Now seeming to have a feed at midnight and then another at around 0500h, nights are getting better. Rachel takes the credit though, as Heidi’s Moses basket is beside her, plus she now has control of the bedside cabinet. On her is placed the bottle warmer and the two or three bottles for the night time.

No longer can I access the radio for all night listening sessions, but I guess that is good in the short term. After three of four months maybe Heidi can drift in to her own room next door and I can reclaim my bedside table and radio….

It is a lovely sunny day as forecast and croissants once agai9n are the order of the day. We get the uncooked “blanks” from the farm shop and let them prove overnight, where they have trebled in size and only take a few minutes to crisp up. They are actually quite rich, so only one each for us at the moment.

We meet up with Becky, someone I used to work with who met up with Rachel a few times with Fred. We meet her, with her daughter Ellie and her brother Dominic. Whilst Rachel and Becky chat by the kiosk on Broadsands Beach, Ellie and I go rock pooling. My mum and dad live about 500 yards away and I grew up on this beach. It was fun to show her the creatures under the stones and she learnt all about razor shells.

We move on after 90 minutes of chatting and head to town.

We parked at The Paignton Club, which is on Paignton Esplanade. Followers of Fred’s ‘blog will know that I am a member there, a large detached building on Paignton seafront which is I suppose a “gentleman’s club”. Excellent food etc mean that it is a good place to visit, and the views are quite special on a nice day, whilst tucking into a plate of whitebait and mayonnaise. It means free parking for us as well, so we troop in to town.

The butcher in town is a little glum as hot weather in not good for trading, although the barbecue stuff seems to shift, but joints of meat stay put. Also, the meat tends to appear dried in the window, and so people move on.

We do our bit in the town and come back and sit on the seafront, with each tucking into a bag of chips and a small sausage. Very very nice and the sun is still shining down on us all. Happy days. The second photograph down (above) shows Paignton beach, looking toward Torquay. Just to the left of the photo - above the pier - you can see a small white blob. This is the great Lindstrand fixed balloon ride which rises to 400 feet above the Torre Abbey sands, where you can see Dartmoor in the distance. It is a contraversial project that goes up and down in defiance to its objectors, but is a flying machine that I shall travel in soon. It has only been flying a few weeks though.

I catch up with a colleague Paul who has pulled in the club car park to pick up Poppy, his other half who works there. We have a chat and then head over to mum and dads briefly.

Heidi has a quick dip, whilst I fire up the barbecue. As I type I can hear her protesting loudly as R single-handedly deals with her.

Until now, Heidi’s taste buds have been whetted by a mixture of breast and formula milk, though today she had a more cultural experience. We took her to Delamore House, Cornwood which is not far from Plymouth where there was an arts festival, concentrating on sculptures.

We took Fred a couple of years ago, and the house is great, and set in lovely grounds which seem to specialise in magnolia trees.

It is only open for one month a year to show the exhibition and we have been a number of times. It is nice to be able to come back and see the same old people running it, with a few subtle changes each year.

The papoose came out which Heidi settled into and she awoke a few times, with the warm sun on her little wispy head.

Afterwards we drove the short distance to Tavistock where we had a picnic by the river (R. Tavy) that runs through the market/stannary town and was actually quite a nice feast. Heidi waited until we had finished, and then topped up with some milk. She drew a lot of comments as she glugged from families passing by.

As it was a hot day we dispensed with coats although Heidi had her rain cover safely stowed under her and we wandered around the town. Soon it was dark and thunder-rain pelted down causing flooding. With no coats, we took shelter in the shop entrance waiting until it had passed. Unfortunately, it got heavier and so I decided to take the 15 minute walk back to the car, leaving the girls under the arch until I returned With no coat I found the picnic blanket underneath the pram which I had brought along, and so used this as a cape as I ran back along the streets.

Eventually I returned and we all got back in drove home through flood water with all the windows steamed up.

Heidi had a good evening of cuddles from mum and dad, and I hope went off to bed in her Moses basket a wiser and happier infant.

