Isabelle's Blessing

Isabelle's first day at church was a success. She looked very pretty and didn't cry at all.

The blessing went well - she was blessed by her dad, and Papa Ricky was also able to stand in the circle.

Here are some more blessing day pictures:

Also, here are a couple tub pictures:

Happy Christmas!

It has been a wonderful X-mas at our house...

Maddie attended a X-mas party in one of her new dresses... . We made X-mas cookies for Santa and fondue for dinner. There was a nice X-mas FHE and daddy read How the Grinch Stole Chirstmas. We opened a Christmas Eve present, and...

...we took picture of the girls in their X-mas PJs... .

Santa brought lots of great presents... ...and what Santa didn't

bring we seemed to get from family and friends... .

Thank you all for your thoughtful gifts. Here a some additional pictures to enjoy:

Just Waiting for Christmas

I haven't got any long stories to tell in this edition - just thought I'd post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Bow head:

Mommy's little candy cane:

Nap time:

Just chillin' in my bouncer:

Just before my bath:

Maddie's Holiday Concert and Isabelle - Day 2

Maddie and all the ASL children in the K1, K2 and 1st Grade classes treated parents, family and guests to a holiday concert. All the kids did great, and Maddie was the silliest of them all. She did silly movements to the music, made funny faces while she was singing and kept waving to her Daddy, who was sitting in the audience trying to keep a straight face.

As I've never been much of a performer and am generally quite shy in front of an audience, she must get her stage "flare" from Ally's side of the family. Actually, Maddie's like a cuter (perhaps slightly less goofy) version of Alex. If you don't believe me, check out the clip below.

Noel......Noel.

Isabelle continues well. She's eating, sleeping and doing all the other important newborn things. She get's cuter everyday, and here a another couple pictures to prove it.

Isabelle

Our new little one has finally arrived!

Isabelle Amelie Colton arrived on 17 December 2007 at 8:45 p.m. The following is all the pertinent information - weight: 3.495 kgs or 7.69 lbs; length: 52 ccs or 20.47 inches; other: She has 10 fingers, 10 toes and the correct amounts of every other body part. She looks healthy, is very aware of her surroundings, is pleasant and beautiful.

Our day began at 8:05 a.m. when we dropped Maddie at ASL and continued by taxi to Portland hospital. We were met at Portland's main entrance by a porter, who took Ally's luggage and escorted us to our delivery suite on the 7th floor.

The induction began around 9:00 a.m. We spent most of the morning on our feet, as we were told that a combination of medication and walking would help progress the labour. As Portland is not a big hospital, we did most of our walking outside, which was cold. However, it did give us the chance to do some shopping on Marlebone High Street and to drop by Starbucks for a caramel hot chocolate!

Room service brought us our lunch, which we selected from the hospital's room serice menu, around 12:30. The food throughout our stay was quite tasty! As we were waiting for the doctor to arrive and check Ally's progress, we stayed in the delivery suite after lunch. Ally did a lot of pacing.

The doctor broke Ally's water around 3:15 p.m., which accelerated Ally's contractions. Ally was given her epidural soon afterwards. From that point onwards, Ally's midwife was very attentive, basically remaining with us in our delivery suite until Isabelle was born.

Around 6:15 p.m., Ally was given pitocin to further accelerate her labour. It worked; unfortunately, her epidural stopped working at about the same time. For around 1.5 hours, Ally could feel every pitocin-enhanced contraction; still, I don't think I ever heard her cry out (that's how strong my wife is). Around 8:00 p.m., they got Ally's epidural working again, and the doctor arrived to deliver the baby. Once the doctor got himself sorted, Ally pushed about a dozen times and...

...Isabelle was born at 8:45 p.m.

We spent the night in the hospital. After breakfast, Isabelle's first bath...

...and all the necessary examinations, we checked out of Portland and arrived home around 11:30 a.m. Maddie came home from school at 2:30 and has been taking care of Isabelle ever since.



Enjoy these other pictures! We'll try to post more in a couple of days.

Flat Stanley in London

Cousin Klellin's school class sent Maddie a Flat Stanley. So, this morning Maddie and I took Flat Stanley on a tour of the city.

It was quite a trek:

from St Johns Wood to Buckingham Palace; then,

up the Mall and over to Trafalgar Square.

Next, a pit stop at McDonald's.

Afterwards, a short walk to Big Ben and ...

...the River Thames (you can also see the London Eye in the

background). Finally, a tube ride to the Tower of London...

and...

the Tower Bridge and another tube ride back to St Johns Wood. We hope Flat Stanley had a good time; Maddie and I had a great time. Klellin, your school class should be getting these pictures, the answers to all the things you wanted to know, a postcard and maybe some London "sweeties" in the mail soon (probably about the time you go back to school following the Christmas Break).

Among the things a dad learns from his daughter...

Ally met with her doctor today. Everything is still fine, and it seems Ally will remain pregnant for a little while longer.

Isabelle, by all indications, appears quite content to remain where she is; at least until someone decides to make her come out. With this in mind, the doctor scheduled an induction for Monday, 17 December. So, unless Isabelle decides to grace us with her presence earlier, it looks like Monday is the big day!

Even in the womb, my little girl demonstrates an inclination to do things in her own way and time; not surprisingly, this is a proclivity she shares with both her mother and her older sister.

Dad, as always, will learn patience.

Ballet

Maddie's enrolled in a ballet class on Thursday afternoons. This Thursday was her last class of the term, and visitors were invited to attend and to take pictures.

Also, the children got to wear "fancy dress"; as you can see, Maddie attended as Sleepting Beauty.

Bammy in London

Here are some more pictures taken during Bammy's visit to London.

On a completely unrelated note, you can see just how cute Ally still is, even though she's about to pop!