The longest blog ever!!!!

Ok, ok I know I have been a terrible blogger (and my mom has let me know very clearly how bad) so I thought I would make it up and put a whole lot of stuff on tonight.
The truth is I am so tired at night that I just flop on the couch and that’s me!! Usually with a jug of water, and as much ice-cream and chocolate that I can devour!
So, we have been busy lately let me begin. Hope you’re sitting comfortably this might take a while, and serve me right for taking so long to update.
We take Kailey to a petting zoo called the ‘Big Red Barn’ when we go we tell her we are going to see Tessy bear’s chickens. This is from her favorite cartoon show called Noddy. (both Kai’s grandparents will know this show VERY well) So we go and see her chickens and she loves this……

She also gets to see the other farm animals and this week got to feed the goats! Very Exciting Suff!

Then Deric came to gymnastics with us and she got to show her Daddy all she does, I could have got more pictures if I had thought to charge the camera before leaving…… I think she just likes going since she gets stamps on her feet when she is done…. Ohhhhh and not to mention the bubble machine at the end!

Here I am at 31 weeks pregnant – I must add that I feel 20X bigger than I look… oh and then just because I posed for a picture, we had to take one of Kailey right after me! I noticed in the picture all the finger prints on the fire place she is not allowed to touch – I’m going to have to set this boundary of no touching very soon.

Then there was the renaissance fair …… I have never ….. ever… seen anything like this before. Deric and I walked around speechless. We could not tell who worked there and who were visitors like us. It was crazy and dare I say it, like a freak fest! Vampires with blood all over them, fairies – acting like fairies (these are adults). We walked around for an hour and decided it was time to count this as an experience we were richer for and go home. I did get some pictures but I was too scared to take any of the real freaky people!!!

And to end off with….. we have a bowl at the front door where we put keys and such inside. Kai is not allowed to touch it, so we put it far enough back so she can’t reach it…. But today she found a way to get in that bowl. She was caught red handed!

Random Stuff

I don't have much to say lately. I'm a little dry. So I am putting a whole lot of pictures on of what we have been doing lately. It's all pretty random stuff..... but our life at the moment.

These are the cows that walk past our house everyday - when Kai sees them we have to go out and say hello... or as Kai does it, just mooo at them!



Deric bought Kai some ballet shoes (cause she wanted them in the store) I have one word - WRAPED.



Then this is Kaileys music teacher, she loves her and will never leave her side during class. Please note the pig tails.





We baked a cake and she descovered why millions of us actually bake cakes...



And to end off with... She learned about jumping on the couch - one of those cute things you know you have to take a photo of and stop really quickly.



We are all sick at the moment - I can handle Kai and myself when we are sick - but Deric alone is like having 10 sick toddlers .... really!!!!

From the Top - With Feeling!!!

Being pregnant while having an active (very active) toddler is something I did not consider much when planning this pregnancy!
I am felling so much more energetic lately, so that’s the big bonus. But I am still expected to carry Kailey around, get on and off the floor all day, have her jump on me all day long, get on my hands and knees to clean up her lunch that ends up on floor. Not to mention getting her in and out of the car, and let’s not speak about bathing her!
I have to think back to the days where I thought I had it so bad when I worked all day and was pregnant. The fact for me now is – it’s harder to be at home with a toddler and pregnant for sure. The one bonus (and it’s a very big bonus) is if I need to I can nap with her in the afternoon. Something when working all day you can just wish for. So there are benefits.
I hear too from others that it must be so much more relaxing having the second compared to the first. Well no!!!!! I am so much more stressed.

Here are my worries:
• Before I did not know what to expect – now I know exactly what to expect.
• I wondered if I would be sleep deprived – now I know I will be sleep deprived
• I worry about leaving Kailey for 3 days while in the hospital – I have never left her over night. Thank God my Mom is coming to be with her while I am there, but I know I am going to worry like mad.
• I feel like I am being a traitor to Kailey, having to share my love and time
• We have such special mommy time now – How would I be able to give her that when the baby is born.
• And finally – DO I HAVE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN????? Didn’t I just do this?????
Don’t get me wrong I am excited to complete my family with this special little man, but wow it certainly does not come without its own set of issues.

I then look at friends with more than one child and they are all fine, happy and would not change a thing… I guess in 2 months and 2 weeks I will be looking back on this blog and thinking how could I ever have felt this way.

