Weekend in Fort William etc

I think it's gone just over a week since I last blogged, so thought I should put something here before the week is finished! :)

We went to Fort William at the weekend to see Dad and the kids. Since Tuesday & Wednesday were holidays, it meant not having to rush back home on Monday to get orders sent out to customers, so we decided to have a longer weekend there from Saturday until Tuesday afternoon. We had a lovely time there and Abigail had loads of fun as usual! Naomi was also there for the weekend (tho she arrived a day before us and left a day before us) - it was really nice to see her again too! I didn't manage to take any photos, but Sarah (as usual! :) ) took loads and has emailed me some, so the below photos are all taken with Sarah's camera - either by her or one of the other kids.

Hmm, trying to think if there's anything interesting to say. That's the problem with blogs - they're actually meant to have words (well, at least I think that's what the original idea of them probably was). But usually I just think of putting photos up, and the few paragraphs around them are just an afterthought!

Abigail's been doing better at nights with sleeping - going down quite early since she doesn't have naps anymore. But seems her routine has been upset with being away for the weekend and I've been landed with some extra late nights since we got back! Wednesday and Thursday nights had her falling asleep early (once accidentally before dinner and the other night the usual time after dinner), but she was restless and woke up again and it was nearly 1am before I got her back to sleep, on both days! The only positive part of that was that she slept thru till 7 and 8am respectively - but still not very wonderful if it was soooo late that we actually got into bed. We'll see how things go tonight. I put her to sleep soon after 7pm and she was awake again about an hour later but went back to sleep fairly quickly. She made a few sounds in her sleep about an hour ago but so far so good at quarter to 11. Anyway, this must all be very boring! Sorry! I guess a mother's life pretty well revolves around their baby (or toddlers) eating & sleeping and if they do it at the right times and get the right amount! LOL

Benjamin has a second tooth now! Quite cute when the little teeth come through the gums. :) Not sure if it's this 2nd one that's causing him such pain or more trying to get through, but he's had a miserable two days so far. He's been really fussy and clingy and wants me to hold & cuddle him lots. I feel so bad for him seeing him unhappy, as he's usually such a bright & happy baby. Not to say he isn't still full of smiles, but just not as much as usual. Just hoping he won't be teething for as long as Abigail was - which was a long time!

A lovely photo of the two of them, even if they aren't looking at the camera!

Abigail posing for Sarah

Making a funny face :-)

Anna & Abigail working on a jigsaw which was a map of the United Kingdom! Peter, Abigail & the kids managed to do 2 x 1000 and 1 x 500 piece puzzles while we were there! (I did a few pieces on two of them.)

My lovely little Benjamin with is sweet smile :)

Gerrit and Benjamin

Well, I think I'll "publish" this post now. Sorry to those who will have already seen at least most of the photos from Sarah! Next time I'll have to make sure I use my camera so I can get some original shots and not have to borrow photos! :)

Below Freezing ... Brrr!

Guess it's time I put something up here again! :) I try and make a weekly attempt to post photos and at least a few paragraphs to go along with them. Don't get round to much more than that.

I'm nearly over my cold (after 2+ weeks) and feeling normal again. Benjamin and then Abigail got the cold as well (I think B first started feeling poorly around Fri/Sat of last week). Abigail's not been too bad, though I did have at least 1 night where she was waking up every 30-60 minutes for at least half the night, and another night which wasn't a lot better. But she's sleeping better now, though still a sniffly nose. Benjamin been worse with it - very stopped up nose, which has resulted in him gagging at least twice (since he couldn't breathe very well) and emptying his tummy (big time) all over his mummy! Poor thing! He's still not completely over the cold, still coughing, but is settling better at night (his first night with the cold had me awake at least every hour, I think!). Seems Peter has finally caught something of the cold too! Guess it's just the season for these things.

As for the weather here, it's *freezing*, and that is literally! Actually, below freezing! For days most of the town has been quite frozen - no snow, just frost on top of frost, so everything is white and solid. It was -4C (24.8F) this afternoon, and a freezing -7C (19.4F) in Inverness. I think some snow would be quite fun and not quite so cold either. We finally managed to get a fire guard that was big enough to go around our solid fuel stove. Peter found one in the Farm & Household Stores in Inverness on Tuesday that was wide enough and we used some panels from a fire guard that was from *Peter's* baby days(!) to add to the sides and make it come out far enough from the stove. (Pic below) So, now the house is lovely & warm, and safe for kiddies too!

Can't think of much else that I've done. Finally gave the bathroom a good clean & scrub today! Won't say how long it's been since it last had a thorough cleaning! But it's spotlessly clean at the current moment! :-)

Benjamin finally has a tooth! It's only just escaped out of the gum and is hardly visable, but can certainly feel it when he bites my chin! He's continuing to become more mobile and walks along the furniture and from one thing to another. Still not standing on his own, apart from brief periods of mere seconds, though I'm sure that will change soon enough. He's also finally learned to say Ma Ma! Both my babies have started with Da Da long before they ever could say my name. So it's lovely to finally have him calling me, especially when it's accompained with him crawling to find me - so sweet! :)

Here's some photos (and then to bed I go!):

Abigail and some of her many babies! She loves to play with her dolls and copies all the things her Mummy does!

A rather sleepy looking Abigail - sitting *backwards* in Benjamin's walker!