So much for the weather being nice, as today once again we wake up and it looks like it will rain. I have a lie in with Heidi as I had a 0600h bath again, reading a magazine quietly. I thought Rachel may have used to opportunity to catch up on 40 winks whilst we were being lazy, but I looked out to see R pulling up some weeds out in the garden.

A quick breakfast and we were on the road in the rain once again. Heidi's cold is getting better slowly but we do not want her to be stuck in all day, so she is fairly alert with us.

We got some photographs developed in the shop for R's mum and whilst we wandered about town I was fidgetting with my phone. Thankfully it has a GPS receiver on it too, so my Ordnance Survey mapping was beavering away showing the route where we had been. I lost a singal when we went into Wetherspoons for lunch, although the vouchers rachel had stored for cheap food was good.

It seems the free Wi-Fi in Wetherspoons is at the same speed as dial-up in the early days, so once again I am immersed in working out this phone. Most of it I am familiar with, buit there are thing on it - new things. Rachel reads the paper whilst I consult my PDA/Smartphone magazine bought at the kiosk. heidi meanwhile is fast asleep in her cart.

When we see my mum and dad we walk down to the off licence to see Lyn, and there she is behind the counter chattering on the phone. She hhas not seen Heidi before, but was a great follwoer of Fred's blog for the duration and raised quite a bit of cash for CLIC Sargent by having a collection tin on the counter, plus a photo of Fred.

Heidi gets her cuddles and I take a couple of photos with her by the wines and spirits. The weather has turned warmer and it is lovely to be walking about mid-week not worrying abo9ut work or anything like. Heidi is still asleep though is starting to stir on the way home again.

She is smelling funny by the time we get home, so a bath is run and she gets immersed in it. No tears at all this time, only great concern and concentration from her, plus a little from us. She is like a bar of soap in the bath and can easily submerge in the few inches of warm water - we do not want her associating bath time with dread and fear.

Heidi has got a cold unfortunately so her little nose is all bunged up with something or other, occasionally causing her a great deal of discomfort. It sounds alot worse than it is (I think) as she will snuffle and rattle in her sleep, sneezing and then a little cough though she does not show any distress or unhappiness.

Thankfully she does not have a temperature and most of the time she seems normal and happy and as hungry as ever. We still use the in the ear thermometer that we used in Bristol as this is fairly accurate and only takes a second to do, without waking her up. We also check her manually and I think she is on the mend now.

I collected my phone from the shop in the end and have been trying to fidget about with it since, but more important things come along.

With the cruddy weather Heidi has been wrapped up warm but out and about with the rain cover firmly stuck down.

Dave, Jo and James came around today and that was nice as we have not seen them for a long while. A little later Emily popped by with two pairs of fluffy shoes to wear. They look more like slippers I suppose but can be affixed to her feet without dropping off I reckon.

Heidi has been so lucky with all her gifts, and cards and we have started to write on her behalf so bear with us.

She may be realising that we all need a good nights kip but once awake at 0500h I become restless, causing some irritation to Mrs Wills. An early bath is needed so I listen to the farming news on Radio 4, which is all about apples and seasonal availability. Its most interesting and informative.

Today we have an appointment with the Health Visitor where Heidi gets her hearing tested. At this stage she is so little it is difficult to know whether she can see or hear properly although she does respond to loud noises or being bumped into unexpectedly. She can sleep through a right old racket but in the middle of the night when I try and close the bedroom door quietly, she will stir at the slightest of noise.

Once there we are whisked in to a side room where the start of a lot of paperwork begins. All sorts of personal questions which you wonder whether they are really relevant or not.

She has her hearing test which is basically a little probe is put inside the lughole and a faint clicking sound is emitted, wobbling the hairs in her ear. This is registered by the device and she gets an all clear for the moment.

She is now weighing 8lb 10oz now, so dipped and rose again which is normal. It is easy to become focussed on the weight of a child, and assuming heavy means healthy. By contrast, once you get older weight is bad. Apparently. I guess that provided baby is thriving everything should be alright.

