Memory...

...foam, that is!

My girl Jen and her man are moving to Appleby (one of my favorite villages) and got a new bed and mattress. We've acquired their old one. We went over yesterday to help load it in their little trailer, and discovered that it is a memory foam mattress. And the greatest, and funniest, part about it is, Jen had no idea. They've been sleeping on the wrong side of that mattress since they got it. So it's memory foam that has never really been used.

It's an English king size, which is an American queen. We've been sleeping on a double bed since we moved here. This is 6 inches bigger, and though it doesn't sound like much it really does make a big difference. Especially when the whole family is lying in bed in the morning. Martin was so excited to sleep on the new mattress that we slept on it last night, even though we don't have a bed frame that it fits on and the only sheets that are big enough have a hole in them. And you know what? Even resting on bare floorboards that mattress was nicer than our old one! It is so comfy!

Now we just need to acquire all the necessary bed linens, etc. I've posted a "wanted" ad on Freecycle and have already had several responses. So far I've found us a bed frame which needs a minor repair and a duvet cover and pillowcases. Now we just need a couple sets of sheets and the actual duvet. But I wanted some new sheets anyway, and now I can put my nicest sheets on the bed in the guest room. I'm thinking that if I hold out for a few days I may be able to get all the linens off Freecycle. Man, Freecycle rocks.

Possibly of more interest to my mom--Edith and I had a little conversation yesterday. It was kind of exciting, because it was the first one we've ever had. I got her out of her high chair after lunch, and held her up next to the mirror on the dining room wall. I said, "Who's that? Is that Edith?" She said, "baby." I said, "Who else is there?" She said, "mama." Then she started waving to herself and saying "bye bye, baby!"

Cute, huh?

Ok, so basically those are nearly all the words she knows. Still, it was adorable. And Dylan got a late start talking, and now we can't shut him up. I'm not concerned about Edith's speeech development at all!

Speaking of Dylan, he was very naughty at school yesterday. His teacher told me that he had "made poor choices" all day at school and that he had to "stand outside" quite a few times. To be honest, I had expected it. He woke up an hour early yesterday and was incredibly tired. I warned his teacher when we dropped him off that he was very tired so would likely be hyper and a handful. I'm glad I gave them advance notice. We had a little chat with him on our walk home about being a nice boy and doing what his teacher told him to do. Part of me was glad that he was naughty at school, because he'd been a pain in the backside all morning. At least he was like that with everybody, not just me. He took a nearly 2 hour nap in the afternoon, and still went to sleep at 7pm and slept until 6am.

Work on the quiet books is going well. I'm currently making bee wings. I'm doing a flowers and bees page, and it is by far the most intricate page of the whole book. Plus I am making two of them. One for each kid. The five bees each are black felt with yellow ribbon stripes and wings made out of lace. I got all the stripes sewn on last night, and got one set of wings done. The bees will snap on to flowers, and will be stored in a little beehive pouch when not in use. I'm having so much fun making these silly books. Parts of the project are boring, but selecting the trimmings and doing the finishing work is more fun than I thought it would be. I can hardly wait to give the kids the finished product for Christmas.

Martin actually got his full day off yesterday, though he did have to go cash out and lock up in the evening. It was so nice to have him home all day, especially with Dylan being difficult. I couldn't have coped if it weren't for him! Thank goodness I am part of a parenting team instead of trying to go it alone. I have so much respect for single mothers--how on earth do they do it?

Wow, this has turned into a long and rambling post. I didn't think I had much to say when I started posting this morning. Just raving about our new mattress. Now I can't stop typing. I'd better get some breakfast made though. fingers crossed for a better day with handsome Dylan!

Pathetic!

There's nothing in the world worse than sitting aorund feeling sorry for yourself. But that's what I'm doing today.

