It's Official

Well, it's official. We will be returning to Illinois by June 1st. They sent out a formal announcement at CAT on Friday. I have been waiting almost 2 years for this. There are so many things I am excited about getting back to-more than I can name. But....I will miss the friends I have made here so much. I hate good-byes. I believe these women have come into my life for many reasons and I have definately grown as a wife, mother and friend since meeting them. I have made a list of things I will miss and won't miss that I want to share. Some might be bored with all of this but I am planning on having my blog made into a journal/scrapbook eventually so stay with me. Moving over here was VERY hard for me. Some thought I was crazy to not want this adventure for a couple of years but I am just a small town girl who never even really thought about having a passport or flying over the ocean. I was very content where I was. However, we thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for the kids and ourselves, as well as for family and friends who would come and visit. I remember when arriving for our househunting visit and I just couldn't believe how different everything was. I was terrified the first time we went to the grocery store-I didn't recognize any of the brands and couldn't believe the eggs weren't refridgerated. How was I going to fit all the food we needed into my tiny fridge? I never thought I would be able to drive. Now, almost 2 years later I have pretty much adjusted to the way of life in a foreign country. I have my favorite brands of food and Tesco (like Wal-Mart) is like my second home. I know this is sad, but I spent many nights crying just wanting to go back home. What am I-a child???? I feel I haven't made the most of my time here-I have spent more time just wanting to go back home. Shame on me. On the bright side, we have had some wonderful experiences here and I have seen things in Europe, I never thought I would ever see and CAT has given us this opportunity. I am very greatful for my expanded view of the world. It has opened my mind to all that is out there and I think "Wow-what else is there"? Since becoming pregant and having Beckett, our travels have way cut down. We haven't seen everything we had planned to but to be able to say I have been to London, Paris, Rome, Tuscany and Venice is more than I ever thought possible. I am thankful. Here are my lists. For those of you that LOVE it here (this would be you, Holli,) don't be offended.







Things I will miss

-friends

-produce

-Hovis Invisible Crust Bread

-kids freedom to play outside unattended

-cheap flights around Europe

-LONDON!

-kids accents when they go away

-H&M

-Next

-"Cheers"

-school uniforms

-not having a house payment

-my hairdresser

-x-tra curricular activities done at school

-mail dropped through my front door

-grocery delivery

-tiny post office with no lines

-charity pick -up at my house

-my babysitter, Chloe

Things I won't miss

-roundabouts

-narrow roads and parking spaces (I have damaged three vehicles while living here)

-just driving altogether

-bicyclists

-bending over to get into my fridge

-lack of garbage disposal

-lack of water pressure

-teeny, tiny washing machine and dryer

-dryer in garage

-our motor home sized shower

-house

-food

-lack of pay at the pump

-NHS

-all the coins in my wallet

I am sure I am forgetting things for both lists but this is all I could come up with for now.

Some of my serious lows have been the crying and the damaging of three vehicles. Sawyer's first year of school was also tough (led to much of the crying).





Highlights have been: the birth of Beckett, Paris (twice), Rome, Tuscany, Venice, London and the shows (Footloose, Guys and Dolls, Wicked (two times), Lion King, Stomp, Chicago, Mama Mia and Hairspray. Also, all of our visitors!!!!!





Note self-I ended up coming with more misses and highlights than things I will miss and lows.





I put together a picture montage to share but I can't quite figure out how to get it to my blog (my computer illiteracy is showing). I will hopefully be able to get it on when Kyle can help me this weekend.

Fun with Tyler and Amy!

We had a WONDERFUL visit from my brother Tyler and his amazing wife, Amy. They arrived last Friday and we ate that night at our favorite pub, The Black Horse. Although English food isn't generally anything to get excited about, The Black Horse is excellent! On Sat. we were able to visit Warwick Castle. On Sunday morning they headed to Rome on their own until Wed. night. On Thurs. we did some shopping at Serpentine Green and yesterday we visited the coast (Wells by the Sea). The weather was horrible yesterday but we still managed to have a great time anyways in the rain and wind. My two beautiful nieces were left at home with my parents so Tyler and Amy could get some time together. I know they got time alone in Rome but while they were with us my kids wouldn't leave them alone. They are loved. I miss them already and am extremely grateful everyday of how wonderful my family is. Also, we had Beckett blessed on Thurs. night so Tyler could take part. For those of you who aren't Mormon, a baby is given a blessing as a baby instead of baptism. Mormons generally baptize at age 8. The blessing puts their name on the records of our church and it is kind of a prayer done by their father (Kyle) to bless them through life. It was great having family here to share that with us. These are some photos of our time together.

