Another year nearly finished...

Well, we're nearly at the end of 2014 - this year seems to have gone by very quickly. I know the highlight of the year was the arrival of Fergus in late October - what a joy and blessing he has been in the short 2 months since he was born! :-) He is a very content little boy and it's so sweet to see the smiles he gives when his siblings come to talk to him - and plenty of "baby talk" or cooing to them too. I just love to see the bonding between a baby and their older siblings - such special times!

Here he is tonight - already 9 weeks old this past Saturday. And being a 6th child, I must admit that it's only tonight the box of baby toys was pulled down and he got something to "play with". [oops] But with a sibling always stopping by his pram to chat with him, show him what they're doing, etc (not to mention his mama talking to him lots all day long! :-D ), he doesn't much of a chance to be bored or lonely! But I think he will be interested in exploring these hanging toys.

"Helping" mummy with the laundry last week - 2 months old!

Also taken last week - Abigail was holding Fergus while I cooked breakfast. And from the kitchen I heard his little voice and looked to see him smiling and "talking" to Deborah. :-)

Photo from today - Elijah was helping me bake cookie, though I think he did more eating than baking! We made teddy bear and butterly shapes.

This was at nearly 6 weeks old

6 weeks old

6.5 weeks old

7.5 weeks old

Nearly 8 weeks old

Last week we spent a couple of days in Dingwall trying to sort through Peter's dad's house. He passed away back in June, but the summer was busy with the holiday house in Edderton, and then Fergus being born. Well, there was a gap between the last guests and his birth, but I started feeling unwell with raised blood pressure only 2 days after the final guests of the season left! :-P So yeah, with a busy year/summer and all, it means there's still a fair bit to sort out. Peter managed to clear out quite a lot from the bedrooms over the summer, but I hadn't been able to do much until now. So it was good to make a lot of progress last week - and hopefully we'll get back there again this week for another couple of days. Photo above shows the lounge - only the bookshelves left to sort through (and plenty of stuff for charity shop/dump etc - but at least it's in bags/boxes).

I figured the slower/quiet time of year and school holidays would make it the ideal time to devote some time & energy to sorting the house there. It's a bit of an adventure doing it with 6 kids hanging around (as seen above!) :-) but they took along jigsaws and loom bands, and drawing stuff, which kept them mostly occupied.

We had a bit of snow a few weeks ago, which the children enjoyed! It was only a thin layer, but they still made the most of it! :-)

Also a few/several weeks ago (before the snow), I was home with the youngest 4 while Peter took the oldest ones to the homeschool group. We'd been down with a nasty chesty cold and the younger ones (and myself) hadn't quite gotten over it. So I took the little ones out for a brief walk and some fresh air. It felt quite easy to have "only" 4 children to get organised in "winter gear"! :-) I don't get out for walks very often at all - it seems to take so long to get 6 kids ready, that by the time everyone is ready, there isn't time left for going out! LOL

Me looking full of a cold there - and Fergus very cosy in a sling (and with a warm poncho covering him).

Out for a walk and looking at the noisy small stream below.

Elijah wasn't feeling very well here - but still trying to smile!

Sooo, I guess that's all I have time for now! I sometimes think what I might write about when I finally sit down to update my blog, but time runs out! There's still laundry to finish doing, and floors to hoover - and it's already past 10pm! But I wanted to update this with some recent photos before 2014 was gone.

Wishing all my family and friends a very Happy and Blessed 2015! :-)

Abigail's 9th Birthday!

Today is Abigail's 9th birthday - my big girl is growing up so fast! :-) Here are some photos from today.

Abigail had requested a cake with a Hawaiian theme. No idea why - maybe she's missing summer? So made some flowers out of royal icing and the rest is buttercream - and this is the result, which Abigail was very pleased with!

My first time making coloured layers of cake - Abigail didn't know about it until I cut her slice of cake! ;-) She *was* excited! lol

Cake!

Opening presents!

And more presents

Elijah was very pleased with a "vintage" set of Bob the Builder Duplo which I found for him! Well, not truly vintage, but no longer being made.

