family visits

andys mum and dad came over wednesday night for a long weekend! we've had a great time so far! on thursday i was able to escape to solihull (a nice shopping mall) with my friend katy with only noah in tow! that was fantastic as i know i wouldn't have as much done if micah had been there!!!! then friday we went to webbs of wychbold, a garden center that has so much more!!! it has new hobbycrafts, an aquarium with some very expensive fish!! and some chipmunks (that you could buy?? how bizarre? shouldn't they be umm, in the wild???!) hampsters, guinea pigs, rabbits and one rat i think. the chipmunk was quite funny to watch!! this is micah eating his ice cream!! he loved it!




and then in the garden bit was this very cool fountain that was only �725 or something!! nice huh?


here am i in the fountain


and best of all is our new (well borrowed from paul and karen) door bouncer thing!! we put noah in for about 10 minutes or so! he loved it!! he chatted away and turned himself all the way around! it was great! so now i can't wait to try it out when i am home alone and he is fussing!! hopefully this will do the trick! i'll attach a link with the video i took in a wee while!!!

micah cuteness

i love it that micah is starting to do cute little kids stuff...like feeding henry, (the train) his sandwhich, even going so far as to make eating noises!! and the other day he offered woody his drink!! its so adorable!! i love it!!

more from the jinney ring on saturday

so here are 2 more photos from saturday! i like taking these kind of photos, by yourself!!

got it!

i'll have to scrap these soon-ish! i am so behind on my scrapbooking! so many photos and so little time and creativity! i'm trying to do some paper stuff at the moment! so we'll see how is all goes!!!!!

P.S. 16 DAYS TILL WE FLY OUT OF LONDON AND INTO BALTIMORE!! TO THE WAITING ARMS OF MY MOM AND DAD!!!! CANNOT WAIT!

cute-ness in a 14lb baby boy

i couldn't resist taking this lovely photo!! he had just drank like 2 ounces of his milk, and i knew he wasn't finished, but i thought i could take a little breather as well, finish my now cold cup of tea! i think this pose makes him look bigger (chubbier) than he actually is!!! but he's a cutie!!!

a good weekend =)

sorry its been a few days!! have had other things to do!! though that's never stopped me before!!!
well, thursday night and friday night we had great sleeping patterns!!! 9:30-7:30 and 9:30 - 6:30! loving it! i have 2 layouts here that i did on friday night i think =) this first one is a photo of my dads side of the family, taken in 1999 after my grandfather's funeral. its such a great photo though!!! the second layout is of noah!! what a cutie pie! he is so smiley and happy, such a blessing to have =) so this was our little photo shoot on friday i think...



i should also say that all the papers and stuff used on these 2 layouts can all be found at http://www.scrapgirls.com
saturday we spent the day, well i spent the day with a friend and her friend and little boy. i'll have to upload photos tomorrow as i think the camera is in the car! but we went to the jinny ring, in hanbury and walked around the duck pond! it was fun! while i was doing that, andy was off with the others in northampton at a conference there, taken by ian jackson! i'm still waiting to hear the notes but it sounded like a great day!!

fake cala lillies!! from the other side of the pond, they looked real! helen and i were like, they can't be real, they are huge!! so ofcourse, as soon as we were almost upon them, we were like, nope! they're not! but totally believable from the other side!

here they are in color!

i saw this the last time i was at the jinny ring, without my camera ofcourse, and just knew that i wanted to take that in black and white! so here ya go =) that's just my kind of thing!!

parking the car!

oh my gosh.....i am totally addicted! try this out!
http://www.107.peugeot.co.uk/peugeot.swf

treasure island

edited**video was here, but didn't seem to be working and my side bar is messed up, so am taking it out to see what happens..may be put back at later time!!!**
anyway, this afternoon we went to treasure island which is an indoor play area..soft play area really! ball pools, slides, climbing and other stuff! its only £2.50 for 2 hours and you can also have lunch there or snakes and drinks. we've been a few times, but we haven't been since noah was 1 month!
when we first got there, we were the only ones! which in a way was nice, but then i had to play with micah and go through the 'pirate ship' and go down the slide....when there are others, usually he'll just follow them through but i got my exercise anyway!!