Merry Christmas-OOPS!! I mean Happy Easter

We have had the craziest weather weekend here in England. The winters here tend to be very mild, rarely getting below 40-45 degrees. Snow is a huge treat. On Saturday morning we woke to quite a bit of it. Kyle and the kids were even able to build a snowman. It snowed on and off all day but due to the usually warmer temperatures it didn't stick around for long. On Sunday it snowed again but a lot more. When we left for church in the morning the ground was covered. Of course we didn't get a white Christmas but we did get a white Easter. We were lucky enough to get invited to Easter dinner at the home of our wonderful friends, The Kiesers. They had about 16 adults and 13 kids. The kids had an egg hunt in the snow wearing their "wellies" (rain boots). All of us are away from family on the holidays so it means a lot to get together. The kids had a great Easter and have been eating their candy-I can't wait until it is gone!!

My brother, Tyler and wife, Amy arrived on Fri. but are living it up in Rome until Wed. I will post pictures from their visit at the end of the week.

Our house update is that the foundation has been poured and plumbing is going in-yeah!!

My U.S. and U.K. Friends

Top picture-my church friends

2nd picture-my two best friends from H.S. -Shelly and Amy

3rd picture-me, Kristen and Jenny in Venice

Bottom picture-my U.K. friends-Amy and Corrina (bottom), Jenny, Holli, me, Becki, Tara and Tina-there are more great women here but these are the ones I hang out with the most and share my deepest, darkest secrets with.

I don't have photos of my Burning Tree neighbors and others but I love you all!!!

I talk about my U.K. friends a lot to my U.S. friends and vice versa so I am glad I can finally post some pics. of everyone. I miss my U.S. friends SO MUCH!! I am looking forward to getting back and seeing everyone again and talking regularly BY PHONE and in person. I have also made some wonderful friends over here. They have been my entertainment and a constant source of therapy and support while being away. I like to surround myself with women who are great mothers and/or wives and all of my friends in the U.S. and U.K. fit that description. I am so happy that most everyone in the U.K. will eventually be living within an hour of me back home. I love all my friends. Let's face it-women need women.

Beckett is 2 months old!!

Time has flown by since Beckett was born. He is two months old on the 15th. I can't even begin to express the joy he has brought to our family. The kids have been amazing with him. They just love him. Sawyer is so happy to have a brother and Faith helps me a ton with caring for him. Eden just likes to kiss him all the time. Here are some of the things I love about him:

1. his sweet breath

2. his smiles

3. the way he looks at me when he wants to be picked up

4. his baby feet and toes

5. his soft skin

6. how much he enjoys his bath

7. how cute he looks in his clothes

8. the joy he brings to our home

9. his face when he sleeps

10. when he sleeps on my chest with his butt sticking out

Since he is our last, I am trying to soak up every moment. I love being a mom and I try to never take it for granted.

Beckett's Birth

Due to popular demand I am going to write about my birth story on here. I know a lot of you already have heard about it in TOO MUCH detail but my American friends want to know and it is just too much to type to everyone. This could take days for me to write and to read. Pre-natal care is very simple here and it was fine with me since Beckett is #4. They don't weigh you-EVER! You NEVER have a pelvic exam, no diabetes test either. They do bloodwork and you take a urine sample in with you to your monthly appts. You only see midwives-I loved mine by the way. I am not sure that OB/GYN's even exist over here. I am sure they do for c-sections. They won't even consider induction until being 12 days overdue. I was induced with Sawyer and Eden so this was VERY tough for me. They do two very thorough ultrasounds-one at 12 and 20 weeks. They will not tell you the gender. We wanted to find out this time and fortunately we were back in Illinois in Aug. and I saw good ole' Dr. Chow and we found out. You can go to a private place here and pay to find out the gender. I begged to be induced because I was huge and in misery at the end but nothing worked. I was scared. I like being induced and having that epidural all ready to go. They offer the epidural, gas and air (laughing gas) and some shot that has traces of heroin in it (not joking) for pain relief during labor. They want you to stay home as long as possible when you start labor (remember we are dealing with the NHS!). My due date was Jan. 12th and we wanted someone here to help when I went into labor so my mom flew out 3 days before the birth.

