Mom's Visit

I can hardly believe that 2 weeks has passed already and now mom is just arriving in Toronto to snow and lots of it. I hope she makes it home safely, although I wouldn't mind if she flew back over here and stayed with us! Mom was a great help for me here...and I'm just slightly worried what the next couple of days are going to be like for us. Amelia and Aaron both have colds at the moment but they are (I think and hope) starting to clear up.

Here is the castle gates or entrance to Edinburgh Castle from being here you can overlook on both sides to see...

Arthur's seat in the back...and the old town below.
And some hills and the new town on the other side.
Like I said we went to many places on Saturday and Greyfriar's churchyard was included here are a few pictures of that. Below is the well known picture of the monument(?) put up for the covenanting martyr's.


Here is mom in the tour bus that we took earlier that week.
And here is my lovely mother coming back from grocery shopping...she walked the one way and got the taxi back.
Amelia holding Aaron (with Oma very close beside Aaron!)
Aaron in the tub.
This is one way to get her to somewhat smile for the camera...playing peekaboo!
Daddy and Aaron...
And a close up of the little sweetie sleeping.
Don't ask me where she got her attitude, but at least she likes her toast and jam. :)
Well, I should save the other pics for the next time. Now I can't wait for Care and Joe to come over! :)

Busy Saturday!

After a week of horrible winds and rain...and just downright coldness today of all days was bright and sunny...still windy mind you but at least it was bareable! Soo...I decided this has to be the day I take mom into the old town of Edinburgh! FINALLY! So...with just a wee map to go by I took my mom out to see St.Giles Cathedral (was surprised at how large it is...I don't seem to remember much from the time I was there in 2003), and then went up to the Castle gates, then I took her down to see the cute statute of Greyfriar's Bobby, the churchyard and the Covenanter's prison and the monument (or is it a monument?) and then to see the Grassmarket. It was ALOT of walking and pushing with a double stroller fully loaded with kids and bags...so I am tired as is mom! We stopped at Starbucks for a quick cup of coffee, got upset at Comcab taxis' and finally got a taxi from Central Taxis to get home (£8!?). After lunch and a quick snooze, we again got out to a small shopping centre to shop for clothes! Anyways, we got some KFC for dinner and now I'm writing this when I need to be getting ready for bed and for tomorrow. Aaron is supposed to be baptized tomorrow. Anyways, I will get pictures up soon of my mom's trip! :) For now I shall end this!

Pics from last Saturday

I haven't posted in a while (it wasn't that long ago really was it?) but obviously we've been busy taking my mom out to see places it can be rather hectic with two kids who have different nap times and feeding schedules. It has been rather cold, windy and rainy here too so that hasn't helped the experience either! Anyways, I finally managed to get mom to see more of the old part of Edinburgh city...but it was by tour bus and that really didn't do justice at all. I'm really hoping she can get out again but the weather seems so unpredictable and cold, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see!

Last Saturday, Miss Mackenzie invited us for dinner (Rach and MJ were there as well) and the following are a few pictures we took.

Mom keeps telling me that my boy is an early smiler and is so alert etc.
Not a good picture of the family, but I doubt we'll have a good picture until Amelia properly sits (at least) and smiles!
Mom and the kids...we tried with Amelia to no success.
So we ended up just having mom and Aaron...but that didn't seem to be successful either! :)

Anyways, I should start on ironing as it is building up after so many outings and not enough time at home for household work! I have more pictures to post up but will wait for another time. :)

Just a few pics :)

My cute son :)
My overtired daughter...
Aaron again
Somebody was in a bad mood...

Off to make coffee for Jett!!

one last pic

since blogger hasn't allowed anymore then 4 photos in a post (must be a bad night?) here is the last pic which both moms will like I'm sure! :) I've had to post 3 times to get all these pictures in...but this one likely is the sweetest one :)

Our outing to Arthur's seat

Don't worry I didn't even attempt to climb it, we just walked on the ground level a wee ways, it was chilly but the sun was out. We decided to stop by the pond...

to see some Swans...


ugh I look quite awful here...very bad angle. :S

Teething or Tantrums??

