Queen's Park Days

2011-11-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry! It's been so long and I've been embarrassed to post an update; there's so much to catch up on that I couldn't possibly remember it all... So I'll do a quick photo update and then take it from there. I've been thinking of some very special people, who I really wanted to keep this going for. You know who you are! xoxo

Ok, so in the spring, some of the highlights were-

Ava's spring performance of "The Lion Who Wanted to Love" She's in the middle with antelope antlers on :)

Auntie Erin came to visit!

Ava and Grace both got strep throat and then Ava developed scarlet fever. Here they are snuggling through it.

Grace learned that she will be "strong" if she eats her veggies :)

Ava lost her first tooth and had her first visit from the tooth fairy, who left her a pound coin!

We took lots of trips to our favorite places, including Kew!

And last, but not least, Uncle Jesse and Auntie Andi came to visit!

Next up... summer roundup!

2011-04-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! We've had a rough couple of weeks with Strep Throat and Scarlet Fever making the rounds in our household. The girls are both on Antibiotics, which make them feel pretty horrible. Luckily the weather has in the 70s-80s and sunny for the whole of Ava's Spring school break. Even though we haven't been able to be out enjoying it as much as we might like, we've still got the paddling pool and our new trampoline in the garden! We have managed a few outings in between tough days too. I'll get some pictures of it all soon, as well as Ava's Spring performance at school and her missing tooth :)

Grace getting down

2011-04-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

Lanka's Flowers

2011-04-12T07:18:00.001-07:00

Lanka's Flowers, a photo by hklevine on Flickr.

I made a terrarium arrangement and a larger floral arrangement of flowers in a vase for Lanka's Wake. Thought I would share the pictures. The flowers in the terrarium were all from our garden. They lasted much longer inside the glass than they would have in water. I chose flowers and colours I knew Lanka would have liked. I think he would have been pleased...

2011-03-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

Lanka's funeral was yesterday. The beautiful service was a testament to his life and about one hundred people came. Rob read the eulogy perfectly. Lanka would have been very proud- lots of people said it was the nicest they had heard. The reception afterwards was at a cafe on Portobello Road, around the corner from Lanka's flat. The owner knew him for years and insisted that we have it there at no cost. Like many people, he said Lanka was a kind and gentle and generous man and that he was happy to have known him. Here is the eulogy for those of you who were unable to be here.

Lanka Wijeratna

17th October 1939 – 1st March 2011

Lanka was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on the 17th of October 1939, the son of Felix Wijeratne and Agnes Gunawardena.

He was the second of three children, four years younger than his brother Manthrie and 8 years older than his sister, Lilamini.

His parents were scions of two of the most eminent families in Sri Lanka. He had 19 uncles and aunts and more than fifty first cousins.

He was educated at two of the finest schools in Sri Lanka, Royal College and Thurstan. I think it’s fair to say Lanka always struggled with authority figures and it would be diplomatic on this occasion to say he was not a model student.

He was greatly upset by the death of his mother from cancer, when he was just 12 years old, and lived with a variety of caring relatives in grand houses in Colombo.

He developed his interest in cars at this time, while living with his cousins in Gower Street, Colombo. He and his cousin Ranjit both had MG sports cars from the age of 16, which they repaired and raced both round town, but also in rallies in the Sri Lankan hill country.

On both his mother and father’s side he had relatives involved in Sri Lankan politics. Despite being very large landowners, his mother’s brother, Philip Gunawardena, introduced Marxist socialism into Sri Lanka in the 1940s, after having fought for Indian independence and in the Spanish Civil War. Lanka worked on his uncle Philip and his uncle Robert’s election campaigns as a teenager. And during his whole life he never strayed from the principles of social justice and protection of the underprivileged which he had absorbed from a very young age.

At one point in his teens, six of Lanka’s uncles or first cousins were cabinet ministers, including a formidable female cousin, Vivian Gunawardena. Even today one of Lanka’s first cousins is the Deputy Minister of Finance, one is the Minister of Water Supply and Drainage and Chief Government Whip and another was, until last year, the Mayor of Colombo.

Lanka pursued his passion for cars and politics by taking up and completing a two year apprenticeship at Tuckers, the automobile engineers. During that time he became the shop steward of the union there.

He saw at first hand the inter-racial violence in Sri Lanka and after seeing some terrible things he decided, at the age of 19, that he did not want to live in such an environment. He therefore made the decision to give up a comfortable life in Colombo and move abroad.

Originally, when he set off in 1961, Lanka was headed for a job in Detroit’s motor industry, but fortunately for many people he stopped en route in London and never left.

He had several cousins working and studying in London and it was through one of them, Kuru, a boat builder, who had sailed his own boat from Sri Lanka to the UK, that Lanka met Edna, who was just starting her teaching career.

Lanka took a job at Lucas Engineering in Acton and in the early sixties he started a Wijeratna tradition in west London, by going to Loftus Road, to support Queen’s Park Rangers, the local football club.

In 1964, Lanka and Edna got married at Hinde St Methodist Church, and over the next five years they had three sons – myself, Charles and Alexander – of whom he was immensely proud.

Although he was a Buddhist, having seen inter-religious conflict at first hand Lanka spent much of his life on a one-man mission to prove that it was possible to be spiritual in all the world’s great religions. During his time in London Lanka attended the Methodist, Anglican and Catholic churches, Hindu kovils and Sikh and Buddhist temples. And those are the religious sites we know about! And of course he was such a fan of the Jewish faith, that he invented the story that Edna came from a Jewish family!

In 1966 Lanka set up his own car repair firm, Lanka Auto Repairs, first in Ruston Mews and later in Powis Terrace in Notting Hill. Lanka greatly enjoyed meeting and spending time with the cosmopolitan mix of people coming in with their cars for repairs. The artist David Hockney had his first studio across the road and unfortunately, Lanka never took Hockney up on his repeated request to paint a portrait of Lanka and us boys.

By 1970 his bipolar condition had become severe and it was with great difficulty that he got some medical help. Hospital admissions and the difficulties of living with his illness led to divorce from Edna in 1973. Although they divorced nearly 40 years ago, it is a testament both to his lovability and to her dedication that until this very day Edna has never stopped caring for and supporting him.

Lanka stayed in the flat in Kensington Church Street and kept in close and regular contact with me and my brothers. This was a very difficult time for him and he was in and out of hospital regularly. But gradually his condition mellowed and we were able to help him manage it effectively. From that time in the mid-eighties, until last year, he was not admitted to hospital again.

He had a series of jobs after giving up his garage. His favourite was working for David Ascherl, doing the deliveries for Ascherl Ceramics, which he did for nine years in total. In this role he was able to combine his natural sociability – getting to know all the people on his rounds – with his love of driving fast. The Ascherls can attest to the quality of the rally driving skills he learned in Sri Lanka. It is interesting that his first job was driving one of his uncles around Sri Lanka and his last job was driving around west London.

In 1986 he moved to his flat in Portobello, where he lived until he recently went into hospital. It was there that he finally found contentment; he created a haven of peace, calmness and good music in a busy world. He dispensed wise words, tea and excellent curries to many people over the years. He got to know lots of the local characters in and around the market and spent much of his time trying to help those who were less fortunate than himself. We all very much enjoyed this environment of peace and calm.

He maintained the concern for social justice he had developed in Sri Lanka in the 1950s to the end of his life. As well as being a generous and calm host, he has always done what he could to help the disadvantaged.

Even though he had limited financial resources, he often sent money back to Sri Lanka to support projects for the poor. When in possession of just one pound in his pocket he has been known to give it to one of his friends.

In many ways Lanka had a difficult life, but he was also blessed. He was very fortunate in that he had charm and people liked him. Sensitive people were drawn to his kind and gentle spiritual nature and he was an excellent judge of character. We would often ask his opinion about what he felt about something or someone. He had a great sense of humour and loved Ronnie Barker, Peter Sellers and Steptoe & Son. He had a twinkle in his eye, something he never lost. Even towards the end in hospital, he always perked up when a pretty nurse came to attend to him.

And despite everything he lived through, he had a sense of style. He had great taste in music, books, food, eau de Cologne, clothes, cameras and cars. He had owned, driven and lost interest in Aston Martins and E-Type Jags long before we had even dreamt of driving a Volkswagen Polo.

He was not scared of standing up to authority figures. Once he was sent down to the court cells in Colombo for flicking his cigarette butt at a High Court judge from the public gallery.

He was concerned about the important things in the world – peace between warring nations, global warming, lives destroyed by drugs or the lack of clean drinking water. These were the themes he was interested in, long before many of them became mainstream issues.

He was an unconventional man in London. He introduced some Sri Lankan habits which we found perplexing – he put salt on his mangoes, sugar and lemon juice on his avocado and ginger in his tea. He sliced banana on his marmalade on toast and he loved ginger beer.