On Jan. 15th at around 3 a.m. I started to feel labor pains. I called to ask permission to come to the hospital at around 6 a.m. They told me if I was managing to stay at home. I was managing very well but was nervous because I didn't know what my body would do on its own. I woke Kyle up at 6:30 and got in the shower. I called again when the contractions were a little more intense and we left the house around 8:15 am. We ran into a bunch of traffic but Kyle dropped me off at the door at 9 a.m. I was still managing okay with contractions about 5 min. apart. He went to find a place to park. I made my way up the elevator and was told to sit and wait. A few minutes later a nurse put me in a room and I was instructed to give a urine sample and that was it. I thought I would have to put a gown on and all of that. I did as instructed and waited and waited for someone to help me. In the mean time, Kyle was calling me on my cell telling me there was no place to park-this is nothing new in England. He was calling every 5 min. or so to check in. During this time I was peeking my head out the door asking if anyone was going to help me-it was getting bad and I was highly concerned about getting MY EPIDURAL!! Finally someone appeared at about 9:50 a.m. and I was starting to lose it. I was begging for the epidural because I was in a lot of pain. She tried to gently break it to me that to have an epidural you need a midwife with you at all times and there wasn't a midwife available because they were short-handed- WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! I was in so much pain at this point that it was difficult for me to let her check and see how far dilated I was. She had me breath in the gas and air to relax and it worked. Both she and I were shocked that I was dilated to a 6. I could tell by the look on her face that I was NOT going to get an epidural. She gently told me that if they did nothing I would have the baby in about 20 min. and that she was going to get someone right away. At this point I started to breath in as much of the laughing gas as I could. I was repeatedly pressing the call button to get some help and I could hear my cell phone ringing-knowing it was Kyle. Finally a midwife made it in and an anesthesiologist to attempt to get me an epidural. At this point I was crippled from the pain and sweating profusely-they couldn't even get tape to stick to me for the i.v. They brought in a fan-they never gave me a gown-I guess is wasn't in the NHS budget. I finally had a nurse answer my phone and she told Kyle he better get in there. He had to park on a curb. Poor Kyle, when he dropped me off I was freshly showered with make-up and totally managing the contractions. When he got in there at 10:15 I was like a rabid beast-covered in sweat, gripping the gas and air mouthpiece like crazy and half-naked while they were trying to get me my epidural. I think he was in shock. I could feel Beckett's head right down there but I didn't want to tell because I just wanted the epidural to work so badly for just a few minutes. They got the epidural going but it was too late. As soon as they laid me back by water broke and he came out in three pushes. He was born at 10:55 a.m. I had absolutely no concept of the time and I couldn't believe it went that fast. My body was in shock afterwards and I shook hard for a good 30 minutes. They couldn't even stitch me up until I stopped shaking. After all that was over I was feeling really good and enjoying my new, beautiful, healthy son. They got me up to shower right away and then told me I could go home that day. I moved into a room with two other women, the pediatrician checked over Beckett at around 6 p.m. and we were home by 7 p.m. on the same day. If I would have had the epidural I would have had to stayed overnight. They have no baby nursery and no private rooms available. If you have to use the bathroom you have to ask another mom to watch your baby. They didn't give us matching i.d. bracelets or put any sort of security device on Beckett at all. He left the hospital without a name and we had 6 weeks to give him a name and file for a birth certificate. I am sure I have left some stuff out-like how I thought I would need therapy afterwards-but I touched on the important stuff. Kyle and the midwife I had saw each other out looking for a parking space. They don't have reserved parking for the midwives. They are in the same boat as everyone else. My care was actually very good when I got it and I should have went to the hospital sooner. On the bright side, afterwards I felt wonderful and I think I have recovered much more quickly this time around. I would still opt for the epidural next time though. At least I have a story to tell and I would do it all again! I love Beckett so much-he is such a blessing to our family. We both came out of it just fine and it makes me ask myself whether or not we need all the song and dance in the states.

Why is everything so narrow (small) in England???

