Big News part 2

Hello!  How are you all?  I hope you're well.

First of all I would like to Thank You for your lovely and encouraging comments following my last post about moving.  There's no update - no new viewers for the house and therefore no real point in looking at properties up North yet.  I hope that we're not waiting for months and months and months before we sell our house as I think I worry about having second thoughts the longer time goes on!

Anyway, this isn't going to be a very long post today.  I wanted to come back and share our other Big News installment with you..............






We're expecting another baby!

We've known for what seems like an age but we finally had our 12 week scan this week and everything was fine so we feel comfortable announcing it now.  All being well, baby #2 will arrive around 4th February 2011.  We're really excited - I told you we don't do things by halves!  Moving across the country AND having a baby........madness!!

xxx

Big Changes Afoot.......

Oh my goodness!  Where have I been?  I have neglected my little blog of late, for which I can only apologise.  How are you?  Keeping well, I hope?

I mentioned in my last post that there was lots to catch up on and this is definitely true.  I think this will be in the form of a couple of posts - hey, at least I can rack up my blog post numbers ;-)

Firstly, I'll get the chick update out of the way - they have now been given back to their rightful owner.  Phil (acting "mum") was ever so distressed and spent a whole day looking for her babies and crying for them, which upset my Mother-In-Law a little - she's very attached to all of her animals so doesn't like to see them unhappy.  When they were taken "home" it was established that all three of the little chicks are actually male, so it looks like the breeder is going to sell them as he has no need for more cockerels.  We found this such a shame when we found out as it felt a bit like all of the hard work was unappreciated - the breeder declared that they were "no good" when they arrived back (I suppose that's the difference between people who keep animals as pets and those who have them as their livelihood).  Oh well, not really much that can be done now!

Anyway, on to part 1 of the "big news".  After much deliberation we have decided to move house.  Our house is officially on the market, which is VERY scary stuff!  This is our first house and we've lived here for seven years so, although we feel it's definitely time for a change, it's a very daunting prospect.  A prospect made even more daunting by the fact that we're not staying local.  Oh no, we're not ones to do things by halves, we're actually packing up and moving to the other side of the country (nearly!) - South Yorkshire.  Hubby's brother and wife live up there and his parents are also selling up to "retire" in a more rural location.  We talked and talked and talked about it and decided to go for it.  We don't want to have to pull Freya out of school in a few years time so why not do it now?  We have nothing particularly holding us in Kent, especially if the In-Laws are also moving away.

We're really excited about it, although also very apprehensive as it means starting again completely - new home, new job etc.  Hubby is especially looking forward to a fresh start - even though I am extremely concerned that all of this is going to add to his already high stress  levels, he insists that this is just what he needs.  I hope so.  I hope we're doing the right thing.

I wonder has anybody else done something similar?  I would love to hear your stories - please make me feel better about such a major upheaval with very few plans for the future?!!!

I'll come back with "big news part 2" soon.

xxx

Hello!

Hi!  I hope that you're all well?  I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a while now - things have been a bit mental here of late, of which I will fill you in another time.

For now though, I wanted to come back with a little Chick update.  Here are some photos we took today:

Excuse the pictures - these were the best we could get!!  They have grown soooo much and are soooo confident (and cheeky!).  From Day 1 they were more interested in their "mum's" food than the chick feed and they have thrived on all of the vegetables etc that they have been getting.  They have managed to escape their coop overnight a couple of times as well (they are shut up inside a hutch overnight but have managed to get out of a hole in that and were found running around the coop! - luckily the coops are all enclosed and are fox-proof!)  The minute you open the door to the coop they're running around your feet, kicking up the dust all over you.  They certainly are not shy little babies!

I'm not sure whether there is a definite date yet for when they will join lots of other chickens at the "farm" but they're coming up to a month old now, so I can't imagine it will be much longer before they are taken.  I will feel ever so sorry for Phil then as she has taken care of these little babes so well over the past couple of months and continues to watch over them even now.  I suppose this is nature though - one day my little baby will fly the coop and I'm sure that I will be at a loss when that time comes too.

Anyway, I promise to come back soon to fill you in on what's been going on around here lately.

Thanks for stopping by.

xxx

Thank You

This is just a very quick post to Thank You all soooo much for the lovely comments you left on my blog yesterday.  Hubby and I were both really touched.