noah slept through the first hour then after a small feed,he sat in this bouncy chair:

sleeping patterns

so we had another good night from noah--he slept for 8 hours again. we put him down at 8 and he slept till 4! which wouldn't have been so bad, but micah was up 2x! the first time he was just calling out for mommy, so after the 3rd or 4th time i went in and layed down with him, but he didn't want to lay down in his own bed! he got up and went to our bed, climbed up but wanted me to lay down on daddy's side! so i kinda slept in the middle with micah sleeping on my side! am i so glad that we have a king size bed!!! then he randomly woke up again wanting more! i was like more what? so i gave him his water, which he had a sip of but it wasn't what he wanted! he just kept saying it, then finally fell back asleep and in the middle this time!! then when i got up with noah andy put micah back into his own bed! what a night!!
micah fell asleep eating his lunch! i had gone into the front room to feed noah and realized that it was pretty quiet, so i went back to peek in and this is what i found!! i took a photo then put the seat into a reclining position and he slept for just over an hour! it was great!
noah was being a little bit fussy and i needed to vacuum the front room..but it kept him so quiet the i decided to do all of the downstairs.
and then he fell asleep =) so i continued up the stairs!! yea for me who hates cleaning!!!

a full nights sleep!

yippee!!!!
noah slept for 8 and 1/2 hours last night!! i put him down at 9:30 and he woke up at 6!!! last night was also the first time that i put him in his sleeping bag!! so hopefully that was the secret and we can do it every night!! i am just about to buy a new one that is a travel one so if we are out in the evening, the carseat straps fit through it and then we can just transfer him to his cot no problem!!!
though the only thing with him sleeping through is that i should have gone to bed earlier to have gotten more out of it!! i (yes, silly me), went to sleep at nearly 1am!! oops =)
micah has been sleeping through as well! i think only once this past week he's gotten up out of bed in the middle of the night, but went back to sleep easy enough! so andy and i have had the bed to ourselves!!


these are 2 photos of the bike that we bought for micah over the summer...he absolutely loves it! and it cost us all of £4.50!!! gotta love the bargains =)

day at bury st edmund

saturday we spent the day with lloyd and sarah at their home in bury st edmund (which is east of here, past cambridge!) we had a great day...it was very dark and dreary as we started out at 8, picked jemima up at half 8 (lloyd and sarah didn't know she was coming with us..he he). we arrived at 11 so we made great time!
we chatted for a bit and had the tour of the house...(as soon as we got there, i changed noah's nappy..he hadn't pooed in a few days, so i just figured that he had some smelly farts, but as i lifted him out of the carseat---oh my gosh!! it was much more and had gone through his vest and outfit!! the only other clothes i had was his pj's! so thats what we had to wear! oh well..he still looked cute!!)
we had our main meal around half 12/1 o'clock then we set off to the park! it was turning into a lovely day =)

jemima always loves going to the park with micah cause she gets to play too!! she was a big help as to go down the slide, you had to do some climbing of which most children under 6 were probably too small to do!



micah on the big boy swing! he did really well!!

daddy and micah climbing high

lloyd playing at the park.

we went back to lloyd and sarah's had a light tea then got changed and left for peterborough. the gospel hall there had john salisbury speaking that night! and it was really good. he spoke on being a true disciple of christ..very encouraging and challenging!
then home we went! we got home around 10:30 maybe (i can't remember), andy and i had a cuppa then went away to sleepyland!!!

rambo micah

these 2 photos are from friday afternoon! he wanted this measuring tape around his head..so i obliged! you have to admit, it is quite cute!!!

the mckenzie family

last night we went to visit friends of ours who just had their first baby! kian stewart mckenzie was born on the 2nd of september! (micah's birthday!) calum and fiona just got married a year ago today in las vegas!! they were doing an around the world trip, you know the kind that has so many stops off around the world. they stopped i think in or around thailand, new zealand, australia, las vegas and san francisco. it was for 2 or 3 months i think, but anyway, they came back married!! we were all shocked, but pleased! they had a ceremony in november and i did their photos for them! now they have kian and he's lovely!!

the daddy changing room!!!

some photos for today (though they are from yesterday!)

yesterday evening noah was a bit fussy..i had just fed him and really needed to start work on dinner as micah was getting antsy. so i dug this out of the closet and voila! no more fuss! just jabber and drowl!! and lots of it too! though its a bit cumbersome to see around him to cut the veggies and stir the mince and wash my hands =) he was quiet so we were all happy!!

