Seasons Greetings

Well what a great week its been. I broke up on Wednesday 17th December and dont start back until Monday 5th January so that gives me a good two and bit weeks off to spend some quality with the family. Nikki was working on the Thursday and Friday and thats one of the reasons I took the holidays so I could after the kidlets.

I had been in touch with an old work colleague on facebook Claire, who had left the business about a year ago and I havent seen for some time. She interviewed me for my first job and I worked for her for about 3 and a half years. We met at the designer outlet for a coffee and good catch up. The girls were really good and we enjoyed a good session on the activity area for the kids as well.

In the afternoon we headed out for a walk doen to the canal to feed the ducks. Nyah is so cute, whenever I give her bread to the feed the ducks she always eats it instead of throwing it to the birds!

Friday, me and the girls visited my G&G. My grandad had fallen off his bike a couple of days ago in the ice and at the ripe old age of 82, as you can imagine this shook him up a bit and caused a some danage to his knee. I was surprised when I saw him that he was in really good form and his knee was making a really a good recovery. Saying that, I wouldnt expect anything else from my Grandad! My Grandma was on really good form as well and looked well. They love seeing the girls. It must be one of the most amazing feelings when you are young, having a family and watching that family grow to become bigger with a son in law, then to see it grow further with grandchildren and to see it grow even further with great grandchildren must be an amazing sense of achivement, satisfaction and been very proud of your family. Its great to see them both looking so well and I love visiting them whenever we can.

Sunday saw a very special day in the christening of our latest arrival. We had Nyah's christening at Brayton church then at Monk Fryston. As much as Monk Fryston is like a second home to us, we were inviting quite a few kids and we thought it would be too formal so we had the christening at Brayton church followed by food and a wetting the babies head at the community centre. We had a great day and it was great to see everyone, the Tarriers, Weltons, Mckenzies, Wilsons, Inmans and inparticular my best buddy and the girls god parents Ben and Noush. Ben had done a night shift the previous night, finished at 09:30am, drove from Coventry tothe christening then headed back to start another night shift at 08:30! Amazing Guy!

Monday I had arranged to meet up with some old school friends who I hadnt seen for quite a few years. Mikey P has moved down to London now with his partner and has been there for a year or so. Wwe also met Helen and and Louise V who again I havent seen for years now. We all met at the big coffee in Anlaby and it was great to catch up and find out what everyone was up to. We spent a good couple of hours drinking tea and reminising about the good old days, Our boyband, Boys R Us!, teachers, holidays etc. Its really was good and we are planning to do it again at some point in the new year.

By this time, five days had flown by and we were getting closer and closer to santa visiting!

Tuesday Nikki had finished work and we headed out with the girls at 9am and walked into town. We didnt really stop walking all day and having been shopping, eating at Frankie and Bennys and having a few cocktails we eventually got home at about 4pm. The girls were worn out but we had had a great day and Nyah had loved walking all day!

It was great spending time with them over the last 5 days. They really are great. Nyah is just coming on so much and little Ciara has changed so much since she was born. The girls really are my world.

With the hectic past few days I started to come down with a bit of man flu on the eve of xmas, not great timing. Xmas eve soon came round and my mum, dad and sister came round about 3 and we started on the xmas spirit. Dash and Nat came round about 7 for an hour so it was great to see them. Nikki had done a lovely meal of Salmon and veg and that was washed down by a few glasses of wine and beer. I retired early (about 10:30) on xmas eve as the cold had really kicked in and I felt my bed was calling me. When I wake up, will santa have been????

Some snaps from Xmas Day 2008

Xmas was great! My mum and dad and sister had stayed xmas eve and were there to see the girls wake and open their presents, and boy did that take a long time! They were both really spoilt from everyone and it seemed to take forever to open the presents then all we did was play with them all day. The girls loved it and so did I! Mummy did an amazing xmas dinner which we all promptly eat far to much off then finished off by eating xmas pudding.Aanother good thing that came out of xmas day it was my motivation for getting back in the gym had increased massively. By the end of the day, I was already thinking of my goals and action plan for getting back in the gym. I will come onto those in the next update.

