Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

The end of the summer is really upon us. Sophie and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine today and take a little walk around our estate. ('Estate' sounds very posh, but that is how people refer to our neighborhood development.) We looked for bunnies, but we found blackberry bushes laden with fruit instead. We trotted home and returned with some plastic baskets and an Emma for good measure... What a lovely time we had picking wild berries... ...and soaking up some rare sunshine. Sophie snapped a quick photo of me in front of some beautiful wild orchids. I absolutely feel as big as I look! The best thing about blackberry picking was the warm, wild blackberry compote that we made. It was served immediately over cold vanilla ice cream. Emma said it was as good as cobbler...and much quicker to make! Enjoy the end of your summer wherever you are. Back to school at the end of next week for us!

Isn't it time to head back to school?? My girls are ready, and I am doubly ready! They have so much more energy than I do these days. I feel as though their batteries are supercharged, and they need something structured to help them channel it more productively...and sensibly. Only one more week!! I think we can make it...especially since George arrived home this morning well before he was expected. We could hardly contain our excitement when he pulled up before 10 am. I did manage to get the girls off to a morning holiday club at the Methodist church for a couple of hours so that their Dad could catch up on his sleep and have some peace and quiet. While they crafted and sang about Michael rowing his boat ashore, George slept, and I unpacked his suitcases for him. Wouldn't you know the boy did some Stateside shopping. He brought back some American essentials like mac and cheese, Twizzlers , and grits. He also picked out lots of cute tiny little pink, flowery onesies for our m...

My favourite Woody Allen quote does seem to aptly sum up life most of the time. Today I got to take my two (less than enthusiastic) children to the hospital for what will likely me my final ultrasound scan during this pregnancy. By this time in both of my previous pregnancies, the babies' heads were engaged and ready to go, I had significant cervical dilation, and I had been placed on strict bed rest . I was so certain that things would go the same way this time around. Well, Surprise, Surprise! THIS baby is breech and my cervix appears to be shut tighter than Tom Jones's trousers. The doctor assured me that from 32 weeks, there is still a good chance the baby will get into the proper position before her birthday, so I will not panic about that. I will, however, continue to marvel over the fact that life really is like a box of chocolates. I was expecting nougat and got coconut instead. Never mind though, because I like them both. I also like NOT being on bed rest when I have...

There is a celebrity who lives in our house, and he goes by the name of Dad. If you don't believe me, you need only to observe the response that the sound of his key in the door at the end of the day elicits... or you might be persuaded by the screeches of delight that ensue whenever Dad announces that he "doesn't have to work tomorrow." I love being the one who is home with the kids, the one who makes lunch boxes and supplies band aids, the first one to hear all of the gossip about what happened at school today, but I am most definitely NOT a celebrity. That's just the way it is, and that is okay. We have been missing our personal celebrity for the last few days. He is back in the US for work and quick visit with Uncle David. The first few days are always the hardest. (That is what I keep telling myself, at least.) Somehow we have been managing without having Dad here to let the sun out every morning, but we are missing him for sure. There is something about ha...

George turned 39 for the first time today and was treated like a king by his girls. Lucky man! I absolutely LOVE the above photo of Emma and her Dad. Chock- ick cake for the birthday boy...so what if my slice was bigger than his! Wish-ready! (Oh, and Emma is wearing the medal she earned at Sports Stars today!! Well done, madame!) For heaven's sake, that's good cake! Cheers to Dad on his big day! We had lots of fun celebrating him tonight and will miss him when he leaves us for a week tomorrow!!

Ok, so I am realizing the third time around that this pregnancy stuff ain't for sissies. My body seems to be punishing me a little more this time around... even though the essential pregnant parts are behaving themselves unlike in the past. I won't list all of the things that ache, but suffice it to say, I am feeling spent and huge...and still technically have almost nine weeks to go. I have been really glad that the girls have a few days of Sports Camp this week so that they are able to go off and spend a few hours with coaches who are much more energetic and enthusiastic than their mom. They came home last night and said they needed to be dressed as super heroes today...so our rummage through the dress-up box basically resulted in the two of them trading recycled Halloween costumes. Sophie is calling herself "Bat Girl," and yes, Bat Girl CAN fly. This talent was demonstrated many times this morning. Emma donned some of Sophie's pirate gear, and Sophie repeatedly...

