Daddy/Addie Day and First British Baby-Sitter

Today was pretty momentous for me because I left Addison twice in one day and was away from her for the longest amount of time since our house hunting trip. I was asked back on our house hunting trip to attend the local production of "High School Musical" and I of course agreed, but I didn't realize it was going to be on a Saturday afternoon and that it wasn't going to be appropriate for me to bring her with me. So it was an Addie and Daddy afternoon while Mommy went off to the show. I did have a great time but I thought about my two kiddos the whole time and had to text message home to see how things were going. Later that evening Kevin and I had plans to attend a get-together at a friends house. My friend had offered that I could bring Addison and have her babysitter watch her, but since we had Addie on this new sleeping regiment we wanted her to be in her own bed. So we had the daunting/scary task of finding a babysitter for the evening. We asked around to some other ISE's and we got Abbey's name. She lives only 5 minutes away in a neighboring village and she was super sweet on the phone but we were about to leave our baby with a complete stranger....we were so nervous, but all went well. We let Addison met Abbey but then I put her to bed before we took off because she had been going through some serious "mommy withdrawl". We had a lovely time at the party and surprisingly we didn't call home...mostly because we didn't want the home phone to wake up Addison. Abbey reported that Addie did end up waking up about an hour or so after we left so she brought her down to play and then she went back to sleep. The really interesting thing about hiring a babysitter is that the going rate for their services is 5 pounds/hour....so if you are gone for four hours that's 20 pounds and that translates to $40 for 4 hours of someone sitting at your house while your daughter sleeps upstairs. Crazy you say...but well worth it!

Hardest Night as a Parent so Far

Well after serveral weeks of giving Addison the benefit of the doubt that she was probably teething and that was what was keeping her up at night we decided to set down a new regime in the Dea household. I had looked up some things on the internet about sleeping problems with 8 month olds and I finally felt that we needed to do something different. Either we could let Addie keep us up every 1 1/2 hours each night or we could start taking back our evenings. It seemed so harsh but we lowered the matress and we put Addison in bed at 7PM and let her scream it out. It was the most heart wrenching thing ever to hear your child scream, and to top it all off it was the first time I had ever heard her call out "Ma-ma". After about 20 minutes she finally fell asleep. When I went to check on her and she had her face buried down in the sheets and her butt sticking up in the air. Needless to say she woke up at midnight and screamed again. It took about four nights before she would sleep through the night and wake up around 6:30. Addison and I (and Kevin) hadn't slept that long through the night in ages and it felt wonderful (for all of us).

Weekend In London

This weekend we decided to take our first trip to London as British residents. Kevin and I had spent two hectic days there a year ago and saw a lot of sites but our goal was to "take it easy" since we had Addie this time. We decided to back pack it and take the train from Peterborough to King's Cross Station in London. It only took 1 hour and 20 minutes and was very relaxing not having to drive. Addie had a great time on the train and even took a short nap. We brought Addison to Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben at Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We made our way up to Nottinghill in search of Portabello Road, but got sidetracked when I wanted to find Kensington Palace (former home of Diana). Well after an hour of walking around we couldn't find it (it really pays to have a good map of London to find things). Kevin had about enough walking and said "I need a pint." We turned around and went into a Tex Mex place. It was a good rest. We finally found Portabello Road and it was chaotic...so many people, but some really cool stuff. The street was loaded with vendors selling antiques to brand new Wallace and Grommit memorabilia. We made our way to the Holiday Inn in Camden Town which we didn't realize must be the tatoo and piercing capital of the UK. When we went to get dinner at 5:50PM the restarants would not allow children inside after 6PM because they were all considered bars, but we could sit outside. We finally ended up eating at some sushi restaraunt, which was really good, but we didn't eat sushi though. The area was a bit rough for a young couple with an 8 month old and only after we made our way through the market area to end up surrounded by "goth" looking people and Asian food vendors yelling to us that all their food was on sale for 2 GBP a plate. The next day we walked about 2 miles to Regent Park and to the London Zoo. Addie loved the zoo and all the animals. I think her favorite was the gorillas because they would come right up to the glass and make faces at the children. The train ride home was so much nicer than driving, but the train was pretty busy. When we go to the station the exit gates were open which we thought was weird. The car park was one of those pay based on how long you stayed there. While other people stood at the machines paying their 5 pounds a day for weekend parking we passed by and snuck out the gate....I hope that wasn't illegal, but why would they keep the gates wide open going in and out with no one around. Lucky us, we saved 10 pounds (that's $20).