He was a very loving, caring and gentle father. He was not conventional in the terms of providing in a material sense for us. But he provided something much more valuable – he was always present and his love was unconditional. He felt the pull of Sri Lanka, his amazing loved ones there and his roots, but he decided to stay here, in difficult circumstances for his family.

He provided us with a sense of perspective about what was truly valuable in life – relationships and love, rather than money and possessions. When Charles, Alex and I were organising his affairs last weekend we found he had kept every letter and postcard we had ever sent him, and small but important documents, like an entry ticket to one of our degree ceremonies. Things like that were important to Lanka.

He was a very lovable man and it is fitting that he ended his days in the Thistlethwaite ward of St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. A ward where the nurses and doctors have created an environment and culture of affection and care that goes well beyond their job descriptions. They truly cared for him on that ward. Like many other things in his life, in that, Lanka was fortunate.

wee worlds

2011-02-26T02:31:00.000-08:00

Anyone in my family will remember the hours I spent playing with random bits of pine cone, greens and acorns as a child. Somehow I seemed to retreat into my own little world in the backyard for hours on end, of course it didn't hurt that I believed in fairies! These days the fairies seem far from my reality of full-time Mom. There's no doubt, some days are seriously challenging to my mental stability ;) Lately, I've been creating my own little spaces to dream in again, in the form of terrariums. Here's one I made recently. It's been such a joy to watch it grow and encourage it along. The little Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily) which I took from our houseplant is happily preparing to flower under the glass cloche. Rob and I are going to the Cambridge Glass Fair tomorrow to see if I can find some new and interesting vessels.

Happy Saturday!

xo

2011-02-17T02:38:00.000-08:00

We recently joined a website that allows you to exchange your home with other people from all around the world. A few of our friends have been doing it for a couple of years now and have had great experiences, so we thought it was time to give it a try. It will make exploring Europe and the rest of the UK much more accessible. Most of the people we are likely to exchange with will probably have children, and homes set up for a family. It's also affordable, as you just have to pay to get there! I set our account up in January and we've had over 50 offers from all over the world already! Here are the pictures of our flat that I put up on the site. We've changed a few things here and there since moving back.

Be My...

2011-02-14T06:23:00.000-08:00

VALENTINE!

Happy Valentines Day to all of my loves! Rob and the girls surprised me with a breakfast of coffee, blueberries and a croissant in bed. I felt like one lucky Momma. Ava and Grace each got a very small bag of sweets, a heart-shaped lavender pillow (made by Mom very late last night:), and a bag of thoughtful goodies from Grandpa Rev and Grandma Donna (xoxo). I've been making an effort to create holiday traditions that will be memorable and special for the girls. Ava is definitely at an age when it is all very magical for her. I'm hoping it lasts for a long, long time.

Lots of love from London
xo

2011-02-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we've missed the whole month of January, sorry about that. Here's what's going on...

These two little ladies have been busy growing up. They really do love each other, and are frequently seen exchanging hugs and kisses.

Grace has officially entered the terrible twos, sigh. She gets very frustrated when she cannot get what she wants or finds it difficult to express herself. The other day she screamed for twenty minutes, while standing in front of the oven door waiting for the muffins we had made to bake. She wanted a muffin and she wanted one NOW, no baking allowed. Needless to say, she's taken the title of 'Muffin Queen' from me. You might have noticed that she has lots of teeth in there :) She has almost all of them, just three more to come in!

Ava has been having more play dates. She's absolutely petrified of going to someone else's house, but we've had two or so friends a week here. She loves having tea parties, dressing up, dancing (as seen here with her friend Savannah, who is in her class) and playing house and doctor. I usually end up setting up the little tent and playing 'three little pigs and the big bad wolf' with the girls. Ava, friend and Grace all climb in and I pretend to be the bbw (using the stuffed coyote from AZ (thanks Pop-pop and Grammy Judith :)... the girls absolutely love it and squeal with delight! I'll try to get some pics soon.

Ava's reading is coming along and she is able to read her beginner books with minimal help. Her drawing and writing are also coming along nicely. She's slightly behind in writing because of her sensory issues, the gripping can be difficult for her. We're practicing though. Here's a picture of a little book she made all by herself, complete with family picture and sentences like "I love the city." Below is a typical house picture. So cute!

Miss you all! xo

Sleigh Bells Jingling ring ting tingling....

2010-12-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Our first gingerbread house... slightly wonky, but we love it anyway!

Ava really got into decorating the tree this year, and was actually pretty good at it! Grace on the other hand was interested, but good at it...erm, not so much!

Our little reindeer

Rob and I took Ava to The Royal Albert Hall for a family day of Christmas music. She absolutely LOVED it. The look on her face when Santa went on stage was priceless.

A little clip of the amazing music from The London Concert Orchestra.

Lunch at Edna's house

Trying out the new loot :)

Festive decorations... from the garden!

Getting a little help from an elf.

Until next year favorite little tree elves...

Missed you all! xo

Miss Ava turns 5!

2010-12-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

We have been back in the flat for a week now. It was a crazy rush to get ourselves moved in and relatively settled in time to have Ava's little birthday party and it's a great feeling to have done it! Ava really enjoyed it. We had ten little fairies and elves working their magic in here. They all seemed to have a great time, especially when they had to chase the troll, aka Roberto ;)

Here are some pictures along with a couple of the recent snowy weather we've had.

How is it December already?!

2010-11-30T12:50:00.001-08:00

There's so much to catch up on. Firstly, it's a special someone's birthday coming up...

You may have noticed that the address on the invitation is Dundonald Road. We move back in on the 11th, so preparations are in full swing :)

We've had some very sweet moments between Ava and Grace.

Ava had her first class assembly of the year. They put on a play of "The Big Bad Pig and the Three Little Wolves". Ava was one of the narrators. It was adorable. Here's a clip from the song they sang at the end.

Did you spot her?

I'll leave you with a video of the girls playing. I never seem to capture the most magical moments, but this gives you a taste.

xo

2010-10-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Time seems to be flying by at breakneck speed these days.

Ava settled very nicely into school until she broke out in the shingles last week. Since it's the second time she's had it we were a bit worried about her immune system. She doesn't tend to get any other infections regularly, so for now we're holding back on the blood tests. The poor girl has been tormented enough by the discomfort and exhaustion of shingles. She's slowly making new friends and enjoying the learning games at school, although she has been complaining of not wanting to go into the playground after lunch. She feels overwhelmed by all of the children. Poor thing. She seemed to be loving it before getting run down. We're hoping when she's fully recovered she'll be able to jump back in.

Grace is toddling all over the place now. She's still wobbly most of the time and walks with the slightly bowlegged look of a sailor swaying down the deck in a storm. She loves playing with Ava's play kitchen equipment. This morning I set her up with a few bowls with some uncooked pasta, conkers (aka chestnuts), various utensils and some water. She played happily for a good long time... well, long enough for me to make a dent in my mountain of laundry at least ;)

I'll leave you with a few pictures of our apple-picking adventure on Sunday. Ava made the apple and plum crumble herself, well mostly :)

Massachusetts...

2010-10-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

It feels like so long ago now. We had such a great visit in August. I can't believe it's already October and I'm finally posting pictures! Better late than never I guess! There's more on flickr if you click on the flicker badge to the left.

xo

back home, back to school!

2010-09-09T04:22:00.000-07:00

Well we made it back to London after a fantastic three week visit to Massachusetts to see our peeps and then a weekend in Denmark to celebrate Cheryl and Thomas' wedding. We had so much fun seeing everyone over our August holiday, it was well worth the jet lag and sleepless nights! Ava had her first day of 'big' school or reception yesterday. As you can see, she was pretty excited! I'll post some pictures of our adventures soon, but for now it's time to unpack!

xo

woo hooooo!

2010-08-05T12:57:00.001-07:00

The summer is flying by! We're getting very excited for our trip to MA; it's only five days now until we board the plane!

Ava finished up her last day of nursery at the end of July. We can't believe she'll be starting full days in her reception class in September, what a big girl. Grace is cruising all over the place. She's taken her first few steps alone, but we're hoping she'll really get the hang of it while we're in the US. It would be a special milestone to be able to share.

It's been a great summer here in London, the weather has been fabulous. We've had lots of fun days out and great fun in the paddling pool, but we're really looking forward to some Massachusetts fun and swimming time :)

See ya soon!

xo

happy, happy birthday baby!

2010-07-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Little Gracie turned one today! We celebrated at a great pick-your-own farm in Berkshire with Naomi, Jonathan, Oliver and Emily. The kids had a blast picking strawberries, playing in the playground and swinging on the giant tire swing. Ava was very excited to choose the best strawberries to top Grace's Victoria Sponge birthday cake, which we ate after having a lovely long picnic and stroll to pick our fruit. Driving back to London, while the girls slept, Rob and I talked about how lucky we are to have such sweet girls and how happy we are. We're so blessed. Happy birthday Gracie! Here's to many more happy years.

cousin lovelies

2010-06-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

All of the beautiful girly cousins playing today...

