I just want to wish my wife a very Happy Birthday.

I won’t reveal her age (as I’m a gentleman - Honest!!) But I just want to say that she means the world to me, and is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I love you x x x x

We are very pleased to announce the birth of our son, Liam David.

He was born at 6.26am on 1st July 2008, and weighed in at 7lb 6oz.

Both mother and baby are doing well.

Further details to follow when we’re not feeling so tired

Time is ticking. When is our baby going to arrive?

There is not long at all to go now.

Within the next couple of weeks we will have a new addition to our family. It is not going to soon enough for Gemma. She is really struggling now with her bump. It is quite difficult to move around now.

Gemma has had a few appointment with the midwife lately to check on the progress of her pregnancy. Everything is going well, with the midwives giving Gemma a clean bill of health. They are predicting that our little boy is going to be a bit bigger than Ellie was when she was born. Not really want Gemma wants to hear.

We are looking forward to his arrival, whenever that may be, and welcoming him into our family.

I am getting quite nervous now, the anticipation of when things are going to kick off is started to get to me now. So many things are going through my head. Will I be with Gemma when she goes into labour? Will I get home from work in time? Will we get to the hospital in time? How will it all go?

So many questions, that will only be answered in the fullness of time.

What’s the most unusual way that you’ve been woken in the night?

The other night Gemma and I were woken at about 4 o’clock in the morning by a really strange noise from outside. It sounded like someone was dying. A really loud groaning sound. I got out of bed to investigate.

I looked up and down the street. Nothing seemed obvious, I couldn’t see anything or anyone who would be making such a noise. But, just as I was about to return to bed there was the noise again. My attention was now focused across the road. And there was the source of all the noise!

One of our neighbours was hanging out of his bedroom window throwing his guts up. Not the most pleasant sight to greet my eyes at that time of the morning. He had his whole torso out of the window and was being sick on to his porch / garage roof below. The roof was angled away from the house towards the street and so there was a small river of sick running down the roof.

Why he couldn’t go to the bathroom, I have no idea! After laughing a little at his position, I returned to bed.

Only to be woken again an hour later by the same retching sound, and another torrent of stomach contents running across the roof. I went back to sleep shortly after before having to get out of bed to go to work.

The river of sick was still there as I was leaving for work. It was so obvious to any passer-by what had happened. Luckily though, by the time that I got home from work later that day all traces of the incident had been removed.

Ellie had her 3rd birthday this weekend. It really is hard to believe that she was born three years ago. The time seems to have gone so quickly.

On Saturday, which was her actual birthday, we had to wake her as Ellie was being a lazy bones and decided that she would sleep in. After waking, Ellie came into our room where we gave her some of her cards and presents.

“Oh, ” she would say each time she got an unopened present. “What’s inside?”

“You need to open it to find out,” we replied.

After that we all got up and came downstairs for some breakfast, and also to give Ellie her main present, a battery powered jeep.

Ellie had a small ride in it and wasn’t very impressed. She couldn’t work out how to stop as she careered across the garden towards her trampoline, getting out and declaring that she didn’t like it. Hopefully she will grow more accustomed to it and have another go in the near future.

Once Ellie had had her presents we made a trip to the supermarket to do the weekly shop and also get the food for the party. After returning from our shopping trip, the three of us went to Knowsley Safari Park.

We had a great time. We were pretty fortunate with the weather too. Ellie even had a go at driving around.

After our visit to Knowsley, we headed back home, but first we had to make a stop at Wigan train station to pick up Gemma’s brother, Shaun. Ellie was very excited as she loves going to see the trains.

Once Shaun was safely loaded into the car we headed home, where Gemma set about making Ellie’s birthday cake. She had done a trial run the previous weekend and it looked and tasted brilliant. This one was no different.

On Sunday, we had a BBQ party, and we were very,very lucky with the weather. During the previous week the weather forecasts had not been too promising, so it was with some trepidation that I lit the BBQ shortly before our guests were to arrive. And very soon after I had lit it the first spots of rain began to fall.

“At least I’ve got a waterproof coat,” I thought. But luckily for us all, it was only a brief shower and the sun soon showed his face to make it a gorgeous day. Gemma and I were very thankful for this as it would have been a bit of a tight squeeze trying to get everyone inside the house.

