Last May 2009, I headed over to Manchester to spend an evening/early morning out on the beer with cousin Alex, and on that occasion, it ended just before 6am. Tonight, I’m heading out again, and no doubt, it’ll end in the wee hours of the morning – daylight for sure – and all for the ’sound of quality’. On this occasion, cousin Simon Olsen is here!!! Hooray!! That means more alcohol, and more fun! Good times…
In September 2007, we put our house up for sale. Twenty one months whizzed by, and having reduced it in price 3 times, we couldn’t understand why it hadn’t sold, so two months before little Katrina was due (last June), we took it off. In January just gone, we decided to put it back on again – this time with a different estate agent & with a different set of photos. In line with the rest of the market, we reduced it in price again – overall by £45,000 (it hurts me to even type that!), but the new price brought much needed interest in the property.
Two weeks ago, we returned from a holiday in Centerparcs (sniff…fresh air!) and were absolutely delighted to receive a letter confirming Seán’s acceptance into a primary school in Aughton, West Lancs, starting next September 2010. The following day, we had a vewing and just like any other, we presented the house as best we could, and hoped for further interest. It came 10 days ago with a request for a second viewing – the first second viewing we’d had – and we were both excited and nervous, but trying not to get too excited. It went well, and the following day, we had an offer, which we accepted! Whoop-dee-whoop! The pressure was on…we had to find a house for ourselves.
Last Sunday, we went to view a property that we’d previously viewed in January, and having considered all aspects of the buy, we made an offer and it was accepted – hooray!! It’s amazing what can happen in such a short space of time. Today, we dropped into our estate agent and made all of the final preparations signatures, etc. and we expect that the whole thing will be through – done and dusted – by mid-May…actually, it may even be a little earlier, who knows.
It’s DAMN EXPENSIVE to move house…£7K in our case, but hey-ho, it’s what we want. I don’t think I realised just how expensive these things really are, and it’s funny when I think back about how we bought our current house – our first house; there were no estate agents involved and we kinda went into it with our eyes half shut. It was almost fun! So here we are with about 6-8 weeks left in our lovely little house, and this morning, I went outside to find that the word ‘SOLD’ had been added to the ‘For Sale’ sign by the pixies during the night – I love those pixies.
I hope that the new owners will be as happy in the house as we’ve been.
Wish us luck.
Leo. x
Here are the latest pics of the kids, taken over the last two weeks. Click on a photo, and use your [left] and [right] arrow keys to navigate.
Click on a photo, and use your [left] and [right] arrow keys to navigate.
2009 was a GREAT year for the Liverpool Skellys. By far the biggest event of the year for us was the birth of little Katrina Anne, who has just been THE most perfect baby since day one. Lucky us. When Seán was born in July 06, we figured that we couldn’t wouldn’t have another baby as good, but we were wrong. But the year hasn’t just been about Katrina…there have been plenty of other events throughout the year to keep us entertained.
2009 started with The Odyssey, Graham Hughes’ (Yvonne’s cousin) attempt to step foot in EVERY nation on Earth in one continuous surface journey, which, with 133 nations under his belt, is continuing to this day. Just prior to the start of his amazing journey, Graham asked me to run his website for him, and I agreed…delighted to be involved. “Err…can you also build it please?”, came the next request. I did, and it’s been incredibly interesting & educating to be at the heart of the project since. If you’ve not yet checked out The Odyssey, visit the website and bookmark it – it’s amazing!
While Graham was busy navigating his way around the sunnier, warmer climes of South America, the weather turned cold back in old Blighty, and Seán took delight in building his first snowman – kissing his work upon completion! I do that in work all the time. March came, and with the impending birth of a new baby, we decided to jet off to sunnier climes (Barbados) for the last big hurrah that we’d have for a few years. We were really lucky to be able to afford it at the time, and we had an amazing time there – fully recommended. One special highlight from the holiday was the chance discovery at sundown of a clutch of baby water turtles, who had just hatched and were scurrying from their nest to water’s edge several feet away – both incredible and wonderful to witness.