Boxing Day saw us head over to Leeds to see the wifes family. Our first stop was to see great grandad who has recently moved into a home. Although his memory is not what it used to be he still has his wit and sence of humour. He enjoyed seeing the girls and even helped them with Nyahs drawings!

We then headed onto the mother and father in laws for brunch with Mel, V and Al. It was good to catch up with them all and again Ciara and Nyah had been spoilt with lots of presents, in particular Dora. We even had time to have a competiton between the boys on the rowing machine which was fun. We then left there and last minute decided to stop off at Monk Fryston for tea. Me and Nikki love it there and we are made to feel like its our second home when we go. We sat in the bar area by ourselves and had tea while me and Nyah played hide and seek behind the curtains.

On Sunday we headed up to Filey for the day. we met my mum, dad and sister up. We went to a lovely little modern coffee shop for tea and teacakes then a lovely long walk down to the beach. As we were walking down to the beach we could hear a helicopter but couldnt see it. Then between the trees I saw it hovering over the sea. As quick as I could I got my camera and ran to get a view of the helicopter. Just when I got the chopper in view it tilted forward and flew away. 10 minutes earlier and I would have had a great picture of the helicopter hovering over the lifeboat which had just come back to shore. I still managed to get quite a few of the lifeboat and their crew bringing their vessell back into the yard.

Visiting the coast wouldnt be the same if you didnt have fish and chips so we went to Browns and had the best britain has to offer, wonderful.

What a fantastic xmas i have had spending it with my girls and family. Its how xmas should be. Only 363 days left til santa visits again................

Serious amount of updating needed!

My last update was on the 6th of November which is 24 days ago! How time flys and with that in mind I best writing about the events over the last 24 days.

I feel I am really starting to settle into the new role now. As with any new job there is alot to take on board and implement so the team are really starting to make some good strides into their KBI's.

Little Ciara is coming on an absolute dream. She really is amazing, sleeping through the night, mumbling under her voice, content during the day and she is now starting to give us some cheeky big smiles. The smell of those temples and cheeks are divine, I could spend all day smelling them. She will be 9 weeks old this Sunday!

Nyah is also been a little star as usual. Her speech and communication is coming on massively. She is now stating to put together the words she has learnt into sentences such as, "come on mummy," "I love you," "Where is Mikki?" Its amazing how she is now starting to pick up on everything we say (need to be really carefully what we say!)

I have started back with my drumming lessons in which I have set my kit up in the garage and have been going to a place in Selby called the Ore House. I was really lucky to find this place as its the only place in Selby that dose drum lessons. I got such a buzz after my first lesson back I couldn't wait til the following week so I re arranged the garage and got my kit set up. Not to sure if the neighbours are impressed with the noise I am making. The guy who gives me the lessons (Oli) is a cracking drummer and in just a couple of weeks he has really pushed me to learn new styles and beats. Its just a case of practising now until I'm not concentrating so much I'm pulling really daft faces like the man Vinnie Calluata! I'm really going to keep at it because I look at the way Oli plays and I think god, "I have got alot more to learn and I really want to get to that stage!" Watch out Larry M Jnr!

We have spent a two great times going shopping. Last Sunday we went to Leeds for the day to meet up with Pam and Mike and Vanessa and Alex. We had lunch in Cafe Rouge then I walked the girls around the German market while Nikki went to see her Grandad who is in hospital at the moment. The German Market is amazing, loads of stalls selling curry wursts, authentic items and chocolate. We then had a really good look around the shops. Don't know if its a man thing or just me but the thought of going to Leeds shopping and having a really good look around excites me. On the way there I was like a little kid, walking to the shops I was then as soon as i walk into a shop a just freek out! I cant find what I'm looking for, The cheapest pair of jeans I saw where £13 from Primark which where so tight around the crotch I may aswell have been wearing tights, then the next pair were near to £100! I must be getting a tight git in my old age but I cant bring myself to spend that money on a pair of Jeans. Needless to say we drove home with me not buying anything!

