Halloween, 2011

This year, Ashley and I spent the Halloween weekend with Weilok and Arasin. They had volunteered to do a children's Halloween party on one of the American Air Force Bases. This was Ashley's first time doing many things (going onto an American Air Force Base, going to the American grocery store, and an American Halloween Party) since moving to the UK. I think she was a bit overwhelmed. She cried in the middle of the grocery store (which, in her defense, was exactly the same thing that I did the first time I went,) oogled everything, and commented over and over about how everyone sounded. It was rather sweet.

At the party, Ashley was in charge of the camera for all but the start of the evening. She was dressed in garb (instant costume!) I grabbed a quick picture...

I was dressed as a pregnant rabbit. Not that inspiring, but to be honest I wasn't really feeling the Halloween costume love. Nothing fits, nothing is comfortable. This was the best I was willing to do. You can, however, see the baby bump rather clearly.

Rayanne (dressed as Madame Dragonfly) and I were doing a booth at the party. We were happily sticking children's hands into gooey pumpkin guts and making them guess what they were feeling. For their bravery, they got candy. There was much silliness.

Baby squirmed all night. Lately, the tiny kicks and punches that we used to feel have become massive twisting, squirming, rolling monster movements. It looks very much like my belly is a curtain, and we are all standing on the outside watching someone behind the curtain rolling and kicking at it. I wonder who that person is and what they are like ALL the time.

I think we are coming to the point that all of us are ready to be done with this pregnancy and move on to the having a baby bit. I feel like a house. I am /so slow/ and bending over for anything is difficult. Sleeping... heh, who sleeps?

Realistically, though, things are going so much more smoothly than I expected they would. I am healthy and feeling good, all things considered. Baby is happy and growing. Stephen and Ashley are happy and not growing. And only 7 more weeks to go. Bring it on. :)

Holiday - (not so) Short and Sweet

I have been on holiday in the US for the past month, and I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Tristan, as well as Kelli's girls. Though you might want to see some pictures. Warning: this is not all we did or all I saw. The truth is, I'm terrible at taking pictures. So if you have some that I don't have, please pass them on.
Tristan and Papa being pals.

Tristan and Gramy. He says "She's the oldest person in the world, Mom." Gramy is 90, but she is just as sharp as a tack. I want to be old like her.

Gramy and the 18 week Baby bump. Oh, and me.

It was very difficult to get all three of these children in the same picture, and this was the best I could do. Katy, Tristan (in the red hat) and Angel (in the white hat) fishing and swimming in the river. The fishing lasted about 3 minutes, then into the water they went. Katy sat with me and watched.

Tristan loved all the dogs and cats that he saw on the trip. This is him with Dora. Angel is NOT happy that he is in the picture holding HER dog.

Tristan and Kiera after her surgery. She is still in the hospital, very groggy and out of it. She tolerated her picture with Boo...

...but didn't want to have anything more to do with pictures by the time I got to her. Luckily she tolerated this kiss on the cheek.

Kelli, Boo and I. I think we were all very tired by this point and faking smiles. Except for Tristan, whose expression pretty accurately sums up how we were all feeling at that point.

Having my family birthday dinner. This was Tristan's birthday red velvet cake. "This is too tiny to be a cake! Take a picture!" says Tristan.

Tristan, Katy and Angel were playing whilst at Dar's house. Angel was the mom, Katy was the daughter who had a tumour in her brain and had to go to the doctor (who was very far away) to have it out, the bear (beside Tristan) was the other daughter who stayed behind, and Tristan was the babysitter. This is Tristan teaching the bear he is babysitting how to play video games.

Tristan, Ms. Christi, Noah and Zach.

Tristan loves on Ms. Christi and Mr. Dan's dog, Cooper. Cooper loved to have his picture taken and sat there so still. He was the only animal I didn't come home with 20 blurry pictures of.

Boo and his favourite guy, Mr. Dan.

Tristan and Grandma Holen.

Tristan and Nicky's dog Kahlua.

Tristan and Grandma's one-eyed cat, Sidney. Sidney made Tristan feel a bit homesick, because he has a cat with one eye as well.

