Ollie Willie Smartie Pants!

Oliver William Smart (Ollie Willie Smartie Pants) arrived on the planet with a grunt at 10.50am Saturday 24th October 2009, weighing 8lb 6oz. Our little bundle arrived the day before our first wedding anniversary.

in labour friday 23rd october

I was induced 2 and a half weeks early as i had severe pelvic pain from my pregnancy and had been in hospital for 4 weeks prior to the birth. He was a large baby and was born naturally being delivered by forceps which left him with fluid on the lungs. This happens when they don't spend enough time down the birth canal allowing excess fluid to be squeezed out. The fluid meant Oliver was grunting when breathing, thus not taking in enough oxygen. Sadly this was not picked up quick enough and he had to be taken to the neonatal unit for the first 5 days.

Oliver Hours old

It was very scary seeing our little bundle in an incubator and i found it heartbreaking not to be able to hold my new baby. Thankfully he made a full recovery and was allowed back onto the ward with me.

Oliver day he came out of neonatal unit

Oliver is a very happy little man and fills both Rob and i's life with lots and lots of joy!

Daddy & Oliver sporting Huntly rugby tops after boxing day game

Oliver enjoying the beer garden on his first holiday in North Yorkshire

Smart pets

Thought i had better do i little blog on our pets, seen as they were the babies long before Oliver arrived.

We have a lovely black lab crossed named Millie, she was three in May. She is a fantastic dog and brilliant with the little guy.

We also have a cat called Tula, she was five in May. Tula has mellowed alot but is still very antisocial and tends to avoid you unless she wants something (typical cat).

Tula and Millie get on really well, Tula however seems to wear the trousers in the relationship and tends to share Millie's tea, play chase with Millie's tale etc however none of these things are reciprocated.

We also have a half lionhead rabbit named Mr Wellington, he is all white apart from a splodge of grey on his nose. Wellie is two and a half, we were given him by our nieces and nephews, he needed a home and of course i said ok!

These are the smart pets and we think they are super cute.
xcx

Landmark

Monday 26th July

Teamed up again with Sara, this time Eleanor and Megans friend came as well. I took oliver, Eleanor & Cieran in my car and the others went with Sara.

Landmark is a theme park with a difference, its set in woods in the small town of Carrbridge in the Highlands. It took about 1hr 20mins to get to from huntly, heading cross country along some seriously hairraising roads.

When we got there we parked up and headed to the park, fantastically i found Sara had exchanged tesco clubcard vouchers which meant we all got in for around £15. So thats two adults, five children and a baby! Not bad i think.

The weather seemed alright when we got there but we did find ourselves in a bit of a downpour through the day, typical scottish weather - four seasons in one day! Not that this was going to stop us.

The kids and i went on the highwire rope walk, which was alot scarier than it looked, we had harnesses on and had to do a tree top assault course.

Eleanor on the beam walk

Balance never was my speciality

Just so you know those beams are not connected and they swing

Megan fairing a little better.

I have to say i really did enjoy this once i got over the initial shock of how high you actually are, it was great fun and a really good work out, perhaps Rob could set one up in the garden.

We then went onto the water slides, these were a real hoot, Eleanor, Tom and i teamed up. It seemed with my adult weight and the rain the slides were much faster. We actually went into the air coming down the middle one.

After lunch i was convinced by the kids to do the skydive, ah ok this i do regret. Scariest thing i have ever done in my whole life. It is simply two masts 50 feet up which you climb and then throw yourself off. This may seem simple enough, but when your up there having the bottle to just step off is not so easy. Im proud to say i did it, but i will NOT be doing it again!

Eleanor about to jump

We decided to go for a walk in the forest and climb the fire tower, this was lovely and waht a fantastic view we got from the top. Sara again sat with Oliver, she is not too keen on heights and i think she was glad to watch him. Once we came down from there we went on the boardwalk through the trees, this was great as we saw red squirrels while being able to push the pushchair.

Sara, Eleanor, Megan, Tom & Cieran up fire tower

Before we left we went into the bamboozeleum which is an interactive meuseum. Its trickery of the mind and senses, i loved this and Oliver seemed to aswell. There were light rooms which seemed to have him mesmerised.

My head on a platter

We left the park around 6.30 (think we were last out) and drove home. We all had a fantastic day.

Getting ready to head home.

xcx

Aden country park

Saturday 24th July Oliver, Millie and i joined forces with My sister inlaw sara, three of her children and their dog and headed off to Aden country park, Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire.

Tom, Megan, Oliver (asleep in pushchair), Millie, Morag, Sara & Ciaran

Packing for this trip was, well extensive, who knew what the weather was going to do, or what Oliver might need. So armed with an array of backpacks, changebags and carrier bags off we went in the big red fun bus.

We arrived at the park and the kids took the dogs over to the dog playground, fantastic idea. Little morag seemed to understand the agility course and did very well. Millie however was better at the obedience side of things.

Megan & Oliver

We headed onto the playpark and then for a walk. On our walk we found the river, ah what great fun kids and erm well big kids have with water. With the sun shining and a newly discovered rope swing i was off into the river. Oh yeah i was soaked! Thankfully Megan had more sense and looked after Oliver while the boys and i enjoyed some swimmng and swinging in the water.

Well i was wet anyway.

Thanks Tom i think the flying leap got rid of any dry bits!

We had a fantastic sunny day and the park had even more to offer but we got a bit preoccupied with the river.

xcx

My new blog

Well i have decided to put oliver's nap times to good use, well better use than cleaning the house.

As so many family and friends are scattered all over the globe and im awful at keeping in touch i thought what better way to do it than to blog my day to day life. I have followed one of my uni friends blogs for the past few months and although hers is much more exciting (she is on a world trip), i think my life is equally as exciting if a little colder and less wild!

Well here is quick recap (their will be a multichoice quiz to check you were paying attention) Rob and i have been together since jan 2005, we met when i was studying in Aberdeen. We were married in Edinburgh on 25th October 2008 and our beautiful boy Oliver was born on 24th October 2009 (i know fantastic timing, my anniversary will forever be overshadowed)!

Rob i moved from Aberdeen to Manchester in 2006 and then back up north in 2007. We were living in a lovely cottage in Gartly, outside huntly, however after the worst winter i have ever experienced and with a baby on the way we decided to move into town. We moved into Huntly (the family toon) last summer.

I have settled well into country life and made some lovely friends in huntly - you know who you are.

Ok so there is the recap and where we are now.

over and out.
xcx