We have some breakfast in Newton Abbot as I am to collect my phone, but it has not arrived so I wander the streets until we have to head home. I suppose it will come soon, but it is the highlight of the week at the moment. Other than cuddling wee Heidi of course.

I dropped some thank you letters off at the office and see a few of the girls who come out to coo at Mrs Wills and Miss Wills, who is fast asleep in her chair. On the way home, it is approaching her next expected feed, and within minutes, there is a stirring and reddening of the face. Soon there is much wailing as Rachel races to warm the milk before Heidi explodes into a hungry rage.

The Two Hills Race in Chagford today went ahead in bad weather although we stayed safe at Colin and Junes. A quick trip up into the Square meant that we got wet but saw very few people.

The strollers rain cover preformed well, and we collected a gift in Bowden’s which was nice. Bowden’s sell everything you could want to hope for, and Heidi I think may wish to become an ironmonger in time as she was fascinated by all the stuff hanging over her head in the shop.

No one was in the Buller’s Arms as we passed and so returned back for a great roast beef lunch.

On the way back we pop into the church yard to see Fred's grave which is looking a little windswept. We pick over the flower heads and tidy him up a bit, with Heidi in our arms. It starts to rain heavily so I trot up the path back to the car, whilst Rachel drops the old flowers in the compost. No one else is in the graveyard, just the three (or four...) of us.

Heidi seems to be getting hungrier at the moment which is good but means more nappies of course. We are hoping that her bum will fill out shortly so that the fabric reusable ones can come out, just as her big brother once used.

An unsettled night with Heidi reveals an unsettled day outside the window once it starts to get light again. The parasol has launched itself from the table across the garden to the fence, not making the last hurdle. I guess it was windy outside too.

She has not yet established that night is night and so grumbles and cries for two or three hours after her feed despite a good winding. This means constant getting up and fumbling around, where she will fall asleep soundly for a minute then start again just as we nod off.

Of course she is exhausted by 0900h so we eat our breakfast in relative calm before heading out to get some shopping for Rachel’s mum and dad. We see a couple of people out and have a chat before heading over to see Amanda, Mark and little James, who is just gone two years old. He was born about six weeks after Fred and greeted Heidi very seriously.

A jam doughnut and a cup of tea meant that we caught up with the latest and gave me a chance to play around with Marks Apple i-touch. It really is a funky bit of kit and I manage to log on to this ‘blog so that they can see some of the photos on here.

A visit to the farm shop and mum and dad’s brings up home again, although by now the sun is shining and it is lovely and warm.

I give Rachel the chance to put her feet up for an hour or so, so I head off with the stroller and H to drop off some letters of thanks a few roads away. With no worries about time, or that I have to be somewhere soon, Heidi and I stroll up the cycle path which is lovely. She is fast asleep, squinting every now and then when the sun comes across her face. I could do this all day every day I think.

I get to Paul and Dawn’s, where the potting up of plants is occurring out the back. I scrounge an ice cold drink from them and so Heidi gets plucked from her cocoon to be cuddled in turn by Dawn, Emily and Charlotte. She manages to open an eye sleepily and that is about it – it must be lovely to not worry about who is handling you, getting all these free cuddles.

A walk back along the road sees me popping into the newsagents and then back home. Rachel opens the door and so a smell of freshly baked buns waft out, which is a good thing to come home to.

Heidi is due another bath tonight as she had a large nappy incident earlier which was dealt with swiftly. I suppose with all this milk going in, it has to come out in dollops somehow.

Heidi took delivery of a new mode of transport today – The “Graco Mojo” stroller in a pale orange – or clementine. Suitable from birth we purchased it from the market in Newton Abbot and once back home I decided that I needed to take it for a spin.

Rachel had a nap whilst I went into town with Heidi and we cruised the streets, although the shops were starting to close. I secretly mastered the knack of folding and unfolding the thing from the comfort of home before doing such things in public. To be stuck with a shouting infant in town whilst wise old grannies go past is not a spectacle I would like to be part of.

