still here!

not that i am impatiently waiting or anything. i'm still more or less comfortable and not at all fed up. though now that kilian and zach are here, i'm more then ready to be next!! today i got a moses basket and stand for £10 and later on today someone is coming to pick up a bag of maternity clothes for £10 so really the moses basket is free =)

the weather has been very iffy lately. its gotten slightly warmer from the rainy and cold weather we had on monday...as in yesterday afternoon was beautiful and mostly sunny. today is overcast but dry and looks like rain any moment! we are trying to go out tomorrow...andy wants to go to the beach. i on the other hand am not so keen to drive so far! my legs get so restless and so on =) we'll see anyway what the weather is like!

Zach McCauley

Here are some photos of baby zach. him and mommy are doing well. and big brother luke is well chuffed with baby zach too!

another nephew!!

my sister-in-law karen gave birth to a healthy baby boy this morning! zach was born at 4:55am weighing in at 7lbs 11oz =) thats all we know so far, so don't ask what or if zach is short for anything, because we don't know!!!

but i will post photos as soon as we have some! i do know that karen went to hospital around 11 last night, so she made good time!!

congratulations paul, karen and luke!!

bank holiday weekend....

right. i'm still here and no baby yet! thought i would get that out straight away! and karen is still without new baby!! i'm feeling fine. a wee bit tired, but that is to be expected right?! my mother-in-law is here and we are slowly getting all the needed things done. well, maybe slowly on my part! she likes to stay busy =) unlike me! but i'm enjoying the time that she spends with the boys and keeping them occupied so i can either relax or make dinner or whatever.

saturday we spend at the lickey hill park which was tons of fun for the boys. sunday was just a relaxing day as it was slightly wet outside. and monday andy and i nipped off to worcester and the cotswolds with our friends jon and anthea. it was a wet day ofcourse, i mean it was bank holiday monday and all, but it was nice and drove through lots of small villiages and stopped for a wee bit of shopping and a wonderfully filling cream tea! yum!

the boys behaved for nana and all was well. though noah was waiting up for us when we got home at almost 10! he was so excited to see us it was sweet =)

a photo of kilian

he's a cutie!!!
he looks a lot like jeremy i think!

kilian alexander

he's here! kilian was born at 6:11pm baltimore time! 7lbs 14oz and 21in [going to like maths maybe? multiples of 7 ;) ]
no pictures yet to post here as my mom sent me 2 but they aren't very good at all....

my nephew

my brother and his wife are having a boy...and he should hopefully be coming today! kelly is being induced today, i have no idea the time line, but hope that it is short and sweet!! i so can't wait for my brothers' first child to be here and see a photo of jeremy holding baby kilian!!
so kelly or jeremy if you read this, we are praying for you over here in the UK!!
**edited** at 7:30 my time kelly was 7cm =) he's almost here!!


and other things:
we put micah to work last night, earning his keep:

or in colour? or mixed? i can't decide!



and this morning he wanted to make muffins/fairy cakes:

pumkin chocolate chip cookies

yum!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla. combine flour, oats, baking soda and cinnamon; stir into creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned.

*you may want to add more oats or flour? mine were very moist and falling apart...though super duper yummy!!

recent things...

saturday while i was at the baby show, andy took the boys to what was suppose to be a tolkien day (who wrote lord of the rings). [tolkien is from birmingham, where we live.] this was near to where andy works, but thankfully he said he didn't run into any of his students! here are some people dressed up, though i think as vikings? and ofcourse if there is a train ride, the boys must ride it! but atleast andy got a good photo as they are both looking and smiling! fancy that! it was a wee bit bet this day, but not too bad!

micah tried his hand out at archery! loved it though wasn't very good at it he told me as he is not a big boy like daddy...that is what he says about lots of things..."when i'm a big boy like daddy, i can do that!" his also favourite response to 'micah, don't do that' is; "but i Love to do that"...whatever it is =) so silly.
here is micah playing some thomas games on the computer. he likes that a lot and for some of it, i don't have to be sitting there with him, so that is nice for me too =)

today i have a very sore foot? a question mark b/c i have no idea why. its the outside of my right foot and sore enough that i am limping everywhere!! yuck. in good news, my brother's wife is being induced tomorrow!!! so baby kilian alexander lane should be with us soon!!! and andy's sister karen is due on sunday... and i'm still thinking its going to be a girl ;) so we'll see!! karen was almost 2 weeks late with luke, so that runs into my due date on the 4th....maybe we'll have our babies on the same day! wouldn't that be fun??

my first...

my first proper baby shower happened last night!! we were just going to the stocks (our friends house) for dinner last night with some others, but it was in fact a baby shower! my third child, but first shower!! avril had actually planned one when i was expecting micah, but since micah came at 36.6 weeks, we infact missed it!! so anyway, i don't have any photos as neither i or andy knew that it was a baby shower so we had no camera with us. i think someone (jemima?) may have taken a few but i haven't seen any proof yet =) so will add some later if there are in fact some!!