i'm still working on positioning him in it to get the most out of it! i've also found a pattern to make one with out the padding, which can be a bit annoying at the shoulder...so we'll see! maybe i can recruit my mom to help me while i am home.
speaking of home! we are going to be there in less than a month!!! i am so incredibly excited to be home again..to be state-side! even the long plane journey with a 2yr old and a 4 month old can put a damper on it...although the price of the tickets did a little, they are paid for and i am over that!! just can't wait!

excitement!!

and wow! i deleted some things in my side bar b/c the links weren't working and 'voila'! its now all fixed! so the earlier problem is all better now!!! hooray!

rain, rain go away....

today it is totally tipping it down!!! i mean, not even a nice rain! totally pouring cats and dogs!! and its so dark!! if only there were thunder and lightning, of which i totally miss! you don't have very often here, i think i have heard thunder a total of 6 times this year, and thats not 6 different days but like 3 one day and 2 another day and 1 just 2 days ago! and have seen lightning maybe say 3 times? its so boring over here when it comes to storms!! we need some drama =)
micah was suppose to have his 2 year check-up today but i wasn't about to take them out in the rain! our nearest bus are usually the older ones so you have to fold down strollers and the other bus is a 10 minute walk so i was just not in the mood to do that! so we'll hopefully have it another day!
i tried to do some crafty stuff today (as in arty stuff) but micah was just not co-operating! i had some paper for him and those twistable crayola crayons and even some stickers! but no, he still wanted mine!! i think b/c i just bought an xcut paper cutter thingy and he loves it! so i put in my paper and line it up and let him press the lever down! well thats all he wants to do. and even when i am about to let him do it but am just measuring or something, he's to impatient so i try to make him wait but oh no!! can you tell i am just loving the terrible two's?? so i have put it all away for now and will try another day!
i really need to clean off the desk upstairs and try working on that! but i like sitting on the floor b/c you can't really sit down at the desk unless you have the right height chair..anyway! i do to much in the way of paper crafts!! its mostly digital, but i am just trying something new =)

heavy load

this has been my exercise as of late!! its easy to push but still hard work!! the last few days its been quite warm so i've been all sweaty by the time i get home! its crazy!! this is one of 4, yes four push chairs/pram/stroller! although amanda over at the redheaded mommy has me bet with 6!! this one in the picture is actually borrowed from a friend! i got a new one when noah was born with the hopes of getting a buggy board for micah to stand on, but they seem so expensive! so we'll see! at the moment i'm happy enough with this one, or noah in the carrier/sling and micah in the new one (then when micah wants to walk, i put noah in the stroller and fold away the carrier!)....only cause micah runs away or straggles behind and he still takes a nap!

just as an update to my mom and others interested, noah has just about outgrown his 0-3 month clothes and the 3-6months ones are fitting pretty good. in that photo thats a 0-3months outfit and he has really filled it in! but its one of my favourites!! micah is probably now fitting 18-24months the best. size 2year trousers are still way too long and too big at the waist! t-shirts he can get away with 2s if short sleeves! he has some pretty cute stuff he does, but he is still a monster when it comes to other things!! for cute-ness, when noah is sleeping, he'll put his finger (instead of to his lips) up to the top of his nose -eyebrow level- and says 'shh noah, shh noah'!! then for the monster abilities he just doesn't listen! its so annoying and i really have no clue as to how to get him to listen! i can be so short-tempered with him as well! its frustrating!

heres noah in the middle of cooing!! really trying to talk!!

what happened to the weekend?

sorry i haven't been blogging in the last few days!! it feels like the weekend has just disappeared!!
my first week 'alone' went well and now know that i'll survive!! so instead of telling all thats happened, i'll just phost some recent photos!! so heres noah with (micah's) capri sun!

this was my contribution to the memory of all the lives touched by 9/11. it was a wierd time for me as i had only just moved here to the UK, been here just over 2 weeks i think when it happened...very surreal! we have no tv and i hadn't been listening to the radio or anything so i was totally shocked by it all. we were having our phone line hooked up that day as a matter of fact! so that night i had to call home by the payphone to make sure everyone was ok! then i felt strange being an american living abroad as people kept questioning me on all types of things!
still hard to believe that 5 years has passed!

