Nope, still no baby.

Spacespacespace We even indulged in a bit of curry last night.  Nada, nothing, not a bean.  Oh well. It's only a day or two late, and according to our doctor, the due date is today going by his calculations.

The boys are showing solidarity in these cold winter months:

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A few films developed

I'm still relearning to shoot film using a manual camera, but I'm getting a bit better at it.  I really do need to get back into developing my own negatives and doing my own scanning - but we'll see how much time I have when Cracker arrives.  Anyway - here are a couple of film shots of Bella that made me laugh (I got the roll back today): f1000019

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American Idol

Spacespacespace I wonder if American Idol would be as popular as it is now if its name described the show a bit more accurately.  For example, would a bunch of judges and auditioning singers be as famous if the series was sold as "The American under 35 Karaoke Championships"?  I think not.  Oh marketing types, how ye mocketh me.

That said, despite my annual promise not to watch this crap, I found myself glued in front of the tv watching the endless stream of car crash contestants making international dorks out of themselves.

Highlights of last night's episode were surely the contestant with no shame who auditioned in a bikini (at least it wasn't an overweight hairy man), and this gem of a scene...

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...where the host Ryan Seacrest attempted to high five a blind contestant.  Unsurprisingly, the blind guy didn't respond to the high five.

Isabella

Spacespacespace Spent a lovely afternoon in Discovery Bay yesterday with Sue, Steve, Phoebe and Hermione - and their new addition to the family, Isabella.  Check out the cuteness that exudes from her 4 month old self.  She's still a fairly excitable pup, and jumps around like she's got springs for legs. Absolutely gorgeous:

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Our last weekend as a two person, two kitten family?

SPACESPACESPACE If the doctor's estimation of Rachel's due date is correct, then this time next weekend we could be up at the hospital with a brand new baby.  How utterly freaky.  And a little bit scary.  Gone are the days of our lazy Saturday morning lie ins, hours with the newspaper and a coffee (well, ok - the newspaper is pretty crappy, so make that "minutes"), and lovely toasted croissants.  Hello to poop, vomit and screaming. Everything is going well, little Cracker has a new trick of kicking Rachel's ribs (or something around that region) and it's quite fun having a play with his/her foot when the game is on...

We had a lovely evening last night - Mark (my boss) is leaving Hong Kong, so we all hopped on a boat (well, three boats) and went to Middle Island on the South Side of HK Island and had a BBQ and dinner. It was frigging cold, but was actually ok in the end - there were plenty of gas heaters and there was also an inside area where we gathered for speeches and whatnot afterwards.

Today we're off to Discovery Bay for afternoon tea at Sue and Steve's (parents of the gorgeous Hermione and Phoebe) and we'll also get to meet their brand new puppy - woohoo!

Not sure what else the weekend holds - perhaps some trampolining... (apparently it induces labour)

I leave you with a few photos from last night's trip out to Middle Island:

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Lazy Sunday (again)

We actually managed to get out of the house today, believe it or not. Admittedly we had a lazy breakfast of toast, hashbrowns, bacon (narly) and baked beans (Rachel) first - but then we took a nice walk down to Kennedy Town just a few kilometres away.  Ok, so maybe we watched another episode of Mad Men before we left. Bought a big silver bin which appears to have the sole purpose of storing dirty nappies pre-washing (yup - it's cloth diapers for these not-yet-parents) and not a lot else.  Ok, maybe we had a Snickers bar too. Was digging through some old photos that I found on some old CDs - here's a self-timer one of Rachel and I in our old HK apartment, and one of the dearly departed Chloe at Christmas about 5 years ago:

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Oh - and for Aunty Momo... here's a picture of the baby bag that you bought for Evilspawnofnarly.  It looks full because it's already packed and ready for an emergency trip to the hospital... only 12 days until the official due date - can't be too careful:

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1 January 2008 ends

SPACERSPACERSPACER It was a pretty lazy day in Chez Narly today - I got bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast and then after some messing around we ended up having lunch at the Press Room on Hollywood Road with Mark and Boo (who live downstairs - Mark works with Rachel).  Had a good feed and subsequently am replacing dinner with a mini Toblerone (it's healthy because I say so).  Didn't achieve a lot really, although go this photo on the street. I don't like the edits - might try and fix it later.  It was a guy and his wife roasting and chestnuts and selling them in Sheung Wan.  Pretty cool:

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Oh - we've booked flights for NZ. M&E we're leaving on 21 March and arriving in Auckland on 22nd - so your wedding had better be on the 28th...  We're there until the end of Easter weekend, and will hit Wellington for a bit in the middle somewhere.

Nothing left to report - but had to share this great "spot the differenct picture". Can you tell what the University of Wisconsin belatedly added to the cover of their undergraduate application form in 2001/2?

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