Bathtime!

12 days on, Esther has so far shown her self to be a highly content child. She's sleeping reasonably well for her age on most nights and aside from the usual hunger/wind/tired baby crying she quite likes looking around her and taking it all in. Her sisters have also been very cute around her, and have been keen to help with her first bath.

Her tummy button took a while to heal up so this only happened today, with three big sisters very eager to join in the fun. Esther doesn't look so happy in the pictures but she did seem to enjoy it!

Really, the kirchen was actually the best space for this activity!

All clean! But why didn't they brush my hair after drying it?

Bouncy!

We've been planning to get the girls a trampoline for some time. They love to bounce when they visit friends with them, and have plenty of energy to spare on such an activity. A big problem is they pretty much kill off the grass underneath them so we couldn't get one while we had a rented house. (I can just see it - "Subtracted from deposit - 10 sq m premium plush turf, fresh from Hampden. Bill for outstanding amount to follow. No, it doesn't matter that it was just moss before.") Of course, now we have our own lawn to destroy things are different! Having some spare funds from Christmas money made the decision easy for us, but it took until the finer weather (and having some paternity leave to actually build it) for it to happen.

Needless to say, it's been a popular activity the past few days. Our two immediate neighbours have also got one each, so that corner is now trampoline central!

Naomi and Miriam volunteered to clear a spot for the new trampoline by moving the mini one out of the way.

Hmm, there are a lot of parts.

Snack for the work party.

BOUNCE!

Esther Anne Taylor Brownlee

Having made us wait just a little bit longer than we might have expected, Esther made her appearance early on Friday morning. She is already finding her place in an apparently large family and has three very loving sisters (as well as two loving parents) to look after her. Here's a few shots of our precious little girl's first few days...

One of our neighbours generously gave us some leftover birthday cake, which even had the right number on (with a minor correction)

"I used to hang out here all the time"