Gary's Boring Blog

Megumi's Blog Returns

Megumi's blog was all about motherhood, and bringing up Rosie. She started posting again on Friday, and puts a picture or two on there every day.
Megumi's Blog(Japanese, but with lots of photos!)

She also asked me to explain about the name Sumire. When we discussed it, I mentioned that the Brit side of the family might have trouble with the pronunciation. There is no re ('ray') ending to words in English, hence hire, dire, and even tire all have the same 'ire' pronunciation. Anyway, I jokingly suggested that some British scholteacher might pronounce it 'smile' 5 or 10 years down the line. Megumi liked that, and that's what tilted the final decision in favour of Sumire for the Japanese name.

So, a smiling violet angel has just joined the family!

More Good News

As regular readers will know, my cousin, Matt Read, had a bad motorcycle accident last year. He has recovered steadily, and he and his partner, Claire, are getting married today in Hampshire.

An extract from the congratulations message I sent them:

In times of trouble, the bonds of love are tested to their limits. The past year has shown that the love Matt and Claire have for each other is strong enough to overcome any problem, big or small. We sincerely hope that today is the start of many happy married years together for the two of you. The birth yesterday of our daughter, Angelie, has given us a new start, and helped make this a great weekend for the Garners and the Reads.

Best of luck to the pair of them, and I will hopefully be able to post a photo or two in a few days.

Few More Pics

A couple more photos, including the 'After' of the before and after.

Close-up

Mummy and Baby.

Daddy and Baby.

Angelie Sumire Garner

Here she is. The name Sumire is from the flower, which is viola or violet in English. Angelie is from, as you can probably guess, angel.

She was a biggie, at 3.6 kilos, or almost 8 pounds. She looks a little bit like her sister, unsurpisingly enough. We're happy and emotional. Megumi is also tired and in considerable pain. She's resting right now, while I call friends and relatives.

Any takers for buying me a beer?

Before

Should be able to show you an 'after' picture within a day or two!

Keeping Busy

I've been playing a bit of football to keep my mind off the impending arrival of Baby G. This is at training the other day.

(courtesy Mark Eite and Aflo Japan)

I collided with a Chinese goalkeeper last week, and he whacked his head really badly on concrete. A very scary moment, as he had to be whisked away in an ambulance. Thankfully, he was fine, and was released from hospital that day.

Comments Problems...

Comments got broken as i tried to stop the spam. May have lost some comments, but I'm not sure. still messing around with it...

Update
OK. I have updated the version of Movable Type and comments all need to be approved by me before they appear on the site. This is not a great solution, but is better than nothing! So, you don't need to post comments twice.

Megumi is fine. Baby has not appeared yet. Maybe next week or the week after...?

My Lovely Wife

I'm so proud of her, after all that we have been through.

Looking forward to meeting Rosie's sibling...
出産頑張れ！！！

An Update, early July 2005

Blogging has been a little thin recently. Not quite sure why. Work, busy, nothing much to say...?

Obviously, with Megumi pregnant, we haven't been out and about much, so that has taken away one possible topic to write about. I figured I can only tell you all so much about the baby kicking and somersaulting around in Megumi's belly before you get bored. We are both looking forward to meeting our new baby. From the ultrasound pictures, it certainly looks cute, in a sort of face-messed-up-and-hidden-by-placenta sort of way!

Last Sunday, we went to a shrine. When Rosie died, we received a kind of altar set, with pots for burning incense and candle holders. We later bought our own small 'altar', so didn't need the stuff we had been given. The priest who came and did the blessing at our house said that we could take any unneeded things to his shrine if we wanted to. So, that's what we did on Sunday. It was a big step, because the small table, candle holders etc had been in our room since last August. Strange as it may sound, we had both come to associate praying for Rosie with these objects. Going to the shrine (a special one for children) made us both think about Rosie and how much we miss her. We cried together for the first time in a few months. It was a necessary step, but it was not an easy one.

I have nothing wise or profound to say. Just take care of yourselves and your loved ones.