Synchronization of Us

It seems i think that we are pretty much settled on a name for this baby. Is it my number one choice? No its not but i do like it, its a strong name - a very Scottish name and one that any Scot would be proud to carry.
It has been a long hard journey getting to this point, we both have such diffrent ideas of what we like (i think i have said before my number one choice would be either Finley or Lucas while his something like Gordon or Peter) . In the end im not sure its the first choice for either of us but as its the only name we both like and agree on then its also the winner.
For the past maybe 2 months we have had this name on the table, i have been using it when i can .Getting use to it and letting it become part of my daily thoughts, it appears to be working as although for the most part i still refer to the baby as “baby” in my head and heart i use his name.

With the girls it was easy, i don’t remember the journey much with Rebecca’s name. We picked up a baby name book and spent a few months looking through it , we both got a feel for what each other liked and i guess as some point both realized it was the perfect choice (although not Becky, never Becky .I have always been insistent on that) . The middle name for a girl would be Stephanie after my sister , that was chosen before the baby was even conceived . I remember calling the baby Rebecca early on, long before we even found out she was a girl.

Eilidh was the easiest one yet, we knew with her we would find out the sex(with Rebecca we didn’t as no extra scans were planned till my fluid problems started, we were about 30+ weeks before we found out she was a girl) . Before the 20 week scan we talked about names a little, not really making any decisions or worrying about it much . After the scan it was decided very quickly. I asked Craig that evening if we could really talk about names now and he suggested Eilidh - i automatically said no. Then he looked up the spelling and i loved it , that was that and she was Eilidh from the moment on.
Middle name was a little bit more complicated as we wanted to use Joyce after his mum but she didn’t seem to keen , honestly we both feel she really did love the idea but did not want us to feel pressurized into it - this was definetly not true , while not our favorite name in the world we wanted to do that for her plus i have always felt Eilidh Joyce just goes so well together - plus i love calling her EJ

This time around a girl would of been Charlotte Grace (Grace after my gran) or possibly Grace Ann (which i also loved as it would be after my gran and using Ann from my mums name) . We always knew a boy would have the middle name Graeme after Craig’s brother. Alexander has been a name we both loved from the beginning but we always face the same issue - Alexander Graeme - we feel we would just be setting the kids up for teasing (a just in case anyone is not picking up the connection talking about this guy here .) If we ever had another son then i imagine Alexander will be our number one choice.

Have i rambled on enough now? Im waiting for Craig to get off the phone so we can finish our game of Mario Party on the wii and he is taking forever. For the moment our son will more than likely be called Ruairidh Graeme - like i said its very Scottish and follows the same tradition as Eilidhs name .Its of Gaelic origin and means “Red King” . Its easy to say once you get the hand of it honesty - Roo (rhymes with boo) - Ray . Roo-Ray .

Pictures from the first day of nursery

The first Friday night dinner at my mums after she got home and Rebecca gets to finally join in with the bubble machine fun.

How could i not have blogged about this already? Im amazed at how quickly time is passing these days, is the end of pregnancy not suppose to drag?

Yesterday was Rebecca’s hospital check up, she was taken in the morning and put under anesthetic again . The done whats know as a MLB and applied Mitomycin C to stop scar tissue forming.
We spent the afternoon is the hospital but thankfully she was sent home in the evening.

Doctor K was very happy with how she is healing, as he explained it before the surgery in June her airway was about 1/4 the size of what you would expect. Its now about half the size , he doesn’t feel he is going to be able to get it any better and for the moment nothing else can or will be done (which is good news, Rebecca may never be able to scream across a crowded room or become an opera singer but she will be able to live a perfectly normal and happy life) .
She will go back in a few months to see him in the airway clinic and i imagine a few appointments will follow in the future but as long as there not surgical we can all deal. She will also more than likely need some specialist speech therapy help but for the moment nothing will be done till her body gets time to heal and repair.

It looks like we are able to close the chapter of our lives now, its been a horrible and difficult time but with the support of my family and friends (and yes i mean all you guys , i count you all as friends and your support has meant everything to me these past weeks) we have got through it. Now we have nothing but good to look forward to - our son is due in just over 2 weeks , Rebecca is loving nursery and Eilidh will be starting playgroup herself soon. There is nothing but wonderful times ahead for my family.

Lets see - this week for the first time Eilidh told me she loved me unprompted . She just came and and cuddled up to me and went “love you mummy” . Its the first time either of my kids have ever done that and it was amazing.

She has also for some reason started calling her sister “Nay - Nay” . We think it comes from how Rebecca says Eilidh which sounds similar. After allher sister uses a name other than her name so she is just copying. So basically Eilidh is calling Rebecca Eilidh . Its actually rather cute.

She has also discovered that head diving of my bed is *great* fun , we are just waiting for our first hospital trip.

She has also been discovering her artistic side, it sounds terrible but we have always kept art activities to when she was sleeping as previous attempts have always resulted in her eating the crayons/paint whatever. At the hospital she spent ages in one of the playrooms coloring and since
then asks for it all the time and spends ages drawing and painting - although she does seem to lack a little in the imagination department as she is all about drawing circles - over and over and over again.

These were taken on the Sunday after she came off the vent and it was the first day we really felt we had “Rebecca” back .Before then she was refusing to move around and was pretty miserable, she actually got to get of the ward for a short while and join my family for lunch and then played in the playroom for hours with her cousin and sister. I can barely look at these pictures without feeling tearful and so grateful.

No need to password protect these ones i feel. A few taken the first day or to on the ward, she is just coming off the drugs and getting back to normal. The sleeping one was taken on that horrible day she spent hallucinating and going through withdrawal - she had not slept in days and finally passed out.

Some shots of Courtney and Eilidh from my mums when Rebecca was in hospital. The bubble machine is *way* cool and works wonderfully .