Our Family & Our Life

Dear Diary, One of the best things about having a daughter is dressing her up! (Colin is shaking his head) I love little girl clothes and better yet so much fun to shop for. Almost like a living doll!! Having a boy cannot be half as much fun as having a girl. Check out this dress (with bloomers) I picked for the lady at a kids consignment store a few months back. Is this not the cutest? Actually Isla has loads of cute dresses and now that she can walk, it's so much easier for her to wear them too. Here is a closer look at the detail and don't ask me why she is holding her nose: Don't you just love the way she models her clothes so well? I asked her to stand against the wall and she did it! During the last couple of weeks, two people have told us to get her involved in modelling and I'm hesitant to do it but hey, by the looks of it maybe she has a future as a Gap model!

Dear Diary, Isla's favourite game from just a few months old has always been "Where's the Baby?". It's very simple, just throw a blanket over her face. ... and it never fails to get smiles and giggles out of her... Say goodbye to the curls.... Last night I decided the tips of her hair needed a bit of snip to help her hair to grow and thicken up a bit...... sadly, her hair was looking pretty straight this morning. The curls were too good to last!

Dear Diary, I call this photo, spit and polished! We're off to the immunization clinic this afternoon for an injection and you gotta look good! See you tonight dear - have a safe flight home.

Dear Diary, Colin took this photo on Wednesday morning before heading to the airport but that smile is so sweet I couldn't resist posting it for him. (just ignore the food in her mouth) See you Friday!

Dear Diary, Yesterday was Colin's birthday and I think (I hope) he had a good day. When he got home from work, Isla and I gave him his presents and cake. He enjoyed it as much as 38 year old man enjoys it.. Afterwards we went our for sushi, Colin's choice, and while he enjoyed it, I opted for tempura instead. That was probably a big mistake as I was sick all night and felt pretty lousy today. It must've been a bit of food poisoning I guess. Onto Isla .... She's done this before but on Monday I was battling with her to keep her blankets, bed sheets etc. in her dresser. Thankfully this dresser is designed that only one drawer can open at a time so I now have a sock sticking out of the top drawer which prevents her from opening the bottom.... Onto the cats .... The little guy in the picture is a HUGE problem for two furry girls. He hangs out in the tree in front of the dining room window and comes to taunt them several times a day. It's funny to watch them sin...

Dear Diary, Happy Birthday Colin ! Another year older, another year wiser, another year blessed to have you! Two more years to a big milestone birthday when we'll have a great big party in your honour but until then, we'll enjoy not being that old, YET!! We love you!

Dear Diary, ... she is 30.5 inches tall (or 2.5 feet ) but as you can see her heels are not to the wall so maybe she's 31 inches tall.

Dear Diary, The title of my post is the title to the harsh letter we recieved this week from the kind immigration folks in Texas.... grrr.... However it's not as bad as it sounds as they are just looking for further documentation with regards to the company. The company has 30 days to comply and if not recieved we will be denied our visas. It's been hard to digest and our anxiety levels are hitting the roof. We have no idea what is going to happen to us if we don't get the visas. All we know is that we are nearing the end of miserable American immigration experience. The question is, where will it end? Our lives have been on hold for the last fifteen months. We're not legal resident in the UK, Canada or the States (at least I don't think we are). We haven't had any medical insurance (with the exception of emergency travel insurance) and Isla hasn't had a proper baby well check since 8 months old. We haven't seen our family in months and there contin...

Dear Diary, ... we will always have this ray of sunshine in our life! ... still waiting anxiously and with the latest news, nervously...

Dear Diary, Another month, another milestone! Isla is 16 months old today! In terms of learning new things, I think this past month has been a slow month. She tries to speak new words like blankey, book etc. but she hasn't really said anything new on a consistent basis. Regardless, we are love her and very proud of her! 16 month stats: Weight: 22.6 lbs (no height measurement, I'll get to it one day) She can roll/throw a ball, play and do the actions for Ring-around-the-Rosey, climb stairs and run! To give you an idea where she is developmentally, at 16 months: Most toddlers should be able to . . . Turn pages of a book when you read - DONE Gets attached to stuffed animal or other object - Teddy and Eddy Walk well - DONE Sing and like to sing - DONE Get upset when frustrated - DONE Some toddlers will probably be able to . . . Walk backwards - haven't tried it but she can twirl in a circle Start to climb and explore - DONE Help around the house - sort of Say up...