Belly Shots

I have been getting a lot of requests lately for belly shots!
Well at last we got it together and took a photo….. As you can see from the comparison, I am ‘progressing’ much faster than I did with Kai. The doctor also said he is a big boy! Not sure if that has anything to do with it or if its cause my internals are so stretched out that they just blew up like a balloon…..

These are taken the same week of pregnancy - both 25 weeks!

2006

Ballet Dancer????

Attitude Derriere.....




Kailey's Version...


Arabesque Derriere....


Kailey's Version......

A Hornets nest

Yesterday, we were sitting outside with our neighbors having a chat after dinner. Kailey and their kids were playing around the house and they were up and down the deck stairs. Next thing out of nowhere, I look at Kai and see about 12 hornets flying around her head. Deric jumped up and grabbed her (getting stung himself). When we looked at her closer she had been stung twice! (On the face and hand) She was screaming like I have not heard in a while and all I could do was tell Deric to go look online what to do while I held her soooo tightly.

We watched her for 3 hours before putting her down, and Deric went to the store to get ‘stuff’ to kill the hornets. Our neighbor was ahead of us, and had got the poison he had at his house and killed 3 nests. Deric got the other 2 later in the evening.

I woke every hour on the hour in the night to check her breathing and then….. This morning I woke up to another child in Kai’s crib. Her face was so swollen I could hardly recognize her. I took her to the emergency room and they gave her medicine to make the swelling go down.

All in all it got me thinking… this parenting thing is weird. How is it possible that everything you believe you feel before having kids is totally wrong? The emotion to take all pain, all unhappiness away is so strong that you devote your days to making sure everything in their little lives is perfect. The satisfaction from this …….all you need.

Even when you think back to the days of having a meal without jumping up and down 100 times, reading a book in the middle of the day, stealing a nap on the couch without little fingers opening your eyes. Getting in and out the car in seconds, and making plans on a whim.

The days before not thinking of someone else’s food intake 4-6 times a day, nappy rash, potty training, teaching not to hit the cat, trying to in force that crayons are for paper not walls, oh and something that happened moments ago….. how not to fret if your high heals don’t go on (yip she was throwing a tantrum about not been able to get her play shoes on)

I am glad to say now that everything in the Holbrook house hold is back to normal and we are all hoping for some sleep tonight!

Kai's first hair cut

Deric convinced me to have Kailey’s hair cut. I have no idea why I was so against the idea but I will put it to one of those mom things I just can’t explain.

But it was great – she had a blast. I found a place that just cut kids hair. They had all these distractions for them and the lady was so much better than I have been (I think my only style is mullet)

Here are the before and after shots... and yes my child chose the hummer and not the princess car!!!!!









The picture on the last blog is a good one of the final product!

Please pray for little Gawolegle.....

I’m sure you remember seeing this photo last year of a little South African boy named Gawolegle. He was Kailey’s Nanny’s son – Gladys. He is 7 years old and has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. He and his family are very special to us, and we ask for your prayers. He will be having an operation soon, and then start treatment.
Please think of him in your prayers and if you have a prayer group please add him to it. It would mean so much to this wonderful family!

Our Miami Trip and move to Kansas

I am happy to say we are settled. It took one whole week but we are unpacked and starting to find our systems here. This place is really great – we have a lot more exploring to do but I think one year here will not be enough.

Our trip was fine and we had loads of fun – as you can imagine there were so many photo’s I thought I would give you the quick version of our month away. See slide show below.

I should be updating more regularly now!

Hi Everyone,
We are still not settled and are still on the road at the moment... hence the lack of blogging- to all our loyal readers please note, we will be back on line next week in our new house and the blog will be fully updated. The unpacking will start on Tuesday, the sad thought is this time next year we will be doing exactly the same thing - moving again!!!!

On other news - I am fine, this pregnancy is much harder than the last. I have been so happy to have Deric home for the past 4 weeks. I am feeling much better but now and then I get a wave of sickness that lasts for a while. The next day I am fine like nothing happened - strange! I am showing a bit now - I have gone from 'she looks like she did not recover from the last pregnancy' to 'she might be pregnant, or just fat, dont say anyting'

I have so many friends getting married lately - and most of the weddings I cant go to. This upsets me so much as my friends are so important to me and missing this special day is breaking my heart.
Claudia and Jannes (Seychells)
Tanya and Steward (Australia)
Dawnelle and Bill (USA)
Diane and Jon (South Africa)
Martin and Nita (South Africa)

I will try make as many as possible - just hoping it all works out.

