Some photos from the last few days

Happy on the bike track

Singing cyclists

With Frantic in the garden of Electric Mountain

Sonny's strange expression is because he's just lost 4 woodlice up his sleeve

Look what Anya has acquired - and she can skate!! Thanks, Cass, you've made this girl very happy

Bedtime snuggles

They must have 10's, if not a hundred, soft toys between them yet tonight Sonny has gone to sleep with 2 plastic trucks and 4 metal cars and Anya has gone to sleep with a butternut squash...

Well, this was taken this morning and comparing it to last week's pic I do now accept that I have grown a lot in the last week! To top it off I now have a stinking cold. Oh well...

Today has been a grand day though, Torquil and Rufus came to play this morning and then we spent the afternoon park playing and bike riding. I have to say, I may be their mother and therefore biased but what the children can now ride on their bikes is truly amazing. They rode off-road on some really narrow, muddy and sometimes steep trails this afternoon and were absolutely superb. Their enthusiasm and ability is truly amazing, Anya has even learnt (purely by accident) to ride out of the saddle. She was pushing so hard on her pedals to get through a really muddy uphill bit that she stood up. She was so pleased with herself and announced that she 'could take her bottom off the saddle, keep pedalling and not fall off!'

Couple of pics below although due to the fact that on the exciting bits we were running alongside them so couldn't take pictures, the pictures are of the more calmer sections of the ride!

My boy going for it

Note that she's actually wearing a fairy dress. She also wants me to write that her bottom is not on the saddle at this point!

On being pregnant, for the third time

I have now obviously reached the point in this pregnancy where it is universally obvious that I am a pregnant person. Until 2 days ago no one had asked when I was due or how long I have left and then suddenly 7 people since Wednesday have asked such a question - usually followed by a response that makes me think I must either look like I am about to explode or look so knackered that they really feel that it must be over soon! Well, it's not going to be over soon, I still have 15 weeks to go, and expect I'll get much bigger before then!

I must admit, I feel bigger than I actually am, this was taken last week and I think I have got pointier since then but not grown much...

I felt, certainly with my first pregnancy, that one of the downsides to being pregnant was that I became to a certain extent 'public property'. People touched my bump as I talked to them, even people who I didn't know that well, and gave me all sorts of well-meaning advise with a very serious undertone. You know, the kind of advise that if you don't agree to instantly, was met with a response like 'Well, you'll never get it to feed/eat/sleep/drink/poo/ride a bike/swim the channel blah blah blah unless you do...". I was asked constantly how I was feeling, including questions which were really rather personal and which you wouldn't dream of asking someone who wasn't pregnant - "Have you got piles yet?" being the one I remember well, especially as it was asked in a crowded canteen at work.

The nice thing about it all though was that when people asked how I felt, they really did care and even listened to the answer. It's like you are allowed 5 minutes of fame to report on the most personal of ailments, should you so desire, and people are programmed just to nod and offer sympathy. Thing was, with my first and second pregnancies, I didn't really get any ailments, I just got a bump and more tired. Now this one, that's a different kettle of fish. I've had, to name but a few, morning/noon/afternoon/middle-of-the-night sickness, chronic belching episodes, heartburn, pelvic pain, pins and needles, swollen feet, back ache, blocked sinuses, cystitis, insomnia, the list goes on.... but do people ask how I am? Do I get the chance to have 5 minutes whinge or take it easy, put my feet up? No. Of course not, because I've had 2 children already and should know what I'm doing. I don't even need to see my midwife that often, unless I ask.

I'm not whining, I don't really mind, I think it's rather funny really. I have finally got used to the public intrusiveness of pregnancy just at the point when it is no longer there!

A weekend with Grandma Train

Clent Hill

Well, after an interesting 1st night (think 5 creatures in one sub-tropical bedroom then add the following complications: a child who wakes for a drink every hour and needs a wee every 2, another child who wedges himself under beds then tries to sit up, a panting dog, a snoring bloke, a pregnant woman with associated heartburn and pins and needles and a security light that would turn on if someone sneezed in the next town and which lights the room up like Blackpool illuminations and thus wakes all of the above creatures...), the rest of the weekend was rather wonderful.

Although she remained rather weary in the afternoons, Firstborn continued to recover rather well from her ear infection (no anti-biotics - yippee!) and both children thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Grandma Train - they truly love her to bits. The weekend was spent on trains, looking at trains, eating food and walking in lovely places.

