Our little Puppy

Jack has been like a little puppy all week: rough, rough, rough (ruff, ruff, ruff). He caught a nasty cold last Tuesday night and so has needed lots of 'med'cine' and 'calin' (cuddle). He keeps telling us 'Teddy pleure' (Teddy is crying) and is all about being curled up on the couch with us, under a blanket - of course. The upside is that Ben took last Thursday off just to be with him and found time to paint that nasty yellow wall in the backround white. So, I guess our dark cloud has a silver lining and our yellow wall now has a white finish! Not only because of the wall but also because he was pampered all week, he is feeling better now.. and -ouf - we're all glad!

BIG news

I have some good news for you. All going well, Jack should have a little brother or a little sister by the beginning of August.

Yep, that's right! I'm three months pregnant and everything is going well so far!

We had an echography last week and saw its head, legs, arms, heart, stomach, back bone. You know? All the usual stuff that makes up a baby yet seems so miraculous when you see it on the screen for the first time. What's cool is that we'd had 2 previous echographies and so have really seen the foetus evolve from a little-pea like thing to a wrigglinng grub to the full 65mm 'baby.' It's incredible.

We have told Jack that there's a baby in my tummy and he seems cool with that...but he doesn't understand why he doesn't 'have a baby' in his tummy: Jack, baby? He'll say, lifting up his T-shirt and pointing at his tummy. Jack, baby!

At the moment, he's also creating lots of funny little sentences:
'Jack flush' - when he wants to flush the loo after using the potty.
'Jack drive?' - ever hopeful, when we get in the car
'Jack bum, bum, bum - he says with delight whenever he pulls down his trousers.

He can also tell us little stories. For example, when I asked him recently how his day was at the Nanny's, he said of another baby: 'baby pleure' (baby cry), Lily calin (the Nanny cuddled him), Lily kiss, teddy kiss, baby dodo (baby sleep). Then he smiled, as if content that his story ahd a happy ending.

He also likes the word 'big' - to describe his big spoon, his big bike, and himself, BIG, when he stands up to the sink to wash his own hands.

So, while our baby-in-making isn't very 'big' for the moment, know that we are getting ready for the BIG changes having 2 kids in the house will bring. What's that I hear you saying? We have to get ready for BIG trouble! Ah well, bring it on!!!

lots of love,
Robynxxx

ps/okay, I know the echography isn't great quality - but you have to imagine the baby is lying on its back with its legs in the air. It's head is on the left hand side and its arms and legs are slightly white-ish and bent at angles pointing upwards. You can see part of the backbone at the bottom of the screen, where the black ends and the greyish part starts.

Alsatian Games

The whole region seems to be playing the same game at the moment.

The rules? When you meet someone you boast about the lowest local temperature that you've seen.

My lowest is -8*C but then I'm only a beginner as Ben's seen -13*C and heard talk of -15*C.

Jack can't tell us the temperature (he can only count to two at the moment) but, when we go walking, he repeats ever so quietly but ever so surely: froid, froid, froid (cold, cold, cold).

I hope wherever you are, that you are nice and warm!

hugs,

Robyn

ps/What's temperature where you are today?

Happy New Year!

Hello,

Our New Year has started with a snowy and cold return to Alsace: it's -5* outside and snowing hard. That's not to say we're not happy to be back, we are, but - brrrr - it could be a bit warmer!

We had a great 2 week holiday back home with my folks in New Deer. It felt really good to be 'home' and to wake up each day knowing I would spend the day with my family. You know what I mean? :-)

Jack also had a lovely time and really seemed to enjoyed being surrounded by English (Scottish!) voices. At any rate, the number of English words he can say has increased. He likes the most important words like plane, bus, tractor, cow, and without surprise the world's most important word, 'gateau,' became cake. As his 'grandma' had also bought him a life-size car, he learn key verbs like 'car drive' and 'car park'... and can now do a three point turn better than me!

Christmas was a right laugh, as he had his own stocking and later got a (noisy) stovetop that makes the appropriate or should that be inappropriate bubbling and sizzling noises.

To try and burn off everything we were eating, we took walks along beaches and in parks and we visited the Macduff Aquarium. A funny moment came when we went to Haddo House: Jack spotted the playpark wayoff in the distance and set off on his own, even though the path led uphill and way away from us. When Ben called to him in French to 'come here' he shouted back 'no, come here' and kept walking. You can tell from the photo that he got pretty far before he realised his game was up!

So, all in all, we had a lovely festive period and I do dearly hope that wherever you are reading this blog from (whether it be in the States or Iceland, China or Egypt, Scotland or South Africa, New Zealand or Brazil) I hope you are well and that the New Year 2009 brings you all the joy and happiness you deserve.

much love,

Robyn xxxx