Today Evie and I went to see the new baby...in 3D! To the untrained eye, our baby looks like a mass of blobs, but to us she/he looks like a little person waiting to come out into the world. This morning when I was reading to Evie the baby kicked so hard that she felt it in her back and looked back at me with a slightly surprised and concerned expression on her face. We have 10 more weeks of togetherness before she has to share the love and I'm having the same kind of emotions that I felt when Jim and I were waiting for her to be born. We were so excited, but also a little sentimental about the fact that it wasn't going to be just the two of us anymore. Obviously, as soon as we laid eyes on her, she became the center of our universe and I know that when this baby is born, it will be the same and we won't be able to imagine our lives without both of them. But until then I'm going to really focus on the special time that we have with Evie while she's still the only one.
Friday, September 03, 2010
In 3D
Today Evie and I went to see the new baby...in 3D! To the untrained eye, our baby looks like a mass of blobs, but to us she/he looks like a little person waiting to come out into the world. This morning when I was reading to Evie the baby kicked so hard that she felt it in her back and looked back at me with a slightly surprised and concerned expression on her face. We have 10 more weeks of togetherness before she has to share the love and I'm having the same kind of emotions that I felt when Jim and I were waiting for her to be born. We were so excited, but also a little sentimental about the fact that it wasn't going to be just the two of us anymore. Obviously, as soon as we laid eyes on her, she became the center of our universe and I know that when this baby is born, it will be the same and we won't be able to imagine our lives without both of them. But until then I'm going to really focus on the special time that we have with Evie while she's still the only one.
Four Weddings
Last weekend we went to the final of the four weddings that we attended this summer. What a fun time celebrating Jackie and Piotrek and a great way to end a summer of celebrating happy unions!
Not only did Jackie make a beautiful bride, she also made beautiful calligraphied name tags for our tables. We were proud to be the Avants in such fancy writing.
Another highlight: cupcakes, in addition to delicious apple tart with ice cream!!!! Yum! (and filling)
The happy couple having their first dance of their marriage:
Piotrek was very nearly dropped on his head, just after this picture was taken. Fortunately the groom was spared a trip to the emergency room on the night of his wedding:
The ladies (and Jim) on the dance floor:
There were lots of fun people from all over the world at the wedding and Jim and I danced the night away (well...until 10:30 when we had to go home and relieve the babysitter. Don't ask me the last time we actually stayed out late). Congrats to Jackie and Piotrek!
Not only did Jackie make a beautiful bride, she also made beautiful calligraphied name tags for our tables. We were proud to be the Avants in such fancy writing.
Another highlight: cupcakes, in addition to delicious apple tart with ice cream!!!! Yum! (and filling)
The happy couple having their first dance of their marriage:
Piotrek was very nearly dropped on his head, just after this picture was taken. Fortunately the groom was spared a trip to the emergency room on the night of his wedding:
The ladies (and Jim) on the dance floor:
There were lots of fun people from all over the world at the wedding and Jim and I danced the night away (well...until 10:30 when we had to go home and relieve the babysitter. Don't ask me the last time we actually stayed out late). Congrats to Jackie and Piotrek!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Rainy day activities
Last week was really rainy, but it's horrible being stuck in the house, so Evie and I braved the weather and did some rainy day activities.
First stop was the park, with all of it's tempting and satisfying puddles. Evie rarely misses an opportunity to jump in a puddle, so I dressed her in her stylish pink rain gear to help her stay as dry as possible. Here she contemplates a puddle that I decided was a little too muddy and gross looking. You can see the joy in her face at the possibility of getting her boots into that puddle, but I ruined it for her.
The next puddle was much cleaner AND had a slight waterfall feature. It passed my inspection and Evie spent a glorious 10 minutes splashing around and sitting in it. Unfortunately, her stylish pink rain gear is not as waterproof as one would hope, so despite my efforts she still got a little damp.
On our way to the next puddle, we stumbled across a dog who was very focused on something in a ditch.
Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the thing in the ditch was not one, but two rather large crawfish (or crayfish as they call them here). Despite her Louisiana heritage, Evie was absolutely not interested in getting anywhere near the crawfish. She was very careful to keep her distance and when one of the crawfish started moving with its angry little claws in the air, she said "Nooooooooo!" and backed off. I can't wait to see what she does when she encounters the mammoth sized roaches that we have in Louisiana. She is not a lover of nature at this point, especially if nature is of the bug or creepy crawly variety. She's even a little wary of butterflies.
After a successful morning of puddle jumping, the rain moved in so we headed home for some arts and crafts. I underestimated the effect that arts and crafts would have on my sanity. I had this great plan that Evie would sit quietly and paint a card for Jim, who had just passed his driving test in England (yay Jim!) and that she would keep all artwork and art mess on her art table. About five minutes later, there was art stuff scattered all over the room and I was desperately trying to keep things under control. Silly me. But Evie was having a blast.
I hung the final product, along with everything else she did that day, up on a makeshift clothes/art line in our sunroom and every morning when she goes in to eat her breakfast, she points proudly at her art and says "WOW!!!" Now I just have to accept the mess and let her do it again.
The next day was another rainy day, but Evie has a rainy day friend named Rufus, so we met Rufus and his mom at a cafe in an alley and Evie and Rufus splashed around in the rain and puddles, while we ate carrot cake under the cafe awning. Evie was NOT dressed in her pretty pink rain gear and thus got pretty soggy, but she and Rufus were having the time of their lives. Sitting on the steps of local businesses and kissing the lady on the poster outside of the hair salon were two very entertaining activities.
Another fun game to play was "take off my rain hood and stand under a stream of water coming off of the awning." When I told Evie that she had to wear her hood and pointed out that Rufus was also wearing his, she went up to Rufus and took his hood off, too. Very cheeky (to put it Englishly)!
Back at home, it finally was the weekend and the rain stopped and there were ample opportunities to play outside in the garden without getting wet. Not satisfied with the lack of puddles, Evie decided to create her own And jump in them. Flashy shoes and stylish cardigan are courtesy of her grandparents.
Stay tuned to see what kind of outside adventures we manage to plan once the weather is COLD and rainy...which it will be soon.
First stop was the park, with all of it's tempting and satisfying puddles. Evie rarely misses an opportunity to jump in a puddle, so I dressed her in her stylish pink rain gear to help her stay as dry as possible. Here she contemplates a puddle that I decided was a little too muddy and gross looking. You can see the joy in her face at the possibility of getting her boots into that puddle, but I ruined it for her.
The next puddle was much cleaner AND had a slight waterfall feature. It passed my inspection and Evie spent a glorious 10 minutes splashing around and sitting in it. Unfortunately, her stylish pink rain gear is not as waterproof as one would hope, so despite my efforts she still got a little damp.
On our way to the next puddle, we stumbled across a dog who was very focused on something in a ditch.
Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the thing in the ditch was not one, but two rather large crawfish (or crayfish as they call them here). Despite her Louisiana heritage, Evie was absolutely not interested in getting anywhere near the crawfish. She was very careful to keep her distance and when one of the crawfish started moving with its angry little claws in the air, she said "Nooooooooo!" and backed off. I can't wait to see what she does when she encounters the mammoth sized roaches that we have in Louisiana. She is not a lover of nature at this point, especially if nature is of the bug or creepy crawly variety. She's even a little wary of butterflies.
After a successful morning of puddle jumping, the rain moved in so we headed home for some arts and crafts. I underestimated the effect that arts and crafts would have on my sanity. I had this great plan that Evie would sit quietly and paint a card for Jim, who had just passed his driving test in England (yay Jim!) and that she would keep all artwork and art mess on her art table. About five minutes later, there was art stuff scattered all over the room and I was desperately trying to keep things under control. Silly me. But Evie was having a blast.
I hung the final product, along with everything else she did that day, up on a makeshift clothes/art line in our sunroom and every morning when she goes in to eat her breakfast, she points proudly at her art and says "WOW!!!" Now I just have to accept the mess and let her do it again.
