Skip to the holiday!

Again, not really any excuses for not blogging as Mommy's finally over the sickness. Loads has obviously happened in our lives in the last few months, but I'll just skip all that and move on to our holiday to California to visit Auntie Ivanna.

Michaela was pretty good travelling to America. Unfortunately, on night one, she went to bed at about 11pm and woke at 2am - poor Daddy had to get up and it took hours to get her back to sleep. Daddy had a hard first couple of days, but Michaela soon settled into her normal routine.

We went to Sea World on our second full day there. Michaela enjoyed it, but was a bit grumpy come the afternoon, so we cut our visit a bit short. But we did get the purchase of the holiday for Michaela - her new sunglasses! Here she is touching a star fish. Auntie Ivanna has a pool in her back yard, so a lot of days, we got to go swimming. Michaela really enjoyed that and was getting confident enough to push herself off from the side (wearing her arm bands of course). This is one of Mommy's favourite photos of Michaela. I just love the little look on her face! Also, just up the road from Auntie Ivanna's is a play park. Most mornings Daddy would take Michaela and Akilah (Auntie Ivanna's dog) to the play park. Michaela thought it was her job to walk Akilah to the park. Luckily Akilah was very patient with Michaela.
We went to San Diego's Wild Animal Park too. It was very hot there and built on a hill, so a bit rubbish for Mommy walking around and Auntie Ivanna pushing around, but we still enjoyed the day. Michaela's favourite part was getting to touch the animals in the petting zoo. She soon discovered from some 1st graders that the animals liked to eat the leaves!
We also managed to get to Disneyland. I think this was Michaela's favourite day because there were so many children to see! I think she would have been happy just to sit in her stroller and people watch. Her favourite ride was the tea cups, so we went on it twice.
She also seemed to enjoy the carousel. She wasn't impressed with any of the rides that went in the dark though. And best of all, we all managed to get in for free!
Near to the play park, there's a primary school, so they have another play park there too. Michaela loved the big slide, but Daddy had to go down it with her too. We even managed to get Akilah to go up, but she wouldn't come down.
Owen's dad wanted us to go to Denny's while we were out, so we did and had a massive brunch there. This was just Daddy and Michaela's food!
And after seeing us take so many pictures on holiday, Michaela decided she'd like to try too, so here's her best effort at photography.
Great holiday, but unfortunately, it's likely to be our last for many many years - we just cannot imagine taking three kids on holiday!

Quick update on Michaela- she's started talking in sentences, definitely started with the terrible two tantrums, has the most amazing memory and is generally just turning into a little girl now. Much to Mommy's disgust, pink seems to be her favourite colour. And at the moment, her favourite number is five.

We'll try to get a picture of Mommy's belly sometime soon - we think it's about the size Mommy was at 8 months with Michaela, and we're only at month 5!

Excuses, excuses

I know I've been really bad at blogging recently, but I hope the photos above are a good enough excuse! We're expecting twins - due date 24 September! Mommy's been feeling very poorly for the last seven weeks and can't wait to get by the sick feeling. We've not explained much to Michaela as she's quite young, but we'll explain more as Mommy's belly grows.

Frosty Day!

Last Saturday was a fantastic day for Michaela - it was frosty, but nice so she got to spend a lot of time outside. Starting with hanging out the laundry with Daddy, then Uncle Hop came for a visit, then they walked to the play park, then down to the beach with Owen. As soon as Michaela got home, she went for a very long nap!

The end of 2007

Lots on since the last blog. Bookstart Christmas party was the same day as the Toddlers Christmas party, so we had a very busy day that day! The Santa at Bookstart was Uncle Steven, but as you can see from the look on Michaela's face, she didn't know it.
Daddy put up the icicle lights Mommy bought last year, but unfortunately, the wind has come, so they're in the guttering and probably won't be taken out until they're taken down. But you can see that they once looked good!
The Bigton Hall also puts on a Christmas party, so here's Michaela getting her gift from Santa. This time she had more of an idea what happens, so was pleased to go get her present and rip it open. Mommy got a plait in Michaela's hair for the first time the other day. Turns out Michaela's hair is so soft, Mommy struggles to do anything with it - what a problem to have!
We didn't put out any presents under the Christmas tree in fear of Michaela ripping them all open. So here are Michaela's presents on Christmas morning after Santa had been.
And here she is opening one of her favourites. After we opened a few smaller gifts, Michaela spotted the big boxes at the back and thought they must have something interesting in them, so she wouldn't open anything else until she got to open the big boxes! Michaela was such an angel opening her presents. She wanted to play with each toy as she opened them, so it took two days to get everything opened! This is day two of present opening. Mommy got a popcorn maker from Auntie Ivanna for Christmas because Michaela loves pop-pop. Mommy made her some pop-pop and put it in the cute popcorn boxes Auntie Ivanna sent over and that was Michaela happy for ages, just sitting eating her popcorn, watching tv (or wee-wee as she calls it). Check out her little bracelet she got from Owen for Christmas - she loves wearing it.
On the 30th, it was a lovely day in Shetland, cold, but very lovely. Granny Pat, Grandad, Daddy and Michaela went to Maywick Beach for a wander. Michaela wouldn't leave Granny Pat's side that whole day! Michaela LOVED Christmas. She's loved having loads of family around, all the visiting, the new toys, but especially the FOOD! Michaela's even been eating brussel sprouts!