Can't wait to have some play time with the US cousins too! xo

Here's lookin at you Daddy

2010-06-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official, Grace is more of a daddy's girl than Ava was at her age. How do I know? Well let's just say her first word wasn't "Momma" like Ava's! The other night when Rob got back from work, Ava, Grace and I were playing in Ava's room after their bath. As soon as Rob came in the door and said Hello, Grace very clearly said "Dadda". There it was loud and clear, her first word, just like that. It was very sweet! The girls do L.O.V.E. their daddy, as they should he's a good one ;) Later on that night I went back into Ava's room just before bedtime with Grace on my hip. Rob was reading Ava's bedtime story. I kissed Ava and then held Grace down to 'kiss' her too. Just after I said "night, night" Grace very clearly said, "na na"!

Rob has been away in Las Vegas for work for four days, we've got four more to go now. It hasn't been that bad, although Ava has missed Rob terribly. She got very teary the other day in the park. I had to resort to promising a 'girly' night when we would paint her nails with 'nail varnish' as they say here! Up until now she's been told she's too young for it, so that definitely helped to cheer her up! She's talked to him every day on the phone. Grace has known every time we were talking to him, hearing Ava say Daddy on the phone. As soon as she susses it out, she crawls over as quickly as her little limbs will carry her and tries to crawl up the person on the phone to reach it... Daddy's girl indeed!

2010-05-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a television-free week here, which has been wonderful! We've had lots more crafts going on; Ava's been using her watercolor paints almost every day. Since the girls got chicken pox, then norovirus, then shingles (Ava only), we've been relying on the television more than we should. It's been so refreshing to be without it and for me to remind myself that I CAN handle both girls without relying on the tele in a pinch.

Grace is getting her third, fourth, and fifth teeth all at once. She's been crawling all over the place, a few days ago she started to work out how to go forward instead of back! She loves standing up, but still needs help most of the time. She still thinks baby food-anything pureed or mushy- is for suckers. Her favourite finger foods are banana, avocado, broccoli, peas, fish, chicken, buckwheat pasta... if we're eating it, she'll give it a try... that is of course if it's not mushy!

We found out that Ava is definitely going to be able to go on to the reception (similar to kindergarten) class next year (YAY!). It's hard to believe that she'll be in school for a full day in four months time!

Lanka is out of the intensive care unit and seems to be doing much better. We are not sure whether he'll be able to go home any time soon, or if he might have to go to a facility where he would have carers on hand. Judith has started her chemo and will have further treatment, probably in Arizona. Please send all of the positive thoughts, prayers, and love you can spare.

That's the news for now I'll leave you with some recent pics xo

spring performance

2010-05-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ava had her Spring Performance a about a month ago and I've been meaning to put up the videos for a while now... finally got around to it!

the darndest things...

2010-04-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

I keep meaning to put up a new post, but each time I log on to start one I'm distracted by one thing or another... I'm just not up for it I guess. I promise to get more up soon, in the meantime here are some gems heard from Ava lately-

"Mom can you born a brother for me, because we're not a full family." Umm no!

After reading 'The Wizard of Oz' --

Ava: "Is there a wicked witch in this country?"

Me: "No, I don't think so." Ava: "there might would!"

2010-04-18T01:51:00.000-07:00

There's been an a strange sense of calmness about London in the last few days. Flights have been halted due to the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. The ash is billowing into European airspace, causing all but a handful of flights to be cancelled. It's so quiet and calm without the flights overhead, that it almost seems like another time and place...

Lanka, Rob's Dad, has not been well. He was admitted to hospital a few weeks ago. He has kidney failure, among other things, and the doctors are in the process of trying to get that figured out. Yesterday we were told to come in immediately, as Lanka had deteriorated over night. When we got there he had been put on a ventilator and we were told that he was very weak, has high levels of sodium in his blood and has pneumonia. He's in intensive care now and we're hoping he can fight through it.

After going to yet another hospital to finish up some tests we've needed for Ava (thankfully it all looks ok) we went to Queens Park to sit in the sun. Rob had taken Ava to get an ice cream and I decided to check my email on my iphone, only to find more heart-wrenching news. Judith, my Dad's girlfriend/my second Mom, has suddenly been diagnosed with lung and spinal cancer and it's inoperable.

Rob and I had tickets to see Mark Morris's 'L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato' last night. We weren't sure if we should still go, given the day we had had. Edna had offered to babysit and said we should just go ahead, so we did... As I sat watching the dancers glide across the stage in their beautiful flowing costumes, it reminded me of the circle of life. A good friend is going to bring a new life into the world any day now, Lanka is fighting to hold on to his, and Judith is in the process of finding out the full extent of the cancer.... As for me, I'm praying.

xoxoxoxo

S.I.C.K.

2010-04-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, where to begin... Friday I went to Kew with the girls and met up with some friends. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Ava had a blast running around... Grace loved watching it all and sitting in the grass! Around three Gracie vomited. I thought nothing of it, since she had been eating a few oat cakes and I thought it might have been too much for her stomach. We went home after a long day out and the girls went to bed. When I went in to check on Grace at 11 she was covered in vomit, clothes, bedding, hair soaked and she was still throwing up. It quickly became apparent that she was very sick and we needed to take her to the hospital. The night before she had fallen out of my bed and hit her head on the side table. She had seemed fine until now. So we called Edna to come and stay with Ava while we took her to Paddington to the children's A & E. Because of the fall the night before they gave her a CT scan, which was all fine. The poor thing was just vomiting over and over though, literally for hours. We had to watch as they put a tube down her nose, into her stomach. We were admitted stay overnight and thankfully the feeding tube worked and poor little Gracie was able to sleep a little bit. We had to stay until 3.30 the next day. The doctors were not sure what it was in the end. They said it was probably not due to the fall, but it that didn't necessarily seem like a virus either, as she was missing other symptoms and none of us were sick. Ava was a little saint. Rob had gone back home to relieve his mom and took Ava back to the hospital later in the morning. She was very concerned for her little Gracie and very patient. The nurses were great and gave her some paper, paint and glitter glue, which she used to make a thank you card for them. Ava walked over to the nurse's station and gave them her card and we went home. Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it. Grace is doing much better. She is still not eating very much, but is nursing. Rob and I, however, have been sick as dogs! We managed to make it out for brunch and a walk around Kensington Gardens before we were both violently ill Saturday night. UGH. This Norovirus stuff is awful! We're slowly starting to feel better and hope to be fully over it by tomorrow. As for Ava... we're just keeping our fingers crossed that she doesn't get it!

Fun at Kew, before the chaos

Chubby cheeks, with remnants of her chicken pox

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

look who's got 'em now...

2010-03-31T05:13:00.001-07:00

Yep, that there is a chicken poc on her face. I know it's good for her to get it out of the way and that natural immunity is the best way to go, but can we just fast forward through the sleepless nights, please?

You might have noticed her scooting a little bit on her bum. This is her main means of moving from A to B at the moment, aside from putting her hands up for me to carry her! She manages to get pretty far, she can cross half the living room this way.

Oh, and remember back when she was three months old and we thought she had her first tooth? It did come through, we could feel it. But then it went back in... now it has emerged again- Grace's first tooth, take two!

so long spots!

2010-03-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

At first Ava was proud of her chicken pox. She kept saying they looked just like her friend Maia's, which is no surprise as I had her play with Maia when I found out she had them a few weeks ago! I would much rather she have the real thing instead of the vaccine and it's best to get them out of the way early... Sure enough, she got them. A few days in, and the novelty had warn off! She was very uncomfortable and feverish. We ran lots of oatmeal baths and watched way too much tv, which got her (and me) through a week! She's finally over the worst of it. The pox are still there, but aren't itchy anymore. She was due to go back to school today. Unfortunately, we had to make a trip to A & E (accident and emergency, i.e. the ER ) in the middle of the night. She had been complaining about a tummy ache for a couple of weeks. We thought it was probably due to the chicken pox, but she woke up around 4 a.m. this morning writhing in pain. Turns out she had some sort of UTI. They're doing some tests to check the details. In the meantime she's on antibiotics, and probiotics! Ugh.

We did manage to sneak in a nice day at Kew yesterday with Alex, Su, Sylvie and Amelie!

lately...

2010-03-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

we've been blessed with lots of lovely smiles,

Grace and Ava have been able play on the swings together,

we've made some time for special trips to the cafe with the girls,

and, last but not least... miss Ava has been covered in spots, chicken pox to be exact!

xo

an early start in opera...