Dear Diary, We finally decided to take a family day trip out to the Denver Zoo! She loved it! She loved the animals and especially the people. Yes, we have been blessed with a nosey little girl. Unfortunately, the camera battery was 99% dead when we arrived and the backup was 100% dead so we have three photos to share. I'm disappointed but I'm sure we'll go again. Here is the best of what we have to share: Those are flamingos in the background - silly face, I know... With Colin in the aviary - I think the birds were called Lorikeets or something to that affect. They looked like miniature toucans. So cute and there were so many - this photo does them no justice! And you can't go to the zoo without eating lunch! It's a nice zoo, not too big and easily walked through in a few hours. We saw a wildlife show that had birds of prey flying over our heads and as we neared the end of our day we noticed that they let the peacocks roam aimlessly around. T...

Dear Diary, I checked online the status of our visa's this morning and it's not looking good for our trip to Ontario at the beginning of July. For our visa type the processing time in Texas is three months. Three months from March 31 (the date they recieved our applications) is the end of June and if we are issued visas we still have to get an appointment to recieve the actual physical visa in our passports. Presumably this will take place in Denver. I doubt very much we will make it to the wedding on July 10 but I'm still holding onto the hope that we do. Unless the Texas processing centre issues it between now and before June 30 then we might have a chance however in all my visa obtaining experience, I have yet to witness government bureaucrats exceed processing times. I should add here that we are "legal" in America but even our attorney is advising us not to leave the country as the border crossing guards have the right to refuse entry...

Dear Diary, The last few weeks I was MIA from the blog and now I'm posting everyday! Our day is pretty boring and nothing to post about but I have a few photos I wanted to share of Isla. This is why I try to keep all bathroom doors closed but oh, the fun! My little chipmunk? When she eats she STUFFS her mouth, argghhh... She's so happy when she wakes up from her nap with Teddy and Eddy How could I not love this beautiful face?

Dear Diary, In between smiles and kisses, we hear " hi there " frequently in that sweet, sweet little voice! she figured out how to climb on the (ugly) futon acting coy on the (ugly) futon gone are the days of sitting still for photos!

Dear Diary, I'm back. I gave myself a bit of blogging hiatus even though it wasn't intentional, we were just busy with other things. We are tired but well. We really could do with a break sometime but so far that hasn't appeared on the radar. This afternoon proved to be interesting. We were home from church about 1:00, Isla was down for a nap and all of a sudden the sky went dark and the wind really picked up. It was obvious another Colorado afternoon storm was imminent and this one was different. The emergency alert system was launched across the airwaves (both radio and tv) warning of tornado sightings northeast of Denver. The next thing you know there was another one in our county! Yikes, the tornado sirens could be heard loud and clear but Colin and I still found ourselves gazing out of the kitchen window. Could we be in a worse position? We weren't sure if we were over-reacting or not but we decided that tornado's are not meant to be taken lightly. Taki...

Dear Diary, Yes, we're OK, just a bit busy and trying to make the new apt. feel like home. We moved last weekend to our new apt. and with help from some gentlemen from church it didn't take very long. I'm just thankful that we move frequently because we didn't have anything to get rid of but still lots of work. We like our new apt. but it's by no means our "forever house". The balcony is quite a bit smaller and so is the living space although the bedrooms are bigger. It's 1138 square feet so more than big enough for the 5 of us. The cats are not enjoying it because they can't go outside. We are on the ground floor but that means they can run off so we are keeping them indoors for a few months. Eventually we'll put some chicken wire around the balcony and then they can to out. In the meantime, we hear alot of whining to get outside. We still hold the lease to our other apartment until June 6. Most of our things are out of it but I have ...