You would think we are not getting enough sleep because of my little boy needing to nurse throughout the night, but in fact it is completely the opposite, he is quite good in the night (for now) and rather it is his teething sister that has decided to keep us awake at 3ish in the morning. I think she is also throwing tantrums or fits whenever something goes slightly not her way or wrong in her mind. Yesterday must have been the worst day ever for all of this! I have never gotten so frustrated with her since Aaron was born, but she was utterly impossible to soothe...crying to screaming, etc for nearly the whole day. Ugh, it has left both Jett and myself very tired and it certainly doesn't help when your trying to take care of a newborn.

Today however, she has been almost the opposite with a few fits during the beginning of worship this evening...I hope no more are to come but you never know with an 18month old!! Anybody have advice on how to treat this little ladies tantrums?? I'm all open for it!

So here is a pic of the wee upset Amelia...

And then a pic of a drink Daddy decided to give Amy.

This was the outcome of this "drink"...

And what was this "drink"? Take a guess...:)

Well, blogger isn't letting me post the rest of the pics so will have to do that in a new post... :)

wrong birth weight?

I forgot to mention that the midwife told us the wrong birth weight (thankfully she didn't write down the wrong birth weight!!). I think she was having a bad day or something because she wrote down the wrong time when he was born as well as telling us that Aaron was 8lbs etc. So how much did he weigh at birth? 7lbs and 6.5oz so I guess I wasn't having a elephant...just felt like it! I have to heat up supper now so I had better run!

of plumbers, teething, and Tesco

Ok, I thought I wasn't going to shop at Tesco's again after the money thing awhile back but in the end I found out it was our bank's fault!! EEK. Thankfully it was put back into our account. It is hard to pass up a free £10 voucher on your next online grocery shop. Because that would pay for the delivery plus some more! Heehee, this has to be the 3rd time they sent me a nice voucher like that!

So we've had the plumbers come yesterday and today...installing a shower!! Yippie!! Except, the water pressure or temperature is a problem so we likely are still waiting to use it...I'll let Jett be the guinea pig but I'm not willing to be a test subject. Good thing they didn't come last monday as they were planning! They left a mess though...dust! So I've been cleaning my bathroom up today, doing laundry, and taking care of Amelia and Aaron...eek, am I overdoing it??

I figured out why Amelia has been waking up in the night and it is due to new teeth coming in...I've got some teething powder (I think its some homeopathic remedy) and I think it has been helping her. Last night was so nice not having 4 in the bed! I'm glad Aaron is okay sleeping in his basket right next to the bed or else it would be crowded all the time. He is such a good baby! I just hope (a whole whole lot) that it stays!

Thanks to Catherine for the pics, she was here last night dropping off quite a number of meals for us.

A whole week already?

Time does fly by when you have a newborn in the home! Aaron is now a week old (well technically at 10:59pm he will be a week old. The 2nd midwife that arrived too late for the birth wrote down that the baby was born at 11:59, she definitely got that one wrong! She could have said he was born on the 3rd then! Anyways here are a few pics of my wee ones, and my tired looking but lovely, husband. Off to take care of my wee manny!

Announcing our little arrival of...

Aaron Austin!

At long last the wait is finally over, and our family has now a new addition. Yes it is a boy! He came weighing in at 8lbs 1oz and at a height of 20 inches. Born on the late evening of Saturday, February 2, 2008 in our home. Amelia has shown nothing but curiosity towards him and she calls him "baby", obviously Aaron is slightly harder to say. :) Anyways I doubt I will be posting much in the next week or so - gotta recover somewhat! Sarah is coming today as well as her family (family is coming to see the baby but Sarah is staying). Jett starts his week of exams tomorrow so hopefully for his sake and for mine too things run fairly smoothly.