It is a lot narrower than her main chariot which is great for stocking up with shopping. In Bristol it was capable of carrying 48+ Infatrini (milk) glass bottles which weighed a ton, plus all the other stuff needed so has done well. I would liken the stroller to a little sports car for her, rather than a 4X4.

She is still eating, or drinking a lot which I hope is good but does mean that we have to stock up a bit more than we used to.

I understand that it is going to rain tomorrow, so the planned visit to the car boot sale may well have to be postponed.

Not a lot happened today really though it was sunnier than forecast which was a nice surprise.

Heidi had her second bath in her life, this time in the Great Tub. Rachel changed her and plopped her in to the bath, and this time no tears or anything really. Perhaps the temperature was just right, but Heidi sat in the bath being scrubbed and swished without a noise. She looked a little concerned at times, but no fear.

Wrapped in her fluffy towel she seemed even happier and no resistance like last time.

The midwife came today for her penultimate visit and toddled off again, though we have to see the Health Visitor next week. No need for them to prowl around our house this time, as we go to see them in Brixham.

Sarah from the office comes around after work with a little gift and has a good cuddle with Heidi, who by then has gone dormant again. Heidi receives her first head band with a pink bow on it….

A lazy day for lazy people.

Heidi opened her first bank accounts today, although she showed little interest in the event. It did take an age in Halifax but we got there in the end. Armed with a money sorter and a calculator (which I commandeer) we head of for some lunch. She gets a few people peering in at her as we speed along.

After lunch we go to pick up the changing unit ordered from Mothercare. We used the money kindly given by my colleagues. I get the chance move about in the papoose with Heidi up front. Her face is a little squashed but she seems happy. It is really comfortable too. Rachel borrowed Becky’s last time and got on with it well so I bought one for her. R cannot wear it for another month plus though.

Rachel had seen the changing unit a while ago, and hopefully it will be better than our old way. With Fred, it was done on the bathroom floor, all changing and cleaning etc but this is at worktop level, with a bath underneath. Again, hopefully no kneeling by the bath trying to stand up holding a wriggling eel of a child.

It comes out of the back of the store looking rather bigger than I had imagined but maybe it is just packaging. Ten minutes of trying to get it into the front seat was a chuckle and soon we were heading home.

Today must be a day of expense as I bought a DVD/VCR combo to tidy things up under the television. Sky is banished from our house so this is the next best thing, along with Freeview. At least now I can dub my old videos on to DVD and make some more room plus be able to watch programmes I have recorded on the DVD on my laptop, whilst in the bath – bliss.

I assemble the unit and get to the final piece, the swinging changing mat. All has gone well and no bits are left over and none more are required. I now realise that one of the legs is facing the wrong way which would not be a problem until you realise that it has a critical screw hole in it for the swinging changing mat. It will need to be dismantled.

Heidi watches on in Rachel’s arms as I swear profusely once again. She won’t understand for a bit yet I reckon. By now it is hot in the bathroom where I am assembling the unit and so I am starting to sweat again.

Soon it is all complete and is much larger than I thought it would be. It’s vast. Anyway, it’s good so Rachel practices by pushing Heidi about in it, from the bathroom to Heidi’s room, to ours. It will solve loads of problems and save our backs and knees I’m sure.

The slow cooker is downstairs bubbling away nicely and so we sit down with a contented Heidi to watch the television. Hopefully tonight she will be a little more organised in her sleep patterns.

No driving around in the early hours for me today, but Heidi does not settle well after 0100h and cries intermittently even after a big feed. She appears hungry but then fidgets around before not wanting anything and then grumbling for a few hours.

Bleary-eyed Rachel, Heidi and I head off to the Registrar’s Office to make her all official-like and I have to park some distance away whilst they go ahead. Sweating profusely once I get in to the office, I am a minute late, but proceedings have already commenced. After being relieved of £3.50 for the Certificate we have a quick wander around the building. This is where Rachel and I got married and it is a lovely building, presumably not the norm for Council offices, but a good venue all the same.