2010-03-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

developments

2010-02-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Grace continues to try new tastes. She is really not a huge fan of food yet, so we're mostly sneaking in spoonfuls of pureed fruit and veg while she's not paying attention! She seems to love finger food though; rice cakes, banana and sweet potato have all gone down well! Big sister has been very helpful :)

She has mastered sitting up, aside from the occasional topple now and then.

Ava has been having great fun with her dolls. She's at the right age now for playing make-believe and really entertaining herself... hallelujah!

Here's one of her creations, made of playdough and a few of her toys. Reminds me of my science projects...

xo

will you be mine?

2010-02-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

xxx

2010-02-10T03:03:00.000-08:00

We had a great weekend. Sorry it's taken me a few days to post about it!

Saturday we went to a family clean-up day at the garden at Ava's school. They have an orchard and pond area, which are used for play as well as educational purposes. The kids are very lucky to have such a fantastic garden right at their school! Families were busy planting bulbs, building a willow wigwam and getting ready for spring. There was also soup and nibbles on offer... nice after a good workout in the mud!

Saturday night we celebrated our friend Brian's 40th birthday at a very trendy restaurant/club on Regent's Street, called Cocoon. We had a great time and were happy get to meet some of their American friends (non-expats) we've heard so much about.

Sunday, feeling slightly hungover, Rob took Ava to her swimming lesson and then we headed out to the country to see our friends Bev and Dan and their new son, Edward. They live in Goring, just outside of Reading, an hour or so drive from London. The village of Goring is beautiful with little pubs and rolling hills to hike on. As soon as we got to the top of the hill, Ava was off running!

Hope you had a good weekend!

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we heart columbia road

2010-01-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

Had a fun-packed weekend. Went to Ava's little friend Oliver's birthday party in Surbiton on Saturday, then home in time to quickly change clothes and dash over to our friends' Alexandra and Phillipe's flat for fantastic Morrocan fare. Sunday we went to Ava's swimming lesson and then drove over to meet our friends Cheryl and Thomas at Columbia Road Flower Market. We just can't get enough of the place... especially on these cold grey days!

"Ten for a fiva, ten for a fiva!"

Hope you had a good weekend!

xo

Welcome Pierson!

2010-01-29T02:24:00.000-08:00

come on cousin!

2010-01-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Auntie Aliya and Uncle Lance,
We can't wait to meet our new baby cousin!
Love, Ava and Grace

Is this london?

2010-01-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

Freezing temps for days on end, snow on the ground and more forecast... sounds more like New England than London. Ava's school has been cancelled for two days in a row and might be closed again tomorrow. Luckily I had bought a good pair of winter boots for Ava and we still had her snow pants from last winter in MA. Little Grace is all snuggly in her buggy!

xo

frosty

2010-01-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

Ava, Grace and I went to Kew today to enjoy the wintery weather we've been having with some friends. The frost stayed on the ground all day, which I haven't seen happen since I moved here. The gardens were absolutely beautiful in all of the frosty glory! It was a great day out before Ava and her friend Maia go back to school tomorrow!

new year cheer

2010-01-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning...

2009-12-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

and by morning I mean six a.m.! Notice it's still rather dark outside! Ava and Grace had just opened their first few presents-

After opening presents in the new flat we went to Edna's house to exchange pressies and have lunch with Edna, Lanka, Alex, Su and girls, and Charles and his girlfriend Lisa.

Hope you all had a good one. We missed you!

xoxo

drunken sailor

2009-12-24T00:17:00.000-08:00

Ava's Birthday

2009-12-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much for all of the lovely presents from family and friends. We had a little party here at the new flat for her on the 19th, since we were in the thick of moving and had her cousin Amelie's christening on her actual birthday. She had a great time with her little friends.

phew!

2009-12-23T07:16:00.000-08:00

We did it! It's day eight in our new flat and we finally have our internet and phone set up! I can't say it was easy with two kids and very little help, but we've managed to move ourselves and most of our belongings- aside from the furniture we are leaving at our old flat for the tenant- into our new flat! Cleaning, painting and getting the old flat ready for the tenant was no small task. Somehow we managed to pull it all off, along with a birthday party for Ava and five of her little friends in the new flat!

Our new space is slightly smaller than Dundonald Road, but a better, more sociable layout. We are still sharing our bedroom with Grace until she is old enough to share with her big sister. Ava's room comes complete with a little 'stage' where the floor is slightly lifted to make space for the stairway up to our top floor flat. There's no garden, but the views of Post Office Tower and the city make up for it. We get to watch the sunrise each morning from our kitchen window and we've been enjoying watching the neighbourhood foxes having fun the gardens below. We're still five minutes from Queens Park, but on the northeast corner of the park instead of the northwest.

dreams of flight

2009-11-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

I've been telling Ava stories of how I used to wish I could fly. I can remember running down the hill near our house in Spencer with the biggest leaves I could find as my wings! Ava loved the idea and decided to dress as a fairy for halloween and give it a try herself. These pictures are taken in Tiverton Green, the park we walk through each day on our way to school and back.

bye bye grammy

2009-11-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

We had such a nice time while Grammy was here. As usual the weather was beautiful for most of her visit. Ava had her half term break for the whole week she was here, which allowed us to get out a little bit more than we would have otherwise. We didn't take any big trips- there was talk of driving to Wales- instead we chose to spend some qt in London.

Miss you Grammy!

xoxo

aagooo!

2009-10-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

October already?

2009-10-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Things are moving along here. Ava started going to our local state nursery school instead of the Montessori one she was attending. We were hoping that it might help us get her in to the reception class (equivalent to Kindergarten in the US). Unfortunately it's looking like it won't and we're going to have to move closer to the school to make sure she gets in. Sounds crazy right? It is! If we don't move though she'll be offered a place in an awful school. The other option is sending her to private school, which we put her name on the list for when she was an infant- it's so competitive here that some people put their names down when they are pregnant! The private school is about a 45 minute walk away, or a complicated drive... so we're hoping to not have to go that route. The problem is even if we move we're not guaranteed to get her in. We've started looking for a flat to rent and are planning to move by January at the latest, so that we can get our council tax bill to prove that we are living closer to the school before the February application deadline. So we've been busy going to see flats... so far nada.

Grace is fully over her colic and is like a different baby. She loves 'talking' to us, especially Ava. We're getting lots of smiles too. I keep trying to take some video footage of her, but I've got to clear some of my memory cards. I finally got a new computer and I'm getting it all set up and dealing with the huge backlog of photos. So more to come soon, I promise!

Miss Ava is still full of adoration for her little sister. She hasn't tried to hurt her in any way. She's just thrilled to have another person in the family!

Here are some recent pics. The first one is of Rob, Ava and Grace with Rob's Granny. She'll be 98 in February! We visited her a couple of weekends ago. Since my last living grandparent passed away recently, before I was able to make another trip to see her in Arizona, we figured we had better get the girls to the West Country to see Rob's. Nothing will take the place of Nina, but it makes me happy to know that Grace got to meet one of her great grandparents and that Nina got to see a picture of her before she passed away. The good thing is we've got some longevity on both sides!

Is it just me or does Grace look like a little Rob in a dress?

Soak it up

2009-08-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

The weather has been pretty nice lately and we're trying to maximize our time outside before we do our annual tilt away from the sun god. Hopefully the vitamin D reserves are building to get us through the long British winter. I have to say I'm not even ready for fall yet. The last couple of days have suddenly felt cooler and reminded us of what's ahead. Since we didn't go on holiday this summer (due to the arrival of little miss G) it seems strange to be faced with the prospect of cold-weather clothes already. Non-the-less, it's time to get used to the idea. In preparation we've been managing our military operation in the mornings to get out and about as much as possible!

Grace is getting better. Her colic hit a peak a couple of weeks ago. She was crying from 6-10 every evening, which is apparently classic colic time. Her tummy was really bothering her and she would writhe around in pain. Even when she was relatively comfortable, she would kick off at 6. For some reason this seems to be the hour that lots of babies with colic start the worst of the crying, whether they are overstimulated, uncomfortable, etc. Strangely, very little is really known about what causes it. What we've learned from the many friends who's babies have suffered with it is that it generally tends to disappear around three months... two months down, one to go! She's definitely getting better though. I'm continuing to stay away from wheat, dairy and any of the acidic or sugary foods that seem to exacerbate it. As for milestones, she's just started to smile and coo this week:) I had her weighed the other day and she's just over 9lbs.

Ava has had a huge growth spurt and is well into 4-5 yr old clothes. She's still very much a girly girl and LOVES her handbags and purses. These days her favorite things to squirrel away in them are fruit from our fruit bowl! I'm constantly finding bruised plums with random wildflowers from our walks and sand from the Queens Park sandpit in her bags! I've been explaining to her that it's wasteful and they end up in the compost because she's banged them into a fruit puree. The other day I put my foot down and said no fruit. Ava said, "But Momma, can I have just one apple in case I get hungry at the park?" So cute!