Then last night we got the girls wrapped up and headed down to Meadowhall to do a bit of shopping. Again, so excited about walking around and seeing what bargains I could find but I just couldn't see anything I liked and everything was too expensive. It even got to the point were I felt dizzy at the end of the evening from going in and out of shops, funny!

Its great, one of Nikki's best friends from school has moved back with her mum and dad round the corner from us. They have been seeing each other about 3 times a week and its great that they are back in touch again. We even set up a blind date for Donna and Kieth, (even though Nikki wont admit it) and they have hit it off really well. I don't want to say anymore as I don't want to tempt fate but I hope it works out for them. Watch this space...................

I have had a couple of sessions back in the gym now Nyah is settling more when she goes to bed and feel alot better for it.

Well its now Thursday evening and Nikki has gone shopping with Donna and the girls to White Rose, (wish I was with them!). It had been snowing really bad this morning and luckily I had only to go to Hull so not to far.

Really looking forward to Saturday night as we are hitting Leeds for a few drinks and bit of a disco dance with Dash & Nat and Kieth and Donna so really looking forward to it. Hopefully going to meet Barry and Lisa later on in the evening if they can make it.

9 more days left at work, then 2 and a bit weeks off. 21 days til Santa comes, HO HO HO HO

Playing Catch Up..........

Its been two weeks since I last updated my blog and I really dont feel I have had a spare minute. Things really have been non stop. The last two weeks have seen a visit to see Lee Evans in Newcastle, Golf and team night out at Aldwark Manor, Assesment centres, Halloween parties, and thats not to mention looking after the girls.

I guess one of the main reasons for not updating the blog is that there have been so many developments with the girls that this has taken up more and more time. Ciara is continuing to go from strength to strength drinking milk like there is no tomorrow and piling on the pounds. She is now weighing in at 9lb 4oz. Thats 3lb in 6 weeks!! We will be taking her to Pizza Hut next weekend for the "all you can buffet" for a fiver. Her sleeping routine is also coming on a treat aswell. She is sleeping from 18:30pm til 22:30pm then till 04:30pm so we are not far off getting her through the night. Just a couple more hours and we will be there. If there is one thing that is killing me at the moment its the lack of sleep. I love my sleep, I usually need on average a good 8 hours but at the moment this is been limited to about 6.

Nyah is also changing all the time. Two weeks ago we changed her cot into a bed. The first two nights were great. She went to bed at the normal time, then woke around 6:30ish and came running into out bedroom shouting "Mummy, Daddy, Milk." The honeymoon period soon ended and since Bonfire night, Nyah has cried non stop for about an hour and a half and will not go to bed. She is past it with tierdness but still just wont go down. I have been to check on her in the night and she has fallen asleep sat upright against the baby gate and laid flat out in the middle of her room. She is so cute! Nyahs vocab is also developing. She is putting words together and creating sentences which is great as we are understanding her more and she is understanding us more.

The new job is going really well. I will be glad when Ciara is sleeping through the night then I will start to feel a bit more myself again. That saying, you might be there in body, but not in spirit can certainly be applied to the last couple of weeks!

I also recieved 3 lovely points of my driving license and a £60 fine going to york this week for doing 78mph in 60mph zone!

My rowing machine arrived last weekend and despite one session with my dad last weekend the rowing machine is gathering dust, but not for much longer. My objective for this week is to carry out 4 split sessions.

Day 1 - Chest (1 hr)

Day 2 - Arms (1 hr)

Day3 - Legs (1 hr)

Day 4 - Back (1 hr)

I did these sessions two weeks ago from a book that my mate Ben gave me. Its awesome and to be fair I know alot of the exercises but when you do your normal gym routines you tend to forget about the other exercises and stick to what you know. I ached for days after each session and instantly saw better results so I am determined to carry out these sessions this week.

I am made up for Nikki, her best friend from school Donna who she hasnt seen for 6 years has moved back from the IOM and moved in with her family round the corner from us, how bizzare! She has been round for cups of tea as they have had lots of catching up to do. She also came round for food and drinks on Friday with another close friend of ours Keith. (They seemed to get on really well!)