a new layout from summer holidays

these are some photos taken at aberyst-wyth in wales and from cornwall! its nice to actually be in some of the photos as i am usually the one behind the camera!!!

help!

can anyone tell me how to fix my side bar??? my links now run into my previous posts and i have no idea what i did as i didn't touch that bit!! atleast i didn't think i had!! i have no clue really about the html stuff, so any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
thanks =)

what an afternoon!

did i say that noah is generally a happy baby?? well not this afternoon! he did so well with his shots, then all afternoon, he cried. and i mean REALLY cried! i was mostly calm, trying to feed him, not working. tried a bottle, didn't like it. pushed him in the stroller, back and forth, back and forth...okay, 20 minutes he slept! then, crying! OMG
then micah wouldn't take a nap, just wanted to watch bean (aka. veggie tales)! finally took noah upstairs and layed on the bed with him and tried feeding him again...was okay till micah came up whinning and wanting me to hold him b/c he was tired! started noah off again!
finally, got him settled, cleared off the glider chair and sat with him and rocked back and forth and he sat quietly with me, then i fed him some more and laid him down in the moses basked and off he went! to sleep that is! ahh, bliss!
came downstairs with micah and tried to get him to sleep on the couch even...nothing! so we played with his trains until daddy came home. i made dinner for us all, then i made my escape!! i had a bottle prepared for noah when he woke up and i grabbed my purse and bus pass and left for the evening!! well, ok maybe just 2 hours!! but i did it! no baby, no toddler, no push chair, no diaper bag....nothing! just me and myself and it was totally wonderful!!! i felt human again =)

noah@3 months

we went to the baby clinic today and noah weighed in at 13lbs 10oz!! he also had his first round of immunizations! we are a month behind on them with a few mix-ups on appointments!! but thats okay!! we are healthy and strong!!! noah is a smiley baby and generally quite happy! he loves the mobile that plays, "when you wish upon a star" and he likes you to hold him so he's standing!! he's got strong little legs!!



couldn't leave micah out! so heres a photo from his birthday! no we didn't make him wash-up, he volunteered!!

home alone...

well, so far so good!! today was andys first day back at school! so after having him home with me and the boys for 6 weeks, back to work he goes! i was more or less dreading it as WHAT was i going to do all on my own with micah who has just turned 2 and can be crazy and annoying and noah who is just about 3 months!! but believe it or not, not one lick of trouble!!! its been great! i'm even getting computer time! now if i can just get micah to nap at some point we'll be great!! (will update later!)

**we did get a nap in! 3:45 till just after 5! fell asleep watching veggie tales!!**

Happy 2nd Birthday Micah :)

today, believe it or not is micah's 2nd birthday!!! where has the 2 years gone?? i have no clue! it has totally flown by!!!

we were going to go to the park for a picnic with some friends but we woke up to rain!! typical!! here is micah opening a present with naomi. (who came along with hannah and gary.) we had invited others but being the last weekend of summer holidays, loads of people were away!

so instead we had a picnic on our lounge floor!! it was good fun =) micah isn't at the stage yet of really understanding what a birthday is, but loved his 'choo-choo' cake!!

Micah's first cinema experience

we took micah to his first cinema experience!! we went to see 'cars' and we all loved it!! it was a 11:30 showing so there were only about 20 or so people there, mostly children!! we sat in the first row where there is a railing in front of the seats so that micah wouldn't be blocking anyones views. there was only once that he wanted to walk around and we went up to the very front and i sat while he ran up and down the 2 rows of those seats. otherwise he went from andy to me and back again!

some of it he found scary, but i think that was more from how loud it is in the cinema! noah was with us too and he slept for awhile, i fed him a little bit and he sat on my lap for awhile, quite happily!! otherwise he was just in his carseat! just before the very end, micah started cuddling with me and then seriously one minute before the credits, he fell asleep!!! and didn't wake up at all as i carried him to the car and put him in the carseat!! it was so good!!! he seemed to really like the movie as it was all cars! and i know that andy and i really enjoyed it too!!

that's definitely one to get on dvd!!!

i know these photos aren't the best, but i didn't want to use my flash inside the theater and get my camera confiscated or something!!