Fiona is growing so fast it is hard to keep up. She has fully mastered walking and is now working on running. She likes to climb on everything and gave us a scare when she learned to slip the straps on her high-chair and stand up in that. In the high-chair she likes to feed herself and this is fine, unless she isn't very hungry and then she tends to 'paint' the food anywhere she can reach.

She is also starting to talk a little, which is so cute. She says 'all gone' when she finishes her bottle and knows lots of words from her picture books. 'Ball', (more like 'Gall') 'car', 'teddy' and of course 'cat'. She can impersonate lots of animals even if she doesn't know the names. Dogs - 'woo woo', lion - 'rowr' and a very good monkey impression, including arm-pit scratching. (No prizes for guessing who taught her that.)

Speaking of painting she is showing early talent as a painter and we have many masterpieces to prove it. She is doing lots of talking - but not in a language that anyone else can understand. But I am sure it is only a matter of time before she begins to talk English. She has a lot of teeth now and has largely stopped dribbling (thank goodness) and has a lovely smile. You can see both teeth and the smile in this picture.

She is very happy, affectionate and friendly. She loves going to nursery. When I drop her off she just raises her arms to be picked up by the carers there and and never makes a fuss about being left. She gives out kisses with gay abondon to all and sundry. Not everyone appreciates this and she did get bitten recently by one of the other kids when she tried to kiss them!

She had her first formal school photo taken recently.

Back in June she had her first birthday. We had a great time with friends and family. It was especially nice for me because my parents and my sister were here. It is the first '3 generation birthday' the Australian Bells have had for a long time.

Fiona is still the most beautiful baby in the world and is growing quickly in every sense.

She has 4 teeth now and dribbles like crazy. She also manages to grind those teeth with a noise like a pensioner clicking loose dentures. It makes finernails on a blackboard sound pleasant by comparison. She is also getting very vocal in other ways.

We had Fiona christened in November and she was a perfect little doll throughout. We took the opportunity to have some cheesy photos taken.

We took her to Australia at Christmas. Go here for all the news and pics from that visit.

She learned to crawl not long ago and now gets around at great speed. Crawling avi. I bought a lot of safety catches to put on the kitchen cupboards a while ago but thought it would be ages before I needed to put them on. Now it looks like I will be busy this weekend. I have already put a gate across the stairs as that is the first direction she crawls when let loose. It is amazing how many potentially dangerous household objects you see when you get down to her level.

But I don't think we will have to worry about her crawling for too long. She will be walking in fairly quick order I think. She is already pulling herself upright on anything that will support her weight. She has a little walker/trolley to push and that is all the support she needs to toddle all over the place.

She started kindergarten in February when Allison went back to work. She seems to be enjoying it and has already done her finger painting. She has had quite a few colds since she started and given them to both of us. This is quite common apparently.

Fiona grows more beautiful every day and is still well behaved and happy. She is the most precious thing in the world to me and gives me more joy than anything else in existence. If she would just sleep thru the night then my happiness would be total and complete

Fiona (because we like it) Dorothy (for Allison's mother) Grayson (my mother's maiden name) Bell arrived at 14.44 on June 17th. She weighted in at 9lbs 13ozs, about 4.5kgs.

Fiona was conceived whilst we were on holiday in Australia last year - probably in the Hunter Valley. Allison began to suspect that she was expecting shortly after we got back. So we took the test and were delighted with a positive result. Shortly afterwards we felt confident enough to tell Allison's dad and my parents and to have some champagne to celebrate, the last drink Allison would have for some time. (Not!)

The pregnancy was basically trouble free, little or no morning sickness and Allison didn't have any strange cravings - except for the occassional pack of salt and vinegar crisps. When I first saw 'Baby Bell' on the ultra- sound, after 15 weeks, I cried unashamedly. Allison continued to grow at an alarming rate and after 7 months I couldn't see how she could get any bigger. But she did! I reminded her often that I had been 9lb 3oz baby. 'With a perfectly cube shaped head' I would add to make it worse. But after 8 months even I stopped making jokes.

Then early Monday morning (the 14th) Allison thought the time had come. We went to the hospital but it turned out to be a false alarm. (But you can see from the pic that it wouldn't be long.) They kept Allison in for 24 hours of observation and she returned home. But the 'pangs' soon started again and on Wednesday evening there was no doubt that 'Baby Bell' was on the way. We got to the hospital at 10.30pm and a very long night began.

By the early hours the labour was still progressing slowly and Allison was given a hormone drip to speed things up. She decided to have an epidural at that point as the pain was going to increase. Allison had always said that she would be happy to take all the drugs on offer. At one stage, after the diomorpine (?) and the epidural she was also sucking on the 'gas & air'. No jokes please about Allison's definition of 'natural child birth' being 'wearing' no make up. She managed to keep her necklace and earrings on for most of the time.

By morning the baby had not descended far enough and was at a slightly difficult angle. So by 1.30pm the decision to proceed with a ceaserian was taken. I got into some very attractive green scrubs and joined Allison in the theatre. They topped up her epidural so she was awake during the proceedure. She didn't feel any pain but she could feel the surgeon 'rummaging', as she put it. It wasn't long before a cry told us that Fiona had arrived. I stepped around the screen that (thnkfully) blocked our view of proceedings and cut the cord. After a few minutes of cleaning and checking we got our first view of our darling daughter.

Allison then had to endure a lengthy stay on the table after delivery and I held Fiona and stroked her mother's head as the strain of a long ordeal started to tell. But she really is remarkable and shorlty after she and the baby joined me in the recovery ward she was fine. It was hard to believe how much she had been thru but the proof was lying peacefully in the crib beside us.

Allison's dad, Gordon, was our first visitor. The proud look on Grandad's face was priceless.

He was the first of a number of visitors during their 5 day stay in the Southern General Hospital. (They did a great job in every respect.) It was great to be a wee family when they arrived. Allison looked fairly pleased with herself as well. With very good reason as well in my opinion. Allison and Fiona came home on Tuesday the 22nd and she grows more beautiful every day. (Her mother is pretty damn good and all.) She can pull some strange faces from time to time and her 'Elvis' impersonation is not her best look.

Allison and Fiona have made the proudest and happiest man in the world.