New addition to the family

Hi folks,

While I do have some boring hobby news to post about sometime soon, I was aware my 500th blog post was coming up soon and wanted to save that post for something special! 

Earlier this week my wife gave birth to a healthy little boy. Mum and baby are both doing well and hopefully they will be home from hospital soon. I'm so proud of them both.

We had decided not to know the gender of the child until it was born, and I had convinced myself baby was a girl, so was very pleasantly surprised when it was not! 

We are, obviously, extremely happy and relieved. After the loss of Joshua 16 months ago, this pregnancy has been extremely difficult for us both, and myself in particular. As the husband it's my job to worry, and Covid also meant I was unable to attend any appointments and had to sit in the car waiting on news for long periods of time. Thankfully, I was able to be present for the birth. 

Yet again, my hobby and my friends helped keep me going and moving forward (and sane), over a very stressful period. 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this ongoing 'mental health project' over the last few months, whether is was commenting on my blog posts, participating in a paint and chat with me or liking a hobby related picture I had posted on Facebook. 

Cheers guys!