Ella Joins the Family

Ella Janet Beverley, Andrew's little sister, was in quite the rush to join her new family. We received a call at 3:50 am on the morning of June 26, from our daughter at her home, to say they were leaving for the hospital and we could join them there if we wished.

We got up, got washed and dressed quickly, and headed into town in the dawn. There was no traffic. We arrived, found a good parking place, and went up to the labour and delivery floor. We were allowed to go right in.

Our daughter and son-in-law were sitting up, smiling, looking far more relaxed than one might expect.

"It's a girl!" they grinned at us, pulling down the sheet to reveal a sweet little 7 pound .9 ounce baby girl, with ruffles of white-blonde hair across her head.

We had all been thinking another boy - this wee Ella is full of surprises! Apparently, Dad left Mom at the hospital entrance while he raced to park the car. Val was ushered up to the maternity ward by security, getting strange looks from another couple walking off the labour. Dave arrived just in time to see his daughter's head crowning. Ella and Dave beat the doctors, who arrived shortlt afterwards.

Val's shoes and lower clothing were left on the floor, just where she'd jumped out of them.

Ella was born at 4:15 am, June 26, 2009.

Change Still Welcome

Is Andrew expecting showers? Well, maybe baby showers! Andrew will be a big brother at the end of June/beginning of July. Unlike last time, they could not tell the gender of the new baby, which delights Mike, who is not a big fan of "new-fangled" change usually. We are happy about the new baby. Andrew turned two on March 19, and didn't eat a bite of his beautiful penguin birthday cake as he was down with a touch of the flu. He still managed to have fun.

Andrew, Dave and Val have bought a new house in Blackburn Hamlet, close to the in-laws. It's a nice area, but we had hoped for something more in the west end and closer to us. Still, it is a nice place and I doubt they would have found anything quite so nice elsewhere.

I finally left the nasty micro-managing bully I'd been working for since 2006. Once he started being abusive to me, that was it. I'd witnessed it with so many others and watched them all leave; my turn finally (I lasted longer than anyone else). I am quite enjoying the new work in the policy area which was supposed to be a pre-retirement transition post, but I ended up helping out managing in the short run, covering two units.

My new boss then promptly retired earlier herself. We went to see her in a play - she's an actress by night and very good. She played Mrs. Graves in the New Edinburgh Players production of "Enchanted April".

I will be retiring next April myself and looking forward to being able to spend more time on silly pursuits.

Pool is going to be set up this week! Ahhhhhhhh! Summer!