How much longer?

Michelle took this photo of me at Rodgers-Smith park on Wednesday - is that a pained expression on my face?!! Am 38 weeks and counting......feeling like I may never actually have this baby, although I did dream that I went into labour last night - does that count

New additions to the family...

Yesterday we collected five Fire Belly Toads from a local family who's son had outgrown them. The boys are so ready for a pet to look after, handle (with supervision...) and learn from and these are ideal because they're very low maintenance. I'm really excited to see what the boys gain from this experience.

But I did have to build myself up to buying live (yes - ALIVE!!!) crickets - to feed to the toads, euw! Harry and George went to pre-school today and I know they'll be so excited to come home and feed the toads their special dinner. I'm hoping we can do it without letting the crickets loose in the house........

Preggo at the Park

This is me and a couple of the other mums from the Contra Costa County Moms Meet Up Group this morning at the park. It was about 93 degrees and not a lot of shade here.......luckily, there was a splash area for the children to play in and for us to dip our toes in and cool off. The weathermen are predicting 100 degrees or more this weekend.

Bl**min' Blogger!

OK - I am a real technophobe, so it's amazing that I've managed to create a Blog in the first place. But now I'm getting frustrated because the majority of the photos I'm trying to upload keep coming up as teeny-tiny ones, despite me clicking the 'large' button....arghhhh!!!!!! I don't have the time or energy to try and work out why, so for now it's just going to be whatever Blogger decides to post up when I load a photo. I'll get to the bottom of it one day.......along with improving my photography/writing skills!

All growed up

Harry today decided that he wanted the stabilisers off his bike.........and he rode it straight away! I can't believe my baby is growing up.

Tahoe in the Spring

We visited Tahoe from the 19th - 26th April while my parents were visiting from the UK, to try and catch some of the last snow of the season. While there, we also celebrated my dad's birthday (and also St George's Day - 23rd April).

Tahoe really is a beautiful place.

We're hoping to visit again in the summer and check out the activities on offer.

Very excited about the bike trails and riding on the Lazy River......

Baby Shower

Maria and Sivan organised a baby shower for me on Sunday 27th April. Although this is my 3rd baby, this is my first real American baby shower, and as we're having a girl - very exciting to enjoy all the pink!

It was lovely to get together with all my new-found girlfriends, and also to have my mum in the country to meet everyone and celebrate with us.

Maria's baby girl, Ayla was not quite 2 weeks old, and she did a spectacular job of making the afternoon so special for me. There were some traditional baby shower games - everyone designed a bib or two for the baby, guess the number of M&M's in the jar (1800 - bless Terry for counting them all!), guess the size of my bump........

Everyone was incredibly generous and brought beautiful gifts for the baby, some of which Vicky hung on a washing line in the living room.

As a goodbye favor, everyone took home some sugared almonds in miniature cribs.

Maria's husband Terry made this great Diaper Cake

This is me and my special friends, Maria & Sivan with whom I have shared pregnancies, homesickness, children worries, laughs and much more over the last 10 months. I feel incredibly blessed to have met them.

Brothers

George's 3rd Birthday Party

George's 3rd birthday was back in March, but we decided to delay the celebrations until his Grandparents were in town to join us. We had the party at home and invited a few friends over for a ride on Esther the Wonder Horse, some face painting and a play on the mini jumpee. He was so overwhelmed that everything was just for him....it was great to see his excitement and enjoy the first party that he really understood it was all his!

I got my face paints out for the first time in nearly a year. I was quite rusty, but hopefully the children didn't notice!

This is Sofia becoming Superman.

This is me (with huge bump at 34 weeks!), Michelle & Sivan.