This is the bookshelf that Martin built. Isn't he handy?

Martin is painting the front of our house a slightly classier shade of green, and is thrilled to be having his photo taken.

The front of the house, mostly painted. Just the top section to be painted the new green and the bottom to be painted white. Looks better, huh?

This is what happens to the house when mommy takes an afternoon nap and daddy and Dylan play together for a little while.

Dylan's latest funny face!

He's still a traveling man.

Dylan and Beth at Tesco. He thinks he's playing, but he's really beating her up.

Our Sunday afternoon walk at Waters' Edge.

Dylan and Daddy check out the ducks.

The highlight of my week...

Sadly, the highlight of my week is that Barton got a Tesco. That's the biggest supermarket chain in the UK (£1 in every £7 in the country is spent there, apparently). It's similar to WalMart, but not as good. We have done our shopping at Tesco for a long time, but we always had to drive in to Scunthorpe or Grimsby to do it, and now we have a 5 minute walk instead of a 20 minute drive. For those of you who have visited us, it is where Proudfoot used to be. You might not know where that was, actually, because I never shopped there. It was cramped, over-priced, and dirty. I always felt like I was shopping in the ghetto.
Unfortunately, Tesco opening has been the highlight of a lot of other peoples' weeks as well. Traffic on our road has really increased and the store is absolutely PACKED all the time. It took us way longer than normal to do our shopping. I can't wait for the novelty to wear off so people stop going there just to check it out.
We took Dylan to watch "Prince Caspian" last night. That was good fun, but the movie was so long that it totally threw off his routine and he ended up going to sleep before he had any proper dinner. So he woke up at 2 am and again at 5:30 am. After his 5:30 feed, he wouldn't go back to sleep. Martin and 6 am don't mix well, so we got into a huge fight. It's all good now, though. The only time we ever fight is when we're both tired.
The garden is starting to look GREAT! We have been eating radish for a few weeks now, and I will have strawberries and raspberries in a few weeks' time. The potatoes are close, and we'll be enjoying leeks and parsnip in a few months. The grass looks good, and Martin has built us a new table in the barbecue area. He's now in the process of building an actual barbecue made from one of the oil tins from work. We should be done, or close to it, by next weekend and Martin's birthday/4th of July party.
Dylan has started crawling on his hands and feet and he's getting really good at climbing stairs. He's into everything at the minute, so I need to go chase him and make sure he's not trying to eat anything weird. The house is not quite baby-proofed yet!

Thanks again mom...

Random thanks to my mother for her advice...

"Don't take your bra off while you are breastfeeding. Ever!"

Dylan and I went swimming at Brigg today and their changing facilities are open. There was a lady with two kids there, and she had the saggiest boobs of anyone under the age of 60 I've ever seen.

So, thanks again, mom! Keep that good advice coming!

Drowning in a sea of tweed...

We went to the Lincolnshire show on Wednesday, and it was good fun. The only thing I can compare it to is the county fair, only more competetive. Maybe a cross between a county fair and a State fair? Anyway, it was a strange experience.
I got to see a side of Britain that I normally don't. We usually associate with the working classes and sometimes with the middle class. The sort of people who participate in the show are upper middle class to upper class. These are the landed gentry and lesser nobles--the ones who one property and horses and family jewels. Here's a video clip I had Martin take just so everyone could hear a "real" posh English accent...




Dylan had a great time looking at the animals, though the first time he saw a horse it scared the life out of him. To be fair, this wasn't like the horses dad and grandpa Cook ride back home. This was a thouroughbred--a hunter. It was MASSIVE, and surrounded by a pack of "honds" (that's hounds for all us plebs not educated at Eton and Oxford)!



After some quick cuddles with me, he was just fine. That first view just scared the life out of the poor little guy!

He really liked the dogs. Only a few went around the arena with hunters on horses. These ones had handlers on foot, but they were still in silly little outfits.

We took a quick trip over to see the livestock. Dylan is fascinated by sheep, so we spent a lot of time there. Martin especially liked the local breed--Lincolnshire long-haired sheep. Dylan liked them all!
We also went over to a stall hosted by Rand Farm park. They brought aminals for the kiddies to pet, and Dylan loved the donkeys!
It was a really windy day, but we had a great time all the same. Next year will be even better!

Not the best way to start off your day.....

This my favourite way to start a sentence...

Funny story...

This morning I was woken up by Dylan at about 7am, which is not a problem in any way shape or form. I lounged in bed with Jamie and Dylan for a little while before deciding to get out of bed, have a shower and get my self ready for work. Jamie had decided to go back to sleep as she was not feeling 100% so I wasn't worried about skipping out early on them.

