Nathan’s sick (though here they would say "poorly" or "unwell"). I’m tired.
Nathan seemed to be getting on a more “normal” schedule last night and we were able to get him to bed at 9. On the other hand, Christopher was up until 1am last night and Jeff and I didn’t get to bed until 2. Having two kids is tiring. As is jet lag. I really hope we can get both of them on a similar schedule soon so that we can have a little bit of “free time.” Oh, free time, what’s that? (And I only have TWO to worry about!) Christopher was so smiley last night. I think he was trying to soak up all of the attention he can get once Nathan is in bed. He was adorable, but sleep would have been nice too!
We heard Nathan coughing last night and then he woke up around 11:00 while we were trying to put Christopher to sleep (of course, we were trying to put Christopher to sleep all night…). Nathan was fairly inconsolable, but I was finally able to calm him down. Jeff tried first with no luck and then decided that Nathan must want his mommy so we traded kids. Later, when I had gotten Nathan down, Jeff said he was very impressed and asked how I did it. I think mom’s have a special touch, simply because daddy’s sometimes THINK we do so the kiddos get handed off to us more often. The more practice we get, the better we do, right? ;)
Christopher woke up around 5am to eat. Just as I was finishing with him, I heard Nathan start to cry and cough from his room so I went to check on him. He was not sounding good – very congested and like he had a sore throat. I don’t know if he picked something up from all of our travels, or from nursery, or from the playground, or from his new toys, or where, but he definitely has something and I hope Christopher doesn’t get it. I also hope it isn’t too serious because I still have no clue how doctors work here. Anyway, I didn’t want him to think that 5:30am was an appropriate time to wake up, so I made him stay in his room while I got him some milk and then, after a diaper change, we both laid down in his new bed together. I told him it was still night time and we had to stay in bed. Surprisingly he did. We both kind of dozed off and on. Around 8, he ventured to the end of the bed and sat there until I told him he could play with his toys, but needed to stay in his room. I was feeling SOOOO tired.
After a little while we came out and ate breakfast and then I laid down on the couch while he started to play. He saw me laying down and said, “Science Kid! Science Kid!” It took me a while to realize what he was saying and that he wanted to watch Cid the Science Kid. I guess he associates a tired mommy with him getting to watch PBS kid shows. Of course we have no TV or Internet, so instead I put on The Lion King for him. That entertained him for about 20 minutes. Since then he’s been extremely fussy and whiny, so I tried to put him back down for a morning nap, with no luck. He’s still in there complaining and crying. Luckily I just got Christopher back to sleep after feeding him. We’ll see how long THAT lasts.
And it’s only 9:30. I better go get Nathan since he isn’t falling asleep. It’s going to be a long day…
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
9 August 2011
Wahoo! Nathan slept through the night last night! It was such a relief and I’d love if it continues!! He woke up this morning around 8am and today almost felt like a normal day with him again. I keep thinking that I am almost over the jet lag, but I was so tired by nap time that I slept too! And I am tired again this evening.
Our flat is slowly getting organized and cleaned out. I can’t wait until everything is in place and in order. Not that it will stay that way for long with two kiddos afoot! Still, it’s easier to semi-maintain cleanliness than to deep clean in the first place.
It was sad to have Jeff gone today. I hadn’t realized how spoiled we had been the past week and a half until he had to suddenly go back to work. Nathan cried when he left this morning and kept asking for him all day. I think he is a little bit scared that he will disappear again. Sadly, he will! Jeff heads back to the states in just over a week and I am not looking forward to it. Five days alone in a foreign country where I pretty much know no one. I sure hope that we have a phone and Internet by then!
This morning we walked to the beautiful park near our home. It was my first time venturing out on my own. I felt so self conscious about having a baby strapped to me, a toddler riding in the HUGE American stroller, and having my American accent. Hopefully I’ll get over all of that soon. It’s still SO weird to think that I am the one with the accent! On our way to the park, an older English gentleman saw me and said, “You could always strap one to your back too!” I just kind of laughed and so he said it again, trying to get my attention. Of course I was too self conscious about the fact that I was shuttling around “so many” kids in such a silly way and don’t have a British accent and so I just said something like, “Yep!” When we got to the playground, Nathan was so excited. The park was very busy and I was surprised how many random older English men there are with nothing to do during the day. I was really self-conscious about even talking to Nathan while I was in public because of my accent. Stupid, I know. Nathan had fun playing with some of the other kids and running around. He is so oblivious to them not wanting to play with him or the fact that he may not know them. He loves the merry-go-round (here it is called a roundabout) and so before we left I was pushing him on it with another girl. Her mother was also standing nearby. The little girl kept saying, “Mah-me, I wah-nt to go fah-stuh!” in a British accent so I sped it up a little. Nathan though it was AWESOME and kept laughing and laughing, which then made the little girl laugh. Then he was kicking his legs and laughing and so she kicked her legs and laughed. It was really really cute. I decided to go out on a limb (for me – this is really stupid I know - but for ME it was a huge deal) and ask the mom how old her daughter was and of course she then asked how tall Nathan was and commented on how tall he is. Yes, I was PROUD of myself for sharing a very brief conversation with a stranger since I am in a foreign country. Oh well, it’s a start and hopefully I’ll get better!
After the park, we came home to eat lunch. We still don’t have a lot of food and so I decided we would eat leftover scrambled eggs for lunch. (Which, by the way, came from brown eggs, since that is all they sell here). Unfortunately I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the gas stove. There are so many weird switches you have to flip and I wasn’t sure which ones I needed to use to get the lighter to go (Jeff has always been here the other days and we don’t have a microwave). So we ate cold scrambled eggs and apple slices for lunch. I must admit it wasn’t my most favorite meal ever. Luckily Nathan ate the eggs and kept saying, “Yummy! Yummy!”
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A random thought: The spelling and grammar of English here is different, in addition to some of the words. It has made me ponder a little bit about “proper” grammar because really, grammar is different in every language it seems. It’s kind of strange to think that the people here would think I am the one that talks funny!
Funny story: Our fridge is in our “lounge” because there isn’t room in the actual kitchen. Well, the first night we were here, Nathan wanted a drink of milk and so he ran into the kitchen looking for the fridge and saying, “Milk! Milk! Milk!” He was so confused when there wasn’t a fridge there! Haha
Our flat is slowly getting organized and cleaned out. I can’t wait until everything is in place and in order. Not that it will stay that way for long with two kiddos afoot! Still, it’s easier to semi-maintain cleanliness than to deep clean in the first place.