The next day was another rainy day, but Evie has a rainy day friend named Rufus, so we met Rufus and his mom at a cafe in an alley and Evie and Rufus splashed around in the rain and puddles, while we ate carrot cake under the cafe awning. Evie was NOT dressed in her pretty pink rain gear and thus got pretty soggy, but she and Rufus were having the time of their lives. Sitting on the steps of local businesses and kissing the lady on the poster outside of the hair salon were two very entertaining activities.
Another fun game to play was "take off my rain hood and stand under a stream of water coming off of the awning." When I told Evie that she had to wear her hood and pointed out that Rufus was also wearing his, she went up to Rufus and took his hood off, too. Very cheeky (to put it Englishly)!
Back at home, it finally was the weekend and the rain stopped and there were ample opportunities to play outside in the garden without getting wet. Not satisfied with the lack of puddles, Evie decided to create her own And jump in them. Flashy shoes and stylish cardigan are courtesy of her grandparents.
Stay tuned to see what kind of outside adventures we manage to plan once the weather is COLD and rainy...which it will be soon.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Dog Taxi
On several occasions, while walking around our neighborhood, I have heard hysterical barking then turned to see a black cab full of happy dogs go driving by. Finally, I caught them on a coffee break and was able to take a picture! It's things like this and the incredible experience of seeing 40 army horses go trotting down major London streets, bareback that I will really miss when we have to move.
party party family family
It has been a weekend of diverse experiences. On Saturday, Jim took Evie out for a fun day (hopefully to be documented on this blog at some point) and I headed out with the girls for Jackie's hen party. Unlike the typical American bachelorette party, the Hen parties in England tend to be more than penis themed drunk fests (but, judging by the hen parties I've seen staggering through the tube stations, plenty of drinking happens, too). We all started out at a salon, where we pampered ourselves before we went out. I had my first pedicure since before Evie was born...nice!
The bride to be donned her very special bride to be boa and we hit the streets of Soho.
Since Evie was born, our going out experiences have been somewhat subdued, so it was a little surreal for me to be out in a place like Soho, where there were so many people and so many bars and so much happening. Obviously, I wasn't able to fully appreciate being out since I'm pregnant and was going the non-alcoholic route, but it was still fun to be part of so much energy. And one benefit to not being able to imbibe is not having a hangover the next morning.
There's nothing like a group of women dressed in similar outfits to encourage unattractive men to make stupid comments that they think are funny. Our first admirers were a bunch of toothless, wasted bums outside of the salon, followed by several more batches of hilarious (to themselves) idiots. I can't imagine what they said to the girls who were out in their skimpy outfits. We looked positively matronly compared to most of the hen parties we passed. Anyway,We waded through the crowds and eventually ended up at a Cuban club called Floridita. We felt like we had stepped onto the set of Scarface.
Bizarrely, one of the rules of the club/restaurant was that no one could wear feather boas or matching hen party pins. They said the feathers might fly into the food of other diners, but we weren't sure why we couldn't wear our pins. We might stick someone with them maybe? Or maybe they were just trying to keep it classy by not letting people wear common pins that said "Danger! Hen Party in Process!!!".
When we sat down, we were quickly greeted by our waitress who offered to show us the steak board. None of us wanted steak, so we declined. But no, she insisted. Apparently she HAD to show us the steak board. And so we sat and patiently listened to detailed information about each cut of steak that the restaurant offered then ordered vegetarian fajitas and fish dishes.
The music was great! A Latin band had the crowd up and dancing and there were some really impressive dancers in the mix. Latin dancing is so fun, but my large stomach was not cooperating with my attempts to move my hips in a vaguely coordinated way, so I kept the dancing to a minimum. Interesting song tidbit for non-Spanish speakers: Jackie told me that the song "La Cucaracha" (sp?) is about the cockroach who doesn't want to walk anymore because he's run out of marijuana. Hah!
