Eden in the snow!!

we think the pictures say it all. She is half Norwegian after all!

Sleeping update!

Since I last wrote, which was Sunday, sleeping has been a bit up and down! Sunday was great - she slept 3 hours, woke for feeding, back to sleep for 3 hours, more feeding, straight back to sleep. Amazing. We thought we had it cracked and had overnight achieved status as top parents! Then came Monday...

Monday was horrible again - disturbed, unsettled...very little sleep for any of us. Consequently we all spent most of Tuesday in bed or crashed out on the sofa feeling a little groggy! But, after Monday there's always Tuesday...

Last night was the best yet! Praise to Jesus. We prayed and anointed Eden with oil confessing good sleep and peace over her cos she'd been unhappy most of the day with this trapped wind. Anyway, put her down at 11.30pm, next we heard from her was 4.30am!! Awesome. Silje fed her, I got up and changed her, put her back down at 5, then didn't hear her again until 7.30. Life seems so much better after a good night's sleep. We are so grateful to God for blessing us so much last night.

Anyway, here's a really cool picture we took yesterday... Have a great day yourself!

Sleeping!

Hello. I'm writing this with a huge smile on my face, cos our baby Eden is sleeping peacefully! Thank you Jesus, so very much indeed.

You see, the last 2 nights have been pretty rough - Friday Eden didn't sleep at all from 11pm until 6am, and last night was also pretty bad. She has got trapped wind which is really common in babies right at the start, but it has stopped her getting good rest when lying down. She would fall asleep in our arms but as soon as we put her down she would wake up and start crying. To see her already asleep this evening is wonderful. Silje is also asleep; I'm only up cos I went to bed about 8pm and slept a bit and will go to bed again soon.

That's all really - just had to share this fantastic news. It's not until you've been up in the night with a screaming baby when you're so tired you can't even think that sleep becomes this precious - both you're own and for those you love.

2 days home

Been home now with Eden for 2 full days. It's been great. We took her out for the first time today - trip to Asda which she slept throughout! So much for seeing the outside world.

Nights have been ok, last night better than the 1st one. Last night she woke on the dot every 2 hours, had a feed then slept soundly till the next one. If that continues it will be fine. Apparently though we should bath her right before bed then she'll sleep longer, so we'll try that today.

Ok, one more picture for you all...



I've also got an online store of pictures where I can upload digital pictures and order them as prints, which get sent to us by post. We got some through this morning and they were really good quality. If you're interested in seeing/buying some of these, you can view them at http://www.internetphotosdirect.co.uk/nick@tgq.org.uk

We're back!!!!

Hey everybody... thought I had to write you all to tell you that little Eden and me have now finally gotten out of the hospital and can't wait to stay in our own beds at home together with daddy.

How exciting it is... As daddy allready has stated for you our little girl is totally gorgeous... what a reward from the LORD. I will save you for the details, they're not worth knowing about anyway, cause I agree with the ladies I've heard say it before; it's all worth it. Thank you guys for all your texts (Nick has told me all about it...) and for all that prayed for us (and are praying for us)... God is good!!!

That's all from the mummy in Howes-house, but only for now... promise to write more another time!!!

Take a look at a proud daddy though....

The Howes family welcomes Eden Louise...

Finally, we can officially announce the birth of Eden Louis at 4 minutes past 5 this morning. She weighed 9 pounds, 11 ounces, that's 4.4 kilos, and measured 56cm.

Praise Jesus - she is a gorgeous, healthy little girl. I'll not stop long cos I can't wait to get back to the hospital and see the 2 beautiful ladies of my family... more soon, inc some pictures.

All happening this weekend

Just to keep you all informed: still no baby, but we are booked in tomorrow to be induced (well, Silje is anyway). We go in at 8am, and have been told to expect a little Howes sometime late Saturday or early Sunday.

We will let you know when he/she is born & get some pictures up here asap. We'll post our great news here, rather than try and let everyone know individually - i'm sure you understand - so if you know anyone who's keen to find out, point them to this website. Thanks. Bring on the weekend.

You were all wrong!!

OK, 6 days over now and nobody guessed right! Everyone's bet for delivery date has now passed and so now all bets are off and you'll just have to sit it out with us, waiting for the magic moment.

Yeah, i know you're gonna tell us "try curry" - Done it! "try wine" - Done it. "try walking" - Done it...lots. "try hot bath" - Done it every day. "Try, hmmm, well, er, other things...." - Done it. Still hasn't worked. It seems little Howesy is gonna greet us in person when he/she is good and ready and not before.

Neil, (Nick's bro-in-law) has been visiting this evening, and bought us a Chinese takeaway, so if the baby comes tomorrow, we'll sware it was the Chinese and tell every other pregnant person that this is the key to labour-inducemet! Really good to see Neil. Thought he would see a baby...never mind.

Ok, that's all for now...keep you posted.

2 days over...and waiting

Yep, 2 days ago this baby was meant to arrive. Hopefully we're in for an eventful weekend. It's a weird feeling, waiting for something so massive to happen, kind of keeping yourself free just in case, but also still carrying on as normal.

Come on Junior Howes! Everybody's waiting for YOU! Silje is in bed sleeping, which is good, cos sleeping at night is something we've not been doing so much of lately, being fairly uncomfortable for her, and me being a sympathetic light-sleeper!

Otherwise, everything is going pretty well. It's been a fun week back at work, and catching up with all the college guys. I was teaching this morning - well, not really teaching. We did a bible quiz for the first session (mixed results, but generally not displaying an awesome knowledge of the Word of God! Can you list the 8 beattitudes and the 12 minor prophets in order??). For the rest of the morning, I got them to write out Ephesians chapter 1 and to memorise it by end of Jan. I love playing teacher!!

Ok, so not the news you were waiting for, but we promise we'll tell you as soon as we can. Till then, farewell.

Thought you might like to see a piccie of my wife typing her blog...just moments ago!