It was sad to have Jeff gone today. I hadn’t realized how spoiled we had been the past week and a half until he had to suddenly go back to work. Nathan cried when he left this morning and kept asking for him all day. I think he is a little bit scared that he will disappear again. Sadly, he will! Jeff heads back to the states in just over a week and I am not looking forward to it. Five days alone in a foreign country where I pretty much know no one. I sure hope that we have a phone and Internet by then!
This morning we walked to the beautiful park near our home. It was my first time venturing out on my own. I felt so self conscious about having a baby strapped to me, a toddler riding in the HUGE American stroller, and having my American accent. Hopefully I’ll get over all of that soon. It’s still SO weird to think that I am the one with the accent! On our way to the park, an older English gentleman saw me and said, “You could always strap one to your back too!” I just kind of laughed and so he said it again, trying to get my attention. Of course I was too self conscious about the fact that I was shuttling around “so many” kids in such a silly way and don’t have a British accent and so I just said something like, “Yep!” When we got to the playground, Nathan was so excited. The park was very busy and I was surprised how many random older English men there are with nothing to do during the day. I was really self-conscious about even talking to Nathan while I was in public because of my accent. Stupid, I know. Nathan had fun playing with some of the other kids and running around. He is so oblivious to them not wanting to play with him or the fact that he may not know them. He loves the merry-go-round (here it is called a roundabout) and so before we left I was pushing him on it with another girl. Her mother was also standing nearby. The little girl kept saying, “Mah-me, I wah-nt to go fah-stuh!” in a British accent so I sped it up a little. Nathan though it was AWESOME and kept laughing and laughing, which then made the little girl laugh. Then he was kicking his legs and laughing and so she kicked her legs and laughed. It was really really cute. I decided to go out on a limb (for me – this is really stupid I know - but for ME it was a huge deal) and ask the mom how old her daughter was and of course she then asked how tall Nathan was and commented on how tall he is. Yes, I was PROUD of myself for sharing a very brief conversation with a stranger since I am in a foreign country. Oh well, it’s a start and hopefully I’ll get better!
After the park, we came home to eat lunch. We still don’t have a lot of food and so I decided we would eat leftover scrambled eggs for lunch. (Which, by the way, came from brown eggs, since that is all they sell here). Unfortunately I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the gas stove. There are so many weird switches you have to flip and I wasn’t sure which ones I needed to use to get the lighter to go (Jeff has always been here the other days and we don’t have a microwave). So we ate cold scrambled eggs and apple slices for lunch. I must admit it wasn’t my most favorite meal ever. Luckily Nathan ate the eggs and kept saying, “Yummy! Yummy!”
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A random thought: The spelling and grammar of English here is different, in addition to some of the words. It has made me ponder a little bit about “proper” grammar because really, grammar is different in every language it seems. It’s kind of strange to think that the people here would think I am the one that talks funny!
Funny story: Our fridge is in our “lounge” because there isn’t room in the actual kitchen. Well, the first night we were here, Nathan wanted a drink of milk and so he ran into the kitchen looking for the fridge and saying, “Milk! Milk! Milk!” He was so confused when there wasn’t a fridge there! Haha
8 August 2010
Last night was pretty awful. Christopher really fought sleep and after two hours, I finally got him to settle down and sleep. Then, just before 2am, Nathan woke up screaming. Jeff tried rocking Nathan, then giving him milk, and then decided to try to get Nathan to sleep in his “new” bed (rather than the pack 'n play - he's always been in a crib up to this point), which was interesting. I went in to check on them and Jeff was laying in bed with Nathan. Then I laid down as well and held Nathan’s hand. Nathan was facing me and so I smiled at him. Then he got a HUGE smile on his face and I couldn’t help but laugh (probably out of sheer exhaustion) and Nathan started laughing too, which made me laugh again. I always laugh at inopportune times! Jeff decided that if we were just going to sit and laugh, then he was going to bed. I stayed with Nathan until he settled down to sleep. He just kept staring at me, so I kept closing my eyes to rest, but I was cold without a blanket and uncomfortable without a pillow. It was kind of sweet lying there holding my sweet boy’s hand, but I was excited when I was finally able to sneak off to bed!
A little while later, Nathan woke up screaming. I jumped awake realizing that he was probably terrified waking up in a strange bed without me there. He has seemed a bit frightened of the new bed for sleeping. I ran toward his room with my arms open just as he was walking out of his room screaming. I calmed him down and then put him into his pack ‘n play to sleep. Then around 3:30 (?), he woke up crying again because he had wet the bed THROUGH his diaper! This time Jeff was up with him for who knows how long. Needless to say the thought of getting up early to get ready for church was not appealing!
We originally had the alarm set for 7:20am, but I think Jeff turned it off. I woke up with a start at 8:10 and then freaked out because we had to leave our house at 9 to catch the bus. I was worried that we wouldn’t make it because it always seems to take a long time to get out of the house with kiddos. Also, neither Jeff nor I got much sleep and neither did Nathan, which worried us the most. Still, we decided to rush to get ready and go. We left the house around 9:15 and still managed to catch the 9:30 bus without trouble. On a side note, our only “watches” in the past were our cell phones so it is really hard not having them anymore because we never know what time it is! In our home, our only clock is in our bedroom and runs on batteries since it has a US adapter. That has been interesting too!
The walk to the bus stop wasn’t too bad except that we were worried about getting there late and so we were rushing along. The bus ride was quite pleasant and took us through some pretty English countryside. One of the nice things about the buses is that they don’t have stairs and so it is quite easy to just push the stroller onto the bus. Nathan seemed to enjoy riding on the big red bus as well, which was nice. The bus stops more or less in front of the church and so we were there about 15 minutes early. When we walked up, we were met with a huge, warm welcome. To be honest, it was a little overwhelming to have so many people rushing to welcome us, kiss us in greeting, and know our names already. I am still jet lagged and in a daze, so I felt like I wasn’t very friendly. I’m pretty sure I don’t remember any of their names either! The church building itself is fairly small. It has a small chapel and cultural hall and then a hallway on one side and along the back of the building, which isn’t very long. The pews are not like our normal pews in the states. They are on wheels and move around! Also, the building is only for our small ward, no other wards meet there, which is quite different from what I have been used to. We had four other wards (congregations), plus stake offices in our building in Austin and the Utah ward building for my parent’s ward was also bursting at its seems.
The bishop asked me to say the closing prayer as a way of “welcoming” me to the ward. The bishop also welcomed me specifically from the pulpit. The ward is extremely friendly and once I got over the initial shock of a million people trying to talk to us, I realized that I feel quite comfortable here. I must say it was interesting to be in a ward where they don’t have people stand up when they are called and released because the ward is so small that everyone knows each other! (At least that was my first impression!)