Shortly, after the BBQ was lit, guests began to arrive. My sister Lynwen and her husband Geth were first to arrive with their two boys, Dafydd and Aled. Next to roll up were Nana Mandy and Taido, with Carl, Craig and Ricky. We had a few other guests who came to see the birthday girl.

Once all of our guests arrived, Ellie began to open the mountain of presents that had been bought for her, while I got on with cooking the huge amount of food that we’d bought. (We bought way too much!) Gemma gave me a helping hand with all of the salads and extra bits and pieces. After serving up and everyone tucking into the vast amount of food, it was nice to sit down for a few minutes in the sunshine.

Once everyone had finished their food and given it chance to settle, it was time for Ellie to blow out her candles. The cake was brought in to a chorus of “Happy Birthday”, and before it was finished and the photos were taken, Ellie had already blown out the candles. Cheeky girl - no patience. So we had to do it all over again so we could get it on “film”.

It was a really good day and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We did had one minor mishap when a stray gust of wind blew our parasol over right on top of my sister. Luckily she escaped with just a bump on the head and a bit of a sore neck. Sorry!

Thanks to everyone for coming. And a big thank you from Ellie for all of her presents

Our Daughter Ellie was born. That’s right, our little girl is 3 years old.

She has been really excited for the past week or so. We are having a party for her on Sunday, and hopefully the weather will hold out so that we can have a BBQ.

I’ll post some pictures later when Ellie’s opened her presents

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Four weeks to go now!

That means that the baby could really arrive anytime in the next few weeks. When its put like that the birth is very close. I’m getting quite nervous about it now. You wouldn’t think that we’ve been through this once before.

The pregnancy is getting difficult for Gemma now, lugging her belly around with her, not getting any respite from the weight. Sleeping is now getting any easier either. She just wants it all to be finished now, and get the rewards that come at the end of a pregnancy.

Good news is that the baby is the right way up, meaning head down, which will make things a lot easier when it comes to getting the little lad out.

Looking ahead to the birth, I’m hoping that Gemma goes into labour when I’m at home. I don’t fancy having to leg it back from work. Especially if it all goes as quick as it did with Ellie.

Who knows, maybe my next post on Gemma’s Pregnancy will be the one that says “He’s Here”

Gareth’s Blog has been going for a year now.

I’ve been quite surprised by how I’ve kept adding to it, I didn’t think that I would have lasted this long. It has been good to tell people about what’s been going on in my life.

In that time there has been:

• 148 posts (including this one)

• Over 9000 visits to my blog

• Over 130 comments - I’m quite surprised at this that people have wanted to leave comments.

• 2361 spam comments have been caught

• May 2008 was the best month: 2057 views.

• Tuesday 20th May 2008 was best day : 142 views

Thanks to everyone who has contributed and taken a look at what goes on in my life.

Here’s to the next 12 months.

Ellie was very excited today.

After weeks of waiting her new bed arrived this morning. All afternoon Ellie was waiting for me to get home so that we could put it together, so as soon as I got home, Ellie was dragging me upstairs to get the job done.

First job though was to dismantle the cot-bed so that we could move it into the nursery ready for the arrival of the new baby. Reassembling the cot will be tomorrow night’s job.

The process of putting the new bed together was much easier than anticipated and the whole thing was put together in about an hour. To finish it all off we out on Ellie’s new duvet set. It is “Dora the Explorer”, and Ellie couldn’t wait to try it out:

The bed must be pretty comfy, as she has gone straight off to sleep tonight.

Sleep tight Ellie.

Love Dad.

Yesterday Ellie had Gemma and I laughing.

Gemma was talking to her Mum on the phone when Ellie asked to speak to Nana Mandy. Ellie wanted to tell her about her holiday, and to show her the photos that were taken at the holiday.

All excited, Ellie took the phone off Gemma and headed upstairs to her bedroom where the photos were to show Nana. Gemma and I remained downstairs where we listened to Ellie saying to Nana Mandy,

“Look Nana, photos.”

We just knew that she was then holding up the phone for Nana to have a look, as Nana kept saying to Ellie,

“I can’t see them”

As Ellie gets older there are going to be some more treats to savour.

I must apologise that there hasn’t been much activity on my blog recently. Its been a busy few weeks that I’ve not had too much time to update things.

With starting my new job I’ve actually been doing some proper work so I’ve not had the same opportunities to update my blog with new stuff. So hopefully I’ll get into a better routine in the coming weeks and get posting on the blog.