Just on my final note before I sign off, Nikki has been a star since Ciara has been born. Looking after both the girls at this stage is no easy job, but as always Nikki just gets on with it and does a great job!

Practice what you preach!

My first week back at work has been manic to say the least! As within previous blogs, I have alluded to how important time management is and this week has just totally gone out the window! I returned back to work with 270 emails, voice messages and urgent requests so what I had planned to do on Monday didn't happen at all, in fact I didn't get anywhere close to it.

Monday was spent all day picking up with my team, sorting out issues and going through emails. Its strange, before you go on holiday (or paternity) you rush around trying to get things done for when you are away and when you come back its no different! By 10am on Monday morning I hadn't felt like I had had the last 2 weeks off, in fact I felt like I had never been away.

Monday ended on a great high through, my buddy Ben and me had an awesome training session. We started off with a 15 minute run, then some really intense workouts on the punch bag, free weights, working on core stability and generally getting the heart rate pumped whilst doing the weights. After the session I was feeling really pumped and the adrenaline was running high. Ben went onto have a great week of training, I on the other hand, didn't do anything else that week.
There are two main reasons why I only had one training session. First of all the volume of work and secondly not feeling 100%. Symptoms been sore throat, headache and general lack of energy.

To emphasis the time, its now over two weeks since I initially started this chapter of the blog so I have decided to write that week off........................

Striving for Better, The Essence of your Imagination..............MOTIVATION.

"Motivation is the art of creating an environment in which you want to perform in order to satisfy your own needs or desires".

This level of Motivation can be applied to your personal life, goals, family, home, financial status, Social & Cultural beliefs and your physical health. To what level we succeed at this is down to you the individual as you are the biggest instrumental factor in how much "Fire you have in your belly" to satisfy your needs and desires.

The below "Essence of Imagination" can only be fully achieved with the imagination to see below the surface and bring that to the forefront. As individuals, its in our nature to strive for better and increase our personal development. Our possibilities are endless!

We can all be inspired by other people, what see and what we hear but ultimately unless we have the motivation within ourselves to change and become better through personal development, we will look back on missed opportunities, under personal development and generally not being the best we can be.

Having that inner desire and pushing our motivation levels to the max will inevitably deliver against our needs and desires and ultimatley deliver Self Actualisation which I believe is an ongoing framework we work towards.

So get MOTIVATED!

Start as we mean to go on...................

Does thou love life?

Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

Life doesn't get much better at the moment. Ive had two weeks off to spend quality time with my three girls. Now Nikki is well on the road to recovery after the pregnancy and we have settled into the new routine with the both the girls, it has allowed us to make to make the most of the second week of my paternity.

To look at Nikki a couple of hours after the pregnancy, you wouldn't think she had gone through giving birth to our second daughter. Two weeks on, Nikki is virtually back to normal and looks fantastic. I'm really proud of her, she really is a great wife and mum to Nyah and Ciara. Saying that, I have respect for any women who have given birth, truly amazing!

I'm really pleased with my commitment to the gym this week and especially my diet. I find reading the Men's Health magazines and researching on the web about healthy eating and training a real dose of motivation. I have been training on and off over the last 15 years and never really feel I have reached the "blue sky physique". This is down to a number of reasons, work, home improvements, children. These are all big milestones in my life that have taken up time. These are all reasons for not maintaining the gym but not really excuses. I pride myself on been organized and utilizing my time effectively. I have realised that even when you don't necessarily want to do something, for example go in the gym, if you force yourself to go in and do the session, when you have finished, showered and sat down you can reflect and think that was a good session and I'm glad I have done it. More importantly because the gym is in the garage my turn around for start to finish (gym & showered is between 30 - 45mins). No excuses now, cover model for xmas!

Motto's we use at work and that will be at the forefront of my training will be:

Passion for action

Being the best we can

Pride in what we do and how we do it

Honest, fair and determined to win

My aim is to maintain the hard work I have done over this week and keep to the training regime 4 times a week and diet.