EY was from Nigeria because it helps me understand the African accented English better. I must say that some versions of the British accent take me a little longer to understand still. Plus some of the words are slightly different, which makes me nervous. I’m always afraid I’ll use the wrong word, even though I know that is silly! My visiting teachers already asked if they could come visit and they are a mother and daughter who are British. She asked for my "surname" and it really threw me off! I'm just not used to hearing that word, but they use it all the time here! We have also been invited over for dinner (once we are settled) to the Bishop’s home and several people said they want to come visit us. I am so grateful for the church to help me make friends and feel like I have a “family” out here.
Nathan did surprisingly well at church considering his lack of sleep. He was a bit rough in sacrament meeting, especially because it was SOOOO quiet in there! I was really pleased with how well he did in nursery though. The other members were surprised how well he did and how quickly he settled in. He was hesitant to me leaving at first, but after a few minutes and after seeing all of the “new toys,” he got distracted enough for me to leave. There are about six children in nursery, which makes me very excited! I was talking with one of the members after Sunday School and she said that there used to only be two or three children, but they’ve had some new people move in and one that just became 18 months old. Two of the women have already talked about getting together for a “park date.” I am not sure if they work or not (many of the mothers do) and have no idea where they live. There is a British couple that just moved into the ward that has a little boy just a few months older than Nathan and they were interested in getting to know us better. The mother’s name is Mary and the little boy is Finn (not sure if that is spelled right). Also, they are having a temple trip on Saturday (the Stake goes once a month because the temple is so close. It’s not as close as Utah, but I think it is closer than our temple in Texas was), a munch and mingle next Sunday after church (they have one every month), and a ward barbecue at the church on the 30th (since August 30th is a bank holiday).
We got home from church around 2:00 and then all four of us took a long nap. I peeled myself out of bed around 6:00 so that I could start dinner – meatloaf! I also made salads, but when we sat down to eat, we realized that Jeff forgot to buy salad dressing at the store yesterday. Oops! It will be nice when we have a more fully stocked kitchen. Slowly we are getting the things we need here and there. We only have one pyrex casserole dish we bought yesterday, one small pot, and our nice, big sauce pan that we brought over from the states to cook with. That is all! We realized today that we don’t even have hot pads or any aluminum foil. We finally have salt and pepper though! Our kitchen is a mess right now because I haven’t had time to clean out all of the cupboards, so most things are all over the counter top. One day at a time, I guess!
I think I am doing pretty well jet-lag-wise except that getting myself out of bed is really hard. If it wasn’t for the kids having such a rough time at night, I don’t think it would be bad at all. Tonight Nathan really fought sleep hard. We put him down around 10 and after quietly playing for a while, he screamed and screamed and screamed until he finally went to sleep around 11. I got him up once to rock him, but he wasn’t interested. I sure hope we get on a good schedule again soon. I also hope that he doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night tonight! That would be heavenly!!! But I’m not crossing my fingers… It will also be nice when we can get Christopher to sleep in his crib all of the time. Right now it is just so much easier to keep him in our bed, so that is mostly what we are doing. He sleeps in the crib some too.
A little while later, Nathan woke up screaming. I jumped awake realizing that he was probably terrified waking up in a strange bed without me there. He has seemed a bit frightened of the new bed for sleeping. I ran toward his room with my arms open just as he was walking out of his room screaming. I calmed him down and then put him into his pack ‘n play to sleep. Then around 3:30 (?), he woke up crying again because he had wet the bed THROUGH his diaper! This time Jeff was up with him for who knows how long. Needless to say the thought of getting up early to get ready for church was not appealing!
We originally had the alarm set for 7:20am, but I think Jeff turned it off. I woke up with a start at 8:10 and then freaked out because we had to leave our house at 9 to catch the bus. I was worried that we wouldn’t make it because it always seems to take a long time to get out of the house with kiddos. Also, neither Jeff nor I got much sleep and neither did Nathan, which worried us the most. Still, we decided to rush to get ready and go. We left the house around 9:15 and still managed to catch the 9:30 bus without trouble. On a side note, our only “watches” in the past were our cell phones so it is really hard not having them anymore because we never know what time it is! In our home, our only clock is in our bedroom and runs on batteries since it has a US adapter. That has been interesting too!
The walk to the bus stop wasn’t too bad except that we were worried about getting there late and so we were rushing along. The bus ride was quite pleasant and took us through some pretty English countryside. One of the nice things about the buses is that they don’t have stairs and so it is quite easy to just push the stroller onto the bus. Nathan seemed to enjoy riding on the big red bus as well, which was nice. The bus stops more or less in front of the church and so we were there about 15 minutes early. When we walked up, we were met with a huge, warm welcome. To be honest, it was a little overwhelming to have so many people rushing to welcome us, kiss us in greeting, and know our names already. I am still jet lagged and in a daze, so I felt like I wasn’t very friendly. I’m pretty sure I don’t remember any of their names either! The church building itself is fairly small. It has a small chapel and cultural hall and then a hallway on one side and along the back of the building, which isn’t very long. The pews are not like our normal pews in the states. They are on wheels and move around! Also, the building is only for our small ward, no other wards meet there, which is quite different from what I have been used to. We had four other wards (congregations), plus stake offices in our building in Austin and the Utah ward building for my parent’s ward was also bursting at its seems.
The bishop asked me to say the closing prayer as a way of “welcoming” me to the ward. The bishop also welcomed me specifically from the pulpit. The ward is extremely friendly and once I got over the initial shock of a million people trying to talk to us, I realized that I feel quite comfortable here. I must say it was interesting to be in a ward where they don’t have people stand up when they are called and released because the ward is so small that everyone knows each other! (At least that was my first impression!)
EY was from Nigeria because it helps me understand the African accented English better. I must say that some versions of the British accent take me a little longer to understand still. Plus some of the words are slightly different, which makes me nervous. I’m always afraid I’ll use the wrong word, even though I know that is silly! My visiting teachers already asked if they could come visit and they are a mother and daughter who are British. She asked for my "surname" and it really threw me off! I'm just not used to hearing that word, but they use it all the time here! We have also been invited over for dinner (once we are settled) to the Bishop’s home and several people said they want to come visit us. I am so grateful for the church to help me make friends and feel like I have a “family” out here.
