Boys will be boys

After another weekend stuck inside because of rain and windy weather, the boys were desperate to get out and about in the sunshine when it came on Monday morning. So we met some friends at Heather Farms Park. Unfortunately, there were still some pretty big puddles hanging around and you can see from these photos what the boys thought of that......










So we had another naked car ride home from the park because I hadn't learnt a lesson from last week of the importance of having changes of clothes ready in the car!

I'm really excited about Easter this year, because it's the first year that the boys are starting to understand it all. I talk a little about the religious side of things, and we have also been talking about the Easter Bunny coming. So we went to the dollar store (oh yeah, I pushed the boat out!) in Concord yesterday afternoon and the boys chose these buckets to use for their Easter Egg Hunt on the 15th March. Yes......Harry chose the one with pink trimming...

When we were putting jammies on that night, I noticed that George had a couple of splinters in his foot. Harry is usually the one to have splinters, so he took the big brother role very seriously in looking after George while Simon fished them out with a pair of tweezers. He held George's hand and told him to 'look at me, don't look at the tweezers George, you'll be fine, it's ok just squeeze my hand if it hurts'. It was just the sweetest thing ever and brought tears to my eyes to watch them together. Awww!

Bunco Girls Night Out

Friday night was 'Bunco Night'! I had no idea what to expect as this was my first girls night out with the mums from my Morning Park Day group, and my first time playing Bunco. Am really not going to explain how to play (sorry Sarah...!), but you can have a look at this website to see how it's played.... http://www.buncorules.com/whatis.html






There were about 18 of us, so around 5 tables playing the game, and it was great because you change tables at the end of each round (depending on whether you won or lost the die rolls), so it meant that everyone pretty much got to talk to eachother.




There were some mums there that I've never had a proper conversation with because it's hard to do that at the park when you're chasing two children around, so it was great to have a giggle and let down my hair with some new friends. Above is Sivan, my preggy pal. She's my amazing, artisic friend who has been taking photos of my bump, some of which I am going to load up in a minute.

Playing catch up

So. I feel like I'm always playing catch up on this blog, because it's hard finding some spare time for all those little jobs that I should be doing, instead of blogging.....hmm, but it's so good to sit back sometimes and re-read what I've written - easier than writing in a diary and better than paper because I can add photos without getting glue everywhere and when I'm finished I can share this with the people that are special to us.

It's especially nice to remember the places we've visited or things that we've done and conversations that I have with the boys. If I don't write it down, I'll just forget those funny things they come out with, the interesting questions they ask me, and the downright silly stuff that reminds me of what a great job I have (an especially good reminder for days when we're stuck inside because of rain, rain, more rain and all there seems to be are squabbles....).

Last Wednesday the boys and I joined our Moms Morning Park Day and we had some fun in the sun - check out my baby bump... 24 weeks and counting.

The children decided not to play on the slides, swings or even throw basketballs. Nooooooo, after being stuck inside all weekend, they were excited to be outside in the sunshine and decided to go and wade in the Bocce Ball ring because it was full of sticky, gooey, wet mud..... it quickly descended into a full-on mud-athon, but the children had so much fun, we just let them play. Then when we got back to the car, we stripped off and drove home naked!

Weird Week

Have had a bit of an off-week, the boys both had coughs which meant they kept waking up at night, so we're all under the weather and tired. It's also hit me this week that I'm having a baby....odd I know, as the belly should give it away, but the hormones have been raging!


It was great to chat to two friends back home this week, Jo on Tuesday and Sarah on Thursday, both when the boys were at pre-school, so I was able to talk uninterrupted. It's lovely to hear their news and everything that's going on at home, but does make me miss the new babies that have arrived since I've been in America.


Sarah mentioned that she's been reading my blog and thinks I've gone a bit 'American'.......she probably does have a point (thank you, my love!), so now I'm wondering have I gone all a bit 'Martha Stewart on my mates back home....?'. I think so, if I'm being honest with myself. It's hard not to, because if I use the UK terminology....most people don't understand me! So I've been adapting to fit in - or at least that's the excuse that I've been telling myself. The trouble is, I'm such a mimic, if I try to be more English with my vocabulary, I'll probably end up being more 'Dick Van Dyke in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' than me.....