We're happy to have our friends Dana and Brian and their kiddos back in the UK. Ava missed her little buddy Kaneu and is very happy to be able to play with Ruby now too! Last weekend we went to Littlehampton Beach- on the south coast- with them. Ava had an absolute blast and played in the sand, water and seaweed non-stop from 11.30 to about 5.30 when we left! Today we had another nice day out with them at a pick-your-own farm in Berkshire. Here are some pics from our days out together:

Littlehampton

three beautiful pics Dana took

pick-your-own farm

(Ava couldn't wait to eat the raspberries!)

More pics on flickr.

We still have two more days of our bank holiday weekend and they are supposed to be sunny, so more to come!

xo

Whipsnade Zoo

2009-08-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

We took a family day out to the zoo on Sunday. Our London Zoo memberships get us in to Whipsnade Zoo for free too, so we decided to head up the M1 motorway and check it out. We had a great day and were pleasantly surprised with how big it was compared to ZSL. There were some incredible vistas. Ava had a blast and Grace, who has been miserable with colic, had a relaxing and sleepy day in our new double buggy! The highlight was witnessing the zoo keepers parade a group of elephants right past us. One had a baby with her that was just nine days old. They looked a little out of place in the English countryside, munching away on chestnut leaves!

the girls

2009-07-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't taken any video footage of Grace yet. There's not a whole lot going on, aside from sleep, eat, wiggle and poo! Here's a pic we took of her yesterday-

There are lots of new pictures on flickr too. Most of you know this I'm sure, but you can click on the pictures to the left and it will take you to my flickr account.

xo

Grace's First Bath

2009-07-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

getting there...

2009-07-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first night of getting any real sleep. Grace woke up every three hours instead of 1 1/2 to 2. She seemed much more settled and went right back to sleep after being fed. Hopefully we'll have more nights like that!

Ava continues to be gentle and loving to her little sister. She just wants to be around her all the time and hold and kiss her. Grace's little head of hair is greasy each night from Ava touching it!

Ava (3 1/2yrs) and Grace (1 week)
with cousins Sylvie (2yrs) and Amelie (1month)

A Graceful Entrance

2009-07-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

Grace Anne Wijeratna decided to join us on July 3rd- over two weeks early. She was born in the birthing pool at St. Mary's Hospital Birthing Center at 1.29 p.m., weighing 6lbs 13ozs. We were able to come home and spend our first night as a family of four in our own home, though the facilities at the center were pretty comfy! Ava was thrilled to have us home in the morning when she woke up. We had a very sweet conversation when she came in to meet Grace for the first time-

Ava- ''Momma, is this my baby sister?''

Me- ''Yes she is''

Ava- ''She's very sweet and little, but what's her name?'' (We had discussed various names with Ava, but didn't mention Grace bc we didn't want her to tell everyone!)

Me- ''Her name is Grace, Grace Anne Wijeratna.''

Ava- ''So she's not 'bump' anymore!!!''

Ava has been very sweet and gentle with her new baby sister and just wants to be around her all the time. She was a bit disappointed to find out that Grace could not go to her friend Maia's birthday party with her yesterday. We'll have plenty of time for playing,arguing,etc ;) For now we're settling in just fine.

xoxo

update!

2009-07-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

Once again, apologies for taking so long to put up a new post! Things are moving along here.

The baby is due in two weeks, so could arrive an day now! She (yes another girl for those who didn't know :) was breech for a while. Luckily the doctors at St. Mary's were able to turn her around using external cephalic version (ECV). Now we're booked in to the midwife-led birth center at the hospital. Rob has started working from home in case I have a quick labor this time. I'm hoping the heatwave we're having is over before it all kicks in though! As for names, we have two we like but are waiting to see which one suits her.

Ava is getting excited for her baby sister's arrival. This morning we said that Ava needed a new bathrobe and she decided that her baby sister should have one too. Of course she also frequently says that her sister can have whatever it is she doesn't want anymore!

Rob and I went to Crickets Nursery for Ava's sports day yesterday. The kids had class pictures taken and then were split up into teams- Ava was on team purple. They did a few little races, a tug-of-war and a parent and child piggyback race, followed by family picnics. Rob, having the background in athletics and rugby, plus a serious case of competitive Dad syndrome, managed to pull his hamstring while making sure he and Ava won! The excitement didn't stop there though; I awoke at 2 a.m. this morning to the sound of Rob hitting his head on our claw foot tub and passing out on the floor! Apparently it's not uncommon for people to pass out after an injury like a pulled hamstring, when there is a lot of blood pooling in the leg. Luckily he's fine, aside from the sore leg and slightly bruised forehead, and of course he won the race! Ava seemed to enjoy sports day, but hardly noticed winning the parent and child race!

2009-04-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

The docs have given me the all-clear after closely monitoring my cervix every two weeks- no bedrest for me! They will still be keeping an eye on things. I've never felt so poked and prodded in my life... it's all for a great cause though!

In the meantime, Ava is on her Easter break from nursery and we've been out and about. I have yet to update my laptop, so will keep this short and sweet.

Some pics of what we've been up to-

Beloved Kew

Columbia Road Flower Market

And a bump pic!

XO

P.S. You can click on the Flickr badge to the left to see more spring pics.

Ava's First Pet

2009-03-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

2009-02-20T02:31:00.000-08:00

Since my world has shrunk for the duration of this pregnancy, I've decided to make the most of it and get back into some of the things I always think about doing- ie meditation and reading more! Making maki rolls has been on my 'to do' list for years, but I've never managed to get around to it. So Ava and I decided to give it a try. We skipped the sushi and went for maki rolls and rice balls filled with various combinations of Umeboshi Puree, cucumbers, avocado and oyster mushrooms sauteed in Shoyu Soy Sauce. It was much easier than I thought it would be and we were very pleased with the results. Ava was a great helper, but wasn't a huge fan of eating them! She loved the oyster mushrooms and thought it was great fun to open up the rice balls to discover what was inside. I'm hoping that she will acquire a taste for them. Sometimes it takes her a few tries with something new before she decides it's worthy of her little taste buds... I'm hoping this is the case with the maki and rice balls, we would love to add it to our repertoire.

where did it go?

2009-02-17T03:59:00.000-08:00

...the time that is. Each week I keep meaning to post and the days just slip past. I'm in desperate need of a new computer. The old Sony is past it's prime and let's just say that blogging on it is challenging at the best of times! So please forgive me if this post is a little brief.

As you can imagine a lot has happened since December. Highlights include;

Ava started nursery school. She's going to a little Montessori school in our neighborhood. She's adjusted wonderfully and absolutely loves it. It's located right on a cricket green, so the kids have more room than they know what to do with when it comes to outdoor playtime.

Some of you also know that I've had some complications with my pregnancy. The good news is that, fingers crossed, everything should be fine. The bad- I've got to basically be off my feet for the next 20+ weeks and keep monitoring things...boo! On the bright side, at least it will give me more time to post!

Rob is working from home more to help out with Ava etc. So we get to see more of Daddy. Rocket is doing well. They are having their best year yet, which is incredible considering we're in a recession.

Last but not least, Miss Ava May has finally graduated to a big girl bed! She's thrilled with it and has decided that the baby can have her old cot/crib.

I'll leave you with some pics of the new bed and Valentines Day projects.

xo

Can you believe it?

2008-12-14T03:48:00.000-08:00

Our little girl turned three yesterday! We a nice party with Rob's family and a few of Ava's friends back in London before we came to the US for our Christmas holiday. Ava had a great old time running around with her buds and Rob and I enjoyed catching up with everyone before our trip. Yesterday we had a small party with family here in Charlemont. We're officially all partied out now, well I am at least!

More pics of the Charlemont party to come. Thanks so much for all of Ava's fabulous presents!

xo

kitty cats get sick too

2008-11-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

The other day Ava and I were on our way home for lunch when we bumped into our neighbor Sally from across the road. As we stopped and said hello, her thoughts seemed to be somewhere else. She apologized and said she had just got off the phone with her vet who told her that her cat had cancer. They would need to amputate her hip and leg or put her to sleep. She was obviously very upset with the prospect of having to decide what to do for her old friend. Ava being the little sponge that she is was of course taking ALL of what she was saying in. After we gave Sally a big hug and headed home Ava was full of questions...

Ava, "what's wrong with the kitty cat."

Me, "well, kitty cat is sick."

Ava, "Does she have cancer?"

Me, "yes she does, she is very old and she is not well."

Ava, "But what is cancer?"

Me, "Cancer is when something grows in your body that shouldn't be there and
it can make you ill"

Ava, "Are Great Granny and Nina old like kitty cat?"

Me, "They have been living for a long time. They are old like kitty cat, but
they're healthy."

Ava, "But where will kitty cat go?