Nathan did surprisingly well at church considering his lack of sleep. He was a bit rough in sacrament meeting, especially because it was SOOOO quiet in there! I was really pleased with how well he did in nursery though. The other members were surprised how well he did and how quickly he settled in. He was hesitant to me leaving at first, but after a few minutes and after seeing all of the “new toys,” he got distracted enough for me to leave. There are about six children in nursery, which makes me very excited! I was talking with one of the members after Sunday School and she said that there used to only be two or three children, but they’ve had some new people move in and one that just became 18 months old. Two of the women have already talked about getting together for a “park date.” I am not sure if they work or not (many of the mothers do) and have no idea where they live. There is a British couple that just moved into the ward that has a little boy just a few months older than Nathan and they were interested in getting to know us better. The mother’s name is Mary and the little boy is Finn (not sure if that is spelled right). Also, they are having a temple trip on Saturday (the Stake goes once a month because the temple is so close. It’s not as close as Utah, but I think it is closer than our temple in Texas was), a munch and mingle next Sunday after church (they have one every month), and a ward barbecue at the church on the 30th (since August 30th is a bank holiday).
We got home from church around 2:00 and then all four of us took a long nap. I peeled myself out of bed around 6:00 so that I could start dinner – meatloaf! I also made salads, but when we sat down to eat, we realized that Jeff forgot to buy salad dressing at the store yesterday. Oops! It will be nice when we have a more fully stocked kitchen. Slowly we are getting the things we need here and there. We only have one pyrex casserole dish we bought yesterday, one small pot, and our nice, big sauce pan that we brought over from the states to cook with. That is all! We realized today that we don’t even have hot pads or any aluminum foil. We finally have salt and pepper though! Our kitchen is a mess right now because I haven’t had time to clean out all of the cupboards, so most things are all over the counter top. One day at a time, I guess!
I think I am doing pretty well jet-lag-wise except that getting myself out of bed is really hard. If it wasn’t for the kids having such a rough time at night, I don’t think it would be bad at all. Tonight Nathan really fought sleep hard. We put him down around 10 and after quietly playing for a while, he screamed and screamed and screamed until he finally went to sleep around 11. I got him up once to rock him, but he wasn’t interested. I sure hope we get on a good schedule again soon. I also hope that he doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night tonight! That would be heavenly!!! But I’m not crossing my fingers… It will also be nice when we can get Christopher to sleep in his crib all of the time. Right now it is just so much easier to keep him in our bed, so that is mostly what we are doing. He sleeps in the crib some too.
7 August 2010
I feel like I’ve been starving and it’s hard to motivate myself to walk all the way to the store just to get something. Especially with jet lag! Hopefully that will get better soon and we’ll be more used to this whole no car thing. I really do think it will be doable, it will just take some getting used to on our parts! I’m so glad that Grandma Rankin bought us some snacks for our journey (things like nuts, fruit snacks, and bread!) because all of us have enjoyed having a little bit to snack on when we are hungry! J
The first night in our new house was “eventful.” I was just finishing up with Christopher around 2:30 am when Nathan woke up screaming and screaming and screaming. Jeff couldn’t figure out what was wrong and was tired (well, we all were). The end of the story is that both boys were up for an hour screaming and crying and being mostly inconsolable. It was especially stressful because we aren’t used to having neighbors to worry about. I was so afraid that our neighbors would hate us and think we were “annoying Americans.” It’s kind of silly, but that’s how I was! Jeff and I kept switching off between the two kiddos trying to get them back to sleep. Finally Jeff turned on the light in Nathan’s room and let him play for a while. That’s not exactly what I would do, but if that’s how Jeff wanted to do it, fine! I did let Nathan eat fruit snacks when he first got up (to try to calm him down), which is also not what I would normally do, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. Finally, Jeff turned off Nathan’s light and Nathan wanted me. He wanted to rock and then he wanted to lay down on his new bed and then he wanted to rock. I wasn’t interested in playing games, so I just put him back in his bed (pack ‘n play – he hasn’t started sleeping in his new bed yet) and sat down to wait out some crying. He only cried for about a minute and then went silent. Phew. We were all able to go back to bed and sleep until 11:30am! Yay for jet lag!
I peeled myself out of bed around 11am so that I could shower and because I wanted to help with the jet lag. It was hard, but I've noticed that once I get moving, I feel a lot more awake. We spent the day unpacking. Well working on unpacking. We did get things sorted and moved into the various rooms, which is nice. But it’s hard to unpack when you don’t have a dresser to put the clothes in or hangers to hang in the wardrobe! I also vacuumed all of the rooms and started sweeping. It makes me feel SOOOO much better. Even just doing that little bit helps. I can’t wait to get the house cleaned and looking nice. I really do think it will be a comfortable place for us to live. Different, but nice and very comfortable. I know I kept talking about how “poor” we are going to be, but I really can’t consider us poor. We have a safe, comfortable place to live and although we are a little bit “ghetto” with our mattresses on the floor and no cover for our IKEA sofa ;), we really do have everything we need! The hardest part for me has really been the lack of food, which I think we’ll slowly be able to take care of as we take more and more trips to the grocery store and start to stock up.
I made a shopping list for Jeff and he went to the store to get enough food to get us through the rest of the weekend. We aren’t eating big meals, but it’s still nice. Tonight we had eggs, bacon, and bread. Very gourmet ;). Tomorrow is Sunday so I am making meatloaf with salad. Monday is “leftovers” or in other words, more spaghetti! I think with all of this lack of food (though by no means literally starving) and all of this walking, I’m sure to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes in no time! Haha
We gave Nathan a late nap and then ate dinner. After dinner we all took a walk together to visit the nearby park. It was a lot of fun. It is definitely different than a walk through an American suburb, but it’s not bad. The park is beautiful with two ponds, lots of ducks and geese, and two playgrounds. One is for older kids and one is for kids younger than 8. Nathan loved it. On our way home we got stuck in a rainstorm. The weather here reminds me a lot of Seattle. Beautiful, comfortable summers and rain that just drips and passes quickly. We let Nathan stay up until around 10 or 10:30pm hoping to ease him into the normal schedule again and hoping to avoid another 2am disaster (not that we put him to bed super early yesterday).
So far I feel like I can be happy and comfortable here. Of course, it’s the weekend so Jeff has been home all day, which probably helps. Plus we’ve only just begun our life here! I am looking forward to having the Internet again someday and a phone just so we don’t feel so completely disconnected from everything especially since we don’t have a TV either. We haven't even been able to tell our families that we got here safely. But even without those things, life goes on.
