But wait! There's more . . .

A new baby on the way is a pretty hard act to follow, but if you ask my husband, our latest addition is almost more special (at least that's the impression I'm getting . . .)

Meet Lindi

She's a 10 week old Staffy x Bull Arab

(if you're unfamiliar with Bull Arabs they're a massive hunting dog)

She likes everyone

but she likes Lyle most of all

(it could be that he lets her sleep inside and sit on the couch with him for hours on end)

Lindi is from the Zulu umlindi meaning guardian which is fun (if you speak Zulu and that is wrong feel free to comment!) She is 100% my husbands dog (read:responsibility). Which technically means he will buy me a new handbag strap to replace the one Lindi decided to use as a chew toy.

You will notice there are no photos of my daughter and the dog. This would be due to the fact that she is rather terrified of dogs. However, she is steadily growing in affection and will pat her if Lindi isn't in a 'nippy' mood - her baby teeth of course are very sharp and 5 year olds don't really like that (I can't imagine why . . .)

She had a vet check today (a vaccination too) and has a clean bill of health. It'll be nice to not have people coming into our yard so freely to try and sell us solar panels for our roof.

Baby #3

We are expecting again. How cool is that?

This is an early scan.

I don't really like these early scans because I think they always look a bit weird but it does look more like a baby than the first scan, which was (at almost 6 weeks) merely an actual peanut shape.

I'm due at the end of March which is good timing because it will be at the end of/after the first term of Emma's year one and Will's kindy. And a great thing about Will having kindy is that I will get guaranteed naps twice a week after baby arrives!

So far morning sickness has been very similar to the other two which is comforting. I'm now 13.5 weeks along and feeling better some days. I seem to have afternoon sickness more than anything.

The children are extremely excited as you can imagine. Initially they didn't believe us. I had said to Emma that I was never going to have another baby in my tummy so basically stop asking. So I had to explain that I simply changed my mind! She was so sweet, she asked "so did you pray for a baby and God put one in your tummy?" William on the other hand pushed his dining room chair back, looked under the table, got out of his seat to come around to me and with his hands on his hips he said very boldly (and he seemed a bit cross actually) "You do NOT have a baby in your tummy!" as they say, seeing is believing. After some convincing they came around to the idea and were actually speechless for a good few minutes - which for my children is astounding. Emma, ever gracious, would like a girl but follows that statement with "but I'd like a boy for William" adding she wouldn't be disappointed if it were a boy. Will on the other hand is insistent on a boy. They will be 4 and 6 when baby is born, and I'm looking forward to the age difference. I'm a little shocked that I'm doing it all again. Today a friend with a 5 month old was over and I would lie if I said it didn't make me a tad nervous. Or rather, exhausted. In the meantime the name game is on. Lyle has already vetoed one girls name I really liked but truthfully I've kind of gone off it too. He had a girls name he really liked also but I vetoed it . . .

M.I.A.

Obviously I've been MIA for a while. I'm pretty sure it's almost all to do with the fact that I have a child in school. When William was born a mum at church kindly said "it only gets busier and busier and busier". I won't lie, it hurt to hear it! But I was and still am glad for the heads up. It's a very different kind of busy today from almost 4 years ago when he was born but it's way more adventurous and fun.

In July we went to Saint Saens Carnival of the Animals. It was actually a blend of Saint-Saens music and a circus group, Circa. They did some very clever acrobatics and the children's mouths were quite open in amazement.

 I was so pleased to take Emma to her first show. They loved it and Lyle and I were thoroughly entertained also.

These were taken on a Sunday afternoon walk. The kids were initially rolling down the hill then I told them to jump together. They couldn't get it at the same time (AT ALL) but they were giggling the whole way, it was a lovely family time.

They look so similar in this photo (which as a mum I think you don't often see in your children, unless they're twins I suppose).

You can see the giggles.