Caleb.

Today Bryan was helping his sister move house and in place of Bryan I got Caleb - a cute 4 month old kitten that loves to cuddle - for the day. My day was then spent trying to keep these two at a reasonable distance from each other as Roman is still at the stage of rib squishing and tail pulling these cute little critters.

"CALEB! CALEB!" he'd say, chasing him all over the house. When Caleb ducked behind the sofa Roman was quick to scold the little cat. "Caleb, you come out there now! Get down, naughty cat!"

Twas the weekend before Christmas...

Oh what a weekend we had! For a start, I've been outside of my house two days in a row. For anyone that knows me they know this is rare - I'm lucky if I make it out two days in a month. Mums who make it to playgroups, play dates and other such activities please know I envy you.


But onto the important stuff: the weekend filled with amazing-ness.  Pictures to prove it:

A little bit of Christmas - reindeer in Scotland. Reindeer in my town!

{1} carrots - all gone by the time we got there.

{2} reindeer butt.

{3} more cute reindeer butt. yes, really.

{4} a little boy says hello to the 'baa!'

{5} a little boy is a little overwhelmed by it all.

I was so (so, so, so!) excited when I read on Facebook that these reindeer would be arriving to pull Santa's sleigh through our town centre. Although we don't 'do' Santa in our home (please don't lecture me, this is a decision we discussed three years ago - in other words, we're set in our ways and won't back down on this one. I respect your choice to 'do' Santa, so please respect mine) I was very excited to see the reindeer - as well as to show them to Roman as he is a big animal lover and B was a tad excited, too! 

Well they were so cute. And so placid. A big crowd followed them on their march through the town - including myself, just as excited as those little kids, shouting back at B to hurry up so we could get some pictures up close. The best part is that these reindeer are Britain's only herd of reindeer - and we got to see them! Also, they are free ranging around the Cairngorm mountains right here in sunny (or not) Scotland. Read more about these beauties here.

When we got home I wanted to pass out and take a (rare) nap. But my doctor has said I shouldn't take naps as it means I don't sleep at night so I kept my eyes open and got on with the rest of the day which involved B going off to drop Roman off at his parents and us being at home with a very un-Christmas Rockfm playing in the background and me, getting aggravated, with the foil wrapping paper I stupidly bought thinking it 'looked nice.' 

Yes, that foil-y stuff looks good. That's how they hook you in. But it's a nightmare to cut through; it rips, it even ladders (ladies, or gents, like your tights do) and well I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of opening up a present wrapped in it. Still. The point is: don't buy foil wrapping paper unless you're a glutton for punishment. A serious masochist might like it. I am not a masochist. 

Once I did all my wrapping I patted myself on the back and got started on Roman's presents. More specifically, his stocking. A stocking full of Zing. Of the Zilla variety.

Take 4 ZingZillas...

choose a favourite to stick out the top...

And stuff them into a stocking. Tada!

I fear for these little guys and girls, I really do, because lately Roman has taken to biting into his soft toys for teething comfort:

Oh boy.

Follow: @MamaChaser 
Email: carakirk@hotmail.com

North of Scotland: Being there.

So if you haven't already read 'part one' of our little trip then go here to read it.


So...if you've read part one you'll be up to speed that we took our 19/nearly 20 month old on a long journey on public transport and all was well (kind of) by the end of the trip. 


I'm going to admit that I never took a lot of photos while we were away because I was so distracted or busy. But here's what I did get...

So...after our trip we got to my parents lovely house. Where we froze for the night until we figured out the heating. 


I had a few things to take care of while we were up there but once I was done, I spent time with the two of them. We'd huddle around the TV and catch up with Quantum Leap or Raising Hope (two of the best TV shows made, I think.) 

Roman loved the zoo up there. On the first few days the cats were very wary of him, every time he'd shout 'CAT!' and chase after them they were like speeding bullets out a gun. By the fourth day they would let him clap them. He was very careful and gentle with them. Shadow was the opposite. At first she would be okay with him, but then as time wore on her growls got louder. One time she even 'herded' him by butting her head on his side.


This called for splitting the room in two - Fort Roman was made...

More pictures...with a little narration. 

One of the days we went into town. We waited an hour for a bus.

The bus finally showed...

 (1) inside the sweet shop, loads of chocolate-inspired mugs. (2) 1,000 welcomes. (3) Thistle bag.

I really enjoy going to this sweet shop when I'm in Thurso. Pretty much all of their sweets/candy aren't vegan, but it's how I remember sweet shops; hard boiled sweets and other goodies in jars, known as 'quarters.' 

Something Scandinavian about this...

Bryan bought himself some chips...so we gave Roman his first chippy chip. He was a fan so had another. I think, when he's a lot older, we'll have chippies every so often. I hadn't wanted to give Roman any chocolate or junk foods as obesity, heart disease and other problems relating to food are such a huge problem in Scotland but I figure if we are sensible about it and show Roman how to manage his eating then we can't go wrong - that is far healthier than trying to not give him these things ever. 