So I am all clean dressed and ready to start my day. I have even decided to go into work early which is very unusual but I was feeling good. Downstairs I go, through into the dining nook. On the dining table I spy a bottle of Thickie (like a smoothie but surprisingly enough, thicker, made with yoghurt and this one also contained oats). Now, the previous evening Jamie had left the bottle out for me, but i had forgotten about it. in passing I had taken a swig of this stuff from the bottle and it tasted like it was going off. You know how yoghurt feels fizzy on your tongue when it is going bad. Yeah well this was very fizzy. So I put it back down. Back to this morning. The bottle was still on the table and being the dutiful husband that I am I pick it up and take it in the kitchen and set it down on the draining board.

Here comes the good bit....

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ever seen a kitchen painted with smoothie? How about a human being? Now our kitchen isn't exactly the biggest, but the EXPLODING THICKIE managed to get on absolutely everything. Ceiling -check. Floor-check. All the kithcen cabinets - check. windows - check. Every other single item in the kitchen - check. Oh, I nearly forgot....ME! I froze, dripping thickie, my work clothes covered in disgusting smelling pink goo! And it was on my face and in my hair. So, back upstairs strip everything off, back in the shower and hurriedly get dressed again as now I have to at least start cleaning the gunk off the ceiling! My early trip to work to get stuff done and have a relaxing start gone in one catastrophic splurge.
So as you can all imagine, not the best way to start my day. It didn't get much better when at work the lunch time help called in sick and we had a ridiclous day! But hey, at least i can laugh now. See, big smiles.

Just to give you an example of the devastation, here are some photos......

The offending article

Good spatter pattern

Dylan is teaching me...

I am learning a lot from the little man. Today especially, for some reason, I am thinking about life lessons.

I am currently trying to teach Dylan to turn around and get off my bed backwards so he doesn't fall on his face. He's not getting it--maybe he's a bit young. He's definitely too fearless. As I was turning him around and showing him how to get his feet on the ground, it suddenly occurred to me that I was going to have to let him hurt himself in order for him to learn this particular lesson, and it broke my heart.

I would do just about anything to keep Dylan safe and happy. I would do anything to save him from pain. But if I don't allow him to experience pain, he will never learn anything for himself. I'm going to spend the rest of my life watching my baby grow up and make mistakes, helpless to stop him and forcing myself to step back. I'm going to be so torn--I want him to be safe, but I want him to learn and grow.

Pretty deep stuff, considering I'm exhausted. This post might not make any sense when I'm more alert.

Parenthood is teaching me a lot.

How do you do it, mom? How do you let your babies hurt themselves?

Martin gives everyone a virtual tour of our garden...

Dylan REALLY enjoyed his dinner tonight. Ratatouille is a favorite at our house. And check out those teeth!!!

The garden as of this evening. The grass is getting it's first haircut tomorrow.

The old door is no more! We've plastered it up. Now it just needs to be painted and Martin needs to build my bookshelf!

Dylan and I took a walk this afternoon. We both really enjoyed the bright summer sun--he's starting to get a tan.

I thought I'd take a few pictures of the English summer. Gloriously beautiful, isn't it?

We saw some swans and signets on our walk down at Water's Edge today.

Dylan enjoys his bubble bath!

Martin went to Manchester today to play baseball, so Dylan and I were on our own. We had a pretty good day, too. Church was hard without Martin there to help me, but we managed to stick it out for all 3 hours. Then we came home and chilled out in the back garden. I weeded my poppies, and Dylan tried to eat the weeds. Then we went for a walk down at Water's Edge, and it was fantastic!

Dylan is really starting to get interested in animals. We went for a picnic and a walk on Friday and saw some sheep. He just stared at them, completely fascinated. Then today we saw loads of ducks, swans, and geese. Anything that can keep this kid's attention for longer than 10 minutes has to be good!

Martin's baseball games ran late, so he's still not home and therefore in big trouble--he was supposed to be home before Dylan's bath time at 7, and it's after 9 now. But it was a good day, and I got some lovely pictures. I hope you all enjoy them. I'm trying to post pictures of things OTHER than Dylan, so enjoy the scenery!

Dylan is learning how to crawl!

The garden as of last week

Dylan checks out his new U.S. passport.

Such a good day...

Martin was at work all day today, so Dylan and I had the day to ourselves. We took a long morning nap together and he played in his nursery while I pulled up some of the old lino and cleaned and oiled the floorboards. I've been wanting to do that for ages. About a third of the nursery is done. Then we went grocery shopping and came home to make fish pie. He had an afternoon nap while I finished the fish pie, and then Martin came home. We chilled until Martin's grandparents came over. We all had dinner together then Dylan had his bath and they left.

We got their old television. It's like twice the size of the one we had before. Plus, grandad Gilbert made us a cupboard to cover up the electric meters and fuse boxes. Our living room gets closer and closer to finished every day.

Martin and I also got a little bit more grass seed sown this evening, and have had loads of time together. The only downside has been the neighbors. They have been drinking since about 1 pm, and the cops have been over. An ambulance was called and apparently baseball bats were involved. Weird!

Dylan has started "commando crawling." He can move really fast--any day now he'll be crawling for real. It's so adorable to watch him trying to stand up. He's really more interested in trying to walk than to crawl. I've got a video clip that I'll try to post tomorrow or the next day.