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| It's VERY common to see cars parked on the pavement (sidewalks) here. The double yellow means no parking, so they just park completely on the pavement! |
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| The front of the flat. We were on the first (what American's would call 2nd) floor. |
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| The toddler playground at the park. Everything is metal, which is quite different from the playgrounds I had become accustomed too in Texas. |
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| Nathan taking the car for a spin (ok, this thing probably isn't metal, but the actual play set is!). I love that the steering wheel is on the left. That's not how it should be in Britain!!! |
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| I can't get over how much Christopher has changed since we moved here! Nathan too, really. |
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| One of the ponds at the beautiful park. |
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| Walking home from the park. Houses that are attached (like the ones straight ahead) are very common here. Also, the sidewalks (pavements) look a whole lot like a road and at least where we live are pretty uneven and full of potholes! |
So far I feel like I can be happy and comfortable here. Of course, it’s the weekend so Jeff has been home all day, which probably helps. Plus we’ve only just begun our life here! I am looking forward to having the Internet again someday and a phone just so we don’t feel so completely disconnected from everything especially since we don’t have a TV either. We haven't even been able to tell our families that we got here safely. But even without those things, life goes on.
The living conditions are definitely different here and here are some of the things that seem the most different to me:
· Everything requires an on/off switch. Even the outlets (each of them when there are two together) have an on/off switch that you have to turn on before the outlet will work. This is also true for the dishwasher and washing machine. You have to flip a switch and THEN turn them on like we normally would in the U.S.
· It’s obvious, but everyone drives on the other side of the street and their cars have the driver’s seat on the right. It’s a little strange, but not as weird as I thought it might be. The craziest part was when we were crossing a busy intersection to get to the grocery store. It was weird to have the cars on the wrong side of the road. You have to really pay attention to be the ones that are turning RIGHT and it is so different than what is "programmed" in my brain that the whole intersection gave me a headache. It was fast and cars were driving differently than I’m used to! The roads here in the neighborhoods are two lane, but that includes shoulder space. Cars are always parked along the shoulder in various spaces, so when two cars are driving toward each other on the road, one of them has to pull off to the side (in between the other parked cars) to let the other pass.Of course they do it while driving rather quickly. I think it would take me a while to get the hang of driving here! I must say that the roundabouts are the most strange. We have them in the states, but having ones that go left instead of right really confuses me – a lot more than I would expect. I think it would be a while before I felt comfortable enough to drive here!
· The windows don’t have screens. I knew about this before I moved here, but they really don’t! I end up seeing a few extra bugs, mostly spiders, which I don’t really love, but it isn’t terrible. Also, the windows open differently - they swing out, rather than pull up. I’ll have to take a picture because it’s kind of hard to explain.
· Our front door is up sort of like a step. You have to step up and then step down when you go through the door. I don’t know if all of the doors are like that here or if it is just ours.
· The washing machine is tiny and we have no dryer. I have yet to use it, but I think that will be one of the hardest things for me about living here. Our landlord did put up a clothesline for us out in our “garden.” Although it will add work, it’s kind of “cute” to think of line drying our clothing! I’m a little worried though because our garden isn’t attached to our flat and the fence is really low so anyone could come and steal our clothes. (Like anyone would want our clothing! ha) I saw someone else drying their laundry in their garden today though, so I think it’s fairly common. Of course, with the frequent rain, it could be interesting! I’m sure it will be an adventure!
· Our fridge/freezer combo is teeny tiny! So is our sink. [Funny enough, our fridge/freezer at that flat was quite big by British standards and the sink had TWO holes, which is also really rare - so we were spoiled and didn't even know it!]
· At our flat, we have to “pre-pay” your utilities. Basically you put money on these little cards and then you insert them into your gas meter and electric meter. It tells you how many pounds (money) of gas and electricity you have left and if it runs out then your utilities stop working.
· We have to use a key to lock/unlock our doors and windows from the INSIDE or out. Talk about a fire hazard! I’m still getting the hang of actually locking the door because it is a bit tricky to make sure it actually locks. I keep misplacing my keys and then ending up locked in my own flat! Since we are on the 2nd floor [which here is actually called the 1st floor], we mostly keep our windows unlocked, but not the door. I keep trying to make sure I put the keys in the same place so that if there is an emergency, I can get out!
· The cars themselves are a lot smaller here. In the U.S. a mini sticks out like a sore thumb. Here they just look normal.
· Using the pound is kind of strange. It will take me a while to get used to their coins which range from 1 pence, 2 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence, 1 pound, and 2 pounds.
· We have radiators all over the house for heat in the winter. There are also pipes running along the bottom edge in some of the rooms from the radiator into the walls. It’s really hard to get the spot behind the pipe clean and it’s pretty gross in there. I wouldn’t worry too much except I have two little ones to take care of. Supposedly the pipes get warm enough that a kid would pull their hand away, but not hot enough to burn them. It will be interesting to see how that all goes with little kids and how well they actually keep me warm this winter! I sense another adventure coming up in the future…
· At least in our flat, everything is somewhat shoddily done. The overall effect is nice, but there are a lot of gaps between the floorboards, where the carpet meets the wood flooring, etc. Also the carpet in Nathan’s room and our hallway is really nasty. Vacuuming it helped, but looking at them, they still look dirty because of how old and worn they are. We have brand new carpet in our room, which is nice. The carpet doesn’t have padding though. I’m not sure if that is typically here in the UK or not.
· Our faucet in the bathroom has a separate tap for hot and cold water. It’s a little bit hard (or impossible) to wash your hands with “warm” water when the hot water is coming out of one side of the sink and the cold water is coming out of the other!
· Our tub is up really high and is also long and narrow. The shower doesn’t have much water pressure, which I’ve heard is typically in the UK, but Jeff thinks that the shower head is part of the problem. There was originally a different one with a leak, but the landlord replaced it for us with a “used” (very used looking) one that Jeff says is even worse. I’ve also noticed a lot of the things in the bathroom are REALLY rusted looking.
I think the very hardest part of being here right now is how filthy our flat is. It’s mostly just really grimy. I am really missing all of my cleaning supplies and cleaning rags that I got rid of in Texas. I know I couldn’t have brought them over here, but it would be nice to have them right now! The broom that was left with our flat is really crappy too. It’s similar to a tiny push broom (so everything has to be pushed not pulled when sweeping) and the handle is broken. Then they have a little broom and dustpan to use, but they are pretty dirty and gross themselves. I can’t wait to get it clean and comfortable! The worst for me is the kitchen and fridge. I know it will take a lot of work to get clean, but I know it will be worth it.
Really though, even with all of those things, our flat is nice. I know that sounds like a long list of complaints or something, but they really aren’t. They are just observations of differences. I actually really like our flat a lot and I think it helps that I wasn’t expecting everything to be the same. It IS interesting to think that we are paying the US equivalent of what we paid for our beautiful 2,200 square foot house in Texas to live here in 730 square feet! (Yes, I measured how many square feet it is!)