It is so fun for me to write about this stuff. If I would have been doing this months ago I wouldn't have needed therapy. As I was picking Faith and Sawyer up from swimming today I was entering the Deeping Leisure Center through a very narrow door. I had Beckett in his carseat and had to turn it long ways out in front of me to fit it through the door. EVERYTHING is narrow here. Yes, I realize this is a small country and everything is SUPERSIZED in the U.S. Here are some other narrow (small) things I have found-please feel free to contribute if I have left something out. Doorways, stairways, roads, parking spaces, cars, aisles in stores, refrigerators, ovens, houses-even our fire place is tiny-okay, pretty much everything. My washer broke on Sun. and that got me all worked up. My washer is X-TRA SMALL capacity!! I do two loads pretty much everyday just to keep up. Fortunately, I have very nice friends here who allowed me to wash at their homes. I have heard horror stories about how long it takes service people to repair stuff. It could take weeks to get a part. Anyways, it is fixed now. It took the guy like 5 minutes. Sometimes I forget how important the everyday stuff is. I realized right away after moving here why most people here don't have more than 2 kids-there is no space in houses or cars. I drive a smaller mini-van over here and I am the largest vehicle on the road next to the Lorrey's (semi-trucks). This is why I have damaged three vehicles while living here-I'm not joking. The pic. of the kids is next to our fridge-it was taken right when we moved here so it is a little old. How can a large family be expected to live out of a dorm-sized fridge? When I was big and pregnant bending over to get inside it was not pretty!! We also have a fridge in our garage-a tall and NARROW one.

The NHS Love'em or hate'em??

While living in the U.K. I have become sometimes painfully aware of living with the National Healthcare System. I took Beckett in yesterday for his 8 week immunizations. In the U.S. they would weigh him and all sorts of other stuff but not here. The G.P. (general practitioner-not sure if they are real doctors or not) just looked him over and sent me off the the nurse for the injections. She gave him his shots-one in each thigh and didn't even use band-aids to cover them. He got blood on his clothes. Can they not even spring for band-aids (called "plasters" here)???? When I gave birth to Beckett I arrived at the hospital at 9 am and was out of there by 6:30 pm. They supply very little for mother and baby. I had to bring diapers and everything necessary for myself including the fish net underwear. They truly had a vending machine with diapers, sanitary napkins, formula and diapers-the kind of vending machine you would see with sandwiches that revolves in a circle when you push the button. I'll save my birth story for another day. Although I have never had to experience this while over here, if you need any sort of surgery you are put on a waiting list. Dentistry is a whole other story which explains why people have crazy teeth over here.

On the other hand, sometimes you don't need all the song and dance that you are given in the states. Last fall Sawyer had an ear infection. We enter in the room to see the G.P. He asks what the problem is, types it in on his computer, looks in Sawyer's ear, confirms the ear infection, prescribes an antibiotic and you are on your way. The dispensary (pharmacy) is located at the office and in five minutes you are out the door. They didn't weigh him, listen to his heart-nothing but look in his ears.

Oh yeah, I can't forget to include that they don't circumcise infants over here. Poor uncircumcised Beckett. We even tried to get him into a private hospital here for a circumcision and they won't consider it until he is 2 years old. What is up with that?? They think circumcision is cruel and unnecessary.

I think Hillary and Barrack should come live in England before promising socialized medicine. They should try it out for a couple of years.

Here I go...

Due to the peer pressure from my friends here in England I am starting a blog page. I know it is a little late considering we will be returning to the states within a few months but I guess better late than never. I have always thought that no one would want to read about my life but I love nosing into my friends blogs so I figure some of you will too. Unfortunately, I am computer illiterate and can only shop and email online. I just learned to attach pictures after Beckett was born. Yes, I know this is sad. My children are more computer savy than I am.

Well, these last two years have been a whirlwind of events. I have gone from complete misery to acceptance of my life in the U.K. It is definately different from U.S. life. I have made some wonderful friends here and will miss them terribly when we return. I have learned so much while over here and I am planning on writing about these things when I get a chance.

Our latest news is that we are building a home in Normal, IL. We decided that since we didn't have a house to sell that we might as well go for it. It has already been started and it should be an interesting experience being as we are across the ocean. I was able to pick out the exterior and kitchen cabinets while back last summer.

Be patient with my postings. I am new at this.