My goodness time flies! It only seems like the other day that I stepped off the plane and here we are over a whole week later. Christmas here was a lovely affair with lots of nice food, lots of nice daytrips (including to Windsor and Oxford to name but a few) and general relaxation all round.

I got a lovely pair of Dubarry boots from Father Christmas this year (squee, I have wanted these for over three whole years now):

With their waterproof, weatherproof leather and insulated gore-tex lining they might be a little overqualified for dealing with the Californian climate, but I’m planning to get a lot of use out of them nonetheless.

And from The Lovely DrMrNin, I got a 2009 subscription to Hello! Magazine, EEEPS!

I am *very* excited about this as it’s one of my favourite magazines by far. And it’ll help me stay in tune with my British roots whilst I’m away

Thankfully my jetlag seems to have sorted itself out over the past couple of days in that I’m no longer waking up fully at 4am, 5am, 6am….. but by 10pm each night I still very much resemble a geriatric on a nursing room chair. I just cannot manage to keep my eyes open, but I think this has something to do with growing another human in me. Friends take much pleasure in informing me that I’ll probably feel very tired for quite some time to come now and probably won’t feel fully awake again until around 2029. *sigh*.

Speaking of friends and loved ones, it’s been a complete hilight of the trip getting to see everyone again. New Year’s Eve was spent around at a friend’s house with a group of old chums from school whom I’ve known now for 21 years. I will never again make friendships like these and I value them even more now that I live so far away. 2009 got off to a good  healthy start with  a hearty cooked English breakfast followed by some hoops.

What made it even more special this year was that in addition to all the husbands who came along too (and are also now dear friends) we were also joined by all the babies! Four in total, with two more coming in the late Spring- one of my friends is about five weeks ahead of me. Seeing how happy their lives were with their new arrivals, and being able to share our news with them too has now made me ever so even more excited. 2009 looks set to be a momentous year, I can’t wait to get on with it!

Happy New 2009 everyone!

Too much time spent having fun with my family to write any words, but the pictures say a lot of it by themselves….

(I love mint sauce with roast potatoes, yummy)

I hope you all had good Christmases!

PS I’m already getting a bit of a poochy tummy…

Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful time spreading merry cheer with your loved ones.

We’ve had a lovely time so far, including sharing some very special news with the rest of my family……

Yes, I’M PREGNANT! We’re due on June 9th next year which makes me already about four months along. The ultrasound above was taken at the beginning of the month when I was about 13 weeks. Since then the baby has grown a lot and is now just over five inches long!

The girls and I are just about to get on the plane, squee!