Me, "Kitty cat might go to heaven"

Ava, "I'll look after kitty cat because maybe she misses her mamma."

xo

our pumpkin

2008-11-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Ava went to her first Halloween party yesterday, dressed as a pumpkin fairy! She had such a blast! The Brits are just starting to catch on to the whole trick-or-treating thing. It's only in the last few years that Halloween has become popular. The first year I moved here there were only a few trick-or-treaters who came to our house. This year I was out of candy in 15 mins! I didn't really expect there to be many kids around after we got back, but I was wrong! We had to turn the lights off ;)

The party was at a local cafe called Brilliant Kids. They had dancing, games, crafts, facepainting and of course some goodies. I wasn't really ready to take her out for the real thing yet and the party was perfect. She had such a great time that she didn't even ask to go. She did inquire why all of the kids coming to the door were allowed to take all of our candy!! Poor thing, the first time she's ever had so much in the house and it's gone in an instant... I did save a few for her of course!

Before the party

party time!

food-mile meals

2008-10-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our weekly visit to the Queens Park Farmer's Market. While I was unpacking our food, I had the urge to share the view. We love the colorful bounty on offer. It's one of my simple pleasures to wander through and enjoy the season's latest offerings. The rich colors and textures of the food- curly purple kale, crisp cox orange pippin apples, leafy deep green spinach- are as pleasing to the eye as they are to the tummy.

Sunday mornings it's pretty much a ritual for us to walk through the park on the way, just after Rob takes Ava swimming. It's also become ritual to stop in at Starbucks and get a soy latte, but I'm trying to break myself of that one! The market is held in the playground of a local school and is always full of stalls of gorgeous food, rain or shine. Today it happened to be rain. It's nice to get out in the bracing rainy weather though. Ava was all bundled up in her waterproofs and we had our brollies (yes, that's brit-speak for umbrellas!) so we were good to go!

We love to to browse and sample the food, all of which is sold direct from the farmer and must be grown within a hundred mile radius from London. I'm reading "Plenty", a book about a couple who decide to eat only food grown or cultivated within 100 miles of their home in British Columbia for a year. I love this idea. It reminds us how important our beloved farmers market is. It's not only food miles that matter though, the market also helps to make our area feel more like a village; we always bump into one friend or another. We feel part of a small community, which is great when you live in a city of 7 million people!

I dream of one day having our own big garden to grow more of our food. For now we have our Sunday morning trips to the famers market :)

we heart kew

2008-10-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

galillas are fun!

2008-10-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

We took our first family trip to the London Zoo on Saturday. Ava and I have been with friends a few times, but Rob hadn't been in years. He has been keen to see the Gorilla habitat, so we thought we would reward Ava with a trip ( she was so good all week with her fairy chart :) Having seen the Gorillas in the wild, in Africa, Rob was very interested to look at the setup they had at ZSL. The galillas, as Ava calls them, seem like they have plenty of space and all of the privacy, play things, food, etc they need. There is a huge outdoor enclosure that has been very well landscaped for them. The last few times Ava and I have seen them they seemed very happy. This time we couldn't help but feel sorry for them. There were so many people peering in. I've only ever been there durring the week, when it was not so crowded and the gorillas seemed to be totally unaware of, or at least unbothered by, the viewers. This was not the case on Saturday; there were so many people looking in at them in their indoor space that one of the younger female gorillas went right up to the glass and seemed to be glaring back! We were immediately turned off by this and decided to skip it. It did make me question whether trips to the zoo are the most ethical family outing- not that I hadn't thought of it before. Then I guess ZSL does do lots of field conservation work all over the world. Our family membership goes towards that work and Ava does really enjoy seeing the animals... we all do!

Oh by the way, Speaking of invading their privacy, I didn't take that close-up of the gorilla. It's a painting!

so simple..

2008-10-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

I really should have looked into why some people could make comments on the blog and some couldn't a long time ago. Turns out that the setting 'only people with Google accounts' was checked in my comment section! So feel free to have your say now :)

xoxo

cousin love

2008-10-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

We had a family lunch to celebrate Alex and Lanka's birthdays at Edna's house yesterday. It's so sweet now that the girls are getting old enough to actually play together. Ava took every opportunity to remind Sylvie that she was the older cousin ;) And of course everything that Ava did Sylvie wanted to try; Ava put a basket over her head and onto her back so that the handle was around her belly (being a turtle!) so Sylvie decided to have a try! They were just too cute.

good job flower fairy!

2008-10-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

We decided that our little fairy could do with a reward chart to help motivate her. So I spent a bit of time today making up this poster. It has seven flowers that the little 'flower fairy' can fly to. The last flower has a special butterfly and when the fairy gets there that means we've had a good week and our little flower fairy will get a treat of an outing of her choice, etc. I wish the pictures were better. They don't show all of the glitter detail!

The 'quiet time' on the step that we give her sometimes has definitely helped Ava to understand what is acceptable behavior. Now we just need a little bit more motivation to make sure that we get there! Don't get me wrong, she's pretty well behaved in general. We just have the odd day when something like this could really come in handy. I think she'll really like it too.

Happy flying!

seaside adventure

2008-10-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been a little bit of a washout. We managed to get together with our friends Dana, Brian and Kaneu before they head back Stateside for six months- just a trip to Holland Park and lunch with the kiddos. We'll miss them this winter, but will look forward to seeing them when they get back in the spring with their baby girl!

Since I've been about a week late on my posts for a while, why stop now! We went to Brighton last Sunday for a sunny day at the beach. I've wanted to go there for a while now. I had heard good things about it and it didn't disappoint- nice laid-back feel, university town, open-minded, cultured, beautiful pebbled seaside... what more could you ask for really? Here are some pics of our day

xo

Happy Birthday Rob!

2008-09-29T01:04:00.001-07:00

Rob's birthday was the 17th and we celebrated with a nice family dinner at home the night before, as Rob was entertaining clients on his birthday! Ava helped me make this flourless chocolate cake for him from Nigella Lawson and WOW was it good! It was super, super rich- calling for almost two large bars of dark chocolate- but boy was it yummy! Then we went to a great restaurant near Kensington Gardens called Le Cafe Anglais on Saturday. They had amazing Victorian windows that went from floor to ceiling. Ava seemed to like them because she spent nearly as much time there as in her seat ;)

End-of-summer Fun!

2008-09-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

OK I know, it's been Fall for a week already! I'm just getting to upload my pictures now. Here are some from the weekend of the 13th and 14th at the Thames River Festival and Queens Park Day. We had two gorgeous and sunny days outside with lots of music, dancing and food... oh and Ava's first teacup ride!

a fox ate my crocs

2008-09-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

A little princess had lost her new crocs,
they were green and lovely even with socks.
The kingdom was searched both high and low,
but wherever they were, they just did not show.
Then one day the gardener spotted a shoe,
all tattered and eaten, by whom she just knew.
That fox, that fox, that wily fox,
he had gone and eaten the twenty pound crocs!
The princess, beside herself, knew not what to do...
it was off to the shops to buy a new shoe!

Now if only it could just be a fairytale...

little bro...

2008-09-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

is producing good things. Check out one of his lates videos.

He submitted it to CurrentTV (Al Gore's
new broadcast station) and is currently a top contender to get the video
put on their broadcast station. You can help get him on by going to the website and "voting up" his video.

happy anniversary!

2008-09-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been just over a year since I started this blog! I'm so glad I did, I cannot imagine not having it now. It's been such a nice way to document our lives here in London (especially for you all back in the US of A!). It gives us so much pleasure to upload photos of her nibs to share with you all.

I started the blog back in late August last year with some pictures of Ava holding a sunflower, so I thought it might be appropriate to celebrate a year of posts with a sunflower. It's not just any old sunflower though, it's from the sunflower plant that Ava grew this year all on her own from seed! She's been watering it with her little watering can each week- not that we've needed too, it's been raining for over a month!

Thanks so much for all of your visits, come again soon!

xo

2008-08-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Just had to share these pictures of Ava on the climbing frame in QP. She's such a little spider these days!

catch up

2008-08-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

I'm lagging a little bit in the old blog these days...

Our friends Dave and Natasha came out to QP for lunch on last Saturday with their kids. Ava got to play with her little friend Lily,whom she's known since birth.

On Monday we went to Notting Hill Carnival and danced behind a steel drum truck with some friends and Ava's cousin Sylvie. Ava absolutely loved the music and dancing and kept asking for more! It was a special family activity and dear to our hearts since Rob and I met just before Carnival in Brazil! But by the end of the day our walk back home up Ladbrook Grove got a little hairy; we had to negotiate our way through huge crowds and some very loud music. There were an estimated 800,000 people this year!

