Ah, crap! They're so alike, I can't tell them apart!

For the past nine weeks, I've been extremely proud of myself that I can tell my twin nephews apart. Well, not anymore!

The way I could tell was by their hair specifically. Euan has always had really smooth hair, whereas Ethan has had fluffy hair. Well in the 7 days since I last saw them, Euan's hair has gone EXACTLY like Ethan's! Yikes, I cannot tell who is who...And I'm not stripping them off each time I want to know who is who to find Euans birthmark!

There is still only a 1lb weight difference between them, but it's not noticeable unless you're holding them.

Zoe, Thomas & I took the twins to have their baby portraits done on Thursday. This same studio did Emily & Thomas' portraits when they were only a few weeks old. Zoe has one of each of the kids in her lounge - It's a black background with the baby wrapped in a feather boa, which is the one she wanted of the twins too.

What a nightmare! Ethan was so good during the session, but Euan was pretty much crying constantly! What would probably take about half an hour with one baby took more like 2 hours, and Euan still wouldn't have an individual portrait!

My back was agony after the shoot - I had to kneel on the floor with my body leaning kind of behind the reflector and one hand under the material holding Ethans head, and the other holding his bottom in place. 2 hours of that = not fun!

Zoe wanted a pic of all 4 kids, but Thomas and Euan weren't happy with that! Although the photographer did get one of Emily by herself. Since Thomas will stay still and pose for me, we did have a backup plan that I would take my camera along too and if he got fussy, I would pretend I was taking the pic! Yeah, it didn't happen! He will not have his picture taken by anyone else, and he knew I wasn't really taking a picture because I wouldn't show him the picture I had just taken! lol!

Zoe is getting all 7 pics (7 in 2 hours - that's it!) and the one of the twins wrapped in feather boas is being made big like the canvases I have of Tom & Emily - And she's giving it to me! I'm excited to get it, as I can't yet set the babies up outside and get a picture of them against a nice background because of the cold weather! I will definitely be getting them outside in summer though!

After the ordeal of the photographs, we went to the local pub/restraunt with an indoor soft play area. I've always wanted to take pics of the kids in the ball pool, but I've been afraid to because of all the other kids around! I'm a wierd like that and don't want anyone to think I'm photographing their kids.

The meal was nice, and afterwards we went to the play area for an hour! Just my luck that there was a kids party going on - so there were like 30 kids running round in there! Anyway, I dragged Emily into the toddler area (the kids party was full of 6-7 yr olds) and got her in the ball pool to get my picture! Tom was too busy using the curly slide in the big kids area! Next time, I'm getting a pic of Tom in the ball pool!

I've not really had a chance to sort through the pics yet, but I'll get there eventually! Here's a couple of the kids:

Another day at the zoo!

This time, in -1 degree weather! It's the coldest zoo day I've ever had! I had picked up a friend from work, his wife and their 15 month old son first thing. As they don't drive and I was going anyway, I thought it was nice to ask them along!

Since I had a child in the car, I didn't go over 60mph the whole way there, so a normal 1 hour (max) journey took me close to 90 minutes! Ah well, the important thing is that we got there safely!

Anyway, the zoo was so quiet so we went in straight away & met one of my friends cousins there. We wandered round to see the elephants, the bat house and a few other animals and then we settled for our picnic! We sat outside eating our food and it was just so cold! We had to then rush to the cafe to get a hot drink! Heh!

We then spent a while wandering round leisurely letting Leon (the 15 month old) walk himself. We saw the elephants again, the littler monkeys, the caotis and some others.

The zoo has a new butterfly enclosure located behind the condors and next to the caotis but before the cattle and giraffes. My camera was steaming up something terrible, so the one photograph I got was blurry! Ugh! As we were in the butterfly house and walking through admiring all of the beautiful colours, I spotted a blue butterfly on the ground struggling to fly. Its wing looked damaged, but I thought that because of the humidity and the fact that a bit of water had gathered on the floor, it was just stuck and would walk onto the tree bark and dry off. Anyway, that butterfly died =o( Only took like 5 seconds. But the keeper scooped it up.

Next stop was to see the jaguars, but they were sleeping so we didn't catch sight of them unfortunately. Nor did we see the tigers who were our next stop. Our last big enclosure of the day was the lions. I had talked the whole way about photographing Chakra (the new lion cub) so I was really excited.

