Lara smashes the 3kg barrier

Olga's just had a visit from the Health Worker, and Lara now weighs in at a whopping 3.16kg (6lbs 15oz), which is a relief as it means that she is feeding properly. We've found over the last 72 hours that her feeding isn't as regular as we thought it was. That doesn't mean it's not frequent, it's just not regular, every three hours lasting 20 minutes or so. Olga's been feeding Lara every two hours for 10 minutes, or sometimes at night every hour for just a few minutes at a time, then Lara falls asleep for another hour. This has led to some very broken nights, and we're trying a few different things to make sure at least one of us gets enough sleep. Part of the problem seems to be the air in the bedroom is very dry, even when we have the central heating off at night. We reckon getting a humidifier in there might help, so we're off to find in the sales this weekend.
Anyway, Lara's growing at a healthy rate, which is the main thing.

One of Olga's Christmas presents from me was a copy of 24 Season One. She's been wanting to watch 24 for months, and I've got Seasons Two and Three at home, but I'd lent Season One to someone who shall remain nameless, and it's been passed around Marlow to the point at which no-one knows who's got it. Steve Redgrave might have it by now. Anyway, I bought another copy, and this morning Olga and Lara sat down and watched episode one. Once she gets into it, that should be the last I'll hear from Olga until she finishes Season Three. Anyone who's watched 24 will know what I mean!
It's all hands to the pump tonight and tomorrow for the first visit by Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow afternoon. Only kidding Mum, we'll leave something for you to tidy up or iron when you get here, I know you like to help!! :-)

Boxing Day relaxation

Once I'd got up at 10.30 we needed to take Lucy home, then we went for a pub lunch in Reading, which Lara slept though, as usual. I was toying with finishing the summer house when we got home, but Boxing Day is for relaxing, so we sat down and played with Lara, and learnt how Olga's new mobile phone works, and I've been messing around with the photos we took yesterday and today, like this one, which looks better in black & white.
Tonight is planned out for TV watching - The Terminal at 7pm, The Full Monty at 9pm, and Match of the Day after that (for me at least! Seems Liverpool snatched a late win against Derby, so it must mean Lara is only a good omen for Liverpool when we don't watch the match live on TV!)
Time now though to heat up a couple of left-over turkey dinners!

Merry Christmas!!

Here's one of the offical Armstrong family Christmas Day portraits - I've uploaded some other photos from the big day to the album.
It was one of the earliest Christmas Day mornings I've had since I was a kid, I took Lara downstairs at 7am to allow Olga some more sleep time, then I got started in the kitchen around 10.
I didn't poison anyone with Christmas Dinner, and we only used 1/3 of the turkey that we bought, which is fairly normal I reckon! We had to eat during the Queen's Speech, but that's just something to improve on for next year!
We had a webcam session with Grandma and Grandpa to start opening our presents, then it was time to settle down in front of the TV to make a start on the chocolate mountain we'd acquired. For the first Christmas in years I went the whole day without a powernap, then it was my turn to feed Lara during the night so Ola could have a full night's sleep - she'd been expressing like a trooper for days so she could enjoy a few drinks on Christmas Day. It worked quite well actually with me and Lara downstairs and me sleeping on the sofa between feeds, then I could retire back up to bed when the day shift turned up at 7am!

The IMI Desert Eagle

You might wonder why I have a photograph of the .44-calibre version of the IMI (Israeli Military Industries) Desert Eagle handgun. It's just to show how educational having a newborn baby can be!

I was watching a programme on the Discovery Channel at 6am this morning about pistols, and this was on it. In case you're interested, its big brother the .50-calibre AE version was the one that I remembered now - the most powerful handgun in the world. Having fired Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum on holiday with Anton and Becca 10 years ago, I can imagine what firing this cannon is like.
Anyway, that's besides the point. I was watching that programme because it was just about the most interesting thing on at that time of the morning, when I was trying to convince Lara that she should either pay full attention to the TV or go to sleep. She'd been awake for hours, and not because she was hungry, or needed winding (I mean burping, not winding like you do to a clock!) because we'd tried that. She might just have inherited her dad's fondness for not going to sleep at sleeping time, but whatever it was, Mr Desert Eagle seemed to do the trick eventually, and I was able to put her back in her cot and go back to sleep myself at 7.20. We'd gone to watch TV so Olga could get some undisturbed sleep as the poor girl had been up trying to work out why Lara wouldn't go to sleep, or eat very much.
Maybe it was just the excitement of having visitors over this weekend; as well as Anton & Becca and Cath & Nick, Lucy came over on Saturday and Chris & Cara came to visit on Sunday.
Luckily it's nice and quiet here in the office, I can get a few jobs done to clear the desks for a few days then it's time to head home and peel sprouts!

Daddies' Little Girls

We had a full house on for a few minutes on Saturday, when Anton, Becca and Eve, and Cath, Nick and Lizzie all popped round to see Lara. We couldn't miss the opportunity for a "Dads & Daughters" photograph! I know I'm holding Lara in a non-NCT authorised manner but I was caught by surpise and didn't have time to pose!
(and Mum, don't be alarmed by my haircut, I'm just trying out a low-maintenance style!)
I've uploaded this and some other photos from Saturday to the WebAlbum