Groundhog Day

I’m all for plenty of festive celebrations but Christmas 2025 just seemed to go on for such a long time! It was a bit like Groundhog Day!

We had planned to spend Christmas Day at Ben and Sarah’s, with Sarah’s Mum and Dad and enjoy celebrating the tiny twins’ first Christmas together. Unfortunately, Sarah’s Dad suddenly developed a nasty cold and cough so for the twin’s sake (with their premmie baby lungs prone to infection) he and Sarah’s Mum stayed home.

Indie the dog enjoying special Christmas cuddles

It was so disappointing as we were all looking forward to spending a memorable day together. However, we vowed to try again a couple of days later.

Despite the disappointment we still had a lovely time

There was a huge stack of gifts for the girls despite Ben and Sarah’s attempts to temper the enthusiasm of both sets of grandparents so even though the twins opened quite a few parcels there were still stacks left to unwrap at the Christmas replay.

There were loads of presents (of course!)

We had a lovely day on 25 December but after lunch Ben started to feel really unwell and by the evening he had a full blown stomach upset.

The dogs also love being part of the celebrations!

Indy likes the look of some of the new toys!

Opening presents is hungry work – Tilly drinks a bit from her bottle to keep up her strength!

We had a great Boxing Day at our little bush house with Jonathan’s brother Jack and sister-in-law Carole and friends Cathy and Peter and on the 28th we were all set to have a festive rerun at Ben and Sarah’s.

The entrance to our cottage – with it’s beautiful name plate, a gift from Ben and Sarah

Our Christmas tree – hastily purchased and decorated in the few days between our arrival and Christmas

Unfortunately, there was more illness in the family when Sarah’s Mum succumbed and Ben still wasn’t feeling the best so although we had another lovely day celebrating Sarah’s birthday, opening gifts and eating special food, we were just the four of us (with Ben sitting away from the rest of us) and the twins.

We finally managed to have the Christmas Day/birthday rerun on 4 January. Better late than never!

Sunset at the look out for Sarah’s birthday

Ben still keeping his distance so as not to infect the rest of us

In the meantime, just before Christmas and over the festive period, Eva and Matilda started to eat solids! Only little bits at first but such an amazing step forward – especially for Matilda who was still being fed via a nasal gastric tube.

They also both cut their two bottom teeth during this time – another milestone achieved! They seem to learn or do something new almost every day – so amazing to witness after their shaky start! They are both such cheerful and sweet babies which is a great delight.

We had a great final two weeks of the year but the New Year brought on a bit of drama when Eva became unwell with a high temperature. As it was a public holiday Sarah and I had to take her to a day hospital about 40 minutes away from home to have her checked out.

She was given antibiotics and we were told to present her again if she didn’t get better quickly. Thankfully she soon perked up and was back to her normal happy self.

Unfortunately just over a week later she was at her regular appointment at the paediatrician when her temperature suddenly went up again and her doctor suggested that Ben and Sarah should take her to the Emergency department at the nearby Children’s Hospital.

It turned out that the poor little thing had a urinary tract infection. Once she was on antibiotics she perked up enormously but she and Ben had to spend three nights in the Children’s Hospital so the doctors could run tests and keep her under observation.