As yet unnamed!

WW, Haircuts, roughhousing and such

My first weigh in at WW saw a 2lb loss so I'm off to a good start. Hope to lose at least 1lb this week as well. In other news, Noemie and Charlie had their haircut this past Friday. It was the first time for Noemie as she has refused up until recently to let us cut her hair. She's watched Charlie a few times though and decided she was ready. We went to Tantrum again as they like to sit in the cool cars and such. They got new cars since our last visit and Charlie was thrilled to see his current craze: Thomas the Tank Engine. He is obsessed. Noemie loves yellow so was very happy with the jeep. Here are the before photos. Charlie with his curly hair and Noemie with her long bangs and slightly uneven hair. I guess 3-1/2 years of not cutting it at all made it a bit messy!

And here they are yesterday on the sofa together. I love her hair cut! I think having short bangs makes her look like a little girl and it reminds me of my hair when I was her age. Kirk unfortunately really dislikes her haircut. They did take a bit more than we expected off the back but he doesn't like the bangs. I did point out it will grow back. Charlie went a bit shorter than usual mainly as I hate the thought of paying £22 every month for his hair. They used clippers on him this time so I might try it out next time around. Noemie loved it and can't wait to go back again. I also got her some "product" (leave in hair conditioner) which she was excited about and told me she wanted to put "poduct" in her hair from now on. After their cuts we went to Peter Jones for some toys and then went to Baskin Robbins for some icecream. Susanna had the day off as her family is in town so I had a fun day out with the kids on my own.

Today we went to Westfields for lunch and some shopping. Poor little Noemie got a tiny bit carsick just as we got to the mall. Not sure what happened as she did so well on our holiday with much longer car trips and stuff. She's had a cold for the past week and been coughing a lot though so it might've been that partly as well. She ate a really good lunch and was fine on the way home though, so it didn't ruin our day at all. Here is a video of Charlie enjoying his Mac and Cheese, practicing using his fork and a random "thank you" thrown in at the end for no particular reason!

My parents are coming over for lunch tomorrow so that will be nice. We're hoping to go to the Japanese place near us assuming they are open tomorrow as it's Bank Holiday. If not it will be the corner pub. Noemie starts school again on Wednesday which she is really excited about as she gets to see more of her friends. One last playdate on Tuesday with her little friend H to look forward to as well.

Leaving you with some photos of the kids roughhousing on the couch. They play so well together and Noemie is the bad little influence on Charlie as he copies everything she does. And he has perfected the art of teasing his sister and driving her insane with it. It's sweet to watch them together though and as they play well together, it's easier for us to get stuff done while they get on with their own thing.

Plane! Plane! (and Cccaaaar!)

The night before our flight to Tenerife, we stayed down in Gatwick overnight so we wouldn't have to drag ourselves and 2 little ones to the airport at an ungodly hour in the morning. The view from our hotel was of the landing/take off strip which amused Charlie to no end. He sat on the window ledge and pointed out the cars (he says ccaarrs with a slightly odd French accent) and of course the buses and planes. He was so excited he didn't even take his backpack off for a very long time.

We had airport transfers and on the way to the airport it was some luxury cars. On the way back to the airport, it was this nice limo! Not the first time I've been in one but I certainly wasn't as young as my kids when I first rode in one. It was amusing to watch people watching us as we arrived at the airport. They were probably expecting some famous person to hop out; bet they were disappointed when it was us! I love this photo as you can see Noemie casually skipping to board her ride. Just like I had no idea back then how lucky I was with the way we travelled when I was a kid, our kids have no idea how lucky they are with how they get to travel. Hopefully one day if they have kids, they too will get to travel well! 

I just weight watchers again yesterday as I'm on a mission to get back on track with my weight having slipped a tad (ok, a lot) in the past year. While I wasn't the fattest person on the beach/poolside by any stretch of the imagination, it was frightening to see how fat I *could* be in 10 years from now. No thank you. Bikini fabric shouldn't have to stretch that far. And there I was worried about being in a one piece costume! I survived my first day and even had 3 points left over out of my 20 a day. That was after I forced myself to eat a yogurt and apple after dinner to use up some points! Fingers crossed my progress goes as well as it did last time around :)

A few more Tenerife photos

   So here are a few more pictures. I need to wait for Nana to bring her camera and cord with her in a few weeks when she visits us again as there are more good ones on her camera. Have I mentioned that I actually forgot to take my camera with me?!? What a change that makes from the days when all I did was take photos. I guess the scrap booker in me has taken a leave of absence for now. Shame really as I would've liked some more photos from our first family trip. I suppose we will have plenty more holidays though so I will just have to remember next time around! 