If you check in with my blog regularly, you may have noticed that it occasionally changes its colour or style, but that it always seems to revert back to the tried and true green. I like the green since so many of the photographs I take and post are green...We are in Wales, after all. Obviously things have changed today, and I am trying out another new look. My daughter Emma helped me with this one. I do miss the green, but I also quite fancy the polka dots. Emma declares that my blog's appearance is finally worthy of being called, "Peter Perfect" (in honor of her favorite, ascot-clad, stiletto-booted British stylist). I don't suppose I can get a better compliment from her. She also threw in an "Honest, Love, it's fabulous!!" in a thick Welshy accent. What am I going to do with her? On a different topic, it's a good thing the kids are back at Sports Stars Camp for a few days this week as they seem to have loads of energy while my energy levels are fa...

The kids have been home all week again, and it has affected my blog. We have had a very pleasant week, and I feel very fortunate that my girls are so adept at entertaining themselves. We have had a few little outings here and there, but nothing to write home about. On a typical day at home, Sophie at Emma settle themselves down at the dining room table with paper, scissors, glue, tape and coloring implements, and they are happy for hours. My friend Shay directed me to a fabulous website called The Toymaker , which is right up my kids' alley. This week they have enjoyed making paper dolls, puppets and houses that we've printed off the web. Check it out if you know any crafty little kids who might be interested. Emma and Sophie have also spent the week obsessing about and planning for their Dad's birthday, which is next Thursday. These little girls LOVE their Dad. I can only imagine how well he will be looked after as he and they get older. This week they have been making ca...

Last night after dinner Sophie and George went out to check on the vegetable boxes. The pumpkin plants have grown to such a massive size, they are almost frightening. The carrots are plugging along as they should be, and the lettuce, well, the lettuce is being enjoyed by some very hungry and very cute caterpillars. Sophie and Emma could not have been more excited about our backyard visitors. They have 'rescued' three caterpillars, who were still contentedly nested in a dish of lettuce by the back door this morning. Sophie just ran into the office happily shrieking, 'The caterpillars are still there!!" Apparently their names are: Squiggly, Biggly, and Roly. (Roly is Sophie's caterpillar because he fancies her the best.) Emma and Squiggly So... does anyone know how to kindly deter caterpillars from getting into the lettuces? My children would never forgive me if I were to sprinkle Acme Caterpillar Killer into the boxes, and that really goes against our who...

Yesterday the weather was dismal, and I had a mood to go with it. I felt tired and run down and was dealing with some unfortunate girly issues down under. I had both of the kids with me when I went to the Radyr Medical Centre to see if I could get some relief. Since I requested a female doctor, I think the receptionist booked me in with the only available female, who was very nervous and obviously inexperienced. At one point during my exam, the speculum, which she thought was properly in place, went flying across the room. I screamed. The 'medical professional' exclaimed, "OH! I beg your pardon," and Sophie stuck her head under the curtain and chirped, "Are you okay, Mommy?" It didn't get much better in the doctor's office after that. Here is the good news: I was ready to embrace the horrid British weather which seemed to mirror my soul. It was as if the clouds were encouraging me to have a much needed, lazy day. After hiking to the pharmacy in the r...

This reassuring quote came from my daughter Emma today as we were ordering ice creams at Gelynis Farm. I'm not sure if she was afraid the girl wouldn't serve me if she thought my rotund-figure was the merely the result of overindulging in chocolate... Emma and me at Gelynis today Just as we were all about to lose faith in the summer weather, we have been blessed with an absolutely gorgeous, sunny weekend. George may even pull out the air conditioner. Hope you are enjoying all of the good things that summer has to offer wherever you are...

Emma had some excitement yesterday after all. Just after her bath, while brushing her teeth, tooth number 5 came right out. She was so excited that the word, "Voila!" was used more than once. I'm sure one of these days losing a tooth will not elicit such excite-ment, but for today, it's still a pretty big deal. Luckily the tooth fairy remembered to come last night, and Emma woke up with another shiny pound coin under her pillow. Any excuse to celebrate, right?