Anyway enough of the training talk and back to the family. This second week has really been an action packed week. We visited a kiddies play house called Creepy Crawlies in York on Wednesday. Creepy Crawlies is an activity centre for kids with ball pools, slides, climbing frames and an outdoor farm with horses, pigs etc. Nyah loved it, especially on the slides where I flew down with her. Its a great chance for Nyah to interact with other kids of the same age so it is something we would definitely do again. After we had been there for a couple of hours we decided to head to my mums to feed the girls. Luckily we arrived just in time to see an old school friend Sukina and little Izac and Isabella. Its been years since we saw each other so it was really good to catch up.

Nikki is from Leeds originally and we lived together for 2 years in Colton. We had some great times when we lived in Leeds and dont really visit as often as we would both like. On Thursday we visted for the day. We arrived in good time and went to visit our good friend Grant who is the General Manager of the Malmaison Hotel in Leeds. He is a top guy and has done extremelly well for himself at such a young age to achieve this position. Having had our own personal guide of the hotel we then headed for a walk around the shops. I love the atmosphere in Leeds with its bustling coffee shops, trendy fashion boutiques and peoples individuality. Alot of window shopping was done but we still seemed to spend a fortune!

We then visited Filey on the east yorkshire coast on the Friday with my mum and dad. To say we are in October the weather was great, very windy but great. We met at 10am in a wonderful coffee shop Nikki and mum went to a couple of months ago then headed down to the beach. Nyah totally loves the beach and the sea an couldnt get for going when we could see the sea! My dad went to buy a football for Nyah to have play around with. Now I must stress, the weather was lovely but so very very windy. My dad bought the lightest inflatable ball that shop sold. He threw the ball to me and the ball took off in the direction of the wind which I naturally chased (forgetting about Nyah who was running to the sea). Needless to say I got the ball back safely and senior saved Nyah! I managed to get some great snaps with the Nikon aswell of Nyah and my mum and dad. It wouldnt be right visiting the coast and not having Fish & Chips so we headed to Browns Restaurant. I remember going their years ago with my grandma and grandad and it brought back some great memories.

Friday night saw us entertain some really good friends of ours, Dash and Nat. We met them initially through Nikki when she worked at the Student Support Centre and since then they have become really good friends. I also agreed that I would do the Great North Run next year with him and Carl his bestman so thats now in the diary!

Its now the eve before I go back to work after two weeks off paternity. The time has flown by so quickbut its been great spending quality time with the girls, family and friends. With only 10 weeks till Xmas, its going to be a real special time with Nyah been more aware of Santa and all her presents! My work load is going to be quite high and intense for the rest of month and really up until Xmas. I am determined to get my team up the dashboard ladder to finish on a high for the end of the year. Heres starting as we mean to go on with the family, gym and work.......

What a great first week on paternity!

If this week is anything to go by I am going to cherish every minute with my girls as the first week of my paternity has flown by, but what an exciting and bonding week it has been.

We have had lots of visitors to see Ciara, Grandparents and Great Grandparents, Auntie Sarah and Vanessa, Natalie, Katrina and Seth, Keith, Sarah & Ben, Chris and Vicky, Louise, Jane and Peter and Stuart and Fin to name a few.

Friday saw me, Nyah and Grandad May go on our usual bike ride (although first time for Grandad). Its a great circuit me and Nyah normally do and she really enjoys it. We leave Brayton and head towards the Canal then over to the air field at Burn. From here we head on the Trans Pennine route that takes us towards Snaith, but then we divert to Temple Hirst, West Haddeseley, Chapel Haddesely, Gateforth then past Brayton Barff back home. The circuit is about 15 miles and gives Nyah a great way of seeing and experiencing new things. We always see Grandad Mays Hull train going past at which point she shouts "Chu Chuu".Seeing Cows, sheep's, planes and feeding the horses are all part of the ride.

On Friday evening I made a long list of jobs that I wanted to try and get done while I was off and I managed to make a big dent into the list over Saturday and Sunday.

Following the completion of our extension I still had the drive way to jet wash and clean. I managed to get this done on Saturday and probably double our Water bill for this month! Over the past 9 months while we have had the extension done, the garage has been used as a storage place which has restricted me working out. As a result, I was up till around 10pm on Saturday and finished off building my shed on Sunday around lunch time. This has created alot more room in the garage for me to train and room for my rowing machine when it arrives next week!

