quick update

just a quick update as i just have a few moments of internet time.

*we have been in the USA since dec 16th.

*right now internet is spotty or nonexistant at the moment--planets have to align or somesuch.

*we are in the process of moving all of our things from storage and my parents' home to our new rental home. distance between said storage and parents' home to rental home--400miles of wintery, blizzardy, Iowa-Minnesota roads...makes for interesting travel.

*rental house has old furnace that had been off for several months before we started moving in--commence fiasco of getting furnace guy to fix old furnace andthen we have frozen water pipes.

*water pipes thaw--fix burst pipes, turn water on, bathroom floods from broken toilet. fix toilet, need to rip out carpet in bathroom (who puts CARPET in the bathroom--gross!)---don't worry folks, any moolah we spend gets knocked off our rent.

*K starts new job working awake overnights during moving in fiasco--little sleep makes for tired crabby K. K likes her new job, though :)

*M falls and sprains his wrist. Learns about the American system of DIY medical care as we cannot afford a doctor bill. We miss the UK's National Health Service.

*L starts new school and LOVES it! She is adjusting well and making friends and loving riding a real yellow school bus to school.

*Z turned 12 and spent his Christmas vacation with us and had a great time being together.

*A turned a year and remains an inquisitive happy little boy.

*In all the hub-bub of moving, starting a new job, starting a new school, and birthdays, and holidays, we also added taekwando classes to our busy life. So far it is L and M starting out but eventually K will too, we just need a babysitter for A.

*I love this busy life and wouldn't change it for the world!

And now the baby wants his nay-nays to help him take a nap so I must go, and I am not sure when I will be back, I miss all my peeps in the blogosphere

take care for now my friends!

Up Up and Away...

Lizzardbits is officially, at this very moment, up in an airplane, skidding over fluffy clouds, admiring the land and water from her skyrise view in the sky.

(Hello, Hillbilly Duhn, guest blogging here!!)

I can't tell you how excited that I am, to finally have my best friend back in the States again. Sure, sure, it will still be awhile before I get to actually lay eyes on her, or hug her silly. But, just knowing that she's back with her kids and family again, warms my heart.

So, here's to Lizzardbits, M and Alex, wishing them a safe journey and all the warm and fuzzies that go with floating hearts and the excitement of a family being reunited. I wish them all the luck in the world and even shed a few tears of happiness for them. I love them all. (my extended family that I adopted way back in the day!!)

I LOVE YOU K. Have a safe and wonderful homecomming!!

5 am

I am up, wide awake at 5 am. Actually I woke up at 3:41 to be exact as that was when M's alarm went off for him to get up for work. I think that the reason why I cannot fall back asleep is that I am so excited, nervous, happy, worried, and have a bazillion things running through my mind to do before we move and saying all the farewells to people and things.

I keep thinking "a week from today, we'll be at the hotel, airport, plane, the USA......." I don't feel bad for me I feel bad for M and his folks and them saying farewell.


and Alex is awake so I must go

My entry to Hillbilly Duhn's Contest

Naked Truth http://hillbillyduhn.blogspot.com/2008/12/contest.html.


Honesty, words spoken with what we believe is correct, free of deception. Is there total and utter honesty in today's life? One would like to believe that there is, but if one delves deeper, one would find that very few things are "true". Things can be proven, as in scientifically are thought to be rather true, like gravity, but then science can play with out perception of truth as well.

A flower, tender, yellow, opens it's fragrant petals as part of the dance of life. Sounds lovely and poetic, but that sentence is filled with untruths. How? What if I were to tell you that flower is actually perceived as purple and black yet fragrant to a bee. Or that the flower is a dandelion and most people think they are a nusance stinky weed. Or a blind person may not know what yellow is, but can recognize their front yard by the smell of the buttercups and dandelions. You can see that peception and belief can skew words into untruths to the other being who sees things differently from oneself.

The naked truth of truth is the acceptance and understanding that other beings believe and see things in different, yet, not wrong ways, from the way that oneself believes and sees things. Yes, acceptance and even love.

Contest!

http://hillbillyduhn.blogspot.com/2008/12/contest.html



go there to win a writing contest! The contest is being called "the Naked Truth" and the prize is a handpainted journal by the very very talented HillBilly Duhn. Go check it out! Better yet, go write something!

WE GOT IT!

fogive my yelling but....WE GOT THE VISA AND WE ARE GOING BACK HOME TO THE STATES ON DECEMBER 16TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



*takes a big breath after that* we actually got the visa on wednesday morning and we bought the plane tickets yesterday. We now have 11 days left here and 9 days to pack. We will have an American Christmas/solstice this year! Hurrah!



do the happy happy joy joy dance with me!

2 years ago...

My plane landed in the UK and I started calling it home. 2 years ago that I became an official immigrant and started settling in to my new, albeit temporary, country. 2 years of homesickness and yearning to move back, taking my new husband and then a little later, new baby back to my homeland. 2 years to really learn what it is to be an American in this "global community". 2 years to really be grateful for what I am blessed with and learning to live and love life!