Today was the last day of Sports Stars camp, and there was a short performance and awards ceremony at the end. Who do you think was the big winner of the week? Who was the recipient of the Super Fantastic Sports Star award? I will give you a hint... The winner was described as being "always switched on, helpful and up for everything." It was, of course, our very own Sophia Carson! It also may not surprise you to hear that Emma's been feeling a bit "Marsha Marsha Marsha" about the whole thing. She told me after receiving her certificate of participation, "This yellow piece of paper with my name on it just doesn't mean anything to me. I'd rather have a trophy." Such is life, dear Emma. She will surely have something uniquely her own to celebrate in due time. But for today... HOORAY for Sporty Sophie!!

Sophie helped me take this photo of some of our lovely little carrot cakes. They are chock full of real grated carrots, raisins, nuts and citrus, so really they are practically health food...AND I've only eaten one...so far. Dinner was also a healthy, mostly veggie stir fry with brown rice, so I'm doing okay today (apart from those rich tea biscuits with my cup of tea earlier today). Honestly, I could read cookbooks as bedtime stories these days. Until tomorrow... sweet dreams.

The instructions were to come to camp today dressed in "wacky sports clothes," and this is how Emma and Sophie interpreted that... In other news, yesterday everyone was thrilled when a load of baby gear was delivered to our house. When he got home from work, George and the girls got busy assembling some of the 'stuff'. I was busy at the computer doing something terribly important when Sophie came in excitedly shouting, "Mum, you have to see this pram! It's brilliant!!" Yes, she called my new stroller a pram. (She might as well turn in her American passport.) I have to admit, when I got up to inspect it, the pram WAS rather brilliant. We tucked Lambie up inside and strolled him around the house a bit, and he had a very smooth ride. Now we are all getting excited and feeling like this is really real. I woke up this morning and realized that I am now only seven weeks away from the point at which I gave birth to Sophie in my last pregnancy. Tick tock!

The words of the unofficial Welsh national anthem seem to be a woefully appropriate description of my eating habits these days. The third trimester cravings are coming hard and fast. Last Friday evening we were all innocently watching a movie together, when the desire for peanut butter cookies overwhelmed me. I was in the kitchen whizzing up butter, sugar, eggs, flour and peanut butter before anyone knew what had hit them. The cookies were all gone by the end of the weekend along with buckets of milk that I required each time I feasted on them. On Sunday, I spied a gorgeous carrot cake in the display case of the café where we had lunch, and that was all it took for the cake obsession to dig its claws in. Unfortunately I didn’t have the ingredients on hand at home to make the proper cream cheese frosting required for a good carrot cake, so I somehow satiated my desire with pecan waffles instead. Carrot cake will undoubtedly be making its way onto the agenda soon. Even as I type this, my...

This morning when I was loading the kids into the car to go to Sport Stars Camp, Sophie said to Emma, "You are my best, favorite sister in the whole world... but only for a little while longer. Soon I will have TWO best, favorite sisters!" I felt my evil heart melting away just a bit right then and there. Everyone is getting excited about our new baby. George and I did some online shopping for baby gear last night, and I have been picking up a few little bits and bobs here and there when I'm out and about. There is something truly wonderful about tiny little socks and onesies and cardigans. After noticing that there seemed to be a bit of angst over Sophie losing her title as the "baby of the family," I followed the brilliant and simple advice of my friend Molly who is a mother of five and has some experience with the matter. We no longer refer to anyone as "the baby of the family." Instead all of the kids are "my babies." This seems to be a v...

Remember the old Howie Mandel glove trick?

Something happens to me when I cross into the third trimester of pregnancy. Something evil takes hold of me, and the rest of you poor souls had better just look out. If you are the poor soul who is married to me, God be with you. I haven't officially moved into the guest bedroom yet, but I feel that it may be coming soon. On Friday, Emma and I washed all of the bedding in there and re-made the bed with fresh, clean linens. This, in itself, was an intense undertaking given my size and the fact that I can no longer squeeze in between the bed and the wall. When the top corner fitted sheet popped off after all of my exhaustive efforts to get it on there, I calmly looked at Emma and said, "You need to get out because I am about to be very angry." Emma obediently scurried out of the room and an uncontrollable great barbaric yaup sprang forth from the pit of my being. I took a few deep breaths and managed not to throw or break anything. I assume if you are reading this, you know...