Tuesday we went to stay with our friends Naomi and Oliver in Surbiton. Ava has known Oliver since they were about six months old, they used to live in our neighborhood but have moved out near Kingston. We took the train out to stay with them for a little sleepover. Ava was happy to see her little buddy, but was a little overtired from Carnival the day before. We had a great time though and were happy to be able to catch up and spend some qt with them.

Thursday and Friday were just local days at the park and Hampstead Heath. Today we went to Graceland's for brunch with our friends Juliet, Chris and their daughter Ffion (also Ava's bud from about 8 mnths). Ava's asleep now and it's a gorgeous sunny day today, so I'm going to get back outside and ejoy it!

Have a great weekend. Aliya have fun in Chicago!

xoxo

west country

2008-08-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

We went to stay with Rob's cousin Debbie and her family last weekend on their farm just outside of Bath in the west country. It was an amazing place! The house is 400 years old and sits on 1,200 acres of rolling English countryside. Ava had a blast with their girls, Jessie (16), Ceci(15)and Maddie(11). They were all great with her- Jess was on babysitting duty, Ceci painted her face and Maddie shared all her toys and showed Ava her chickens. We went for some nice walks, had really fresh food from the farm and even got to help move cows from one field to another. All in all it was a great getaway from city!

happy day

2008-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

What a nice surprise to wake up this morning to find the sun shining! Even better, our new camera arrived. After reading lots of different reviews we decided to go with a Canon IXUS 860. Hopefully this little camera will give us lots of good pics to share with you all! Here are the first ones-

Have a good weekend!
xo

snakes and snails and...

2008-08-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

Tarantulas! Ava and I went to Willesden Library the other day to meet some little creatures. They are putting on free children's activities for summer break and we have been trying to get to most of them, as they're close and free! Last week she met Elmer The Patchwork Elephant, which was very exciting. This week 'Slip, Slide and Roll- how animals and humans move' did not disappoint. She got to learn all about how our bodies move and how snakes, snails, tarantulas and other critters move too. The best part was she got to touch them all. Ava, being the intrepid little explorer that she is, was not daunted in the slightest! Unfortunately our camera is officially dead so the shots are pretty bad. It was on it's last legs when we were in Greece- all of the pics were taken without zoom as it was broken! Now the pixels are totally messed up. Time for a new camera...

Holding the Giant African Snail

Petting a Yellow Rat Snake

a little slice of heaven

2008-08-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

We are back from Greece where we swam, ate and relaxed our way into holiday heaven. As usual, our little house in Alonissos didn't disappoint!

Now if we can just accept that it might be a rainy August back here in London...

wimbeldon

2008-06-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Rob and I had the special treat of a daytime date at Wimbeldon today.

love it!

2008-06-19T06:33:00.000-07:00

Escalibida

2008-06-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

Speaking of food, Rob went out and bought a new Spanish cookbook the other day. It's 1080 Recipes by Simone and Ines Ortega, which has apparently been Spain's favourite (yes, I'm spelling it the British way!) cookery book since it was first published thirty years ago. Most of the recipes are pretty simple. There are lots of meat recipes that we'll never use, but some of the veg recipes look great. We've only tried one so far and it's been a big hit. So here it is-

'Escalibada' Roasted mixed vegetables

2 large green peppers
1 large red pepper
3 aubergines (eggplant) about 800g/1 3/4 pounds total
1 large onion
4 potatoes (equal in weight to aubergines)
12 fl oz of olive oil
2 tomatoes
6 tbs white wine vinegar
1 large clove garlic chopped
salt and pepper

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 200 c/400 f. Put the peppers, aubergines, onion and potatoes (unpeeled) into a roasting tin. Pour half the oil and toss to coat. Roast for 25 mins. Stir gently, add the tomatoes and roast for a further 20 mins. Allow the veggies to cool enough to handle. Peel, halve and seed the peppers, then cut them into strips. Peel the aubergines and cut them into strips. Peel and cut the onion into wedges. Peel the tomatoes and cut into pieces. Mix the remaining oil and vinegar to make vinaigrette. Season each vegetable with salt and pepper and the vinaigrette. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh, season with salt and pepper and return to skins. Serve the escalibada on a large dish. Stir the chopped garlic into the vinaigrette remaining after the vegetables have been dressed and pour it over the salad.

It has great depth of flavor for a very simple dish. Try it, you'll love it!

xo

the sun

2008-06-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

...is finally here again and Ava and I had a fabulous day enjoying it! Rob is in NY for business and will be back on Friday. Ava keeps on asking if Daddy is home from work each time we get back from an outing. We told her he would be gone for a few days, but she's having a hard time getting her head around it. Last week he and Charlie moved into their new office. No more working from home. It's been a big adjustment not having him around to eat lunch together and take little breaks for cuddles here and there, she misses daddy for sure. Now this... so Luckily the weather is beautiful and we're able to get out and distract ourselves from his absence!

This morning we took our weekly walk to the Queens Park Farmer's Market and then to the park. The afternoon was spent in the garden. I blew up Ava's pool and took a break with the Sunday paper while she napped. After she woke up she splashed in the pool until it was time to eat. Speaking of which, she's taken to chewing on her hair now that it's just about long enough, so that's what's in her mouth in this pic!

blooms in the garden right now

her nibs in action... sorry the quality is not so great!

other views of our city oasis

london zoo

2008-05-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

The kids are out of school for half term here
and we decided to join the throngs at The
London Zoo with our friends Juliet and Ffion.

There was lots to see and do..

but by the end of the day they said no more monkeys!

walk for life

2008-05-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

Next Sunday we are joining our friends in the 'Walk For Life' to support people in the UK and Africa living with HIV and AIDS. It's Europe's largest fundraising walk for AIDS and a great cause. If any of you feel so inclined, you can sponsor us here but no pressure! If you do decide you would like to, you can search por moi, Hannah Wijeratna ;) in the right hand side of the main page. Thanks!

Hope you've all had a good weekend. Judith congratulations again on Tom's official OTJ day!!!
I promise to post more soon!

xo

AVAisms

2008-05-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

So the other day we were pottering around the garden with Ava when she suddenly got all excited and shouted, "wook a bug awn a pwant at's not acceptabowl!" Obviously the reprimanding she's had lately is getting through ;) and she's beginning to work out what is and is not acceptable! The bug on the plant was unacceptable in her two-year-old mind because I'm always going on about the slugs and how I don't like them on my plants! Then Lanka came to have dinner with us the other night and when he picked Ava up to give her a hug she said, "Gwanpa don't wose me awn na fwoor!" Aka, Grandpa don't drop me! She's definitely building her little vocabulary and learning to express herself and her ideas about the world. In the meantime, she had a mouth full of sand and some bark for a snack at the park this morning!

xo

bye bye gammy

2008-05-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Grammy aka 'gammy' want home on Sunday. It seemed like a very quick visit, but we loved having her here even for a short time. The weather was on the chilly side and of course it's been 75 and clear blue skies since she left. We're hoping the sunny weather will continue! Ava went to a nursery group yesterday morning. It's a great place, fewer children than the others we've seen, and the women who work there are all very kind. I thought Ava might just jump right in like she did with Anne, but she was definitely not happy with the idea of me leaving her there. We stayed for an hour and then decided to head home for lunch. She was the youngest child there, I think we might wait a while longer. We're on the list for a good Montessori nursery near us (all of the children are around 3 and up there too). So we'll see, for now I think we'll stick with the playgroups and playing outside in this beautiful weather! Here's a picture of Ava with her little friend and neighbor, Clementine, at the Steiner Playgroup this morning.

body art

2008-04-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

We're hoping this will be the extent of it ;)

The weather is warming up here and giving us hope for sunny days. Last year it was cold a rainy in July and August and lots of people felt like we just didn't have a summer. Our trip to Massachusetts for three weeks helped break up the depressing weather. It was sunny and beautiful in good old Charlemont, so we were able to to have some nice sunshine. I'm hoping this summer in London will be better. We are planning to go to the house on Alonissos (Greece) in the last two weeks in July, which will be great but hopefully not the only sunny weather we have!

Now that the days are getting warmer I've been busy in the garden again, planning for the season and doing clean up and slug/snail prevention. Each spring as the new growth comes in the slugs, snails and aphids are ready to munch. I don't mind the aphids so much and have designated areas in the garden where weeds are able to grow to encourage lady bugs... the slugs and snails on the other hand are not so welcome. Unfortunately they are numerous and there is not really an environmentally friendly way of eradicating them, short of hunting them down each night with a cup of salt and and bowls of beer, who has the time or the stomach? So I've found some great copper rings that I put around the plants as they are growing in to shield the new growth. The hostas are poking through and only have a few nibbles missing.