Enjoy the pics of our wee manny! :)

wednesday's sunshine :)

Don't mind my titles at the moment! But really when we see sunshine here it is something to be noted! It isn't really *that* bad as far as rainy weather is concerned but it is of course not as sunny as Texas. I thought I would post a few pics up realy quick this morning before I head off to the kitchen to bake. I found my Banana Bread recipe from the Betty Crocker website so I can't wait to make it again...oh, and I need to make Jett some chocolate chip cookies.

So, Amelia gave us a horrible night...I've just about given up trying to figure her out. But of course she is cheerful as ever this morning, and was very interested in the Colgate toothpaste box which is unfortunately crushed already! :S

If your wondering if I have a baby yet the answer is no. I don't have a clue when s/he plans on arriving and right now I just want to try to forget about it (as if you can forget about a huge heavy bump attached to you!!).

Anyways enjoy the pics, and off I go to my kitchen!! :)

monday's sunshine

So far it has been a gorgeous day - sun and lots of it. I managed to get some shirts out on the line seeing it is quite mild oh and sunny of course. Amelia enjoyed the outside treck (even if it was only for 10 minutes) and it was good to get some fresh air again. Really it would have been a gorgeous day to have a baby...but I think a storm would be neat to have during labour...lol I'm weird I know! I like my storms...downpours uhm Texan ones I mean, and blizzards! Ok enough of my weirdness.

Jett has this week off to...STUDY! Next week he has 4 exams so he needs all the time he can get. On the other hand I was noticing how this week would be perfect timing for a baby to arrive. Hmm, 40+3...still nothing. Likely the midwife will call this week for another check, which is always assuring to find out if baby is doing well.

A new thing Amelia has been doing in the past two days is saying something like "awgy" (similar to doggy) and then going "ooh ooh ooh ooh" which sounds more like a monkey sound...although it could be taken as a dog's bark. I'm kind of not sure what she is saying, because it could be monkey, and it could be doggy. Will let you know if I figure that one out.

Hopefully the following pics will be different soon and I'll have a newborn in my arms alongside an 18month pain ;) (don't worry I love Amy very much...she just frustrates me to pieces sometimes!). Tonight we are going to Amelia Macleod's the elderly Amelia in the congregation who is in her late eighties going on nineties?

good news and bad news

Good news is... that our application for the exemption of council tax has been accepted/approved finally. Meaning we saved ourselves paying £770. Bad news is... that of all times I decide to use Tesco over Asda for one weeks shopping the bank shows that our account was debited twice for the same amount on the same day and of course it was for Tesco...ugh, another hassle to figure out. I knew I didn't like Tesco as much as Asda another thing to throw on the pile of why I choose Asda vs Tesco.

Anyways, tomorrow is guess what, my due date (haha). I'm almost positive this baby is planning on coming next week (or later) instead of this week. Of course I could always be wrong and s/he could surprise me. Today Amelia is exactly 18 months old - time flies and she is growing up so fast.

Here is a pic of her being silly...can't imagine Jett making such a face, but I can't imagine myself doing that either.


Ahh, peace and quiet, this is one of the nice times of day :)


It was snowing a bit this morning but sadly it stopped :( I was hoping for a blizzard. I guess I'm very Canadian!

Not too long ago I finally got a frame for a copy of the picture that Jett drew of Mom Smith...now I have to train Amelia to not take it from its spot. She likes to point to the picture (as with all of them in the living room...just she can get to this one.) and saying some gibberish I try telling her its Grandma Terry...or Grandmother, but all I get is more gibberish, ach well, I'm trying.

On another note Amy is doing marvelously for sleeping through the night lately! I think it was one night where she slept with us the whole time...but that was my fault (advice: never give chocolate to a kid before bedtime!!). So yes we are sleeping better (haha maybe me not as much).