I even had some help from Nyah cleaning up afterwards!

I have enjoyed every minute of this week spending time with the girls. Nyah is growing and developing at such a rapid rate, I didn't really realise how much until having this week off. She picks up on everything you say, she is understanding alot more and as a result communicating more. As a parent, its a real sense of satisfaction when you teach your children something, they do it and really enjoy doing it. For example with Nyah, she is carrying her dirty nappy (in a bag) from her bedroom down stairs to the utility and putting it in the bin.

Nikki is well on the road back to recovery now so we have said that next week we are going to get out for days as much as possible. A day to Leeds, York and the coast are all in the plans (along with a couple of bikes rides) so lets keep the fingers crossed for some good weather.

Well, just watched Match of the Day and seen the Tigers roar to yet another amazing victory, 1-0 against Tottenham. Last week they beat Arsenal and the teams confidence is going from strength to strength. Hull have now scored the same amount of points as Derby (promoted) did for the whole of last season. That's some achievement from the boys. The city of Hull will certainly be buzzing at the moment.

Here's to another Mega week with the girls..........

My Three Special Girls........and the new routine!

Its been 72 Hours at home with the latest edition to the family and what a dream she has been! It brings back so many happy memories of when we brought Nyah home but its been better this time round. The reason for this is Nyah is now 18 months old and its great to see her interact with her little sister. She really has been great and is doing some really cute things like kissing her little sister, feeding her milk, passing her toys and stroking her, the perfect big sis!

Monday was quite emotional as my Grandma and Grandad came over. I know that seeing four generations together is amazing but for my Grandma and Grandad it must be something special. Its like me still been around to see Nyah and Ciara's children have children, it must be such an awesome feeling and an amazing sense of how important a close knit family is.
I can only hope that me and Nikki are around to see this replicated.................

Little Ciara is perfect, I got my first little smile today. Her skin is so soft its like velvet and the smell of her temples and body, I could just smell it all day (apart from when she has a poo!)

As with Nyah, we wanted to adopt the same routine for Ciara and so far this is going really well. Myself and Nikki feel that it is really important to keep a structured routine so that we get to spend quality time with the girls but also get that quality time for me and Nikki especially on an evening to reflect on the day or week.

(That last paragraph was wrote 20 minutes ago! Little one has been crying so I have been up to check her nappy, wind her and give her a some water.........and she is still crying!) so much for so far so good.

Today has been a really good day, we have just spent it together the four of us so it has enabled us to get a bit more familiar with things. Nyah is really developing at such a rapid rate, especially with her vocab. Words and sentences she is saying at the moment are, "Come on then", "Sooorry", "Book", "Go walk". I took her out in the car today and as a little treat I put her in the front in her car seat, she loved it! Again it was so cute seeing her with her thumb in looking through the front and side window smiling. I really am looking forward to spending some quality time with my three girls over the next couple of weeks!

Once the kids had been put to bed tonight at about 6:30pm I got changed and headed into the gym and had a really good session. Its been a week or so since I last trained so I had a really good session on my abs and chest......I am aching already and I only finished the session a couple of hours ago. Its one of the best things I did converting the garage into my rocky style gym. Its time effecient, convenient and allows me to keep up to training with no real excuses as its on my door step!

It really feels like autumn now, the nights are fast closing in, the temperatures have really dropped and the garden is now covered in leaves. Guess thats the summer over with for 2008, or you could say, "Did the summer even start?"

Ciara Ann May - New arrival in the May Family!

Ciara Ann May
Born 28th September 2008
Weighing in @ 6lb 5oz

Well, what a past 72 hours we have had! The weekend got off to a great start as we set off down to Coventry to see Anoushka on her 30th Birthday. Nikki found the journey really relaxing and comfortable and even managed to get some sleep (she certainly wouldn't have slept if we had been at home, she would have been doing jobs and cleaning and things that expectant mothers do, anything but rest!)

