Harriet Catherine Smart

Miss Harriet arrived on 22nd May 2011, 4 weeks early weighing a lovely 8lb 10oz. She is a cracker and filled us with so much joy. There is 18 months between Oliver and Harriet so things were a bit crazy for the first few months as Harriet was a little poorly.
She had a wonderful 1st birthday party with lots of cake and presents. Now at 20 months she is a real character. Feisty as they come keeping us all in our place especially her big brother.

Update (sorry it's been ages)

Well it's only taken me a couple of years to finally be able to grab a few minutes to get onto my blog.
I have been using Facebook but have decided with our exciting venture coming up I'll blog again.
The big thing that's happened since last post is Miss Harriet has arrived. Think i will give little miss her very own blog post seen as she is so very important.

A wee trip to cyprus

After a long summer of Rob working, 2 weeks away to 1 week home he finally got back to his normal shift pattern 2 + 2 but with an extra week thrown in for holiday. With 3 weeks off we decided to take ourselves off to Cyprus for a week.

We flew from Edinburgh to Paphos where we picked up the hire car and drove to Polis about 40 mins North of Paphos. Polis is fairly underdevelopt with regards tourism, this meant that it was much quiter and thankfully meant we could escape the tourist tat.

We rented a beautiful villa, it was in a small village called Goudi about 5 mins drive from Polis, its was lovely and peaceful and the views were fantastic.

The first day of our Holiday we drove up to pomos and then off into tylliria, heading for stavros tis psoka to see the mouflon. We eventually found ourselves heading down a narrow dirt track with a sheer drop to the side. After a 20km white knuckle journey (so glad we hired a 4x4) we ended up at Gallia. After lunch the rest of the day was spent in the pool.

day two we decided to have a day at the pool, this was lovley and we brought Olivers play pen down so he could sit in the shade between dips.

Day three we decided to brave Paphos

Lonach Gathering

We went to the Lonach Gathering at Strathdon today, it was a fine mix of Tweed, Tartan & English accents.

The weather was that true Scottish wet rain but we still had a good time.

When we arrived and began walking to the field the march of the clansmen was walking passed, this was some sight and certainly would have been an intimidating sight back in the day.

Rob & Oliver watching the march of the clansmen

The clansmen

We arrived at the main ring and off course in true smart style headed straight for the coffee & cake stand. yummy! After some much needed refreshments it was straight onto the charity and fundraising stalls. Rob played the strathdon primary school bottle stall and won a bottle of black label johnny walker whiskey, nice for £1.

We then watched pipe bands, highland dancing, Medium & Heavy weight highland games in the main ring which were good.

Oliver wondering where all the noise was coming from

proof i was there.

At about 1pm the clansmen walk into the main ring and parade round, miraculously Oliver managed to sleep through this in the back carrier.

All got a little too much for the wee guy.

We decided to make a move after this as the weather was getting a bit colder and Oliver would

need fed when he woke.

Rob & Oliver trying to remember where they parked the car!

We drove back to Rob's parents and had lunch with them.

xcx

Creepy Crawlies

Well, i'm not sure if we can say Oliver is "on the move" but he is certainly trying. Rob and i filmed him yesterday and as you will see he moves in his own "special" way!

He seems much more at ease on his feet then on all fours, i think because his legs are so strong. Rob calls him T Rex - small pathetic arms and seriously strong legs.

Can you see the resemblance?

xcx

Summertime fun

At the begining of the summer we bought oliver a swing for the garden, he seems to really love it and finds great amusement in it.

I took this video of him the other day, I was hanging out the washing and he was quite happy to sit in his swing.

Yesterday we had my friend Linda's two girls here as she is back to work, we had a lovely day. They arrived about 7.30am, Oliver had already had his breakfast so the girls played with him while i got myself ready. We walked millie and nipped to the shops.

When we got back Oliver went down for his nap, so i set the girls a task of making boats to float on our afternoon bike ride to the river. The girls did ever so well and even made me and Oliver a boat each.

Once we had all had lunch, (bbq chicken, cous cous & salad), we got ourselves sorted and onto our bikes. We cycled down to the river and donned our water shoes. Once in the river we set the four boats off. The first race was won by Jenna, Oliver's grounded itself on the banking.

Jenna & Leah with the boats

For the second Race we upped the stakes and decided to try out the rapids. On this occasion Olivers bought rose to the challenge and left the others standing. Both jenna & Leahs boats met a watery fate and were lost in the white water of the deveron rapids!

Boats heading for the rapids

The girls decided they didn't mind getting wet and played in the river until they were soaked, Oliver and i sat and dried out on the rug.

Oliver watching the girls in the deveron

On our cycle home we stopped off a Rizzas ice cream/sweetie shop for some "crap sweets" or penny sweets as most people know them. After carefully selecting their mixture we headed on home to watch a movie while oliver took a nap.

For tea i left the girls in charge of making us all pizza's, including one for mum when she got back from work.
We had a really lovely day and Oliver thoroughly enjoyed the company.

xcx

p.s good luck to Jenna for tomorrow - she is starting at the high school!

Olivers first camping trip

We are just back from a camping trip to Loch Morlich, when i say we, i mean, Oliver, me & the dog. Camping with a 9 1/2 month baby on your own is well, lets just say, not for the faint hearted.

Millie & Oliver in our tent

Oliver seemed to think the airbed was fun.

We arrived at the site on wednesday lunch time and pitched our tent, Robs parents were staying in their beast of a campervan, his sister sara, her husband joe and 4 kids were staying in their caravan, Roof tent & campervan. His sister Alison, husband karl & 3 children were in their tent and his younger sister lib and her boyfriend James were also camping.

Sadly the weather was not great, wednesday was spend settling in and as the weather brightened a few drinks and games on hte beach at the side of the loch.

The weather overnight was horrendous and i don't think many of us (apart from Oliver) slept, the rain was very heavy and i was getting worried that the tent might not survive the night! However it did and we woke up to more rain on thursday morning.

Oliver slept in a tent inside a tent, this was fantastic. I used a camping chair with a tie round highchair, this worked wonders and oliver seemed comfy enough. As always my little man did me proud.

Oliver asleep in his travel tent

Im ready for dinner mummy

After getting ourselves ready, Rob's mum, Sara and 3 of her children along with Oliver and myself went for a walk around the loch. There weather was not great but we all enjoyed it, especially the 3 dogs who were in and out of the water.

Thursday afternoon i went out on Joe's canadian canoe, this was very cool, really enjoyed this.

Thursday night we all had dinner and a few drinks fllowed by an early night as we were all exhausted from the night before.

Friday we woke again to yet more rain, so we took shelter in sara and joes caravan.

Oliver chillaxing in the caravan listening to tunes

It began to look a little more promising, we decided to go on a bike ride into Aviemore. Sara, 3 of her children and myself and oliver all set off for aviemore. There is a fantastic off road path the whole 7 miles which was fantastic. After an ice cream we began to cycle back, Alison and karl and their children decided they would cycle back so they were dropped off and we were driven back to the site.

Let the cycling begin

Hit the road mummy im ready

Somewhere between aviemore and Loch morlich

We made it, now where is the ice cream


Friday afternoon we all had a game of rounders on the beach, followed by a few drinks and a bbq. I had promised the children i would go swim in the loch, so at 9.30pm in the rain, myself, Eleanor, Megan & Tom all went swimming. It was freezing but very good fun, luckily the hot showers were only a short run away!

Running into the freezing loch at 9.30pm

So much for it being warm Megan!

My little stove for warming up Olivers food.

xcx