Martin was supposed to be off work yesterday. One of his employees phoned up to say she wouldn't be able to make it as she had to do some stuff at university. It was her first day yesterday, so I'm relatively certain that "something" was go to a university party, get hammered, and make bad decisions. So even though we had company over, Martin had to go in to work. Thank goodness for Emma, who left her hubby at my house with both sets of kids and whisked me away to a craft class.

Another of Martin's employees has a sick daughter and wasn't able to come in to work this morning. So he is back at work, though he shouldn't have gone in until 4pm. He will be there, quite literally, all day today. He went in at 9am and will probably get home around 11pm. There was no one else to cover the morning shift.

Sometimes it sucks having a responsible and hard working husband!

The good news is that tonight is book club, so at least I won't be alone in the house with the kids all day long. My lift in to Scunthorpe is bringing my babysitter 'round for me at about 7pm.

Martin is going to be off work all day tomorrow instead of his usual time off. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath!

Other than Martin's work issues, we are all doing well. The football match/shopping trip on Saturday was a big success which will be duplicated at a later date. The primary presentation on Sunday went pretty well. The Mundays' visit yesterday was fun. Today is going to be long, but I'm sure we'll all manage. Dylan still loves going to school every day, and Edith has started babbling and trying hard to talk. She's more fun every day.

I'm going to not to be so negative for the rest of the day. After all, it could be worse.

Happy anniversary...

And oh, it was one!

Martin and I ditched the kids with my in-laws for 26 blissful hours and went to York.

Martin booked us in to a beautiful hotel called Marmadukes, and it was amazing! We were upgraded to the Loft Suite, which totally had a sauna, giant shower, and lovely claw-footed bathtub in our bathroom. Seriously, gorgeous hotel.

The 9th anniversary is the willow or pottery anniversary, so I found a place called Rainbows Ceramic and Pottery Studio. We called in when we got to York and decorated a chips and dip bowl. It will be glazed and fired, then shipped to us in about a week. We spent about an hour and a half doing it, and had SO much fun.

We saw "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" in the most ghetto cinema in the world. Loved it!

Then we had a seriously nice dinner at the Blue Bicycle, where we ate for my 23rd birthday an absolute eternity ago.

It was hard to come home, but nice to have the kids back to cuddle with. I got home just in time to get Dylan to school, put Edith down for her nap, clean up, and have my visiting teachers come over. Then baby E woke up, we cuddled, picked Dylan up from school, walked up to Stables to see Martin, had chips and a drink together, came home, did dinner...I'm getting exhausted just typing about it.

I had to go in to Scunny tonight to practice with the older Primary girls. They are singing a special number for the Primary presentation on Sunday and they needed a lot of work. Since it was a special favor for Noelle (love you, girl), she organized a babysitter for me. So I didn't even put Edith to bed tonight. I told Dylan he could stay up and wait for me if he wanted to, so he did. Jill (the babysitter from church) said that spending the evening with my children was a pleasure, and that they were a credit to me. Hooray!

Now it is just after 10pm, and I am going to bed soon. Like, 10 minutes from now soon.

Saturday is the Leeds v. Sheffield United match that Martin and Dylan are going to, so it's going to be a busy week all around. Being busy is good.

My very hungry caterpiller...

What Dylan ate yesterday after he got home from school:

Black bean chicken with rice
Steamed carrots and green beans
Raspbrry fromage frais
3 apples
1 chocolate chip cookie
2 slices of tiger bread

But he was still hungry.

Kid was a bottomless pit yesterday!

Accident prone...

Not Dylan, even though my last post was about his accident at school. I'm talking about my delicate and dainty daughter, Edith.

She is, and I'm not exaggerating, fearless! She climbs on everything, and loves to go exploring. I'm glad she's adventurous, but it has resulted in some pretty nasty bumps and bruises. She's broken her arm twice, had a carpet burn the size of a dime on the tip of her nose, had an assortment of body bruises, a couple of fat lips...well, you get the picture. She currently has a big bruise on her cheek from falling against the hymn book holders on the pews at church and a swollen nose from tripping and falling on one of her bowls (she must have caught it just right). It will be a miracle if we make it to her second birthday without a visit from social services. As I'm typing, she was just running across the front room and tripped and face planted on the carpet.

