Baby Dadswell

Yesterday Debbie headed over to Northampton to meet 5-week old Rebecca Dadswell - Gayle and Steve's beautiful little girl. It's amazing to think that the 'bump' featured in 'Welcome Home' is now this little person. Louise came over too for a lovely Durham girlie get together - how life has moved on! Nice to be ladies of leisure - well sort of, for a while at least!

Star!

On Sunday Debbie's cousin Rob came fifth in the National Trust Snowdonia Marathon, finishing in the amazing time of 2 hrs 51 minutes. By all accounts it's a challenging race, much harder than the average marathon. Rob's achievement could entitle him to a place in the elite race in the London Marathon! Well done Rob - we're really proud of you.

Preparations

We are now busily preparing for our imminent arrival. On the first day of her Maternity Leave, Debbie's Mum and Dad came over to give a hand with decorating the nursery. 'Grandad' pasted up a border while 'Nanna' (name tbc!) took up the curtains. We hugely appreciated their help - and suspect that they quite enjoyed it too. We think the final effect looks lovely, and now feel much more ready to welcome our baby into our home.

Seaside

A visit to Mark's parents on the Suffolk coast resulted in a trip to pretty Aldeburgh on a grey Sunday morning (although the rain held off until our journey home). Composer Benjamin Britten lived for many years in Aldeburgh, a fact now recognised by the addition of a large, slightly rusty scallop shell on the beach, inscribed with the words "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" from Britten's opera Peter Grimes.

Four go crazy (not mini) in Warwick

After a satisfying lunch at the Saxon Mill last Saturday, we decided to head into Warwick to check out the mini golf course with Jo and Dan. Last year we had played the full 18-hole course at Stratford, and the 9-hole course at Warwick (apparently a crazy golf course, rather than mini-golf, according to the chap taking our money) was probably not quite up to the same standard, but good fun in any case, particularly as the Dawsons comfortably defeated the Penns. Not sure whether crazy (or mini) golf in October will prove a lasting tradition, but so far it's working out well!

Aunt and Uncle to be

Last Sunday we had a visit from Uncle Stephen and Auntie Lucy (to be). We gave them some dinner and then took them on the obligatory walk around Kenilworth castle to work some of Lucy's pudding off. Someone offered to take our photo just after the camera had clicked but we thought we'd managed ok on our own, even if it is at a slightly odd angle.

Ducks

We've been a bit busy recently with double doses of ante-natal classes the last couple of weeks. Now it feels real!
We got in some practice with a weekend visit from Tim, Celeste and Keziah two weeks ago. Here Keziah is enjoying meeting the ducks in Jephson Gardens in Leamington. We can't believe how fast she is growing up.