Back home, as the weather warmed, we started to get about and about a bit more, and we took several day trips with Seán, including one to ‘Farmer Teds’ (an interactive children’s park, set on a farm), a few to North Wales, and one particular park trip where he had a donkey ride – smashing stuff. By June, Yvonne was starting to show quite a bit (she was almost 7 months pregnant at that stage), so we decided to take a trip to Ireland to see my family before the baby arrived. It was really great, and we got to see almost everyone, just missing out on an opportunity to visit Louise, the youngest of my immediate family.
In early July, and for his birthday, we took Seán to visit Thomasland at Drayton Manor theme park, and what a day out he had – he still talks about it! Seeing as it was just down the road from Yvonne’s Aunt & Uncle’s house, we stayed over for a couple of nights and had a great laugh – they’re wonderfully kind and welcoming. A few days later, it was Seán’s birthday proper (7th) and losing the toddler look, we celebrated his 3rd birthday with the blowing out of a Peppa Pig cake. Several blowings out, in fact.
August, the month that the baby was due, and the jungle drums were getting louder! On the 25th, with exactly 38 weeks of pregagncy having passed, little Katrina Anne was born. Weighing in a 7lbs 6½oz, she’s been the model baby since…a placid, happy, smiling little angel – we’re VERY lucky. Every day is a pleasure. In September, another milestone passed as Seán started pre-school nursery, and it was kinda odd to see our little baby – not a baby any more – in a school uniform for the first time, but it was exciting too, and luckily for us – and him – he absolutely LOVES it! He can’t wait to go back – give it time, he’ll learn!
In October, with Yvonne fully recovered from the Cesaerean, we finally celebrated the birth of little Katrina with some friends, and at the end of the month for Halloween, Seán dressed up as a skeleton as we covered the downstairs rooms in spider’s webs, spiders, bats, spooky lights, halloween balloons, and laid out some goodies. Needless to say, it was the chocolate goodies that caught his eye first – kids, eh!
November, and I celebrated (if that’s the right word for it!) my 40th birthday [the big four-o] out and about for a meal, and on the night of my birthday proper, Yvonne made the most gorgeous seafood piella. Yum yum! Mid-life crisis? Forget it – just get the drinks in!
December, and for the first time, Seán visited Santa – or ‘Farmer’ Christmas as he called him – and it was the first time that he properly understood the concept of a fat red magic man on an oversized sleigh being pulled by flying reindeer! Bless him. Dressed as a donkey, he also starred in his first nativity play, although I should point out that ordinarily, he doesn’t dress as a donkey – the occasion lent itself that way. On Christmas Eve amidst the snow, and with Mummy’s help, he sprinkled ‘reindeer dust’ on the ground so that Rudolph could find his way to our house – I haven’t even done that! Christmas day…and Santa brought him the train that he had written his letter for. He must’ve been on the ‘Nice’ list.
So overall, it’s been a GREAT year. Here’s to 2010!!!
Leo. x
It’s been a lovely christmas so far…any decent time off with the family is always wonderful. Little Katrina was just four months old on christmas day, and she’s been such a joy to have around – she’s an absolute angel…the perfect baby. Seán was delighted on christmas morning to discover that Satan Santa had been earlier that morning, and the waking up of mummy & daddy at 4:40am faded into non-significance when his face lit up at the sight of the train set that had been pulled down the chimney for him – I should point out that mummy, daddy, Seán & Katrina all fell asleep again around 05:30am and awoke again around half-eight, so all was well with the world again.