I love the photo of the three of us together and wish Charlie had been awake to join in. Unfortunately he was passed out in his buggy and as he had not slept all day I didn't dare wake him. Just feels weird that someone is missing. Kirk and Noemie pulling their funny faces (showing their "surprised face" in this one). Charlie's trend for the week seemed to be all about falling asleep in weird places. He passed out on Kirk's lap on the beach on day 1. Then he passed out on me on day 2 so I couldn't move and ended up with a sunburn on my arm while protecting his little arm. Then later in the week he fell asleep in the pool. He loved floating and I guess it was just that relaxing for him so he snoozed for a while. Had a lot of people around us giggling. 

I'm pleased to say the kids travelled really well. Nice quiet children on the plane (can't say the same for some of the other kids unfortunately). No one got carsick or anything. Minimal naughtiness, especially after the second day when we followed through with the "no icecream if you're naughty " rule with Noemie who was being a bit silly. She must really love her chocolate icecream as she was pretty good the rest of the time. 

Can't believe the week went so fast. Looking forward to possibly going to the US later this year for a visit and then skiing next year for sure! Want to get the kids started on skiis early. I think I was already skiing by the time I was Noemie's age! 

Buenos Dias

  Well we've been here since last Sunday afternoon and it's been gorgeous. The weather is super sunny and hot but for some reason it's not like London where the heat feels oppressive for some reason. Here it's a nice dry heat (reminds me of LA, sigh) and of course there is AC. We've pretty much spent the time sleeping, eating, swimming, eating, resting, eating... eating... eating... needless to say clothes are getting snug but it's all SO good. 

Noemie loves to play on the beach and splashing in the ocean. Charlie seems to prefer the pool which is much more my speed. Both kids are getting a nice healthy glow while I managed to get a sunburn despite lathering on the sunscreen repeatedly throughout each day. So today I am spending the day out of the sun and catching up on some knitting. There is a nice breeze as well so it's been great sitting outside. 

We have had a great selection of meals here and it's very child friendly with kid's meals at each place. There are 2 restaurants that are for adults only and Kirk and I are going tonight for dinner on our own and Nana is staying in with the kids and having room service. 

 We have a golf cart to zoom around the resort in which has come in very handy as we're halfway down a big hill and would have to walk a ton to get places. I have photos of it along with many others but for some reason typepad is not letting me upload any more photos at the moment so they will have to wait until we're home. 

Time to go knit some more I think!

So....

I got a bit busy with life so didn't have much time to spare for the ole blog. Here's a brief catch up of the past week's events. 

  Weekend before last, Kirk took the kids up to High Street Kensington to go to Whole Foods to buy a few bits. They were both so excited as they got to go on a train. See, I rarely take the tube so the kids have never been on one with me. Charlie has been on the tube with Susanna once but Noemie had never been. Both kids got their little Cath Kidston backpacks on, Charlie's had his nappy, wipes and a juice and Noemie's had a change of clothes, underpants, juice, bandaids, and a snack. She likes to be prepared. Kirk told me they had a great time and people were really nice and offered their seats to the kids and commented on how cute they are. 

Last Friday, Noemie got to take tennis lessons with one of her friends who kindly invited all the girls to join her. I didn't go as I was at Knit Nation but Hannah's Mom emailed me this photo so I could see. Apparently Noemie was pretty good, hit the ball a few times and clearly won the tennis court fashion statement of the year award. I am not sure who dressed her but it definitely wasn't me as I was gone before she even woke up! Now she tells me she wants to take tennis lessons so I will look into that later this summer. 

Charlie's taken a liking to Noemie's old froggie potty and he sits on it regularly. Nothing has happened yet as we're not even trying to train him but who knows, maybe he will be out of diapers sooner than Noemie was. He sits on it before bath, after bath and last night he sat on it and poo'd (but into his diaper of course). At least he has the right idea. He follows his sister into the bathroom a lot and washes his hands while she does her business. I wonder how much longer until he's made to wait outside. 

Noemie had a fever the past few days so she was very lethargic. Lots of visits to our room in the middle of the night for cuddles while radiating major heat. Medicine didn't seem to make too much difference but she was otherwise fine so we agreed to not take her to the GP unless we went into day 3. Well, she got better overnight though her morning started at 4am today when she told Kirk it was wakey wakey time and meant it. Poor Kirk was up with her from then on. I had no idea. Apparently they were having a full conversation in our bedroom and I didn't wake up. Of course she took a nap today. At least she is feeling better before our holiday so now I just have to hope Charlie doesn't come down with anything. 

Parents are coming over for lunch tomorrow. Noemie is very excited about it all as we're going to her favorite Japanese restaurant!