Oaky enough of my rambling! :)

coffee makers and cardboard paper cuts :)

Yippie for Argos! They took back the coffee maker that completely stopped working, and gave us a new one that was less money so they also had to give us £10 back too and now yes, we have a working coffee maker again! Reminds me a lot like Care's except its black and shiny. As I was taking Mr. Coffee Maker out of the box I got a "paper" cut from the cardboard. Amazing that the smallest cuts can be the most annoying! :S

We also decided to buy a proper shower tap mixer thing. So now we just have to mount the shower head and put up some sort of shower curtain (also purchased today) and presto a shower!

I'm going to admit to having not much to do the latter part of the week...and this is not good when I'm ahem, trying to keep my mind off of this pregnancy and the coming due date. I don't have any yarn so knitting is a no no and I think I am still looking for the other knitting needle...ugh, its probably in the couch somewheres, I don't have any scrapbooking stuff as it is all in Texas (I've been very tempted to go and buy something to start scrapbooking Amelia's baby pics) and of course no sewing machine so no curtains or cushion covers, skirts etc. There is always reading I can do, but again that is not always easy to do with a 18month old (not till the 24th but close enough) running around disturbing you quite frequently. Eek, this sounds like a complaint! I should be thankful.

Anyways Jett wants me to make him some coffee with the new maker... :) and I need to sort out dinner tonight options tonight on the menu are chicken or roast? Hmm...

first hairstyle

I saw the pics (and after chatting with Care) of Jenna and thought...hmm, I want to try to do something in Amy's hair too. I haven't for the reason I was worried she would pull her hair things and hair out...but, I managed to get pigtails in... they are cute as her hair curls just nicely, but I don't know how well she enjoyed the process of being still to get them in. :) I doubt I'll be able to do them often, but heehee, it was fun trying!

a usual Thursday I suppose

This odd creature was found in my living room Monday or Tuesday morning...what she was up to I'm not sure but hopefully she wasn't immitating me.



Sheena came by yesterday, very kind lady (as I'm finding all the Scottish ladies to be!) with a big bag of things. A couple of sleepers for Amelia, a bag of baby clothes for the unknown, a toy, and heehee, some maternity clothes! Now you might be wondering why would I want maternity clothes at this stage when I'm "sooo" close to the end? It really has picked me up a bit though, seeing I can actually wear something different for once, and also something comfy (main reason)! For some reason the clothing that I wore during Pregnancy #1 are not seeing me through Pregnancy #2 haha, I guess this baby is going to be "bigger" but I doubt it will hit 9lbs, my guess would be close to 8 maybe (quite average I think).

David Wylie is lending us a DVD set on Planet Earth by the BBC...Jett and I have already watched two episodes since we got the set on Monday. It is very interesting and the photography/videoing is quite amazing! Jett and I were in the process of looking for National Geographic type Dvds, but this seems to be just what we were looking for.

On another note, Amelia is really testing the waters! We tell a command and she outright does the opposite - even when we give her a second opportunity to obey the outcome remains the same - disobedience. Thankfully, after some disciplining she is good but I wonder how long it will take for her to get the idea to obey. Any thoughts experienced moms?

Last week Amy was doing very well sleeping through the night from 9:30 till 8:30 or 9 in the morning. She has done this twice this week I think as well, but last night poor thing she woke up due to being quite wet...I think her wrap wasn't sitting quite right so it leaked out the side...ugh, another change the diaper in the middle of the night episode...and of course she ends up in our bed. Funny (not at all really) how she ends up head facing daddy and feet in mommy's face... :) So yes, I feel quite bright this morning with little sleep :P!