Tristan and his cousin Nicky. This is her 'normal' face. ;)

Tristan, Aunt Stephanie, and cousins Nicky, Kailey, Maddison and Emily.

Tristan and his cousin Kailey. They had so much fun making mud pies together. According to him, she is his favourite girl cousin.

Tristan and baby Kayden.

Boo and Grace.

Boo and Rachal.

Boo and Aunt Laura.

Laura and I. If the picture had gone down lower, you would find that the baby bump is a bit bigger than it was before.

Mamy and Katy. This was my last night in the US, and Tristan had gone home already.

Kiera and Mamy. Kiera was a lot happier to see me this time, called me Mamy for the first time ever and hugged and loved on me all evening. She was a chatterbox, too, which I was so pleased to see since the only way I could interact with her the month before was to read her a story. A totally different kiddo than the Kiera with a tumour.

Mamy and her girls.

It was nice, it was tiring, it was SO worth it. But I'm glad to be home.

Baby!

Say hello to the newest addition of our family - as-yet-to-be-named Baby! Due to arrive Christmas Eve, 2011 (though I suspect Baby will hang out longer - Ashley did by almost 2 weeks!) My mom is coming to stay with us early December, and will be here for the arrival as well. Baby didn't appreciate the very quick view we took just to make sure there was only 1 of him/her, and these were the best pics we got. The strong white line across Baby's face in the ultrasound is his or her teeth - so they are all there and healthy. Baby was shy too, so the only chance we are taking to find out if Baby is a boy or a girl is now passed without us knowing. But that's ok, because we are going to let you guess! We (and by that I actually mean Stephen because I am increasingly incompetent with computers and especially spreadsheets) are adding a place that you can join the team of your choice - Team 'boy' or Team 'girl'! It should all compile into a lovely graph and we will get to see who guessed right. I'll add pics of Baby's bump in coming weeks too... once there are some.

Long time... no pics. :(

In December 2010, we had professional family pictures done. They didn't arrive until February or so, but of course, I didn't add them here because I have been very very bad about updating the blog. (I'm trying to be better, but no promises.) I thought you might like to see a few of them. I wasn't yet pregnant, so don't get your hopes up about pregnant pictures, though I'll add pre-birth baby pics shortly.


Our family. Notice how Stephen is too cool to smile, and how appropriate his shirt is.


And my favourite photo. Ashley planned this one and the photographer went along for the ride. It is absolutely perfect for the loving dynamic in our household, even down to trying to hide the smiles as they try to beat each other up. (Though sometimes I'm not smiling, since there are times that I end up underneath them while they duke it out, and they are HEAVY!)

Today...

...was the first day the chickens spent the whole day outside.

This is the result of Stephen and I noticing that they are getting a bit big for their inside ... um... coop? house? playspace? brooder? apple shaped children's sandpit? Anyway, if they had a mom chicken, she would be taking them outside for most of the time now, teaching them how to fend for themselves and all. So we decided that they need to spend more time outside free ranging in the back garden on days we are home. More space, less mess, and chickens who don't think they live in the house. All good.

We set out plenty of water and food, and the garden is full of pretty tall broccoli, cabbage (both red and green) corn, aubergine and brussels sprouts, so they had lots of shade and dapples of sunshine. It was fairly warm today (it was about 80F) so plenty warm if they got cold, since they still need a heat lamp occasionally. I wanted to play in the garden with them. It looked like they were having so much fun.

They had a lovely time, but about halfway through the day Ashley came inside holding George. She was sitting outside watching them and they all 5 came and climbed all over her. So she decided they were saying they wanted to come in. That may have been true, but I'm mean, and made her take them back out. I find it amusing to think about them identifying Ashley as the one to cuddle up against in order to get their way.

Later, Stephen and I went shopping in town and left Ashley with the duty of staying downstairs (all the downstairs windows were open) and keeping the chickens out of the house. They tried, for the first time, to come into the kitchen. Ashley said they were standing in the doorway looking around in wonder. And they were all shocked when Ashley started flapping a dishcloth at them and telling them to shoo. It might have been the first time they heard the word shoo. And of course, it was Ashley doing it, so it must be.... a game! Yes, that's it! It's a game! A peck the flapping dishcloth game! Those are so fun, I'm telling you. Unless you are the Ashley trying to get chickens out of the kitchen before your mom gets home.

