A letter from Nikki...

Hulloh hulloh hulloh

Think it's been awhile since i've sent an update and since i'm meant to be packing, thought it'd be a good time to procrastinate and write a quick email instead.

Yes, so we're packing our bags and heading off to sunny California in 2 days!!!!! Jim is going to be doing some work there, in a little beach town called Carlsbad about a half hour north of San Diego. We think we'll be there between 3-6 months. I'm rather looking forward to the sunshine and the beach, although i'm not sure how much Jim will get to enjoy it! Unfortunately, he'll have to adapt to the American way of work and spend his whole life in the office! But the wee man and I will get a nice tan.

And, just to add to the sense of adventure and excitement of it all, we just discovered that we're expecting again. Yikes! A bit early to really be telling everyone but --hey ho --- dont know when i might get another chance to email the next update, so there it is. Due date looks like mid Jan.

As for big brother, he is of course oblivious to the fact he'll have to share the limelight soon. But he appears to be making the most of it, anyway, and is just motoring along nicely, impressing us with his new skills everyday. He just turned 17mths and though he's not quite walking, my goodness is he talking! It's funny, cos he's so cautious about walking - he's been practising and working his way up to it for months! But as for his language, he's just happy to spout out anything, so he has a few impressive words like 'blueberry' and 'butterfly'.Initially, I was trying to keep track of his vocab, but it started accelerating too quickly and I lost track.... definitley well in excess of 100 words.

He loves sequences and patterns, so has mastered reciting his numbers from 1 to 10, and saying most of the alphabet, and he loves to group word opposites together so he'll say things like 'open,close' 'up,down' 'mama,dada' and 'inside, outside'. He's also recently discovered that when you turn some numbers and letters upside down, they become something else. So he discovered that 6 becomes 9 and vice versa; and he turned over the number four and said 'h'! I was really surprised cos i didn't even know he knew his little alphabet. He also outwitted his dad the other day while reading his alphabet book. His dad showed him that 'M' became 'W' when upside down and then the wee man turned the page to L (cos the wee man likes to read his books back to front at the moment) and he turned it upside down. Jim says 'no it doesn't work for L' but the wee man doesn't miss a beat and says 'seven'. Pretty cool.

He has a terribly dry sense of humour for a baby - is that possible? He loves to tell me, very seriously, that i have a beard (he knows I don't), and just recently he discovered that he can make fun of his Daddy by calling him a 'Hightower'. We just taught him last names and he just loves to point at his dad and say 'High-toe-a, High-toe-a' and Jim says 'Nooooo!!! I'm a Jagger!!' I think Jim would be more ok with it if the wee man turned around and called him a wanker :)

So that's pretty much all our news. Oh we also have plans afoot to renovate our basement when we get back, effectively doubling our floor space so plenty of space for people to come and visit (hint, hint!).

and, in the meantime, if you fancy lying on the beach and eating fish tacos (San Diego foodie staple) with us, we'll be there from Friday!

xx

ps for my US rellies, we will no doubt organise a visit to OK/TX while we're there. Will keep you posted.