As we approached the lion enclosure, there was a sign saying that Chakra had to be euthanized on Friday January 9th due to a developmental disorder. I was just gutted...Asha (Chakras Mum) was nowhere to be seen, and Asoca (Chakras Dad) just looked really sad lying down. Poor things. I got all choked up and we didn't stay there long.

On our way back to the exit, we went to see the frog exhibit, which is another new one. We also saw the komodo dragons and tropical things and finally the reptile house. We also dropped by the chimp enclosure, but we only saw a lot of chimp bottoms as they were in the back being fed by the keepers. The Orangs and gibbons were also out of sight - they must have been sleeping!

All in all, it was a good day despite a lot of animals not being out and the weather being atrocious! I learnt how to take macro photos with my camera, and finally got the hang of photographing through glass, so it was a bit of a learning curve for me! And since Leon had walked around almost the whole day (impressive) he slept all the way home and didn't even wake up when we carried him inside! It was a peaceful drive home!

Now this final photograph I took is of my friends 15 month old son. The light was terrible as it had started going dark, and I wasn't able to take the picture properly with a wiggling 15 month old trying to climb of the tortiose statue! Anyway, it's his wifes birthday soon, and I was thinking about enlarging the photograph (I like his smile on it), even though I know it's not really that sharp...What do you think? Would you be happy receiving it large & in a frame as a gift? Also, any photoshop pro's that read this - Can I make it any sharper? I'm thinking his facial features don't stand out that much...

I spent the day with my nephews today!

It was a fun day, as usual!

I got there for around 11am to a house full of screaming babies! Heh! Didn't take long to get them quiet though! The babies just wanted cuddles, and Tom just wanted to watch CBeebies! An easy fix in a few short minutes!

After everyone had calmed down, I carried one of the twins upstairs and Zoe had hold of the other, and Tom, Ethan & Euan had a bath! There was a bit more crying from the babies and lots of splashing from Tom! He's the funniest kid I've ever come across!

After the bath, it was picture time! Tom is such a poser! Heh! Apparently I'm the only person that he allows to take his picture! I hope that the twins love posing as much as Tom when they get a little older!

Anyway, the twins are 8 weeks old today, and they're looking even more alike as they grow. The only difference is their 1lb weight difference, their hair, and Euan has a birthmark on his chest! So, with being 8 weeks old comes their very first injections =o(

Zoe and I took the kids to the doctor so that they could see the health visitor and the doctor and have their injections. The stats are as follows:

Ethan: 8lbs 11.5ozs...He gained a whole pound this week alone! I forget the length of him and head circumference, though!

Euan: 7lbs 11ozs...He gained a whole pound last week and I think 3 pounds this week! Again, I have forgotten his length and head circumference already!

After the health visitor checked them, we moved into the next room to see the doctor. He examined them and determined them to be fit and healthy enough for their injections!

The poor babies had to have a jab in each thigh. Yeouch! They took it like true champions though, and only cried for a few seconds per injection. Euan was first to have his jab, and whilst Ethan was having his done, Aunty Claire was on hand to give Euan his much needed cuddles and kisses! I got the little man dressed and cuddled him lots and lots!

Next stop was the pharmacy for the twins' vitamins and folic acid. Everyone was making a fuss of the babies, so Aunty Claire kept Tom occupied and entertained...And he fell asleep after a few minutes!

A woman followed us out of the pharmacy and chased us down the road to have a peek at the twins! As we were getting them in the car, she had gone and grabbed her daughter to come and have a look!!

When we got back, I decided it was time for me to go so I could miss some of the rush hour traffic. I shouldn't have bothered as the traffic was awful - so I decided to go and visit my parents instead of coming straight home.

Now I'm home and preparing for tomorrows day out...At the ZOO!! I hope you're looking forward to the pics of the zoo, as I'm sure there will be hundreds!

January 12th, 2009

Marks the 5th anniversary of my first miscarriage. I still can't believe that 5 years have passed me by!

The day was pretty crappy, as all of my plans went tits up. I just kept thinking that tomorrow is a new day, and it got me through.

Of course, there were a few emotional moments and some moment of "I wonder what s/he would be doing today?" etc.

Fingers crossed that next year will be better and I have something/someone else to focus my attention on (I say that every pear and it never happens, but oh well)!