Anyway, that's my story!

A Funny Thing Happened...

As I was taking pictures of the new chick and the chick's new house, George climbed onto the highest perch in order to climb onto my arm. This was unexpected, because he is not one to rush into people's hands, however he is one to be the tallest chicken in the world. What was surprising was that Defoe, not to be outdone, followed him up to the tallest perch to do the same thing. She had never actually made it to the highest perch before, so it was rather exciting.

I holler for Stephen to come and help me, because I am bent over the coop with Ashley's good camera in my hand, and George has climbed onto my shoulder and Defoe onto my arm and I can't let go of anything to get them down. Stephen comes down and reaches for the camera when...



George climbs onto Stephen's arm in order to be even taller still. I manage to get turned round to pass the camera to Stephen, so he can take pictures of this, while George turns in circles on Stephen's arm.





Again, Defoe follows George onto Stephen's arm. Not to be outdone, George climbs up Stephen's arm and onto his shoulder, then onto his neck.



I just manage to get this picture when Defoe sticks her nose into the camera from Stephen's arm.



She makes a little jump back onto me, and George follows her, so I am able to give the camera to Stephen while the birds jostle for position on my arm.







I enjoy this for about 2 minutes until my arm feels like it is holding up lead weights, and not just 2 baby chicks with one-upmanship issues.







See this smile? It's not real. The ones before were real, but this one... not so much. Darn chickens weigh a freaking ton! But then George comes up and does something so incredibly sweet that you are going to say 'awww...'



...he comes up and kisses my nose. Ok, so maybe chickens can't kiss - but it was not a 'looking for food' peck like he does to my freckles or an 'I'm gonna pull out your feathers' peck like I've seen him do to his siblings. It was... well, a kiss.



Then he went back to my arm and settled down. Both of them stayed there for a few more minutes until Stephen and I forcibly banished them back to the not-so-high places. The other chickens were jealous - running and flapping and climbing as high as they dared (which for poor Wednesday wasn't very high at all.)



This is how high he got off the ground. But at least he tried. It was really quite cute.

Meet the Babies!

This is George. He likes to be as tall as possible, and is the best of the chicks at perching. He is also the most dominant, and will let Defoe do all the work of finding worms so that he can steal them. He also enjoys puffing out his chest at June. This is George at the very top of the highest perch in the babies new home in our home. Only he and Defoe can climb up that high.

This is June. He is my sweet baby. He loves attention, and is the first of the chickens to climb into anyone's hands. He will rush over to anyone who puts their hands down to be loved on. He is also very gentle with the hens. If I could keep one of the roosters, he would be the one I kept.

This is Defoe. She has a pink spot on her head now - because we now have a fifth chick. Defoe is an adventurous sort of gal, always climbing (though not as much or as high as George) and flapping and jumping. She is also pretty smart for a chicken. You can often see her stop and /really think/ about somewhere she wants to be and how to get there. She also loves worms more than any other chicken, though she won't eat them off the ground, only out of my hand, and only if George doesn't steal them from her.

This is Wednesday. He was the baby of the 4, and he is still the most timid and the most behind developmentally. He likes to do lots of running and flapping, but he doesn't yet attempt any of the taller perches, and often falls off the smallest baby perch. He is a sweetie, though, and is the most likely of all the chicks to have a good roll in the sand.



This is Defoe and our new chick. (Defoe at the back, new chick at the front.) She doesn't have a name yet. She was a hatchling from the Reception class brood, and I claimed her in case we get to keep the chickens when they get older. We wanted to have 2 hens for laying, and only managed to hatch one. She has only been with our brood for a few days now, and is still a little shy, but doesn't mind being handled (though doesn't relish it like the rest of my lot do) and seems to get on well, especially with Defoe.

We don't yet know if we are keeping the hens (we know we won't be keeping any of the roosters - we are not allowed in the city. They will have to go to a farm home when they get a bit older.) It all depends on what the owner of the house says. But I /really/ hope we get to keep the girls. Eggs.... nummy.