Christmas day was great. A wonderful meal coupled with some good wine and sparkly – thanks Yvonne xx. So, it’s been really, really nice to spend time off with the family, and I expect that on New Year’s Eve, we’ll crack open some more bubbly – hooray! Here are a few shots of our christmas so far:-
Seeing as I haven’t put some photos of the little one up for a bit, here are some new ones. She’s lost that newborn look…probably because she’s not newborn anymore, naturally. She’s doing great – putting on weight and sleeping well, hence her Mum & Dad are too (sleeping that is). Yesterday, we took her for her first set of jabs – two covering three innoculations – and it wasn’t very nice when some blood came out of her leg…all part of it, I suppose. I was a bit fearful that her temperature would rise, and she’d be unsettled last night, but she woke at 3am, was back asleep by 3:45 and is still asleep now – yeah!
Click on a thumbnail to display the full-size image…use your arrow keys to navigate.
It was such a nice day yesterday that we all decided to get out of the house and go for a walk through Calderstones Park, which looked great, especially with all of the autumn colours. I missed the match…Liverpool beat Man Utd 2-0, but it was well worth it. Here’s a few shots from the afternoon…
BIG congratulations, happiness & love wing their way to Christian, Ditte & family in Copenhagen, who are celebrating the arrival of baby Lea Olsen, born yesterday afternoon and weighing in at a very healthy 3.9 kilos. Another girl in the family – hooray! Can’t wait to see the pictures 
Well, it’s been an eventful few days. Two weeks ago, little did we know that Katrina would be with us so soon – exactly 38 weeks term, and with Seán having been born at almost 42 weeks, we sort of expected a few more weeks of preparation – at least mentally – but it doesn’t work like that, does it! The girlies came home from the hospital on Friday evening, and the first night at home was quite ‘unco-ordinated’…actually bizarre and odd are probably better descriptions! Three nights in, things are much better, although that doesn’t stop Seán from waking me up around 6am – Humf! Anyway, here are some more photos of the little one – click & arrow right (or left) to navigate through them.
Just a few photos of the new arrival…yesterday was a GREAT day. Long, but great.
Katrina Anne Skelly, weighing 7lbs 6½oz, born 25/08/2009 19:15
Spoke to Yvonne on the phone this morning. C-section is booked in for tomorrow, Tuesday 25th – probably before midday, but that depends on the importance other ops. Imagine the life of a surgeon…boggling. This time tomorrow, there may a new Skelly on Earth – Oh God, what have I done!!!!
On Thursday last, Yvonne & I went to Ormskirk Hospital for a routine baby check-up. With less than 3 weeks to go before the due date (8th Sept.), the baby’s not settling in one position (unstable lie), so Yvonne’s been admitted for closer observation – a bit of a surprise to us both. Yesterday, the hospital indicated that they may keep her in until the baby’s birth…and that they may induce. I could be a daddy again sooner than I thought…
[Later...]
Back from the hospital. Caesarean booked in for Tuesday…if the baby settles before then, they’ll cancel Tuesday. Watch this space…
Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. Last Saturday, Yvonne & I headed off into Picollino in the city centre for a great meal and some fine wine. Probably too much wine for me, seeing as a 8-and-a-bit months pregnant Mrs. Skelly didn’t partake very much, expectedly. Good memories from the big day 7 years ago, and here’s some photos from the big day: pic 01, pic 02, pic 03, pic 04, pic 05, pic 06, pic 07, pic 08, pic 09.
We headed over to West Kirby on Wirral yesterday, and it was lovely just to sit on the beach for an hour or two, relaxing in the sun and playing with Seán. The tranquility, however, was interrupted when a mother in close proximity to ourselves, shouted to her own little one, “Don’t play with other people’s balls!”. Ye just wouldn’t, would ye!
Today is Seán’s 3rd birthday…and time just seems to be whizzing by. It’s really wonderful to see him grow up and develop, but it’s also a bit scary to see just how much he’s come into his own! To celebrate, last weekend we went to Drayton Manor near Tamworth, and Seán absolutely loved Thomas Land (Thomas the Tank Engine).
Happy birthday, Seán xx.