The boys don't help me, George has been saying 'put that in the garbage please', 'where are my pants' (that's trousers to you and me). Harry says 'ladybug' for ladybird and has started calling me 'Mom'. I confused my American friend Maria last week by saying that I needed to buy a costume to wear while I'm pregnant.......totally innocuous comment I thought, but apparently if you are looking for a costume over here, it would generally be for Halloween.......hmm, what I should actually have been saying was 'I need to buy a swim suit'. So it's a bit of an on-going education. Don't get me started on the different names for baby equipment.....onesies, boppies, burpies, pacies......my swelling belly is already sending my brain cells to mush-land!


Harry came in the house on Monday with these flowers - 'Mummy, I have these for you because I love you and Happy Valentine's'. Oh, I could have cried.

On Thursday when the boys were at pre-school, I really enjoyed my prenatal yoga class. It's just as good to catch up with the other mums in the group as it is to do the gentle yoga poses. Afterwards, I drove back home and put together a 'Moms Din Meal' for a new mum in my neighbourhood. It's something that is organised through the Lamorinda Moms Club and is a way for mums in the group to support either mums with new babys, or mums with little support from family nearby. This meal below was for a mum of newborn twins and a 3 year old.....chilli con carne with rice, cilantro (coriander) and sour cream, with chocolate chip muffins for dessert.


I'm definitely going to put my name down for this when our baby is due in June.




Friday and I'm glad it's the end of the week. We had a morning playdate with friends and ended up staying for lunch. Then the boys had a short nap in the car on the way home, so I sat and read my 'OK' magazine! It's my trashy indulgence from home and I find it weekly in Barnes & Noble book store for the same price as back home, but it's just a week old. Totally worth it for catching up with all the 'd' list celebs, although Kerry Katona is getting a bit boring these days.....when the boys woke up, we went and bought a few bits in the supermarket and stopped by one of those shops that sells all kinds of random things that you want but don't need. The boys loved these soaps that were on display, so I let them choose one each. Harry went for the pink rabbit, of course! And George, the speckled blue egg. I can't wait for them to put them in the bath later as I know they'll really enjoy them. Their current favourite past time is to squirt any liquid they can find in the bathroom (shampoo, conditioner, soap, moisturiser, toothpaste, etc) into the bath and 'make stuff' with it.........I thought these soaps might save me a fortune at the 'drug store'....


When we arrived home, I checked the post and was so excited to find TWO parcels from England waiting for us. The first was from the Gardiner Family who sent a lovely big pile of girls clothes for the baby. It will be so lovely to dress her in clothes that I remember seeing our Lully wearing when she was teeny tiny. A painting that Isabelle had done for the boys, some messy eggs - the highlight for Harry and George - oh, you should have seen their faces when they saw them! And some photos of baby Jack with his beautiful big sister, both of whom I am missing soooooo much.

The second parcel was from another friend, Abbi, who sent this beautiful baby girl's outfit from Next with a great card. It's such a boost to have contact with friends and family in the UK.

Am off tonight to a 'Mom's Night In' with my local mums group. We'll be playing 'Bunco', a game that I haven't heard of.......am interested to see what it's all about.

Me Me Me

This past week I feel like I've been pretty self-indulgent.

On Tuesday, I dropped Harry & George off at pre-school and visited Starbucks for a venti latte.....as I'm pregnant it has to be non-fat, decaf - almost no point having it really, except for habit I guess... and a big cake, yum.

I sat in the 70 degree morning sun while wearing flip flops, sunglasses and a smile. I raised my latte to England and hoped it might be raining there - sorry!

That afternoon, I arranged to have a 3-d/4-d scan of the baby at Sneak Peek in Pleasant Hill. This was all for me to see the baby and re-confirm that she hasn't grown a penis since I saw her last! Which of course, she hasn't. Having only seen Harry and George in glorious 2-d, I wasn't sure how I would feel about seeing this baby in 3-d. It was amazing. I was able to watch her yawn, rub her eyes, perform a somersault and she looked perfect - like I could almost reach out and touch her.

