January · Emma started a new job teaching KS4 at St Bede's. They were worried about finding someone to take on six hours across three days for two terms, but it fit well with Emma's seventeen other jobs.
February · Emma had a new batch of students with the OU, and also started a course herself. In theory everything in it should have been familiar from 15 years ago. Just as well, since she ended up having less time to work on it than anticipated.
March · A scan at the Rosie, and an estimated due date of 26th September to plan towards... · Gareth having got rather fed up of singing to the neighbours, we put the house on the market, and started house-hunting, initially in Cambridge and Milton. Gareth's choir put on an excellent performance of Messiah.
April · Norwich for Easter – we enjoyed this very much. There's something very refreshing about a cathedral which sends people off to another church on Good Friday afternoon, while they run children's activities in the nave.
May · The 20 week scan showed startling resemblance to Gareth. · Getting increasingly depressed by house-hunting, we started looking a bit further afield.
June · We'd just about given up on house-hunting; after all, we needed to get moved well before the baby arrived. Then we found a really excellent house in Cottenham (about 6 miles north of Cambridge, with a good bus service, and large enough to have doctor, pharmacy, Post Office, butcher, baker, candlestick-maker co-op, four churches and a plethora of mum & baby groups). The house is modern but not hideous, just off the High Street, plenty big enough, and only two doors from the library. · Gareth decided to learn to drive, what with moving out of Cambridge and having a baby and all. And of course there was no guarantee that his job would remain within an easy cycle-ride of home. So far he's passed the theory and hazard perception tests. Getting some lessons would be a good idea at some stage. · After much careful thought, Gareth became a godless heathen.
July · We went to York for a few days. The Early Music Festival was on, and we heard The Sixteen sing in the Minster. Speaking of the Minster, on the Sunday morning it featured two Archbishops and most of the General Synod. · Emma sang in Britten's War Requiem, fed up of having missed out on playing all year. We wait to see whether exposure to abnormal numbers of augmented fourths and whole-tone scales in the womb has any effect. · Emma was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which meant cutting out all sugar just as cakes started appearing in the staffroom for the end of term. · Gareth spent a lot of time chasing solicitors; we needed to get moved in the second week of August, to leave plenty of time before Child's arrival.
August · An unexpected present for our wedding anniversary. "Female Infant McCaughan" was born on the morning of the 14th, after a straightforward 3 1/2 hour labour. We did decide on a name eventually; she's now called Heather Fiona McCaughan. · Heather weighed 5lb at birth and scored 8/10 on her Apgar test at 1 minute. We understand that the government is planning to use these results to assess "value added" by primary education, any day now. · Gareth was kept extremely busy: visiting, telling the solicitors that we no longer wished to move on 22nd August, buying baby kit, keeping relatives informed, packing, telling the solicitors that we did in fact wish to move some time this millennium, bringing things in for Emma, passing on messages to her various employers, and trying not to use up all his paternity leave. He occasionally ate.
September · Emma and Heather were discharged on the 2nd. · We moved on the 7th. · On the 25th, Gareth's employer announced their intention to close the UK office by Christmas. Impeccable timing. · It took a month to get our internet access restored after moving.
October · Emma and Heather got stuck into village life. They tried the Baptists and Anglicans and decided to settle with the latter. They've joined two of the mum & baby groups, and there are two or three more to explore after Christmas. We've also been further afield by bus: Cambridge, Ely, and even Huntingdonshire for a wedding. · Gareth decided not to move to California (where Synaptics has its head office), nor to take the job offer he already happened to have from another company when the closure was announced, but to accept a job with a third company. The UK office of ClickTracks now comprises Gareth and their CTO (a good friend since student days), and is in... Cottenham. A two-minute commute has its advantages. · Emma did her OU exam with a home invigilator. Time out was allowed when Heather needed feeding. (Last-minute news: Emma got 98% in her exam and 94% in her assessed coursework.)
November · We got some shelves built, and unpacked the books. · Heather went to her first concert: Gareth's choir were doing a church crawl, with 40-minute concerts in four churches, including Cottenham. Unfortunately Gareth had a bad throat on the day, but we enjoyed listening and Heather was beautifully behaved. · Not to be outdone, Emma was also threatened with redundancy: her OU course is overstaffed for next year, so if there are no volunteers then there may be redundancy procedures. (Last-minute news: there were volunteers, so no one has to go non-voluntarily.)
December · Gareth started his new job. · Heather had her final outpatient appointment, and looks like she'll reach 10lb by Christmas. She sleeps up to 7 1/2 hours at a stretch on a good night, and will often have just one long nap during the day. She likes getting out and having lots to watch.
Next year · Emma will be returning to her work for NRICH in February, working from home, and also to the OU teaching. Gareth will be getting stuck into the new job, including a trip to their California office in February. And we'll both be child-proofing the house.
Do ring or e-mail and invite yourselves for coffee some time. Or, if you're further afield, come and stay. We have plenty of space now... · More specifically, we'll be having an open house from 11am to 10pm on Saturday 30th December. All welcome. The Citi7 bus is running every 10 minutes as usual (every 30 minutes in the evening). If possible, please let us know if you plan to come.