We head over to Torquay to where my office is, where I first meet up with Bev the Road Safety Officer. I needed her to check over the fitting of our car seat, as I had some doubts over Mothercare’s ability to give good advice when we bought it for Fred. Something did not seem right and so Bev sorted us out. The majority of car seats are incorrectly fitted and in the event of an accident you do not really want to find out what exactly was fitted wrongly.

Into the office we were immediately surrounded by a swarm of cooing females, whilst I check the angry letters on my desk and carefully put them down again. Oh well.

From Development Control we swept into Building Control for a few minutes and then out to the lift. I could not fit in the lift with Rachel, Heidi and her pram (plus an unknown person) so I wandered down the stairs to meet them on the ground floor.

I had not bargained on the lift going up though, and I could hear Heidi’s hungry calls getting quieter as she and her mum were elevated further up into the corridors of power. I could not remember whether I told Rachel what floor to get off at, as this is a strange building to her. At the basement I decided the ground floor was actually where I had said I’d be, so went back up, watching the counter above the lift doors. I could hear a faint crying getting louder as the car descended, reaching maximum volume the other side of where I stood. The doors lazily slid open and Rachel blinked at me, and came out on to the landing with Heidi in full cry.

We went for some lunch and checked out a few shops before heading over to my mum and dads. I went for a quick walk with dad to the off license to get some wine, with dad operating the pram quite proficiently. He did grumble at me for walking in the road on the way back, but the pavements are very narrow and the road is a quiet cul-de-sac. It was nice and sunny and a few holidaymakers were about eating chips and generally looking cheerful so we sat and looked across the Bay, with Heidi being cooled by the sea breeze..

Lots of walking today mean that my Crocs and bare feet are in a bad state, with a black sludge coating both. I have bought some more Dettol today so I dunk my feet in the bath to freshen them up on my return. Rachel and I have both walked the same distance, but her feet and Crocs appear immaculate, though I do not know why.

Heidi returns home, in her spotty dress, quite exhausted, like us, and lies in her Moses basket, looking at the blue sky through the patio doors, hopefully thinking back on a nice day. Perhaps she will be realising that staying awake during the day is good for the brain - as is sleeping soundly at night……

I watched the sunrise over Torquay this morning, at about 0540h whilst sitting parked on the seafront at Paignton. Behind me, in her seat, was Heidi, fast asleep. Rachel meanwhile was having a deep sleep back at home.

Heidi’s appetite is enormous it seems, and she just keeps on feeding, and when its run out, she wants more. She does get a bit of wind so today I picked her up at 0515h and set off down the road with her mumbling to herself. Soon she was in deep sleep too.

The town was quiet as it should be with the exception of the Council who were out putting hanging baskets up. A few pigeons and gulls wandered around clearing away the bits left behind by last nights late night revellers and crows stood defiantly on the white line in the road as I speed by.

The nocturnal strangers who walk the town during the hours of darkness because they “cannot sleep” are all but gone back to bed or have been quizzed out of the area by the police.

With heater on it soon becomes quite cosy in there and Heidi clearly thinks so too. Over to Torquay I go and look back across to see Paignton, all lit by a lovely orange light, with some parts still in black and white.

On the way up the hill out of the town toward home I see Emma from work walking her dogs Ringo and Bracken, talking to her friend Karen.

I get back fully awake as is Heidi who after an hour of driving about is hungry again. Rachel takes over here as I have a shower and later I make some bacon rolls for breakfast. Nice floury baps with thick rashers of bacon make a great start to the day washed down with a fruit juice followed by coffee.

We headed up to Chagford to see Rachel’s mum and dad, Colin and June and wandering up the road to the Square meant we encountered several people. It is a close knit community and so everyone had heard of Heidi’s arrival a week ago. It was nice to meet them and thankfully it was not as busy as a weekend otherwise we would have never got to our destination. Its lovely to receive little packages and envelopes as we go, and people have been so generous.

