tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63469502123257983642025-11-18T06:37:38.222-08:00Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.comBlogger666125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-72013997465148692014-04-23T02:17:00.000-07:002014-04-23T02:17:49.739-07:00

Anders, aged 10+ months in his new LFC kit Oops. The kit isn't as big as I thought it would be.   Maybe I should have bought another size up. Here is my little Anders, looking absolutely fabulous in his kit.  But then again, it IS an LFC kit so how can anyone not look fabulous in it!  My two sons suit the red of Liverpool, they do.

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-86481053750957263372014-04-02T05:17:00.000-07:002014-04-02T05:17:00.357-07:00

Anders' new LFC kit, Mar 2014 When Connor was born, friends in Scotland sent us a baby Liverpool FC kit.  Maybe it's hard for you to understand if you're not a footie fan but I absolutely loved seeing my son wearing the kit.  Even more so when he was posing with a football.   At that time, there was a huge hoo-haa on fan forums regarding the lack of local boys in our club

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-2923507492684162862014-04-01T05:07:00.002-07:002014-04-01T05:07:49.960-07:00

It's lovely having a little brother who you can make fun of. It's fun to be the big, powerful older brother blowing into your little brother's face making him gasp and giggle. It's great having a little person adore your every move and think you're the greatest big brother EVER. Here's to little brothers everywhere.

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-54865309743133744352014-03-11T08:43:00.000-07:002014-03-11T08:43:00.060-07:00

Me and my babies, Feb 2014 My beautiful babies. Mummy looking worse for the wear after many sleep-interrupted nights.  Anders was teething then and waking up quite often at night. This pic was shot not long after we woke up on a lazy Sunday morning and we're all in our jammies still. There's Connor looking more and more like me... but a much more beautiful version of me.  

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-79263281786789417852014-03-10T08:38:00.000-07:002014-03-10T08:38:00.778-07:00

The most beautiful portrait of me EVER.

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-87697301016306229582014-03-10T04:54:00.000-07:002014-03-10T04:54:08.540-07:00

Been following the news regarding the plane very closely since it first broke.  First thing I check in the morning, last thing I check before going to sleep. I cannot imagine what family and friends of those on board are going through.  I'm just an observer and I was completely devastated when I first heard the news.  It must be a million times worse for them. Like everyone else

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-41578421588915352222014-03-07T08:36:00.000-08:002014-03-07T08:36:00.246-08:00

Anders had been trying for weeks to figure out this crawling thing. He knew it involved getting up on all fours and moving arms and legs.  But he couldn't figure out how to coordinate the arms and legs bit.  And because his arms were stronger than his legs, he found himself going backwards all the time when he tried to move.  The harder he tried to go forwards, the further

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-87269298471195778402014-03-06T08:24:00.001-08:002014-03-06T08:24:33.957-08:00

Today is World Book Day and Connor's school celebrates it.  Every child was given the option of arriving dressed as their favourite literary character or in any costume they like.  At the end of the day, everyone gets to go home with a book voucher.  Nice. Connor went as Darth Vader.  Why? Because: 1.  We have a Darth Vader costume on hand 2.  Mummy didn't have

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-33300555064927167932014-01-10T06:12:00.000-08:002014-01-10T06:12:00.714-08:00

About a year ago, I said goodbye to my homeland and hopped onto a plane to this island nation.  I'd moved from our life in a big, bustling city to a quiet little rural village.  Dear Hubby and I agreed we would try it for a year at least and then evaluate it. Well, so far I like it.  And I'm really surprised that I do. We met 8 years ago.  If he'd told me then that I would

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-92014615259831274642014-01-09T05:37:00.000-08:002014-01-09T05:37:00.450-08:00

This was my reaction when Connor fell off the bed when he was approximately 6 months old. "OH MY GOD!  My baby!  We have to get to the hospital NOW! (It was about 10pm)  I want an MRI!  X-ray! CAT scan!  Blood test! All of it!  NOW!" Fast forward some five years later... This was my reaction when Anders slipped off Dear Hubby's lap last week and tumbled onto our

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-39800507273047135992014-01-08T05:13:00.001-08:002014-01-08T05:13:47.258-08:00

Christmas 2013 marked our first Christmas in our home in Scotland.  This is the third Christmas we've spent in the UK so far and yet again, my hopes for a white Christmas were dashed.  At least it was cold.  Last year's Christmas in Liverpool was spent in almost tropical 16C weather.   I was completely pissed because if I'd wanted a warm Christmas, I would have stayed in KL

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-27660374762999485392014-01-07T03:20:00.001-08:002014-01-07T03:20:22.251-08:00

Anders, with two tiny front teeth After weeks of agitation and frantic chewing on just about anything and everything, my little Anders is finally the proud owner of two front teeth.  And they appeared in time for Christmas too!  See if you can spot them in the pic above, he's got two little teeth on his lower gums.  As I recall, Connor had no problems with teething. &

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-9807194803773672882013-12-16T04:21:00.002-08:002013-12-16T04:21:29.272-08:00

I'm sure you'll have to admit my snowflake-making skills have improved vastly since my first disastrous attempt several weeks ago.   Shot against our kitchen tabletop which has all those sparkly bits in it, it certainly looks like a snowflake from a galaxy far, far away.  Maybe this is what snowflakes look like on Hoth! Thank you Anthony Herrera Designs for the fabulous