in other news are sunny weather has faded into light showers. i do love spring showers though b/c they smell so lovely! yesterday we went again to treasure island where the boys enjoyed an hour and a half of playtime and i got to sit back and relax, read some celebrity type magazine where i don't know most of the people b/c they are all british something or others... =)

and today was rainy as well, so we stayed inside and watched movies most the day till becky came! becky and i cleaned the kitchen, washed the dishes then baked cookies! pumpkin chocolate chips ones...though yummy and almost gone, they didn't turn out like normal. hmm, i am not having the best run at baking =) i think i'll uh, blame it on the pregnancy brain!!

tomorrow becky and i are going to the baby show at the NEC. should be good fun =) i just have to remember not to spend too much! there is always temptation there as they sell everything and there are offers on everything baby...form diapers to toys and clothes, bags, everything!

not too much

there isn't really much going on at the moment...we are still enjoying beautiful weather, though it has cooled down, its still sunny =) monday we stayed home all day and i got the boys room cleaned out and vacuumed. we really need to get some more book shelves for them, they are overflowing with books! and we'll have to think of moving them when the baby is out of the moses basket, around 3/4months. the baby will go in their room and the then maybe bunk beds for the boys in the bigger room? that is all micah talks about so we'll see!!


i'm doing ok =) 37 weeks today! hard to believe, but i am definitely feeling it! not sleeping as well, although last night i was only up once so that was an improvement! i had been waking up around 5ish for the past 3 mornings, but not this morning either!! so yea for me. yesterday as the boys played out front on their bikes and i sat and attempted to do a bit of weeding. out little garden in a mess! i think i only did about a square foot if that so i guess we'll let the boys out front again today and do some more! i can only reach so far while sitting down =)

we've also enjoyed getting to know the neighbors a bit more. warm weather brings everyone out and in good moods =) next door use to be a single man, but his girlfriend and her daughter (17) moved in over the winter. the GF likes to do gardening, so we chatted quite a bit out the back and micah enjoys it while she's out as she talks to him too =) and another man across from us likes to stand outside his house sometimes to have a cigarette and others, just to stand and observe...enjoy the weather! so we chatted a bit about the goings on of the neighbors (the house next to him had been reposessed or something) and he also played ball with micah for a bit!

i am going to the baby show this weekend of which i cannot wait as i'll without the boys!! yippee =) my friend becky is going with me so lots of free stuff and special offers. so it should be good! maybe some photos in a wee bit!

still nice weather...

its practically a miracle...all this nice weather we are having! though i don't remember last may as much, i do remember the may before noah was born and it was equally nice! i remember being outside a lot with micah before noah came =) its been in the upper 60s and lower 70s with tomorrow and sunday getting even warmer!! woo-hoo =)
here are the boys today (thanks mimi for their outfits, everything fits perfectly and was perfect timing!!)


there was only enough water really for just paddling with your feet but the 2nd time noah got in he slipped and we thought, well, might as well =) so soaked they were and absolutely loving it!!

see post from yesterday

*2 posts down* to see the photos i added =) finally got around to it!!!
(these are from friday)

enjoying some mr potato head =)


noah fell off a chair and cut his eye and coloured it nicely!!!

a slideshow

for tim and naomi's wedding...just finishing up the processing =) hope you enjoy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/charis_photography/sets/72157604214007653/show/

a beautiful morning...

so i am sitting here...yes, i know, at the computer where i probably shouldn't be. but as i sit here, it is a beautiful beautiful spring morning! its around 16 degrees c or 61 degrees f!! so its perfect =) we are all in our pj's even though it is almost 10 o'clock, but we have been productive! i have hung out laundry that was washed yesterday and have hung out washing that i did this morning already AND the 3rd load is in the wash now!!! cha-ching! look at me =) atleast i have a little rest now from that as i have no more room on the clothes line!!

i should probably get dressed and go out as i need to go to the library with 2 over due books and we don't have any bread for sandwiches...BUT it is too nice to spend the time on the bus and its money i don't care to spend. so i think we might walk to the wee shops here buy bread and play at the park...i think that is more worthwhile!!

i am also wanting to work on an album design so to have a sample wedding album that people can view in person. its so hard though as we lost the majority of our photos due to our external hard drive failing. very sad. all the we have are the photos that we have blogged and or put on flickr. so that is a whole years worth plus =( but we've not gotten upset and just let it go...but shame!

i also failed to mention last week that i lost our car keys...yeah. andy had to purchase a new ignition barrell thingy and key, which we now have, but can't figure out how to get the old one out completely. so at the moment we can start the car, but the steering wheel is locked so you can't drive it!! ha ha. so we've been carless for a week now, always interesting!

i'll add a few photos in a moment of the last few days, that are mainly just us playing with our new lense and trying to figure it out. we have a church to photograph this saturday and then a wedding july so we need to make sure we know exactly how best to use it.

edit: we just stayed at home, almost set the kitchen on fire while grilling sausages for lunch =) thankfully i remember my mom having a wee grease fire once and using baking soda!! so yea for me, i didn't panic, shooed out the boys and got it under control! what fun!
(from monday)
micah and i were fighting the dandelion monsters =)



(from today)
taking the laundry off the line

not wanting to get dressed

round and round and round

sleeping...not