Of course, the people who know us won't worry that she's being abused. Everyone knows what a delight Edith is, and just how cherished she is in our house. She's been an angel from day one. And she's especially fun now that her personality is developing and showing a lot more.

Dylan was Mr. Personality at quite an early age. Edith has been slower to develop. But she's making up for lost time. She loves to dance and wiggle. She loves to climb. She shamelessly begs for treats like chocolate and crisps. She can't talk much yet, but she manages to communicate very well. My favorite is how she hands me bowls and plates when she's hungry. She just keeps doing it until I get her something to eat. She already knows that Dylan gets in trouble for hurting her, so when he takes something away from her she looks around to see if we noticed and then cries so he will be forced to give it back. She also runs up to me at random to give me hugs and kisses. She's stubborn, manipulative, assertive, and yet sweet at the same time. 17 months old, and already a complicated woman.

I really do love to watch my children growing up. It is one of my biggest pleasures in life.

"Your child had an accident at school today..."

I got a little note on Friday when I went to pick Dylan up from school. It went like this...
"Parent/Carer of ...Dylan

Your child had an accident at school today.

He/she was treated by a member of staff.

By the end of the session there appeared to be no ill effects but if you are at all concerned would you please contact your own doctor.

Description of accident:

Dylan bumped heads with a nother child whilst playing outside. Cold compress applied."

He had a tiny little goose egg on his forehead, and actually seemed quite proud of himself. I am sure it's the first of MANY notes like this.

He's still loving every minute of school, and Edith and I are enjoying our afternoons. She naps most of the time that he's at school, but we have good cuddles when she wakes up. I also had a great time with Dylan on Saturday while Edith was napping. I asked him what he wanted to do while she was asleep, and he chose a movie and popcorn. So we snuggled up together on the sofa and watched "Cars." It was such a delightful afternoon.

Martin is at work tonight. His Sunday night closer has just started university in Bolton and he had no one else to work. So here I am, curled up on the sofa again. I'm going to start working on the kids' quiet books for Christmas (thanks for the link, Mango Mom!). Feeling lonely and emotionally needy, but keeping my hands busy will help with that.

Dylan's first day of school...

School days...

Dylan has officially started school now, and he loves it!  It was his second day today, and he was thrilled to go.  His teachers have told me both days that he was absolutely fine.

His first day was rather sweet.  He gave me a hug and a kiss, then ran off to play.  Martin and I enjoyed some quiet time, and then we went to pick him up.  He was sitting so quietly, with another little boy's head on his shoulder, when I went to get him.  He saw me, and his face just lit up like you wouldn't believe. 

I live for moments like these.

Everyone has been telling me how exhausted he would be after school.  I was hoping for completely worn out.  What I got instead was mildly lethargic with an intense craving for cartoons and snacks.  Oh, and the biggest appetite I've ever seen him have for his dinner.



Isn't he sweet? 

Edith is missing him in the afternoons when she wakes up from her nap.  Today she wandered all over the house saying, "Dylan?"  Then she came to me and asked for him.  Bless her heart.  She loves her brother more than anything (except maybe her morning mama milk).

Speaking of Edith, she is getting her cast off tomorrow morning.  What a relief!  I will be taking her to the school tomorrow morning to get her photo taken with Dylan, then we will go straight to the hospital.  It will be nice to be able to give her a bath without a plastic bag over her arm, and to take her swimming.  And to be able to put her in her own pajamas again.

I am so in love with my kids tonight!

A transformation...

Before

After

Nothing like a haircut and a new color to make you feel like a new woman.  Don't let the expression fool you--I'm thrilled with the result.

Dylan's birthday pics...

Dylan is all about the presents now...

He loved all his gifts that he got for his birthday!

He also had a good time helping to decorate his own birthday cake.