Hooray for the king size bed!

"I Know Kung Fu"

Dylan eases into "downward facing dog" while Beth contemplates the meaning of life.

Two punk rockers!

Emma and Lewis at the barbecue

Helen, Grace, and Josiah

John and Gracie

What's New???

Not a lot, sadly. We are doing well though. There are a few developments in our lives that I find exciting, but it doesn't take much since I had Dylan and started staying home with him. Here's the list...

Dylan has figured out how to clap. I've been working on it with him for about 6 weeks, and on Wednesday he finally figured it out. He also figured out how to wave on the same day. He gets really excited about clapping his hands. He can make noise now even if he doesn't have a noisy toy to hand. And the waving thing is adorable. We've added that to giving kisses on cue (most of the time).

Martin has built a cupboard door for the entrance hallway and has started moving his tools to it. I'm thrilled--it's always good to have more storage, and every time we get more storage the house gets a little bit tidier.

Our bishop, Bishop Crofts, has been called to be the stake president. Gossip abounds as to who will be the new bishop. It's terribly exciting stuff.

We went to a barbecue at the Mundays' house today. It was such fun--we stayed at their house for 6 hours. I can't believe we were there for that long--the time passed so quickly. They are seriously the nicest people, and the people they invited are all fantastic as well. I took some pictures and will post them soon.

That's all--too tired and going to bed soon!

It's Official...

Dylan is an American citizen. Although Martin keeps reminding me that he is equally British. I'm so happy that his birth has been registered and his passport is on its way. I've applied for his social security card as well, though that will take a bit longer to come than his passport.

Our trip to London was good. We had a lovely drive down, with a stop for a picnic and beautiful weather and clear roads all the way down. We checked into our hotel which was pleasantly surprising considering how cheap it was. We drove to the nearest Tube station and got it in to London. We wandered around the National Gallery (I saw Van Gogh's "Sunflowers," the real one!) and had dinner in China Town at the Wong Kei. Then we got the tube back and got Dylan put in to bed. He slept the whole night and we got an early start the next morning.

Unfortunately, this is where the smooth sailing ended. We were driving to the Tube station when we ran into some bad traffic on the M1. A journey which should have taken us about 15 minutes took us nearly 2 hours instead as our exit was closed. We started out on the east side of London, and ended going in on the west side. Nightmare. So we didn't have much time before our 2:30 appointment at the Embassy. Then, once we were in, it took us another 2 1/2 hours of mostly sitting and waiting. But getting out of London was fast and the drive home was mostly uneventful.

Dylan had another good night, once he actually went to sleep. I was going to sleep in with him, but we got a call from the carpet fitters asking us if they could do our carpet today instead of Wednesday. I said yes, if they could help me move a little furniture. So our carpet got done a day early and Martin had a nice surprise when he got home from work.

So we've had a few really good days. Dylan is an American now and will have his passport in about three weeks, and our living room is finished except for the bookshelf and the cabinet for our electrics that Grandad Gilbert is building. It looks so good. Thanks mom and dad for the Christmas cash which paid for just about half of the expense. I'll think of you every time I walk on my beautiful, squishy carpet.

The closer to done the house is, the closer we are to moving home.

Dylan got the hang of eating with chopsticks very quickly. It helps that he didn't have to use them--just open his mouth. We enjoy a Chinese feast at the Wong Kei in London.
The carpet fitter came today. This is the front room with just the underlay down. Already an improvement!

Carpet is down...

Furniture is back in place! Looks great, huh?

Fortnum and Mason--the queen shops here! Notice the gold shopping baskets and red plush carpet. We weren't sure they'd let us in the doors, but we got in, and we even bought some bread there (it's all we could afford!).

Presenting a united front...

Thanks everyone for your advice about how to deal with the midnight screaming fits. We had a really rough night on Wednesday. Dylan woke up at 2 am and didn't go back to sleep until 6:15. Martin and I got all stressed out and angry with Dylan and with each other. It was so hard!

We ended up going with my mom's advice (thanks mom) and we had a talk about it in advance. See, part of the reason I was so angry was that I felt guilty that Martin was awake because he seemed to want me to just feed Dylan to sleep in our bed and I didn't think I should. So we discussed why we needed to just let him cry, and we were mentally prepared to do it.

So last night when he woke up at 2 am we changed him, gave him some Calpol, got him calmed down, and then put him down and let him cry. He cried for over an hour. But we were all asleep by 4 am, which was much better than the night before. And again, when he woke up at 6, I fed him, we put him down, and let him cry. That time he only cried for about 20 minutes.

He's awake now, so I need to go get him.

And why does everyone seem to think I'm this big hippie freak who won't give my baby pain relief medication? I know it's not that good for him, and I try not to take anything myself, but he's little and doesn't understand the pain, so I will do anything I can to take away that pain. I have no problem giving my baby drugs!