Saturday, 6 August 2011
6 August 2010
We’re here! The journey is over! Or maybe it has just begun! Right now I am sitting in our new flat or “new house” as Nathan calls it in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, UK. It’s quite surreal to think of us living here or finally being here. Life has definitely changed over the past two months, but the changes have been so drastic and constant that I truly almost can’t remember living in our large home in Texas.
The flight over from the U.S. went a lot better than I expected. That is precisely why I like the fact that I often worry about the worst. Because then I am PLEASANTLY surprised when it goes better than that. And this case was no exception. We left Jeff’s parents' home at noon to get to JFK Airport in time for our 6:30pm flight. The night before we left, both boys had trouble going to sleep. Nathan was extra fussy and we finally got him settled around 10pm or so. Christopher was up until 2:00 when Jeff finally decided to just move into the twin bed and Christopher came to bed with me and then slept for 5 hours straight again. Needless to say, we were all tired as we started our journey. We ended up with 6 large suitcases perfectly packed to 49 or 50 pounds each, one 20 lb checked bag for Christopher, 2 car seats, a LARGE stroller, pack ‘n play, two carry-on sized roller bags, three backpacks bursting at the seams, a large grocery bag stuffed full of snacks, and a large teddy bear. Needless to say, we were grateful to have Alison, as well as Jeff’s parents there to help us into the airport. The drive there took about 2 hours and check-in and security took a decent amount of time as well. The lady at the check-in counter was not exactly pleasant, but everything went very smoothly. We had everything weighed correctly and all of our documents in order. Security went well also. Those two things were the most stressful of the day and I am grateful that we are done with security checks at the airport for a while. Or, at least next time when we are traveling, we shouldn’t have as much STUFF!
After a LONG walk, carrying a LOT of stuff, we got to our gate around 3:45 and then took turn changing diapers, using the bathroom, and buying lunch. Unfortunately when our flight crew showed up, the plane that was supposed to leave before ours was STILL at the gate. Even though nothing was wrong with our plane, the plane ahead of us had mechanical problems and there were no open terminals to use for our plane. We ended up having to wait an extra TWO hours to leave! And then, it was only because they finally changed our gate. Of course, even once we got a new gate, we had to wait and wait for whatever reason. Nathan had HAD it (especially with no nap) and fell asleep as we walked to our new gate. The only problem with that is that we had to wake him up to get on the plane and he was NOT happy. He screamed and screamed and I’m sure everyone on the plane was worried about what the flight would be like. On a side note, I must say I love when airlines let the people traveling with kids on FIRST. It’s SO convenient and now that I have kids (and all of their STUFF with me on the plane), I realize how helpful it really is! Speaking of traveling with kids, when I was in the airport, I couldn’t help but think about how traveling has changed for me. I flew a lot at the end of college and for work and I got it down to a science where I took hardly ANYTHING on the plane with me, which made the airport (including security!) A LOT easier and more streamlined. Now I lug a million extra things around because I’m terrified that one of the kids will have a blow out or I’ll run out of diapers or I won’t be able to entertain them or keep them fed! But I digress!
When we landed I was getting really worried about what customs and immigration would be like, but it was a lot nicer than I expected. First of all, at immigrations, they let us cut ahead in line because we had kids. Once again, SO nice and really really really helpful! Jeff did all of the talking and getting through was no big deal. Then we went to pick up our luggage and go through customs. This was the part I worried about because we had SO MUCH LUGGAGE. We had the stroller piled high and two trolleys piled even higher. Luckily pushing both trolleys wasn’t too hard (for Jeff - hehe) and we walked through customs and didn’t get stopped at all. I didn’t realize that was how customs worked. It was easy as can be and MUCH better than I had pictured it!
When we got to the other side, there were several people standing and waiting. They got WIDE EYED and a pair of them exclaimed, “Now THAT is the most luggage we have seen all day!” Jeff had talked to someone in the ward about helping to pick us up, but because of our late departure and then the time to get through immigration and customs, we were close to two hours late. I was really worried that they would either not be there or they would be upset for having to wait so long. Almost as soon as we walked out the doors though, a man exclaimed, “Jeff!” and helped push the trolleys to a van where another member of the ward was waiting. They laughed and laughed when they saw our luggage and said it was the most they had ever seen. It made me feel pretty embarrassed, but we ARE going to be there for 3 years after all! And really, those are ALL the belongings we brought with us and the majority is baby clothes! One of the men is from Ghana originally, but has lived in the UK for five years. The other is sort of from Nigeria, but has lived in the UK for most of his life. He reminds me a lot (personality wise) of my friend from EY who is also from Nigeria. I couldn’t stop thinking about how grateful I am for our church and the fact that we can go across the ocean and find instant friends who are willing to sacrifice to help out complete strangers! It was really touching!
AMAZINGLY they were able to get ALL of our belongings into the van and we were on our way. Seriously even Jeff didn’t think we would all fit! The van had sliding seats and because of the way the luggage was, the back seat wasn’t locked in all of the way. Jeff and I ended up squished into the back seat and the seat was sliding all the way home! That was interesting! We took one of the main roads that circles around London and it was quite beautiful. It just looked like beautiful English countryside, with a super busy freeway through it! I am excited for when we can go explore a little bit more. In fact, as we were flying in, we could see castles through the plane windows. Awesome!
When we got to our new house, Nathan was SO excited. He ran around finding all of the new toys from Jeff’s boss having so much fun! Jeff took me on a tour of the house and all I could think about was how dirty it was! It really needs to be deep cleaned! I also kept thinking about how strange some of the things are and how we had no food or dish cloths etc etc etc. Plus I was BEYOND tired! Shortly after we got home, all four of us took a long nap (basically until Nathan woke up). And then I was itching to get to the store. I’m so glad that Jeff bought mattresses and a few furnishings before we got here because it has made things much more comfortable. Still, their weren’t sheets for our bed, dish cloths or towels for the kitchen, plates to eat off, or even much to eat, etc!
We took our first outing without a car and with both babies, which was interesting. It’s close, but not SUPER close (later I found out it was about 1.6 miles round trip) and of course there ended up being a cool breeze and a little bit of rain. And Jeff seemed embarrassed that we had our stroller with us, and Nathan got tired and fussy, and the stores are different (I'll admit I was really stressed out by how different everything was), and using pounds is weird. Still, we were able to get several things we need and get just enough food for dinner, which tasted DELICIOUS just because we were all starving!
