Category Archives: Family

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Just a wonderful day

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So on Wednesday, Maddie, Joyce, Scott and I left the house at 06:30 to drive to Rochester in Kent and met up with Becky, Charlotte and Phil. It was a day Maddie and I have been looking forward to for such a long time.

It was Becky’s PhD graduation day!

The day was as wonderful as we had expected and well worth the early start. I am lucky enough to share my life with three truly amazing ladies (well actually a lot more than that in the rest of my family) but this day was all about Becky. I don’t know anyone who has a wholly enjoyable time doing their PhD, but Becky found the four years particularly tough for many reasons – mostly outside her control. There were several times when she was close to walking away. But she is fiercely determined and independent and stuck at it through the darkest days and Wednesday was a chance for us to celebrate her fantastic achievement.

Becky is a constant inspiration for me, but having seen her determination and commitment to get to the end of her PhD, I don’t think I have ever felt so incredibly proud of her as I did on Wednesday. I hope she is as proud of herself as her mum, Charlotte and I are, but knowing how self-effacing she is I doubt it, so we are going to have to do the whole pride thing for her.

So this is a pretty self-indulgent post to highlight the success of our very own:

Dr Becky Birch

But it wouldn’t be a day out with the girls without their usual attempt to take a bad photo…

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Happy Birthday Dad

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I had hoped to post a really exciting (well for us at least) update this weekend. Last week was the week for the floor to go in downstairs. Unfortunately, when they came to test the screed it still had too much moisture for them to guarantee the floor. So flooring has been postponed. Cue dehumidifiers running round the clock and a revisit on Wednesday this week. So while there have been a few changes dotted around the house recently, I am going to save them to accompany the, hopefully imminent, floor installation. 

In the meantime, something much more important. Last weekend we had a bit of a family get-together in the Midlands to celebrate my Dad’s 80th birthday. As you can imagine there were tonnes of photos taken – but rather than force them all on you here, I have posted the full display in The Gallery. We had a really fantastic weekend with dad’s twin brother and sister, Maurice and Elsie and their other halves, Brenda and Jack, my little sister Lyndsay and her hubby Iain with their two awesome kids, Cameron and Isabelle, me, Maddie, Becky and Charlotte, and of course not forgetting Mum and the birthday boy himself. Thank you to Lyndsay and Iain for donating their home on Saturday and Sunday, and to The Schoolhouse near Tamworth where we had a fantastic meal on the Saturday evening. I know my Dad had a great time with all of his nearest and dearest around him, and we all had a really lovely time celebrating his birthday with him.

Having said I wouldn’t inundate this post with all of the photographs, I had to put some up here.

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Going viral

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A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Becky’s first science-related blog article. You can find that post here. I said back then that she was really keen on writing about science for a wider audience. Well she has since left her post-doc position at Imperial College and last Monday started a new role as a medical writer for a company called Synergy Vision. She’s had a great first week and on Wednesday was asked to write her first piece. That piece, explaining the Zika virus, which the World Health Organisation have declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern, in more detail went live on the Synergy Vision blog on Thursday. Not a bad achievement in her first week at a company that prides itself on its simple, effective and informative writing style. Becky’s blog article on the Zika virus can be found here.

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HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

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Ok – so its a bit belated – but given we restored a little bit of normality, we have focussed on celebrating Christmas together. But we just wanted to wish everybody who is still reading and following the build project with us a very, very Happy Christmas and a fabulous and wonderful New Year. Apologies for the dark pictures – but we are still on emergency lighting downstairs. Lights and sockets are all sorted upstairs but we are still waiting for second fixes downstairs.

And I had to add one more photo – its very dark and a bit blurry but I include it here just in case anyone has any idea what is wrong with Becky….

 

Dr Birch

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The recently en-doctored (???) Becky has long wanted to use her enthusiasm for all things scientific to explain science to a lay audience in a fun and exciting way. She is really passionate about communicating science to the public and is looking at possible opportunities to move her career in that direction when her Imperial post-doc finishes – but in the meantime she has started to contribute to a science blog that a friend of hers has set up. She’s hoping to start her own blog on this subject sometime soon.

Maddie and I think that she’s got a naturally informative, entertaining and amusing style and hope you will read her first article about the facts and the myths behind one of the latest health crazes – activated charcoal. Everything you wanted to know and more about farty pants…

charcoal-pills

Isabelle update

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It’s getting harder to post updates during the week as it is dark when I leave home in the morning and dark when I get home, so photos of progress are tricky at least until we break through from the extension into the house. There has been some really exciting progress this week and we’ll share that this weekend.

But much more importantly, Isabelle has gone home from hospital!!

YAY!!!

Her op went well last week and although she was subdued over the weekend (hardly surprisingly) Lyndsay told me last night that she had chatted non-stop on the way home last night. We’ve all been thinking about Isabelle and Lyndsay, Iain and Cameron a lot all week and we are so happy that everything is going well.

A massive thank you to the doctors and nurses at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham who have been absolutely fabulous according to Lyndsay.

Keep getting well Isabelle and we’ll see you soon.

Love from all of us

xxxxx

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Get Well Soon Isabelle

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The House project has in some ways taken over Maddie and my lives, but some things are just way more important.

Our gorgeous niece Isabelle had an operation today on her spine. Her mum (my sister) has called to let us know Izzy is out of surgery and groggy but the operation went well. Izzy is an absolute star, a true character and we all love her loads. Her older brother Cameron is cool too and their mum and dad aren’t too bad either. So Isabelle, Cameron, Lyndsay and Iain, just to let you know that the Jacksons, Birch-Jacksons and Birches all love you loads and are thinking of you all. 

Get well soon Isabelle – we all love you.xxxx

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