a thing… but on the day of the scan you measured up perfectly. I can’t even begin to tell you how very proud you have made me already. Your little heart racing, two of all the required limbs. I have begun to feel slight movements now. You are perfect.

Boy girl, two legs – no legs…. You would be perfect to me.

helllooooo my lovely little shrimp baby

2006-01-06T02:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so there are a couple of things I think that I ought to explain. Like the URL of your Blog and the fruit referances…… well my little one as Dad and I have decided to keep your gender a surprise we don’t want to bias things by referring to you as either one or the other. Instead we have opted to call you by the size of fruit you are…. This is becoming increasing difficult as you are growing A LOT!! At the mo you are the size of a large shrimp (12cm ) and try as we might we can not find a fruit for you to be this week – hence the Shrimp. As for the Blog address…. Well simple, at the time we started this Blog you were no bigger than a grain of rice. And hey…. We do all love rice here…. And figs, and kiwis, and apples and shrimp.

It has been a while since I have written, there has been so much going on…. and in between a lot of sleeping for me. Your scan was as Dad has said… mind blowing. I don’t know that I can even really explain it to you… I felt as though I were floating. When the Radiographer found you we both held our breath. And there you were a tiny little person. Sleeping (so you’re like me then!!) and then it happened, you started to wriggle about furiously. Jumping up and sliding back down. Your arms were waving around and if I didn’t know better I would have said that you doing a 'Shiv dance'. Then collapse, enough exerting yourself and back to the sleep you went.

Since then there has been a lot going on, including Christmas. I don’t that you’re a great fan of flying. Although I can not feel you moving around yet, I feel that I have an awareness of you. I can tell if you are awake or asleep, contented or grumpy. Assuming that I am not imagining it – you were defiantly not pleased with the travelling bit….. you went very quiet for about a day after each flight. I’m afraid that you are just going to have to get used to it… I have a bit of a travel bug in me, just look at the fact I ended up here! Dad and I were talking about it and have agreed that you are to be one of those un/fortunate children who return to school with tails of snakes in the rainforest as apposed to lazing by the pool. Although we may have to start off with sarnies in a tent to begin with – until Dad and I make our fortune with beaded super computers.

Well Mum has to do some work now, so let me leave you with the reiteration of what I hope is the most obvious thing in the world… How much I love you.

Sweet dreams my little Shrimp baby.

You gorgeous little thing you!

2005-12-16T00:25:00.000-08:00

Well, wasn't yesterday very exciting, and from what we could see, it was as exciting for you as it was for us. Just as the radiographer got a good fix on you in Mummy's tummy you jumped up, did a little dance, waved your tiny little arms and then sat down again, as if it was all too much for you. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen... ever!
After she did the sizing, she worked out that you are due around about the 10th of July (that's two days after my birthday, and what a fantastic birthday present you will be!) and you were actually about 10 weeks and 3 days old. We listened to your little heart beating away at a good steady pace, and watched you wriggle around, so I'm very sorry if we disturbed you too much!

I love you very much little Figgy (Mum can explain that one) and try and take it a bit easier on your Mum, stealing all her moisture!
Daddy

Wavelengths...

2005-12-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

Well it seems your lovely, funny, gorgeous mummy to be and I are on very similar wavelengths at the moment. No sooner after I decide that I may need to leave you a little message before she and I go to see the midwives/doctors tomorrow for your/her/our first ante-natal session, do I find that your mum had left you such a message already.

Mum sent me a link to a webpage with a lot of information for Dads-to-be, for me to have a good read through whilst I was working yet another night shift, and I stumbled across this quote:

Sleep walking
"My daughter has always loved to hear what happened when we got home. I like to tell her about the night-time, when I would put her on my shoulder and sing gently to her, after her feed."
Michael, father of two.

Reading it just reinforced, in my heart and my soul what I already knew. That I simply cannot wait for you to grace this world with your presence, to hold you in my arms, to put you to my shoulder and sing you quietly to sleep after your dinner.

