For He's a Jolly Good Fellow....

Today is my darling husband's 29th birthday - shhhh - tell no-one! I have no birthday photos of him....must take one today at some point - but the best I've got is his Christening photo......

Summer birthdays, like those in December or early January, are a little bit tricky. In our house at home, most of us are autumn and spring babies, which meant that birthdays were anticipated because we were never doing much else, except going to school, etc. My mother's birthday is at the beginning of August and we often were on holidays for her birthday, which is nice, but means that the excitment of the holiday often takes over from the birthday and you end up giving presents you bought in a stall in Portugal or whatever......

Unfortunately, Tony's birthday also seems to fall in with other things -and the last few years especially, we have been on holidays, at weddings, on honeymoon, etc. This year, I jumped the gun and did two things I never do - gave him his present early, and also let him choose a present with me. I'm all for surprises, but given I'm now into week 33 of pregnancy, I didn't want to take any chances. I wanted to get him a 'dressy' watch and considering we have been at 2 weddings in the last two weeks, and another one tomorrow, I decided for practical reasons it would be best to buy and give the watch in advance of the occasions. And so that's what we did.

We picked a Casio (have to say it is a 'family favourite' brand in our house.....all that ever breaks is the strap....we have about 3 broken watches beeping in various drawers where the batteries won't run out, but the straps or pins have broken through sheer hard work...I bought one when Eilis was born because I wanted a watch with a light so I could check the time in the middle of night - obviously I was not feeding on demand! I am lost without a watch...and this watch, which is now 3.5 years old and looking good to make it through for baby no. 2 midnight shenanigans, has a broken strap...but no battery replacement or any other trouble in all that time)

Anyway, I digress. Tony is a real gadget man, and his watches have to have as many functions as possible, so when we saw that there was a Casio (fav brand), within price range (not too pricey cos he'll probably break it within a couple of years - this is what happens all previous 'good' watches I've bought him), and had gadgets including solar power and the time controlled by satelittes to ensure it is always right and you never have to set the time....we were hooked. Additional selling point was something to do with it being watch worn by Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0!!! Have I put in enough references to Bruce yet?! Of course Eilis and I still semi surprised him with a couple of smaller pressies today and I now have an idea for a Christmas present for him too. Sorry for bringing up the C. word, but again, if no. 2 comes along as planned at the beginning of November, I don't see myself traipsing around the shops on Christmas eve trying to buy pressies - there will be serious on-line buying this year...in fact I have set the wheels in motion already!

Any other news - we went to Carmel and Eamonn's wedding in Mullingar last Friday. I have no proper photo of the bride and groom - managed to go through two cameras and four different batteries/sets of batteries..... I'll include a few below...including one of TC and I....note the shiny silver watch and the beer bottle hiding the bump! Also have the First Dance....

They were so lucky to have a wonderful sunny day - fabulous weather which really made everything so easy compared to some of the other weddings I have been at this year. We were all able to mill around outside the church before the arrival of the bride - chatting, etc (not sure that's what she wanted to see on her arrival, but we scarpered pretty quick). The same thing afterwards - there was no rush to get photos as the sun was bright and there was such a relaxed attitude. Hotel was fabulous - very spacious, airy - all things pregnant women value much more than everyone else! Also breakfast was served till 11am - I made a specific point of mentioning it to the girl at reception - do they realise how much that extra hour means to us!! I lasted till 3am. Tony stumbled to bed at about 6.... but we managed to get up and out for a swim at 10....cos we are so sporty (not!)...no, we are waterbabies though. If I win the six million lotto - first thing would be to add on a swimming pool to my designer house.

I have done absolutely no scrapping for the past couple of weeks - just haven't had the time....I'm looking forward to settling down in September, getting organised for the new arrival and chilling into winter mode....although I'd say at the temperatures I'm feeling, I will be the one going around in vest tops and shorts in October!

Yoikes, we just have a pro photographer into the office taking photos for website - could I be more ruddy faced?! I really meant to put on makeup and a power suit this morning...instead am in jeans and flip flops....I think we may be getting this guy back to take photos again...but must look at what he's doing for tips.