(The woman with the guy smooching her in the middle of this picture was a REALLY good dancer and had great legs and 3 foot high heels. Elizabeth and Jackie had some pretty good moves, too!)
It was such a fun night, but I had to head home in anticipation of my early morning wake up call from Evie and a busy Sunday with friends. Today we headed north to have brunch our friends Carolina and Dave and their cute boys Santiago and Rafael. Rafael is only six months older than Evie, but, as usual she was more interested in the older Santi. They have a great back yard, so while we had a nice time catching up with Carolina and Dave, Evie was off having the time of her life with the boys. They played on S and R's awesome swing set, ran through the yard at high speed, picked vegetables from the garden and practiced their somersaults. It was a good day for all!
The bride to be donned her very special bride to be boa and we hit the streets of Soho.
Since Evie was born, our going out experiences have been somewhat subdued, so it was a little surreal for me to be out in a place like Soho, where there were so many people and so many bars and so much happening. Obviously, I wasn't able to fully appreciate being out since I'm pregnant and was going the non-alcoholic route, but it was still fun to be part of so much energy. And one benefit to not being able to imbibe is not having a hangover the next morning.
There's nothing like a group of women dressed in similar outfits to encourage unattractive men to make stupid comments that they think are funny. Our first admirers were a bunch of toothless, wasted bums outside of the salon, followed by several more batches of hilarious (to themselves) idiots. I can't imagine what they said to the girls who were out in their skimpy outfits. We looked positively matronly compared to most of the hen parties we passed. Anyway,We waded through the crowds and eventually ended up at a Cuban club called Floridita. We felt like we had stepped onto the set of Scarface.
Bizarrely, one of the rules of the club/restaurant was that no one could wear feather boas or matching hen party pins. They said the feathers might fly into the food of other diners, but we weren't sure why we couldn't wear our pins. We might stick someone with them maybe? Or maybe they were just trying to keep it classy by not letting people wear common pins that said "Danger! Hen Party in Process!!!".When we sat down, we were quickly greeted by our waitress who offered to show us the steak board. None of us wanted steak, so we declined. But no, she insisted. Apparently she HAD to show us the steak board. And so we sat and patiently listened to detailed information about each cut of steak that the restaurant offered then ordered vegetarian fajitas and fish dishes.
The music was great! A Latin band had the crowd up and dancing and there were some really impressive dancers in the mix. Latin dancing is so fun, but my large stomach was not cooperating with my attempts to move my hips in a vaguely coordinated way, so I kept the dancing to a minimum. Interesting song tidbit for non-Spanish speakers: Jackie told me that the song "La Cucaracha" (sp?) is about the cockroach who doesn't want to walk anymore because he's run out of marijuana. Hah!
(The woman with the guy smooching her in the middle of this picture was a REALLY good dancer and had great legs and 3 foot high heels. Elizabeth and Jackie had some pretty good moves, too!)It was such a fun night, but I had to head home in anticipation of my early morning wake up call from Evie and a busy Sunday with friends. Today we headed north to have brunch our friends Carolina and Dave and their cute boys Santiago and Rafael. Rafael is only six months older than Evie, but, as usual she was more interested in the older Santi. They have a great back yard, so while we had a nice time catching up with Carolina and Dave, Evie was off having the time of her life with the boys. They played on S and R's awesome swing set, ran through the yard at high speed, picked vegetables from the garden and practiced their somersaults. It was a good day for all!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tea time for FInchley
Evie loves to treat her friends and loved ones to tea. Even Finchley gets to come to a tea party sometimes!
Clearly he was enjoying himself!
Clearly he was enjoying himself!
Kite Day
Last weekend we took our kite out to Parliament Hill. Evie was very excited!
Once we had established that the kite was not to be walked on, she helped Jim put the kite together.
First flight! It was a blustery day and perfect for kite flying!
Also a good day for standing in holes and attempting to wade through tall grass.
Once we had established that the kite was not to be walked on, she helped Jim put the kite together.
First flight! It was a blustery day and perfect for kite flying!
Also a good day for standing in holes and attempting to wade through tall grass.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)