Note: The following will be very uninteresting for males... ;) I'm still pregnant obviously, and I think that this one will either be around my due date, or late late. I'm wondering if Amelia was a special case or something was wrong with me because this pregnancy is so different (as I know every child is different but you would think there would be some consistency with when the child plans on appearing!). Anyways, the baby has been head down for at least two months, and s/he is quite low already (but again that has been that way for two months). I think it is quite interesting to note that the lower the baby's head is the more back pain I experience and I think now that I've read my medical notes it appears that when I was 32 weeks babies head was quite low - and funny enough I had much more agonizing back pain, now at my last check at 37 weeks baby wasn't as low - and hmm, I noticed that yes I've had less back pain for the past couple of weeks...and now what? Well, I feel like I'm getting more back pain...hmm, could baby be ready soon?? Lets hope so! :)

Another thing that popped into my email box was this website from baby center/re I'm always feeling conscious of whether Amelia is getting enough to eat of "everything" and I thought this came in handy!


Anyways I feel like I've been at the computer all morning (I haven't at all but you know what I mean). So, I'll get off and start doing my favourite chore...IRONING!! YIPPIE! :P :)

short post

Hi to all those trying to get a hold of us yesterday! It was quite funny how many of you thought that "something" might have happened...sorry to break the news but I'm STILL pregnant! Wish it was over and done with, ach well, patience! For some reason our phone line and internet service wasn't working for the entire day!! This morning it was working just fine again, so hopefully they have fixed the problem. Better be off, I'm expecting a visitor! :)

last post was wed??

Time seems to have flown by this week! And yep I'm still pregnant! Maybe tonight? (Wishful thinking!!) I suppose it has been a busy ending for the week with all the going abouts. The NHS need me to have supplies etc here for the birth so they delivered a huge duffel bag looking kit, and two tanks (oxygen and entonox)...then the midwife needed to come to check that the tanks were working...and this morning we had the fire department come out to make sure that everything was suitable for the tanks to be here, and that we knew a few things about the dangers of oxygen etc...last night we were invited to an older couples home for dinner (with Donald Maclean, David Wylie and Catherine Dickie). Unfortunately Mrs. Murray's husband was still in Stornoway (funeral for Mrs. Macleod) so we did not see him. It was nice however Amelia was being rather fussy at the end... And today, I was determined to get a proper mattress (or a foam mattress) and bedding for Amelia's pack and play/travel cot so Jett kindly drove me to Fort Kinnaird park where I bought the mattress and a couple of fitted sheets...it looks 100% better then what I have been using and I feel a lot better with her sleeping on something more comfy too.

Anyways, I don't have pics today, although I did take one of Amelia this morning still in pyjamas, wearing my shoes and hair going everywhere you get the idea.

Today I received in the mail, a lovely photo of Care and Joe's family! :) Lovely pic! All right better be off!

:)

While Amelia sorts my pots and pan cupboard I decided to write a few words on here. I was washing dishes just now and was rethinking about a conversation I had with my chiropractor. She was using a sort of hand held massager on my shoulders and I mentioned how my husband needs to get one of those! She said (something like this) chuckle "if he would use it! likely he would say he was too tired and roll over and go to sleep..." I mentioned that my husband actually is quite good at giving massages when he is tired And she said that I must have been lucky to get him. I know the above probably doesn't show how much she sounded like there aren't good guys out there and all the negativity on men in general but this was what I felt she was saying! Quite frankly, I thought yeah there probably aren't very many men out there like my husband! But then again there probably aren't very many women out there that would be submissive to their husbands either! Anyways, I suppose I get quite upset looking at the world who is so full of themselves and pleasing themselves (I'm not in anyway saying I'm perfect!) it is just a sad world, a world that needs the Gospel. What freedom does the Gospel give to the soul and to the family etc.

Here are a few pics for your view..



The first two pics are of the Norris children (and Amy too). 1. Emma and David 2. Closest to camera is Jessica and furthest is Louise. I wish I would have gotten a pic of the whole family or at least of the parents and I also forgot to get one of Jonathan...ach well. The last photo is of Amelia already being my little helper and hanging clothes up...what you see is all her work (it wouldn't dry properly left like that but she obviously has the idea!). Now its nearing 5pm and I need to start getting dinner on...and my mind is running blank as of ideas, all I can think of is salad! :)

video clip :)

A little of Amelia, Jett and even me :S!!