It’s hard to believe that December has come round
again. So far, the weather hasn’t been
too harsh in Livingston – just a little dusting of snow so far - but all things
are comparative – it’s very, very cold compared to Australia, where we were
only a few short weeks ago (though it feels a lot longer ago than that).
The year started with a change for Eilidh, moving into a
bigger room at the front of the house.
She’s now got more room to do whatever it is that little girls do in
their bedrooms (like stories, and pretending all sorts of things, and playing
with the dolls’ house). As a bonus, it has a lovely subtle pink theme, which of
course Eilidh loves.
We were blessed in March with the arrival of our second
beautiful daughter. Iona Mhairi Browning arrived in a very straight-forward
fashion a couple of weeks early on the afternoon of 25 March, having been due
on 5 April. Perhaps the perennial
Browning family problem of being late has been shaken off by the next
generation. Iona met her sister and
Grandma & Grandpa for the first time that evening, and kept Gwen company on
the morning of her birthday the following day, before the two of the went home later
that day and met Grandma & Granddad. She has since then been both utterly
adorable and utterly adored (sometimes a little too much by her doting big
sister!).
Iona went on her first road-trip in May, the first of
hopefully many enjoyable trips up to Sallachy.
At the end of June, Iona became the first person to be christened in the
newly-formed Livingston United Parish Church.
Despite the service being on the equivalent weekend as Eilidh’s
Christening three years previously, the weather was very much colder and
wetter; we are so glad that wasn’t an indication of the summer weather to come.
The day after the Christening, Gwen, Eilidh and Iona went
back up to Sallachy for the week, this time with Brenda and Roger; Craig joined
them at the end of the week. This trip
was memorable, not least for two national reasons – Andy Murray winning
Wimbledon, and the start of the summer heatwave.
A bit later in July, Gwen and the girls flew down to
Southampton to spend some time in the sunshine with Brenda & Roger, while
Craig went to Preston for his annual football tournament, which this year
included an appearance in the British Cup final. Sadly, Real Maroon lost the game on penalties
and after the tournament, Craig “hung up his boots” on his Saturday morning
football “career”. He still plays “5s”
where possible though, so isn’t totally out the game! He is doing his best to continue supporting
his big team and ensure that the enthusiasm spreads to the next generation.
Iona joined him with Eilidh at one match, and Eilidh has been to a few matches
now and has her own pink and maroon Hearts scarf specially for the
occasion. Craig hopes that Hearts will
still be around next year to go and see!
The summer also saw Iona experience camping for the first
time when we went up to Blair Atholl with Uncle Mark & Auntie Wendy. Everybody enjoyed it, and I think there could
be lots more camping in store for the girls in years to come!
There were more treats for the girls in the summer: they got
to meet Thomas the Tank Engine and some of his friends when we went to Bo’ness
railway with Judy & Russell; Grandpa is learning to work in the signal box
there! We also saw some shows at the
festival – mainly children’s things, but Gwen and Craig also managed to get
into town one evening to see a comedian.
It makes a change for Gwen to be able to laugh naturally rather than pretend
that Craig’s jokes are funny!
In August, our extended family extended a bit further with
the birth of Imogen, second daughter to Eleanor and James. A visit to London was therefore due; we waited
until the September weekend and some time off nursery for Eilidh, which she started
in August! It’s difficult to believe that our little girl has now entered “the system”, where’s she’s going to be
now for a long, long time! She’s really
enjoying the nursery; she goes on four afternoons a week, Monday to Thursday,
and gets Fridays off. A further sign of
her growing up is that she quit her Baby Ballet class to join a dance school.
She really enjoys this, and is looking forward to preparing for a show in
May. Mummy has already had a sneaky look
at the costumes and thinks it’s going to be great fun.
All these UK flights were good practice for the girls ahead
of our trip to Australia in October & November. We were away for three weeks, and stayed with
Auntie Kathryn and Kieran in Perth – sadly, Uncle Sean was away working. It was spring-time in Perth, and the week
before we went Perth was experiencing the same temperatures as we had in our
little Indian summer in Scotland. The
week we arrived, the sun decided to come out in Perth, though Kathryn, clearly
spoiled by a few years of Australian-living, had the temerity to say it was
cold when she picked us up from the airport and it was 20°C.
Perth soon had its own heatwave, getting in to the 30s and setting a
record for October at 37°C, which was probably
a bit hot for us in all honesty! We had
a fantastic time cuddling a koala, feeding kangaroos and wallabies, learning
about Aboriginal life and exploring the area around Perth (we had a holiday
within a holiday with a wee break to Pemberton and the Margaret River
region). Eilidh got to play in a
multitude of Australian parks, and drink a multitude of chocolate milkshakes;
fortunately, Craig was able to assist in the latter – and the former, come to
think of it!
We stopped over in Dubai on both journeys, which helped us
to get used to the temperature changes – roasting on our way out but noticeably
cooler on our return. So we went from
mid-30s in Oz, to low 20s in Dubai, to 1°C
when we landed in Glasgow, at which point Eilidh cheered with joy and was ever
so excited about being back in the cold.
A true Scottish lass! The girls
were really good on all the flights, slept when they were supposed to (all but
the last one were night flights), and they only really got jet-lagged once we
were home.
It seemed like we were no sooner back from Australia than we
were off jet-setting again, this time to London for a thanksgiving service for
Imogen and birthday party for Bronwen. It was a lovely weekend, though quite
tiring. Rather than just relaxing at home
the following weekend, we decided to recharge our batteries in front of the log
fire up in Sallachy, with Auntie Lynne joining us on the trip. It was an interesting journey up, with the
snow starting to lie on Rannoch Moor, meaning that the bulk of the journey had
to be completed at very low speed. On
the plus side, we were able to have a snowball fight in the glen the next
morning!
That’s about it for the year so far, but there’s more
excitement to come. We have Eilidh’s
nursery nativity service, Iona starring as Jesus in the church nativity, but
most exciting, Auntie Kathryn is due to have a baby girl, sometime around
Christmas. Other than that, we are all
hoping to just relax and enjoy the last couple of weeks of Gwen’s maternity
leave, with a real aim to carry over at least some of our relaxation and
reduced stress when she restarts at New Year. Craig is cutting his hours to have Friday
afternoon off with the girls, which will be great for everyone, especially as
the girls get older and will have early finishes at school on Fridays.
The family Browning would like to wish you all a very
relaxed and stress-free Merry Christmas too, and best wishes for a happy and
prosperous 2014.
Love
Craig, Gwen, Eilidh and Iona