I have lots of plans to grow more veggies in our patio pots. Last year I grew spinach, tomatoes, broad beans, rocket, lettuce and a bunch of different herbs. We'll probably do the same this summer with a few extra tomato plants, since Ava snaps them off the vine as soon as they are ready to eat. They won't be as nice as Grammy's tomatoes but we'll have to wait until our next summertime visit for those! Speaking of Grammy, she'll be here in three days :)

xo

vocab for a cause

2008-04-09T07:34:00.001-07:00

I've been visiting this website lately to do a little bit for those less fortunate and to brush up on my vocab, lord knows I can use it! For each word you get right Free Rice will donate 20 grains of rice to The United Nations World Food Program. It has already fed 20,000 refugees from Myanmar, Pregnant women in Cambodia, schoolchildren in Uganda and Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.
Check it out! www.freerice.com

And while we're on the subject of food, let's all be thankful that we have plenty and can still afford it, unlike some unfortunate people around the world.

the torch

2008-04-06T08:03:00.000-07:00

In the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing the Olympic Torch will go to 21 cities around the world and every Chinese province, making it the longest ever. We went down to Ladbroke Grove to see it this morning and enjoyed some early Carnival celebrations in the snow and rain! There were lots of protestsdue to China's horrible treatment of Tibet and groups like the Fulun Gong, they need to reconsider some of their policies before the games or they will have serious issues...We enjoyed the local celebrations and cheered for both the Tibetan flags and the runner!

gorgeous fluid movement+genius lighting+great music=

2008-04-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

The most amazing contemporary dance I have ever seen! Last night Rob and I went to the Coliseum to see Sylvie Guillem and Russel Maliphant perform PUSH. Choreographed by Maliphant, Push debuted at Saddler's Wells in 2005 and went on to win numerous awards. So the other day when I was perusing the web for some cultural events to check out while my Mom is here at the end of April, I discovered that it was back in London and playing for only a few nights. It was a no-brainer to book tickets and I'm SO glad I did. Guillem and Mailphant both posses such an interesting blend of strength and incredible grace, but add genius lighting, great music and perfect costumes and they were almost otherworldly.

My favorite part of the performance was a solo by Guillem called TWO. Apparently she does not believe that live dance should be captured on video because of the unique nature of each piece and the element that the audience contributes which would not be represented on video... so I've had a hard time getting a clip to embed here for you. You can see the same performance from 2005 here.

If it comes to a city near you DON'T MISS IT!

Happy Saturday
xo

Bird Spotting

2008-03-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

We went to check out the London Wetland Center in southwest London today, Europe's best urban site for watching wildlife. Just over the bridge from busy Hammersmith and suddenly you are surrouded by open space, fresh air and lots and lots of birds! With over one hundred acres to explore, we'll have to go back for a second visit.

Have a good weekend. xo

Ava's Cwaps Box..

2008-03-27T02:26:00.000-07:00

Ava has been big into art since she was dexterous enough to pick up a crayon. Plunk her down at her pint-sized Ikea table and chair set with some playdough, tape, paint and paper and she's good to go. She absolutely loves doing things with her hands and really getting stuck in. We have a box full of all of her supplies she calls her 'crawps' box! The other day when she was at a playgroup with Anne she played with cooked spaghetti for over an hour, smooshing it, 'cooking' it, making pictures with it- when the other kids lost interest Ava was still there smooshing away. I can always count on her enjoying a hands-on project, which is great because it can be challenging to get her to focus. Sometimes in playgroups she'll run around grabbing toys, intimidating other children, and generally acting up... I know it sounds like normal 2yr old stuff to some extent, but it's not and it has started to affect the way other kids react to her- unsurprisingly!

We have been working on her aggressive behavior since the first signs, using the naughty step for a time out etc. It seems to help a bit, she understands that she has done something wrong, will sit until we tell her to get up, and say sorry. It's not improving her behaviour as much as it should. At this point I have a whole library of books, but none of them have been helpful with our situation because one day Ava will be totally fine and sweet and the next running around like a wild banshee.

The other day while reading another mother's blog, it all clicked. Her son was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder or SPD. As I read through her experiences and started to google, it was like the puzzle pieces all fell into place. All of Ava's quirky habits and behavioral issues fall in line with the textbook case of 'sensory seekers', people who are not able to process sensory information the way others do and need to compensate by seeking more out. There is a sensory processing spectrum of sorts; some people are overly sensitive, most are somewhere in the middle, and some, like Ava, fall at the other end. In my research I discovered that SPD is genetic, but I knew within moments of reading the symptoms that I had it as a child. I was hypersensitive, extreemly shy, had lots of meltdowns in crowded places, was uncomfortable with wrinkles in my socks... my Mom used to say I was like the Princess in the story 'The Princess and the Pea!' To say I had difficulty coping with the world would be an understatement, but I learned to deal with it.

The wonderful news is that we know so much more than we did thirty years ago. Ava has a mild case and, for the most part, she's just like most 'normal' kids. Her schooling should be fine as long as we can get some treatment from an Occupational Therapist- which involves stimulating her senses more so that she does not have the urge to run around and touch things so much. I've purchased two great books from Amazon and am well on my way to getting a grip on what we need to do ourselves without professional help. We'll still get it though, and in the meantime we'll keep delving into the crawps box!

These boots were made for walking~

2008-03-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a cold and wet Easter weekend here in London, we have even had some snow. Ava was thrilled to wake up yesterday morning to find her very first Easter basket, complete with chocolate bunny and stickers from across the pond-- thanks Grandpa Rev and Grandma Donna. She had lots of fun helping me dye our eggs the other day and has been carrying them around in her little bags- of which she has quite a little collection building! But it's not just purses she's into these days, my shoes seem to be a source of endless fascination.

Pretty impressive, I have a hard time in these heels sometimes!

I'll leave you with a view from the Quiet Garden in Queens Park yesterday.

xo

Happy Easter

2008-03-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

A new healthier me!

2008-03-06T06:50:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was Mother's Day here in the UK. Rob and Ava took me for breakfast and flowers at Columbia Flower Market in East London, one of my favorite places. It's such a gem, packed full of any kind of flower you could want and at wholesale prices. I love strolling through and winding my way to the back of the market where there are various cafes, bakeries and antique stands to discover. It's become tradition to grab a coffee and some sort of goodies to nibble on and then sit on the edge of the cobblestone street to listen to what ever live music is playing. Sunday there was a man with an accordion. Ava was very fascinated by it, I'm pretty sure it was the fist one she had seen and she loved it. There's something so nice about sitting down, listening to live music, sipping coffee and looking at beautiful flowers... what more could you ask for really?

Thing is, my morning coffee is making me unwell and, as much as I LOVE a cup of Joe, it's time to break the habit. I've been drinking green tea since Sunday and it's going alright. I think it's more the ritual than the caffeine for me. The hardest part is when I'm out with friends and just really want a latte. I have to decide whether I should allow myself to have the occasional one here and there. In the meantime, I've started eating better again..more raw fruit and veg from the farmers market, less carbs and sugary snacks (bye, bye yummy croissants) and I've started making my own juices again. I've even begun growing my own wheat grass. Here's my first crop, we'll see how the new juicer I bought for it does!

Spring is here and it's time to end the winter binge-fest!
xo

Farewell Fiat

2008-02-27T06:13:00.000-08:00

We finally sold the Fiat Spider... a little sad. Rob and I had lots of fun adventures in our little Italian sports car. Gone are the days of cruzing past Portobello Market with the top down on a sunny day. We'll just forget about the handful of times it left us on the side of the road ;) It was such a fun car, if not slightly tempermental! Sadly, she was only a two-seater and would have buckled like a tin can in an accident- not really a great family car! Ava got to drive her one last time and now she's off to a new home, where she won't be neglected anymore. Arrivedercci!

A Hard Day at the Office

2008-02-25T06:27:00.000-08:00

Splish Splash I Was Takin' a Bath!

2008-02-20T06:18:00.000-08:00

Her nibs had a morning bath today which proved much more rambunctious than her evening ablutions! I had six of my American friends here for dinner, drinks and mommychat last night. Ava was allowed to stay up a little bit later and nibble on olives while Dana and I were in the kitchen... well this morning the smell of Kalamatas lingering on her little fingers was enough to push my half-hearted hangover into overdrive and it was time for an early bath. Not as relaxing as I had hoped, especially for my head, but she had a blast. And the perfect ending to her splashing madness was Daddy coming home after a week in NYC for the Toyfair... YAY!

2008-02-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

The sun was out again today and we took the opportunity to have a picnic in Kensington Gardens. Ava was wizzing around on her little pink scooter and loving every minute of it. She's great at propelling herself forward, but not so good at steering yet ;)

Here are some pics of our day. Most of them are of us in the park but there are also a couple of the Natural History Museum and the Albert Memorial- which Ava kept calling Buddha because it looks like the Buddha statue in Battersea Park! Hope you've had a good weekend.

P.S. It was four years ago today that Rob and I met at the Candomble ceremony in Salvador, Brazil!

Ava's Puzzles

2008-02-07T10:29:00.000-08:00