I am going to run, with all this moving arounds Kai has become so moedervas (mother tight) and is needing so much extra time. I cant wait till we settle again so she can be stable.

Last 2 outings with Kailey

A quick catch up....

Last weekend we took Kailey to a petting zoo - she got to ride a train and feed the farm animals. Since then she has started to play with her plastic farm animals and has to eat every meal with them so she can feed them off her plate.
Then this past weekend we went to a Kids Museum, where they had a whole section for kids Kai's age. She played in the shopping section, the kitchen, the post office, hospital, reading section, arts and crafts, vegie patch, train station, and water section. It was two hours of squeeling and running! Great fun!

Following the yellow brick road...

We are two weeks from moving out of NC. I never thought I would get to this point but I am quite ready to go. We have a house ready for us to move into when we get to Kansas. I think what makes me really happy about moving there is
a) Kailey will have a playroom and our house wont look like a mess all day long!
b) we are near a city and there is so much do!
c) I am looking forward to living in a snowy place! I am taking the option to change my mind on this one, once I fully understand what it entails, but for now it’s quite exciting.
I might also be excited about the snow since today in NC it 110 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees centigrade) just the thought of cool is so pleasant.

We are then looking forward to going to Miami for three weeks. Seeing Deric’s parents and Mickey B will be great. Can’t wait…….

Of course before all the fun begins … the movers have to come and that will be a four day process – packing, loading, cleaning etc… but we will suck it up and then start our next adventure.

Most of our friends we met here, have or are leaving NC too, so the feeling around is that this phase is over, new friends to be met! I only hate that in a year from now we are moving again…. Start the process all over again – from the top, with feeling! But I won’t think about that now.

Other than that I am feeling so much better, almost normal. I am not showing, I just look fat as though I have not recovered very well from my first pregnancy. All my pants are too tight around the waist and I had to go get some cool maternity pants today. I was not in maternity pants till way into my fourth month with Kailey, so I can’t imagine how massive I am going to get over the next six months.

Here is a picture of Deric teaching Kai about surfing....... here it starts.....

I'M BACK!!!!

I have been a bad blogger lately – and let me assure you it was not because I was having any fun. I have had a bad case of ‘morning sickness’ (which lasts all day) and without too much information, this has been my main focus for the past three weeks.



But life goes on and things have still been busy. Mom left (before my morning sickness set in) so we took her to Williamsburg. It was a great trip, there was so much to see, I wish we could have stayed longer.





Of course Granny spoiled Kailey…… lots of head bands which Kai had to wear all at once. And since Kai always helps around the house Granny also got her some of her own cleaning tools……..


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Deric has been amazing – he is doing everything! I get motion sickness, so any movement just sent me over the edge, he has cooked, cleaned, taken Kai …….. just everything.
He is getting ready to start clearing Fort Bragg so this is now the down hill to our move. We are planning to take three weeks and go see Deric’s mom and dad in Miami before we follow that yellow brick road to Kansas. For those who don’t know we will be there for one year! Between you and me we are looking at going back to Germany after that …. But who knows what will eventually come through. (Holding thumbs/crossing fingers)


Kai is a dream, she is just my joy! Seeing her change is magic. Her imagination is coming into play now and she is starting to feed her babies (or as she says ‘bey bees’) she loves wrapping them up (thanks granny) and pushes them all day in her pram/stroller. She has even started waving and kissing us bye bye before taking her babies for a walk around the house. Then comes back and tells us all about her adventure.
I have really enjoyed no teeth coming in for the past four months. I hope the last four take their time, doing all 16 in 9 months was no joke, so we are just sitting back and enjoying a long deserved sense of peace.


Last weekend Mark and Trisha came to see us for the weekend. It was wonderful as normal, I really wish we had more time to see them. Kai loved Uncle Mark and Aunty Trisha. Deric and I were almost ignored most of the weekend! We had a BBQ/Braai, and sat at the fire pit all night. For those of you who were at our farewell party in Germany (you know who you are!!!!) We watched the video – yes people it’s out there!



Now we are enjoying a four day weekend and plan to go to the beach, see friends and just chill out together…..