Photos from Texas - post 1

Here's the first of a few posts with photos from our trip to Texas. Afraid there aren't many exciting photos as I tended to spend most of my time in Texas either visiting with family, looking after my children, or driving a car! :-) There *are* a number of photos (about 30 of which I hope to post, in batches of 5 per post), but probably many will be rather boring. Sorry!

I do like these lovely photos of Abigail and Benjamin with Grammie! :-)

Grammie and Abigail

Grammie and Benjamin wanting to touch her face :-)

Grammie and a smiling Benjamin

Aunt Terry and Benjamin (Nat has a lovely pic of Abigail and Uncle Ernie, which I hope to post when I can get him to send it to me!)

Abigail and her cousin Julia

Back home

Yes, I'm still alive - just haven't posted anything here in nearly a month! I thought it was maybe 3 weeks, but blogger says the last published item was Oct 2nd, so almost a month!

Anyway, we had a lovely 2 weeks in Texas. I think I forgot about how hot it was over there - most days being in the upper 80s F. (And yes, I spent 21 years of my life over there!) I guess I thought October would mean some autumn weather, and didn't realise it would actually be hotter than our Scottish summer! So, in the end, about 3/4 of Abigail & Benjamin's suitcase was never used, and about 1/2 or more of Peter's as well! Maybe someday I'll learn to pack what one actually needs for a holiday. I always end up taking everything imaginable just to be prepared. Anyway, as for the heat, we survived and Peter was actually adjusting to it quite well by the time a cool front came a few days before we left! Benjamin suffered the most and got a really nasty heat rash under his neck - poor thing! I think the redness is finally about gone and his skin looking more normal.

It was so nice to be back over there and see so many relatives again. Abigail had so much fun with everyone and really warmed up to people very quickly. She took to Grammie and Grandpa immediately and was always excited when we were going to their house. She still talks about them too, as well as Reuben the dog! She really liked Uncle Ernie too and was even talking about him today! She mentions various names at different points during the day, such as Aunty Leah, Uncle Caleb, Uncle Nat (who "went to Texas on an airplane"), James & Hayley (always said together!), Joseph, Aunt Terry, Claire, "Aunty Stephy" etc. Obviously the lack of your name here doesn't mean she doesn't remember you - these are just some of the names she says, which I remember just now.

I have quite a few photos from our time in Texas (nothing very exciting, unfortunately), but I don't have time just now to go through them and edit & post them here. Hopefully sometime soon.

We got back home on Thursday of last week. It was a long journey, felt even longer by the fact that Abigail didn't want to sleep at all on the plane home! So she and her daddy walked in circles around the plane "all night long"! Of course, it was only midnight according to Texas time by the time we landed, so hardly surprising she still had lots of energy. But it meant we had a very heavy sleeping Abigail to carry through Amsterdam airport, on and off the plane to Aberdeen, and then on to taxis, trains etc. We managed to get to bed around 8 something that night and fairly well slept through until about 8 something the next morning. We hoped that meant we were off to a good start with regard to jet lag, but I think it was just because we were all coming down with colds/bugs/viruses that we slept so soundly! :( Abigail has been rather fussy most of Thursday and in the later part of the afternoon complaining of sore legs, but it wasn't until she developed a temp of over 101 that I realised she was unwell. She had a fever and was generally a bit miserable for a few days but seems nearly better now . Benjamin came down with something similar over the weekend and was vomitting over a period of about 24 hours, as well as having a cold! You feel so helpless when they're so young & feeling poorly. At least Abigail can tell me what's hurting her, but Benjamin can't say anything - he just wanted to be held tightly and given lots of cuddles. He's still not quite himself, but his temp has just about gone away. Peter's had a cold and I've had a cold as well as a sick stomach. Just hoping it will all pass soon and I'll get a bit of energy for getting organised and back to normal.

Right, I must end this post! Being at the computer after midnight on the first night that my children are actually asleep before midnight is not the way to recover health or energy! ;) So off to bed I'll go.

But before I go....here are a few photos! They don't actually fit in with anything above or our holiday in Texas. But wanted to put them up. The ones of Abigail were taken before we went away (early October) and the one of Benjamin was taken just last night.


Already helping in the business! She was working very hard and peeling off the various labels (return address, postage, airmail sticker, etc) and actually putting them in the right places on the parcels!

Here she is again, putting them onto the parcels. She *loves* helping with stickers, but she can get carried away having fun and a local UK parcel ends up with at least 6-8 Airmail stickers! LOL

Mummy's little helper again! This time hoovering the floor in her bedroom.

Benjamin is a strong little boy! He managed to pull a big and heavy dictionary off the shelf and onto his lap and didn't even hurt himself! I was cooking dinner and noticed him putting at the spine of it with his finger and it had moved maybe an inch or so, but I didn't really think he could get it off. However, the next time I looked over at him (prob a few minutes later) I found him looking at the pages (just before this pic was taken). No damage done....but a few seconds more and the pages might have been a nice tasty snack! ;) ..... Good thing he happened to pick a book that belonged to his daddy and not one that was for sale! Now we must think out what to do to protect the books along the bottom shelves - any ideas?! :)

A Few More Photos

Peek a Boo, says Benjamin

Abigail looking rather thoughtful

Abigail running down the hallway in FW

Benjamin posing for his Auntie Sarah

Abigail using her Auntie Sarah's laptop

(photos all courtesy of Sarah)

Still alive

I'm still alive, but been a bit busy lately & not updated this blog! :) Had at least a photo or two from last week that I'd planned to put here, but don't see the camera within arm's reach, so they'll have to come later! Instead, I'll try to upload a really cute video that Sarah took of Benjamin! And maybe a few of her pics too. I put them onto my computer from her camera, so have them handy just now.

