Lucianas first Christmas!

Lucianas first ever Christmas was snowy....how lucky can you get?

Now she'll expect it to be like this every year,

We stayed a few days at Grandmas house to guard the presents.

In one of the pictures Lucy waves a clinched fist at me as I approached the tree as if to say "don't even think about it!"

She's been hilarious this whole week. She's growing so fast and we cannot figure out why she smiles and laughs so much. Not that we mind.

Lucy got toys and more clothes from Santa. She has been enjoying the abundance of English premier league soccer on t.v. She seems to enjoy watching it. I don't know if its the colors on the screen and the noise of the crowd or if she genuinely apprecietes the best sport on earth!...probably.

As for the snow...well its started to melt but the roads around here are still pretty bad. Vickie is irritated because she can't go running still. The snow is beautiful but it really slows life down.

We're looking foreward to the new year. Lots of projects and soon a big change for me with work...I'll keep you posted on that! Very exciting year ahead!

The beloved Montero!

Just wanted to give out a big shout to my beloved Mitsubishi Montero . He has been amazing in this snow situation we've been having. We've been able to get around and even managed to drive up our street which had been closed off by the city of Duvall. Outstanding machine I have to say!

Winter blast!

Its official..we will be having a white Christmas. As you can all see it dumped down yesterday and the forecast has more flurries for this week. Its beautiful but I can't get to work..which is a bad thing. Its also freezing cold so nothings going to melt anytime soon. The car is currently stuck and so tonight hopefully a couple of friends are coming over to help us move it.

Unfortunately we were smart enough to buy a house on a steep hill and its a little difficult getting down it in conditions like these.

White Christmas..maybe?

Its beautifaul outside our frontdoor right now as you can all see. We really hope it stays. Lucys first Christmas fast approaches and we think it would be cool if it stayed like this....not that she'd appreciate it. Its all a bit icy though and a bit tricky driving down the hill.

If you're wondering what the eye patch is all about..well I just had another cornea transplant today..and this time I was awake for the whole thing..wild! Hopefully when it heals and I have the stitches taken out I'll be able to see properly. Vick and Lucy are looking after me though and making sure I don't lift anything too heavy.

3 months old.!

We just took these pictures yesterday. Luciana loves taking baths. She spends about 15 mins every night splashing around. We think it helps her sleep well at night. It must be working because we put her down at 8pm and unfortunately we don't see her till 6 the next morning.

As you can see Lucy is smiling....again. She's a very happy baby. She always has lots of smiles especially when she wakes up. In this pictuer she is showing her delight with the new camo outfit.

Tonight Mum went out with some friends so Lucy and I stayed at home. While I cleaned the kitchen Lucy watched Fox soccer report and sky sports news...she does seem to like watching football..mainly highlights.

More of the remodel.

My great attempt at tiling. Once you get into the groove it's quite easy. You can see my underpants quite nicely but what you can't see is the sweat dripping from my face and nose...it was slightly hot that day.

Vick..what a trooper. 81/2 months pregnant but managed top help out right up until the day of delivery. She was amazing!

Whats a house project without Bob, a face mask and a saw. As always the Boo-bi was legendary with his cutting precision.

Dave and his "D-WALT" made easy work of drilling down the ....base board wood under lay stuff...you know the stuff that goes under the tile!

Note the fan....drying out the famous flood from 2 days previous.

The remodel.

Behold the mayhem!... we started in the kitchen.you can't see it in the pictures but it was pretty filthy and dated.it really needed priming and painting and we ripped up the chess floorboard too. The wood floors in the dining room came up as well and we ended up tiling throughout.Alot of work!

We also sanded and primed all the existing cupboards and painted them and replaced all the door knobs and hinges.

Then with a little help from Ryan we tiled the countertops and put trip around them. I've never tiled before but after a while it was quite easy.

We also painted the walls and got rid of the red paint...looked like a slaughterhouse.

We bought new kitchen appliances and everyone knows about my experience with the plumbing of the dishwasher. Yes the whole place was covered in an inch of water....nightmare. Oh well.

You can see the kitchen taking shape in these pictures. The tile on the countertops pretty much transformes the whole thing and at this point we couldn't wait to get the whole thing finished. But as you can see it all turned out well in the end. Thanks to our friends and family who all helped us so much. We never would have got it all done.

Thanks to Boo-bi and Dave for the crash course in tiling in 90 degrees weather and for bringing the tools to do it..coz lets face it..I'm not exactly a collector of such items...but I'm working on it.

Thanks to the family for moving us in, painting,organizing the garage(Janeen) putting up lights in the garage (Bob) and just for everyines willingness to help us get settled in time fo Luciana to arrive. We realise that this blog update is overdue but here it is anyway...thanks everyone!

All smiles!

Lucy at 1o weeks...and loving life already. She's such a happy little thing..unless she's hungry!!

We just can't believe how good our little Luciana is. She loves going to bed!.....we can't figure it out and we're pretty sure it won't continue. But as for now she is sleeping 9 hrs a night and waking up with a big grin on her face. She loves to hang out with Mum all day, watching Law and Order and doing laundry....and sleeping of course. And when Dad comes home..smelling like "kitchen" she gives a big grin and usually gurgles something.