We didn't do anything out of the ordinary for our Anniversary yesterday but we did treat ourselves to a chinese take-away, which was yummy!  I started to feel ill not long after dinner (I don't think the two were connected!) so I was in bed by 9pm - what an exciting life I lead ;-)

Anyway, a HUGE Thank You again for your well-wishes.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend - we have the in-laws over for dinner and football tomorrow night.  We're very big England fans in this family!  It's become quite an event to get together for the England matches during the World Cup and Euro tournaments.  Good luck to our boys.  (Sorry if you're not football/England fans!)

xxx

10 / 4

On 10th June 2000 my husband and I first met face-to-face.  We had been speaking to eachother over the phone every day for the previous 6 months through our jobs (I worked for an Insurance Broker and Lee worked for one of the Insurance Companies that we dealt with).  Our work phone-calls progressed to exchange of personal phone numbers and email addresses and finally one day we decided to meet up in person.  As I lived in Sandhurst, Berkshire and Lee lived in Gravesend, Kent we decided to meet eachother "halfway" in London (outside his office).

We had a lovely day together and the instant attraction that we'd had over the phone intensified in "real-life", but things were complicated as I already had a boyfriend at the time.  However, when Lee dropped me off at the train station to make my journey home that afternoon I seized the moment and kissed him (before jumping out of the car and running into the station!). 

There were many a complication over the few months that followed but we finally got together in the September.  We got engaged in the December and Lee moved to Berkshire to live with me at my parents' house early in 2001.

6 years to the day after we met in person we were exchanging vows at Hempstead House in Sittingbourne.  It was a beautiful day, a full-on heat-wave and I will always remember how perfect our wedding day was.

Today, 10th June 2010, it is the 10th Anniversary of the day we met and our 4th Wedding Anniversary.  It is fair to say that the past 4 years haven't gone smoothly and that it was touch and go as to whether we would actually make it, but I truly believe that this has made us stronger as a couple.  I can honestly say that I love Lee more today than I ever have.  He is the most generous, kind and loving man you could meet and he has given me the most perfect daughter in the world. 

Since having Freya my outlook on life has changed, as you would expect I suppose, and I no longer take my marriage for granted and am trying to enjoy spending as much time with my gorgeous husband as I can.  I know that our life is not perfect, far from it in fact, but as long as we have eachother and our little family is happy and healthy then I believe that we will cope with anything that comes our way.

Happy Anniversary Lee, I love you.

xxx

Chooks

Hello All!  I hope you are all well?
There has been much excitement at my Mother-in-Law's house over the past week or so (mainly just me and her getting excited but still!).  The reason for this excitement?  Babies!!!!

A friend of MIL's who breeds chickens asked if MIL's broody chicken would sit on 6 fertilised eggs that were not being sat on by any of his chickens.  After 4 weeks we have 3 baby chicks out of 6 eggs.  They're now about a week old and they now have started to grow their little wings - can you see in the photo?  Sooo cute!!!!

We have no idea what breed they are but they're cute black fluffy things with white bottoms!!

Clever Phil (short for Philimena) for keeping them so warm.  She loves them to bits, but unfortunately they have to go back to their rightful home in about 6 weeks time :-(

The chickens are ever so fascinating to watch.  Freya loves them and is not scared of them at all.  In fact, today she put a finger through the fence and we weren't quick enough to stop her.  One of the chickens thought it was food and gave her a little peck.  Freya wasn't phased one bit, she just crouched down to the chicken's eye-level, pointed at it with the other hand and gave her a good telling off!!!!!

MIL has 4 hens and a rooster.  Phil and Florence live in one side of the coop while these 3 live in the other side:

There are 2 that look like this....Molly and Polly (I haven't a clue which is which!)

and this one is Hickory. 

Molly, Polly and Hickory were only hatched before Christmas so it's been amazing to see how much they've grown and changed.  They are all very tame and like their daily cuddles (?!).  Hickory has now got his crowing down to a "t" - he can also impersonate the dogs quite well too!!!!

Anyway, enough rambling about the chickens.  I'm off to do some more crochet before bed.

Have a lovely evening.

xxx

SIBOL

Hi there

Just a quick one....

You may or may not have heard about Mrs Twins' project - crochet blankets for the elderly.  After having been a quiet observer for the past couple of months I decided that I wanted to use my new-found-granny-blanket-square-skill and make a contribution to this wonderful project.

I have done a short post on the SIBOL website today.  If anyone else is interested in taking part in this project then all of the information you need is on the site.  Sue is a really lovely lady and I'm sure would happily welcome any new contributors!

xxx