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-79561518747540301262013-12-12T09:15:00.000-08:002013-12-12T09:15:00.149-08:00

Connor and our tree, Dec 2014 Connor helped decorate the tree this year.  We didn't get to do this last year.  Last year's Christmas almost didn't happen! But this year is all good.  Connor is finally old enough to be entrusted with the baubles and besides, they won't shatter if they fall onto our carpeted floor.   Daddy climbed up into our loft to retrieve all our

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-32701823507736601342013-12-11T06:42:00.000-08:002013-12-11T06:43:03.795-08:00

The Aberdeenshire council is responsible for the running of the schools in our area.  One of the areas they're pretty good at is school lunches. Connor generally eats the lunch that school provides.  We buy him a book of school dinner tickets and then he exchanges them for a meal at school.  The food's pretty good too. I have since discovered that the council takes its job very

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-35408445959403271812013-12-10T06:06:00.000-08:002013-12-10T06:06:00.429-08:00

Everything was going swimmingly at school at first.  Connor was happy to go off every morning to play with other kids and Mummy was relieved to have one less little person at home to mind for a few hours at least. Then it started. I was called aside by a teacher who told me that Connor was very disruptive.  He was constantly on the move and would refuse to obey anything she said. &

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-55232762430041866952013-12-09T13:58:00.000-08:002013-12-09T13:58:00.072-08:00

I've just realised I never posted Anders' birth story, the way I did Connor's 5 years ago.  So here we go. There are some parallels with Connor's birth story.  We moved to UK when I was approximately 16 weeks pregnant with Anders - almost the same stage we moved to Jakarta when I was pregnant with Connor in 2008.  Obama was elected President of the United States the day before

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-15016673333643813532013-12-06T05:36:00.000-08:002013-12-06T05:36:00.265-08:00

Connor and Anders, 31 Oct 2013 It was about 5pm in the evening.  We had walked home from school and Connor is allowed a little telly after school sometimes.  So here they are, sitting together watching a little Disney Jr.  Anders has no idea what tv is all about and usually loses interest in it after 5 minutes or so.  Mummy had to work quick to grab this photo of her

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-24133889792986546822013-12-04T12:51:00.000-08:002013-12-04T12:51:00.021-08:00

Darth Connor!  Nov 2013 Our son was introduced to Angry Bird Star Wars some time ago by his uncle.  He never took much interest in it till recently and then he would quiz me about the various characters in the game. For the first time ever, I had ALL the answers to something.  "Oh this bird?  This is the Han Solo bird, Connor.  Mummy loves Han Solo.  

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-43494680813566346922013-12-04T05:29:00.002-08:002013-12-04T05:29:36.484-08:00

Hmm... am unable to reply to any comments posted by readers.  I wonder why as I've never had this problem before... Hope it resolves itself soon!

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-85647592844850538572013-12-03T12:36:00.000-08:002013-12-03T12:36:00.036-08:00

Morning frost, Nov 2013 It's getting a lot colder now.  We started getting frost about two weeks ago, saw some snow-capped hills too and last week, we even got a little snow on the ground!  It was very little though, not enough to make even a mini-snowman but it's got me all excited waiting for proper snow to come. I'm looking forward to snow this winter because we can go

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-8402756036721044122013-12-02T12:23:00.000-08:002013-12-02T12:23:00.100-08:00

Shot on my little phone as we were driving on a country lane. Oct 2013 This is my first autumn ever. I was happily telling Connor about how the leaves are green in the summer but then in the autumn, they'll change colour.  "...and first they go yellow, then orange, then finally red!  And then the leaves will all drop off the trees as the trees get ready to sleep in the

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-50478614956495658802013-11-30T12:19:00.000-08:002013-11-30T12:19:00.127-08:00

The P1, P2 and P3 kids are putting on a Christmas play this year.  Connor is a snowflake in the play. About three weeks ago, I received a note from the school informing us that we would need to supply Connor with a black tee and snowflake decorations for his costume by Dec 2. Piece of cake, I thought. I looked up "How to make snowflakes" online and it looked really easy.  Snip, snip

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-83021758447517837122013-11-29T11:49:00.004-08:002013-11-29T11:49:51.619-08:00

Boy. And I thought I was busy when I had one child to look after.   I have since discovered how wrong I was.  Having two children doesn't mean my workload is doubled.  It's like... erm.... trillion-pled! What do I do? My day begins at 6:30am or so when we all wake up.  No need for alarm clocks, our 5yo and 5 month old are far more reliable.  It doesn't matter if it's a

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6346950212325798364.post-23803769397406290182013-09-16T06:20:00.000-07:002013-09-16T06:31:25.086-07:00

Connor, aged 4.5 years.  Picture taken 21 Aug 2013 Connor started school on 21 Aug.  A few days before, I ironed his newly bought school uniforms - white polo shirts and grey trousers.  I remember my mum doing the same for us until we were old enough to iron our own uniforms.  We'd just returned from a long weekend away in Liverpool where we'd bought his black school

Mrs Top Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10748775581211289207noreply@blogger.com8