More pictures to follow

Lucy baby!

More snapshots of me in various poses. I love hanging out with my Mum and eating constantly...did I mention that I am already a clothes horse?

Luciana photo shoot!

Lucy is here!!

Finally she arrives!...after 18 hrs of hard and at times painful labor and a long night Our little Luciana arrived at 6am on September 8th weighing in at 8lb 9oz and 21 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful. Her hobbies are eating, sleeping, sucking her tongue, looking around the room and peeing alot.

Vick is doing great. A little sore and bruised but overjoyed and completely obsessed with baby.

We are so happy and realise that life is alot different now. We are up for it though and cant wait for everyone to meet her. we are so excited that she has the unique gift of having loving family in 2 countries and that she'll get to experience another culture and get to learn how to speak and spell properly....ha ha!

Enjoy the pictures everyone!!

'Bout Time!!!

Hi everyone!

Well Lou and I are still saving hard and are looking to leave the 1st November. Plan is to go to HAwaii, Fiji, NZ, Oz and Thailand. we've pretty much got peopletp stay with everywhere we go so that should keep costs down... good jb too 'cos we counted up how much spending money we are gonna have after our tickets and insurances and.... well..... gonna be a budget learning experience!
Still living with the two girls in the flat and basically living in a room! It's like living in a charity shop with all our vintage clothes and various retro obje' d'art. I must admit though, I've learnt to control certain bodily muscles and valves and have shown tremendous courage in maintaining a calm exterior whilst my belly has gathered wind quicker than a tethered wind balloon prior to launch!
So all in all life is good and at last moving in a positive direction and a newer happier chapter. We love you all and are tryig to figure out the best way to try and see you all before we go. We hope you are all well and happy xxx Stu & Lou xxx

Drowning!

Congrats Clare....assuming congrats are in order....you sound happy about it anyway. I have Man friends lining up actually.

Well last night I tried to disconnect an old dishwasher and managed to flood our kitchen and dining room..nightmare!
I practically jet washed the kitchen walls and ceiling and freshly painted cabinets. A total disaster.
We cleaned it up and I washed out my paint brushes and rollers in the sink for about 20 minutes then realised all the water was draining directly onto the kitchen floor...about 1/2 inch of water . Double flooding in 1 night.
Vick, bless her was very supportive and didn't flip out. and I managed not to swear!

Anway, we went to the doctor and our new official date is September 12th. Everything looks good and we can't wait..especially Vick. She is just beginning to get fed up with being pregnant.

Back on the Market!

Hello All!

Just to let you know I am single again and have been for the past week. Feel free to sell me to your friends!

I am very happy and I am certain I have made the right choice!

Love you all! Me xxx

(the picture was taken on Saturday at West Wittering beach)

3 weeks to go!

We are 3 weeks or so away from Babys arrival. We are frantically tryuing to get the house finished before it all happens. We have moved and painted all the inside and we are currently trying to get the kitchen remodelled as quick as we can. We're going to tile the counter tops and kitchen flloor and then I'm going to try my hand at plumbing in a new dishwasher!..we'll see how that goes. So life is busy as usual with plenty to do....oh yes I even pressure washed the house and will be painting it next week. We love our new place and the town we live in. We feel settled and are ready enough for little Lucy to arrive.

Thanks for everyones blogs. I've actually lost my camera for now so I havn'[t got pictures. I will find it and get pictures posted.

Brain Ache

What a great idea to keep in touch and share stuff! My entry here is long overdue,but it starts now.Life for me has been a bit rough recently,i quit my useless job coz i couldn't handle it,and went to see my doctor who did a few tests and told me i have anxiety and depression,apparently there's a chemical juice of some sort that's meant to help me plan,organise,and feel naturally high,but i burn it off before my day even starts,so i'm on tablets,and incapacity benefit!! I am applying for jobs though, but no luck as yet,doesn't help when i get rejected by Mcdonalds, I must not have enough spots or something.
Sarah and I are doing well,we've started playing tennis of an evening,just gets us exercising and doing something fun,and Sarah plays golf alot too,which she loves.
Me and my mate "Fish" started a covers band,but the bass player dropped out as it wasn't his thing,so i'm not doing anything music wise at the mo,so i thought i'd put this picture up,taken during a gig a few years ago,i don't know what my face is doing but i was busy at the time! Love you all
Stevie xxxx

William's Chateau!

After a few months of dealing with the council and stalking the housing office I have managed to wangle Grandad a little bungalow in Lower Halstow. It means no more driving to London for Mum, a better quality of Grandads life as he will get to see more people and have neighbours of the same age (I met his next door neighbour Margaret - she's lovely!). Its a much safer place for Grandad to be and I know he will be happy. Mum and Dad have been really busy organising the move and arranging moving vans and all the gumph that comes with moving and have been total hero's! It just could not have happened without them.

Bungalow Bill's official move is on the 25th of July and even he is really excited! Steve and I went over to help pack all his ornaments and golf trophies etc and he was getting so excited about it all, its great to see him looking so happy about something!

Well, here are a few pictures of his new pad, its just perfect for him. He has ordered new carpet (biege with flecks of colour I have been informed!) and is buying a red velour couch...hmmmm!!!

I'll keep you posted and send you new pics once he's settled!