A Quest to Find Conservatory Furniture and the Cyclone/Hawkeye Game

Well to start things off you have to realize that yes in the UK lots of people have conservatories...just like in the game Clue, but our is more like a 4 seasons room. Also when it comes to British vocabulary...you pronouce conservatory all jumbled up like "con-serv-a-tree"...sounds kind of like conserving a tree. Anyway I started with the yellow pages, which is almost impossible to find anything in because they call everything something different. So being the techno junkie I am I went to the internet to look for places that sold such furniture and I found two that were close by. My first place was called "Wicker World"...to me it sounded like that RV place in Pontiac, IL - "RV World". It took me a while to find the place because it was out in the middle of no where and my Sat Nav put it next to a pig farm, but I actually ended up calling the place and found it down the road. From the looks of the place I didn't know what to expect, but they had some really nice and modern looking pieces and the sales chap was very nice and helped me load up Addie's push chair (stroller) in the car. I checked out a second place that was hidden back in a scary looking building. What they had really reminded me of one of the "Golden Girls" sitcom episodes. I told the salesman that looking at wicker furniture reminded me of Florida and he asked me "Why?" in a curious manner. I said it reminded me of old retired people who live in Florida that have those tropical prints on the super light and shiny cane type furniture. I don't think he really understood since most Brits seem to think of Florida as sandy beaches and Disney World. Kevin went back to Wicker World with me on Saturday and we picked out a pretty nice set which should be in around 3-6 weeks. When we got home from shopping we fixed up some hot dogs and taco dip and sat around the computer to listen to our favorite Iowa State Cyclones beat the tar out of the Iowa Hawkeyes. It was great to listen to some familiar sounds of home and listening to the commericals was even weirder...an American accent instead of British...it was great.

Guess Who Got Married???

We were in for the biggest suprise when our friends Brad and Jaye came for the weekend. As we strolled to the pub Thursday evening they filled us in on the biggest secret of all...they were planning to get married in Peterborough on Saturday night and we were asked to be a part of it. This was bigger than Bush's "shock and awe" and we were so honored. So on Friday we went to Warwick Castle (one of the greatest castle's in all of England - a must go for everyone) to get some English sites in. We got to watch and participate in the shooting of the largest working trebuchet in the world...yes we walked around a big hamster wheel type thing to wind up a rope to pull over 6 tons up in the air 5 meters to then hurl a 15kg ball that was lit on fire. It was sweet. Addison slept through the whole thing but we got it all on video so we'll show it to her later.
On Saturday we helped Brad and Jaye get things ready for the wedding and of course Addison and I needed new outfits for the occasion so we ran into M&S and I got a new black dress and Addie got a new pink sweater to wear over the same dress she wore in Auntie Crystal's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and it was so wonderful to see they two great people finally get "hitched". They told us they had been planning things ever since they knew we were moving over here. It was first of all great to have visitors so soon but to be a part of their wedding was spectacular. After the ceremony we went to the Sessions House for a few pints and then off to Tuscanini's...a fabulous Italian restaraunt in Eye. Then on Sunday we dropped them off at Luton Airport so they could head out on their honeymoon in Amsterdam and France.

Did She Just Crawl???

We're in trouble now, Addison is mobile. As we were hanging up some shelfs in the living room tonight, Kevin shouted to me to look as we watched her move forward about 3 crawls and then flat on her tummy. "She's crawling, she's crawling" Kevin was extatic...I said "We're in trouble now." She really enjoys moving around and had been pretty stable on her arms and moving backwards lately but never moved forward until tonight.Kevin also likes to get her to stand up and here he's got her to hold on to the couch and stand for a while on her own. I guess I would prefer her to climb up on the couch versus her always heading towards the fireplace...I can tell that's going to be our toughest challenge. We are so proud of her though. We couldn't wait to get her to replicate her efforts in front of the grandparents on Skype the next day.