On Thursday I went to my prenatal yoga class at Elephant Pharm in Walnut Creek. My hormones have been all over the place for the last few days, and I really felt it in the class. I couldn't concentrate on the poses and kept feeling faint. The teacher spoke to us about breathing, letting go of stresses that don't belong to us and we can't alter, of allowing ourselves to relax, think of the baby. It's a lovely time for me to focus on myself and the baby and she seems to feel it, because she moves around the whole time. The teacher's words touched me and I had a little cry and felt tonnes better.

Sivan joined me for the class, and afterwards we drove back home and she took some amazing maternity photos of me. It is very rare for me to be in front of the camera, so I felt incredibly self-conscious at first, but Sivan made me feel so at ease with her as the camera-woman and me with my body, my bump and all my imperfections. Sivan is editing the shots on her computer, so watch this space to see if I pluck up the courage to share some on my blog...

Scary Monster

This Saturday, Simon's old friend Kevin...or ''Scary Monster'' as he is now known by Harry and George.... flew in to visit us from Orange County. He hung out with the boys and they had so much fun. They spend a lot of time with me and all the mums we know, that I think they really relish time with grown men.

Harry took great pleasure in showing Kevin all the car names that he knows in one of Simon's car magazines. Then they showed him their toys, their books, their bedrooms, the cat, the garden etc etc....

On Sunday, he and Simon headed off after breakfast to Tahoe for a snowboarding lesson.

Harry, George and I drove to Berkeley to meet Karen and Eric for the Solano Avenue Lunar New Year Parade. We stopped off on the way for lunch and then at a park to play some Stomp Rocket.



Then it was back to Karen and Eric's for tea and cookies and to meet their cat, Trouble. The boys also enjoyed searching their back yard for bugs!

Monday morning of a brand new week, and it was great to wake up to sunshine again. We didn't make it to storytime at Lafayette Library today because George had his appointment with the paediatric opthalmologist. He was very brave when they put drops in his eyes to dilate the pupils in order to get an accurate prescription.

The doctor told us that his prescription is fine and his glasses are keeping his bad eye straight. His bad eye is a 'brain messaging issue', rather than a muscular problem. This means that for now, he has to stick with the glasses to fix it and we'll re-visit the doc in 6 months time. I'm trying to be relaxed about his eyes - who knows what optical breakthroughs they will have made by the time George is a self-conscious teenager!

After spending nearly two hours in the cramped doctor's office, the boys needed to get out in the fresh air and run around and scream and shout, so we met Lia and Maya at Rodger's-Smith Park for some wet sand fun......I think we cleared the park of other people with our undressed messy water/sand fun!

This is beautiful Lia shooting a pose for me from her car window just before we say goodbye after lunch!

Wednesday Adventures

This morning we met our Moms group at Rodgers-Smith park, just down the road from our house. Helen and Noelle the organisers, put together an amazing array of crafty Valentines projects for the little ones to do, in-between playing on the swings and shooting hoops in the basket ball court.

This group was such a lifesaver when we first arrived in the country. It's a great group of moms who have babies ranging in age from zero upwards and who are incredibly supportive. Through this, I have gotten out the house on days when I was feeling really lonely and missing the UK, made friends, the boys have made connections with other children, I've been given countless advice on things like where to get my hair cut, where a good paediatrician is, and we're even having a mom's night out this month. This was truly a huge stabilising influence for both me and the boys when we first arrived in America. It's hard to believe that we've been here for just over 7 months now.

Wednesday adventures

Wednesday afternoon we met Karen in Berkeley and drove out to the San Francisco Zoo. Entrance to the Zoo is free on the first Wednesday of every month. I definitely want to explore the area more, we drove past a lovely looking beach on the way, and it made me realise that I really haven't seen that much of SF yet.

We are delighted that the rain seems to have stopped (for now, anyway), so we can get out of the house.

Of all the many animals we saw, we didn't catch the big cats......they have all been temporarily re-housed off-site following the tiger attack at Christmas (did that news story reach the UK shores?). Harry found this one instead....

Harry wanted to see how he measured up compared to a gorilla.... George wasn't so bothered...!!!

They loved seeing their bodies change shape in these mirrors depending on how near or far away they stood.

Then we watched the penguins get their lunch, and a tuskless rhino play a vigorous game of footie all by himself.