Could he live without these things? Yes. Of course. But if we, the parents, are going to eat these foods then it would be hypocritical not to allow them. 

And since we're talking about food. This is how vegans cook anything that requires eggs (although, not really, I just use oil when I don't have egg replacer.)

And it comes up looking like wall paper paste. Yummy wall paper paste. Mmm.

{Peanut butter and chocolate button cookies - not a fan of the buttons but there were hardly any in there.}

To finish: some yummy 'cakies' which were meant to be cookies but baked big and cake-like.

And this, my friends, concludes our little holiday up north. Going home was hilarious...but that's another story ;). 

North of Scotland: Getting there.

I'm back from a week of being in the Highlands of Scotland - the true north. 

The view from the speeding train is like nothing you've laid eyes on before. Lots of green, open spaces. A field full of golden hay; ripe for the harvest, dotted with fluffy sheep here and there - or as Roman calls them 'baa.' Cows are 'baa', too and everything else is 'woof woof.'

When we arrived in Thurso we were excited; to have made the journey (9 hours) with our 19 month old and not one tantrum between the three of us. We called a cab and for some reason the driver took the long route to my parent's home. We had no car seat and so Roman sat by my hip - I felt like I was breaking about a million laws.


A 9 hour train journey is hard for loads of reasons when you have a kid. I worry about not only myself but other passengers; you get all kinds of reactions when you bring a toddler onto public transport and although my experiences have been nothing but great I always worry I'm going to get that one huffy passenger who throws me dirty looks and does great big exaggerated sighs when Ro makes a few squeaks. 


We were so lucky on both trips there and back that we were landed with a sweet Dutch couple and then a practically empty train. Everyone was lovely and courteous with us - even when Roman (embarrassingly so) began to shriek. His screaming hurts my head but mostly I am paranoid what other people think.

He was great once he had some food inside his tiny tummy, of course. 

A 9 hour train journey when you're chronically ill downright sucks. When you can't make it out of bed 9 times out of 10 most days...but I did it. I don't know how, I just did. I felt like sleeping a week and I start to adjust right before we leave.


When the train had emptied out enough (and the Inverness-Thurso line was never busy) we took it in turns to sit with Roman in one of the seats. I'm going to admit that B did the bulk of this but you won't find either of us complaining - I cannot believe this little boy sits so patiently and quietly - in fact he played with a straw for 30 minutes on one of the journeys. 

A straw! Or rather the straw that provided the evenings entertainment. 

Everyone but us was asleep for the bulk of our journey, it was a quiet and peaceful journey punctuated by the odd 'whyyyy?' or 'howww?' from Roman. There is also what, where and so to add to the ever increasing vocabulary. 

My travel companion for some of the trip: the Kindle. And yes I like it a lot. I love books and this doesn't take away from them. If anything these eReaders keep people reading and interested in books. And with so many books now being turned into movies people want to be able to buy books as quickly, easily and as cost-effectively as possible. It also solves the old age problem of hiding a book inside a textbook because the Kindle is so much slimmer than any book I've owned.

This is Scotland; farms, fields and hills. Lots of greenery and plenty picture taking opportunities. 

A sign in English and Scottish Gaelic. Me and B have an ongoing debate about Gaelic. I say it's cool and he says it's a waste of time. Neither of us speak or understand it but it's spoken by around 58, 552 people in Scotland (or so Wikipedia tells me.) 

The BBC also have BBC Alba which is a Gaelic TV channel. This might sound weird but when I lived in London I used to watch this channel on my computer. I didn't grow up with this language and I only really knew one friend who spoke it and she was from Stornoway, a Scottish island. I don't know why Gaelic makes me feel home, but it does. I remember sitting with my Gran and watching Gaelic TV shows, both of us not understanding a word and reading the English subtitles provided. We also used to tune into the kids programmes and wet ourselves at the dialogue - it was so foreign, yet sounded so familiar. 

There was also this amazing mural painted on the walls of the Invergordon station. The train windows were seriously dirty, plus the train was moving here, but I had to share this photo. It's an incredible piece of art and I was really impressed by it.

I snapped this because well, its ROgart ;). Ro is a little nick name (amongst the many) we have for Roman. And well this is why I don't speak Gaelic, more words for a simple place. But maybe that's a reflection of the Scottish people. We're not a 'less is more' people. A majority of us could talk the hind legs off a donkey. 

This trip took 9 hours. 9 very long hours. They were painful but it was made great by all that surrounded me. I felt like a tourist in my own country.

And I made three new friends this week...

Baby, Precious and Shadow. The dog shaped one loved all the walking and jogging done with B. And the two cats were like speeding bullets fired out of a gun every time Roman was in their line of vision. 

I hope they're over the trauma by now.