The finished product wasn't exactly polished and perfect, but he loved it.

Edith enjoyed all the company and the wrapping paper.

The most exciting part of the day was when nanna and grandad came over with this monster package.

He was really intent on getting it open.

He got pretty excited about the cars

But even more excited about the whole present after Martin finished putting all the stickers on the parking garage and putting it together.

Kiddies...

Wahoo--we have a garden gate!

We also have a beautiful sunflower.  Dylan's nanna gave it to him and she planted one at the same time.  Dylan's is MUCH bigger!

Full moons at the Gilbert house

Edith is going through a growth spurt.  Just look at those chubby cheeks--a first since she was about 7 months old.  She's already thinned out though, and gotten much taller!

There are her lovely, elfin features

Big cheese

And here's the ham to go with it!

That was a surprise!

I took Dylan to his second taster day at Castledyke Primary School today.  It was fun.  No, really.  It was seriously fun.  But I got a little teary-eyed while we were there.

For the first time in his life, Dylan will do something that doesn't involve me.  I have been the center of his world for his whole life.  Now I will send him out on his own 5 days a week.

I've never been one of those moms who wants to keep her kids babies forever.  I love watching them grow up and become more independent.  But sending Dylan out there is, quite frankly, terrifying.  He could be taught anything.  He could be bullied.  He could be picked on.  He could be the one bullying.  And I will only know if he or his teacher tell me. 

I am a mommy control freak.  It makes me crazy that somebody else is going to be responsible for my child.  I'll deal with it, of course.  And I am beyond excited to have some one-on-one time with Edith.  School is going to be good.  I just keep telling myself that.  School is going to be good.

Why I love living in England, reason number 103

So we had a friend come over and cut a hole in our back garden wall so we could get bins for our rubbish, but we didn't just get a bin for household waste.  We also got a green waste bin and a plastic and coardboard bin.  Added to the tubs we have for paper, glass, and aluminum, that adds up to a lot of recycling bins.

Yes, they take up a lot of space.  But we only need to have our actual trash collected every other week.  For a family of 4 with a baby in diapers, that's pretty amazing.  And I guess it's kind of great that we're doing our part to save the Earth.  The recycling scheme is so good (not to mention convenient) over here.

What am I going to do when we move back to Utah?  I love to ease and convenience of recycling, and it's not that easy or convenient back home.  But I still want to do it.  I guess we'll just make it work.

One thing's for sure--we will definitely have a compost bin or two.  It is amazing how much of our garbage is green waste.  And if you garden, you need soil improvers anyway.  All my U.S. gardening friends, you should so get on that!

So yeah, kudos to the North Lincolnshire Council for their recycling program.  You've given me one more reason to love living in England.

--------------------------------

In other news, Dylan has a "taster day" at Castledyke Primary School tomorrow.  Pretty exciting stuff!

Edith has learned to hit people (mostly her big brother) with her cast.  She's lethal.  She's also started calling herself "Bob," and tonight learned how to say "night night" to her dad on the phone.

I dyed my hair dark brown and got about 2 inches cut off the bottom.  Looking kind of gothic, but using blush to compensate.

Martin washed and waxed the car today, plus cut the grass at the flats next door.  He's earning major brownie points!

Man, I have a funny kid!

The consultant at the fracture clinic on Thursday was a really nice, funny man.  I think he was German, elderly, liked kids, but obviously didn't spend a lot of time with them.  He thought Dylan was adorable, and kept squeezing his cheeks and shaking his little head.  Dylan just looked at him all funny and said, "mom, why is he doing that?"  Then the doctor offered him a lollipop and we left.

Tonight, during bath time, I asked Dylan what the doctor had done to him.  Then we took turns squeezing each others' faces and smunching each others' cheeks.  We were totally giggling (which always makes Edith laugh).  Then Dylan put on this gruff little German accent and asked me if I wanted a lollipop.  I swear, he was imitating the doctor perfectly.  I seriously lost it!