We took Heidi to meet her big brother in the churchyard which was a sad moment and I’m still not sure what I thought at the time. She was fast asleep, a week old and wrapped in a blue fleece blanket completely oblivious to what was going on. The rooks called overhead, and Rachel and I stood at Freddie’s graveside just thinking about things.

We headed on to see Audrey at her farm and stayed there for a bite to eat before wandering back to home. This is the farthest Heidi has gone although she has not shown a great deal of interest in some parts of it.

Heidi knows that staying in late is a good idea now, and so we woke much later than expected. Heidi also does not wake until prompted at the moment, which is rather helpful.

We go into town and park on the seafront on what looks like a very sunny day. However, it’s a north easterly so it is much colder and so Heidi gets extra layers in the pram. As the sun is bright it is difficult to steer her out of the glare, and she squints and growls when this happens. Soon with the motion of the pram on our potholed pavement she is fast asleep.

A visit to the butchers and then a few other shops sees people peering at her. She is in a red polka dot dress, so looks lady-like for the first time in her life. No hats yet though, as her head needs to grow into them.

Once back to the sea front we watch some containers being craned on to the Green, although not much happens. Heidi also is not very interested.

We then head off to my mum and dads, where Heidi picks up some more gifts. Dad has been cutting the grass and hedges so all looks good. I was going to wander down to the off licence with him and Heidi, but it is a fair way and my feet are aching a bit too.

Once back at home, the midwife calls (and a student) to give Heidi her vitamin K orally and to do the heel prick. We chose oral Vit K as it is normally given via an IM injection. Not sure why injections are the preferred route, but there was once a paper on perhaps an increase in childhood leukaemia when Vit K was administered by injection, so we opted for oral in the end. No one suggested otherwise and most of the nurses or staff thought they would opt for the same in our circumstances.

That went down a treat although the heel prick caused a bit of grumpiness. She bled well which was good, as Fred never did when it was done to him. I think they did more than one attempt.

After that we went to Sainsbury’s as we are light on some stuff here. Nice and quiet although Heidi again slept well in there. She hated the blast from the chillers in some places so we hurried through there. Only a few old dears peered in and cooed, with one man guessing she was a week old. She was squashed up a bit with shopping piled up around her though.

Today was a fun day in that it was sunny and we had a number of things to do, all with Heidi in tow.

A lunch in ASDA Newton Abbot was the highlight of our day, and then spent sometime with my mum and dad. Lots of cuddles for little H, and she is sleeping a lot more now, and being awake for longer periods. Hopefully the little episodes of unsettledness will soon go.

A trip to Mothercare and Boots in Torquay saw us getting a few things, with some of the vouchers we had been kindly given. No longer will we opt for the changing of baby on the bathroom floor, as we used to with Fred. My back is two years older now, and it is not really good for Rachel to be cranking up and down like that, so we went for the high level changing station and trolley. This can also be used as a bath and looks much easier than the way we did it before.

We bought a few clothers for her today - proper girls clothes which was great. She had been wearing some of Fred's cast offs soshe had a "boy-like" appearance for a while. You could spend hours and hours int hese places.

I also bought a papoose to hold Heidi in, as she really loves being in contact facing you. Once lying on your stomach, she will really wriggle in and fall asleep instantly. This is a convenient way of placating her without fuss and is very comfortable for either of us.

She does get wind at times and wonder whether colic is around the corner. It is the screaming howls that really get me, being reminiscent of Freddie when he was not so good. Many times in the day Heidi is a double of Fred, both awake and asleep which is lovely in one sense, but very difficult in another.

She loves sitting between us first thing in the morning just before we get up too, and its lovely to have a chat with her. Her once “beady” eyes are now a nice blue and she more expression in her face and eyes. Her neck muscles seem strong and she can hold her head for quite a while before we have to catch it from falling off.

Nappy-fill has gone from the black myconeum to a mustard coloured sludge so this is progressing well. As her bum has yet to fill out we are using disposable nappies, and the reusable ones are on standby on the shelf all fluffed up ready for extreme soiling.