The flight over from the U.S. went a lot better than I expected. That is precisely why I like the fact that I often worry about the worst. Because then I am PLEASANTLY surprised when it goes better than that. And this case was no exception. We left Jeff’s parents' home at noon to get to JFK Airport in time for our 6:30pm flight. The night before we left, both boys had trouble going to sleep. Nathan was extra fussy and we finally got him settled around 10pm or so. Christopher was up until 2:00 when Jeff finally decided to just move into the twin bed and Christopher came to bed with me and then slept for 5 hours straight again. Needless to say, we were all tired as we started our journey. We ended up with 6 large suitcases perfectly packed to 49 or 50 pounds each, one 20 lb checked bag for Christopher, 2 car seats, a LARGE stroller, pack ‘n play, two carry-on sized roller bags, three backpacks bursting at the seams, a large grocery bag stuffed full of snacks, and a large teddy bear. Needless to say, we were grateful to have Alison, as well as Jeff’s parents there to help us into the airport. The drive there took about 2 hours and check-in and security took a decent amount of time as well. The lady at the check-in counter was not exactly pleasant, but everything went very smoothly. We had everything weighed correctly and all of our documents in order. Security went well also. Those two things were the most stressful of the day and I am grateful that we are done with security checks at the airport for a while. Or, at least next time when we are traveling, we shouldn’t have as much STUFF!
After a LONG walk, carrying a LOT of stuff, we got to our gate around 3:45 and then took turn changing diapers, using the bathroom, and buying lunch. Unfortunately when our flight crew showed up, the plane that was supposed to leave before ours was STILL at the gate. Even though nothing was wrong with our plane, the plane ahead of us had mechanical problems and there were no open terminals to use for our plane. We ended up having to wait an extra TWO hours to leave! And then, it was only because they finally changed our gate. Of course, even once we got a new gate, we had to wait and wait for whatever reason. Nathan had HAD it (especially with no nap) and fell asleep as we walked to our new gate. The only problem with that is that we had to wake him up to get on the plane and he was NOT happy. He screamed and screamed and I’m sure everyone on the plane was worried about what the flight would be like. On a side note, I must say I love when airlines let the people traveling with kids on FIRST. It’s SO convenient and now that I have kids (and all of their STUFF with me on the plane), I realize how helpful it really is! Speaking of traveling with kids, when I was in the airport, I couldn’t help but think about how traveling has changed for me. I flew a lot at the end of college and for work and I got it down to a science where I took hardly ANYTHING on the plane with me, which made the airport (including security!) A LOT easier and more streamlined. Now I lug a million extra things around because I’m terrified that one of the kids will have a blow out or I’ll run out of diapers or I won’t be able to entertain them or keep them fed! But I digress!
 |
| Waiting and waiting and waiting for the plane and thankfully sleeping! |
 |
When we landed I was getting really worried about what customs and immigration would be like, but it was a lot nicer than I expected. First of all, at immigrations, they let us cut ahead in line because we had kids. Once again, SO nice and really really really helpful! Jeff did all of the talking and getting through was no big deal. Then we went to pick up our luggage and go through customs. This was the part I worried about because we had SO MUCH LUGGAGE. We had the stroller piled high and two trolleys piled even higher. Luckily pushing both trolleys wasn’t too hard (for Jeff - hehe) and we walked through customs and didn’t get stopped at all. I didn’t realize that was how customs worked. It was easy as can be and MUCH better than I had pictured it!
When we got to the other side, there were several people standing and waiting. They got WIDE EYED and a pair of them exclaimed, “Now THAT is the most luggage we have seen all day!” Jeff had talked to someone in the ward about helping to pick us up, but because of our late departure and then the time to get through immigration and customs, we were close to two hours late. I was really worried that they would either not be there or they would be upset for having to wait so long. Almost as soon as we walked out the doors though, a man exclaimed, “Jeff!” and helped push the trolleys to a van where another member of the ward was waiting. They laughed and laughed when they saw our luggage and said it was the most they had ever seen. It made me feel pretty embarrassed, but we ARE going to be there for 3 years after all! And really, those are ALL the belongings we brought with us and the majority is baby clothes! One of the men is from Ghana originally, but has lived in the UK for five years. The other is sort of from Nigeria, but has lived in the UK for most of his life. He reminds me a lot (personality wise) of my friend from EY who is also from Nigeria. I couldn’t stop thinking about how grateful I am for our church and the fact that we can go across the ocean and find instant friends who are willing to sacrifice to help out complete strangers! It was really touching!
AMAZINGLY they were able to get ALL of our belongings into the van and we were on our way. Seriously even Jeff didn’t think we would all fit! The van had sliding seats and because of the way the luggage was, the back seat wasn’t locked in all of the way. Jeff and I ended up squished into the back seat and the seat was sliding all the way home! That was interesting! We took one of the main roads that circles around London and it was quite beautiful. It just looked like beautiful English countryside, with a super busy freeway through it! I am excited for when we can go explore a little bit more. In fact, as we were flying in, we could see castles through the plane windows. Awesome!
When we got to our new house, Nathan was SO excited. He ran around finding all of the new toys from Jeff’s boss having so much fun! Jeff took me on a tour of the house and all I could think about was how dirty it was! It really needs to be deep cleaned! I also kept thinking about how strange some of the things are and how we had no food or dish cloths etc etc etc. Plus I was BEYOND tired! Shortly after we got home, all four of us took a long nap (basically until Nathan woke up). And then I was itching to get to the store. I’m so glad that Jeff bought mattresses and a few furnishings before we got here because it has made things much more comfortable. Still, their weren’t sheets for our bed, dish cloths or towels for the kitchen, plates to eat off, or even much to eat, etc!