The boys enjoyed watching the giraffe stretching his legs apart to bend down and have a drink of water and thought his black tongue was very funny.

George eventually found some big cats to lounge about with....

.....and after that fun, busy, tiring excursion and a drive home through the San Francisco rush hour traffic, I think we've possibly put Karen off having children for life!

Shrove Tuesday

Tuesday February 5th was pancake day, so when the Harry & George came home from school we decided to make some pancakes. My mum always used to make pancakes for my brother and I when we were growing up and it's a tradition that I am keen to continue.

The boys helped me to mix up the ingredients and were egging me on to toss the pancakes 'really, really high, mummy!'.........I told them the story of my mum once tossing a pancake so high that it stuck on the kitchen ceiling! And I seem to recall another one landing on the dog's head (our labrador, Lucy). The boys thought this was hilarious and kept asking me to re-tell the story in-between deciding on what to put inside their pancakes prior to rolling.

The most popular fillings were:-

1. Lemon and sugar

2. Ice cream

3. Toffee sauce and white chocolate drops

Then when Simon came home from work, he helped us to finish off the pancake mix. I found this easy mix on the internet....

Ingredients

100g white plain flour

1 egg

150ml milk

150ml water

1 tspn olive oil (plus more for greasing the pan)

Method

Sift the flour into a basin, make a well in the centre and break in the egg.

Add a little milk and stir gently.

Add the rest of the milk slowly and stir until smooth.

Stir in the water and oil and beat for one minute.

Heat a drop of oil in an omelette pan. When the pan is really hot, pour in about 3 tbsps of batter.

Cook for just under one minue - using a spatula to keep an eye on how it's cooking.

Now the fun bit...FLIP IT - or if you find you're dropping too many, turn it over with the spatula.

Cook the other side for about 15 seconds.

Harry loved them so much, he asked me to make another batch on Wednesday night!

First week of February

Sunday.... and it rained again, all day and we were all so fed up of being stuck inside...............we made Valentine cards to send to the boys friends. George chose the bears in the shop, Harry decided on the glitter, and they got busy - here are some of the resulting cards.

In the evening, the boys were invited to Joseph's 4th Birthday party at 'Pump it Up' in Concord and met Lia, Maya and Briones from our Moms park club there. Joseph and his family are also from England - they moved to Walnut Creek from the South Bay at the end of last year and have been in the States for 3 years. It's nice to hear a British accent every now and then! We had never been to Pump it Up before, so it was fun to explore a new space full of inflatables. Then it was pizza and cake before crashing out at home for the night.
On Monday, we met some friends at the library for storytime with Miss Donna. She sings songs, makes up rhymes and has a monkey with various props. Harry now takes his own monkey and props to storytime each week! Then we decided to all meet up again at Heather Farms Park for a play. There were five boys in total and they all decided to play in the sand and puddles. They got cold and wet, but had so much fun. Then we drove home and you can see from these photos that the boys were exhausted....

So I managed to put my feet up and have a cup of coffee....

Pirates

Today it rained. All day. Again.

So I took the boys to see ''The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything'', a film about three lazy misfits - very timid Elliot (Larry the Cucumber), lazy Sedgewick (Mr. Lunt) and no self-confident George (Pa Grape) - dream of the day of putting on a show about pirates. With their own problems of might not having this dream come true, they soon find themselves traveling back in time into the 17th century and begin a quest to rescue a royal family from an evil tyrant, and learn about being pirates.

New friendships

We had a playdate at a friend's house on Friday afternoon. The boys played beautifully together and had so much fun, making camps under the sofa and then in the bedroom under the covers - reading stories in the dark with torch light. We stayed for dinner and neither Harry or George wanted to go home, they were having so much fun!
When we got back, their Daddy was home from a Sacramento/Utah business trip, so we were all excited to have a reunion.

Phone home....

I can't believe it's the first day of February already, and Harry and George's new friend Lia is 4 today. They can't wait to give her the gift that they picked out for her.
We also had a phone call from England this morning, so Harry and George had a chat with Grandma Linda and Grandad Jim and told them all about what we've been up to since we last saw them. Below are photos of the boys while chatting....

Haven't worked out how to adjust the photos properly yet! Am a learner blogger...