Tomorrow we are heading into town to do some grocery shopping and hopefully the weather will be good. Need to register her birth as well so that’s another pleasant job which is nice not having to be in a hurry.

Heidi did well last night and was quite settled. She had a feed at 0100h and then one at one 0500h. Rachel was on patrol last night though I did volunteered to assist.

We had a leisurely morning and were visited by my brother Duncan, which was nice. It’s the first time he had met Heidi, and she was well behaved as usual.

After lunch Colin and June came along and gave her a large pile of envelopes and presents from everyone on the moor. That was nice opening them and people have been very generous. Heidi dozed through all of this though did an explosive nappy just as they arrived.

Then Paul and Frances arrived with Daisy and Samuel, and so it was a full house. Heidi managed to keep asleep through all of the proceedings though. A short time after this saw the midwife appear to do an initial home visit.

Not much else happened really, so Rachel and I sat down for a quiet evening in front of the TV with Heidi up in her Moses basket, burping and fidgeting every now and then. I bought a lottery ticket tonight and got Heidi to handle it, hopefully bringing some luck…..

It was raining again today and a bit colder. I got up at 0530h and started to potter around the house as once again I could not sleep. I gave the hoover a run around, swept outside and did various things to welcome little Heidi home.

I was not sure whether I would of course return home with the "girls" but set out anticipating this anyway. I put the car seat in the back this time as we cannot switch the airbag of in the front, but it all seems OK.

Once in the hospital at 0915 I find Rachel looking as if she has had a big tidy up, dressed on the bed with bags packed. I grabbed the opoortunity of having a last breakfast in the Bayview Restaurant and toddled off to get a Herald as I passed by the little shop. No badge today so I will have to pay full price. I get my usual "breakfast special" for £2.09 and study it. It is very similar looking tot he breakfasts in Bristol which were nice and it must be the sausages. They are a uniform five inches long, 3/4" wide and a mid-tan colour. Pink minced pork in the middle and a taste that it well.... Butchers sausages they are not but they do the job very well. Perhaps there is a standard specification of NHS sausages out there?

Rachel had been told that she can head home subject to baby's weight, and Rachels Hb (iron) levels. This sounds great in practice but we have first hand personal experience of waiting for some simple tasks and before you know it, it is nearly 1700h and everyone has gone home for the weekend.

In Bristol we lost several rare opportunities to go out for the day, by waiting for a blood count or an infusion of some drug, only to be asked at 1600h why we were still sitting there. The opportunity had been lost and it was not worth going out again, so we would stay in. It only happened a handful of times but you cannot turn back time.

Heidis weight ended up being 8.5% less than at birth which is good, and so the Hb needed to be checked. Poor Rachel had had some needles in her arm earlier in the day which did not succeed, so she waited for a second or third attempt.

By now it was nearing 1400h, so waiting for the test results may take hours, so we were starting to get a bit edgey.

Common sense prevailed and we were allowed to go, with the result being 'phoned through to us later if there was a problem.

Heidi was booked out and into the cold air for the short trip home.

She slept all the way and we arrived to meet a neighbour who was interested in the latest, so Heidi met Ricky.

Once in we started to sort things, and read through the cards which have started to plop through the letter box. One unnamed package with some towelling bibs was amongst the bootie, so if that was you who sent it, please let me know. It may have got detached from the envelope.

Soon sorted Nicky, Frank and Charlotte popped by to see Heidi who was on form, parping and hiccoughing, plus a little burp. They are off on holiday in the next day or two and did not want to miss the early days of Heidi. Nicky wanted to smell the baby as it sends her wibbly I hear.

As I type there is some pasta on the boil, plus some garlic bread I have made, which hopefully will be to Mrs W's liking.

Heidi is asleep in her moses basket in the window, with her mobile (not a 'phone) hanging over her head. Rachels mum June knitted it and it is nice and bright. Not sure how good her eyesight is but its nice to have in the front room.