Oh, sometimes this kid cracks me up.  This is two days running that motherhood has been a joy instead of a chore.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

The kids...

First and foremost, Edith is doing great.  We were seen at the fracture clinic yesterday, and the consultant told me that it was a very minor buckle fracture and she will only be in her cast for two weeks.  She is in good spirits and would be perfectly pleasant if only she wasn't currently teething.

Dylan seems to be past the worst of his little phase he was going through, thank goodness!  He's got a couple of taster days at Castlydyke Primary School next week, and he starts school for real on the 14th of September.

We actually had a really lovely day.  We didn't get up to much--just bummed around the house all afternoon.  We also took a walk up to Stables and shared desserts with Martin, which was nice.  But mostly, I didn't have a major agenda with loads of things to do.  I sat with the kids while they watched cartoons, did an easy dinner, and we took our time in the bath.  The kids were snuggly, cuddly, and (extra) giggly at bedtime, and they both settled right down in to sleep.  Edith gave me Eskimo kisses while Dylan read us a story.

It feels like ages since I had an enjoyable day as a mom, but today was pretty great.  It's made a huge difference, trying to pay more attention to Dylan.  He is thriving under loads of praise and tons of kisses and cuddles.  Sometimes, I just forget that he's still only a toddler.  He seems like such a big boy, but he's only three.  I expect too much of him a lot of the time.  All he wants is love and attention.  Those things are both free and easy to give.

Bad news on the house selling front--the couple who viewed on Wednesday aren't going to buy.  They decided they didn't want to live on such a busy street and weren't keen on the neighborhood.  We did get some feedback on what we could change to make our property more desireable, which is always good.  It'll happen--I guess the timing just isn't quite right.

Even with that disappointment, today has been a good day.

I needed one of those!

Medical update...

I went to the doctor to discuss my blood work results.  Did I blog about that?  I went to see if there was a reason I am so tired all the time.  It just doesn't seem normal.  Sadly, there is no quick fix for me because all of my blood results came back totally normal.  Apparently, I'm just exhausted all the time because I'm a stay-at-home mother of 2 young children.  It still doesn't feel normal to me!

But that's the pretty insignificant medical news. As you know, we have a house viewing today (I'll let you all know how it goes later).  I was desperately trying to get the house cleaned up yesterday, and the kids and I were upstairs.  I was working on their bedroom and they were in my bedroom.  Edith came out on the landing, about 1 1/2 feet away from me.  She was wearing tights (which she isn't used to) because it was a bit chilly, and I guess her foot just slipped on the stairs.  She fell down them.  All of them.

Dylan has done that about 3 times now, and we have never taken him to the hospital.  But he was always so robust, and Edith is a tiny and delicate little thing.  Plus, she was holding her right arm really funny and it was totally limp when she first fell.  Oh, and she bit her lip pretty badly and was bleeding all over the place, too.

Martin came home and we took her to A&E.  He was pretty angry with me for letting her fall.  He didn't say so, but was definitely sending out that vibe.  He also thought we didn't really need to take her.  Neither did the doctor at A&E, to be honest.  But he sent us to get an x-ray, "just in case," and got the shock of his life when it showed a definite break.  I KNEW something was wrong with her.

So now her little arm is in a cast again.  It's a big one, too.  A temporary job, so it's big and bulky and cumbersome.  We're being seen at the fracture clinic on Thursday morning, and the experts will take a look at her x-ray and determine how long the cast needs to be on.  They will also do the lighter, smaller one.  That will be nice.

Edith is doing fine.  She's happy and playing, though she did wake twice in the night last night.  And we still have that house viewing to get through today.  Obviously, the house didn't get the attention I would have liked to give it yesterday, since we were at the hospital or in transit for about 4 hours.  I did what I could last night.  It was a late one!  Still, it looks pretty good.  I just need to do the kids' room this morning, since I obviously couldn't clean it last night while they were in bed.

Poor baby Edith!