Birthday

Amélie Iris Bagnall

Baggie

At 14:14 (BST) on the 28th September 2010 in the hospital of St. Peters, Chertsey, Surrey our second child Amélie Iris was born, weighing just over 8lb 5oz (3.784kg).  Like her sister Éowyn she has the Badger family ears and the Bagnall nose (another that needs to learn the Bagnall nose rub!).  However, unlike her sister she has dark hair.

Unlike Éowyn, Amélie’s birth was straightforward and as easy as a birth should be.  Lucinda woke at about 04:30 with very mild contractions, they got steadily stronger and more regular through the morning.  We arrived at St. Peters at 12:16 (according to the car park ticket) and went straight to triage.  The midwife there took us straight to the labour ward.  We had to wait for 45 minutes for a birthing room and within 45 minutes of being in the birthing room Amélie was born.  The only pain relief that Lucinda had was one paracetamol, a TENS machine and gas and air during the delivery.  I am very proud of her.

The only reason that I have come home alone tonight, is due to the ward being so busy and a number of sick babies (my heart goes out to those parents) which meant that we were left longer than we should have before being admitted to the Ante-natal ward.  At least that is better than coming home alone 7 nights in a row, as was the case when Éowyn was born.

So, tomorrow at 08:00 I should arrive on ward and hopefully it will not be too long (before 12:15 please as my car park ticket will run out) before my girls are discharged and we can introduce Éowyn to her new baby sister.

Again, before people ask about our choice of name there is no psuedo-history or importance behind the name Amélie, we both just like it.  Iris, on the other hand is in honour of my Great Auntie Iris (Amélie’s Great-Great Auntie Iris) who passed away last year.

Amélie is of Latin origin and is associated with French speaking countries (also a great film), while its variants Amelia and Emily are more common in Germanic and English speaking countries.  All have the same meaning of  ‘hardworking‘, ‘industrious‘ and ‘striving‘.  Interesting coincidence: Amélie (d’Orléans) was the name of the last Queen Consort of Portugal, and she was born on the 28th September (1865).

Iris on the other hand is of Greek origin and has the meaning ‘Rainbow‘.  Obviously, it is also the name of a flower.  Iris was a messenger of the gods who rode rainbows between heaven and earth to deliver messages from Olympus to mortals thus linking the gods to humanity.

Éowyn will now have to share this website with Amélie and I will keep you all regularly updated with the growing pains of both my daughters.  Lucinda and I would like to thank you all for your kind messages and look forward to introducing Amélie to you all in the coming weeks and months.

A special thank you to Lucinda’s parents who looked after Éowyn today, I hope she behaved herself.  And a happy 30th birthday to my baby sister for tomorrow.

Peace and Love

Baggie

The real reason you are all here:

Sleeping Angel
In thought
All wrapped up

Mommy's birthday

Baggie

Another month has nearly passed and Lucinda is a year older (on paper – she hasn’t really aged a year in the past fortnight!) and the UK has seen its summer.  It has been a busy couple of weeks!

Life is settling back down to a slight slice of normality at least for a couple of weeks or so.  Work is in a lull at the moment before the great upheaval that is about to happen with new channels and upgrades to HD and tapeless workflows.  We are still in our recruitment drive but not at the same frenetic pace as it was.  This means that I am able to leave on time and see Éowyn and Lucinda every evening (except when I am updating this website!) which is worth a fortune.

To celebrate Lucinda’s birthday we headed to Brighton for a day by the seaside.  The weather was especially kind (and only got better through the week!) as we left the confines of the M25 but as we got to Brighton (and the god of traffic jams ensnared us in its metallic web on a number of occasions) we were upset to discover that the South Coast of Britain was not enjoying the same warm weather and bright sunshine that the Capital, a mere 70 miles  away, was promising.  Nevertheless we are hardy folk and happy strolled around in our shorts and T-shirts.  Fortunately we had been blessed with enough foresight to bring a warm set of clothes for Éowyn which we duly wrapped her in.  The sun-tan lotion on the other hand stayed firmly at the bottom of the bag.