We arrived shortly after 10am to be greeted by Ben and Anoushka and Anoushka's family. It was great to Anoushka on her 30th Birthday and have a good catch up with my best buddy. (In fact we made a promise that next year we will do the Coast to Coast on the bike). Equally good was catching up with Ben & Anoushka's family. Chris has three daughters and is in a great position to give me tips for the future, mainly just to do as I'm told because I'm out numbered!)

We left the Thurlow home around 2pm and got back to Tower 29 around 4ish. As we were un loading the car Ben and Sarah walked around so we cranked up the bbq and had some good food and a couple of drinks.

It must have been my cooking but that evening at around 8ish Nikki started with her contractions. They gradually got stronger and stronger to the point in which I rang my mum and dad to come over about 11pm. By about 3pm they had stopped altogether which was quite bizarre as myself and Nikki (primarily) had prepared ourselves for this happening straight away. By 9am that morning, Nikki was concerned that she hadn't felt the baby move for around 7 hours. Following over the phone consultation with the doctors they advised her to come to the hospital asap to get the baby checked out.

The staff at the Labour Unit at York District Hospital are amazing, they made us feel so comfortable and reassured that everything would be OK and following the quick tests, baby was doing well. Again, the sense of De ja vu was very surreal, the drive up to the hospital, parking the car, and if that wasn't enough Nikki was in same room that she gave birth to Nyah in!!!!!

Further examinations showed that Nikki was not dilated and that for the time being, the contractions had stopped so we headed back for home. Once again I cranked the bbq up for a speciality of bacon and eggs! At around 12pm on the Sunday, the contractions kick started again, this time more frequently and intense. They became that intense that I phoned the hospital and we headed back, again! Following examinations on arrival, Nikki was still not dilated. The contractions were that strong that they admitted her onto the ward with her own room and bath. Following 1 hour in a warm bath with really intense contractions, Nikki was examined again in which she had gone from no dilation to 6cm dilated! With Nyah, that 6cm took about 24hours!

In the final stages Nikki had gas and air and then a pain killing injection called meptin then at 5pm on that Sunday afternoon, Nikki gave birth to our little daughter, Ciarra Ann May weighing 6lb 5oz!

Seeing the women you love carry your baby for 9 months then giving birth is the most amazing experience. The helpless feeling of going through the labour not been able to do anything or take away the pain is hard but is totally rewarded by the beautiful little girl (s) that arrived.

Equally amazing was the fact that we were home by 9pm with the new arrival.

Well its 9pm now and little one has just started crying so father duties have been called into action for the night...................

Its the final Countdown!

Well what a week. I have started this new role as sales manager but at the same time I am still covering my old role as account manager. The work load this week has been on the limit and I have struggled with the "work life balance" but next week should bring an easier week. Oh I forgot, Nikki is due on Wed, maybe its just the start!

Nikki has been a real truper during this pregnancy. Things were pretty smooth with Nyah but the new addition has certainly made her presence known

(surely she cant be as active as Nyah!?)

Nikki is the type of person that what every she gets dealt with or what ever she sets her mind to she will always succeed and do well, (thats why I never win a bebate or argument with her!)

Over the last 27 months, Nikki has been pregnant for 18 months! WOW, thats a long time!

Despite the work load this week I have managed time to fit in 3 sessions in the gym and just as important really watch my diet (saying that I am having a can of Guiness while I write this!). I have been training on and off now for 12 years and really enjoy it but I never feel I have reached my Optimum, in fact far from it. Milestones in our life have meant prioritising on more important aspects. This is fine because I feel that I am getting closer to realizing my dreams of my home, family, financial and personal standards.

Its interesting, I am doing an IMP (Introduction to Management) course at work at the moment. As part of the coursework I have watched a video by Professor Randy Pausch. Randy is a renowned speaker and this pod cast is an excellent motivational piece of work that stresses the importance of "time management". He refers to the old moto, Failing to plan is planning to fail, and this is so true. Being successful dosent make you manage your time well, managing your time well makes you successful. Whats more amazing and unique about Randys position is that he has terminal cancer with only months to live so you can see importance of Time Management.