Happy Benjamin :)

The new fire guard put in place

Benjamin nibbling a bit of apple while he slouches in his high chair. Just *can't* get him to sit up straight - he purposely slides down! I think he prefers to sit in my lap for eating, but gets rather messy! :-P

Cold, drive in the sunshine, and books & more books!

Here I am again, with a lingering cold still, a week later! My head and chest are quite congested and makes for a bit of misery when in bed. Seems I'm the only one to have it - neither Peter nor the kids have got it yet - guess I'm just rather run down & should be getting more sleep. I *have* been trying to get to bed earlier, and Abigail goes to sleep early in the evenings as well - but I get woke up a few times in the night by each of my "babies", so getting there early doesn't mean everything! Anyway, hopefully I'll be feeling better soon.

On Monday morning we went to Cromarty. We were picking up a couple of steam cleaners that someone was kindly giving away on Freecycle. It turns out that they (well, the one that works) is really more like a steamy mop for doing tiles, rather than cleaning my grubby carpets (which obviously require a carpet shampooer!), but we were actually glad of the excuse to get out of the house & have a nice drive in the sunshine. We took the scenic route which was only slightly longer, and winds along the water etc. The sun was nearly too bright, but it was lovely after so little of it lately. I don't think we would have seen much of the sun had we just stayed at home, as in the winter, (when it comes out) it only barely peeks over the hills and glides along them until it disappears. Guess whoever decided to build all these houses here didn't think about lack of sunshine during certain parts of the year! We're really in quite a dark place, so when there's ice or snow it can often take a lot longer to melt than in other parts of the town.

Today (Wednesday) we were very busy packing up book orders. It seems that people were buying rather a lot, or at least heavy books/largish sets. I was nearly wondering if we sent out a record weight of books for one day, though I'm sure we may well have sent more before. But I totalled the weight this evening and it was 51 kg (just over 112 lbs!). This included an 11 kg box sent within the UK and 6 M-Bags (sacks with a box inside) to customers in USA, not to mention a number of single books to various places! So quite a lot really, which kept me busy with taping lots of bubble wrap over books and packing them into suitable boxes and then taping the boxes securely etc. And it's not like this was post needing to go out over a long period, as we just sent things out on Monday (we post on Mon, Wed & Fri). Anyway, don't suppose many people are interested in such silly details! :)

Here are a few pics of my children. Afraid they're not very good quality, and Abigail's face isn't showing in any of them!

Music lessons! lol Abigail & Benjamin playing an old electric organ together.

Where I found Benjamin the other night! Sitting in the bathroom floor, nearly wedged between two nappy buckets! He gets excited if he thinks someone is leaving the bathroom door open so he can go exploring! And gets rather sad if the door shuts him out!

My newest laundry helper! Benjamin watching his nappies going round & round!

Abigail "checking" to see that Benjamin knows what he's doing, as really she prefers to be my laundry lady! :)

And one final photo, taken just before I started typing this blog. I was trying to see if I could get a reasonable photo of him without using the flash. He seems to close his eyes every time now (he dislikes the flash so much), so most of my attempted pics of him are rather ruined. Peter brightened this photo afterwards, so it's a wee bit better. Thought it was such a cute smile that I'd have to post it anyway.

Well, it's past my bedtime! Guess I'd better get in bed so Abigail can wake me up in an hour's time! :) She usually goes to sleep around 7-8 (or as soon as I put her to sleep) but always seems to wake briefly around midnight. Sometimes I prefer to let her wake again *before* I get in bed, though maybe an extra hour does help me. OK goodnight!

Already December?

This year seems to have just flown by! It's hard to think it's already December. I almost think time actually moves faster when you have kids (though I know there are still the same amount of hours in a day and days in a month etc lol). But I can't think where 2007 has gone! My "baby" will be a year old in just 3 more months! They grow up too quickly.

Just more of the usual things happening this week. Did some baking on Tuesday afternoon. Seemed to have loads of book orders to send out yesterday (Wednesday) and I was kept busy packing lots of boxes (for M-bags) and smaller parcels of individual books. Nice to clear out books though, as our house can only hold so many of them! :) Amazing how many fit in.

It continues to be very wet here, but then again, that's what winter is like in Scotland! Not be able to go outside really, except to and from the car, and getting wet just to do that! Yesterday seem particularly dark! We had to use the lights the entire day, even though all the blinds and curtains were open. You would have thought it was the shortest day of the year, but Peter says it's still some weeks till then! Will be nice when the days start to get longer.

Well, can't think of anything else to say, apart from the fact that I ought to be in bed! I've come down with a cold the past few days, so not feeling very well & ought to be getting some sleep instead of sitting here! Here are a few photos anyway. Yep, of my lovely children, of course! :)


Playing in a toy box (basket!) together. See, I told you they were best friends! :) They just always have to be together and have such great fun too.

"Would you like a strawberry?"

Playing together again - this time with toys piled up on Abigail's "bear bed" (because it has a duvet cover with bears on it).

All dressed for bed, but in a box instead of bed! ;-) He didn't get in there himself, but he *is* always climbing on and over everything.

Guess I shall say goodnight for now & publish this. Maybe someday I'll have something interesting to say. I always come to my blog late at night and my mind goes blank. Sorry!