With her new friend the snail who accompanied us on the train

Sonny happy to be on the footplate of an engine in the engine house

Staying awake in the afternoon was still a struggle for a recovering Anya

Well, it's not even 9 o'clock and so far Anya has been a cat, a mouse, a crab and a 'mine bird' (a sea gull - ever seen Finding Nemo?) who made a nest out of a cardboard box and a pillow and gave birth. She asked if sea gulls gave birth to live babies. When I said they didn't and that they laid eggs she announced that she was a Godmother-mine-bird cos they're special. I think she's getting better! Not quite sure where I'm going to find the crabs and fish she wants for breakfast, though...

Naughty spacebugs

Well, Anya was a tiger at breakfast so even though she only ate one mouth full of porridge before declaring she was going to lie on the sofa, we know she is on the up!

And the good news is that she has decided that she knows where her poorly ear has came from. "You see," she explained, "when I fell off the planet and got my swollen finger [which, incidentally, was a water balloon that she tied to her thumb with string on Sunday] and was rescued by the alien in the space rocket, well, some of the naughty space bugs must have sneaked into my ear and now they're making it bad." Of course, I should have realised. I must stop these falling off the planet episodes, they're just far too risky...

"It's ok though, Mam, I can fight aliens. My ear's getting better every day. My body can heal things really super quick. Just a blink of your eye and it's gone." And then she fell asleep.

My ear just feels completely shut

Well, after a weekend of bike riding, diver-spotting (a remarkably popular activity amongst our offspring), park playing and pretending to be Nan by drinking tea whilst having a picnic (note that I apparently don't achieve full Nan status as I refused to buy them chips to eat with their sandwiches...), the bubble burst rather spectacularly last night with Anya developing what seemed to be an ear infection.

They'd both been a bit snotty for a while and Ian has had a mega cold but I was quite taken aback by poor Anya screaming in pain through the night - the girl is never ill, bar the odd cold and chicken pox, and has never had anything serious other than one bad cough as a baby. She barely slept (me neither for that matter) from midnight until this morning so was exhausted on top of it all, and was getting progressively worse. Spoke to the angel that is Wendy (our homeopath) first thing and she prescribed a remedy for her, which, within 5 minutes of taking, sent Anya into a much needed deep sleep for over 2 hours. Whilst she was sleeping I made an appointment at the doctors to check that we really were dealing with an ear infection and to get an idea of what we can expect. She responded really well to the remedy and was actually singing to herself in the doctors but the docs confirmed that her inner ear is red and inflamed but there is no leakage of fluid or damage to any part of her ear. She therefore falls into the category of 'we don't know what will happen; 50% of cases will clear up by themselves, the rest will get worse and require treatment'. So, at least we know what we're playing with.

He's given antibiotics (her first ever prescription) and has given us a couple of days during which we can see how she is - if she improves, leave alone, if she gets worse, give the nasties.

So, she's had another Wendy remedy tonight and I'll review with her in the morning how she feels Anya is progressing. I'm just hoping she gets a good night's sleep (or rather I'm hoping that I get a good night's sleep!). The way she's going I don't reckon we'll need the nasties, hope not anyway.

I was almost amused that the doctor went into a slight panic as he thought that some of Anya's notes were missing on the computer. I had to explain that they weren't, she really had only been to the doctor's once before (at 6 months to double check that what I thought was chicken pox actually was). He said he'd never known another kid make it to her age with so few doctor's visits and no prescriptions. Reckon it's all that dirt we let her eat....

Interestingly, as a measure of how off-colour she has been, the girl who could best be described as a pure mixture of imagination and dynamite, has been no-one other than herself all day. I don't think I can remember that ever happening before since she was verbal.

The weekend's adventures

This one's for Grandma Piggy

A weekend of no rain is always a good thing so lots of fun was had. Sonny completed his first off road bike adventure on Saturday. We had intended on going for a walk but he insisted on taking his bike - I honestly thought that I'd have to carry it a lot of the way as we were going exploring, but no, the boy said he would ride and ride he did:

And then they found a nice hill and both let loose...

Anya letting go...

Sonny going for it...

Worryingly, they have now arranged with Matt that they can go along to a cyclo-cross race.... hmmm.

The children's victims

I sometimes feel sorry for the visitors to this house. Not the majority, who know what they are getting themselves into, but those few poor, unsuspecting souls who visit and end up being the children's new best friend for the duration of their stay. Not through any fault of their own, except perhaps that they are a little too keen to play, but more a combination of the time of day, the wildness of the children and the visitor's inability to realise that once you start something vaguely fun with kids it is usually very hard to stop until someone is crying.