Ohh, and just for my tuppence worth, you will never have the "pleasure" of meeting an "old fat woman who knows nothing" or a "boring overbearing mother" because your Mum is neither of these things. Just see the first line of this message.

All my love little cherry sized baby, and I hope I don't come across too loud when I'm wishing you good night.
Daddy...

And on you Grow

2005-12-06T04:23:00.000-08:00

Well young man/Lady – Tomorrow is our first appointment with our health care provider and I don’t mind telling you that I’m absolutely terrified. I hope that you are ok and happy in there. I have had a very turbulent few weeks. All the changes and mood swings…… but one thing that has come of all my fretting is the reinforcement that I can not wait to meet you.

There is no doubt that you will find this whole process completely mortifying but I just love you so much and I don’t wanna loose any of it. When you look at me I don’t want you to just see an old fat woman who knows nothing, I want you to have an opportunity to meet me as me – Shivvers – not just your boring overbearing mother.

A big first hello from Dad...

2005-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well, to say that your intended arrival came as a bit of a shock to your Mum and I is a complete understatement, and although, as Mum has already mentioned, the prospect of 20 odd years of nose-wiping and plaster-adorning seem rather daunting for the both of us at at the moment, the eye-gazing, giggles, tears and years of watching you grow into an adult, before having little kidflumps of your own really make up for it.

I always wondered how I would feel upon finding out that I was to be a Dad, and to be totally honest, it is one of the greatest feelings I've experienced in my life.

There is a long long way to go yet though, and if Mum is right, you are only 6 and a bit weeks old , so you are still a tiny, delicate, little life, about 3/4 of an inch long, but the most important 3/4 of an inch in the world.

Lots of love...
Dad xxx

TEARS, SMILES, GROWLES, NAPS

2005-11-19T02:57:00.000-08:00

These are things I am feeling today. I have been feeling very sorry for my self lately and taking it out on Daddy a bit, you young man/Lady are steeling all my energy!! I am no longer the Shiv of party hard up ‘till 7am then off to work. I am Shiv the in bed by 10.30

But it will all be worth it, just to see your little toes and tiny fingers. I spoke to your Granny Sheila today who made me feel much better J

The beginning

2005-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well this is it the first record of your little magical life.........

Daddy and I (not that I have bothered telling him about it yet ;) but by now I’m guessing that you know how laid back he is) will be tracking your development here, telling you all the little things that we hope and want for you. Aspirations that would otherwise be lost in the years of wiping snot from your face, putting plasters on your knee and staring into what I have no doubt are the most beautiful eyes in the world (given how lovely your Daddy’s are!!).

So at this moment in time we don’t know how old you are, well Dad and I that is……. I’m sure you are fully aware!! I think about 5 weeks but we won’t know until the 7^th December 2005 when we go to see the Midwife.

Andy made the picture for me yesterday. You see how pleased we are to have you, your Granny Blackburn is SO excited that i'm pretty sure she's gonna faint at least once before you are born!

At the moment I am feeling like a big fat whale even though have hardly grown at all, perhaps it is me preparing for the shock of being twice the size. It makes perfect sense to me – imagine I’m half way there and when I am, I’ll think I’m wasting away!! I am very worried about how we will all cope, but as your old man keeps saying, all you need is love.

So before I become Shiv the mum I think you should meet Andy and Shiv the young:

This is how we met. No not at a tranny convention (see bald man in background) in the Pantomime of sleeping Beauty. ~ I think you might want to go and fetch your self a sick bag at this point ~ because it really was a fairytale meeting. Dad was the Baddy and I was Sleeping Beauty...... So I guess the business of Good always triumphs over evil isn't always true ;)

And this is your Daddy, on a night out :)

Here are some of us chilling out with friends, friends who if we still know now probably look completely different and like boring old men to you!!

Well I’m going to leave it there for now, there are months and years to keep updating this and sharing things with you, months and years that I promise to do my best for you, to support you and help you be everything you want to be.