We were in Fort William for the weekend. Had a nice time with Dad and the kids. (Soon I'll not be able to call the "the kids" anymore, as they're all growing up so quickly!) Abigail always has loads of fun with them, especially Anna and Gerrit, as they're not *so* much older than she is! Abigail ends up using lots of energy when she's around lots of people and comes home very tired. lol

Only 1 week from today till we leave for Texas! Can hardly wait. I'm quite excited to be going over again to see everyone. Abigail is always talking about going on the airplane, going to Texas, seeing mummy's Grammie, seeing mummy's cousins, etc, etc! Just hope she'll be well behaved on the loooong plane ride!

So, might not hear much more from me for a wee while...but I'll try to post a few more pics on here maybe later today or later this week. For now, here's the video of Benjamin, complete with sound! Isn't he so cute?! ;-)

A Day Out

Peter sent off his final project/paper for his universtity course this morning, which means no more studying! Yay! :) It's so nice to be back to "normal" without the added load of studying for him, though I'm glad he did it!

So, after going to the post office to post it, we went for a day out, which was a nice change. It was rather dull, damp and windy most of the day, but still relaxing to be out of the house without anything specific to do! We had some lunch in the cafe at the big Tesco in Inverness and then went out east beyond Elgin; visited a nice folk museum in Fochabers. Abigail especially loved a big model train and wanted to keep going back to see it, and tell the man at the museum that she'd seen a train! :) We stopped at a "beach" along the Moray Coast so Abigail could see the sea, as seen in the photo here. We just about got blown away and it was very cold, and looked like it was about to rain! However, even in this sort of weather Abigail managed to spot a nearby park (she's good at finding them!) and began a long walk across a grassy field to get to it, even though her mummy & daddy were heading for the car! So Benjamin & I followed her on foot and Peter drove the car round to us (just in case we got a downpour!). But we were soon freezing so left and went to ASDA (related to Wal Mart) in Elgin and had some dinner in their cafe. They give free jars of baby food when you buy a meal, so I thought I'd try and give a bit to Benjamin just for fun...but he didn't really fancy it at all, and instead grabbed a couple of chips (french fries) off my plate and had a great time chewing on them! His first "junk food" meal! lol :)

Now it's nearly midnight, so I'm heading for my bed. Abigail is already asleep and Benjamin is hopefully finishing up his long feed to keep him sleeping for at least a few hours!

futher photos

In addition to trying out a bit of food, Benjamin think he should be standing too, even though he's not yet worked out how to crawl or even sit up on his own! If you stand him up at something he holds on with an amazing grip and can stand up all by himself! Of course, it's not safe to leave him this way, so loving hands are always behind him to catch him! :) But it's remakable how well he can stand.
Standing at the rocking chair and looking at a book

"Look at ME!" says Benjamin

And last of all, but *certainly* not least, a couple of photos of Abigail! Her milestones aren't so easily caught on camera now that she's rather "grown up"! But must include some pics of her too! She loves Benjamin loads and is a really sweet big sister to him. Several times today when she heard him crying she came from the other room just to give him a cuddle since she thought he sounded sad! She likes to play with him and gives him toys to play with and makes sure he doesn't get into things that are "no-no's" (like plastic bags, paper, bubblewrap etc). Maybe she *is* a bit bossy at times, but for the most part, she does look after him really well! :)

Standing on the stairs and smiling for mummy

All dressed for bed and looking very cozy!

Ok, that's all for now! I think it's bedtime for me....well, need to get Abigail to sleep first! Benjamin looks like he's finally asleep for the night, so maybe his sister will soon follow. Nite nite! xx

Just another Monday

Nothing exciting happened today...just the usual Monday things like putting nappies on to wash first thing in the morning and then trying to get as many other loads of clothes done in the same day! Always nice if one gets sunshine and nice weather for laundry days (so the great outdoors can help get the clothes dry!) but it was a wet one today and my second try at hanging clothes resulted in a basket of clothes that were actually more wet than when I hung them out! Oh well. Guess that's what life is like when you live in a damp place like Scotland. I can be thankful I have a tumble drier for the wet weeks and months of autumn and winter! :)

Apart from doing laundry, Monday means getting the book orders processed and packaged up, sorted for posting and then finally bagged up to take to the post office by 5:30pm. I thought I was making good time and might actually get a chance to do something besides "work" in the afternoon, but never happens. Maybe someday I'll be better organised and can get more accomplished in a day!

So yeah, I said it was "just another Monday", so why have I written all of this anyway? Don't know. Guess that's what blogs are for...useless writing. Maybe I'll post some of the photos I intended this blog to be for. I think they were all taken last week.

Benjamin's first attempt at BLW (baby led weaning).

NO, not even beginning to think about weaning in the ultimate sense! :) But rather introducing him to some foods since he's now 6+ months old. However, he's *not* interested in the usual baby foods like pureed veggies, he just makes awful faces. So I was reading about "baby led weaning", which means "forgetting baby purées and weaning spoons and simply letting your baby feed himself", and Benjamin loves it (as seen in photo below)! He sits in his high chair happily the whole time we're eating while he plays with food and has wee tastes of thing he likes and has a good chew of things.

Benjamin's smile shows his approval of this method :)

Helping himself to a drink of water

..... was trying to post a few more photos, but can't work out how to put them below here, keeps putting them right at the top! So, guess I'll have to do another post!