Last week's victim was Giles who called in for a cup of tea and ended up spending a good few hours as a human climbing frame, an artist's assistant and chief train track engineer to name but a few. He was rewarded with endless cuddles from both Anya and Sonny and a very obvious reluctance to let him go home but it certainly wasn't the brew and chat he'd called in for.

Tonight's victim was Terry, aka Andy if you are Anya who after meeting him properly for the first time last year couldn't get it out of her head that he wasn't called Andy and, even after not seeing him since that first meeting until tonight, immediately started calling him Andy again!

Terry was splashed by otters in the bath, breathed on and raah-ed at by two fire-breathing dragons over tea and then also used as a human climbing frame (this was entirely his fault, mind you, anyone who picks up small, giggly children and throws them over their shoulder is asking for it really). It was when I left the room and returned to find Anya sitting on his knee, jumping up and down and sticking multi-coloured feathers in his hair that I wondered if he might ask them to stop. But no, the mayhem continued until he had a child clinging on each leg whilst trying to walk around the house, begging him not to go - he was only going to pick Ian up from Llanberis. Again, Terry was also rewarded with lovely cuddles before they went to bed, but he did leave looking rather more dishevelled than when he came.

I think kids are a bit like cats, only where cats can spot someone who doesn't like them from a mile off, kids can spot a sucker from the same distance.

Pics, no words... used up my word quota

My pixie princess

It's Friday, I'm tired so not many words left in me I'm afraid. Here's some of Ian's pics from his adventures with the children today. I was with them for some of it but none of it was overly photogenic (lunch!), although very nice nonetheless.

Glad it's the weekend...

Swinging girlie...

My lovely family

Riding on Bangor Pier

Woodland pixies in their den

Anya down by the stone circle

'I'm telling you, Anya, there was a crocodile'

Outlaw request

As requested by the outlaws... a picture of Pip, the baby in the bump.

Was taken last week and as I am growing faster than my clothes can keep up, I'm actually bigger than this now but it gives you an idea.

While Pip and I slaved away in the lab today chasing run-away spittle bugs (oh, I love my job), the children, Ian and Ash seem to have had the most wonderful day in Cwm Idwal. The kids apparently pretty much bounced, ran and jumped all the way up to the lake, climbed on the boulders on the lakeside, then bounced, ran and jumped all the way down. Ash, of course, was in his most favourite of all places so thoroughly enjoyed himself. A good Daddy day all round.

For the second time this week Sonny didn't manage to make it to bedtime awake and ended up in bed at about 5.30pm. The crazy thing is, when this happened earlier in the week, he didn't get up until after 7am - let's hope the same will be true of tomorrow morning! He's in that awkward stage of not needing his daytime nap every day but not quite being able to make it until bedtime... bit like me actually!

A couple of pics from the last couple of days:

My 'office' - told you I had the best job in the world

Feet up and 'weeeee' - like-a-bikes are just the best things ever

Our village skate park - reckon the kids will really appreciate this when they are bigger, actually, they do now!

And this isn't from the last couple of days, it's from Anya's pre-pedal days but I came across it and she looks so happy I thought I'd put it on...

Chinese whispers

Living in this house is like playing an endless game of chinese whispers, only no one's whispering.

Anya (in the kitchen): Where's Sonny?

Me: I think he's in the bathroom

Anya (shouting from the kitchen): Are you in the bathroom, Sonny?

Sonny (shouting from the bathroom): I am NOT a rat poo, Anya

Anya (shouting from the kitchen): Have you found rat poo, Sonny? Where?

Sonny (still shouting from the bathroom): I'm in the bathroom

Anya: Mam, Sonny's found rat poo in the bathroom

Me: There's no rat poo in the bathroom, Anya

Anya: Wow, you've cleaned it up already. That was quick.

Ingredients for a good morning...

Sun, mountains, bikes, rock... and Caban

Snowdon this morning from Craig yr Undeb

Rode bikes, climbed rock and trees. The children morphed into monkeys and then penguins who promptly made a nest and started laying eggs (one of which produced a puppy... strange genetics these polymorphic animals). Waddled (the penguins and me... feel like the bump is getting rather large now!) and rode some more before a Caban trip courtesy of Grandpa John!

This is why we live in North Wales... all of this in walking distance of our house.

Thankyou Nan and Grandpa for a lovely weekend...

