Easter

So today is thursday and it's a four day weekend starting tomorrow. Plans are gaming on Friday evening, wedding Saturday evening, gaming all Sunday and spending the rest of the time with Laura and Anya.
Anya has a cold at the moment which means sleepless nights all round but hopefully she will be better soon.
It's been a really slow week at work - I have heard at least a dozen people use the phrase "I'm really bored" or "I can't be bothered". It's probably due to everyone looking forward to the long weekend.
It's Russ's birthday this weekend but I don't think we are going out anywhere due to me looking after Anya on Friday night and then being at the wedding on Saturday night. I suppose we could go out Sunday night since there's no work on Monday but Russ hasn't said anything yet.
For anyone who doesn't know - March is so full of birthdays that it defys all reason.
First is my Grandma right at the start of March. This is closely followed by mothers day which isnt technically a birthday but still adds to the effect. Right in the middle of March is Anya's birthday, immediately followed by Kieran's birthday and one of Laura's best friends (Andrea's) birthday. Right after that comes Laura's grandma's birthday which is followed by Laura's cousin's birthday. Then to finish off the month we have Russ's birthday, my Grandad's birthday and last but not least my mum's birthday. That's ten birthdays in one month and I'm sure I might have forgotten one somewhere. On average that is one birthday every three days for a whole month.
There must be something about the month of June that makes people more amorous than the rest of the year. Maybe the extra sun and the hot weather. Who knows?
It's no wonder that when Laura rang me to tell me she was pregnant my initial thought wasnt "I'm going to be a Dad!" but was instead "oh no! that puts the birthday in March!"
Anyway, everyone have a good easter and I'll see you on the other side.
ttfn

One year

Sorry about the lack of posting. I'm sure I'll get back to posting regularly soon....
So today is Anya's first birthday. In some ways it seems to have gone so fast. In other ways it seems to have gone really slowly.
We had a party for Anya last Sunday which was nice - lots of people came and Anya had a really good time - she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She took her first steps last Saturday so no doubt she will be running around causing trouble soon.
Things between me and Laura are going quite well at the moment. We are both quite tired and still not really settled in our new home but we are getting on quite well so hopefully things will be on the up from now on.
Work is going well - I have been on quite a few courses recently which is always good as it gets me further along in my career and the courses have all been in London which has meant that I have been able to meet up with Simon a few times. I'm on another course in April in London again and then in May I'm in Cambridge on another one.
The end of April will see me and Laura in Amsterdam along with Russ, Olly and Kelly and hopefully Kieran if he can get the time off work. After that we are going to Scotland at the end of May with mum and dad visiting Jura where we used to go every year (for a few years) when I was at school. Then at the end of August we are off to the lakes like last year which will be really nice. Lots of holidays to look forward to.
Laura's mum has won another holiday on the radio and has asked Laura to go with her again. The last time she did this (a couple of months ago) she took Laura and got so drunk for the entire time that Laura really didnt enjoy herself. She swore never to go on holiday with her mum again but only a couple of months later she has gone back on that. She says she will tell her mum that she had an awful time when they went away last time because of her drinking and she hopes that it will make a difference. She might be right but I doubt it.
Things on the gaming front are pretty slow at the moment. I introduced Olly to War of the Ring a couple of weeks ago and he really liked it but apart from that I haven't really been playing much. I really want to get Sid Meier's Civilisation as it is possibly the best game I have ever played but it costs £50 so it's just affording it really.
Anyway, best sign off for now but I will try and post again soon.
ttfn

Anya update

Obviously two months is quite a long time when you aren't quite one year old yet so Anya has come on in leaps and bounds.
She has several teeth now which have come through quite a long way.
She is crawling properly all the time now which means she can get around pretty quickly.
She is pulling herself up into a standing position but isnt quite walking yet. She has started letting go of whatever she pulls herself up on and kind of wobbling a bit on her feet before either grabbing hold again or falling over. Hopefully she will be taking her first steps soon...
It is her first birthday this month and Laura is starting to plan a birthday party. The time seems to have gone by pretty quickly.
Aside from that she is displaying some pretty intelligent behaviour. I'm sure she'll be a rocket scientist or something equally mentally challenging.
Anyway, ttfn.

Website update.

I havent made any changes on my website in a while.
I have lots of new pictures to upload including Amsterdam, Christmas, Spain and various other things so hopefully they will be uploaded soon.
I still intend to fill out the family tree as soon as I can dedicate some time to it but it's on the back burner at the moment.
The gaming section is due a major overhaul. It's less of a priority than the family tree stuff but it will take less time to do so it might get done first.
ttfn

The big return?

Hope so.
I'm sure that no one is reading my blog anymore since it has been so long since I posted but hopefully people will start reading again.
First of all I must make my apologies for not posting in nearly two months. It's due to a combination of not having time, not putting in the effort and everything that happened with my previous blog.
I still am no wiser about who it was but hopefully they won't resurface.
I'll hopefully post quite a few times over the next few days just to get back up to date.