The very nature of my work invloves concious time management, but this is more impotant in my personal life. Not just for what I plan to do with my wife and daughter (s) when I finish work on an evening, but what I want to achieve with them that weekend, that month, that year all invloves time management. This is further extended to milestones in life such as planning for retirement, childrens education, birthdays, weddings and holidays to name a few.

Plan each day, week, month, quarter and year. You can change your plan, but only if you have one!

http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

Since our honeymoon, myself and Nikki have not been abroad so a big part of my plan for next year is to book two holidays. I would like to get the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander in Northern Spain then travel through Roija to Barcelona then up to the north east coast of Spain. A friend of ours Kat did the similiar with her son and they stayed at Euro Camp. This is really affordable accomodation and at the same time puts you in great locations next to some of the greatest cities in the world.

Its now Friday night and Nikki is due next Wednesday. Its Nyahs Godmothers 30th Birthday tommorrow (27th September). They live down in Coventry and we were both really eager to see Noushy on her special birthday (and so is Nyah) so we have the plan of setting off at 07:30am on saturday morning and staying for a couple hours then driving back. It will be great to see them, they love Nyah and are great with her. I am just keeping my fingers crossed I dont have to turn into a midwife on the M1 and deliver daughter number 2!!!

You see, im planning my time more effectively already...............

Scarborough - Olivers Mount - 58th Gold Cup 21st September 2008

The official last day of summer saw the 58th year of the Scarborough road racing event held at Olivers Mount. The only remaining real road racing circuit in England had their 58th International Gold Cup races, and what a way to end the season after such a bad start.

The start of May saw one of the great irish road racing talents Martin Finegan loose his life in a freak accident in which his bike engine ceased up and he was thrown from the bike at 150mph. I remember meeting Martin in the paddock in 2006, he was a true Irish family man with a real passion for road racing. "Finbar" as he was known had started riding for Yamaha and took the first 2 wins at Tandragee where he was tipped for success in 2008, especially at the IOM.

Gone but never forgotton.................................................................. RIP Boys

Further bad news followed at the North West 200. Practice on the Thursday night saw Robert Dunlop (brother to my hero and legend Joey) die as he suffered servere chest injuries after coming off his bike at Mathers Cross. Robert was the most successful rider around the triangle circuit in Northern Island with a total of 15 wins. Motrocycle racing was in Roberts blood. He had suffered life threatening injuries before but had work hard and returned to fitness to compete at the top flite again.

Robert, Joey, Finbar, DJ, Richard Britton, Darren Burns all had one thing in common, a Passion and love for road racing. That was their life. Yes they are gone, but we must be greatful for the pleasure they have given us. If we could all apply the same motivation, enthusiasm and passion for doing the things we love, we would all achieve alot more and become better people.

As mentioned at the start of this chapter, Scarborough hosted once again the Gold Cup races at Olivers Mount. All the big names had put in an appearance, Mc G, Martin, Locker, Archibald, and the Dunlop brothers to mention a few. Guy martin was on fire on the Sunday. If the Steve Henshaw race had of been any more than 12 laps then I think the old Kirmington lad would have had to come in and change his back tyre. In the 10 years I have been going to the mount I have never seen anyone pulling out the corners sliding the back wheel then struggling to keep the front wheel down as he accelerated away, he truly is awesome and I really feel for him not getting the success at the IOM this year. Mechanical problems cost him in nearly every race but one things is for sure, if he rides like this next year, he will be a tough man to beat!

I don't have any regrets really, I believe in that you make your own destiny and choices and you have to learn from them and move on. If I do have one regret though it not meeting or seeing Joey Dunlop ride. I watch his story over and over on DVD and I am never ceased to be amazed by how such an ordinary, down to earth, shy and humble Ballymoney man did those extraordinary things. What did make up for it on Sunday was seeing something very special which I hope will continue for many years to come and that was seeing the Dunlop brothers competing for their repsective positions on the final finish line. Seeing them race their hearts out and competing with the likes of Locker and Archibald made me think this is the start of a new generation of road racing, or at least a new generation for the Dunlop road racing family!