Laura’s Life

When I went to bed last night, look what I found:

Look at Aidan and Orin all snuggled up together with their skittles and sweat patches.  Aw!

My bird table was destroyed during some recent high winds but its remains have not yet been taken to the dump.  This has, therefore, inspired Aidan to try and saw through the stand using nothing but some broken slates.  Neanderthal man springs to mind.  Of course, Evan has to copy everything his big brothers do so Aidan ended up with an apprentice lumberjack.

As if the stress of the medical appointment was not challenge enough for one morning, I then took the kids for a wander through the woods that form the backdrop of the hospital.

They enjoyed finding all the objects made of native trees that were set to the side of the pathway.  This is Orin sitting in a chair carved from a tree stump:

Evan was grumping because he was confined to the buggy.  Look at that huffy pout:

Aidan sitting in a willow bower:

Aidan and Orin sitting together in the willow bower:

And Evan still grumping:

Aidan playing in an area filled with beach flotsum:

A view over the loch from the woods:

Me!

The boys sitting on a bench:

Orin beside a post decorated with a face:

And then it was all downhill from there - literally and metaphorically.  Aidan threw a tizzy because we could not ascend any further with the buggy and Orin went into tantrum meltdown because I refused to carry him.  Here is Orin in the midst of his tantrum:

And, at last, Evan was happy.  Schadenfreude!

I had an appointment for an ultrasound this morning.  Unfortunately I had to take all three boys to the hospital with me.  Sticker charts worked well in the car, from the car park to the hospital and while we were in the waiting room … but as soon as we were in the consulting room they transformed from cherubic and cute to hyper and defiant.  Evan, thankfully, was (s)trapped in his buggy, which would have kept him under control had Orin not kicked the brake off and taken him for a spin.  It was a nightmare.

Coupled to that chaos was the fact that the consultant was a cold fish who had no interest in communication whatsoever.  I was never completely sure if he was talking to me or one of the midwives since he never made eye contact with me.  I thought it impossible for anyone to have a worse bedside manner than my usual obstetrician but this locum managed to get the medal.  He scanned my abdomen so quickly that it was a bit of a blink and you miss it affair.  All he was interested in was measuring the circumference of the baby’s head - so I got a good “bird’s eye view” of Tottie’s scalp.  Great!  Thank goodness for the midwives, one of whom walloped the print button at an opportune moment so as to get one decent image for me.

So, here is Tottie, at 17 weeks gestation.  The head is the big circular thing on the right and you can see that (s)he has its arm raised to its face, bent at the elbow.  It is not as clear as it could be - because of the Doctor’s haste - but at least it is something:

Twice in three days poor wee Orin has been stung by nasty wasps.

The first time was on his hand:

And then yesterday a wasp stung him on his left eyelid.  It went very red and puffy and even this morning it looks like he is recovering from a black eye:

Aidan was also stung, on the neck.  So wasps are now the new enemy and lightsabers are being brandished at all stripy flying insects.

Pyjama top, nappy and wellies!

… Tottie!  
 
Obviously not its real name but the name chosen by its big brothers for the period of gestation.  Aidan and Orin had a serious discussion about it yesterday and decided that Tottie was the perfect name for their new wee sibling.  So Tottie it is!  

We read a bunch of books about Antarctica and the people and animals of the Arctic circle.  We also read a book about icebergs which inspired us to make our very own iceberg by freezing a balloon full of water.  This is Aidan with the iceberg:

Orin playing with the iceberg.  (Apologies for the pants on display - we are potty training this week.)

And Evan sooking the icy water off of a Lego penguin:

Orin and Evan then proceeded to lick the iceberg:

We borrowed a Lego “Eskimo” set from the Toy Library so the boys played with that too:

They also watched ‘March of the Penguins’ (which we rented on DVD) while cuddling their penguins:

Yesterday morning was bright and sunny, though still a bit chilly by the loch, so I asked the kids where they wanted to go.  I guess they have been so overwhelmed by excitingly new places in the last week or so that all they wanted to do was go to the play park.  So off we trotted.  It was so early in the morning that there was not another single child in the park but my trio had fun all the same.

Aidan at the top of the slide …

… and Evan at the bottom:

“I’m the King of the Castle and you’re the Dirty Wee Rascal!”

Evan tunneling:

Riding on a chicken-parrot bouncy thing:

Orin and Aidan guddling in water - an omen of what was soon to happen!

Evan watching them and wishing his arms were long enough to do the same:

Orin on the bouncy chicken-parrot:

Orin and Evan bouncing together:

The boys climbing the conical rope ladder:

And then, while my back was turned, Aidan and Orin waded into the water in the paddling pool.  Aidan had common sense enough to take off his shoes and hitch up his trousers …

… while Orin did not!

Too little too late:

Evan spectating:

China and Japan week was actually spread out over a fortnight because we had so many fun interruptions.

I painted Aidan’s face so that he looked like he was in a Kabuki performance.  He thought he looked like Darth Maul:

Excuse the state of undress.  They were right out of the bath when I took these photos.  The boys built a Great Wall out of lego:

The kids eating chinese food in their grandparents’ backgarden:

Chris eating sushi.  The kids refused to try it so I had to take the photo of Chris instead:

Aidan made a panda.  Which obviously had to do Kung Fu.  We actually never made it to the cinema to see ‘Kung Fu Panda’ but they watched ‘Mulan’ during the long car journey to Kent instead:

Colouring in dragon pictures.  Aidan made a really good job of his and took his time over it.  Orin, on the other hand, was eager to draw Star Wars pictures so he just scribbled, cheeky wee thing:

Eating jelly babies with chopsticks.  Aidan was amazing with the chopsticks!  He did far better at it than I can manage.  Orin had the connected chopsticks to make things easier and Evan, well, he found his own unique way of eating food with chopsticks:

Then we played a memory game where the cards were animals from the Chinese zodiac:

Orin making his panda do dance moves: