Birthdays

Matthew turned three in May and the birthday celebrations lasted for a week, including three cakes! He loves anything to do with football or rugby so a 'proper' rugby ball, football strip, goals and football bedding were the highlights of gifts!

The Shepherd family got together the weekend before Matthew's birthday and the weather was so lovely we went to the beach; Daniel's first experience of sand which took some getting used to! That was a big weekend of firsts for Daniel including sitting unaided, eating in a highchair and rolling over! I guess he wanted a share of the limelight!

On Matthew's actual birthday we went to the zoo. It was particularly wet but there was a new attraction - feeding the lorikeets. Sam came with us, we thought it would be good for him to visit Bristol zoo before he leaves in July :(

Then came the party! Nine 2-5 year olds was not quite as manic as I thought it would be - and we managed to get outside to hunt for 'treasure' in between the rain showers which helped.

I've also had a birthday which had to include a cake and pass-the-parcel as it's obviously not a birthday without them! That was great but I think I enjoyed the visit to the Chocolate cafe in Clifton, the strawberries and wine and dinner out with Neil a little more!

Our Boys

Easter

We had a fantastic time in Sheffield the week before Easter. It was a wonderful combination of catching up with special friends (the most bizarre spending quality time with Emma and Dan and reminiscing about NZ and it feeling like it was only last week, rather than two years ago, that we were there together!), chilling out as a family and visiting some of our favourite places in and around the city

Hathersage

Padley Gorge

On Easter Monday, back in Bristol, we went on the miniature railway at Ashton Court which was a little gem to discover for a Sunday afternoon out in the summer. We went with our Kiwi friends Paul, Ange, Toby and Hana - making the most of time with them before they head back to New Zealand at the end of May :(

And Daniel has started on solid food!

BIG catch up!

Big apologies for being so appaling at keeping this blog up-to-date; surely my excuse of tiredness and having two small children is acceptable...anyway, here are some of the photo highlights:

Christmas

We spent Christmas day on our own in Bristol then travelled the length of the country visiting family which was great fun.

We embarked on our customary New Year's Day walk; this year it was to Matthew's favourite place in Bristol, Leigh Woods (this is because he can follow the marked out trails and has something to aim for otherwise walking is a little boring for him and he ends up wanting to be carried). It was -1 degree when we set off and was sleeting when we arrived - proper cold. I was pleased that Daniel was in the sling because I think he would have been too cold any other way (and he was a nice little radiator for me!).

Brotherly Love

Matthew is still fantastic with Daniel and Daniel has his best smiles and giggles for his big brother which is just lovely.

Matthew 'helping' Daniel to smile!!!

Smiles

Daniel kept us waiting for his first smiles - he was nine weeks old before we were convinced the expression was not just a random muscle spasm. Now, of course, we melt every time!

The red line down the middle of Daniel's forehead is due to his killer fingernails - they really do inflict alot of damage, not that Daniel seems bothered.
Let it snow!

The start of February brought some of the best snow I can remember. It was an added treat because all long-standing residents of Bristol told us not to get excited about the forecast because snow never settled in this city. So imagine the joy when we woke up to this:

and it meant Neil had two days off school - they wouldn't even let him in to collect his computer so he could work - so we wer forced to just go out and play! The snowman and ice-house were all the work of Neil and I (mainly Neil!); Matthew did love the snow but mainly because he could eat it and still play football in it.

Daniel was not as impressed, mainly because he was tired and needed a sleep.

Favourite toys

Matthew's Christmas present was a scooter which he is now incredibly fast and almost kamakazi on. Yet there has only been one altercation with a wall which, if you'd seen him on the scooter, you'd realise is pretty good going.

Daniel is really enjoying being able to take hold of things and shove them into his mouth! He gets very excited under his play gym or when we take his trousers and nappy off so he can kick away. The banana is the favourite of the moment though, much to Matthew's delight as it was the present he chose for Daniel when he was born.

Other 'highs'

In February I went to see Olivia graduate from Bristol university which was great fun. Here she is with Sam, who's been living with us for the last 18 months. Both of these guys are great, bringing a constant challenge and encouragement to keep pressing on and live on the edge. Matthew is a particular fan and takes the opportunity to hang out in Sam's room or learn from / 'help' him (grinding and making coffee and gutting fish are the latest) whenever he can.

At the beginning of March the Shepherd clan got together just outside Matlock to surprise Christopher and celebrate his 30th birthday with him. Thirty candles obviously takes alot of puff so naturally Chris needed Emma and Matthew's help - though this photo seems to suggest Matthew is slightly more committed to the task than Emma...

Currently Neil has just completed his first full term as Head of Year 8 at school and he's enjoying the new challenges that's bringing, Matthew is adjusting to pre-school (he has come up with some quite sophisticated reasons not to go such as "My tummy hurts so I can't go!" - I thought you were slightly older before you started feigning sickness to get out of school!), Daniel is about to cut his first tooth (well I hope that is the reason for the pooy nappies that are so bad they run down his leg onto the floor when you pick him up!) and as for me, I'm enjoying them all! I think that's us up to date now!

Daniel James Shepherd

Daniel was born on Monday 10th November so is now over three weeks old and settling nicely into the family! I know it's taken a while to post the news and photos but I'm quite amazed at how little time there is to do anything other than feed a baby (most of the time), try and have quality time with a toddler and sleep (the least amount of time!) - my expectations of what was going to get done regarding Christmas have flown out the window.
There's probably lots to say to introduce Daniel but I think pictures will say it best - and save time! Suffice to say we all think he's gorgeous and are enjoying getting to know him.

Baby Shower

I've just had a look back at the blog entry for my baby shower with Matthew and trying to work out if I'm bigger this time round or not! We did play 'Guess how fat I am!' again and nobody was as way out as they were last time; in fact, Chriscelle was spot on! Another game was guessing celebrity baby names and my least favourite was a blind taste test of baby food - I'd forgotten how gross it is!

The highlight had to be the chocolate fountain which was obviously really healthy as we had all that fruit to go with it! This is my friend, Ange, tucking in!

Anyway, two weeks to go and counting...

Camping

Having given up relying on the weather forecast and thinking we ought to get out of the house (the coverage of the Olympics was just too good) and Bristol, we decided to brave the elements and head to the Gower, south Wales for a few days camping. Now I'm a reluctant camper at the best of times and given that my last experience was in the much warmer, drier New Zealand with very well equipped campsites, I was slightly nervous that I'd be put off for life. Especially when a friend said that their tip for a successful camp was to locate the nearest travel lodge!

But I have to report that I wasn't deterred, in fact I'd definitely do it again! The weather was dry for us to put the tent up and take it down and we only had one day of rain which Matthew proved is no hindrance to having fun on the beach.

The sun even came out and we enjoyed the fact the campsite was practically on the beach so we had easy access to great rock pools (Neil was definitely the most keen of us all and did catch the biggest crab!), sand (again, Neil had the most fun making a sand turtle, crocodile and mermaid!) and sea - which Matthew walked straight into to jump the waves and didn't seem to bat an eyelid at the ridiculous temperature (I guess he was born in NZ!).

We all slept well too and the earliest morning was 7am which is later than it is at home!

I also enjoyed visiting some old haunts in Swansea where my Nanna used to live and reminiscing at Joe's ice cream parlour!