Baby Joshua's arrival

After 2 games of late night Scrabble on Tues with my mom, I went to bed. Haven't been able to sleep well the past few nights, so this was just another night. At 4am, I felt my waters break. As I woke Robin up, he thought it was just another case of false alarm. After calling the hospital, they advised me to come in for a check up. By this time, Robin was fully awake.
Once we reached the hospital, my contractions had started. They were occurring about once every five minutes. The midwife expressed surprise that I had been quietly bearing them. As they grew more severe, I asked for epidural, quite forgetting that it wasn't in my birth plan.
After 3 and half hrs of unbearable pain - gas and air (entonox) just sent my head whoozy so I didn't take much of it in - Joshua was born. It was better than I had imagined, but worse than I thought. Ironic as it is, but it is true that the moment the baby is born, the intensity of the pain is forgotten, replaced by euphoria and relief. He was 8 pounds and 7 ounces. Robin later went out of the delivery room to notify our parents and families.
Leanne and my mom visited us later on in the day, bringing food, a blue helium balloon, and yellow roses. She was extremely excited to meet her little brother, asking if he likes her coat and her drink - all purple as you can see.

Here's the proud dad - spending many hours just gazing in love at the sleeping babe. Joshua seems to be a calm baby, mostly sleeping, feeding and pooing.
After being checked by the paediatrician the next day, we were discharged. He was all wrapped up in a white soft all in one suit, greeted by his sister at the door.
Having a roll around with the family. Leanne loves to stroke his face gently and is brilliant at helping us with getting baby wipes and changing his nappies.
Quite rare to see both eyes open and active as he spends most time asleep. What he really protests at is being changed - too cold for his liking.
Robin seems to remember his days of bathing Leanne quite well. Joshua didn't mind having his hair washed.
Unlike his sister, who hated having a bath till much later on, he seems to take to water naturally.

Leanne brought her toys out for Joshua to play with in the bath. She said that he could play with her toys - how thoughtful and generous of her.
Jennifer came for a visit on Saturday. Leanne and her played Leanne's favourite game, shopping! Don't know where she gets that from!

A day out to Natural History Museum

Here I am on the way to London, in the train. We were headed to the Natural History Museum.


One of the most exciting museums that I have ever been to. There We were welcomed by a Diplodocus skeleton in the main hall. Entering the There were lots T-Rex, and other dinosaurs as well.


And this is Aslan from Narnia. What a lion king. The art of taxidermy is no longer practiced, but the older pieces
are still preserved very well.


We also saw the largest living creature on Earth, the big blue whale. It is a lot bigger than I will ever be. Along side it were other land creatures, like the giraffe, hippo and elephants.

Met lots of interesting characters there. I addressed him as "Kung-fu Panda".


Take a look at the intricate and beautiful spread of ceiling panels decorated with plants from every corner of the globe, richly coloured and gilded with each its own stry to tell.


The architecture of the terracotta building was a work of art. Its called Waterhouse, named after Alfred Waterhouse, a young architect from Manchester. He won the contract after the original architect died. You can see carvings of plants and animals.

There was a Christmas fair outside of the museum, along with ice skating rink and some shop grottos too. The day ended well with a merry go round ride, just my kind of day.