Sonny making his way to the top

Think Anya was a Dunnock at this point and Sonny was a monkey

Mammy penguin with her newborn offspring (in the pocket) surveying her territory

Never happier than when he's up a tree, or riding his bike, or playing in the lake...actually, he's just always happy...!

Two penguins in their nest

Riding rings round Grandpa

Lots and lots of cycling in the sunshine today. Left the house with Anya and Sonny and came back with a butterfly and spiderman.

Butterfly flapping her wings and just look at that mean spiderman face.. he thinks spiderman's a baddie so scowled a lot!!!

LLAMFF weekend in Llanberis at the moment so the village was pretty busy. Kids rode from the lagoons to the park with me, Nan and Grandpa trying keep up, then rode to Electric Mountain for early lunch and to take Anya to Enid's party. Replaced the children with a butterfly and spiderman at this point then Sonny rode to the slate museum with Nan and Grandpa while Anya ran round the Den like a nutter (down to wearing only her tights in the end!). Played around outside for a bit and had a brew with Frantic before riding back to the park then home.

The kids are just so happy riding their bikes. It's so lovely to see how much they smile while whizzing past you at great speed. It gives them so much freedom.

Sleep and Sonny

Less than an hour old

Aged a bit more (but not much)

Aged 1 and a bit

Aged 2 and a bit

The process of falling asleep isn't something that Sonny has ever found very hard to do, nor is he ashamed to do (unlike his sister for whom, since birth, falling asleep has been the greatest sign of weakness). Nonetheless, going down for a sleep in a bed has always required the presence of another person to tuck in, give a cuddle and the like, especially during the day. Today, however, was a momentous day. Upon Ian's suggestion at lunchtime that he may be tired and need to have a nap, Sonny took himself upstairs and went to sleep all by himself (he actually sent Ian back downstairs!) only to re-emerge an hour and a half later. Superb.

Now we just need to work on the novelty of him spending all night in his own bed and persuading him that singing songs very loudly at some ungodly hour of the morning is not what the rest of the family really appreciate - I'm sure I'll miss it when he's 16 though!

A good cry

Anya had a lot of 'sads' to get rid of tonight. From going upstairs at 7 she cried solidly (and very loudly!) for about 20 minutes (during which time Sonny snuggled down and went to sleep - he's definitely inherited his father's ability to fall asleep! - and I just held her hand as requested).

Crying is the true process of becoming 'unhurt' and the freedom of tears is a child's (and an adult's for that matter) best way of staying healthy. Tears are just another way for our bodies to eliminate waste and toxins, but of a very special type. Research on the chemical content of human tears shows that the substances released in tears are those that accumulate in the body during times of 'stress' and through crying we actually heal ourselves. That's why so many adults report feeling much better after a good cry.

So what happened to Anya? She cried and cried (but didn't know why) and then just as quick as she started, she stopped, asked for a big cuddle, told me she loved me and announced that she was 'happy enough to sleep now' and started snoring!

I like the fact that even though the kids now have their own beds, they are currently fast asleep in the same one...

That puddle was all slippery...

Sunshine, blue skies, flat calm lake, icy cold. Beautiful day.

While Anya was at Meithrin, Sonny and I cycled to the lake with Ash and enjoyed 2 hours of gorgeous sun, lots of speedy riding (Sonny discovered that riding through frozen-over puddles was a lot of fun!) and lots of easy climbing on the fishing field outcrop and at Craig yr Undeb.

I gave my poor unloved hair a treat after lunch by visiting a hairdressers while Ian and the kids cycled from the lagoons to the park where me and my much shorter hair joined them. They're both riding really, really well (and very fast!). After lots of park fun, cycled back to the van and came home to more park fun in the village as lots of their friends were there after school. Anya was very proud to show me that she can now wee by herself outside with no help - I didn't have the heart to tell her she'd wee'd all over her trouser leg.... and then proceeded to try and get herself 'much more dirtier' to keep her new friend happy (a worm). Let's just say the worm was satisfied with her efforts!

Early night called for after last night's late one ("Mammy, I'm at school in the dark. That's ok though cos I'm eating cake")... same goes for me to as I'm up the mountain tomorrow - just hoping for as nice a day's weather as today.

Welcome

Welcome...

Apologies if you've found this page on the web and are actually looking for info about miso soup and noodles, there probably won't be much of interest to you here, unless of course you want to see pictures of kids who like to eat miso soup and noodles. In which case, read on...

To all those interested in the life of Anya, Sonny and their sibling-to-be I will attempt (no promises) to keep this updated with photos, stories and general stuff about their adventures... hope you enjoy.