A new cousin and new glasses!

Saturday last week, Michaela was a little scamp and refused to have a nap during the day. Daddy tried to get her to sleep and then Mommy tried, but she just wouldn't nap. So, Daddy had to go out and Mommy got on with some much-needed housework while Michaela entertained herself. Then she got a bit grumpy, so Mommy sat with her a while watching TV (which she calls weewee - how cute!) and she seemed to be getting sleepy. But by now it was after 4pm and she's not allowed to nap late or we can't get her to sleep at night. Mommy went into the kitchen for a while and came back to find Michaela snoozing on the couch. Her little head was bobbing away and it was so cute to watch. Unfortunately, Mommy had to wake her, so poor little girl only had a ten minute nap!

And last Sunday, we were so pleased to have The Thomsons come to stay. Auntie Julie, Uncle Ingram and new baby cousin Lottie were on their way back home from Aberdeen and we had the pleasure of them staying with us for a night before they went back to Unst. Here's Auntie Julie with her new baby. Now Granny Pat and Grandad have 5 grand-daughters and no grandsons.
We had a house full of visitors come to see the new baby. Here's cousin Eve with baby Lottie.
Michaela has learned how to kick in the bathtub, which we're encouraging so she'll kick when we go to the swimming pool. She's pretty good at doing it in the bath, but she seems to not like to do it in the pool. But, she has been floating on her own with only her armbands for support in the pool, so we're still keeping up with swimming once a week.

And on Thursday, we went to get Michaela's new glasses. Michaela has a slight squint and the eye clinic has recommended these glasses to help correct it. We think she'll have another appointment in February/March to assess the progress. She's pretty good with her glasses, but we can't get her to wear them anywhere near as long as recommended - maybe that'll come with time. We had to order the smallest size they had and they're still a bit too big for her. Doesn't she look grown up with her glasses on?!

And this Saturday, Michaela was 18 months old! People say the time will pass quickly and we are certainly aware of that now. She loves to help out, so here she is helping carry a bucket up the road. She was walking so fast with it, Daddy struggled to get a picture, so here she is taking a break! We're finally starting to gear up for Christmas. Mommy's going to decorate our tree now - maybe we'll get a picture of it on the next blog (unless Michaela's pulled it over by then!).

Getting bad at this - rest of Nov

Okay okay, bad blogging, but hopefully this amount of pictures will keep everyone happy!

Daddy discovered that Michaela just loves to eat pomegranates! She was even getting upset if any piece fell on the floor, she loved them that much. A bit messy, but we're so happy she seems to love most fruits.
Since winter is now here, Mommy has been wearing her boots. As usual, Michaela just loves to wear Mommy's boots at any given opportunity, so here she is. Unfortunately, they were so big on her that she fell over and was a bit upset. But not upset enough to want to take them off!
Michaela is very pleased to be a big girl and spends a lot of time playing with her dolls. Here she is feeding Upsy Daisy, who she calls Daisy Do. We even have to get her bib out so she can put it on her dolls before they can eat!

And here are two of her favourite toys - Daisy Do and Baby. This is her getting them to give each other a kiss. Michaela is pretty good at giving kisses now - we always get one when we're leaving for work in the mornings and before bed at night. Other than that, it's most definitely at Michaela's discretion.

That's most of the rest of November taken care of. On to the first December blog.....

On to the November news

Mom got an email through about 17 month olds and it said they should know a few words now, say up to 5 or something like that. So Mom and Dad decided to compile a list to see how many words Michaela uses in the correct context (when she's in the right mood, she'll repeat just about anything you say, so those words don't count). And we came up with about 60 words!!!! We just couldn't believe it. Now I wonder where she got the ability to chat away from........

We went to visit one of our neighbours at the start of the month and they have a cat house in their shed. Michaela found this very exciting and stood at the opening so she could pet the cats as they tried to get out. Luckily for her, their cats are very friendly.

Michaela's love of music doesn't stop with the guitar, she has discovered Daddy's mouth organ and loves playing it. At the weekend, Mom and Dad take turns for who gets to have a long sleep and Mom sometimes wakes up with Michaela playing the 'moothie' as she calls it. You would think it might annoy me, but it doesn't, it is literally, music to my ears!

Auntie Ivanna brought over loads of winter jackets for Michaela and Mom thought this one was really funny - it makes Michaela look like she's got no neck. Hmm, I wonder if it's just a little bit too big for her yet?
Michaela has finally started having a proper interest in books. Sometimes you can actually get through a whole story with her before she goes running off. Here she is reading a pop-up book with Granny Up-By.
Here's a pic of Michaela with Uncle Lionel - and it gets to combine two of her favourite things - TV and food!
As a laugh, Auntie Ivanna posted over a jacket with loads of frogs on it because it's the running joke that Daddy has an obsession with frogs (long story, but he'll say it's definitely not true!). What was supposed to be a joke, isn't anymore. Michaela likes to wear the jacket and she actually gets complimented on it.
Michaela has been to the eye clinic to see about her slight squint and they've decided that she should wear glasses and they'll check her again in February. So Mommy and Granny took her to the opticians on Wednesday to find glasses for her. To everyone's surprise, she was really great about trying on the glasses, so fingers crossed she'll actually wear them when we get them. We assume she's fine with them because Mommy wears glasses. As soon as we get the glasses, I'll try to get the blog updated with a photo.