Cousin Rebekah made an entrance into the world today, as an extra-special birthday present for Nanny!
Auntie Jan and Uncle Mike were their usual laid-back selves, despite all the excitement, and Bethan was clearly enjoying having a baby sister.
Hannah and Thomas also liked the idea that they had another cousin who'd be able to get up to mischief with them in a couple of years time.
It's a bit worrying that Will looks so cute - the chances are he'll get away with anything once he's old enough to wrap people around his finger!
Will appears to be in a state of shock that we had the audacity to take this photo of him! It's the fairy wand that sets it off so well!
Will had his first taste of real (as in, not milk!) food today, and seemed quite impressed with the taste.
It was a strawberry yoghurt that he started with, which went down well. Bring on the turkey and brussel-sprouts, now!
Recipe for baby stew:
(He tasted delicious!)
The wonderful thing about Tiggers is...
...when skinned, they make incredibly comfy baby seats!
Here's a photo of Thomas giving Will a quick lesson in how to get the most out of a baby gym!
Will Samuel Hurley!
Finally, that's the name that we've decided will suit 'Baby Boy Hurley' down to the ground. The Will is short for William, which will be on his birth certificate, but the only time we'll call him by his full name is when he's being told off!
Apparently, the name William means 'Will - desire' and 'Helmet - protection'. We think that he probably 'desires protection' from his big brother and sister! They love him to pieces (at the moment!) but Will is definitely getting more attention and cuddles and hugs from them than he probably wants!
Thomas isn't too keen on the name Will, though. He still calls the baby Mike, and tells us off when we call him Will! I guess the name Mike is going to be a brotherly thing that goes on between them - at least it's a polite name that's being called!
It's been a fantastic experience getting to know the new addition to the Hurley House. After being in no rush to make an entrance, that laid-back coolness has continued to be evident over the last few days. He doesn't seem to be in a rush to do anything - Feeding time, whenever! Sleeping time, whenever! Nappy change, whenever!
It really does appear as if he hasn't a care in the world. He's also sleeping reasonably well during the night, too! The first couple of nights he needed some company, but he's now getting the right idea about sleeping in a crib, rather than in someone's arms. Surely it's not going to be this easy all the way...
There's still no definite sightings of a name for "Baby Boy" Hurley. Hannah has decided that he has to have one before he's five, otherwise it'll cause havoc with the school register!
We've had a few suggestions from people, though:
Thanks for all the suggestions, but we'll keep looking...
One name that keeps coming back to us over and over again is because we've been watching Heroes on TV at the moment. We think that Baby Boy Hurley is a splitting image of Hiro from the TV programme! Look at what we mean:
The face that baby makes when he has a poo makes it look like he's trying to stop time! Hiro Hurley anyone?
The countdown may have taken longer than planned, but when the timer hit zero... boy - did that baby fly!
We now have a brand new addition to the Hurley Home, in the gorgeous shape of 'Baby Boy Hurley', born 19th August 2007, at 6:45am, weighing in at 8lb 6.5oz.
We're not sure whether it was the ten-pin bowling or watching '24' that did it, but whatever the reason, Ruth was kept awake during the night by a lot of baby movement. Then, at about 4:45am a big, painful, contraction was enough to make things look like it was all systems go. Andy slowly came-to at about 5 o'clock, and the race was on to ring grandparents to come and babysit, to ring hospitals to let them know that we were on our way, and for Andy to eat breakfast before heading out of the door!
We reached the hospital at 6:05, and were considering whether or not to have a water birth. The midwife checked Ruth over and found that the baby was about to arrive any minute, and there simply wasn't time to fill the birthing pool before the baby would be born!
This turned out to be the case, as a handful of contractions later, and Ruth was ready to push! The baby did manage to get the umbilical cord lassoed around it's neck at one stage, but thankfully the midwife was on the case and did the necessary Houdini magic. And then - vrrooommm! Onto the scene arrives Baby Hurley, making it all look very easy from a baby point of view!
Ruth had some problems with blood loss after the event, but recovered quickly enough to be allowed home this evening. The baby is looking (and sounding!) very healthy, and seems to be a very contented little thing at the moment.
The baby is still without a name, so any suggestions will be gratefully received. He's been enjoying meeting the rest of the Hurley House, and looks like he will fit in very well - he's already been getting his fair-share of prods, pokes and sloppy kisses!
It seems like our latest 'incoming' is going for a world record attempt at holding it's breath underwater. There's still absolutely no news, and no sign of news, despite now being 6 days past the due-date.
Ruth is still having reasonably regular contractions during the day and while she's moving around, but as soon as she goes to bed it's like the baby decides that actually it's pretty comfy in there after all, and everything stops again!
Rather than mope around the house waiting, though, we headed out for a quick round of ten-pin bowling! It was the first time that Thomas had ever played, and he got a very respectable 93, with Hannah coming third. Daddy was the winner of course! Ruth claimed that her last place was due to the fact that she was 1 day short of 41 weeks pregnant, but we're not sure how much stock to place on that. It was a strange sight to see someone, clearly expecting a baby imminently, chucking a bowling ball down the lane!
In fact, the manager nearly didn't let us leave, because it looked like Ruth was stealing one of their bowling balls under her t-shirt!
We also went to the hospital this afternoon for a check-up, to make sure that everything was still going well under the covers. The baby seems happy enough in there, according to it's stats - maybe the problem is that it's too happy!
Anyway, we're still waiting. We watched the first two episodes of series 3 of the TV show '24' this evening, so hopefully the excitement of that will start the (bowling) ball rolling.