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| The flat with all the stuff Jeff left in it when he came back to get us, along with all of our luggage. What a mess! (That's teeny tiny Christopher on the sofa!) |
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| Jeff's boss gave us a lot of his daughter's old toys, we brought some from America, and for Nathan's birthday, Jeff had bought him a little train set. Nathan was in heaven, even if I was in shock by the mess and sparseness of the place! |
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| Jeff had been in a hurry when he left several weeks before. He had clothes hanging on the radiators to dry, food still out from breakfast, and mountainous piles of boxes. Look what a few weeks of the bachelor life does! |
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| Our bed. No sheets. No blankets. At least I had convinced Jeff to buy us a mattress before we arrived! |
We took our first outing without a car and with both babies, which was interesting. It’s close, but not SUPER close (later I found out it was about 1.6 miles round trip) and of course there ended up being a cool breeze and a little bit of rain. And Jeff seemed embarrassed that we had our stroller with us, and Nathan got tired and fussy, and the stores are different (I'll admit I was really stressed out by how different everything was), and using pounds is weird. Still, we were able to get several things we need and get just enough food for dinner, which tasted DELICIOUS just because we were all starving!
 |
| Finally some food! |
5 August 2010
When I get to London, it will be 7am, which is 2am New Jersey time and 11pm Seattle time. Nathan has been having a hard time going to sleep at night here (while we were in NJ briefly with Jeff's family) and I can only imagine what it will be like with the 5-8 hour time change from what he is used to. Christopher slept like a dream (in the 2 month old not-sleeping-through-the-night sense) last night, waking up for the first time after FIVE hours and then another 3 hours later. Nathan was up until 1am on Tuesday morning after a long 12 hours spent in the Sea-Tac S terminal, with only a BLESSED 1 1/2 hour nap. He almost instantly fell asleep with his head on my hip and although I got extremely uncomfortable and sore from trying not to be in his way as he slept. ANYTHING to keep that kiddo asleep and quiet! After a 3 hour 15 minute flight, we landed in Minnesota for an hour and then headed back into the air for just over 2 hours as we headed to Philadelphia. Nathan didn't want anything to do with sitting up in his own seat with a seat belt. He wanted to cuddle with daddy and drift off to sleep. After screaming and crying for a few minutes, the flight attendant let us do just that. The last hour of the flight I was ready to die and wondered again and again when it would end and how I was going to do the long flight across the pond. When we arrived in Philadelphia, the pack 'n play we had gate checked in Seattle and then again in Minnesota had mysteriously disappeared and couldn't be located anywhere. We finally got it back this morning on our doorstep. After a long drive back to New Jersey yesterday, we were able to get Nathan to nap for four hours and Jeff and I napped for five. Last night all of us slept for twelve hours.
Life has been crazy.
Today as we were packing for the MILLIONTH time, I felt so much relief realizing that really this is the LAST time we would have to repack and thin out our belongings for quite a while. That process has been exhausting and tedious and reminds me yet again how much STUFF we can accumulate and hold on to. At the same time, I found great joy as I looked at my clothing, including my socks!!! It was so fun to see MY THINGS again!
And now, tomorrow, it all starts again. For the last time for a while. We leave here at noon, hoping to get to JFK (which Jeff's dad HATES driving to) several hours early for our 6:30pm flight. We get to experience the joy of jet lag with two kiddos after a 7 1/2 hour trans-Atlantic flight (not to mention the flight itself- SHUDDER). We get to deal with customs and somehow getting us and our belongings home. We get to deal with getting the final housewares for our flat and trying to get back to normal. We won't have the Internet at first. We don't have cell phones or even a home phone. It should be an adventure...
Life has been crazy.
Today as we were packing for the MILLIONTH time, I felt so much relief realizing that really this is the LAST time we would have to repack and thin out our belongings for quite a while. That process has been exhausting and tedious and reminds me yet again how much STUFF we can accumulate and hold on to. At the same time, I found great joy as I looked at my clothing, including my socks!!! It was so fun to see MY THINGS again!
And now, tomorrow, it all starts again. For the last time for a while. We leave here at noon, hoping to get to JFK (which Jeff's dad HATES driving to) several hours early for our 6:30pm flight. We get to experience the joy of jet lag with two kiddos after a 7 1/2 hour trans-Atlantic flight (not to mention the flight itself- SHUDDER). We get to deal with customs and somehow getting us and our belongings home. We get to deal with getting the final housewares for our flat and trying to get back to normal. We won't have the Internet at first. We don't have cell phones or even a home phone. It should be an adventure...
4 August 2010
Tomorrow I will board a plane bound for Europe with my family, 2 car seats, a pack 'n play, a stroller, 7 items of checked luggage, 2 carry-on suitcases, 3 backpacks, and one incredibly large teddy bear. I suppose I could sing the words to that well known song: "I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again..."
It's surreal to consider the fact that I am leaving the United States. I've lived here my entire life and only left for about 4 hours ONCE to visit Canada. I never thought I'd visit Europe, let alone LIVE there. It's surreal to think that I won't introduce myself based on the city or state I came from, but the country. It's surreal to consider how much my life has changed over the past two months. It's crazy to think Christopher is two months old today. Things have been so busy that his little life has just flown by. Since he was born, the boys and I have stayed in 6 different houses, soon to be 7. We've lived in 4 different time zones, and will soon live in another. I haven't had time to really think about the changes. I haven't had time to cry about the changes. I haven't had time to be excited for the changes. I've been to busy to do anything but run, run, run and to try to be a mommy to my kiddos and to try to cross things off of our seemingly never-ending list. I've unpacked and repacked about seven THOUSAND times to the point that burning EVERYTHING has sounded like a happy alternative on more than one occassion. I'm looking forward to life slowing down. I'm looking forward to settling down in one place again. I'm looking forward to having a routine again. I'm grateful that I was able to spend so much time with family (though not all) and spend so much time saying goodbye to many friends (though not all). I'm thankful for the technology that will keep us connected and I'm grateful that I know this isn't a permanent goodbye.
I wonder how different life will be in three years when we are heading back to this side of the pond again. I wonder how different I will be. Life has a way of moving forward and changing us. Right now I am riding the change...
It's surreal to consider the fact that I am leaving the United States. I've lived here my entire life and only left for about 4 hours ONCE to visit Canada. I never thought I'd visit Europe, let alone LIVE there. It's surreal to think that I won't introduce myself based on the city or state I came from, but the country. It's surreal to consider how much my life has changed over the past two months. It's crazy to think Christopher is two months old today. Things have been so busy that his little life has just flown by. Since he was born, the boys and I have stayed in 6 different houses, soon to be 7. We've lived in 4 different time zones, and will soon live in another. I haven't had time to really think about the changes. I haven't had time to cry about the changes. I haven't had time to be excited for the changes. I've been to busy to do anything but run, run, run and to try to be a mommy to my kiddos and to try to cross things off of our seemingly never-ending list. I've unpacked and repacked about seven THOUSAND times to the point that burning EVERYTHING has sounded like a happy alternative on more than one occassion. I'm looking forward to life slowing down. I'm looking forward to settling down in one place again. I'm looking forward to having a routine again. I'm grateful that I was able to spend so much time with family (though not all) and spend so much time saying goodbye to many friends (though not all). I'm thankful for the technology that will keep us connected and I'm grateful that I know this isn't a permanent goodbye.
I wonder how different life will be in three years when we are heading back to this side of the pond again. I wonder how different I will be. Life has a way of moving forward and changing us. Right now I am riding the change...
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