Hopefully we will be hearing good news on M's visa and hopefully we'll be home for the winter holidays--sounds like peeps haz planz 4 uz back home :):):)

Ahhh SLEEP! sort of...

After nearly 11 months of waking to nurse Alex every 1-2 hours, these last 2 weeks he's been sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches, ahhhh, HOWEVER, last night and the night before he slept through the night! From 10pm to 6am and 10pm to 4am, 8 and 6 hours! (5 hour stretches are considered through the night)---Now if *I* could only retrain my sleep rhythms to his again and *I'll* be sleeping through the night--I still wake up every 2-3 hours to check on him and make sure that he's OK on his mat on the floor next to me (we have a too small mattress to fully family bed, so we put our mattress on the floor and Alex has a mat and blankets next to me)

He still morning nurses for 1-2 hours, where we cuddle-nurse in our bed, and we both doze for a bit, which helps me to eek out those precious minutes of sleep, but it is a light sleep and not one that I could handle overnight.

Sad news for me, I have a major dip in my supply, and am taking fenugreek like it is going out of style, I need to get back in the habit of morning oatmeal again. One great side effect of fenugreek that I forgot that I liked was that I smell like maple syrup.

He's not ready to quit breastfeeding and neither am I, so if oatmeal and fenugreek and nurse-a-thons don't work, I am thinking of trying the dom route, but that is last ditch I think.

So anyway sleep and boobies, there you go, great thoughts for the day!

update on Alex

Update to the ambulance post--Alex has a risidual cough now, and is drooling, but otherwise he is as rambunctious and lively as ever--and walking more and more!

tagged and stuff....

1. What is your funniest childhood story?
Must have been the time when I was about 8 or 9 and I was out playing on a low roof of a stairway to a basement house. I was using as a slide even thought the shingles were rough. Well they sand-papered my behind and I ended up with abrasions to my bum and back of my legs and sitting was horrid for the next day or so. That isn't the worst though--the cute guy in my class, Ronnie E, and my cute neighbor boy, Brian J, saw me walking back home rather stiff legged with my jogging pants shredded in the back and my orange clock underwear hanging out. Embarrassing enough, but I was wearing the last pair of clean undies in my drawer and I absolutely loathed my blue, pink and orange underwear with a clock print on them. I never wanted to go to school again, lol!


2. What would your dream dress look like if you could design it?
This is the base of my dress that I will wear for our American wedding/blessing ceremony/vow renewal. I am going to have a shawl or something over my arms.

My friend, T., borrowed it for her wedding 2 years ago and she looked lovely in it.

3. What weird habit does your other half have? Bruxism--he grinds his teeth in his sleep.

4. How many cookbooks are in your kitchen? 3, one Marks & Spencers British foods and 2 Gordon Ramsey cook books


5. Granny panties or loyal Victoria Secret girl? sexy drawers in my drawers no longer exist--heck I only have 4 pair of underpants (I am always doing laundry)


6. My favorite memory from 2008 so far is? Duh, birth of Alex


7. I secretly... check the toilet paper. every. time. Gross I know, but I have done it ever since I was 10 and my 12 year old friend told me what a period was, as she was having hers and I was horrified. I had thought a period was the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. So I started obsessively checking. A 22 year old habit is hard to break.


8. I could really go for... Pumpkin pie with cool whip


9. We are going to have a big snowstorm and you will find me... In the states-finding a safe place to mess around driving in the snow. I used to spin cookies with my 1964 Ford in the snow--I loved it!

Here in the UK-bwahahaha! A mere dusting of snow and everyone panics and car pileups are common. Think of Florida getting snow then replace the bright warm sunny weather with dark dreary grey misty rainy weather.

10. I knew s/he was the one...
I have 2 life-partners:

My Beloved Husband--Almost right away when he talked about loving to hug and cuddle and I announced on the other side of my monitor "Awww He's a cuddler, aww, I could love him." 10 days later I wrote "I love you!" and that I love you changed our lives. No regrets, *Sigh* He makes me happy and all warm and fuzzy. We are mushballs!

My best friend--Ha honestly, ready for this K? I knew that we'd be friends back in high school because she was a "smoker", I knew her family had very little money like mine, and she was cool enough to be dating the guy that I had a crush on. Birds of a feather flock together, right? Added bonus that she was artistic and we shared having the hots for our Art teacher. We weren't super close friends in high school, it was after, like June 2nd, that I knew that we'd be forever friends and then the night she and her 1st hubby left for Cali and stopped to see me and my roomie before they left. I gave them all my money and my blessings as they started their new life together. When she came back from Cali and her hubby was stationed overseas was when even though we were far apart, we were and are inseparable.

Now to tag 3 more people. I choose...

I hate choosing so if you read this and feel like you want to do it, leave a comment and a link back to your blog. Thanks!