Back from the USA. And strangely diverted via Minnesota...

You might think, with us just returned from America, that this post would be full of comments about the trip. Well, before yesterday it would have been. Except that something happened yesterday that takes precedence.

Marla had her first baby scan yesterday morning and... well... we are having twins! Obviously it is a huge surprise to us and will take a while to really sink in but to sum up my initial feelings, I am very happy and absolutely terrified. There is now much more urgency surrounding the preparations for their arrival and considerable financial planning required. While we initially are telling ourselves that things will be fine, we will now have to actually work hard to ensure that is the case. There are also added risks associated with giving birth to twins, so Marla will now be monitored much more closely by the pre-natal people at the hospital in Bath - in fact, we had our first meeting with a "twin specialist" today.

With it being so soon since we found out there is not a great deal more to say on the matter - but I'm sure there soon will be once we get to grips with it all. There are pictures from the scan that I will post within the next few days. And also, apologies if you are finding out via the weblog as opposed to hearing from us in person. I felt that it was the sort of news that most people might like to know as soon as possible and I suspect that if you are one of the people who feels we should have called you to give you the news, we will probably do so in the not so distant future.

Just a few brief words about the trip to the USA. We had a great time both in Chicago and in Michigan for nephew Jared's high school graduation. We spent a lot of time with Marla's parents and siblings (and their children) as well as were able to see some of our closest friends, including Pam & Greg, Susanne & Mark and Chris & Lisa (and their children). The photo below is of me, Marla and Susanne in front of one of the new features in Millennium park in downtown Chicago (a giant vertical fountain - one of a pair, ironically). More photos (a lot more) can be seen in this online album - there are no captions so you will have to muddle your way through all 134 of them. Our return journey was delayed by a day due to bad weather between Chicago and Detroit and our tickets the following day were re-routed via Minnesota... home of the Twins!