Pleased with her gifts

Presents

Again thanks to ebay ;-) the bigger boys got some equally "vintage" Flex K'nex sets, which they've been busy with all day!

Funny face from Elijah! :-P

Birthday girl sitting amongst presents and balloons!

Happy with her cake! :-)

Afternoon cake with friends!

Miriam, Abigail, and Abigail's best friend Rebekah! :-)

"Quiet" time doing needlework together and chatting non-stop after a busy day of presents and birthday food.

So cosy by the fire, he's yawning! lol Photo from yesterday, at 17 days old.

Love this precious guy SO much! :-)

The camera light went funny here - we *weren't* really in a dark cave! ;-)

Already 12 days old!

I thought it was time I updated this with a few photos of Fergus, since the only ones I posted last time were from the day he was born! :-) It's hard to believe he's already 12 days old - nearly 2 weeks! The days just pass so quickly. He got weighed by the health visitor today and is now 10lbs 7oz - that's only 1oz less than being a whole pound heavier than he was at birth! So it's quite clear he's thriving and putting on the weight!

Photo from today - bit of a funny/cute face here! :-)

With Deborah today - she adores him! Never mind that she cried after my 20 week scan when she found out she *wasn't* getting a baby sister - she loves him SO much!

My big wee guy at 3 days old

4 days old - looking up to big brother Elijah!

Elijah is still very much in love with is brother! He's not the *least* bit jealous at all! In fact, rather the opposite - he thinks I should *always* be looking after the baby - like should hold him all the time! :-) Even when Fergus is happily sleeping in his pram, Elijah will say "Your baby needs a cuddle" or "Your baby needs a feed" or "You should look after your baby"! :-) I think he thinks the baby is very much a part of me and should always be with me. It's quite sweet how he thinks about him.

Elijah drawing pictures and colouring.

6 days old - "hanging out" with mummy when the others were asleep in the evening! Some evenings he seems to want to feed a fair bit before I go to bed, but I think it's just stocking up for the night. He just sleeps at night and doesn't keep me up at all! :-D I can't complain!

8 days old - with Abigail

I got my camera out to take a photo of these two - biggest & smallest boy! :-) But of course, all the others wanted a photo of them holding Fergus too.

Elijah and Fergus - love his wee mouth in this one!

Clement and Fergus

Deborah and Fergus

We've had lots of cold & rainy days lately, so here they were doing an autumn craft last week to keep them occupied in the afternoon. Older ones busy while smallest 2 boys were napping.

And a puppet show at the end, with their scarecrows they made!

Deborah with her puppet! :-)

We started back at lessons on Monday this week - they got an extra week of school last week after baby was born. But I'm feeling great and we were all ready to get back into a normal routine. My blood pressure hasn't yet returned to normal (and was still a bit high early this week) but I'm feeling fine. Hopefully it will be back down soon. I know it took about 12 days to come down after Elijah was born, and it had only been up for less than 2 weeks. So, 8 weeks on now from when it went up, who knows how long it will take to sort itself out - but hopefully soon! But otherwise, I'm thankful for a good recovery and a very happy, calm, and chilled out baby boy! It feels good to return to a bit of normality and very good to have a break from the past 9 months of nausea and vomtting all through his pregnancy! One of the most wonderful things is being able to drink water again - it made me feel sooo sick to have more than a sip of water here and there. So it's great to be able to drink a whole glass of it now! And being able to enjoy vegetables again and get back to the "Trim Healthy Mama" way of eating I was following before! I felt healthy & energetic following that plan of eating, and since getting back to it when Fergus was 5 days old, I'm already feeling the benefits again - it's great!

Introducing Fergus Ian

Just a very quick post here to share a few photos. Baby Fergus Ian has arrived safely at 5:29am this morning (25th October) and weighed 9lbs 8oz. Thankfully everything went well and we are already home this evening!

Fergus and mummy

Meeting their baby brother for the first time this afternoon. They are all totally in love with him. Elijah just *couldn't* stop smiling at home - he's SO excited!

And here he is all cosy, leaving the hospital to go home! :-)