Announcing.......

Baby #3!! :-) As pictured here:

I am 13 weeks pregnant and just had my first scan (ultrasound) this afternoon. I actually thought I was only 12 weeks today, but according to the measurements from the scan, they reckon I'm 13 weeks tomorrow. So my due date has been moved from the 7th of April to the 1st of April. Anyway, time will tell if they are correct or if it's just a big baby. :) I'm inclined to think it's just a big baby (or the ultrasound isn't exactly accurate) as I'm quite sure of my dates. So will be interesting to see when this one comes. With both of my previous pregnancies the scan was within 2 days of what I thought I was, and my children were either born on their due date (Abigail) or only a few days early (Benjamin).

Anyway, the past 8-10 weeks or so have been a bit rough - feeling awfully sick a lot of the time and exhausted too (tho the tiredness was worse earlier on). But for about 6 weeks now I've not had any hot meals - and can't come near vegetables! I've been living on bowls of cereal (not always the most healthy kinds) but I'm eating lots of Fruit & Fibre at the moment - it seems to agree with my stomach and not make me feel too sick, and I do manage a sandwich or something similar at lunch - but I can't tolerate anything besides a light cereal such as rice crispies at dinner time. However, I think things are starting to improve. Which will be good for my blog readers - hopefully you'll not have to hear me moaning to much about feeling miserable, as I've silently endured the past 13 weeks! lol (OK, not entirely silently, but at least most of you haven't known!)

Well, here are two more photos of our dear little baby! I was so surprised to see how active it was - the baby kept moving *all* around, kicking legs and waving it's arms at us - it really looked as if it was waving to say hello to all of us. It was really sweet to see. Benjamin immediately started saying "baby, baby" when he saw it moving around. Both he and Abigail are really excited about the idea of a baby in mummy's tummy. Anyway, unfortunately none of the photos we got included the moving limbs, but they're still nice - or so I think, anyway! :)

Right, really must get myself to bed. It's been a long day and both the children are full of colds. And for Benjamin a cold with chest/nose congestion seems to mean vomiting! Not fun. I have to watch him closely whenever he's sleeping - and we had a batch of being sick just about an hour ago. He's still coughing badly (even tho he's asleep again), so not sure what tonight will be like. The night before last was absolutely sleepless for me - he must have woke up about 20 times and was screaming a lot. He just couldn't cope with not being able to breathe.

Saturday in Rosemarkie

Well, not *quite* 2 weeks has elapsed since I last put a post up - but nearly! I'm sure I thought I'd do a weekly blog when I first started, but I've not been quite so diligent lately. Then again, I think it's just about 1 year exactly since I started this blog, and I've published 56 posts, so not too bad really! :) Anyway, here I am again.

On Saturday we had a get together with the Christian home education group that we go to monthly. Usually it's in Inverness on a Friday (so mainly mums & children that attend), but this time we had a Saturday picnic/outing at the beach in Rosemarkie, and since it wasn't a weekday, it meant more people were able to come, including the dads. We had a large turnout, which was really encouraging. And amazingly, we had absolutely brilliant weather. After nearly a full week (or more!) of rain, I was sure it was going to be a wet day, but it was beautiful sunshine and actually *hot* down at the beach! We all arrived between 11 and 12:15. The children all had lots of fun in the sand and playing/talking with the other youngsters. A hall had been booked as a rainy day alternative, and although we didn't need it because of the weather, it was useful for having our picnic lunch there - especially as there were lots of wasps out at the beach. Anyway, here are my photos from the day:

Some of the people chatting who were along for the get together

Benjamin playing in the sand - please excuse his unusual beach attire! He has a major scratching problem/habit, and although not at all ideal, it seems that tights on his legs are the only way to keep him from destroying the skin on his legs and feet. :-(

Benjamin crawling in the sand - his wee friend (who was born on the same day!) is on the blanket behind him.

Most of the group, in the hall having our lunch

Abigail and her friend Felicity

A group photo, which includes all of the parents who were present (I think!), but about 10-12 of the children/teens are missing from the photo! They'd all gone back to the sand after lunch and some had strayed too far to get them for the photo. So as you can see, quite a good number attended, which was lovely.

By the way, although it was actually hot on Saturday (in the sun anyway) we woke up this morning to find there had been a frost! The first autumn night of the year (last night) and there is already frost. Wonder if this means we'll have a cold winter.

OK, the following photos are unrelated, but they show my little helpers! :-)

Abigail is helping me mix a batch of wholemeal bread rolls and Benjamin decided to climb up on the chair next to her and see what he could find that was interesting!

Of course it didn't take long for him to discover the sink and turn on the taps! :) He grabbed the washing up liquid too - I think he wanted to wash the dishes.

And on another occasion, this is Benjamin sweeping the floor for me. BTW, this is my new kitchen floor! Not sure if I blogged about it before or not, but the sticky vinyl tiles we put down nearly 2 years ago were a bit of a disaster (as anyone who would have seen our kitchen recently will have immediately noticed!). So, we finally got some professionals (or so they're meant to be!) to come and put down some new flooring. Needless to say, I'm very pleased to have a decent kitchen floor again. :)

Well, busy day tomorrow, so must get to bed. Goodnight.

September already - it's nearly autumn!

Well, the first day of autumn isn't until the 21st, but it already feels like summer has gone. We've been having lots of damp and cold days. August was wet enough - but seems we've had even less dry days so far this month. We are occasionally getting a dry and sunny morning, which is lovely - but have to make use of it quickly, as it soon changes. Guess winter will be upon us before long!


I thought this photo was kind of neat - not exactly looking at the camera or anything, but quite crisp, and interesting looking with all the different coloured books behind him!

My dear little girl, who seems so grown up! I was thinking today how nice it is to have such a responsible daughter (no she doesn't exactly tidy up after herself!) but it's not like I have to worry about her getting into things or up to mischief all the time! Benjamin - he's another story (as photo below illustrates) - you *can't* take your eyes off him for a second - he's always into something and does dangerous things too. But Abigail is really quite dependable - she does sometimes get up to things she's not meant to (usually something like dumping her apple juice into containers or various places, or experimenting with crayons on surfaces not meant for them, or putting lots of baby shampoo in the bath) but quite often I can leave her to watch Benjamin for a few minutes and she'll be quick to alert me when he gets up to something. So anyway, it's lovely to experience children growing up and becoming more reponsible. :)

OK, here's the one who's *not* yet learned to be responsible! :-) This is one of his daily stunts - dumping all his books off the small table and climbing up it, then onto the back of the chair etc. He seems to think he's meant to be climbing all day long. Hate to think what he'll think of climbing when he's a bit bigger! ;-)

Daddy's little helpers - moving the compost from one bin to another.

Eating lunch - or rather, coming back for seconds!

Isn't he charming?! I thought this photo was so cute! Often he likes to look quite serious in pics, but I managed to get him to smile for this one.

Best friends! Playing in the drawer of lego together.

"I want to go to Texas to see Uncle Nat"! :-) The other evening Benjamin found a sheet of Air Mail stickers and stuck two of them to his head - one of them was in his fingers by the time I got the camera out. I guess he wants to travel!

Well, I think I'm going to have an early night and head for bed now. Goodnight. :)