Since the weather wasn’t great and the traffic had delayed our arrival, we headed straight for Harry Ramsden’s for some good ol’ Fish and Chips via a quick paddle in the sea.  Then we headed to the Sea Life Centre to show Éowyn the fish.  She really enjoyed herself and particularly enjoyed touching the creatures that they bring to the children.  I am not sure that the starfish enjoyed itself as much though for after she gently stroked it and it didn’t do a lot she gave it a real poke in the middle.  We quickly moved on.

The journey back was tedious too and we were glad to be back home.  A day trip to Brighton is so much more exhausting with a toddler and next year we’ll have two!

After a lovely day with my wife and firstborn I was back at work and then the usual thing happened, that I was off at the weekend and Lucinda was working.  Therefore I was primary carer.  It was great fun though.  The weather was fantastic (peaking at 30°C) and so we could (with hat and suntan lotion) keep popping outside.  I cleaned off and re-inflated the paddling pool and we splashed in there during the relative cool of the morning, retiring to the house during the hot part of the day to play Play-Doh and drawing.

Éowyn is in a really fun stage where she is learning at a fantastic pace and is really picking up words (we have to watch what we say!) and stringing them together.  So it is fun to teach her new things like the colour of her pens and names of animals.  She likes to sing along to her nursery rhymes and do the actions.  Her particular favourites are “The wheels on the bus”, “Wind the bobbin up” (as if kids today know what a ‘bobbin’ is) and “Twinkle, twinkle little star”.  She is very good at the actions and loudly joins in with the “All day long” bit at the end of “The wheels on the bus”.

The weather has been fantastic, if a little too hot for me (mainly due to the lack of any air movement) but it has brought out bigger badder insects for the new decade.  We have had a number of wasps enter the house.  When I say wasps I mean more like flying rodents (with stings).  They are huge and have to be despatched quickly, for I don’t want them stinging Éowyn.  If the wasps are the front line, the sneaky night invaders are the mosquitoes.  The intense buzzing noise just as you are about to drop off to sleep must be one of the most irritating noises in the world.  A rolled up magazine quickly takes them down, hopefully before they have filled their stomachs with your blood.  This is a battle that is quite common in the village, especially since we live quite close to a stream, there is a little lake on our northern boundaries and we back on to the King George VI reservoir.  However the invaders for 2010 are bigger and smarter.  They must be close to an inch long and have stripes like a tiger, they get short shrift from my rolled up magazine though.  So be careful out there.

Before I leave you to enjoy the photos just a couple of special mentions.  The first is to Nanny Fran, who is recovering after having an operation on Monday to repair a ruptured patella tendon.  She was in and out quite quickly (no beds for an overnight stay!) but will take a couple of months to be back to match fitness.  And the second is to our friends Kirsty and Nick who have had their second child Jessica Valentine today (26th May 2010).  Congratulations from the Bagnalls!

Please enjoy the photos

Peace and love

Baggie!

Cheeky Smile
Fun in the sun
The water’s fine
Down the slide
Chill-axing
Having fun
Graffiti Artist
And I’m not afraid to use it!
Michelangelo eat your heart out
I’ll have that one
Poke the starfish
Pop Star
Pop Star and Mum
The ‘In the Night Garden’ dance
Wibble Wobble
Ball
I’m off!
Are you coming?

20 Week Scan

Baggie

Just over a week and another update.  Bring it on.  I’m getting good at this.  This one, however is just a quickie, it is the day before Lucinda’s birthday and we have been for our 20 week scan.  The good news is that everything is looking hunky dory.  The newbie is a little wiggler and wouldn’t keep still for the sonographer making her work for her money, but as far as she can tell all the major things that they check for are all looking normal.  Apparently the new baguette currently weighs 14oz (400g).  It is amazing what they can do these days.

I plan another update soon with photos of our first born but until then…

Peace and love

Baggie

Baguette Deux Scan Deux
Baguette Deux Scan Deux